We begin a new series - Learn history online. The Pilsudski Institute possesses a large collection of documents that are already available online. Now, you can learn the history of Poland from our online resources beginning with the figure of our patron - Jozef Pilsudski.
The Battle of Warsaw, often described as the “Miracle of the Vistula”, is believed to save Poland’s independence recently gained after the end of World War I. It was was fought from August 12th to 25th, 1920 as Red Army forces commanded by Mikhail Tukhachevsky approached the Polish capitol. Polish forces under the command of Marshal Jozef Piłsudski counterattacked forcing the Soviets to withdraw. The Battle is considered a significant victory of Polish forces as the number of Soviet casualties outnumbered Polish. It prevented the Bolshevik revolution from spreading into western Europe. The Battle of Warsaw 1920 is listed among the 18 most important battles that decided on the fate of the world. This year we are celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Battle.
The Pilsudski Institute of America possesses in its archives important documents and photos about the Polish-Bolshevik war, including the Battle of Warsaw. These documents are part of the Belvedere Archives rescued from burning Warsaw in 1939. These collections have been digitized and thousands of documents are now available Online.
Foto: The original Battle of Warsaw Order
Gen. Józef Haller (1873-1960)
Jozef Haller was born in Jurczyce, near Krakow in a family with patriotic traditions. He graduated from the Military Academy in Vienna and afterwards served in Austrian Army. In 1911, the general voluntarily had quitted the service in Austrian Army and devoted himself to fighting for independence of Poland in Galicia. Soon he joined the Polish Legions. On the eve of the end of WWI, Haller left Poland. After arriving in France he became the commander of Polish Army, known as the Blue Army. The Army was the largest Polish military force on exile. After the end of WWI the Army with its commander returned to Poland. General Haller actively participated in Polish-Soviet war of 1919-1921, as a commander of the Northern Front. After the September Campaign of WWII he emigrated to the United Kingdom. General Haller died in 1960 in London.
Foto: Jozef Haller
Jozef Pilsudski (1867-1935)
One of the most important figures in Polish history, Jozef Pilsudski was born on December 5, 1867 in Zulow, near Wilno (now Vilnius). For indirect involvement in the plot against the life of Tsar Alexander III, he was exiled to Siberia for five years. On his return he began working for the socialists and became the most important activist in the Polish Socialist Party, the publisher of Robotnik, its periodical, and the author of the party’s programs and policies. Arrested in February 1900, he succeeded in escaping from the St. Petersburg prison hospital. To take advantage of the impending war between Russia and Japan, Pilsudski decided to build up the military wing of the Polish Socialist Party and to appeal for the help of Japan, which led to his trip there in 1904. In 1908, Pilsudski encouraged the fo
rmation of the Organization for Armed Struggle and other paramilitary organizations to take advantage of the coming conflict between Austro-Hungary and Russia. He planned to provoke an anti-Russian uprising by invading with his riflemen the kingdom of Poland, then a Russian province.
On September 3, 1914 the first cavalry patrol entered Poland, followed three days later by the riflemen who crossed the Russian border near Kielce. In the middle of August, his military unit was converted under Austrian pressure into the Polish Legion, in which he became the commander of the First Brigade. Dissatisfied by the Austro-Hungarian failure to make a commitment to the future of the Polish lands, Pilsudski organized the opposition against the Central Powers in the Legion, the Polish Supreme National Cou
ncil and in the communities in Austrian Galicia and the Kingdom. In the summer of 1916, he resigned the command of the Legion and ordered the legionaries not to swear allegiance to the Central Powers in July of 1917 as they requested. Arrested on July 22, 1917, he was imprisoned by the Germans in Magdeburg. On his return to Warsaw on November 10, 1918, Pilsudski took command of the Polish military forces and four days later, the civil government as Temporary Head of State. Within a few weeks he organized a national election and in February 1919, the newly elected Seym met to begin its work of creating a progressive new state after over 100 years of partitions. Pilsudski also began to organize a new national army in extremely difficult circumstances created by Germans, Bolsheviks, Ukrainians and even Czechs who were hostile to the newly independent Poland. Pilsudski pursued his goal of creating a federation of states positioned between Russia and Germany; he sought an alliance with Lithuania (1918-1920), and formed a political and military alliance with the Ukrainian Peoples’ Republic (1920). Pilsudski succeeded in saving the country from a Bolshevik deluge after a victorious battle at the gates of Warsaw (August 16-18, 1920), a battle he planned and executed as commander of the counterattack.
After the war, Pilsudski declined to be a candidate in the presidential election in December 1922, and in 1923 he retired from political life. He returned to the scene three years later in an armed takeover on May 12-18, 1926, directed against excessive political struggles, corruption and general weakening of the state. After the coup d’etat he refused the presidency but continued as Inspector General of the Armed Forces until his death on May 12, 1935. He influenced Poland’s foreign policy by seeking to maintain the alliance with France and a new alliance with England. He concluded a non-aggression treaty with Russia in 1932. After the failure to organize a preventive war against Hitler’s Germany in 1933, Pilsudski signed in 1934 a non-aggression treaty with Germany as well. He secured for the newly reborn Polish Republic its rightful place in the family of European nations.
Pilsudski continues to be a symbol of the uncompromising struggle for independence and the sovereignty of Polish foreign policy. The historical institute founded in Warsaw in 1923, and recreated in New York in 1943, is dedicated to the memory of his achievements.