Kingdom of Poland (1917–1918)

The decision to propose the restoration of Poland after a century of partitions was taken up by the German policymakers in an attempt to legitimize further imperial presence in the occupied territories and create a buffer state to prevent future wars with Russia. The plan was followed by the German propaganda pamphlet campaign delivered to the Poles in 1915, claiming that the German soldiers were arriving as liberators to free Poland from subjugation by the Russian Empire. However, the German High Command under Erich Ludendorff also wanted to annex around 30,000 square kilometers of the territory of former Congress Poland, and planned to evict up to 3 million Poles and Jews to make room for German colonists in the so-called Polish Border Strip plan. The German government used punitive threats to force Polish landowners living in the German-occupied Baltic states to relocate and sell their Baltic property to the Germans in exchange for entry to Poland. Parallel efforts were made to remove Poles from the Polish territories of the Prussian Partition. == Planning ==

Germany in 1917 With the onset of the war in 1914, for the purposes of securing Germany's eastern border against the Russian imperial army, Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg, the German chancellor, decided on the annexation of a specific strip of land from Congress Poland, known later on as the Polish Border Strip. In order to avoid adding the Polish population to the population of imperial Germany, it was proposed that the Poles would be ethnically cleansed to a proposed new Polish state further east, while the strip would be resettled with Germans. German Emperor Wilhelm II conceived of creating a dependent Polish state from territory conquered from Russia. This new autonomous Kingdom of Poland would be ruled by a German prince and have its military, transportation, and economy controlled by Germany. Its army and railway network would be placed under Prussian command. The borders of this "autonomous" Poland were to be changed in favour of Germany with the annexation of the so-called "Polish Border Strip", which would lead to the annexation of considerable parts of Polish territory that had been part of the Russian partition of Poland. By the end of 1916, Germany wanted to annex almost 30,000 square kilometres of Polish territory. These lands were to be settled by ethnic Germans, while the Polish and Jewish population was to be removed. Such plans were also proposed by members of the German minority in Poland in the Łódź area, who protested the Act of 5th November, and in a letter to the German government demanded the annexation of western Poland by Germany and settlement of ethnic Germans in those areas. German candidates for the throne were disputed between the royal houses of Saxony, Württemberg and Bavaria. Bavaria demanded that their Prince Leopold, the Supreme Commander of the German forces on the Eastern front, become the new monarch. An alternative candidate was the then King of Bavaria himself, Ludwig III. The claim of the Saxon House of Wettin's candidate Friedrich Christian, was based on three previous Saxon rulers - Electors Augustus the Strong and Frederick Augustus II and King Frederick Augustus I of Saxony - having ruled over Poland before. Candidates from smaller German houses were proposed; Hans Heinrich XV von Hochberg, Prince of Pless Austria-Hungary : Austria-Hungary allowed the formation of a Polish quasi-government, the Supreme National Committee, and had three different ideas regarding Poland. One, the "Austro-Polish Solution", involved the creation of a Polish kingdom under the Emperor of Austria, who, among his other titles, was already King of Galicia and Lodomeria. German and Magyar (Hungarian) elements within the Habsburg monarchy opposed such a move for fear of creating a predominantly Slavic area. In contrast to Emperor Francis Joseph, Charles I of Austria, who had acceded to the Habsburg thrones in 1916, promoted the idea. Charles was supported by Archduke Wilhelm of Austria, who also backed another Austro-Slavist idea, that of creating an autonomous Grand Duchy of Ukraine within the Habsburg monarchy to counter the German project of Mitteleuropa. The other two ideas involved the division of former Congress Poland between Germany and Austria-Hungary, or between Austria-Hungary and a state built from Lithuania, Belarus and the remnants of Congress Poland to create a new version of the dissolved Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. According to Polish historian Janusz Pajewski, "the Austrians had underestimated Germany's desire to determine Poland's fate". They did recognise, according to Prime Minister Karl von Stürgkh, that "Poles will remain Poles [...] even 150 years after Galicia was joined to Austria, Poles still didn't become Austrians". Of the candidates for the new Polish throne, Archduke Charles Stephen of Austria () and his son Charles Albert were early contenders. Both resided in the Galician town of Saybusch (now Żywiec) and spoke Polish fluently. Charles Stephen's daughters were married to the Polish aristocrats Princes Olgierd of Czartoryski and Hieronim Mikołaj Radziwill. By early 1916, the "Austro-Polish Solution" had become hypothetical. Erich von Falkenhayn, the German Chief of the General Staff, had rejected it in January, followed by Bethmann Hollweg in February. Bethmann Hollweg had been willing to see an Austrian candidate on the new Polish throne, so long as Germany retained control over the Polish economy, resources and army. During the first year of the war, German and Austrian troops quickly conquered Russian Vistula Land, former Congress Poland, and in 1915 divided its administration between a German Governor General in Warsaw and an Austrian counterpart in Lublin. Candidates also came from the Polish aristocracy itself, namely Zdzisław Lubomirski, member of the Regency Council, Janusz Franciszek Radziwiłł. and even Josef Pilsudski himself. == Preparations for Polish statehood ==

Proclamation of two Emperors promising a Polish state (first from left) and Kuk (second from left) in 1916 After the German offensive failed in the Battle of Verdun and Austria suffered military setbacks against Italy, Generals Hindenburg and Ludendorff, now supreme commanders of the German military and increasingly the dominant force over the politics of both Germany and Austria, changed their positions on Poland: having previously considered Poland as a bargaining card in the event of a separate peace with Russia, they now postulated the establishment of a German dependency, hoping that the creation of a Polish army could replace the Central Powers' losses. In October 1916, at joint deliberations at Pszczyna, the German and Austrian leadership agreed to accelerate the proclamation promising the creation of a Polish state in the future. Although early plans called for an Austro-Polish solution, they were abandoned by the German Chancellor in February 1916 in the face of growing dependence of Austria-Hungary on Germany. A draft constitution was proposed in 1917. After the intermission of the Temporary Committee of the Provisional Council of State (), the Central Powers introduced a provisional constitution, the patent, on 12 September 1917. The patent devised a constitutional monarchy with a bicameral parliament but without ministerial responsibility. Only schools and courts were transferred to Polish authorities, but after Polish protests, the German minority was given a separate school system. Pending the election of a King of Poland, a Regency Council () was installed as a provisional government. On 18 September, the following members of the Council were named: Aleksander Kakowski, Archbishop of Warsaw; aristocrat Prince Zdzisław Lubomirski who had served as mayor of Warsaw in 1916–1917 and Józef Ostrowski, a landowner and formerly the leading Polish politician in the Russian Duma. West and North Late in 1917, the German supreme command had proposed annexing a "border strip" to Germany, a policy earlier suggested by a letter to the German government by members of Poland's German minority, settled around Łódź. Such plans were agreed to in principle by the German government in March 1918 and in April gained support in the Prussian House of Lords, but were strongly opposed by General Beseler in a report to Emperor Wilhelm. In July, Ludendorff specified his plans in a memorandum, proposing annexing a greatly enlarged "border strip" of 20,000 square kilometers. This approach resulted in the signing on 9 February of the initially secret First Treaty of Brest-Litovsk between the Central Powers and the new state of Ukraine, which ceded to the latter the province of Chełm separated from Congress Poland by Russia in 1913. When it became public, many in Poland regarded this as a "Fourth partition of Poland", prompting a "political general strike" in Warsaw on 14 February and the resignation of the Jan Kucharzewski administration later that month. Parts of the Polish auxiliary corps under Józef Haller protested by breaking through the Austro-Russian front line to Ukraine, where they united with Polish detachments which had left the Tsarist army. After a fierce battle with the German army at Kaniów in May, the remnants were interned, though Haller managed to escape to Moscow. The Regency Council sought admission to the negotiation regarding the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with the Bolshevik government during travels to Berlin and Vienna in early 1918 but only gained German Chancellor Georg von Hertling's promise to admit the Polish government in an advisory capacity. This, however, was refused by the Bolshevik representatives, who denied the Polish government any legitimacy. == Loss of control by Central Powers and transition to republic ==

After Germany's 1918 Spring Offensive had failed to win the war on the Western front, General Ludendorff in September proposed seeking peace based on the plan outlined by U.S. President Wilson in January 1918 in his Fourteen Points, which in regard to Poland demanded the creation of an "independent Polish state ... guaranteed by international covenant" with "free and secure access to the sea". On 3 October, the new German Chancellor, Prince Max of Baden, announced Germany's acceptance of Wilson's plan and immediate disestablishment of military administration in the countries occupied by Germany. Three days later, the Regency Council in Warsaw also adopted Wilson's proposals as the basis for creating a Polish state. On 23 October, the Regency Council installed the Świeżyński government, whom Beseler transferred the command over Polish forces (which by then included the Polish regiments of the Austro-Hungarian Army) to. On 4 November, the government was dismissed after an attempted coup d’état to depose the Regency Council, and was replaced by the provisional government of Władysław Wróblewski. However, another Polish government based in Lublin arose to challenge the Regency's authority: on 6 November, Ignacy Daszyński proclaimed the "Polish People's Republic" (Tymczasowy Rząd Ludowy Republiki Polskiej - literally: "Temporary People's Government of the Polish Republic"), with Daszyński himself (a Socialist politician and formerly a member of the Austrian parliament) as Prime Minister and Colonel Edward Rydz-Śmigły as a military commander. Moderates in Warsaw, who now hoped for a return of General Piłsudski, who was still held in custody at Magdeburg, repudiated Lublin's declaration of the deposition of the Regency to be deposed and its plans for radical social reforms. Already in October, the Regency Council had requested Piłsudski's release, and after negotiations through Harry Graf Kessler, the General was allowed to return to Warsaw, where he arrived on 10 November. The following day, Germany signed the armistice and German troops in Warsaw were disarmed as they refused to fire on Polish insurgents. On the same day, the Daszyński government ceded all authority to Piłsudski and resigned, while the Regency Council transferred to him its military authority. On 14 November, the Council ceded the remainder of its authority to Józef Piłsudski and voted itself out of existence. On the same day, Piłsudski had issued in turn a decree reappointing the [Daszyński] Government, in spite of the continued existence of the Wróblewski provisional government. On 16 November 1918, Piłsudski sent a radio telegram to "Mr President of the United States, the Royal English Government, the Government of the French Republic, the Royal Italian Government, the Imperial Japanese Government, the Government of the German Republic, as well as the governments of all the warring or neutral states", notifying them about the establishment of an independent Polish State, named in the telegram as the Polish Republic. On 17 November, both the newly designated prime minister, Daszyński and the provisional government of Wróblewski resigned in favour of the new Moraczewski government, finally ending the governmental diarchy. The transition to republican government was formally completed through the decree of 22 November 1918 on the supreme representational authority of the Polish Republic, which stipulated the assumption by Piłsudski of the interim office of chief of state. == See also ==