May Coup (Poland)
| The May Coup d'Etat, Przewrót majowy (1926) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| File:Przewrot majowy.jpg A cannon on Warsaw street during the Polish May Coup d'Etat, May 1926 | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
| Sanacja loyal army | Government loyal army | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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Marshal Józef Piłsudski Bolesław Wieniawa-Długoszowski |
President Stanisław Wojciechowski Prime Minister Wincenty Witos | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 12,000 | 6,000-8,000 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
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Military killed: 215 Civilian killed: 164 Military and civilian wounded: 920 Total: 1299 | |||||||
The May Coup d'Etat (Polish: Przewrót majowy or zamach majowy) was a coup d'état successfully carried out in Poland by Józef Piłsudski, between May 12, and May 14, 1926. The coup overthrew the government of President Stanisław Wojciechowski and Prime Minister Wincenty Witos, with a new government headed by the Lwów Polytechnic Professor, Kazimierz Bartel, and the Sanacja political movement.
At first, Piłsudski was offered the Presidency, but declined in favour of Ignacy Mościcki. Piłsudski, however, remained the most influential politician in Poland, and in fact became its dictator.
Buildup to the Coup
In November 1925, the government of Prime Minister Władysław Grabski was replaced by the government of Prime Minister Aleksander Skrzyński, which had received support from the National Democratic Party (Narodowa Demokracja or endecja) and the Polish Socialist Party (Polska Partia Socjalityczna, PPS). General Lucjan Żeligowski became the Minister of Military Affairs of the new government. However, after the PPS withdrew its support, this government also fell and was replaced by that of Prime Minister Wincenty Witos, formed by PSL Piast and Chrześcijański Związek Jedności Narodowej (Chjeno-Piast). However, the new government had even less popular support than the previous ones, and the rhetoric from the far Rightist Parties supported by Józef Piłsudski, who viewed the constant power shifts in the Sejm (Polish Parliament) as extremely chaotic and damaging, set the stage for a coup d'etat.
In addition to the domestic turmoil, Polish politics had been shaken up by the trade war with Germany, started in June 1925, and by the signing of the Treaty of Locarno on October 16th. Under the terms of the treaty, the World War I Western European Allied powers and the new states of central and Eastern Europe sought to secure the post-war territorial settlement, in return for normalising relations with defeated Germany.
The coup d'état
On 10 May 1926, the government of Chjeno-Piast was formed, and on the same day Józef Piłsudski, in an interview with Kurier Poranny newspaper, said that he was ..ready to fight the evil (of Sejmocracy) and promised a sanitation (a play on words based on the Sanacja movement) of the political life. The newspaper edition was confiscated.
On the night of 11 May to 12 May a state of alert was declared in the Warsaw military garrison, and some units marched to Rembertów, where they pledged themselves to Piłsudski's command. On 12 May they marched on the capital and captured bridges over the Vistula. In the meantime, the legal government of Wincenty Witos declared a state of emergency.
At about 17h00 on the Poniatowski bridge, Marshal Piłsudski met president Stanisław Wojciechowski. Piłsudski demanded resignation of the Witos cabinet, while the president demanded Piłsudski's capitulation. With no result in this round of negotiations, fighting erupted around 19h00. The next day, a new round of negotiations was started with the mediation of archbishop Aleksander Kakowski and Marshall of the Sejm Maciej Rataj; however, they brought no change to the stalemate. On 14 May, the PPS declared their support for the rebels and called for a general strike, supported by the Railwaymen's Trade Union (Związek Zawodowy Kolejarzy). This strike significantly delayed the movement of the armed forces loyal to the government. Eventually Wojciechowski and Witos decided to resign in order to prevent the Warsaw fighting from turning into a country-wide civil war.
215 soldiers and 164 civilians were killed during those events, and approximately 900 people were wounded.
A new government led by prime minister Kazimierz Bartel was formed, and Piłsudski became the Minister of Military Affairs in that government. On 31 May Zgromadzenie Narodowe nominated Piłsudski for the presidency, but he declined the offer. Eventually Ignacy Mościcki became the new president; however, Piłsudski wielded unofficial power much larger than his single Ministry legally gave him.
Aftermath
Piłsudski initiated Sanacja government (1926-1939) — conducted at times by authoritarian means — directed at restoring moral "health" to public life. Although until his death in 1935, he played a preponderant role in Poland's government, his formal offices — apart from two stints as prime minister in 1926-28 and 1930 — were for the most part limited to those of minister of defense and inspector-general of the armed forces. The adoption of a new Polish constitution in April 1935 (the April Constitution), tailored by Piłsudski's supporters to his specifications — providing for a strong presidency — came too late for Piłsudski to seek that office. But the April Constitution would serve Poland until the outbreak of World War II and would carry its Government in Exile through to the end of the war and beyond.
External links
Further reading
- Joseph Rothschild, Pilsudski's Coup D'Etat, Columbia University Press, 1967, ISBN 0-231-02984-5.