Poland before Sept, 1939

Discussions on all aspects of Poland during the Second Polish Republic and the Second World War. Hosted by Piotr Kapuscinski.
Post Reply
User avatar
Leonardo
Member
Posts: 34
Joined: 11 Nov 2002, 13:52
Location: Colorado Springs, USA

Poland before Sept, 1939

#1

Post by Leonardo » 02 May 2003, 17:04

What was the government of Poland in 1939?

Was is a military dictatorship?
Was it a democracy?

Who was the head of state?

How did the polish government react to German bellligerance in the summer of 1939?

I realized the other day, that I have never found out about this stuff. Poland right before the war seems to be given only a cursory treatment by historians.

User avatar
Blitzkreig
Member
Posts: 152
Joined: 11 Apr 2003, 16:23
Location: Syracuse. New York

#2

Post by Blitzkreig » 02 May 2003, 17:31

Poland, before World War two, was a republic, sort of like a democracy, sort of not. They had a prime minister, and a bunch of high ranking officals who later fled to england after the occupation of poland and set up the poland government in exile group. A good website would be http://www.polandsholocost.com....sry if the url is wrong...just in school right now and am hurried to respond....hope this helps :)
Brian


Karl da Kraut
Member
Posts: 341
Joined: 16 Sep 2002, 13:00
Location: Germany

#3

Post by Karl da Kraut » 02 May 2003, 17:37

Since Marshal Pilsudski's coup d'etat in 1926 Poland can be considered a de facto dictatorship, although the constitution was de iure preserved. In Poland, a law was passed pretty similar to the German "Ermächtigungsgesetz" (3/23/1933), which allowed the State President to enact decrees with legal force. When Pilsudski died in 1935, AFAIK Marshal Rydz-Smigly became head of state. Since the influence of the armed forces increased highly after Pilsudski's death, I think you could call the late 30ies Poland a military dictatorship.

Poland reacted to the increasing German diplomatic pressure in 1938/39 by intensifying her contacts to the Western powers. Successes were the British guarantee for Polish sovereignity (3/31/39) and the British-Polish pact of mutual assistance (8/25/39). Hitler, however, underestimated the British resoluteness concerning Poland.

User avatar
Zapfenstreich
Member
Posts: 630
Joined: 10 Mar 2002, 20:58
Location: The Old Northwest Territory

Poland

#4

Post by Zapfenstreich » 02 May 2003, 18:00

Did you guys know that back before the Hitler era and not too long after WWI Poland tried to get France to join them in a two pronged attack against Germany? Poland would invade from the east and France would invade from the west.

The French had had enough war to satisfy them and said "No!".

They had a rather nice display re this at the US Air Force Museum. Don't know if it's still there. Political correctness and that sort of thing, don't you know.

Z

Post Reply

Return to “Poland 1919-1945”