May coup

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Note - Richard Lenzen ( discussion ) 3:52 p.m., 23 Jan. 2018 (CET)

The May Coup (Pol. Majowy Przewrót even Zamach majowy ) is the name of the coup of Marshal Jozef Pilsudski from 12. bis 15. May 1926 in Poland .

causes

After the second Władysław Grabski government was overthrown in November 1925 and the Aleksander Skrzyński government coalition ( Endecja , Chadecja , the NPR , the PSL “Piast” and the PPS ) could not agree on economic issues , one came after fierce debate a government came about without the PPS under Wincenty Witos , which, however, found no support from the population. The German-Polish tariff war, which had been going on since July 1925, and the economic problems associated with it also contributed to the coup.

course

On the night of May 11-12, 1926, the Warsaw garrison was alerted. Part of the garrison moved to Rembertów and placed themselves under Marshal Piłsudski's command. On May 12, these units took control of the Warsaw bridges while the incumbent government of Wincenty Witos declared a state of emergency . Around 5 p.m. that day , talks between Piłsudski and President Stanisław Wojciechowski took place at the Poniatowski Bridge , which were broken off after about two hours without any result. Then began the first fighting between the two camps, which lasted until May 15, despite the mediation attempts of Archbishop Aleksander Kakowski and Sejm Marshal Maciej Rataj . On May 14, the PPS sided with the coup and called for a general strike . Where the rail union joined what the strategic situation significantly influenced since then the pro-government troops in the provinces Wielkopolska and Silesia were prevented from combat. In view of the impending civil war , Wojciechowski and Witos finally gave in and resigned from their offices. The coup took the lives of 215 soldiers and 164 civilians and left around 900 injured on both sides. The number of 379 victims officially stated by the committee working under the leadership of General Żeligowski , however, did not take into account those seriously injured who died after May 14, 1926. The number of fatalities grew to 410 people by May 27.

After the coup, Piłsudski's confidante Kazimierz Bartel became the new prime minister , while Piłsudski himself, who had been Poland's head of state ( Naczelnik Państwa ) from 1918 to 1922 , contented himself with the post of defense minister . On May 31, he was, however, by the National Assembly also elected president , but the choice did not accept and recommended Ignacy Moscicki , who then became president and remained so until the 1939th

Józef Piłsudski and Gustaw Orlicz-Dreszer on the Poniatowski Bridge

Coup supporters

Government loyal forces

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Hansjakob Stehle : Dictator against his will. Poland under Pilsudski . In: Die Zeit , December 18, 1981.
  2. ↑ a b Sławomir Zagórski: Ilu zabitych ma na sumieniu Józef Piłsudski. In: TwojaHistoria.pl; accessed on October 12, 2019 (Polish).