Piłsudski, Józef, << peel SOOT skee, YOO zehf >> (1867-1935), a Polish patriot, led a movement to liberate Poland from Russia and helped unite his country. Piłsudski was Poland’s first head of state and military commander in chief after the country achieved independence in 1918.
Józef Klemens Piłsudski was born on Dec. 5, 1867, near Vilnius , which is now in Lithuania . He became politically active in his youth. In 1887, he was falsely accused of plotting to kill Russian Czar Alexander III and exiled to Siberia . After his release in 1892, he joined the new Polish Socialist Party. In 1894, Piłsudski became editor of the party’s illegal newspaper Robotnik (The Worker). The Russians arrested him again in 1900. After pretending to be insane, he was sent to an asylum in Saint Petersburg . He escaped in 1901 and returned to Russian Poland.
For several years, Piłsudski continued to undermine Russian authority and push for Polish independence. During World War I (1914-1918), he fought with the Polish Legions (allied with Germany and Austria-Hungary ) against Russia. In 1917, however, insisting the legions represented an independent Poland, he refused to take an oath of loyalty to the German and Austrian armies. Piłsudski was arrested and imprisoned until the end of the war.
After the collapse of Germany and Austria-Hungary, Piłsudski became a national hero and headed the Polish provisional government. Later, as chief of state and military commander in chief, he led an armed struggle against Russia to establish Poland’s borders.
Poland’s new democratic constitution of 1921 provided for a weak presidency. Piłsudski refused to run for the office. He withdrew from politics, and he resigned as head of the military in 1923. However, in 1926, he led a military overthrow of the government. From then until his death, Piłsudski effectively controlled the Polish government. He died in Warsaw , the Polish capital, on May 12, 1935.
