The year 1918 was a breakthrough for Poland. The WWI defeat of the empires that had partitioned the Polish state offered the opportunity to rebuild it after 123 years of Prussian, Austrian and Russian occupation. However, its shape was to be determined by several military conflicts, as well as diplomatic negotiations, primarily at the Versailles Conference.
Greater Poland was of exceptional importance to Poland. It was densely populated, economically well-developed, and boasted an important urban and academic center, the city of Poznań. The Germans, however, did not want to give it up, despite their defeat in WWI. It meant the land would have to be liberated by force.
The breakthrough happened on 26 December 1918, when Ignacy Paderewski, prominent Polish pianist and politician, arrived in Poznań, and from his hotel window gave a passionate speech to the assembled crowds. The next day, German troops marched through the city, but that show of force provoked a reply from the Polish population, joined by the People's Guard and the Polish Military Organization. Individual units were quickly brought under a single command, then formed into the Greater Poland Army, with General Józef Dowbor-Muśnicki at its head.
Having captured the most important locations in Poznań, the insurgents went about liberating the surrounding towns. The fighting subsided on 16 February 1919, with the agreement extending the ceasefire between the Entente states and Germany, and applied to Greater Poland too. The uprising influenced the outcome of the Treaty of Versailles, getting the Poles everything they’d won and more, such as the cities of Bydgoszcz or Leszno, as well as so-called "Polish corridor," which meant access to the Baltic Sea.
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The Greater Poland Uprising is one of the most important events in the history of Greater Poland. It also became an element of the patriotic tradition of the inhabitants of this region. 🔎 View our collected content on our website. 👉 https://bit.ly/3juUrvU
The Greater Poland Uprising has been analyzed mostly in terms of its battles, however, all events and phenomena throughout history are merely links in a never-ending chain of events.
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