The Regency Council: Ostrowski, Kakowski, Lubomirski The Regency Council of the

Kingdom of Poland The Kingdom of Poland (; Latin: ''Regnum Poloniae'') was a monarchy in Central Europe during the Middle Ages, medieval period from 1025 until 1385. Background The West Slavs, West Slavic tribe of Polans (western), Polans who lived in what i ...

() was a semi-independent and temporarily appointed highest authority (head of state) in partitioned Poland during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. It was formed by

Imperial Germany The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...

and

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

within historically Polish lands in September 1917 after dissolution of the previous authority – Provisional Council of State (January – August 1917), due to the

oath crisis The Oath crisis (; German language, German: ''Eidkrise'') was a World War I political conflict between the Imperial German Army command and the Józef Piłsudski-led Polish Legions in World War I, Polish Legions. Initially supporting the Central P ...

. The council was supposed to stay in office until the appointment of a new

monarch A monarch () is a head of stateWebster's II New College Dictionary. "Monarch". Houghton Mifflin. Boston. 2001. p. 707. Life tenure, for life or until abdication, and therefore the head of state of a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest ...

regent In a monarchy, a regent () is a person appointed to govern a state because the actual monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge their powers and duties, or the throne is vacant and a new monarch has not yet been dete ...

. On 7 October 1918, the Regency Council declared the independence of Poland. That same month, the council took over the command of the '' Polska Siła Zbrojna'' armed forces.

History

The members of the Regency Council included: Cardinal Aleksander Kakowski,

archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

; Prince Zdzisław Lubomirski, president (

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

) of Warsaw; and landowner Józef Ostrowski, conservative politician, former chairman of the Polish Club in the

Duma A duma () is a Russian assembly with advisory or legislative functions. The term ''boyar duma'' is used to refer to advisory councils in Russia from the 10th to 17th centuries. Starting in the 18th century, city dumas were formed across Russia ...

in St. Petersburg. Together with the State Council and other branches of the government, the Regency Council exercised limited administrative powers, mainly in education and justice. In spite of this, Council made some crucial decisions, like creation of ''

Dziennik Ustaw ''Dziennik Ustaw'' () or ''Dziennik Ustaw Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej'' (, abbreviated Dz. U.) is the most important Polish publication of legal acts. It is the only official source of law for promulgation of Polish laws. The publication of this j ...

-'' most important Polish publication of legal acts, still functioning. On 7 October 1918, the council declared the independence of Poland from Germany and Austria-Hungary. On 11 November, it transferred its military authority, and on 14 November the rest of its authority, to

Józef Piłsudski Józef Klemens Piłsudski (; 5 December 1867 – 12 May 1935) was a Polish statesman who served as the Chief of State (Poland), Chief of State (1918–1922) and first Marshal of Poland (from 1920). In the aftermath of World War I, he beca ...

, which led to dissolution of council the same day. Piłsudski served from 22 November as temporary chief of state of the newly independent Polish state.

Prime Ministers

* Jan Kucharzewski (November 26, 1917 – February 27, 1918) * Antoni Ponikowski (February 27 – April 3, 1918) * Jan Kanty Steczkowski (April 4 – October 23, 1918) *

Józef Świeżyński Józef Świeżyński (; 19 April 1868 – 12 February 1948) was the prime minister of the Kingdom of Poland (1916–1918), Kingdom of Poland for a short time — from 23 October 1918 to 4 November 1918. Citations

1868 births 194 ...

(October 23 – November 5, 1918) * Władysław Wróblewski (November 5–11, 1918)

History

Prime Ministers

References

Further reading