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

Kingdom of Poland The Kingdom of Poland ( pl, Królestwo Polskie; Latin: ''Regnum Poloniae'') was a state in Central Europe. It may refer to: Historical political entities * Kingdom of Poland, a kingdom existing from 1025 to 1031 * Kingdom of Poland, a kingdom exi ...

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

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. It was formed by

Imperial Germany The German Empire (), Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditar ...

and

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

within historically Polish lands around September 1917. 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 DictionarMonarch 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 authority ...

regent A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state ''pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy, ...

. 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 of

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is official ...

; Prince Zdzisław Lubomirski, president (

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a 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 responsibilities of a mayor as well as ...

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

Duma A duma (russian: дума) 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 f ...

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

. Together with the State Council and other branches of the government, the Regency Council exercised limited administrative powers, mainly in education and justice. On 7 October 1918, the council declared the independence of Poland from Germany. On 14 November, it transferred all of its authority to

Józef Piłsudski Józef Klemens Piłsudski (; 5 December 1867 – 12 May 1935) was a Polish statesman who served as the Naczelnik państwa, Chief of State (1918–1922) and Marshal of Poland, First Marshal of Second Polish Republic, Poland (from 1920). He was ...

, who served from 22 November as temporary

chief of state A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona who officially embodies a state Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representatitve of its international persona." in its unity and l ...

of the newly independent Polish state.

Prime Ministers

Jan Kucharzewski Jan Kucharzewski (; 27 May 1876 in Wysokie Mazowieckie – 4 July 1952) was a Polish historian, lawyer, and politician. He was the prime minister of Poland from 1917 to 1918. In 1898 he graduated from Warsaw University. He was a member of the ' ...

(November 26, 1917 – February 27, 1918) * Antoni Ponikowski (February 27 – April 3, 1918) * Jan Kanty Steczkowski (April 4 – October 23, 1918) * Józef Świeżyński (October 23 – November 5, 1918) * Władysław Wróblewski (November 5–11, 1918)

References

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History

Prime Ministers

References

Further reading