View source for Second Polish Republic

{{Short description|Country in Central and Eastern Europe (1918–1939)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}}
{{Infobox country
| conventional_long_name = Republic of Poland
| native_name            = {{native name|pl|Rzeczpospolita Polska}}
| p1                     = Kingdom of Poland (1917–1918){{!}}Kingdom of Poland
| flag_p1                = Flag of Poland.svg
| s1                     = Military Administration in Poland
| flag_s1                = War Ensign of Germany (1938–1945).svg
| flag_s2                = Flag of the Soviet Union (1936–1955, gold star).svg
| s2                     = Soviet Union
| s3                     = Slovak Republic (1939–1945){{!}}Slovak Republic
| flag_s3                = Flag of First Slovak Republic 1939-1945.svg
| s4                     = Republic of Lithuania (1918–1940){{!}}Republic of Lithuania
| flag_s4                = Flag of Lithuania 1918-1940.svg
| s5                     = Polish government-in-exile
| flag_s5                = Flag of Poland (1928-1980).svg
| today                  = [[Poland]]<br />[[Belarus]]<br />[[Ukraine]]<br />[[Lithuania]]<br />[[Czech Republic]]<br /> [[Slovakia]]
| flag_s7                = Flaga PPP.svg
| image_flag             = Flag of Poland (1928–1980).svg
| flag_type              = [[Flag of Poland|Flag]]<br />(1928–1939)
| symbol_type            = [[Coat of arms of Poland|Coat of arms]]<br />(1928–1939)
| image_coat             = Coat of arms of Poland (1928–1939).svg
| national_anthem        = {{lang|pl|[[Poland Is Not Yet Lost|Mazurek Dąbrowskiego]]}}<br />({{Langx|en|"Poland Is Not Yet Lost"}})<br />(1927–1939)<br />{{parabr}}{{center|[[File:Mazurek Dąbrowskiego (1939; instrumental).ogg]]}}
| image_map              = Poland 1930.svg
| image_map_caption      = The Second Polish Republic in 1930
| image_map2             = PolishRepublicAdminMap1930.png
| map_caption2           = Administrative divisions of the Second Polish Republic in 1930
| capital                = [[Warsaw]]<br />{{coord|52|13|48|N|21|00|40|E|region:PL|display=inline,title}}
| largest_city           = capital
| official_languages     = [[Polish language|Polish]]
| languages_type         = Recognized regional languages
| languages              = {{Collapsible list | {{nowrap|[[German language|German]] (since 1920){{efn|In [[Silesian Voivodeship (1920–1939)|Silesian Voivodeship]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://isap.sejm.gov.pl/isap.nsf/DocDetails.xsp?id=WDU19200730497 |title=''Ustawa Konstytucyjna z dnia 15 lipca 1920 r. zawierająca statut organiczny Województwa Śląskiego'' (Dz.U. z 1920 r. nr 73, poz. 497). |access-date=18 December 2021 |archive-date=18 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211218225301/http://isap.sejm.gov.pl/isap.nsf/DocDetails.xsp?id=WDU19200730497 |url-status=live }}</ref>}}<br />[[Belarusian language|Belarusian]] (since 1924){{efn|In [[Nowogródek Voivodeship (1919–1939)|Nowogródek]], [[Polesie Voivodeship|Polesie]], and [[Wilno Voivodeship (1926–1939)|Wilno Voivodeships]] (until 1926 [[Wilno Land]]) as well as in parts of the [[Białystok Voivodeship (1919–1939)|Białystok Voivodeship]] ([[Grodno County (1919–1939)|Grodno]] and [[Wołkowysk County|Wołkowysk Counties]]).<ref name=reglang>{{Cite web |url=http://isap.sejm.gov.pl/isap.nsf/DocDetails.xsp?id=WDU19240730724 |title=Ustawa z dnia 31 lipca 1924 r. o języku państwowym i języku urzędowania rządowych i samorządowych władz administracyjnych (Dz.U. z 1924 r. nr 73, poz. 724). |access-date=18 December 2021 |archive-date=18 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211218225300/http://isap.sejm.gov.pl/isap.nsf/DocDetails.xsp?id=WDU19240730724 |url-status=live }}</ref>}}<br />[[Lithuanian language|Lithuanian]] (since 1924){{efn|In the part of [[Wilno Voivodeship (1926–1939)|Wilno Voivodeship]] (until 1926 [[Wilno Land]]), in [[Święciany County]], and several municipilaties of the [[Wilno-Troki County]].<ref name=reglang/>}}<br />[[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]] (since 1924){{efn|In [[Lwów Voivodeship|Lwów]], [[Polesie Voivodeship|Polesian]], [[Stanisławów Voivodeship|Stanisławów]], [[Tarnopol Voivodeship|Tarnopol]], and [[Wołyń Voivodeship (1921–1939)|Volhynian Voivodeships]].<ref name=reglang/>}}}}}}
| common_languages       = 
| religion               = '''Majority:'''<br />
{{Tree list}}
* 75.3% [[Catholic Church in Poland|Catholicism]]
** 64.8% [[Latin Church|Roman Catholic]]
** 10.5% [[Eastern Catholic Churches|Greek Catholic]]
{{Tree list end}}
{{show|Minorities:|11.8% [[Eastern Orthodox]]<br />9.8% [[History of the Jews in Poland|Jewish]]<br />2.6% [[Protestantism in Poland|Protestant]]<br />0.5% Other Christian<br />''0.02% Other''|style=font-size:100%;padding:0.25em 0 0; |headerstyle=text-align:left;font-weight:normal;}}
| government_type        = '''1918–1926:'''<br>Unitary [[Parliamentary system|parliamentary republic]]<br>'''1926–1939:'''<br> Unitary [[Semi-presidential system|semi-presidential republic]]
* under an [[Authoritarianism|authoritarian]] dictatorship {{small|(1928–1939)}}
| religion_year          = 1931
| era                    = [[Interwar period]] • [[World War II]]
| title_leader           = [[List of heads of state of Poland|President]]
| leader1                = [[Józef Piłsudski]]{{efn|As the [[Naczelnik Państwa|Chief of State]].}}
| year_leader1           = 1918–1922
| leader2                = [[Gabriel Narutowicz]]
| year_leader2           = 1922
| leader3                = {{nowrap|[[Stanisław Wojciechowski]]}}
| year_leader3           = 1922–1926
| leader4                = [[Ignacy Mościcki]]
| year_leader4           = 1926–1939
| title_deputy           = [[List of Prime Ministers of Poland|Prime Minister]]
| deputy1                = [[Jędrzej Moraczewski]]
| year_deputy1           = 1918–1919 (first)
| deputy2                = {{nowrap|[[Felicjan Sławoj Składkowski|Felicjan S. Składkowski]]}}
| year_deputy2           = 1936–1939 (last)
| legislature            = [[Parliament of Poland|Parliament]]
| house1                 = [[Senate of the Republic of Poland|Senate]]
| type_house1            = Upper chamber
| house2                 = [[Sejm]]
| type_house2            = Lower chamber
| life_span              = 1918–1939
| established_event1     = End of the [[First World War]]
| established_date1      = 11 November 1918
| established_event2     = {{nowrap|[[Treaty of Versailles]]}}
| established_date2      = 28 June 1919
| established_event3     = {{nowrap|[[Peace of Riga]]}}
| established_date3      = 18 March 1921
| established_event4     = [[May Coup (Poland)|Sanation coup d'état]]
| established_date4      = 12–14 May 1926
| established_event5     = {{nowrap|[[Invasion of Poland|German invasion]]}}
| established_date5      = 1 September 1939
| established_event6     = [[Soviet invasion of Poland|Soviet invasion]]
| established_date6      = 17 September 1939
| established_event7     = [[Siege of Warsaw (1939)|Fall of Warsaw]]
| established_date7      = 28 September 1939
| established_event8     = {{nowrap|[[Battle of Kock (1939)|Complete occupation]]}}
| established_date8      = 6 October 1939
| area_km2               = 388,634
| stat_year1             = 1921
| stat_pop1              = 25,694,700<ref name="gus1921">{{cite book | url=http://statlibr.stat.gov.pl/exlibris/aleph/a22_1/apache_media/81QB7CFELH8SBCE3HAX9HCEJA8X337.pdf | trans-title=Ludność według wyznania religijnego i narodowości |title=Population of Poland according to religious denominations and nationality | publisher=GUS | work=First National Census of 30 September 1921 | date=1927 |location=Warszawa | access-date=14 October 2015 | author=Central Statistical Office of the Polish Republic | at=page 80/109 in PDF, page 56 in census results: Table XI. }}</ref>
| stat_year2             = 1931
| stat_pop2              = 31,915,779<ref name="Polish Census 1931">{{cite web|url=http://statlibr.stat.gov.pl/exlibris/aleph/a18_1/apache_media/VUNVGMLANSCQQFGYHCN3VDLK12A9U5.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140317212240/http://statlibr.stat.gov.pl/exlibris/aleph/a18_1/apache_media/VUNVGMLANSCQQFGYHCN3VDLK12A9U5.pdf|archive-date=17 March 2014|title=Główny Urząd Statystyczny Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej, drugi powszechny spis ludności z dn. 9.XII 1931 r. - Mieszkania i gospodarstwa domowe ludność|trans-title=Central Statistical Office the Polish Republic, the second census dated 9.XII 1931 - Abodes and household populace|language=pl|publisher=Central Statistical office of the Polish Republic|year=1938|format=PDF, direct download, table: page 30}}</ref>
| currency               = {{nowrap|[[Polish marka|Marka]] (until 1924)<br />[[Polish złoty|Złoty]] (after 1924)}}
| demonym                = [[Polish people|Polish]], [[Polish people|Pole]]
}}
{{Campaignbox Establishment of Second Polish Republic}}

The '''Second Polish Republic''',{{efn|{{langx|pl|II Rzeczpospolita}}, {{lang|pl|Druga Rzeczpospolita}}, [[Abbreviation|abbr.]]: II RP}} at the time officially known as the '''Republic of Poland''',{{efn|{{Bulleted list|{{langx|pl|Rzeczpospolita Polska|lit=Commonwealth [of] Poland}}, {{abbr.}} RP|{{langx|be|Польская Рэспубліка|Polskaja Respublika}}|{{langx|de|Republik Polen}}|{{langx|lt|Lenkijos Respublika}}|{{langx|uk|Польська Республіка|Pol's'ka Respublika}}}}}} was a country in [[Central and Eastern Europe]] that existed between 7 October 1918 and 6 October 1939 after being established in the final stage of [[World War I]]. The Second Republic was taken over in 1939, after it [[Invasion of Poland|was invaded]] by [[Nazi Germany]], the [[Soviet invasion of Poland|Soviet Union]], and the [[Slovak invasion of Poland|Slovak Republic]], marking the beginning of the [[European theatre of World War II|European theatre of the Second World War]]. The [[Polish government-in-exile]] was established in [[Paris]] and later [[London]] after the [[Battle of France|fall of France]] in 1940.

When, after several regional conflicts, most importantly the victorious [[Polish-Soviet war]], the borders of the state were finalized in 1922, Poland's neighbours were [[Czechoslovakia]], [[Weimar Republic|Germany]], the [[Free City of Danzig]], [[Lithuania]], [[Latvia]], [[Kingdom of Romania|Romania]], and the [[Soviet Union]]. It had access to the [[Baltic Sea]] via a short strip of coastline known as the [[Polish Corridor]] on either side of the city of [[Gdynia]]. Between March and August 1939, Poland also shared a border with the then-[[Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946)|Hungarian]] governorate of [[Carpathian Ruthenia during World War II|Subcarpathia]]. In 1938, the Second Republic was the sixth largest country in Europe. According to the [[Polish census of 1921|1921 census]], the number of inhabitants was 25.7 million. By 1939, just before the outbreak of World War II, this had grown to an estimated 35.1 million. Almost a third of the population came from [[minority group]]s: 13.9% [[Ukrainians]]; 10% [[Ashkenazi Jews]]; 3.1% [[Belarusians]]; 2.3% [[Germans]] and 3.4% [[Czechs]] and [[Lithuanians]]. At the same time, a significant number of ethnic Poles lived outside the country's borders.

The Second Republic maintained moderate economic development. The cultural hubs of interwar Poland{{spaced ndash}}[[Warsaw]], [[Kraków]], [[Poznań]], [[Vilnius|Wilno]], and [[Lviv|Lwów]]{{spaced ndash}}became major European cities and the sites of internationally acclaimed universities and other institutions of higher education. Although Polish Jews were some of the biggest supporters of Second Republic leader [[Józef Piłsudski]], even after he returned to politics and [[May Coup (Poland)|staged a coup in 1926]], after his death in 1935 [[Piłsudski's colonels|Pilsudskites]] ruling the Republic began to openly discriminate against its Jewish (and, to a lesser extent, its Ukrainian and Belarusian) citizens, restricting Jewish entry into professions and placing limitations on Jewish businesses.<ref name="Snyder"/><ref name="journals.uchicago.edu">{{Cite journal |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/600769?journalCode=jmh |title=Hagen, William W. "Before the" final solution": Toward a comparative analysis of political anti-Semitism in interwar Germany and Poland." The Journal of Modern History 68.2 (1996): 351-381. |journal=The Journal of Modern History |date=June 1996 |volume=68 |issue=2 |pages=351–381 |doi=10.1086/600769 |s2cid=153790671 |access-date=27 May 2019 |archive-date=8 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200108090550/https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/600769?journalCode=jmh |url-status=live |last1=Hagen |first1=William W. |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name="Skalmowski">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wp1R2srxDGEC&q=ukrainophobia+poland&pg=PA54 |title=For East is East: Liber Amicorum Wojciech Skalmowski |first=Wojciech |last=Skalmowski |date=8 July 2003 |publisher=Peeters Publishers |via=Google Books |isbn=978-90-429-1298-4 |access-date=29 July 2021 |archive-date=29 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210729050712/https://books.google.com/books?id=Wp1R2srxDGEC&q=ukrainophobia+poland&pg=PA54 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="The Polish Review">{{Cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1XBpAAAAMAAJ&q=ukrainophobia+poland |title=The Polish Review |date=8 July 2001 |publisher=Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences in America. |via=Google Books |access-date=29 August 2020 |archive-date=29 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210729050713/https://books.google.com/books?id=1XBpAAAAMAAJ&q=ukrainophobia+poland |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Name==
The official name of the state was the ''Republic of Poland''. In the [[Polish language]], it was referred to as ''Rzeczpospolita Polska'' ([[Abbreviation|abbr.]] ''RP''), with the term ''[[Rzeczpospolita]]'' being a traditional name for the ''republic'' when referring to various [[Polish people|Polish]] states, including the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]] (considered to be the First Polish Republic, ''Pierwsza Rzeczpospolita''), and later, the current [[History of Poland (1989–present)|Third Polish Republic]]. In other regionally-used official languages, the state was referred to as: ''Republik Polen'' in [[German language|German]], ''Польська Республіка'' ([[Romanization of Ukrainian|transcription]]: ''Polʹsʹka Respublika'') in [[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]], ''Польская Рэспубліка'' ([[Romanization of Belarusian|transcription]]: ''Poĺskaja Respublika'') in [[Belarusian language|Belarusian]], and ''Lenkijos Respublika'', in [[Lithuanian language|Lithuanian]].

Between 14 November 1918<ref>[http://buwcd.buw.uw.edu.pl/e_zbiory/ckcp/monitor_pl/1918-11/11-203/imagepages/image1.htm ''Monitor Polski'', no. 203, 1918] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210917134246/http://buwcd.buw.uw.edu.pl/e_zbiory/ckcp/monitor_pl/1918-11/11-203/imagepages/image1.htm |date=17 September 2021 }}.</ref> and 13 March 1919,<ref>[http://buwcd.buw.uw.edu.pl/e_zbiory/ckcp/monitor_pl/1919-03/numer059/index.htm ''Monitor Polski'', no. 59, 1919] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180815013014/http://buwcd.buw.uw.edu.pl/e_zbiory/ckcp/monitor_pl/1919-03/numer059/index.htm |date=15 August 2018 }}.</ref> the state was referred to in [[Polish language|Polish]] as ''Republika Polska'', instead of ''Rzeczpospolita Polska''. Both terms mean the ''Republic''; however, ''republika'' is a general term, while ''Rzeczpospolita'' traditionally refers exclusively to Polish states. Additionally, between 8 November 1918 and 16 August 1919, the ''Journal of Laws of the State of Poland'' referred to the country as the ''State of Poland'' ([[Polish language|Polish]]: ''Państwo Polskie'').<ref>[http://isap.sejm.gov.pl/isap.nsf/DocDetails.xsp?id=WDU19190660400 Journal of Laws, no. 66, position 400] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210917134243/http://isap.sejm.gov.pl/isap.nsf/DocDetails.xsp?id=WDU19190660400 |date=17 September 2021 }}, 31 July 1919.</ref>

Following the end of the [[Second World War]], and the establishment of the later states of the [[Polish People's Republic]] and the [[History of Poland (1989–present)|Third Polish Republic]], the historical state is referred to as the ''Second Polish Republic''. In the Polish language, the country is traditionally referred to as ''II Rzeczpospolita'' (''Druga Rzeczpospolita''), which means the ''Second Republic''.

==Background==
{{see also|History of Poland (1918–1939)|Timeline of Polish history#The Second Polish Republic (1918–39)}}

After more than a [[Partitions of Poland|century of partitions]] between the [[Austrian Partition|Austrian]], the [[Prussian Partition|Prussian]], and the [[Russian Partition|Russian]] imperial powers, Poland re-emerged as a sovereign state at the end of the First World War in Europe in 1917–1918.<ref>Mieczysław Biskupski. ''The history of Poland''. [[Greenwood Publishing Group]]. 2000. p. 51. {{ISBN|0313305714}}</ref><ref name="Davies100">Norman Davies. ''Heart of Europe: The Past in Poland's Present''. [[Oxford University Press]]. 2001. pp. 100-101. {{ISBN|0192801260}}</ref><ref>Piotr S. Wandycz. ''The Lands of Partitioned Poland 1795-1918.'' [[University of Washington Press]]. 1974. p. 368. {{ISBN|0295953586}}</ref> The victorious [[Allies of World War I|Allies of the First World War]] confirmed the rebirth of Poland in the [[Treaty of Versailles]] of June 1919. It was one of the great stories of the [[Paris Peace Conference, 1919|1919 Paris Peace Conference]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=MacMillan |first1=Margaret |author-link1=Margaret MacMillan |chapter=17: Poland Reborn |title=Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EHzgiYw0kegC |location=New York |publisher=Random House |date=2007 |page=207 |isbn=978-0-307-43296-4 |quote=The rebirth of Poland was one of the great stories of the Paris Peace Conference. |access-date=14 September 2016 |archive-date=14 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414231459/https://books.google.com/books?id=EHzgiYw0kegC |url-status=live }}</ref> Poland solidified its independence in a series of border wars fought by the newly formed [[Polish Army]] from 1918 to 1921.<ref name="Davies"/> The extent of the eastern half of the interwar territory of Poland was settled diplomatically in 1922 and internationally recognised by the [[League of Nations]].<ref>[[Mieczysław B. Biskupski]]. ''The origins of modern Polish democracy''. [[Ohio University Press]]. 2010. p. 130.</ref><ref>Richard J. Crampton. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=82VuBwAAQBAJ Atlas of Eastern Europe in the Twentieth Century.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191216220214/https://books.google.com/books?id=82VuBwAAQBAJ |date=16 December 2019 }}'' Routledge. 1997. p. 101. {{ISBN|1317799518}}.</ref>

===End of the First World War===
Over the course of the [[First World War]] (1914–1918), the [[German Empire]] gradually dominated the [[Eastern Front (World War I)|Eastern Front]] as the [[Imperial Russian Army]] fell back. German and [[Austria-Hungary|Austro-Hungarian]] armies seized the [[Congress Poland|Russian-ruled part of what became Poland]]. In a failed attempt to resolve the [[Polish question]] as quickly as possible, Berlin set up the [[Puppet state|puppet]] [[Kingdom of Poland (1917–1918)|Kingdom of Poland]] on 14 January 1917, with a governing [[Provisional Council of State]] and (from 15 October 1917) a [[Regency Council (Poland)|Regency Council]] (''Rada Regencyjna Królestwa Polskiego''). The Council administered the country under German auspices (see also [[Mitteleuropa]]), pending [[Royal elections in Poland|the election of a king]]. More than a month before Germany surrendered on 11 November 1918 and the war ended, the Regency Council had dissolved the [[Provisional Council of State]] and announced its intention to restore Polish independence (7 October 1918).<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mutschlechner |first=Martin |title=The Poles in the First World War: a Nation as Football for the Great Powers |url=https://ww1.habsburger.net/en/chapters/poles-first-world-war-nation-football-great-powers |access-date=15 September 2024 |website=The World of the Habsburgs|date=6 June 2014 }}</ref> With the notable exception of the [[Marxism|Marxist]]-oriented [[Social Democratic Party of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania]] (''SDKPiL''), most Polish political parties supported this move. On 23 October the Regency Council appointed a new government under [[Józef Świeżyński]] and began conscription into the [[Polish Army]].<ref>Richard M. Watt, ''Bitter Glory: Poland and Its Fate, 1918–1939'' (1998)</ref>

===Formation of the Republic===
{{Polish statehood}}
[[File:Coat of arms of Poland2 1919-1927.svg|130px|left|thumb|Coat of arms of Poland (1919–1927)]]

In 1918–1919, over 100 [[Workers' Councils in Poland|workers' councils]] sprang up on Polish territories;<ref>{{cite web |url=http://encyklopedia.pwn.pl/haslo/Rady-Delegatow-Robotniczych-w-Polsce;3965576.html |title=Rady Delegatów Robotniczych w Polsce |publisher=Internetowa encyklopedia PWN |access-date=30 July 2015 |archive-date=5 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181005112619/http://encyklopedia.pwn.pl/haslo/Rady-Delegatow-Robotniczych-w-Polsce;3965576.html |url-status=live }}</ref> on 5 November 1918, in [[Lublin]], the first [[Soviet of Delegates]] was established. On 6 November socialists proclaimed the [[Republic of Tarnobrzeg]] at Tarnobrzeg in Austrian [[Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria|Galicia]]. The same day the Socialist, [[Ignacy Daszyński]], set up a [[Provisional People's Government of the Republic of Poland]] (''Tymczasowy Rząd Ludowy Republiki Polskiej'') in Lublin. On Sunday, 10 November at 7 a.m., [[Józef Piłsudski]], newly freed from 16 months in a German prison in [[Magdeburg]], returned by train to Warsaw. Piłsudski, together with Colonel [[Kazimierz Sosnkowski]], was greeted at Warsaw's railway station by Regent [[Zdzisław Lubomirski]] and by Colonel [[Adam Koc]]. Next day, due to his popularity and support from most political parties, the Regency Council appointed Piłsudski as Commander in Chief of the Polish Armed Forces. On 14 November, the Council dissolved itself and transferred all its authority to Piłsudski as Chief of State (''[[Naczelnik Państwa]]''). After consultation with Piłsudski, Daszyński's government dissolved itself and a new government formed under [[Jędrzej Moraczewski]]. In 1918, the [[Kingdom of Italy]] became the first country in Europe to recognise Poland's renewed sovereignty.<ref>Andrzej Garlicki (1995), ''Józef Piłsudski, 1867–1935''.</ref>
[[File:Polish-soviet war 1920 Polish defences near Milosna, August.jpg|right|thumb|Polish defences at [[Miłosna, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship|Miłosna]], during the decisive [[Battle of Warsaw (1920)|Battle of Warsaw]], August 1920]]

Centres of government that formed at that time in [[Galicia (Eastern Europe)|Galicia]] (formerly Austrian-ruled southern Poland) included the National Council of the [[Principality of Cieszyn]] (established in November 1918), the [[Republic of Zakopane]] and the [[Polish Liquidation Committee]] (28 October). Soon afterward, the [[Polish–Ukrainian War]] broke out in [[Lwów]] (1 November 1918) between forces of the [[West Ukrainian People's Republic|Military Committee of Ukrainians]] and the Polish irregular units made up of students known as the [[Lwów Eaglets]], who were later supported by the Polish Army (see [[Battle of Lwów (1918)]], [[Battle of Przemyśl (1918)]]). Meanwhile, in western Poland, another war of national liberation began under the banner of the [[Greater Poland uprising (1918–1919)]]. In January 1919, [[First Czechoslovak Republic|Czechoslovak]] forces attacked Polish units in the area of Trans-Olza (see [[Polish–Czechoslovak War]]). Soon afterwards, the [[Polish–Lithuanian War]] (ca 1919–1920) began, and, in August 1919, Polish-speaking residents of [[Upper Silesia]] initiated a series of three [[Silesian Uprisings]]. The most critical military conflict of that period, however, the [[Polish–Soviet War]] (1919-1921), ended in a decisive Polish victory.<ref>Norman Richard Davies, ''White Eagle, Red Star: the Polish-Soviet War, 1919–20'' (2nd ed. 2003)</ref>

==Politics and government==
[[File:Józef Piłsudski (-1930).jpg|thumb|upright|[[Marshal of Poland|Marshal]] [[Józef Piłsudski]], [[Naczelnik Państwa|Chief of State (''Naczelnik Państwa'')]] between November 1918 and December 1922]]

The Second Polish Republic was a [[Parliamentary system|parliamentary democracy]] from 1919 (see [[Small Constitution of 1919]]) to 1926, with the [[President of Poland|President]] having limited powers. The [[National Assembly of the Republic of Poland|Parliament]] elected him, and he could appoint the [[Prime Minister of Poland|Prime Minister]] as well as the government with the ''[[Sejm]]'''s (lower house's) approval, but he could only dissolve the ''Sejm'' with the [[Senate of the Republic of Poland|Senate]]'s consent. Moreover, his power to pass decrees was limited by the requirement that the Prime Minister and the appropriate other Minister had to verify his decrees with their signatures. Poland was one of the first countries in the world to recognise [[women's suffrage]]. Women in Poland were granted the right to vote on 28 November 1918 by a decree of [[General]] Józef Piłsudski.<ref>A. Polonsky, ''Politics in Independent Poland, 1921–1939: The Crisis of Constitutional Government'' (1972)</ref><ref name="new sources">
* {{cite book |title=Beyond Empire: Interwar Poland and the Colonial Question, 1918–1939 |last=Puchalski |first=Piotr |url=https://www.proquest.com/openview/bfe22980348fd04646924c8349f0eb72 |publisher=The [[University of Wisconsin–Madison]] Press |year=2019 |access-date=October 19, 2024}}
* {{cite journal |journal=Studia Iuridica Lublinensia |title=From May to Bereza: A Legal Nihilism in the Political and Legal Practice of the Sanation Camp 1926–1935 |last=Kowalski |first=Wawrzyniec |url=https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=985623 |publisher=Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Marii Curie-Sklodowskiej |issue=5 |pages=133–147 |year=2020 |doi=10.17951/sil.2020.29.5.133-147 |access-date=October 19, 2024|doi-access=free }}
* {{cite journal |journal=Zapiski Historyczne |title=The Formation of Authoritarian Rule in Poland between 1926 and 1939 as a Research Problem |last=Olstowski |first=Przemysław |url=https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=1256530 |publisher=Towarzystwo Naukowe w Toruniu |issue=2 |pages=27–60 |year=2024 |doi=10.15762/ZH.2024.13 |access-date=October 19, 2024 |quote=The case of authoritarian rule in Poland [...] following the [[May Coup (Poland)|May Coup of 1926]], is notable for its unique origins [...] Rooted in a period when Poland lacked statehood [...] Polish authoritarianism evolved [...] Central to this phenomenon was Marshal [[Józef Piłsudski]], the ideological leader of Poland's ruling camp after the May Coup of 1926|doi-access=free }}</ref>

The major political parties at this time were the [[Polish Socialist Party]], [[National Democracy (Poland)|National Democrats]], various [[People's Party (Poland)|Peasant Parties]], [[Polish Christian Democratic Party|Christian Democrats]], and political groups of ethnic minorities (German: [[German Social Democratic Party of Poland]], Jewish: [[General Jewish Labour Bund in Poland]], [[United Jewish Socialist Workers Party]], and Ukrainian: [[Ukrainian National Democratic Alliance]]). Frequently changing governments (see [[1919 Polish legislative election]], [[1922 Polish legislative election]]) and other negative publicity the politicians received (such as accusations of corruption or the [[1919 Polish coup attempt]]), made them increasingly unpopular. Major politicians at this time, in addition to General Piłsudski, included peasant activist [[Wincenty Witos]] (Prime Minister three times) and right-wing leader [[Roman Dmowski]]. Ethnic minorities were represented in the ''Sejm''; e.g. in 1928 – 1930 there was the Ukrainian-Belarusian Club, with 26 Ukrainian and 4 Belarusian members.
[[File:Piłsudski May 1926.jpg|thumb|left|[[May Coup (Poland)|The May Coup d'État]] (1926)]]

After the Polish–Soviet War, [[Marshal of Poland|Marshal]] Piłsudski led an intentionally modest life, writing historical books for a living. After he took power through a [[May Coup (Poland)|military coup]] in May 1926, he emphasised that he wanted to heal Polish society and politics of excessive partisan politics. His regime, accordingly, was called ''[[Sanation|Sanacja]]'' in Polish. The [[1928 Polish legislative election|1928 parliamentary elections]] were still considered free and fair, although the pro-Piłsudski [[Nonpartisan Bloc for Cooperation with the Government]] won them. The following three parliamentary elections (in [[1930 Polish legislative election|1930]], [[1935 Polish legislative election|1935]] and [[1938 Polish legislative election|1938]]) were manipulated, with opposition activists sent to [[Bereza Kartuska prison]] (see also [[Brest trials]]). As a result, the pro-government party [[Camp of National Unity]] won huge majorities in them. Piłsudski died just after an [[April Constitution of Poland|authoritarian constitution]] was approved in the spring of 1935. During the last four years of the Second Polish Republic, the major politicians included President [[Ignacy Mościcki]], Foreign Minister [[Józef Beck]] and the Commander-in-Chief of the [[Polish Army]], [[Marshal of Poland|Marshal]] [[Edward Rydz-Śmigły]]. The country was divided into [[Electoral districts of Poland (1935–1939)|104 electoral districts]], and those politicians who were forced to leave Poland founded [[Front Morges]] in 1936. The government that ruled the Second Polish Republic in its final years is frequently referred to as [[Piłsudski's colonels]].<ref>Peter Hetherington, ''Unvanquished: Joseph Piłsudski, Resurrected Poland, and the Struggle for Eastern Europe'' (2012); W.
Jędrzejewicz, ''Piłsudski. A Life for Poland'' (1982)</ref><ref name="new sources" />
{|width="98%"
|
{{hidden |headerstyle=width: 100%; background: #EFEFEF; |header='''Presidents and Prime ministers (November 1918 – September 1939){{space|5}}''' |content=
[[File:Rydz Smigly Bulawa1.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|[[Ignacy Mościcki]], [[President of Poland]] (left), Warsaw, 10 November 1936, awarding the [[Marshal of Poland|Marshal]]'s ''[[bulawa|buława]]'' to [[Edward Rydz-Śmigły]] ]]
{{Polish statehood}}

===Chief of State===
* [[Józef Piłsudski]] (22 November 1918 – 9 December 1922)

===Presidents===
* [[Gabriel Narutowicz]] (9 December 1922 – 16 December 1922)
* [[Stanisław Wojciechowski]]: 20 December 1922 – 14 May 1926)
* [[Ignacy Mościcki]] – 1 June 1926 – 30 September 1939)
* [[Bolesław Wieniawa-Długoszowski]] – 1 October 1939)

===Prime ministers===
* [[Jędrzej Moraczewski]] (18 November 1918 – 16 January 1919)
* [[Ignacy Jan Paderewski|Ignacy Paderewski]] (18 January 1919 – 27 November 1919)
* [[Leopold Skulski]] (13 December 1919 – 9 June 1920)
* [[Władysław Grabski]] (27 June 1920 – 24 July 1920)
* [[Wincenty Witos]] (24 July 1920 – 13 September 1921)
* [[Antoni Ponikowski]] (19 September 1921 – 5 March 1922)
* Antoni Ponikowski (10 March 1922 – 6 June 1922)
* [[Artur Śliwiński]] (28 June 1922 – 7 July 1922)
* [[Wojciech Korfanty]] (14 July 1922 – 31 July 1922)
* [[Julian Nowak]] (31 July 1922 – 14 December 1922)
* [[Władysław Sikorski]] (16 December 1922 – 26 May 1923)
* [[Wincenty Witos]] (28 May 1923 – 14 December 1923)
* [[Władysław Grabski]] (19 December 1923 – 14 November 1925)
* [[Aleksander Skrzyński]] (20 November 1925 – 5 May 1926)
* [[Wincenty Witos]] (10 May 1926 – 14 May 1926)
* [[Kazimierz Bartel]] (15 May 1926 – 4 June 1926)
* Kazimierz Bartel (8 June 1926 – 24 September 1926)
* Kazimierz Bartel (27 September 1926 – 30 September 1926)
* [[Józef Piłsudski]] (2 October 1926 – 27 June 1928)
* Kazimierz Bartel (27 June 1928 – 13 April 1929)
* [[Kazimierz Świtalski]] (14 April 1929 – 7 December 1929)
* Kazimierz Bartel (29 December 1929 – 15 March 1930)
* [[Walery Sławek]] (29 March 1930 – 23 August 1930)
* [[Józef Piłsudski]] (25 August 1930 – 4 December 1930)
* [[Walery Sławek]] (4 December 1930 – 26 May 1931)
* [[Aleksander Prystor]] (27 May 1931 – 9 May 1933)
* [[Janusz Jędrzejewicz]] (10 May 1933 – 13 May 1934)
* [[Leon Kozłowski]] (15 May 1934 – 28 March 1935)
* [[Walery Sławek]] (28 March 1935 – 12 October 1935)
* [[Marian Zyndram-Kościałkowski]] (13 October 1935 – 15 May 1936)
* [[Felicjan Sławoj Składkowski]] (15 May 1936 – 30 September 1939)
}}
|}

===Military===
Poland had military conscription requiring all citizens upon becoming 21 years old to serve in the military under the 1921 constitution regardless of one's religious views.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Rezmer |first=Waldemar |date=2016-12-14 |title=Inter-religious Relations in the Polish Armed Forces 1918-1939 |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042816316901 |journal=Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences |series=International Conference on Communication in Multicultural Society, CMSC 2015, 6-8 December 2015, Moscow, Russian Federation |volume=236 |pages=374–378 |doi=10.1016/j.sbspro.2016.12.057 |issn=1877-0428|doi-access=free }}</ref> Interwar Poland had an army of 270,000 soldiers on active duty: in 37 infantry divisions, 11 cavalry brigades, and two armored brigades, plus artillery units. Another 700,000 served in the reserves. At the outbreak of the war, the Polish Army was able to put in the field almost one million soldiers, 4,300 guns, around 1,000 armored vehicles including in between 200 and 300 tanks (the majority of the armored vehicles were outclassed [[tankette]]s) and 745 aircraft (however, only around 450 of them were bombers and fighters available to fight as of 1 September 1939).<ref name="Williamson2011">{{cite book |author=David G. Williamson |title=Poland Betrayed: The Nazi-Soviet Invasions of 1939 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wtg8a-0ggkEC&pg=PA21 |year=2011 |publisher=Stackpole Books |page=21 |isbn=978-0-8117-0828-9 |access-date=11 October 2015 |archive-date=1 May 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160501200550/https://books.google.com/books?id=wtg8a-0ggkEC&pg=PA21 |url-status=live }}</ref>

==== Army ====
The training of the [[History of the Polish Army|Polish Army]] was thorough. The [[non-commissioned officer]]s were a competent body of men with expert knowledge and high ideals. The officers, both senior and junior, constantly refreshed their training in the field and in the lecture hall, where modern technical achievement and the lessons of contemporary wars were demonstrated and discussed. The equipment of the Polish Army was less developed technically than that of [[Nazi Germany]] and its rearmament was slowed by confidence in Western European military support and by budget difficulties.<ref>Walter M. Drzewieniecki, "[https://www.jstor.org/stable/25777834 The Polish Army on the Eve of World War II]", ''Polish Review'' (1981) 26#3 pp 54–64. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170204113132/https://www.jstor.org/stable/25777834 |date=4 February 2017 }}.</ref> The Polish command system at the level of the entire Polish military and the armies was obsolete. The generals in command of armies had to ask permission from the high command. The Polish military attempted to organize fronts made of [[army group]]s only when it was already too late during the Polish Defensive War in 1939.

==== Air Force ====
[[File:PZL-37 Los.jpg|thumb|right|The [[PZL.37 Łoś]] was a Polish twin-engine [[medium bomber]].]]Poland began building up an air force starting in the Polish-Soviet War.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Peszke |first=Michael Alfred |date=1994 |title=The Forgotten Campaign: Poland's Military Aviation in September, 1939 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25778766 |journal=The Polish Review |volume=39 |issue=1 |pages=51–72 |jstor=25778766 |issn=0032-2970}}</ref> The Polish were not able to sustain this as they did not have a satisfactory amount of airfields along with an industrial base of sorts. Starting in the mid-1930s modernization attempts were done which led to the number of planes in the air force shrinking and in 1936 there was 417 planes. The Polish attempted to acquire planes from the French but were largely unsuccessful. In 1939 Poland had "no more than 511 aircraft".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Drzewieniecki |first=Walter M. |date=1981 |title=The Polish Army on the Eve of World War Ii |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25777834 |journal=The Polish Review |volume=26 |issue=3 |pages=54–64 |jstor=25777834 |issn=0032-2970}}</ref>

==== Navy ====
Poland created [[Polish Navy|its own navy]] upon becoming independent which mostly consisted of river boats but later diversified. Poland would later include in its navy: torpedo boats, destroyers, submarines and cruisers. By the time of Second World War in 1939 it had 18 ships in its navy. As naval vessels were prohibited from docking in [[Gdańsk]], the Polish opted to use [[Gdynia]] and Hel instead (Hel would be exclusively for military purposes) with Gdynia being where the navy was based out of.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Komorowski |first1=Antoni F. |last2=Sokół |first2=Marika |date=2019 |title=The development of the Polish Navy after 1918 – selected problems |url=https://czasopisma.marszalek.com.pl/images/pliki/so/15/so1505.pdf |journal=Studia Orientalne |volume=1 |issue=15 |pages=80–92 |doi=10.15804/so2019105 }}</ref>

==Economy==
[[File:Polish pavilion Paris 1937.jpg|thumb|upright|Polish pavilion at [[Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne|Expo 1937]] in [[Paris]] ]]
[[File:Poland NYC 1939.jpg|thumb|upright|Polish pavilion at the [[1939 World's Fair]] in [[New York City]] ]]

After regaining its independence, Poland was faced with major economic difficulties. In addition to the devastation brought by the First World War, the exploitation of the Polish economy by the German and Russian occupying powers, and the sabotage performed by retreating armies, the new republic was faced with the task of economically unifying disparate economic regions, which had previously been part of different countries and different empires.<ref name="wolf"/> Within the borders of the Republic were the remnants of three different economic systems, with five different currencies (the [[German mark]], the [[Russian ruble|Imperial Russian rouble]], the [[Austrian krone]], the [[Polish marka]] and the [[German ostrubel|Ostrubel]])<ref name=wolf/> and with little or no direct infrastructural links. The situation was so bad that neighbouring industrial centres, as well as major cities, lacked direct [[railway]] links because they had been parts of different jurisdictions and different empires. For example, there was no direct railway connection between Warsaw and [[Kraków]] until 1934. This situation was described by [[Melchior Wańkowicz]] in his book ''[[Sztafeta]]''.{{citation needed|date=September 2021}}

In addition to this was the massive destruction left after both the First World War and the [[Polish–Soviet War]]. There was also a great economic disparity between the [[Kresy Wschodnie|eastern]] (commonly called ''Poland B'') and western (called ''Poland A'') parts of the country, with the western half, especially areas that had belonged to [[Prussia]] and the [[German Empire]], being much more developed and prosperous. Frequent border closures and a [[German–Polish customs war|customs war]] with [[Germany]] also had negative economic impacts on Poland. In 1924, Prime Minister [[Władysław Grabski]], who was also the Economic Minister, introduced the ''[[Polish złoty|złoty]]'' as a single common currency for Poland (replacing the marka), which remained a stable currency. The currency helped Poland to control the massive [[hyperinflation]]. It was the only country in Europe able to do this without foreign loans or aid.<ref name="onet"/> The average annual growth rate ([[GDP per capita]]) was 5.24% in 1920–29 and 0.34% in 1929–38.<ref name="Broadberry">Stephen Broadberry, Kevin H. O'Rourke. ''The Cambridge Economic History of Modern Europe: Volume 2, 1870 to the Present''. [[Cambridge University Press]]. 2010. pp. 188, 190.</ref>
{|class="wikitable" style="float:right; margin:0em 0.5em 0.5em 1.5em; font-size:85%;"
|+ {{nobreak|'''GDP per capita'''}}<br /><ref name="Broadberry"/><ref name="Maddison">(1929-1930) Angus Maddison. ''The World Economy Volume 1: A Millennial Perspective Volume 2: Historical Statistics''. Academic Foundation. 2007. p. 478. [https://dx.doi.org/10.1787/456125276116] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220521073928/https://statlinks.oecdcode.org/4103063.XLS|date=21 May 2022}}</ref>
|-
! Year !! [[Geary–Khamis dollar|Int$.]]
|-
|1922 ||1,382
|-
|1929 ||2,117
|-
|1930 ||1,994
|-
|1931 ||1,823
|-
|1932 ||1,658
|-
|1933 ||1,590
|-
|1934 ||1,593
|-
|1935 ||1,597
|-
|1936 ||1,626
|-
|1937 ||1,915
|-
|1938||2,182
|}

Hostile relations with neighbours were a major problem for the economy of interbellum Poland. In the year 1937, [[foreign trade]] with all neighbours amounted to only 21% of Poland's total. Trade with Germany, Poland's most important neighbour, accounted for 14.3% of Polish exchange. Foreign trade with the [[Soviet Union]] (0.8%) was virtually nonexistent. [[Czechoslovakia]] accounted for 3.9%, [[Latvia]] for 0.3%, and [[Romania]] for 0.8%. By mid-1938, after the ''[[Anschluss]]'' with [[Austria]], [[Greater Germany]] was responsible for as much as 23% of Polish foreign trade.{{citation needed|date=September 2021}}
[[File:M.S "Batory". 1937-1939 (81562876) (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|Poland's [[MS Batory]] at the [[Port of Gdynia|sea port]] of [[Gdynia]], ca 1937–1939]]

Piłsudski's regime followed the conservative free-market economic tradition of the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]] throughout its existence. Poland had one of the lowest taxation rates in Europe, with 9.3% of taxes as a distribution of national income. Piłsudski's regime was also heavily dependent on foreign investments and economies, with 45.4% of Polish equity capital controlled by foreign corporations. After the [[Great Depression]], the Polish economy crumbled and failed to recover until [[Ignacy Mościcki]]'s government introduced economic reforms with more government interventions with an increase in tax revenues and public spending after Piłsudski's death. These interventionist policies saw Poland's economy recover from the recession.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dadak |first=Casimir |date=May 2012 |title=National Heritage and Economic Policies in Free and Sovereign Poland after 1918 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/contemporary-european-history/article/abs/national-heritage-and-economic-policies-in-free-and-sovereign-poland-after-1918/B65FA110EF9020504F284BB52EB5B907 |journal=Contemporary European History |language=en |volume=21 |issue=2 |pages=193–214 |doi=10.1017/S0960777312000112 |issn=1469-2171|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

The basis of Poland's gradual recovery after the [[Great Depression]] was the mass economic development plans of the new government (see [[Four Year Plan (Poland)|Four Year Plan]]) under economist [[Eugeniusz Kwiatkowski]], which oversaw the building of three key infrastructural elements. The first was the establishment of the [[Gdynia]] seaport, which allowed Poland to completely bypass [[Free City of Danzig|Gdańsk]] (which was under heavy German pressure to boycott Polish coal exports). The second was construction of the 500-kilometre rail connection between [[Upper Silesia]] and Gdynia, called the [[Polish Coal Trunk-Line]], which served freight trains with coal. The third was the creation of a central industrial district named COP – ''[[Centralny Okręg Przemysłowy]]'' ([[English language|English]]: Central Industrial Region). Unfortunately, these developments were interrupted and largely destroyed by the German and Soviet invasion and the start of the Second World War.<ref name="AHP"/> Other achievements of interbellum Poland included [[Stalowa Wola]] (a brand new city, built in a forest around a steel mill), [[Mościce]] (now a district of [[Tarnów]], with a large nitrate factory), and the creation of the central bank [[Bank Polski SA]]. There were several trade fairs, with the most popular being [[Poznań International Fair]], Lwów's ''[[Targi Wschodnie]]'', and Wilno's ''[[Targi Północne]]''. [[Polish Radio]] had ten stations (see [[Radio stations in interwar Poland]]), with the eleventh one planned to be opened in the autumn of 1939. Furthermore, in 1935, Polish engineers began working on TV services. By early 1939, experts of the Polish Radio built four TV sets. The first movie broadcast by experimental Polish TV was ''[[Barbara Radziwiłłówna (film)|Barbara Radziwiłłówna]]'', and by 1940, a regular TV service was scheduled to begin operation.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://tvp.info/informacje/nauka/70-lat-telewizji-w-polsce/862059 |title=70 years of television in Poland, TVP INFO, 26.08.2009 |access-date=3 May 2013 |archive-date=16 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100616033659/http://www.tvp.info/informacje/nauka/70-lat-telewizji-w-polsce/862059 }}</ref>

Interbellum Poland was also a country with numerous social problems. Unemployment was high, and poverty in the countryside was widespread, which resulted in several cases of social unrest, such as the [[1923 Kraków riot]], and [[1937 peasant strike in Poland]]. There were conflicts with national minorities, such as the [[Pacification of Ukrainians in Eastern Galicia (1930)]], relations with Polish neighbours were sometimes complicated (see [[Soviet raid on Stołpce]], [[Polish–Czechoslovak border conflicts]], and the [[1938 Polish ultimatum to Lithuania]]). On top of this, there were natural disasters, such as the [[1934 flood in Poland]].

===Major industrial centres===
[[File:Agfacolor Elektrownia Łaziska Polska 1939 Henryk Poddębski.jpg|thumb|right|Coal power station in Łaziska Górne, Silesian Voivodeship in 1939. It was the largest Polish power plant in the years 1927–1953 ([[Agfacolor]]).<ref>Oto 10 największych elektrowni w Polsce 13 February 2014 https://forsal.pl/galeria/777419,oto-10-najwiekszych-elektrowni-w-polsce.html</ref><ref>Portal "Historia:Poszukaj" NIMOZ 2022 https://www.historiaposzukaj.pl/wiedza,obiekty,1883,obiekt_fotografia_z_okolic_lazisk_gornych_autorstwa_henryka_poddebskiego_ze_zbiorow_muzeum_historii_polski.html</ref>]]
[[File:Targi Wschodnie we Lwowie, aerial view (-1936).JPG|thumb|right|The [[Targi Wschodnie|Eastern Trade Fair]] in [[Lwów]], 1936]]
[[File:Gdynia 234669023555.jpg|thumb|right|[[Gdynia]], a modern Polish seaport established in 1926]]

Interbellum Poland was unofficially divided into two parts – better developed "Poland A" in the west, and underdeveloped "Poland B" in the east. Polish industry was concentrated in the west, mostly in Polish [[Upper Silesia]], and the adjacent [[Lesser Poland]]'s province of [[Zagłębie Dąbrowskie]], where the bulk of coal mines and steel plants was located. Furthermore, heavy industry plants were located in [[Częstochowa]] (''Huta Częstochowa'', founded in 1896), [[Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski]] (''Huta Ostrowiec'', founded in 1837–1839), [[Stalowa Wola]] (brand new industrial city, which was built from scratch in 1937 – 1938), [[Chrzanów]] (''[[Fablok]]'', founded in 1919), [[Jaworzno]], [[Trzebinia]] (oil refinery, opened in 1895), [[Łódź]] (the seat of Polish textile industry), [[Poznań]] ([[H. Cegielski – Poznań]]), Kraków and Warsaw ([[Ursus Factory]]). Further east, in [[Kresy]], industrial centres included two major cities of the region – [[Lwów]] and [[Wilno]] ([[Elektrit]]).<ref name="liberte.pl"/>

Besides coal mining, Poland also had deposits of oil in [[Boryslav|Borysław]], [[Drohobych|Drohobycz]], [[Jasło]] and [[Gorlice]] (see [[Polmin]]), potassium salt ([[TESP (company)|TESP]]), and [[basalt]] ([[Bazaltove|Janowa Dolina]]). Apart from already-existing industrial areas, in the mid-1930s an ambitious, state-sponsored project called the [[Central Industrial Region (Poland)|Central Industrial Region]] was started under Minister [[Eugeniusz Kwiatkowski]]. One of the characteristic features of the Polish economy in the interbellum was the gradual nationalisation of major plants. This was the case for the [[Ursus Factory]] (see [[Państwowe Zakłady Inżynieryjne]]) and several steelworks, such as ''Huta Pokój'' in [[Ruda Śląska]] – Nowy Bytom, ''Huta Królewska'' in [[Chorzów]] – Królewska Huta, ''Huta Laura'' in [[Siemianowice Śląskie]], as well as ''Scheibler and Grohman Works'' in Łódź.<ref name="liberte.pl"/>

===Transport===
[[File:WWII-Poland-1939-communications and industry.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.35|Industry and communications in Poland before the start of the Second World War]]

According to the 1939 ''Statistical Yearbook of Poland'', the total length of the railways in Poland (as of 31 December 1937) was {{cvt|20118|km|0|abbr=off}}. Rail density was {{cvt|5.2|km|1|abbr=off}} per {{cvt|100|km2|abbr=off}}. Railways were very dense in the western part of the country, while in the east, especially [[Polesie]], rail was non-existent in some counties. During the interbellum period, the Polish Government constructed several new lines, mainly in the central part of the country (see also [[Polish State Railroads Summer 1939]]). Construction of the extensive [[Warszawa Główna railway station]] was never finished due to the war, while Polish railways were famous for their punctuality (see [[Luxtorpeda]], [[Strzała Bałtyku]], [[Latający Wilnianin]]).

In the interbellum, the road network of Poland was dense, but the quality of the roads was very poor – only 7% of all roads were paved and ready for automobile use, and none of the major cities were connected with each other by a good-quality highway. In 1939 the Poles built only one highway: 28&nbsp;km of straight concrete road connecting the villages of Warlubie and Osiek (mid-northern Poland). It was designed by Italian engineer Piero Puricelli.
[[File:CWS T-1 torpedo (replika) w Gdańsku.JPG|thumb|left|The [[CWS T-1]] ''Torpedo'' was the first serially-built car manufactured in Poland.]]

In the mid-1930s, Poland had {{cvt|340000|km|0|abbr=off}} of roads, but only 58,000 had a hard surface (gravel, [[cobblestone]] or [[Sett (paving)|sett]]), and 2,500 were modern, with an asphalt or concrete surface. In different parts of the country, there were sections of paved roads, which suddenly ended, and were followed by dirt roads.<ref name="polityka"/> The poor condition of the roads was the result of both long-lasting foreign dominance and inadequate funding. On 29 January 1931, the Polish Parliament created the State Road Fund, the purpose of which was to collect money for the construction and conservation of roads. The government drafted a 10-year plan, with road priorities: a highway from Wilno, through Warsaw and Kraków, to [[Zakopane]] (called Marshal Piłsudski Highway), asphalt highways from Warsaw to Poznań and Łódź, as well as a Warsaw ring road. However, the plan turned out to be too ambitious, with insufficient money in the national budget to pay for it. In January 1938, the Polish Road Congress estimated that Poland would need to spend three times as much money on roads to keep up with [[Western Europe]].

In 1939, before the outbreak of the war, [[LOT Polish Airlines]], which was established in 1929, had its hub at [[Warsaw Chopin Airport|Warsaw Okęcie Airport]]. At that time, LOT maintained several services, both domestic and international. Warsaw had regular domestic connections with [[Gdynia]]-[[Rumia]], [[Gdańsk|Danzig]]-[[Wrzeszcz|Langfuhr]], [[Katowice-Muchowiec Airport|Katowice-Muchowiec]], [[Kraków-Rakowice-Czyżyny Airport|Kraków-Rakowice-Czyżyny]], [[Lviv Danylo Halytskyi International Airport|Lwów-Skniłów]], [[Poznań–Ławica Airport|Poznań-Ławica]], and [[Vilnius|Wilno-Porubanek]]. Furthermore, in cooperation with [[Air France]], [[TAROM|LARES]], [[Lufthansa]], and [[Malert]], international connections were maintained with [[Athens]], [[Beirut]], Berlin, [[Bucharest]], [[Budapest]], [[Helsinki]], [[Kaunas]], London, Paris, [[Prague]], [[Riga]], Rome, [[Tallinn]], and [[Zagreb]].<ref name="ministerstwa"/>

===Agriculture===
[[File:Libiaz-zniwa1938.a.jpg|thumb|upright|Manual harvesting in Żarki, Lesser Poland Voivodeship in August 1938 (Agfacolor).]]
[[File:PL Ursus Ciągówka.jpg|thumb|upright|''Ciągówka Ursus'' was the first Polish farm tractor, produced from 1922 to 1927 in the [[Ursus Factory]].]]

Statistically, the majority of citizens of the Second Polish Republic lived in the countryside (75% in 1921). Farmers made up 65% of the population. In 1929, agricultural production made up 65% of Poland's GNP.<ref name="lex"/> After 123 years of partitions, regions of the country were very unevenly developed. The lands of the former [[German Empire]] were the most advanced; in [[Greater Poland]], [[Upper Silesia]] and [[Pomerelia]], farming and crops were on a Western European level.<ref name="onet1"/>{{failed verification|not enough information given|date=February 2022}} The situation was much worse in parts of [[Congress Poland]], the [[Eastern Borderlands]], and what was formerly [[Galicia (Eastern Europe)|Galicia]], where agriculture was quite backward and primitive, with a large number of small farms, unable to succeed in either the domestic or international market. Another problem was the overpopulation of the countryside, which resulted in chronic unemployment. Living conditions were so bad in several eastern regions, such as the counties inhabited by the [[Hutsul]] minority, that there was permanent starvation.<ref name="przeglad-tygodnik"/> Farmers rebelled against the government (see: [[1937 peasant strike in Poland]]), and the situation began to change in the late 1930s, due to the construction of several factories for the [[Central Industrial Region (Poland)|Central Industrial Region]], which gave employment to thousands of rural and small town residents.{{cn|date=October 2025}}

===German trade===
Beginning in June 1925, there was a customs' war, with the [[revanchist]] Weimar Republic [[German–Polish customs war|imposing a trade embargo against Poland]] for nearly a decade; it involved tariffs and broad economic restrictions. After 1933 the trade war ended. The new agreements regulated and promoted trade. Germany became Poland's largest trading partner, followed by Britain. In October 1938, Germany granted a credit of 60,000,000 [[Reichsmark|RM]] to Poland (120,000,000 ''zloty'', or [[Pound sterling|£]]4,800,000) which was never realised, due to the outbreak of war. Germany would deliver factory equipment and machinery in return for Polish timber and agricultural produce. This new trade was to be ''in addition'' to the existing German-Polish trade agreements.<ref name="biznes">[https://web.archive.org/web/20140729024023/http://biznes.pwn.pl/haslo/3883929/celna-wojna.html Wojna celna (German–Polish customs' war)] (Internet Archive), Encyklopedia PWN, Biznes.</ref><ref>''Keesing's Contemporary Archives'' Volume 3, (October 1938) p. 3283.</ref>

==Education and culture==
{{main|Polish culture in the Interbellum}}
{{See also|Volhynia Experiment}}
[[File:Kazimierz Bartel 1929.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.8|[[Prime Minister of Poland|Prime Minister]] [[Kazimierz Bartel]], also a scholar and mathematician]]

In 1919, the Polish government [[Education in the Second Polish Republic|introduced compulsory education]] for all children aged 7 to 14, in an effort to limit illiteracy, which was widespread, especially in the former [[Russian Partition]] and the [[Austrian Partition]] of eastern Poland. In 1921, one-third of citizens of Poland remained illiterate (38% in the countryside). The process was slow, but by 1931 the illiteracy level had dropped to 23% overall (27% in the countryside) and further down to 18% in 1937. By 1939, over 90% of children attended school.<ref name="liberte.pl"/><ref name="Davies175">[[Norman Davies]] (2005), ''God's Playground A History of Poland: Volume II: 1795 to the Present''. Oxford University Press, p. 175. {{ISBN|0199253390}}.</ref> In 1932, [[Janusz Jędrzejewicz]], the Minister for Religion and Education, carried out [[Jędrzejewicz reform|a major reform]] which introduced two main levels of education: ''common school'' (''szkoła powszechna''), with three levels – 4 grades + 2 grades + 1 grade; and ''middle school'' (''szkoła średnia''), with two levels – 4 grades of comprehensive middle school and 2 grades of specified high school (classical, humanistic, natural and mathematical). A graduate of middle school received a ''small [[matura]]'', while a graduate of high school received a ''big matura'', which enabled them to seek university-level education.{{cn|date=October 2025}}
[[File:Warsaw 1938.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.9|The [[National Museum in Warsaw]] ([[Polish language|Polish]]: ''Muzeum Narodowe w Warszawie'') opened in 1938.]]

Before 1918, Poland had three universities: [[Jagiellonian University]], the [[University of Warsaw]] and [[Lviv University|Lwów University]]. The [[John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin|Catholic University of Lublin]] was established in 1918; [[Adam Mickiewicz University]], Poznań, in 1919; and finally, in 1922, after the annexation of the [[Republic of Central Lithuania]], [[Vilnius University|Wilno University]] became the Republic's sixth university. There were also three [[technical college]]s: the [[Warsaw University of Technology]], [[Lviv Polytechnic|Lwów Polytechnic]] and the [[AGH University of Science and Technology]] in Kraków, established in 1919. [[Warsaw University of Life Sciences]] was an agricultural institute. By 1939, there were around 50,000 students enrolled in further education. 28% of students at universities were women, which was the second highest share in Europe.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Bonnie G. |title=The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History. Vol. 1 |date=2008 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-514890-9 |page=470}}</ref>

Polish science in the interbellum was renowned for its mathematicians gathered around the [[Lwów School of Mathematics]], the [[Kraków School of Mathematics]], as well as the [[Warsaw School of Mathematics]]. There were world-class philosophers in the [[Lwów–Warsaw school]] of logic and philosophy.<ref name="GaNeSt">{{cite book |title=European Philosophy of Science - Philosophy of Science in Europe and the Viennese Heritage |editor-first1=Maria Carla |editor-last1=Galavotti |editor-first2=Elisabeth |editor-last2=Nemeth |editor-first3=Friedrich |editor-last3=Stadler |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |year=2013 |isbn=978-3-319-01899-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UE_CBAAAQBAJ&q=Lvov-Warsaw+School |pages=408, 175–176, 180–183 |access-date=11 September 2017 |archive-date=19 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200819235506/https://books.google.com/books?id=UE_CBAAAQBAJ&q=Lvov-Warsaw+School |url-status=live }} ''Also in:'' {{cite book |title=The Golden Age of Polish Philosophy: Kazimierz Twardowski's Philosophical Legacy |author=Sandra Lapointe |author2=Jan Wolenski |author3=Mathieu Marion |author4=Wioletta Miskiewicz |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |year=2009 |isbn=978-90-481-2401-5 |pages=127, 56 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5u84tl5ux0gC&q=Tarski%27s+role+enormous |access-date=11 September 2017 |archive-date=18 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200818182818/https://books.google.com/books?id=5u84tl5ux0gC&q=Tarski%27s+role+enormous |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Florian Znaniecki]] founded Polish sociological studies. [[Rudolf Weigl]] invented a vaccine against typhus. [[Bronisław Malinowski]] counted among the most important anthropologists of the 20th century.
[[File:Rejewski&Rozycki&Zygalski.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.6|[[Marian Rejewski]], [[Jerzy Różycki]] and [[Henryk Zygalski]], Polish [[mathematician]]s and [[cryptologist]]s who worked at breaking the German [[Enigma machine|Enigma ciphers]] before and during the Second World War]]
In [[Polish literature]], the 1920s were marked by the domination of poetry. Polish poets were divided into two groups – the [[Skamander]]ites ([[Jan Lechoń]], [[Julian Tuwim]], [[Antoni Słonimski]] and [[Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz]]) and the [[Futurism|Futurists]] ([[Anatol Stern]], [[Bruno Jasieński]], [[Aleksander Wat]], [[Julian Przyboś]]). Apart from well-established novelists ([[Stefan Żeromski]], [[Władysław Reymont]]), new names appeared in the interbellum – [[Zofia Nałkowska]], [[Maria Dąbrowska]], [[Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz]], [[Jan Parandowski]], Bruno Schultz, [[Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz]], [[Witold Gombrowicz]]. Among other notable artists there were sculptor [[Xawery Dunikowski]], painters [[Julian Fałat]], [[Wojciech Kossak]] and [[Jacek Malczewski]], composers [[Karol Szymanowski]], [[Feliks Nowowiejski]], and [[Artur Rubinstein]], singer [[Jan Kiepura]].{{cn|date=October 2025}}

Theatre was immensely popular in the interbellum, with three main centres in the cities of Warsaw, Wilno and Lwów. Altogether, there were 103 theatres in Poland and a number of other theatrical institutions (including 100 folk theatres). In 1936, different shows were seen by 5 million people, and main figures of Polish theatre of the time were [[Juliusz Osterwa]], [[Stefan Jaracz]], and [[Leon Schiller]]. Also, before the outbreak of the war, there were approximately one million radios (see [[Radio stations in interwar Poland]]).{{cn|date=October 2025}}

==Administrative divisions==
{{Main|Administrative division of the Second Polish Republic}}
The administrative division of the Second Republic was based on a three-tier system, referring to the [[administrative division of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth]]. On the lowest rung were the ''[[Gmina|gminy]]'', local town and village governments akin to districts or parishes. These were then grouped together into ''[[powiat]]y'' (akin to counties), which, in turn, were grouped as ''województwa'' ([[voivodeship]]s, akin to provinces). This administrative system passed into the modern Third Polish Republic.
{{multiple image |direction=vertical |width=220
|image1=PolishRepublicAdminMap1930.png
|caption1=Administrative map of Poland (1930)
|image2=PolishRepublicAdminMap1939.png
|caption2=Administrative Map in 1939 showing April 1938 voivodeship revisions, reclaimed [[Trans-Olza]] and Slovak border changes
}}
{|class="wikitable" style="font-size:94%"
|colspan=6 style="background:#efefef;text-align:center;"|'''Polish voivodeships (1 April 1937)'''
|- style="background:#f7f7f7;"
! [[Car plate]]s<br />(starting 1937)
! Voivodeship<br />or city
! Capital
! Area (1930)<br />in 1,000s&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>
! Population (1931)<br />in 1,000s
|-
|align="center"|00–19 ||City of Warsaw ||[[Warsaw]]
|align="right"|0.14 ||align="right"|1,179.5
|-
|align="center"|85–89 ||[[Warsaw Voivodeship (1919–39)|warszawskie]] ||[[Warsaw]]
|align="right"|31.7 ||align="right"|2,460.9
|-
|align="center"|20–24 ||[[Białystok Voivodeship (1919–39)|białostockie]] ||[[Białystok]]
|align="right"|26.0 ||align="right"|1,263.3
|-
|align="center"|25–29 ||[[Kielce Voivodeship (1919–39)|kieleckie]] ||[[Kielce]]
|align="right"|22.2 ||align="right"|2,671.0
|-
|align="center"|30–34 ||[[Kraków Voivodeship (1919–1939)|krakowskie]] ||[[Kraków]]
|align="right"|17.6 ||align="right"|2,300.1
|-
|align="center"|35–39 ||[[Lublin Voivodeship (1919–39)|lubelskie]] ||[[Lublin]]
|align="right"|26.6 ||align="right"|2,116.2
|-
|align="center"|40–44 ||[[Lwów Voivodeship|lwowskie]] ||[[Lviv|Lwów]]
|align="right"|28.4 ||align="right"|3,126.3
|-
|align="center"|45–49 ||[[Łódź Voivodeship (1919–39)|łódzkie]] ||[[Łódź]]
|align="right"|20.4 ||align="right"|2,650.1
|-
|align="center"|50–54 ||[[Nowogródek Voivodeship (1919–39)|nowogródzkie]] ||[[Novogrudok|Nowogródek]]
|align="right"|23.0 ||align="right"|1,057.2
|-
|align="center"|55–59 ||[[Polesie Voivodeship|poleskie]] (Polesia) ||[[Brest, Belarus|Brześć nad Bugiem]]
|align="right"|36.7 ||align="right"|1,132.2
|-
|align="center"|60–64 ||[[Pomeranian Voivodeship (1919–39)|pomorskie]] (Pomeranian) ||[[Toruń]]
|align="right"|25.7 ||align="right"|1,884.4
|-
|align="center"|65–69 ||[[Poznań Voivodeship (1921–39)|poznańskie]] ||[[Poznań]]
|align="right"|28.1 ||align="right"|2,339.6
|-
|align="center"|70–74 ||[[Stanisławów Voivodeship|stanisławowskie]] ||[[Ivano-Frankivsk|Stanisławów]]
|align="right"|16.9 ||align="right"|1,480.3
|-
|align="center"|75–79 ||[[Silesian Voivodeship (1920–39)|śląskie]] (Silesian) ||[[Katowice]]
|align="right"|5.1 ||align="right"|1,533.5
|-
|align="center"|80–84 ||[[Tarnopol Voivodeship|tarnopolskie]] ||[[Ternopil|Tarnopol]]
|align="right"|16.5 ||align="right"|1,600.4
|-
|align="center"|90–94 ||[[Wilno Voivodeship (1926–39)|wileńskie]] ||[[Vilnius|Wilno]]
|align="right"|29.0 ||align="right"|1,276.0
|-
|align="center"|95–99 ||[[Wołyń Voivodeship (1921–39)|wołyńskie]] (Volhynian) ||[[Lutsk|Łuck]]
|align="right"|35.7 ||align="right"|2,085.6
|-
|colspan="5"|''The borders of several western and central voivodeships [[Territorial changes of Polish Voivodeships on 1 April 1938|were revised on 1 April 1938]]''
|}

==Demographics==
[[File:Percent Polish 1931 census.png|thumb|% of ethnic Poles by voivodeship according to the 1931 census]]
Historically, Poland was almost always a multiethnic country. This was especially true for the Second Republic, when independence was once again achieved in the wake of the [[First World War]] and the subsequent [[Polish–Soviet War]], the latter war being officially ended by the [[Peace of Riga]]. The [[Polish census of 1921|census of 1921]] shows 30.8% of the population consisted of ethnic minorities,<ref name="MJ"/> compared with a share of 1.6% (solely identifying with a non-Polish ethnic group) or 3.8% (including those identifying with both the Polish ethnicity and with another ethnic group) in 2011.<ref name="stat">{{cite journal |url=http://www.stat.gov.pl/cps/rde/xbcr/gus/Przynaleznosc_narodowo-etniczna_w_2011_NSP.pdf |title=Przynależność narodowo-etniczna ludności – wyniki spisu ludności i mieszkań 2011 |trans-title=Ethnic makeup of Polish citizenry according to census of 2011 |journal=Materiał Na Konferencję Prasową W Dniu 2013-01-29 |pages=3, 4 |via=PDF file, direct download 192 KB |access-date=20 July 2016 |archive-date=15 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200515165423/https://stat.gov.pl/cps/rde/xbcr/gus/Przynaleznosc_narodowo-etniczna_w_2011_NSP.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> The first spontaneous flight of about 500,000 Poles from the Soviet Union occurred during the reconstitution of sovereign Poland. In the second wave, between November 1919 and June 1924, some 1,200,000 people left the territory of the USSR for Poland. It is estimated that some 460,000 of them spoke Polish as the first language.<ref name="ePWN">{{cite book |title=Encyklopedia PWN |chapter=Rosja. Polonia i Polacy |others=Stanisław Gregorowicz |chapter-url=http://encyklopedia.pwn.pl/haslo/Rosja-Polonia-i-Polacy;4575227.html |publisher=[[Polish Scientific Publishers PWN]] |author=PWN |year=2016 |access-date=20 July 2016 |archive-date=6 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160406045946/http://encyklopedia.pwn.pl/haslo/Rosja-Polonia-i-Polacy;4575227.html |url-status=live }}</ref> According to the [[1931 Polish Census]]: 69% of the population was Polish, 14% were Ukrainian, around 10% Jewish, 3% Belarusian, 2% German and 3% other, including Lithuanian, Czech, Armenian, Russian, and Romani. The situation of minorities was a complex subject and changed during the period.<ref name="Davies"/>

Poland was also a nation of many religions. In 1921, 16,057,229 Poles (approx. 62.5%) were [[Roman Catholic Church|Roman (Latin) Catholics]], 3,031,057 citizens of Poland (approx. 11.8%) were [[Eastern Rite Catholic Churches|Eastern Rite Catholics]] (mostly [[Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church|Ukrainian Greek Catholics]] and [[Armenian Catholic Church|Armenian Rite Catholics]]), 2,815,817 (approx. 10.95%) were [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox]], 2,771,949 (approx. 10.8%) were Jewish, and 940,232 (approx. 3.7%) were Protestants (mostly [[Lutheran]]).<ref name="PSL"/>

By 1931, Poland had the second largest Jewish population in the world, with one-fifth of all the world's Jews residing within its borders (approx. 3,136,000).<ref name="MJ"/> The urban population of interbellum Poland was rising steadily; in 1921, only 24% of Poles lived in the cities, in the late 1930s, that proportion grew to 30%. In more than a decade, the population of Warsaw grew by 200,000, Łódź by 150,000, and Poznań – by 100,000. This was due not only to internal migration, but also to an extremely high birth rate.<ref name="liberte.pl"/>

===Largest cities in the Second Polish Republic===
[[File:Polska II RP gestosc zaludnienia.jpg|thumb|Poland's population density in 1930]]
[[File:GUS languages1931 Poland.jpg|thumb|Contemporary map showing language frequency in 1931 across Poland; red: more than 50% native Polish speakers; green: more than 50% native language other than Polish, including [[Yiddish]], [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], Ukrainian, Belarusian, Russian and less frequent others]]
[[File:Artyleria górska II Brygady Legionów Polskich.jpg|thumb|Officers from the Second Mountain Brigade of the [[Polish Legions in World War I|Polish Legions in the First World War]] establishing the Polish-Czechoslovak border; they are pictured near the summit of Popadia in [[Gorgany]] during the formation of the Second Republic, 1915.]]
{|class="wikitable"
!width=3%|
!width=25%|City
!width=20%|Population
!width=20%|Voivodeship
|-
|align=center|1 ||align=left|[[File:POL Warszawa COA.svg|25px|Herb Warszawy]] [[Warsaw]] ||align=center|1,289,000 ||align=left|[[Warsaw Voivodeship (1919–39)|Warsaw Voivodeship]]
|-
|align=center|2 ||align=left|[[File:POL Łódź COA.svg|25px|Herb Łodzi]] [[Łódź]] ||align=center|672,000 ||align=left|[[Łódź Voivodeship]]
|-
|align=center|3 ||align=left|[[File:POL Lwów COA.svg|25px|Herb Lwowa]] [[Lwów]] ||align=center|318,000 ||align=left|[[Lwów Voivodeship]]
|-
|align=center|4 ||align=left|[[File:POL Poznań COA.svg|25px|Herb Poznania]] [[Poznań]] ||align=center|272,000 ||align=left|[[Poznań Voivodeship]]
|-
|align=center|5 ||align=left|[[File:POL Kraków COA.svg|25px|Herb Krakowa]] [[Kraków]] ||align=center|259,000 ||align=left|[[Kraków Voivodeship (1919–1939)|Kraków Voivodeship]]
|-
|align=center|6 ||align=left|[[File:Coat of Arms of Vilnius.svg|30x30px|Herb Wilna]] [[Wilno]] || align="center" |209,000 ||align=left|[[Wilno Voivodeship (1926-1939)|Wilno Voivodeship]]
|-
|align=center|7 ||align=left|[[File:POL Bydgoszcz COA.svg|25px|Herb Bydgoszczy]] [[Bydgoszcz]] ||align=center|141,000 ||align=left|[[Poznań Voivodeship]]<br />later [[Pomeranian Voivodeship]]
|-
|align=center|8 ||align=left|[[File:POL Częstochowa COA (II RP).svg|25px|Herb Częstochowy]] [[Częstochowa]] ||align=center|138,000 ||align=left|[[Kielce Voivodeship]]
|-
|align=center|9 ||align=left|[[File:Katowice Herb.svg|25px|Herb Katowic]] [[Katowice]] ||align=center|134,000 ||align=left|[[Silesian Voivodeship]]
|-
|align=center|10 ||align=left|[[File:POL Sosnowiec COA.svg|25px|Herb Sosnowca]] [[Sosnowiec]] ||align=center|130,000||align=left|[[Kielce Voivodeship]]
|-
|align="center" |11 ||align="left" |[[File:POL Chorzów COA.svg|25px|Herb Chorzowa]] [[Chorzów]]||align="center" |128,000 ||align="left" |[[Silesian Voivodeship]]
|-
|align="center" |12 ||align="left" |[[File:POL Lublin COA 1.svg|25px|Herb Lublina]] [[Lublin]]||align="center" |122,000 ||align="left" |[[Lublin Voivodeship]]
|-
|align="center" |13 ||align="left" |[[File:POL Gdynia COA.svg|25px|Herb Gdyni]] [[Gdynia]]||align="center" |120,000 ||align="left" |[[Pomeranian Voivodeship]]
|-
|align=center|14 ||align=left|[[File:POL Białystok formal COA.svg|25px|Herb Białegostoku]] [[Białystok]] ||align=center|107,000 ||align=left|[[Białystok Voivodeship (1919–1939)|Białystok Voivodeship]]
|-
|align=center|15 ||align=left|[[File:POL Kalisz COA 1.svg|25px|Herb Kalisza]] [[Kalisz]] ||align=center|81,000 ||align=left|[[Łódź Voivodeship]]
|-
|align=center|16 ||align=left|[[File:Radom coa basic4.svg|25px|Herb Radomia]] [[Radom]] ||align=center|78,000 ||align=left|[[Kielce Voivodeship]]
|-
|align=center|17 ||align=left|[[File:POL Toruń COA.svg|25px|Herb Torunia]] [[Toruń]] ||align=center|62,000 ||align=left|[[Pomeranian Voivodeship]]
|-
|align=center|18 ||align=left|[[File:POL Stanisławów COA.svg|25px|Herb Stanisławowa]] [[Iwano-Frankiwsk|Stanisławów]] ||align=center|60,000 ||align=left|[[Stanisławów Voivodeship]]
|-
|align=center|19 ||align=left|[[File:POL Tarnów COA.svg|25px|Herb Tarnowa]] [[Tarnów]] ||align=center|59,000 ||align=left|[[Kraków Voivodeship (1919–1939)|Kraków Voivodeship]]
|-
|align=center|20 ||align=left|[[File:Herb miasta Kielce.svg|25px|Herb Kielc]] [[Kielce]] ||align=center|58,000 ||align=left|[[Kielce Voivodeship]]
|-
|align=center|21 ||align=left|[[File:POL Grodno COA.svg|25px|Herb Grodna]] [[Hrodna|Grodno]] ||align=center|57,000 ||align=left|[[Białystok Voivodeship (1919–1939)|Białystok Voivodeship]]
|-
|align=center|22 ||align=left|[[File:POL Włocławek COA.svg|25px|Herb Włocławka]] [[Włocławek]] ||align=center|56,000||align=left|[[Pomeranian Voivodeship]]
|-
|align="center"|23 ||align=left|[[File:POL Grudziądz COA.svg|25px|Herb Grudziądza]] [[Grudziądz]] ||align=center|54,000 ||align=left|[[Pomeranian Voivodeship]]
|-
|align="center"|24 ||align=left|[[File:POL Brześć nad Bugiem COA.svg|25px|Herb Brześcia nad Bugiem]] [[Brześć|Brześć nad Bugiem]] ||align=center|51,000 ||align=left|[[Polesie Voivodeship]]
|-
|align="center"|25 ||align=left|[[File:POL Piotrków Trybunalski COA 1.svg|25px|Herb Piotrkowa Trybunalskiego]] [[Piotrków Trybunalski]] ||align=center|51,000 ||align=left|[[Łódź Voivodeship]]
|-
|align="center"|26 ||align=left|[[File:POL Przemyśl COA.svg|25px|Herb Przemyśla]] [[Przemyśl]] ||align=center|51,000 ||align=left|[[Lwów Voivodeship]]
|}

===Prewar population density===
{|class="wikitable" width="100%"
! Date !! Population !! Percentage of<br />rural population !! Population density<br />(per km<sup>2</sup>) !! Ethnic minorities (total)
|-
|align="left"|[[1921 Polish Census|30 September 1921 (census)]]
|align="center"|27,177,000 ||align="center"|75.4% ||align="center"|69.9 ||align="center"|30.77%<ref name="MJ"/>
|-
|align="left"|[[1931 Polish Census|9 December 1931 (census)]]
|align="center"|32,348,000 ||align="center"|72.6% ||align="center"|82.6 ||align="center"|31.09%
|-
|align="left"|31 December 1938 (estimate)
|align="center"|34,849,000 ||align="center"|70.0% ||align="center"|89.7 ||align="center"|<small>''Upward trend in immigration''</small>
|}

==Status of ethnic minorities==
[[File:PL languages 1931.png|thumb|Majority language (mother tongue) in Poland in 1931 by county]]

=== Jews ===
From the 1920s, the Polish government excluded Jews from receiving government bank loans, public sector employment, and obtaining business licenses. From the 1930s, measures were taken against Jewish shops, Jewish export firms, ''[[Shechita]]'' as well as limitations being placed on Jewish admission to the medical and legal professions, Jews in business associations and the enrollment of Jews into universities. The political movement [[National Democracy (Poland)|National Democracy]] (''Endecja'', from the abbreviation "ND") often organised anti-Jewish business boycotts.<ref name="Snyder"/> Following the death of [[Marshal of Poland|Marshal]] [[Józef Piłsudski]] in 1935, the ''Endecja'' intensified their efforts, which triggered violence in extreme cases in smaller towns across the country.<ref name="Snyder"/> In 1937, the National Democracy movement passed resolutions that "its main aim and duty must be to remove the Jews from all spheres of social, economic, and cultural life in Poland".<ref name="Snyder"/> The government in response organised the [[Camp of National Unity]] (OZON), which in 1938 took control of the ''Sejm'' and subsequently drafted anti-Semitic legislation similar to the [[Anti-Jewish laws]] in Germany, Hungary, and Romania. OZON advocated mass emigration of Jews from Poland, [[Numerus clausus#Poland|numerus clausus]] (see also [[Ghetto benches]]), and other limitations on Jewish rights. According to [[William W. Hagen]], by 1939, prior to the war, Polish Jews were threatened with conditions similar to those in Nazi Germany.<ref name="journals.uchicago.edu"/>

===Ukrainians===
{{Excerpt|Volhynia Experiment}}

In Galicia, unlike in Volhynia, the government was less amenable to integrating the Ukrainian minority. Opposition to the Polish state and resistance to integration by Ukrainian nationalists was also stronger. The pre-war government restricted the rights of people who declared Ukrainian nationality, belonged to the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]] and inhabited the [[Eastern Borderlands]] of the Second Polish Republic.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=imswAAAAIAAJ&q=ukrainophobia+poland |title=Polish Atrocities in Ukraine |first=Emil |last=Revyuk |date=8 July 1931 |publisher=Svoboda Press |via=Google Books |access-date=29 August 2020 |archive-date=15 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210215014222/https://books.google.com/books?id=imswAAAAIAAJ&q=ukrainophobia+poland |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Skalmowski"/><ref name="The Polish Review"/> Poland refused to grant the Ukrainian minority a [[Autonomous administrative division|territorial autonomy]].<ref name="Potocki">{{cite book |last= Potocki |first= Robert |title= Polityka państwa polskiego wobec zagadnienia ukraińskiego w latach 1930–1939 |chapter = Rozdział 3: Od konsolidacji państwowej do homogenizacji etnicznej |language= PL |publisher= Instytut Europy Środkowo-Wschodniej w Lublinie |date = 2003 |pages= 199–227|isbn= 83-917615-4-1}}</ref> [[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]] was restricted in every field possible, especially in governmental institutions, and the term "Ruthenian" was enforced in an attempt to ban the use of the term "Ukrainian".<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/communistpartyof00radz |quote=ukrainophobia poland rights. |title=The Communist Party of Western Ukraine, 1919-1929 |first1=Janusz |last1=Radziejowski |first2=University of Alberta Canadian Institute of Ukrainian |last2=Studies |date=8 July 1983 |publisher=Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, University of Alberta |via=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-920862-25-4}}</ref> Ukrainians were categorised as uneducated second-class peasants or [[third world]] people, and rarely settled outside the Eastern Borderland region due to the prevailing [[Ukrainophobia]] and restrictions imposed. Numerous attempts at restoring the Ukrainian state were suppressed and any existent violence or terrorism initiated by the [[Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists]] was emphasised to create the image of a "brutal Eastern savage".<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://klubjagiellonski.pl/2016/10/10/ii-rp-nie-lubila-ukraincow/ |title=II RP nie lubiła Ukraińców? |website=klubjagiellonski.pl |access-date=8 July 2019 |archive-date=8 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190708160652/https://klubjagiellonski.pl/2016/10/10/ii-rp-nie-lubila-ukraincow/ |url-status=live }}</ref> After 1935, Polish policy towards Ukrainians shifted its focus from state consolidation to the ethnic assimilation of part of the Ukrainian population through [[Polonization]] and conversion to [[Latin Church|Roman Catholicism]].<ref name="Potocki"/>

==Geography==
The Second Polish Republic was mainly flat with an average elevation of {{cvt|233|m|ft|abbr=out}} [[above sea level]], except for the southernmost [[Carpathian Mountains]] (after the Second World War and its border changes, the average elevation of Poland decreased to {{cvt|173|m|ft|abbr=out}}). Only 13% of territory, along the southern border, was higher than {{cvt|300|m|ft|abbr=out}}. The highest elevation in the country was [[Mount Rysy]], which rises {{cvt|2499|m|ft|abbr=out}} in the [[Tatra Mountains|Tatra Range]] of the Carpathians, approximately {{cvt|95|km|abbr=off}} south of [[Kraków]]. Between October 1938 and September 1939, the highest elevation was Lodowy Szczyt (known in [[Slovak language|Slovak]] as ''Ľadový štít''), which rises {{cvt|2627|m|ft|abbr=out}} above sea level. The largest lake was [[Lake Narach]].
[[File:Poland1939 physical.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|Physical map of the Second Polish Republic]]

The country's total area, after the annexation of Trans-Olza, was {{cvt|389720|km2}}. It extended {{cvt|903|km|abbr=off}} from north to south and {{cvt|894|km|abbr=off}} from east to west. On 1 January 1938, total length of boundaries was {{cvt|5529|km|abbr=off}}, including: {{cvt|140|km|abbr=off}} of coastline (out of which {{cvt|71|km|abbr=off}} were made by the [[Hel Peninsula]]), the {{cvt|1412|km|abbr=off}} with Soviet Union, 948 kilometers with Czechoslovakia (until 1938), {{cvt|1912|km|abbr=off}} with Germany (together with [[East Prussia]]), and {{cvt|1081|km|abbr=off}} with other countries (Lithuania, Romania, Latvia, Danzig). The warmest yearly average temperature was in Kraków among major cities of the Second Polish Republic, at {{cvt|9.1|C|F|1}} in 1938; and the coldest in Wilno ({{cvt|7.6|C|F|1|disp=or}} in 1938). Extreme geographical points of Poland included Przeświata River in Somino to the north (located in the [[Braslaw]] county of the [[Wilno Voivodeship (1926–39)|Wilno Voivodeship]]); Manczin River to the south (located in the [[Kosiv|Kosów]] county of the [[Stanisławów Voivodeship]]); Spasibiorki near railway to Połock to the east (located in the [[Dzisna]] county of the [[Wilno Voivodeship (1926–39)|Wilno Voivodeship]]); and Mukocinek near Warta River and Meszyn Lake to the west (located in the [[Międzychód]] county of the [[Poznań Voivodeship]]).

===Waters===
Almost 75% of the territory of interbellum Poland was drained northward into the Baltic Sea by the [[Vistula]] (total area of [[drainage basin]] of the Vistula within boundaries of the Second Polish Republic was {{cvt|180300|km2|abbr=off}}, the [[Niemen]] ({{cvt|51600|km2|disp=or|abbr=off}}), the [[Oder]] ({{cvt|46700|km2|disp=or|abbr=off}}) and the [[Daugava River|Daugava]] ({{cvt|10400|km2|disp=or|abbr=off}}). The remaining part of the country was drained southward, into the [[Black Sea]], by the rivers that drain into the [[Dnieper]] ([[Pripyat River|Pripyat]], [[Horyn]] and [[Styr]], all together {{cvt|61500|km2|disp=or|abbr=off}}) as well as [[Dniester]] ({{cvt|41400|km2|disp=or|abbr=off}})

==Invasion of Poland in 1939==
[[File:Polish infantry marching -2 1939.jpg|thumb|right|Polish infantry marching, 1939]]
[[File:Defenders of Warsaw (1939).jpg|thumb|[[Polish Army|Polish soldiers]] with anti-aircraft artillery near [[Warsaw Central Station]] during the first days of September 1939]]
{{see also|List of World War II military equipment of Poland}}

The beginning of the [[Second World War]] in September 1939 ended the sovereign Second Polish Republic. The German [[invasion of Poland]] began on 1 September 1939, one week after [[Nazi Germany]] and the [[Soviet Union]] signed the secret [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact]]. On that day, Germany and [[Slovak invasion of Poland|Slovakia]] attacked Poland, and on 17 September the [[Soviet Union|Soviets]] [[Soviet invasion of Poland|attacked]] [[Kresy|eastern Poland]]. [[Siege of Warsaw (1939)|Warsaw fell to the Nazis]] on 28 September after a twenty-day siege. Open organised Polish resistance ended on 6 October 1939 after the [[Battle of Kock (1939)|Battle of Kock]], with Germany and the Soviet Union occupying most of the country. [[State of Lithuania|Lithuania]] annexed [[Vilnius Region|the area of Wilno]], and [[Slovak Republic (1939–45)|Slovakia]] seized areas along Poland's southern border – including [[Górna Orawa]] and [[Tatranská Javorina]] - which Poland had annexed from Czechoslovakia in October 1938. Poland did not surrender to the invaders, but continued fighting under the auspices of the [[Polish government-in-exile]] and of the [[Polish Underground State]]. After the signing of the [[German–Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Demarcation]] on 28 September 1939, Polish areas occupied by Nazi Germany either became directly incorporated into Nazi Germany, or became part of the [[General Government]]. The Soviet Union, following [[Elections to the People's Assemblies of Western Ukraine and Western Belarus]] (22 October 1939), annexed eastern Poland partly to the [[Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic]], and partly to the [[Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic]] (November 1939).
[[File:7TP-2.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Polish [[7TP|7TP light tanks]]]]

Polish war plans ([[Plan West]] and [[Plan East]]) failed as soon as Germany invaded in 1939. The Polish losses in combat against Germans (killed and missing in action) amounted to ca. 70,000 men. Some 420,000 of them were taken prisoners. Losses against the Red Army (which invaded Poland on 17 September) added up to 6,000 to 7,000 of casualties and MIA, 250,000 were taken prisoners. Although the Polish Army – considering the inactivity of the Allies – was in an unfavourable position – it managed to inflict serious losses to the enemies: 20,000 German soldiers were killed or MIA, 674 tanks and 319 armored vehicles destroyed or badly damaged, 230 aircraft shot down; the Red Army lost (killed and MIA) about 2,500 soldiers, 150 combat vehicles and 20 aircraft. The Soviet invasion of Poland, and lack of promised aid from the Western Allies, contributed to the Polish forces defeat by 6 October 1939.
[[File:ORP Orzeł w Gdyni.jpg|thumb|right|[[ORP Orzeł (1938)|ORP Orzeł]] was the [[lead ship]] of [[Orzeł-class submarine|her class]] of [[submarine]]s serving in the [[Polish Navy]] during the Second World War.]]

A popular myth is that [[Polish cavalry]] armed with lances charged German tanks during the September 1939 campaign. This often repeated account, first reported by Italian journalists as [[Polish cavalry#Cavalry charges and propaganda|German propaganda]], concerned an action by the Polish 18th Lancer Regiment near Chojnice. This arose from misreporting of a single clash on 1 September 1939 near [[Charge at Krojanty|Krojanty]], when two squadrons of the Polish 18th Lancers armed with sabers surprised and wiped out a German infantry formation with a mounted saber charge. Shortly after midnight the 2nd (Motorized) Division was compelled to withdraw by Polish cavalry, before the Poles were caught in the open by German armored cars. The story arose because some German armored cars appeared and gunned down 20 troopers as the cavalry escaped. Even this failed to persuade everyone to reexamine their beliefs—there were some who thought Polish cavalry had been improperly employed in 1939.

Between 1945 and 1990, the [[Polish government-in-exile]] operated in London, presenting itself as the only legal and legitimate representative of the [[Polish nation]] and challenging the legitimacy of the [[Polish People's Republic|communist government]] in Warsaw. In 1990, the last president in exile, [[Ryszard Kaczorowski]], handed the presidential insignia to the newly elected [[President of Poland|President]], [[Lech Wałęsa]], signifying continuity between the Second and [[Third Polish Republic|Third]] republics.

==See also==
{{Commons category}}

* [[Sugar propaganda in the Second Polish Republic (1925—1932)]]

* [[History of Poland (1918–1939)]]
* [[1938 in Poland]]
* [[1939 in Poland]]
* [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]], also known as the "First Polish Republic" and described as a "republic under the presidency of the King"

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist
|refs=
<ref name="AHP">''Atlas Historii Polski'', Demart Sp, 2004, {{ISBN|83-89239-89-2}}</ref>
<ref name="Snyder">[[Timothy Snyder]], ''The Reconstruction of Nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569–1999'', Yale University Press, {{ISBN|0-300-10586-X}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=xSpEynLxJ1MC&pg=PA144 p.&nbsp;144]</ref>
<ref name="Davies">[[Norman Davies]], [[God's Playground]], [[Columbia University Press]], 2005, {{ISBN|0-231-12819-3}}, [https://archive.org/details/godsplaygroundhi00norm_0/page/299 <!-- quote=Davies minorities Jews Ukrainians. --> Google Print, p.299]</ref>
<ref name="lex">[http://lex.pl/czasopisma/cph/sprawyrl.html Sprawa reformy rolnej w I Sejmie Âlàskim (1922–1929) by Andrzej Drogon]</ref>
<ref name="liberte.pl">Witold Gadomski, [https://web.archive.org/web/20091117131412/http://www.liberte.pl/gospodarka/656-spata-dugu-po-ii-rp.html Spłata długu po II RP.] ''Liberte.pl'' {{in lang|pl}}.</ref>
<ref name="ministerstwa">Urzędowy Rozkład Jazy i Lotów, Lato 1939. Wydawnictwo Ministerstwa Komunikacji, Warszawa 1939</ref>
<ref name="MJ">Joseph Marcus, ''Social and Political History of the Jews in Poland, 1919–1939'', Mouton Publishing, 1983, {{ISBN|90-279-3239-5}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=82ncGA4GuN4C&q=Pilsudski&pg=PA15 Google Books, p.&nbsp;17]</ref>
<ref name="onet">[http://tygodnik.onet.pl/1,16768,druk.html Godzina zero. Interview with professor Wojciech Roszkowski, Tygodnik Powszechny, 04.11.2008] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120512015340/http://tygodnik.onet.pl/1,16768,druk.html |date=12 May 2012 }}"Także reformę Grabskiego przeprowadziliśmy sami, kosztem społeczeństwa, choć tym razem zapłacili obywatele z wyższych sfer, głównie posiadacze ziemscy."</ref>
<ref name="onet1">{{Cite web |url=http://tygodnik.onet.pl/1,16768,druk.html |title=Godzina zero, interview with Wojciech Roszkowski. 04.11.2008 |access-date=24 November 2011 |archive-date=12 May 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120512015340/http://tygodnik.onet.pl/1,16768,druk.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
<ref name="polityka">{{Cite web |url=http://www.polityka.pl/historia/1517566,1,w-ii-rp-tez-mielismy-problem-z-drogami.read |title=Piotr Osęka, Znoje na wybojach. Polityka weekly, 21 July 2011 |date=21 July 2011 |access-date=24 November 2011 |archive-date=5 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120105020619/http://www.polityka.pl/historia/1517566,1,w-ii-rp-tez-mielismy-problem-z-drogami.read |url-status=live }}</ref>
<ref name="przeglad-tygodnik">{{Cite web |url=http://www.przeglad-tygodnik.pl/pl/artykul/biale-plamy-ii-rp |title=Białe plamy II RP, interview with professor Andrzej Garlicki, 5 December 2011 |access-date=6 December 2011 |archive-date=13 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120313171433/http://przeglad-tygodnik.pl/pl/artykul/biale-plamy-ii-rp |url-status=live }}</ref>
<ref name="PSL">''Powszechny Spis Ludnosci r. 1921''</ref>
<!--<ref name="time">[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,789006,00.html The End], ''[[TIME Magazine]]'', 2 October 1939</ref>-->
<ref name="wolf">Nikolaus Wolf, "Path dependent border effects: the case of Poland's reunification (1918–1939)", ''[[Explorations in Economic History]]'', 42, 2005, pp.&nbsp;414–438.</ref>
}}

==Sources==
* {{cite book |last=Snyder |first=Timothy |authorlink=Timothy Snyder |url=https://shron1.chtyvo.org.ua/Timothy_David_Snyder/The_Reconstruction_of_Nations_Poland_Ukraine_Lithuania_Belarus_1569-1999_anhl.pdf |title=The Reconstruction of Nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569–1999 |publisher=Yale University Press |publication-place=New Haven, CT |date=2003  |isbn=978-0-300-12841-3}}

==Further reading==
* [[Norman Davies|Davies, Norman]]. ''[[God's Playground]]. A History of Poland.'' Vol. 2: 1795 to the Present. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1981. pp 393–434
* Latawaski, Paul. ''Reconstruction of Poland 1914–23'' (1992)
* Leslie, R. F. et al. ''The History of Poland since 1863.'' Cambridge U. Press, 1980. 494 pp.
* Lukowski, Jerzy and Zawadzki, Hubert. ''A Concise History of Poland.'' Cambridge U. Press, 2nd ed 2006. 408pp. [https://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/052185332X excerpts and search]
* Pogonowski, Iwo Cyprian. ''Poland: A Historical Atlas.'' Hippocrene, 1987. 321 pp. new designed maps
* Stachura, Peter D. ''Poland, 1918–1945: An Interpretive and Documentary History of the Second Republic'' (2004) [https://www.questia.com/read/108250289/poland-1918-1945-an-interpretive-and-documentary online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190526025131/https://www.questia.com/read/108250289/poland-1918-1945-an-interpretive-and-documentary |date=26 May 2019 }}
* Stachura, Peter D. ed. ''Poland Between the Wars, 1918–1939'' (1998) essays by scholars
* Watt, Richard M. ''Bitter Glory: Poland and Its Fate, 1918–1939'' (1998) [https://www.amazon.com/Bitter-Glory-Poland-Fate-1918-1939/dp/0781806739/ excerpt and text search], comprehensive survey

===Politics and diplomacy===
* Cienciala, Anna M. "[https://www.jstor.org/stable/41549951 The Foreign Policy of Józef Pi£sudski and Józef Beck, 1926–1939: Misconceptions and Interpretations]", ''The Polish Review'' (2011) 56#1 pp.&nbsp;111–151; [http://kuscholarworks.ku.edu/dspace/bitstream/1808/10043/1/AMC_2011_The%20Foreign%20Policy%20of%20Pilsudski%20and%20Beck_Offprint%20Version_PR%20Vol.%20LVI%2c%20Nos.%201-2.pdf earlier version].
* Cienciala, Anna M. (1968), ''[http://kuscholarworks.ku.edu/dspace/bitstream/1808/7462/1/Cienciala_Poland%20and%20Western%20Powers_1968.pdf Poland the Western Powers, 1938–1939. A Study in the Interdependence of Eastern and Western Europe]''. PDF, Kansas U. Press.
* Cienciala, Anna M., and Titus Komarnicki (1984), ''[http://kuscholarworks.ku.edu/dspace/bitstream/1808/7463/1/Cienciala_From%20Versailles%20to%20Locarno_1984.pdf From Versailles to Locarno, Keys to Polish Foreign Policy, 1919–1925]'' PDF, Kansas U. Press.
* Drzewieniecki, Walter M. "The Polish Army on the Eve of World War II", ''Polish Review'' (1981) 26#3 pp 54–64.
* Garlicki, Andrzej. ''Józef Piłsudski, 1867–1935'' (New York: Scolar Press 1995), scholarly biography; one-vol version of 4 vol Polish edition
* Hetherington, Peter. ''Unvanquished: Joseph Pilsudski, Resurrected Poland, and the Struggle for Eastern Europe'' (2012) 752pp [https://www.amazon.com/Unvanquished-Pilsudski-Resurrected-Struggle-Eastern/dp/0983656312/ excerpt and text search]
* Jędrzejewicz, W. ''Piłsudski. A Life for Poland'' (1982), scholarly biography
* Kantorosinski, Zbigniew. ''[https://www.loc.gov/rr/european/egw/polishex.html Emblem of Good Will: a Polish Declaration of Admiration and Friendship for the United States of America].'' Washington, DC: [[Library of Congress]] (1997)
* Polonsky, A. ''Politics in Independent Poland, 1921–1939: The Crisis of Constitutional Government'' (1972)
* Riekhoff, H. von. '' German-Polish Relations, 1918–1933'' (Johns Hopkins University Press 1971)
* Rothschild, J. ''Piłsudski's Coup d'État'' (New York: [[Columbia University Press]] 1966)
* Wandycz, P. S. ''Polish Diplomacy 1914–1945: Aims and Achievements'' (1988)
* Wandycz, P. S. ''Soviet-Polish Relations, 1917–1921'' (Harvard University Press 1969)
* Wandycz, P. S. ''The United States and Poland'' (1980)
* Zamoyski, Adam. ''Warsaw 1920: Lenin's Failed Conquest of Europe'' (2008) [https://www.amazon.com/Warsaw-1920-Lenins-Failed-Conquest/dp/0007225520/ excerpt and text search]
* Zimmerman, Joshua D. ''Jozef Pilsudski: Founding Father of Modern Poland'' (Harvard University Press, 2022) [http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=59107 online review]

===Social and economic topics===
* Abramsky, C. et al. eds. ''The Jews in Poland'' (Oxford: Blackwell 1986)
* Blanke, R. ''Orphans of Versailles. The Germans in Western Poland, 1918–1939'' (1993)
* Gutman, Y. et al. eds. ''The Jews of Poland Between Two World Wars'' (1989).
* Landau, Z. and Tomaszewski, J. ''The Polish Economy in the Twentieth Century'' (Routledge, 1985)
* Moklak, Jaroslaw. ''The Lemko Region in the Second Polish Republic: Political and Interdenominational Issues 1918–1939'' (2013); covers Old Rusyns, Moscophiles and National Movement Activists, & the political role of the Greek Catholic and Orthodox Churches
* Olszewski, A. K. ''An Outline of Polish Art and Architecture, 1890–1980'' (Warsaw: Interpress 1989.)
* Roszkowski, W. ''Landowners in Poland, 1918–1939'' (Cambridge University Press, 1991)
* Staniewicz, Witold. "[https://www.jstor.org/stable/4205606 The Agrarian Problem in Poland between the Two World Wars]", ''Slavonic and East European Review'' (1964) 43#100 pp.&nbsp;23–33.
* Taylor, J. J. ''The Economic Development of Poland, 1919–1950'' (Cornell University Press 1952)
* Wynot, E. D. ''Warsaw Between the Wars. Profile of the Capital City in a Developing Land, 1918–1939'' (1983)
* Żółtowski, A. ''Border of Europe. A Study of the Polish Eastern Provinces'' (London: Hollis & Carter 1950)
* [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00085006.2018.1490125 Eva Plach, "Dogs and dog breeding in interwar Poland"], ''Canadian Slavonic Papers'' 60. no 3–4

===Primary sources===
* [http://statlibr.stat.gov.pl/F/1NQPQD53XD384SAKG68P3TNP2L4KPDSVHGVYBC2KCBPGLCUBRX-06099?func=full-set-set&set_number=268421&set_entry=000040&format=999 ''Small Statistical Yearbook, 1932'' (''Mały rocznik statystyczny 1932'')] complete text {{in lang|pl}}
* [http://statlibr.stat.gov.pl/F/1NQPQD53XD384SAKG68P3TNP2L4KPDSVHGVYBC2KCBPGLCUBRX-07341?func=full-set-set&set_number=268421&set_entry=000053&format=999 ''Small Statistical Yearbook, 1939'' (''Mały rocznik statystyczny 1939'') ] complete text {{in lang|pl}}

===Historiography===
* Kenney, Padraic. "After the Blank Spots Are Filled: Recent Perspectives on Modern Poland", ''Journal of Modern History'' (2007) 79#1 pp.&nbsp;134–61, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/517546 in JSTOR]
* Polonsky, Antony. "The History of Inter-War Poland Today", ''Survey'' (1970) pp.&nbsp;143–159.

==External links==
* [http://culture.pl/en/article/polish-tangos-the-unique-inter-war-soundtrack-to-polands-independence Polish Tangos: The Unique Inter-War Soundtrack to Poland's Independence]
* [https://culture.pl/en/article/polish-cinema-interwar-period-film Polish Cinema's Golden Age: The Glamour & Progress Of Poland's Inter-War Films]
* [https://culture.pl/en/article/pakty-i-fakty-the-last-ever-polish-interwar-cabaret-revue 'Pakty i Fakty': The Last-Ever Polish Interwar Cabaret Revue]
* [https://collections.leventhalmap.org/search/commonwealth:x633fb66g Map of Poland (March 1920)] from the Leventhal Map & Education Center at the [[Boston Public Library]]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJwUpSSYOPQ Poland in 1938 just before WW2] early color movie summary by [[Eve Curie]] the daughter [[Marie Sklodowska-Curie]]

{{Empires}}
{{Poland topics|state=collapsed}}
{{Authority control}}

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