Józef Piłsudski
Polish politician, First Marshall, and Prime Minister (1867-1935) · Russia · On the map · Politicians · Died at 67
He commanded the forces that held off the Red Army at the gates of Warsaw in 1920, then ruled Poland as its strongman for nearly a decade. Piłsudski rebuilt a country that had been erased from the map for over a century, and the cult around him never quite faded.
Józef Piłsudski is read about 2,068 times a day, in 81 languages.
A typical day, 30 days to 1 November 2026
The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 400 days, one point a day.
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Jozef Pilsudski1
10zł józef front
20180809 221651 shop warsaw Józef Piłsudski
Budynek Miejskiej Kasy Oszczędnościowej w Tarnowie - 7
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Bulawas of Marshalls of Poland, Józef Piłsudski and Edward Śmigły-Rydz (1936).jpg?width=1200)
1930s Cadillac (24685786800)
Marshall Piłsudski's cadillac, Independence Day Warsaw 2014In their own words 6
, Comrades, I took the red tram of socialism to the stop called Independence, and that's where I got off.
To be defeated and not submit, is victory; to be victorious and rest on one's laurels, is defeat.
To want to, is to be able to.
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About this person
Józef Piłsudski came out of the Polish Socialist Party convinced that independence would be won by force, not negotiation. He formed the Polish Legions and led them alongside Austria-Hungary against Russia when World War I broke out in 1914, betting the war would shatter the empires that had carved up Poland in 1795. By 1917, sensing the Central Powers would lose, he withdrew his support and the Germans locked him up in Magdeburg. He emerged as Poland's Chief of State in November 1918 when the country reappeared on the map after 123 years, then spent the next three years commanding forces in six border wars that defined the new nation's shape. In August 1920, with Soviet forces closing in on Warsaw, his counteroffensive broke the invasion and became the stuff of legend. He stepped back in 1923 when his opponents took power, then seized control in the May Coup of 1926 and ran Poland as Minister of Military Affairs until his death in 1935, building a personality cult that outlasted him by generations.
