A general who defended Polish sovereignty between exile and return
After Sikorski's government requested an investigation into Katyn in 1943, the Soviet Union broke diplomatic relations with the government-in-exile.
Władysław Sikorski was a Polish soldier and politician who sought an independent course amid the conflict between interwar democracy and military authoritarianism. During the Second World War, as prime minister of the government-in-exile in London and commander-in-chief of the Polish Armed Forces, he pressed the Allied powers to recognize Poland's national claims. Through the 1941 Sikorski–Mayski agreement, he restored diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union and opened the way for the release of Polish prisoners and the formation of a Polish army, but relations broke down again after his government requested an investigation into the Katyn massacre. His death in a 1943 aircraft crash at Gibraltar dealt a severe blow to the diplomatic influence of the government-in-exile.
Activities and affiliations
- 1918–1943 Military command · Poland
- Government and administration · Poland
Career Timeline
- 1908Co-founded the secret Union for Active Struggle
- 1914–1916Head of the Military Department of the Supreme National Committee and commander of a Polish Legions officers' school
- 1920Commander of the 5th Army during the Battle of Warsaw in the Polish–Soviet War
- 1922–1923Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior of the Republic of Poland
- 1924–1925Minister of Military Affairs; advanced modernization of the Polish Army
- 1939–1943Prime Minister of the government-in-exile in London and Commander-in-Chief of the Polish Armed Forces
- 1941Signed the Sikorski–Mayski agreement, restoring relations with the Soviet Union
- 1943Died in the Gibraltar air crash after seeking an international investigation into Katyn
Related historical events
- 1919–1921The Soviet-Polish WarCommander of the Polish 5th Army that counterattacked on the WkraOn 14 August he counterattacked the Soviet 4th and 15th Armies on the Wkra north of Warsaw, buying time for Piłsudski's strike group to come up from the south. The battle made his reputation and he became prime minister in 1922.
- 1944.08–10Warsaw UprisingPrime Minister of the London government-in-exileHe signed the 1941 agreement with the Soviet Union and in 1943 demanded an investigation of Katyn.
Opposing the 1926 Coup and the Sanation Regime
When Józef Piłsudski staged his coup in May 1926, Sikorski, a democrat and supporter of the Sejm (parliament), publicly declared his opposition to it. He remained in Lwów, refused to dispatch the forces under his command, and played no substantive role in the short struggle of 12 to 14 May. After the coup succeeded and the Sanation regime was installed, he fell out of favor with the new government, and in 1928 Piłsudski relieved him of his command. He stayed on active service but received no further posting.
That same year he published his book on the Polish–Soviet War, Nad Wisłą i Wkrą (At the Vistula and Wkra Rivers), and went on to devote himself to writing on military theory, history and foreign policy. In his 1934 work Przyszła wojna (War in the Future) he predicted the return of maneuver warfare and warned of Germany's rapid militarization.
Soon after losing his command he joined the anti-Piłsudski opposition, though he largely withdrew from active politics, spending much of his time in Paris working with the French war college. Even after Piłsudski's death in 1935, Piłsudski's successors kept him marginalized politically and militarily. In February 1936 he joined Wincenty Witos, Ignacy Paderewski and General Józef Haller in the anti-Sanation political grouping known as the Front Morges.