May Coup
The May Coup was a coup d'état that happened in Poland in May 1926. It was organised by the former Polish leader and national hero Józef Piłsudski to remove the "weak" democratic government from power. It started on 12 May and ended on 15 May.
Piłsudski and his followers were victorious and the Polish democracy was replaced with an authoritarian regime that remained in power until the German invasion of Poland in September 1939 that started World War II. After Piłsudski's death in 1935 the regime became more and more radical, with regular persecution of the political opponents, never changing into totalitarianism though.
Pro-Soviet communists in Poland were the biggest opponents of his Sanation government. They accused it of being "fascist and capitalist",[1] despite Piłsudski not matching the academic criteria of fascism.
References
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- Puchalski, Piotr (2019). Beyond Empire: Interwar Poland and the Colonial Question, 1918–1939. The University of Wisconsin–Madison Press. Retrieved October 19, 2024.
- Kowalski, Wawrzyniec (2020). "From May to Bereza: A Legal Nihilism in the Political and Legal Practice of the Sanation Camp 1926–1935". Studia Iuridica Lublinensia (5). Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Marii Curie-Sklodowskiej: 133–147. Retrieved October 19, 2024.
- Olstowski, Przemysław (2024). "The Formation of Authoritarian Rule in Poland between 1926 and 1939 as a Research Problem". Zapiski Historyczne (2). Towarzystwo Naukowe w Toruniu: 27–60. Retrieved October 19, 2024.
The case of authoritarian rule in Poland [...] following the 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
- Joseph Rothschild, Pilsudski's Coup D'État, Columbia University Press, 1967, ISBN 0-231-02984-5.
