Regency Council (Poland)

For other uses, see Regency Council.

The Regency Council of the Kingdom of Poland (Polish: Rada Regencyjna, or Rada Regencyjna Królestwa Polskiego) was a semi-independent and temporarily appointed authority in Poland during World War I. It was formed by Imperial Germany and Austria-Hungary within historically Polish lands in September 1917 after the dissolution of the previous authority, the Provisional Council of State, due to the Oath crisis.

Regency Council

Rada Regencyjna Królestwa Polskiego
Rada Regencyjna
Predecessor	Provisional Council of State
Successor	Józef Piłsudski
Formation	27 October 1917 (1917-10-27)
Founder	German Empire and Austria-Hungary
Dissolved	14 November 1918 (1918-11-14)
Legal status	Regency
Headquarters	Royal Castle, Warsaw
Location	Kingdom of Poland
Official language	Polish
King of Poland	None
Regents	Aleksander Kakowski, Zdzisław Lubomirski, Józef Ostrowski
Main organ	Dziennik Ustaw

The council was supposed to stay in office until the appointment of a new monarch or regent. On 7 October 1918, the Regency Council declared the independence of Poland.^[1] That same month, the council took over command of the Polish Armed Forces.

History

The members of the Regency Council included Cardinal Aleksander Kakowski, archbishop of Warsaw; Prince Zdzisław Lubomirski, mayor of Warsaw; and landowner Józef Ostrowski, conservative politician and former chairman of the Polish Club in the Imperial Duma.

Together with the State Council and other branches of the government, the Regency Council exercised limited administrative powers, mainly in education and justice. In spite of this, the Council made some crucial decisions, like creation of Dziennik Ustaw, the most important Polish publication of legal acts.

On 7 October 1918, the council declared the independence of Poland from Germany and Austria-Hungary.^[1] On 11 November, it transferred its military authority, and on 14 November the rest of its authority, to Józef Piłsudski, which led to the dissolution of the Council on the same day. Piłsudski served from 22 November as temporary chief of state of the newly independent Polish state.^[2]

Prime Ministers

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