VI. The World Wars and the Interwar Period, 1914–1945 > C. Europe, 1919–1945 > 18. Poland > 1919, Jan. 17
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  The Encyclopedia of World History.  2001.
 
 
1919, Jan. 17
 
Paderewski formed a coalition cabinet, Pilsudski acting as provisional president. A constituent assembly was elected (Jan. 26) and worked out a temporary constitutional system. Meanwhile the entire effort of the government was devoted to the conquest of the territories belonging to Poland at the time of the first partition of 1772. This brought the Poles into conflict with the Bolsheviks in Belarus and with Lithuania (See 1918–20).  1
 
June 28
 
The TREATY OF VERSAILLES established the Polish frontier in the west, Poland receiving a corridor along the Vistula to the sea (the city of Danzig to be a free city under supervision of the League of Nations but economically connected with Poland) and large parts of West Prussia and Posen. A plebiscite was to determine the frontier in Upper Silesia. Poland was obliged to accept a minority treaty guaranteeing full rights and numerous religious, educational, linguistic, and other privileges to the minority peoples.  2
 
July
 
Conditions at the end of the war bred discontent, making social reform a great concern to the constituent assembly. In the summer of 1919, the most important issue under discussion was land reform. On July 22 a central land office was created to oversee the division of large estates. Shortly afterward the Sejm passed a number of laws affecting the workers, introducing an eight-hour workday, compulsory insurance, and rights of persons renting houses. In an attempt to build support in the war against Russia in 1920, the Sejm passed a more radical land reform law, but this was never fully implemented.  3
 
Dec. 7
 
Paderewski resigned as premier. Pilsudski, now marshal of Poland, remained as chief of the state.  4
 
Dec. 8
 
The supreme council laid down the so-called Curzon Line for Poland's eastern frontier. This line deprived Poland of Vilna.  5
 
 
 
The Encyclopedia of World History, Sixth edition. Peter N. Stearns, general editor. Copyright © 2001 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Maps by Mary Reilly, copyright © 2001 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

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