Józef Klemens Piłsudski ( Polish : [ˈjuzɛf ˈklɛmɛns pʲiwˈsutskʲi] (listen); 5 December 1867 – 12 May 1935) was a Polish statesman who served as the Chief of State (1918–22) and First Marshal of Poland (from 1920). He was considered the de facto leader (1926–35) of the Second Polish Republic as the Minister of Military Affairs. After World War I he held great power in Polish politics and was a distinguished figure on the international scene. He is viewed as a father of the Second Polish Republic re-established in 1918, 123 years after the final Partition of Poland by Austria, Prussia and Russia in 1795.Deeming himself a descendant of the culture and traditions of the Polish –Lithuanian Commonwealth, Piłsudski believed in a multi-ethnic Poland —"a home of nations" including indigenous ethnic and religious minorities that he hoped would establish a robust union with the independent states of Lithuania and Ukraine. His principal political antagonist, Roman Dmowski, leader of the National Democrat party, by contrast, called for a Poland limited to the pre-Partitions Polish Crown and based mainly on a homogeneous ethnically Polish population and Roman Catholic identity.
Early in his political career, Piłsudski became a leader of the Polish Socialist Party. Concluding that Poland 's independence would have to be won militarily, he formed the Polish Legions. In 1914 he correctly predicted that a new major war would defeat the Russian Empire and the Central Powers. When World War I began in 1914, Piłsudski's Legions fought alongside Austria - Hungary against Russia. In 1917, with Imperialist Russia faring poorly in the war, he withdrew his support for the Central Powers and was imprisoned in Magdeburg by the Germans.
