Poland regains independence on 11 November 1918 after 123 years of partitions

On 11 November 1918, Józef Piłsudski took over command of Polish military forces in Warsaw. The same day the First World War ended with the armistice in the West, and Poland re-emerged as a sovereign state after 123 years without one.

Poland had been erased from the map through three partitions in 1772, 1793 and 1795, its lands divided among Russia, Prussia and Austria. The collapse of all three empires at the end of the war created the opening for independence. Piłsudski, a veteran socialist and founder of the Polish Legions, had been released from German imprisonment in Magdeburg and arrived in Warsaw on 10 November. German troops in the city were being disarmed, and the Regency Council, a German-backed interim body, handed him military authority. He soon became Chief of State.

The date mattered because it became a symbol of national rebirth, even though borders were still unsettled and fighting continued for several years. Poland restored 11 November as National Independence Day (Narodowe Święto Niepodległości) as a public holiday in 1937, and again after communism in 1989. Today it is marked by official ceremonies, marches and street closures in Warsaw.