Erazm Piltz o wojnach i ich skutkach dla sytuacji Polski
Erazm Piltz on Wars and Its Consequences for Polands Situation

Summary/Abstract: Erazm Piltz (1851–1929), one of the leaders of the realist fraction thought that after the January Uprising of 1863 there was no chance that Poland would regain sovereignty. All attempts to defend, and later to regain, independence had ended with a defeat. Each and every next uprising brings a threat of an extermination of the nation, especially that Western countries would not militarily help, since they would not want to start a war with the countries that had partitioned Poland. There is also no chance of a conflict between those countries. That is why Piltz was convinced that legal methods should be used to try to ensure the best possible conditions for the nation’s existence in each of the partitions. He saw a chance to ameliorate the situation of the Poles in the Kingdom of Poland only in reforming Russian political system, especially during the 1905–1907 revolution that was an effect of the war between Russia and Japan. Similarly during the First World War he argued in favour of such a solution. In time his views evolved and starting from the 1917 revolution he noticed a chance for Poland’s sovereignty, yet still under Russia’s protection. He abandoned this view after the Bolshevik revolution of November 1917. From that moment, as a part of the Polish National Committee, he acted in favour of regaining independence. During the period of the Second Republic of Poland he exercised numerous functions as a diplomat and tried to enforced Poland’s international position.

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