Poznan Uprising of 1918–19

(Great-Poland Uprising), a Polish national liberation uprising that began in December 1918 and lasted througout 1919 in the western Polish lands under German dominion.

In the fall of 1918, after the defeat of Germany in World War I, the Central Citizens’ Committee, which was composed of Polish deputies to the Reichstag and to the Prussian Landtag, was formed in Poznań. In November the committee was transformed into the Commissariat of the Supreme People’s Council, which was linked with local organizations of people’s councils. Elections to a provincial sejm were held, and a civilian militia and military units were formed. (In February 1919 the Polish Army numbered about 70,000 men.)

The first clash between German and Polish troops occurred on Dec. 27, 1918, marking the beginning of the uprising. On Jan. 6, 1919, the insurgents gained complete control of Poznań and the fortress. The uprising spread through the province. The leadership of the uprising was in the hands of the bourgeois-nationalist National Democratic Party. The armed struggle continued throughout 1919. The Poznań Uprising brought about the reunion with the Polish state of the parts of the Poznań region and Pomerania that the Compiègne Armistice of 1918 had left to Germany.