The reader is given no clue how this party, which we are told followed a policy of 'superconciliationism,' succeeded in winning the support of some of the Polish population of 'Russian' Poland. That the National Democrats were 'superconfrontationists' in 'Prussian' Poland is not even alluded to. Watt's interest in war and diplomacy mean that by the time we get through the following chapters on World War I and the peace treaties, the Polish-Soviet War, and the stabilization of Poland's frontiers, we have read more than a third of the text to have arrived only at the very beginnings of the Polish state's history, roughly 1921. The remaining chapters, somewhat less than a third of the text, cover domestic politics before and after Pilsudski's death, foreign relations in the 1930s, and the German and Soviet invasions of Poland in September 1939. An Afterword briefly recounts developments affecting Poland during World War II and gives an over-all assessment of the interwar period.
Reproduced photographs enrich the text.
The overwhelming focus on Pilsudski does not mean that Watt is uncritical of his role in Polish history. Yet, he is on the whole more positive than Pilsudski's enemies would have allowed. Watt goes so far as to conclude that, 'It is difficult to believe that independent Poland without Pisudski could have continued to exist for any period of time. For a politically immature, newly established nation like Poland, a figure like Pilsudski was absolutely indispensable. . . . His coup of May 1926 can be defended on the grounds that Poland was drifting into a chaotic state.