Kingdom of Poland

The Kingdom of Poland is a puppet state of Germany that is located east of the German Empire, north of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, west of the Grand Duchy of Belarus and Southwest of the Kingdom of Lithuania.

## History

Poland ever since the fall of the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth and Duchy of Warsaw was not a sovereign nation, but an autonomous Kingdom that has a personal union with the Tsar of Russia. This Autonomous Kingdom was established in the Russian sector after Poland was partitioned by the Habsburg Monarchy, Russia and Prussia.

Following the partitions of Poland at the end of the 18th century, Poland ceased to exist as an independent state for 123 years. The territory, with its native population, was split between the Habsburg Monarchy, the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Russian Empire. After 1804, an equivalent to Congress Poland within the Austrian Empire was the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, also commonly referred to as "Austrian Poland". The area incorporated into Prussia and subsequently the German Empire had little autonomy and was merely a province – the Province of Posen.

The Kingdom of Poland was theoretically granted considerable political autonomy by the liberal constitution. However, its rulers, the Russian Emperors, generally disregarded any restrictions on their power. It was, therefore, little more than a puppet state in a personal union with the Russian Empire. The autonomy was severely curtailed following uprisings in 1830–31 and 1863, as the country became governed by viceroys, and later divided into governorates (provinces). Thus, from the start, Polish autonomy remained little more than fiction.

The capital was located in Warsaw, which towards the beginning of the 20th century became the Russian Empire's third-largest city after St. Petersburg and Moscow. The moderately multicultural population of Congress Poland was estimated at 9,402,253 inhabitants in 1897. It was mostly composed of Poles, Polish Jews, ethnic Germans and a small Russian minority. The predominant religion was Roman Catholicism and the official language used within the state was Polish until the failed January Uprising when Russian became co-official as a consequence. Yiddish and German were widely spoken by their native speakers.

The territory of Congress Poland roughly corresponds to modern-day Kalisz Region and the Lublin, Łódź, Masovian, Podlaskie and Holy Cross Voivodeships of Poland as well as southwestern Lithuania and a small part of the Grodno District of Belarus.

The Kingdom of Poland effectively came to an end with the Great Retreat of Russian forces in 1915 and was succeeded by the Government General of Warsaw, established by the Germans. In 1917 a Kingdom was created and Januz Radzwill became King of Poland after the Central Powers won the war. Sadly the Kingdom only consists of the lands of the former Congress Kingdom and and Southwest Belarus.

## Government

Poland is a constitutional Monarchy in which the monarch is a ceremonial ruler who is in charge of all institutions such as the Churches, Schools and the Military. The government is run by a Prime Minister who is elected by the Military Administration of Poland which consists of Conservatives and National Militarists who collaborate with Germany and despise any form of liberalism in the Kingdom. Only the Monarchy is loved by the people, except for Socialists whereas the government is hated because of being German collaborators.

**Administration of the Congress Kingdom of Poland**

* **King: Janus I**
* **Reichkommissar:** Gerd von Rundstedt
* **Prime Minister:** Antoni Ponikowski
* **Foreign Minister:** Józef Beck
* **Armament Minister:** Tadeusz Kasprzycki
* **Minister of Defense:** Wladyslaw Raczkiewicz
* **Minister of Intelligence:** T. Pelczynski-Grzegorz
* **Chief of Staff:** Edward Rydz-Smigly
* **Chief of Army:** Tomislaw Lupaszko
* **Chief of Navy:** Jan Kiwerski
* **Chief of Air Force:** Alfred Chlapowski
* **Chief of Military Police:** Francois Sokal

## Military

The Royal Armed Forces of Poland only consists of an army known as "Polnische Wehrmacht" which was established as an auxiliary force in 1917 under Austrian and German command. After establishing the armed forces 50,000 men were supposed to serve in the army, but it never reached this size until after the war. During and immediately after the war most units were used for peacekeeping operations and the pacification of the countryside and only a handful of units were deployed in battle. Despite the stormy beginning, the core of the army was formed from the veterans of the Polish Legions and the Polish Armed Forces in the East and had considerable combat experience. Most of the interned officers from the Polish Legions were allowed to return to the army during the interwar period as the kingdom embarked on ambitious expansion and modernization of the army under guidance of the German officers such as Heinz Guderian, who was stationed as member of the German military mission to train and supervise the Polish army.

## Foreign Relations

* Colonial Relations with the German Empire.
* Bad Relations with the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Kingdom of Ukraine, Kingdom of Lithuania, Grand Duchy of Belarus and the United Baltic Duchy because Poland wants to gain the Polish Lands of Austro-Hungary and Germany and desires to conquer Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, and Courland. This is because the Polish monarchy desires to recreate the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and win the hearts of all Polish people.