November 11, 1918: On the same day as the Armistice that ends World War I, the Second Polish Republic is founded. Russian troops have withdrawn from Russian soil, which they had controlled for over 100 years, and the Germans have retreated from their formerly occupied territories. For the first time since the Third Partition in 1795, there was a country named Poland, not just a "Duchy of Poland" or a "Congress Poland."
My father's ancestors came from Poland: In 1909, his grandfather, then 18 years old, left in Borki Wielkie, Warmia-Masuria and found his way to Newark, New Jersey.
Józef Piłsudski had led the Polish Legions in fighting with Austria-Hungary against Russia during the war. After the Bolshevik Revolution, Russia (which became the centerpiece nation of the Soviet Union in 1922) dropped out of the war, and Piłsudski switched his efforts to diplomatic ones, to re-establish the nation. America's President, Woodrow Wilson, had the establishment of a new nation of Poland as one of his "Fourteen Points" for postwar peace.
With independence secured, Marshal Piłsudski served as the nation's Chief of State from 1918 to 1922, and then as Prime Minister from 1926 to 1928. In effect, though, his effect on the nation's elected leaders meant that he was, if not written into the law as such, then in practice, the nation's dictator from 1918 until his death in 1935.
Apparently, all dictators, even the enlightened ones,
feel the need to wear an epic mustache.
Keeping the nation going would not be easy. Over the next few years, Poland fought wars with 2 neighbors, Russia and Ukraine, surviving as a nation counting as "winning." In 1939, Nazi Germany invaded from the west, the Soviet Union from the east, each taking roughly half the land, with the result that Poland existed in name only.
After World War II, the Soviets held effective control over the country. In 1980, the country's labor movement showed the Communists what a real "workers' revolution" looked like, and the Soviets withdrew their troops in 1989. The Communist Party was outlawed, and Poland has been a democracy ever since.
On March 14, 1916, Piłsudski's Polish Legions founded a sports club. After independence in 1918, the club became known as Wojskowy Klub Sportowy Legia Warszawa -- Military Sports Club Legia Warsaw -- the official sports club of the Polish Army. Their soccer team is the most famous, most successful, most popular, and most hated sports team in their country.
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November 11, 1918 was a Monday. Baseball season was over. There was no NBA yet. The NHL season wouldn't start for another month. And there was no Monday Night Football, or even an NFL, back then. So there were no scores on this historic day.
The prominent people born on this day include comedian Stubby Kaye; Alabama politician and civil rights attorney Richmond Flowers; and Louise Tobin, a jazz singer, known for singing with the Benny Goodman Orchestra. Her hits included "I Didn't Know What Time It Was" and "There'll Be Some Changes Made." Once married to another bandleader, Harry James, she turns 104 on November 11, 2022. (UPDATE: She died on November 26, 2022.)
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