Great Poland Uprising
At the end of World War I (1914-1918), the fate of Poznań and Greater Poland was still undecided. With the public speech of Ignacy Paderewski, a famous Polish pianist and politician, on 27 December 1918 and German countermanifestation, Polish inhabitants of Poznań and other towns' started a military uprising against Germany. There is still debate on if the Polish or German soliders started shooting first. This was the spark that started the uprising, but serious preparations had been going on since 9 November 1919.
The uprising forces consisted of members of the Polish Military Organization of the Prussian Partition, who started to form the Straż Obywatelska (Citizen's Guard), renamed later to Straż Ludowa (People's Guard) and many volunteers - mainly veterans of the Great War. The ruling body was the High People's Council (at the begining members of the Council were against the uprising, but supported it a few days later - unofficially 3 January 1919; officially 8 and 9 January 1919) and the military commanders: Captain Stanisław Taczak (temporary commander 28 December 1918 - 8 January 1919) and later General Józef Dowbór-Muśnicki.
By 15 January 1919, the uprising forces managed to take control of most of the Poznań province engaging in heavy fighting with the regular but demoralized German army and the forces of Grenzschutz, up until the German-Allies ceasefire on 16 February, where the French delegation forced Germany and other countries to recognize Great Poland's Army as Allied Forces. The Poznań high command subjugated to the Warsaw government on 25 May 1919. The front in Great Poland was liquidated on 8 March 1920. The fate of Great Poland was part of the Treaty of Versailles.
The Great Poland Uprising is considered to be one of the two most successful Polish uprisings ( The second was the Great Poland Uprising of 1806 which was ended by the entry of Napoleon's Army).
