At 11 a.m. on 11 November 1918 the Armistice between Germany and the Allies came into force, and the guns fell silent on the Western Front. That day in Warsaw the Regency Council gave Józef Piłsudski command of the Polish army, the date Poland celebrates as Independence Day. In 1673 Jan Sobieski stormed the Ottoman camp at Khotyn.1
Poland's Independence Day
Józef Piłsudski, freed from German imprisonment in the fortress of Magdeburg, returned to Warsaw on 10 November 1918. The next day the Regency Council handed him command of the Polish army, and a few days later the task of forming a national government. The Museum of Polish History calls the handover of 11 November the symbol of regained independence. Why the date was chosen, and how the holiday was abolished and restored, is told in our guide to Polish Independence Day.2 › Polish independence, 1914 to 1921
11 November became a national holiday under a statute of 1937, was abolished after World War II, in 1945, and was restored by the Sejm on 15 February 1989. Independence had to be fought for on every border, beginning with the street battles in Lwów from 1 November 1918, told in our article on the defense of Lwów and on our page for 1 November. The whole story, from the Legions of 1914 to the Treaty of Riga, is in our guide to Polish independence, 1914 to 1921, and the fighting in the battles that won Polish independence.3
The Battle of Khotyn, 1673: Sobieski storms the Ottoman camp
11 November 1673 · 352 years ago
The Battle of Khotyn was fought on 11 November 1673 on the Dniester. Grand Crown Hetman Jan Sobieski led the army of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth against Hüseyin Pasha's Ottoman army, entrenched in a fortified camp beside the Khotyn fortress.
Read the full story of The Battle of Khotyn, 1673: Sobieski storms the Ottoman camp ›Battle of Łódź, 1914: the forgotten Polish Verdun
11 November 1914 · 111 years ago
German and Russian armies fought around Łódź in harsh winter weather on the Eastern Front of World War I. A German bid to encircle the Russians failed, and historians judge the indecisive result differently, though the Russians eventually pulled back.
Read the full story of Battle of Łódź, 1914: the forgotten Polish Verdun ›How World War I Ended: the Eleventh Hour of the Eleventh Day
11 November 1918 · 107 years ago
An armistice signed early in the morning in Marshal Foch's railway carriage in the forest of Compiègne ended the fighting on the Western Front. Beaten in the field, abandoned by its allies and shaken by revolution, Germany accepted harsh terms, and the guns fell silent at 11 a.m.
Read the full story of How World War I Ended: the Eleventh Hour of the Eleventh Day ›
