Jozef
Pilsudski (1867 - 1935), Polish soldier and
politician. He spent the first part of his
life in two overlapping causes,
revolutionary socialism and freeing what was then Russian
Poland from czarist rule. He fought for
Austria against Russia in
World War I after which he was made head of
state (1919) and played a prominent part in the battles, political as well as military, by which
Poland's frontiers were determined.
Having refused the presidency (1922), he lived in
retirement until 1926 when he carried out a coup d'etat to put his friend in as
president. As a result, he exercised almost
dictatorial power through the
president for the rest of his
life.