Pià Âsudski's colonels, or the colonels' regime (in Polish, simply "the colonels") governed the Second Polish Republic from 1926 to 1939.
In some contexts, the term refers specifically to the period, from 1935 to 1939, following the death of their mentor and patron, Józef Pià Âsudski.
The term "Colonel's group" refers to a group of several dozen politicians with military backgrounds who were close to Marshal Pià Âsudski and, after the May Coup, became involved in political life outside the army structures. Many of these individuals were senior officers, though military rank was not a defining criterion, as not all members of the group held such a rank. The names most commonly associated with this group include: Walery Sà Âawek, Aleksander Prystor, Kazimierz à Âwitalski, Bogusà Âaw Miedzià Âski, Józef Beck, Janusz JÃÂdrzejewicz, Wacà Âaw JÃÂdrzejewicz, Adam Koc, and Ignacy Matuszewski. While this is not an exhaustive list, it represents the core of the group of soldier-politicians involved in governmental roles after 1926.
Close allies of Józef Pià Âsudski, most of "the colonels" had served as officers in the Polish Legions and Polish Military Organisation (POW), and in the Polish Army (particularly during the PolishâÂÂSoviet War of 1919âÂÂ1920, prior to Pià Âsudski's 1923 resignation as Chief of the Polish General Staff). They had held key, if not necessarily the highest, military ranks during Pià Âsudski's May 1926 coup d'état.
Later they became important figures in Pià Âsudski's Sanation movement and ministers in several governments. After the BBWR's 1930 electoral victory (the "Brest elections"), Pià Âsudski left most internal matters in the hands of his "colonels", while himself concentrating on military and foreign affairs.
The "colonels" included Józef Beck, Janusz JÃÂdrzejewicz, Wacà Âaw JÃÂdrzejewicz, Adam Koc, Leon Kozà Âowski, Ignacy Matuszewski, , Bronisà Âaw Pieracki, Aleksander Prystor, Adam Skwarczyà Âski, Walery Sà Âawek, and Kazimierz à Âwitalski.
One can divide the colonels' régime into three periods: 1926âÂÂ1929, 1930âÂÂ1935 and 1935âÂÂ1939.
During the first period, after the May 1926 coup, the colonels (and Sanation generally) consolidated their control over the government.
The second period, following the 1930 "Brest elections", saw the colonels' regime under Pià Âsudski's guidance, with power exercised by his allies and friends such as Walery Sà Âawek and Aleksander Prystor, both of whom had known Pià Âsudski since 1905 and had served in the Combat Organization of the Polish Socialist Party before World War I.
After Pià Âsudski's death (1935), the hardliner "colonels", led by Walery Sà Âawek, lost influence to the Castle faction of Ignacy Moà Âcicki and Edward Rydz-à Âmigà Ây. Nevertheless, the "colonels' regime" and Sanation still dominated the Polish government from 1935 to the German invasion of Poland, in September 1939. Some scholars draw a distinction between the "Pià Âsudski period" (1926âÂÂ35) and the "colonels' period, proper" (1935âÂÂ39).
From 1937, the colonels' new political front would be the Camp of National Unity (OZON). In that last period, the Polish government, a "dictatorship without a dictator", to bolster its popular support, paradoxically adopted some of the nationalistic anti-minority policies that had been opposed by Pià Âsudski and advocated by his most vocal adversaries, the National Democrats.