Kazimierz Sosnkowski
- Birth Date:
- 19.11.1885
- Death date:
- 11.10.1969
- Extra names:
- Kazimierz Sosnkowski, Baca, Godziemba, Józef, Józef Godziemba, Ryszard, Szef, Казимир Соснковский
- Categories:
- General, Legionary, Nobleman, landlord, Politician, WWI participant, WWII participant
- Nationality:
- pole
- Cemetery:
- Montmorency, Cmentarz Les Champeaux
Kazimierz Sosnkowski (Warsaw, 1885–1969, Arundel, Quebec) was a Polish independence fighter, politician and Polish Army general.
Born in Warsaw, Sosnkowski grew up in the Russian Empire. After meeting Józef Piłsudski in 1904 he joined the underground Polish Socialist Party. A dedicated follower of Piłsudski, his involvement in revolutionary activities forced him to go into exile. Together with Piłsudski he settled in Lwów, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, where they organized a paramilitary group that opposed the Russian Empire's control of Poland. When these paramilitary units were expanded into the Związek Walki Czynnej (Active Combat Association), Sosnkowski served as part of the central command. After the Riflemen's Association was formed as a legal front, Sosnkowski became its Chief of Staff.
Following the outbreak of the First World War Piłsudski formed the 1st Brigade of the Polish Legions, with Sosnkowski serving as his Chief of Staff and second-in-command. During the Oath crisis, when Piłsudski instructed the Polish Legion to refuse to swear an oath of allegiance to Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, Sosnkowski was arrested along with his commander and imprisoned in Magdeburg.
After the end of the war he was released and became Deputy Minister for Military Affairs in the new Polish Second Republic, serving in that position during the Polish-Soviet War. Between 1920 and 1923 he was Minister for Military Affairs. Subsequently he served in a number of diplomatic roles, including a brief period as Polish Representative to the League of Nations. In 1925 he returned to active duty as Commander of the VII Corp District. Despite his long association with Piłsudski, he was not privy to the May Coup.
Despite this he continued to serve in Piłsudski's Sanacja Government, becoming Army Inspector in Warsaw and serving in diplomatic capacities. Sosnkowski was considered a possible successor to Piłsudski, but lost out to Edward Rydz-Śmigły. Thereafter he was largely excluded from power by Rydz-Smigly and President Ignacy Mościcki. During the Invasion of Poland he was recalled to command the Karpaty Army.
Following the defeat of the Polish Army, he made his way to France via Hungary and became involved in the Polish government-in-exile, initially as Minister without Portfolio. After Władysław Sikorski's death in 1943, he succeeded him as General Inspector of the Armed Forces. At the end of the Second World War he emigrated to Canada.
Sosnkowski, over his career, used a number of noms de guerre, including "Baca" (Polish mountaineer term for "shepherd"), "Godziemba" (the name of his herditary coat-of-arms), "Józef" (Polish for "Joseph"), "Ryszard" ("Richard"), "Szef" ("Chief").
Sosnkowski was married to Jadwiga Sosnkowska. They had five sons.
Prohibition of bacteriological weapons
In 1925, the Polish Permanent Representative to the League of Nations, General Kazimierz Sosnkowski, initiated the adoption of the first international instrument addressing Biological weapons of Mass Destruction – the Geneva Protocol for the Prohibition of Poisonous Gases and Bacteriological Methods of Warfare.
Honours and awards
- Order of the White Eagle (posthumously, November 11, 1995 by Lech Walesa)
- Commander's Cross of the Order of Virtuti Militari (previously awarded the Gold Cross and Silver Cross)
- Grand Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta
- Cross of Independence with Swords
- Cross of Valour - four times
- Gold Cross of Merit
- Cross of Liberty, Class II (Estonia)
- Legion of Honour (France)
- Order of the British Empire (United Kingdom)
- Order of the Cross of the Eagle, Class I (Estonia, 1933)
- Academic Golden Laurel of the Polish Academy of Literature for oratory.
Source: wikipedia.org
No places
| Relation name | Relation type | Description | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | Marian Kukiel | Coworker | |
| 2 |  | Józef Lipski | Employee | |
| 3 |  | August Emil Fieldorf | Soldier | |
| 4 |  | Tadeusz Jordan-Rozwadowski | Comrade |
14.02.1919 | The Polish-Soviet war started
The Polish–Soviet War (February 1919 – March 1921) was an armed conflict that pitted Soviet Russia and Soviet Ukraine against the Second Polish Republic and the Ukrainian People's Republic over the control of an area equivalent to today's Ukraine and parts of modern-day Belarus. Ultimately the Soviets, following on from their Westward Offensive of 1918–19, hoped to fully occupy Poland. Although united under communist leadership, Soviet Russia and Soviet Ukraine were theoretically two separate independent entities since the Soviet republics did not unite into the Soviet Union until 1922.
19.12.1923 | Utworzono drugi rząd Władysława Grabskiego
Drugi rząd Władysława Grabskiego – gabinet pod kierownictwem premiera Władysława Grabskiego, utworzony 19 grudnia 1923 roku po ustąpieniu rządu Wincentego Witosa. Rząd ustąpił 14 listopada 1925.
01.09.1939 | Invasion of Poland
The Invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign or 1939 Defensive War (Polish: Kampania wrześniowa or Wojna obronna 1939 roku) in Poland and the Poland Campaign (German: Polenfeldzug) or Fall Weiß (Case White) in Germany, was an invasion of Poland by Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small Slovak contingent that marked the beginning of World War II in Europe. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week after the signing of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, while the Soviet invasion commenced on 17 September following the Molotov-Tōgō agreement which terminated the Russian and Japanese hostilities (Nomonhan incident) in the east on 16 September. The campaign ended on 6 October with Germany and the Soviet Union dividing and annexing the whole of Poland.