In May 1926, Józef Piłsudski – the revered and reviled hero of Poland’s struggle for independence – led a military coup against Poland’s elected government, claiming to rescue the state from political chaos. Nearly a century later, as Europe faces war, extremist politics, uncertainty over America’s role, and a renewed crisis of democratic confidence, the May Coup feels less like distant history and more like a warning.
A very Polish coup. What’s the historians’ verdict on its impact and the subsequent military-dominated regime?
Join Jan Darasz and his guest, Marcin Zaborowski, TVP World’s Europe Editor, in the latest episode of How We Got Here.
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction: The May 1926 coup & “Sanation” regime
04:21 Parallels between interwar and contemporary Europe
08:32 Why interwar democracy struggled: Comparing Poland & Czechoslovakia
13:22 Was the coup restoring order or undermining democracy?
15:14 Piłsudski’s path to power and ideological vision
19:06 The contested legacy of Piłsudski
21:12 The nature and costs of “Sanation” rule
24:10 Enduring vulnerabilities of democracy
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