Wladyslaw Sikorski

Władysław Sikorski was born in 1881 in Tuszów Narodowy, a village in Galicia, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He studied engineering at the Lwów Polytechnic and joined a secret Polish nationalist organization. He served in the Austrian army during World War I, but later switched sides and fought for the Polish cause. He distinguished himself in the Polish-Soviet War of 1919-1921, especially in the Battle of Warsaw. He became the chief of the Polish general staff and later the prime minister and minister of military affairs of the newly independent Poland. He modernized the Polish army and supported the development of aviation and maritime forces. He opposed the authoritarian rule of Józef Piłsudski and joined the opposition after being dismissed from his command in 1928. He remained politically active until the outbreak of World War II, when Poland was invaded by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. He escaped to France and became the prime minister of the Polish government-in-exile, as well as the commander-in-chief of the Polish Armed Forces. He established good relations with the Western Allies, especially Britain and France, and sought to restore diplomatic ties with the Soviet Union, which had broken off after the Katyn massacre of thousands of Polish officers. He also supported the Polish resistance movement and the creation of a Polish army in the West. He died in a mysterious plane crash in Gibraltar in 1943, shortly after leaving a meeting with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. His death was a severe blow to the Polish cause and raised suspicions of sabotage or assassination. He is regarded as one of the most prominent and respected Polish leaders of the 20th century.