284 FENIKS
German leaders were unprepared for the new developments. 'It was not our
intention to reopen the Polish Question,' declared the Chancellor, Bethmann-
Hollweg, in the Reichstag: 'it was the fate of battles'. One project called for the
creation of a permanent buffer zone or Grenzstreifen from which 16 million
Poles could be deported into Russia to make way for reliable German settlers.^14
Another idea, put forward by Frederick Naumann, envisaged a formal union of
Austria- Hungary and Germany. In this 'Mitteleuropa', Poland was to enjoy
autonomy under German auspices. The Austrians were scandalized. In August
1916, the Germans announced their intention of reincarnating the defunct
Congress Kingdom, and in the autumn, the Kaiser discussed the outlines with
Francis Joseph at Pless (Pszczyna) in Silesia. According to the 'Two Emperors'
Declaration' published on 5 November, Poland was to be 'independent', within
so far undefined territorial and constitutional limits. A Provisional Council of
State (TRS), convoked in Warsaw by the joint action of the German and
Austrian Governors-General, drew exclusively on Activist support, and
resigned after eight months' operation. It was replaced by a Regency Council,
consisting of Archbishop Kakowski (1862—1938), Prince Zdzislaw Lubomirski
(1865-1941), and Count Jozef Ostrowski (1850-1924). This body acted in the
name of a Kingdom without a King, and of a Regency without a Regent. It was
entirely subordinated to the German military authorities. It made some progress
in February 1918, when it appointed an executive Council of State, responsible
for twelve 'Ministries' and intended to polonize the administration. But its cred-
ibility was soon undermined by the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, signed by the
Germans with the Bolsheviks on 3 March. Polish opinion condemned the
Treaty, to which no Polish representatives were invited, as an insolent assault
on Polish interests in the lands beyond the Bug. In Polish eyes, the Treaty of
Brest-Litovsk accomplished the Sixth Partition.^15
The part played by the Polish Legions in the campaign of the Eastern Front
was not undistinguished. Their baptism of fire under Austrian orders took
place on 21 October 1914 at Laski near Dublin. Their moment of glory came
in the triumphal Uhlan charge at Rokitna on 13 June 1915. In the next two
years, they saw action in Subcarpathian Ruthenia, in Podolia, in Volhynia, and
in the great battle of the Stochod valley in Pblesie. In 1917, however, their
purpose began to waver on account of a proposal to transfer them to the
Polnische Wehrmacbt. The extent of the German success, and the imminent
collapse of Russia, undermined Piteudski's original motives. He no more
wanted a complete German victory than a Russian one. So on 21 July 1917 he
refused to transfer his allegiance from Austria to Germany. Pilcudski's inter-
view with von Besseler, the German Governor of Warsaw, was entirely
uncompromising:
PILSUDSKI: Your Excellency, do you imagine for one moment that you will win
the nation's confidence by hanging Polish insignia on each of the
fingers of the hand which is throttling Poland? The Poles know the
Prussian stranglehold for what it is.