ABSTRACT
The character of the groupings embattled upon the Polish political arena on the eve of the Second World War offers interesting material for a comparative analysis of Fascism because many of the features which went together in the classic Italian and German cases did appear, but in incomplete clusters on different sides of the line dividing the contestants for power. Regarding Russia as the chief enemy, at the beginning of the First World War Pilsudski organised a Polish Legion in Austrian Poland, hoping that a Polish kingdom under a Habsburg might be set up if the Russian empire were rolled back. Though undoubted master, Pilsudski refrained from taking up the post of either President or Prime Minister and until his death remained the Minister of War. The army and foreign policy were his sole real interests and on some issues pertaining to these matters he showed remarkable far-sightedness.
