Jozef Pilsudski was a Polish statesman—Chief of State (1918–22), "First Marshal" (from 1920), and leader (1926–35) of the Second Polish Republic. From mid-World War I he had a major influence in Poland's politics, and was an important figure on the European political scene.[1] He was the person most responsible for the creation of the Second Republic of Poland in 1918, 123 years after it had been taken over by Russia, Austria and Germany.[2][3][4][5] Under Piłsudski, Poland annexed Vilnius from Lithuania following Żeligowski's Mutiny but was unable to incorporate most of his Lithuanian homeland into the newly resurrected Polish State.[6] He believed in a multicultural Poland with recognition of numerous ethnic and religious nationalities. His arch-rival Roman Dmowski by contrast called for a purified Poland based on Polish-speaking Catholics with little role for minorities.