Edward Rydz-Śmigły

Marshal Edward Śmigły-Rydz [ˈɛdvard ˈɕmiɡɫɨ rɨdz] also Edward Rydz-Śmigły, (11 March 1886 – 2 December 1941) was a Polish politician, statesman, Marshal of Poland and Commander-in-Chief of the Polish Armed Forces, as well as a painter and poet. Born in 1886 and orphaned at age 13, Śmigły-Rydz was raised by his maternal grandparents. He graduated with distinctions from the local Gymnasium. He completed his studies in philosophy and art history at the Jagiellonian University. During the interwar period, he cultivated a dictatorial cult of personality, and was regarded as a hero for his exemplary record as an army commander in the Polish Legions of World War I and the ensuing Polish–Soviet War in 1920. He was appointed Commander-in-Chief and Inspector General of the Polish Armed Forces following Marshal Józef Piłsudski's death in 1935. Rydz served in this capacity at the start of World War II during the invasion of Poland. As the war approached, Rydz's stature began to eclipse even that of the president. The shock of the Polish defeat made objective evaluations of his legacy during and after the war difficult; his reputation remains highly controversial in Poland. This is a consequence attributable to misteps made during the critical early months of World War II, the evacuation of government of Poland for Romania, especially paired with the image of invulnerability he constructed beforehand. However, others claim that there was nothing else Śmigły could have done that would've changed the outcome, and the evacuation of government which saved Poland's gold reserves and established the Polish government-in-exile was in fact a wise move.