Eustachy Sapieha

Who was Eustachy Sapieha?

Eustachy Kajetan Sapieha was a Polish nobleman, prince of the Sapieha family, politician, Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs, and deputy to the Polish parliament.

In 1900–04, he studied forestry in Zurich and earned a degree as an engineer. A conservative activist from Kresy, he worked with the Regency Council and Józef Piłsudski during the First World War. In 1917 he unsuccessfully negotiated with the Polish National Committee. Afterwards, disappointed with Piłsudski's leftist policies, he was an organizer of the failed 1919 coup d'état; despite that, he subsequently worked with Piłsudski and supported him. On 16 June 1919, Sapieha was delegated as the ambassador of Poland to the United Kingdom. On 4 June 1920 he signed, as a representative of Polish diplomacy, the Treaty of Trianon together with Erazm Piltz.

During the Polish-Soviet War, he served in the cavalry. Afterwards, in 1920, he was chosen by Prime Minister Władysław Grabski to head the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Although he successfully negotiated several agreements with Western powers, his negotiations over federation with Lithuania failed and, faced with criticism from the National Democrats, in 1921 he resigned his post.