Act of 5th November – manifesto issued on 5 November 1916 on behalf of the German Empire and Austria by the German and Austrian governors-general of the occupied Kingdom of Poland – Hans Hartwig von Beseler and Karl Kuk, respectively; the document proclaimed the establishment of an independent Polish state in the teritories of the Kingdom of Poland with a hereditary monarchy and constitutional system, politically subordinated to the Central Powers; the issues of borders, own army, foreign policy, head of state, and structure of the highest state authorities were not specified; the main purpose of the manifesto was to win over Polish support and draft soldiers to continue the war effort against Russia in view of the depletion of human reserves in Germany and Austria in the prolonging war.
The entry was written on the basis of source materials of the PWN printing house.
