 In 1915 , Dmowski , increasingly convinced of Russia 's impending defeat , decided that to support the cause of Polish independence he should go abroad to campaign on behalf of Poland in the capitals of the western Allies . During his lobbying efforts , his friends included such opinion makers as the British journalist Wickham Steed . In particular , Dmowski was very successful in France , where he made a very favorable impression on public opinion . He gave a series of lecture at Cambridge University , which impressed the local faculty enough that he was given a honorary doctorate . In August 1917 , in Paris , he created a new Polish National Committee aimed at rebuilding a Polish state . That year he also published , at his own expense , Problems of Central and Eastern Europe , that he soon distributed among numerous English speaking diplomats . He was a vocal critic of Austro @-@ Hungary , and campaigned for the creation of a number of Slavic states ( including for the Czechs , Hungarians and Romanians ) in its place . Within the Polish political community , he opposed those who supported allying themselves with Germany and Austria @-@ Hungary , including supporters of a vague German proposal for a Regency Kingdom of Poland , with undefined borders , that Germany promised to create after World War I ( while in secret , actually planning to strip it of up to 30 @,@ 000 square kilometers for German colonization after the removal of its Polish population ) . In 1917 Dmowski laid out a plan for the borders of a re @-@ created Polish state ; it would include Greater Poland , Pomerania with Gdańsk , Upper Silesia , south strip of East Prussia and Cieszyn Silesia . 
