From 1795 to 1918, Poland was not an independent country. It was divided into three parts between Russia, Prussia (Germany) and Austria-Hungary. Piłsudski was born in the Russian part. The government tried to make Poles become Russian but Piłsudski was born in family of patriots. In 1887 he got into trouble, because he helped people who tried to kill the Tsar. He was sent to Siberia. When he came back from there he got more and more involved in politics.