Some military units refused to follow confusing or surprising orders, and eventually the coup ended in some arrests and in a return to the status quo ante.

Moraczewski's reforms, such as the 8-hour work day and the creation of a worker's militia, led to unrest among the right-wing politicians, and the issue was compounded by highly controversial decisions of some left-wing local activists, in some cases bordering on support for communism (for example, some factories were temporarily nationalized).

Eventually several high-ranking officers and politicians (Marian Januszajtis-Żegota, Tadeusz Dymowski, Jerzy Zdziechowski, Witold Zawadzki, Eustachy Sapieha) decided to stage a coup - arrest Moraczewski and Piłsudski, and in their place, introduce a right-wing government under Roman Dmowski and Józef Haller.

As neither Dmowski nor Haller were in Poland (they were in France, attending the Treaty of Versailles negotiations), Sapieha and Januszajtis-Żegota declared that they were assuming the leadership of the country.

Szeptycki however was first informed of the events by an officer who escaped from the Town Hall; then arrested by a rebel squad, and finally freed by his own soldiers.