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157-778: In 1941, during the German occupation , the dismantled altarpiece was shipped to the Third Reich on the order of Hans Frank – the Governor-General of that part of occupied Poland . It was recovered in 1946 in Bavaria , hidden in the basement of the heavily bombed Nuremberg Castle . The High Altar underwent major restoration work in Poland and was put back in its place at the Basilica 10 years later. A few weeks prior to

314-501: A Fellowship of the Royal Society . In 1791, Great Sejm parliament adopted the 3 May Constitution , the first set of supreme national laws, and introduced a constitutional monarchy . The Targowica Confederation , an organisation of nobles and deputies opposing the act, appealed to Catherine and caused the 1792 Polish–Russian War . Fearing the reemergence of Polish hegemony, Russia and Prussia arranged and in 1793 executed,

471-695: A coastline spanning 770 km (480 mi); extending from the shores of the Baltic Sea, along the Bay of Pomerania in the west to the Gulf of Gdańsk in the east. The beach coastline is abundant in sand dune fields or coastal ridges and is indented by spits and lagoons, notably the Hel Peninsula and the Vistula Lagoon , which is shared with Russia. The largest Polish island on the Baltic Sea

628-501: A few hundred of anti-armor or anti-aircraft units), and 600 tanks, of which 120 were of the advanced 7TP -type. The air force regiments included 422 aircraft, including 160 PZL P.11c , 31 PZL P.7a and 20 P.11a fighters, 120 PZL.23 Karaś reconnaissance-bombers, and 45 PZL.37 Łoś medium bombers. The Polish-made P-series fighter planes were becoming obsolete; state-of-the art P-24s were built but sold abroad to generate currency. Łoś bombers were modern and fast. The navy's participation

785-552: A leading power and a major cultural entity, exercising political control over parts of Central, Eastern , Southeastern and Northern Europe. The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth occupied approximately 1 million km (390,000 sq mi) at its peak and was the largest state in Europe. Simultaneously, Poland imposed Polonisation policies in newly acquired territories which were met with resistance from ethnic and religious minorities. In 1573, Henry de Valois of France ,

942-667: A legendary ruler of the Lechites , or from the Lendians , a West Slavic tribe that dwelt on the south-easternmost edge of Lesser Poland . The origin of the tribe's name lies in the Old Polish word lęda (plain). Initially, both names Lechia and Polonia were used interchangeably when referring to Poland by chroniclers during the Middle Ages . The first Stone Age archaic humans and Homo erectus species settled what

1099-475: A military reform and rearmament of the Polish Army in the face of the changing political climate in Europe. Thanks in part to a financial loan from France, Poland's new Central Industrial Region participated in the project from 1936 in an attempt to catch-up with the advanced weapons development by Poland's richer neighbors. Foreign Minister Józef Beck continued to resist the growing pressure on Poland from

1256-719: A new Polish army was formed in the Soviet Union to fight together with the Soviets. At the same time Stalin worked on co-opting the Western Allies (the United States led by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the United Kingdom led by Prime Minister Winston Churchill ), who, in terms of practical implementations, conformed to Stalin's views on Poland's borders and future government. The fate of Poland

1413-613: A new provisional pro-Communist coalition government in Moscow, which ignored the Polish government-in-exile based in London. This action angered many Poles who considered it a betrayal by the Allies. In 1944, Stalin had made guarantees to Churchill and Roosevelt that he would maintain Poland's sovereignty and allow democratic elections to take place. However, upon achieving victory in 1945,

1570-565: A political force. Despite persecution and imposition of martial law in 1981 by General Wojciech Jaruzelski , it eroded the dominance of the Polish United Workers' Party and by 1989 had triumphed in Poland's first partially free and democratic parliamentary elections since the end of the Second World War. Lech Wałęsa , a Solidarity candidate, eventually won the presidency in 1990 . The Solidarity movement heralded

1727-709: A post along the German–Polish border . During the following days and weeks the technically, logistically and numerically superior German forces rapidly advanced into the Polish territory. Secured by the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, the Soviet troops also invaded Poland on 17 September 1939. Before the end of the month, most of Poland was divided between the Germans and the Soviets. The Polish military did not anticipate

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1884-631: A recognized partner in the Allied coalition . Stalin pursued a strategy of facilitating the formation of a Polish government independent of (and in opposition to) the exile government in London by empowering the Polish communists . Among Polish communist organizations established during the war were the Polish Workers' Party in occupied Poland and the Union of Polish Patriots in Moscow. In late 1943

2041-699: A rival Habsburg electoral candidate, Archduke Maximilian III , in the War of the Polish Succession (1587–1588) . In 1592, Sigismund succeeded his father and John Vasa , in Sweden . The Polish-Swedish union endured until 1599, when he was deposed by the Swedes. In 1609, Sigismund invaded Russia which was engulfed in a civil war , and a year later the Polish winged hussar units under Stanisław Żółkiewski occupied Moscow for two years after defeating

2198-876: A tribal federation and later a centralised monarchical state. Poland began to form into a recognisable unitary and territorial entity around the middle of the 10th century under the Piast dynasty . In 966, ruler of the Polans Mieszko I accepted Christianity under the auspices of the Roman Church with the Baptism of Poland . In 968, a missionary bishopric was established in Poznań . An incipit titled Dagome iudex first defined Poland's geographical boundaries with its capital in Gniezno and affirmed that its monarchy

2355-847: Is Wolin , located within Wolin National Park . Poland also shares the Szczecin Lagoon and the Usedom island with Germany. The mountainous belt in the extreme south of Poland is divided into two major mountain ranges ; the Sudetes in the west and the Carpathians in the east. The highest part of the Carpathian massif are the Tatra Mountains , extending along Poland's southern border. Poland's highest point

2512-790: Is a founding member state of the United Nations and a member of the World Trade Organization , OECD , NATO , and the European Union (including the Schengen Area ). The native Polish name for Poland is Polska . The name is derived from the Polans , a West Slavic tribe who inhabited the Warta River basin of present-day Greater Poland region (6th–8th century CE). The tribe's name stems from

2669-493: Is internal waters and 8,783 km (3,391 sq mi) is territorial sea. Topographically, the landscape of Poland is characterised by diverse landforms , water bodies and ecosystems . The central and northern region bordering the Baltic Sea lie within the flat Central European Plain , but its south is hilly and mountainous. The average elevation above the sea level is estimated at 173 metres. The country has

2826-587: Is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 million people, and the fifth largest EU country by land area, covering a combined area of 312,696 km (120,733 sq mi). The capital and largest city is Warsaw ; other major cities include Kraków , Wrocław , Łódź , Poznań , and Gdańsk . Prehistoric human activity on Polish soil dates to the Lower Paleolithic , with continuous settlement since

2983-402: Is the largest and most detailed work of its kind, and was commissioned in 2003 as a tribute to the immigrants from the former Galicia region of southeastern Poland who founded the parish in 1893. The Veit Stoss Altarpiece is about 13 m high and 11 m wide when the panels of the triptych are completely opened. The realistically sculptured figures are 2.7 m (more than 12 ft.) high; each one

3140-489: The Armia Krajowa ( Home Army ), fought against German occupation. It was one of the three largest resistance movements of the entire war, and encompassed a range of clandestine activities, which functioned as an underground state complete with degree-awarding universities and a court system . The resistance was loyal to the exiled government and generally resented the idea of a communist Poland; for this reason, in

3297-667: The Assumption of the Madonna . At the very top, outside the main frame, the coronation of Mary is shown, flanked by figures of Saint Stanislaus and Saint Adalbert of Prague . The side panels show the six scenes of the Joys of Mary: 50°03′42″N 19°56′21″E  /  50.061667°N 19.939167°E  / 50.061667; 19.939167 History of Poland (1939%E2%80%931945) Timeline of Polish history The history of Poland from 1939 to 1945 encompasses primarily

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3454-481: The Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukraine to the east, Slovakia and the Czech Republic to the south, and Germany to the west. The territory is characterised by a varied landscape, diverse ecosystems, and temperate transitional climate. Poland is composed of sixteen voivodeships and

3611-545: The Battle of Vienna . The Saxon era, under Augustus II and Augustus III , saw neighboring powers grow in strength at the expense of Poland. Both Saxon kings faced opposition from Stanisław Leszczyński during the Great Northern War (1700) and the War of the Polish Succession (1733) . The royal election of 1764 resulted in the elevation of Stanisław II Augustus Poniatowski to the monarchy. His candidacy

3768-480: The Bug River ) and south to fill the area allotted to them by the secret protocol of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. They took steps to block the potential Polish evacuation routes into Lithuania , Latvia , Romania and Hungary . About 13.4 million Polish citizens lived in the areas seized by the Soviet Union. Of those, about 8.7 million were Ukrainians, Belarusians and Jews. The minorities' relations with

3925-583: The Curzon Line by Stalin . The western border became the Oder-Neisse line . As a result, Poland's territory was reduced by 20%, or 77,500 square kilometres (29,900 sq mi). The shift forced the migration of millions of other people , most of whom were Poles, Germans, Ukrainians, and Jews. At the insistence of Joseph Stalin , the Yalta Conference sanctioned the formation of

4082-622: The Duke of Milan and queen consort to Sigismund I, made considerable contributions to architecture , cuisine , language and court customs at Wawel Castle . The Union of Lublin of 1569 established the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth , a unified federal state with an elective monarchy , but largely governed by the nobility. The latter coincided with a period of prosperity; the Polish-dominated union thereafter becoming

4239-674: The European Spring of Nations , Poles took up arms in the Greater Poland Uprising of 1848 to resist Germanisation , but its failure saw duchy's status reduced to a mere province ; and subsequent integration into the German Empire in 1871. In Russia, the fall of the January Uprising (1863–1864) prompted severe political, social and cultural reprisals , followed by deportations and pogroms of

4396-550: The General Government (in German Generalgouvernement für die besetzten polnischen Gebiete ), with its capital at Kraków . It became a part of Greater Germany ( Grossdeutsches Reich ). The General Government was originally subdivided into four districts, Warsaw, Lublin , Radom , and Kraków, to which East Galicia and a part of Volhynia were added as a district in 1941. (For more detail on

4553-454: The General Government , or to concentration camps . With the clearing of some western Poland regions for German resettlement, the Nazis initiated the policies of ethnic cleansing . About one million Poles were forcibly removed from their dwellings and replaced with over 386,000 ethnic Germans brought from distant places. (see also: Expulsion of Poles by Nazi Germany ) Under the terms of

4710-590: The Grand Duke of Lithuania , thus forming the Jagiellonian dynasty and the Polish–Lithuanian union which spanned the late Middle Ages and early Modern Era . The partnership between Poles and Lithuanians brought the vast multi-ethnic Lithuanian territories into Poland's sphere of influence and proved beneficial for its inhabitants, who coexisted in one of the largest European political entities of

4867-692: The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and the German–Soviet Frontier Treaty , the Soviet Union annexed all Polish territory east of the line of the rivers Pisa , Narew , Bug and San , except for the area around Vilnius (known in Polish as Wilno), which was given to Lithuania , and the Suwałki region, which was annexed by Germany. These territories were largely inhabited by Ukrainians and Belarusians , with minorities of Poles and Jews (for numbers see Curzon Line ). The total area, including

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5024-483: The Nuremberg Castle . At the castle, Polish prisoners sent messages to members of the Polish resistance that the revered altarpiece was hidden there. The altarpiece survived the war in spite of heavy bombardment of Nuremberg , and was discovered by Count Emeryk Hutten-Czapski, who was attached to the Polish 1st Armoured Division, and it was returned to Poland in 1946, where it underwent major restoration. It

5181-830: The Polish Committee of National Liberation in July 1944 in Lublin , after the arrival of the Soviet army . The Soviet Union kept the eastern half of prewar Poland, granting Poland instead the greater southern portion of the eliminated German East Prussia and shifting the country west to the Oder–Neisse line , at the expense of Germany. After the death of Józef Piłsudski in 1935, the Sanation government of his political followers , along with President Ignacy Mościcki , embarked on

5338-657: The Polish People's Republic was a founding signatory of the Warsaw Pact . Through the emergence and contributions of the Solidarity movement , the communist government was dissolved and Poland re-established itself as a democratic state in 1989, as the first of its neighbors, initiating the fall of the Iron Curtain . Poland is a parliamentary republic with its bicameral legislature comprising

5495-420: The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth . At the time, the Commonwealth was one of the great powers of Europe, with an elective monarchy and a uniquely liberal political system, which adopted Europe's first modern constitution in 1791. With the passing of the prosperous Polish Golden Age , the country was partitioned by neighbouring states at the end of the 18th century. Poland regained its independence at

5652-553: The Proto-Slavic noun pole meaning field, which in-itself originates from the Proto-Indo-European word *pleh₂- indicating flatland. The etymology alludes to the topography of the region and the flat landscape of Greater Poland. During the Middle Ages , the Latin form Polonia was widely used throughout Europe. The country's alternative archaic name is Lechia and its root syllable remains in official use in several languages, notably Hungarian , Lithuanian , and Persian . The exonym possibly derives from either Lech ,

5809-477: The Second Partition , which left the country deprived of territory and incapable of independent existence. On 24 October 1795, the Commonwealth was partitioned for the third time and ceased to exist as a territorial entity. Stanisław Augustus, the last King of Poland, abdicated the throne on 25 November 1795. The Polish people rose several times against the partitioners and occupying armies. An unsuccessful attempt at defending Poland's sovereignty took place in

5966-438: The Sejm and the Senate . Considered a middle power , it is a developed market and high-income economy that is the sixth largest in the EU by nominal GDP and the fifth largest by GDP (PPP) . Poland enjoys a very high standard of living , safety, and economic freedom , as well as free university education and universal health care . The country has 17 UNESCO World Heritage Sites , 15 of which are cultural. Poland

6123-558: The Soviet invasion of Poland on 17 September. On 28 September 1939, Warsaw fell . As agreed in the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact , Poland was split into two zones, one occupied by Nazi Germany , the other by the Soviet Union . In 1939–1941, the Soviets deported hundreds of thousands of Poles. The Soviet NKVD executed thousands of Polish prisoners of war (among other incidents in the Katyn massacre ) ahead of Operation Barbarossa . German planners had in November 1939 called for "the complete destruction of all Poles" and their fate as outlined in

6280-419: The Teutonic Knights to aid in combating the Baltic Prussians; a decision that later led to centuries of warfare with the Knights. In the first half of the 13th century, Henry I the Bearded and Henry II the Pious aimed to unite the fragmented dukedoms, but the Mongol invasion and the death of Henry II in battle hindered the unification. As a result of the devastation which followed, depopulation and

6437-454: The University of Kraków , one of the oldest institutions of higher learning in Europe. Upon his death in 1370, the Piast dynasty came to an end. He was succeeded by his closest male relative, Louis of Anjou , who ruled Poland, Hungary , and Croatia in a personal union . Louis' younger daughter Jadwiga became Poland's first female monarch in 1384. In 1386, Jadwiga of Poland entered a marriage of convenience with Władysław II Jagiełło ,

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6594-421: The War of the Fourth Coalition . In accordance with the 1807 Treaty of Tilsit , Napoleon proclaimed the Duchy of Warsaw , a client state ruled by his ally Frederick Augustus I of Saxony . The Poles actively aided French troops in the Napoleonic Wars , particularly those under Józef Poniatowski who became Marshal of France shortly before his death at Leipzig in 1813. In the aftermath of Napoleon's exile,

6751-420: The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and the Warsaw Uprising . The aim of the Warsaw Uprising was to prevent domination of Poland by the Soviet Union. In order to cooperate with the Soviet Union after Operation Barbarossa , Sikorski, an important war ally of the West, negotiated in Moscow with Joseph Stalin and they agreed to form a Polish army in the Soviet Union , intended to fight on the Eastern Front alongside

6908-459: The armistice with Germany in November 1918, Poland regained its independence as the Second Polish Republic . The Second Polish Republic reaffirmed its sovereignty after a series of military conflicts , most notably the Polish–Soviet War , when Poland inflicted a crushing defeat on the Red Army at the Battle of Warsaw . The inter-war period heralded a new era of Polish politics. Whilst Polish political activists had faced heavy censorship in

7065-472: The collapse of communist regimes and parties across Europe . A shock therapy program, initiated by Leszek Balcerowicz in the early 1990s, enabled the country to transform its Soviet-style planned economy into a market economy . As with other post-communist countries , Poland suffered temporary declines in social, economic, and living standards, but it became the first post-communist country to reach its pre-1989 GDP levels as early as 1995, although

7222-473: The defense of the capital city . According to Halik Kochanski , Rydz-Śmigły fled the capital and the Polish high command failed its army. Rydz-Śmigły's departure had disastrous effects on both the morale of the Polish armed forces and on his ability to exercise effective overall command. The Germans began surrounding Warsaw on 9 September. City president Stefan Starzyński played an especially prominent role in its defense. The campaign's greatest Battle of

7379-484: The 1794 Kościuszko Uprising , where a popular and distinguished general Tadeusz Kościuszko , who had several years earlier served under George Washington in the American Revolutionary War , led Polish insurgents. Despite the victory at the Battle of Racławice , his ultimate defeat ended Poland's independent existence for 123 years . In 1806, an insurrection organised by Jan Henryk Dąbrowski liberated western Poland ahead of Napoleon's advance into Prussia during

7536-424: The 1950s. Despite widespread objections, the new Polish government accepted the Soviet annexation of the pre-war eastern regions of Poland (in particular the cities of Wilno and Lwów ) and agreed to the permanent garrisoning of Red Army units on Poland's territory. Military alignment within the Warsaw Pact throughout the Cold War came about as a direct result of this change in Poland's political culture. In

7693-409: The Allies, providing much of the intelligence from Europe and beyond, Polish code breakers were responsible for cracking the Enigma cipher and Polish scientists participating in the Manhattan Project were co-creators of the American atomic bomb . In the east, the Soviet-backed Polish 1st Army distinguished itself in the battles for Warsaw and Berlin . The wartime resistance movement , and

7850-441: The Brave . In 1000, at the Congress of Gniezno , Bolesław obtained the right of investiture from Otto III, Holy Roman Emperor , who assented to the creation of additional bishoprics and an archdioceses in Gniezno. Three new dioceses were subsequently established in Kraków , Kołobrzeg , and Wrocław . Also, Otto bestowed upon Bolesław royal regalia and a replica of the Holy Lance , which were later used at his coronation as

8007-439: The Bzura was fought west of the middle Vistula on 9–21 September. Heavy fighting took place also at a number of other locations, including the area of Tomaszów Lubelski (until 26 September), and a determined defense of Lwów was mounted (against the German forces until 22 September, when the defenders surrendered to the Soviets upon their arrival). On 13 September, Marshal Rydz-Śmigły ordered all Polish forces to withdraw toward

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8164-469: The Duchy of Warsaw was abolished at the Congress of Vienna in 1815 and its territory was divided into Russian Congress Kingdom of Poland , the Prussian Grand Duchy of Posen , and Austrian Galicia with the Free City of Kraków . In 1830, non-commissioned officers at Warsaw's Officer Cadet School rebelled in what was the November Uprising . After its collapse, Congress Poland lost its constitutional autonomy , army and legislative assembly. During

8321-400: The European Union were dismantled, allowing for full freedom of movement within most of the European Union. On 10 April 2010, the President of Poland Lech Kaczyński , along with 89 other high-ranking Polish officials died in a plane crash near Smolensk , Russia. In 2011, the ruling Civic Platform won parliamentary elections . In 2014, the Prime Minister of Poland , Donald Tusk ,

8478-543: The European scene, it came to characterise the full-fledged integration of Poland into the brotherhood of communist nations. The new communist government took control with the adoption of the Small Constitution on 19 February 1947. The Polish People's Republic ( Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa ) was officially proclaimed in 1952 . In 1956, after the death of Bolesław Bierut , the régime of Władysław Gomułka became temporarily more liberal, freeing many people from prison and expanding some personal freedoms. Collectivisation in

8635-495: The French and the British were going to do. The Soviet Union assured Germany that the Red Army advance into Poland would follow later at an appropriate time. For the optimal "political motivation" (a collapse of Poland having taken place), Molotov wished to hold the Soviet intervention until the fall of Warsaw, but the city's capture by the Germans was being delayed due to its determined defense effort (until September 27). The Soviet troops marched on 17 September into Poland, which

8792-427: The General Government's area was 141,000 km , with 17.4 million inhabitants. Tens of thousands were murdered in the German campaign of extermination of the Polish intelligentsia and other elements thought likely to resist (e.g. Operation Tannenberg and Aktion AB ). Catholic clergy were commonly imprisoned or otherwise persecuted; many were murdered in concentration camps. Tens of thousands of members of

8949-405: The German occupation of Poland , including between 50,000 and 100,000 members of the Polish intelligentsia – academics, doctors, lawyers, nobility and priesthood. During the Warsaw Uprising alone, over 150,000 Polish civilians were killed, most were murdered by the Germans during the Wola and Ochota massacres. Around 150,000 Polish civilians were killed by Soviets between 1939 and 1941 during

9106-423: The German army, and met limited resistance from the Polish forces. The Polish military formations available in the eastern part of the country were ordered by the high command, who were then at the Romanian border, to avoid engaging the Soviets, but some fighting between Soviet and Polish units did take place (such as the Battle of Szack fought by the Border Protection Corps ). The Soviet forces moved west (to

9263-435: The German attack. After 1926, Józef Piłsudski led the military to discontinue defense preparations of the western border. They were resumed in March 1939. Afterwards the Polish Armed Forces were organized for the defense of the country . According to the historian Andrzej Leon Sowa, the technical and organizational level of the Polish forces corresponded to that of the World War I period. The armed forces' strategic position

9420-622: The German navy positioned its old battleship Schleswig-Holstein to shell Westerplatte , a section of the Free City of Danzig, a defended enclave separate from the main city and awarded to Poland by the Treaty of Versailles in 1919. 53 navy ships were designated for action against Poland. According to Antoni Czubiński , 1.2 million Polish troops had been mobilized, but some did not even have rifles. There were 30 infantry divisions, 11 cavalry brigades, 31 light artillery regiments, 10 heavy artillery regiments and 6 aerial regiments. They possessed 3,600 artillery pieces (mostly regular, with only

9577-418: The Poles resulted from the German occupation. The most catastrophic series of events was the extermination of the Jews known as the Holocaust . About one-sixth of Polish citizens lost their lives in the war, and most of the civilian losses resulted from various targeted, deliberate actions. The German plan involved not only the annexation of Polish territory but also a total destruction of Polish culture and

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9734-436: The Polish People's Republic failed. A similar situation repeated itself in the 1970s under Edward Gierek , but most of the time persecution of anti-communist opposition groups persisted. Despite this, Poland was at the time considered to be one of the least oppressive states of the Eastern Bloc. Labour turmoil in 1980 led to the formation of the independent trade union " Solidarity " (" Solidarność "), which over time became

9891-417: The Polish authorities were generally bad and many of their members greeted and supported the arriving Red Army troops as liberators. The British and French responses to the "not unexpected" Soviet encroachment were muted. Had it not been for the Soviet-German treaty and the Soviet invasion, all of prewar Poland would have likely been captured by Nazi Germany already in 1939. The Nazi-Soviet treaty process

10048-447: The Polish military and arrive in the rear of Polish formations. As the Polish armies were being destroyed or in retreat, the Germans took Częstochowa on 4 September, Kraków and Kielce on 6 September. The Polish government was evacuated to Volhynia and the supreme military commander Rydz-Śmigły left Warsaw on the night of 6 September and moved in the eastern direction toward Brześć . General Walerian Czuma took over and organized

10205-431: The Polish military campaign had already been resolved and that there was no point in launching an anti-German relief expedition. The Polish leaders were unaware of the decision and still expected a Western offensive. From 3 September Germany urged the Soviet Union to engage its troops against the Polish state, but the Soviet command kept stalling, waiting for the outcome of the German-Polish confrontation and to see what

10362-416: The Polish nation ( Generalplan Ost ) . Under the terms of two decrees by Hitler (8 October and 12 October 1939), large areas of western Poland were annexed to Germany. These included all the territories which Germany had lost under the 1919 Treaty of Versailles , such as the Polish Corridor , West Prussia and Upper Silesia , but also a large, indisputably Polish area east of these territories, including

10519-447: The Polish-Jewish population. Towards the end of the 19th century, Congress Poland became heavily industrialised; its primary exports being coal, zinc , iron and textiles. In the aftermath of World War I , the Allies agreed on the reconstitution of Poland, confirmed through the Treaty of Versailles of June 1919. A total of 2 million Polish troops fought with the armies of the three occupying powers, and over 450,000 died. Following

10676-464: The Prussian rulers to pay tributes . The Jagiellonian dynasty also established dynastic control over the kingdoms of Bohemia (1471 onwards) and Hungary. In the south, Poland confronted the Ottoman Empire (at the Varna Crusade ) and the Crimean Tatars , and in the east helped Lithuania to combat Russia . Poland was developing as a feudal state, with a predominantly agricultural economy and an increasingly powerful landed nobility that confined

10833-430: The Reich and to an extraterritorial highway passage connecting East Prussia with the rest of Germany through the so-called Polish Corridor (an area linking the Polish mainland with the Baltic Sea ). Poland would join an anti-Soviet alliance and coordinate its foreign policy with Germany, thus becoming a client state. The independence-minded Polish government was alarmed and a British guarantee of Poland's independence

10990-404: The Russians at Klushino . Sigismund also countered the Ottoman Empire in the southeast; at Khotyn in 1621 Jan Karol Chodkiewicz achieved a decisive victory against the Turks, which ushered the downfall of Sultan Osman II . Sigismund's long reign in Poland coincided with the Silver Age . The liberal Władysław IV effectively defended Poland's territorial possessions but after his death

11147-441: The September Campaign, the Polish Army lost about 66,000 troops on the German front; about 400,000 became prisoners of Germany and about 230,000 of the Soviet Union. 80,000 managed to leave the country. 16,600 German soldiers were killed and 3,400 were missing. 1000 German tanks or armored vehicles and 600 planes were destroyed. The Soviet Army lost between 2,500 and 3,000 soldiers, while 6,000 to 7,000 Polish defenders were killed in

11304-530: The Soviet Union in the summer of 1941, the entirety of Poland was occupied by Germany , which proceeded to advance its racial and genocidal policies across Poland. Under the two occupations, Polish citizens suffered enormous human and material losses. According to the Institute of National Remembrance estimates, about 5.6 million Polish citizens died due to the German occupation and about 150,000 due to

11461-399: The Soviet Union claimed to be by then non-existent anyway (according to the historian Richard Overy , Poland was defeated by Germany within two weeks from 1 September). The Soviet invasion of Poland was justified by the Soviets by their own security concerns and by the need to protect the ethnically Belarusian and Ukrainian populations. The invasion was coordinated with the movement of

11618-724: The Soviet Union's occupation of eastern Poland ( Kresy ), and another estimated 100,000 Poles were murdered by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) between 1943 and 1944 in what became known as the Wołyń Massacres . Of all the countries in the war, Poland lost the highest percentage of its citizens: around 6 million perished – more than one-sixth of Poland's pre-war population – half of them Polish Jews. About 90% of deaths were non-military in nature. In 1945, Poland's borders were shifted westwards . Over two million Polish inhabitants of Kresy were expelled along

11775-547: The Soviet dangerous offer of free entry is illustrated by the quote of Marshal Edward Rydz-Śmigły , commander-in-chief of the Polish armed forces, who said: "With the Germans we run the risk of losing our liberty. With the Russians we will lose our soul". The attitude of the Polish leadership was also reflected by Foreign Minister Józef Beck, who, apparently confident in the French and British declarations of support, asserted that

11932-609: The Soviet occupation. The Jews were singled out by the Germans for a quick and total annihilation and about 90 percent of Polish Jews (nearly three million) were murdered as part of the Holocaust . Jews, Poles , Romani people and prisoners of many other ethnicities were killed en masse at Nazi extermination camps , such as Auschwitz , Treblinka and Sobibór . Ethnic Poles were subjected to both Nazi German and Soviet persecution. The Germans killed an estimated two million ethnic Poles. Generalplan Ost contemplated turning

12089-705: The Soviets. The " Anders' Army " was instead taken to the Middle East in 1942 and then to Italy . Further efforts to continue the Polish-Soviet cooperation had failed because of disagreements over borders, the discovery of the Katyn massacre of Polish POWs perpetrated by the Soviets, and the death of General Sikorski . Afterwards, in a process seen by many Poles as a Western betrayal , the Polish Government-in-Exile gradually ceased being

12246-494: The United Kingdom, and through them made an offer to Poland of an anti-German alliance, similar to the earlier one made to Czechoslovakia. The British and the French sought the formation of a powerful political-military bloc, comprising the Soviet Union, Poland and Romania in the east, and France and Britain in the west. As of May 1939, the Soviet conditions for signing an agreement with Britain and France were as follows:

12403-584: The West to cooperate with the Soviet Union in order to contain Germany. Against the rapidly growing German military force, Poland not only possessed no comparable quantity of technical resources, but also lacked the knowledge and concepts of developing modern warfare. Also in 1935, Adolf Hitler announced and expanded the hitherto secret German rearmament contrary to the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles –

12560-652: The annexed areas and placed in ghettos such as the Warsaw Ghetto or the Łódź Ghetto . Catholic priests became targets of campaigns of murder and deportation on a mass scale. The population in the annexed territories was subjected to intense racial screening and Germanisation . The Poles experienced property confiscations and severe discrimination; 100,000 were removed from the port city of Gdynia alone already in October 1939. In 1939–40, many Polish citizens were deported to other Nazi-controlled areas, especially

12717-469: The area given to Lithuania, was 201,000 square kilometres, with a population of 13.2 million. A small strip of land that was a part of Hungary before 1914 was given to Slovakia . After the German attack on the Soviet Union in June 1941, the Polish territories previously occupied by the Soviets were organized as follows: The remaining block of territory was placed under a German administration called

12874-654: The beginning of the hostilities. Of them about 2,000 were killed by angry Poles, and other instances of killing ethnic Germans took place elsewhere. Many times greater numbers of Polish civilians had been killed by the Wehrmacht throughout the "September Campaign". 58 German divisions, including 9 Panzer divisions, were deployed against Poland. Germany commanded 1.5 million men, 187,000 motor vehicles, 15,000 artillery pieces, 2,600 tanks, 1,300 armored vehicles, 52,000 machine guns and 363,000 horses. 1,390 Luftwaffe warplanes were used to attack Polish targets. On 1 September

13031-453: The border in a semicircle, which provided for weak defense, because the Germans concentrated their forces in the chosen directions of attacks. The German armored corps quickly thwarted all attempts of organized resistance and by 3–4 September the Polish border defenses were broken along all the axes of attack. Crowds of civilian refugees fleeing to the east blocked roads and bridges. The Germans were also able to circumvent other concentrations of

13188-615: The breakup of Czechoslovakia and regaining the territory. The Munich Agreement of 30 September 1938 was followed by Germany's incorporation of the Sudetenland . Faced with the threat of a total annexation of Czechoslovakia, the Western Powers endorsed the German partition of the country. Poland insistently sought a great power status but was not invited to participate in the Munich conference. Minister Beck, disappointed with

13345-642: The city of Łódź . The annexed areas of Poland were divided into the following administrative units: The area of these annexed territories was 92,500 square kilometres and the population was about 10.6 million, a great majority of whom were Poles. In Pomeranian districts German summary courts sentenced to death 11,000 Poles in late 1939 and early 1940. A total of 30,000 Poles were executed there already in 1939, with an additional 10,000 in Greater Poland and 1500 in Silesia . Jews were expelled from

13502-475: The country's isolation and the hopelessness of its situation. The combined British and French forces were strong in principle, but not ready for an offensive for a number of reasons. The few limited air raids attempted by the British were ineffective and caused losses of life and equipment. Dropping propaganda leaflets had henceforth become their preferred course of action, to the dismay of the Polish public, which

13659-403: The decades up until World War I , a new political tradition was established in the country. Many exiled Polish activists, such as Ignacy Jan Paderewski , who would later become prime minister, returned home. A significant number of them then went on to take key positions in the newly formed political and governmental structures. Tragedy struck in 1922 when Gabriel Narutowicz , inaugural holder of

13816-567: The demand for craft labour spurred a migration of German and Flemish settlers into Poland, which was encouraged by the Polish dukes. In 1264, the Statute of Kalisz introduced unprecedented autonomy for the Polish Jews , who came to Poland fleeing persecution elsewhere in Europe. In 1320, Władysław I the Short became the first king of a reunified Poland since Przemysł II in 1296, and

13973-549: The doctrine of the so-called Polish Brethren , who separated from their Calvinist denomination and became the co-founders of global Unitarianism . The European Renaissance evoked under Sigismund I the Old and Sigismund II Augustus a sense of urgency in the need to promote a cultural awakening . During the Polish Golden Age , the nation's economy and culture flourished. The Italian-born Bona Sforza , daughter of

14130-711: The earliest evidence of European cheesemaking (5500 BC) was discovered in Polish Kuyavia , and the Bronocice pot is incised with the earliest known depiction of what may be a wheeled vehicle (3400 BC). The period spanning the Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age (1300 BC–500 BC) was marked by an increase in population density, establishment of palisaded settlements ( gords ) and the expansion of Lusatian culture . A significant archaeological find from

14287-554: The east. Over 12,000 Polish citizens executed by the Nazis were among the approximate 100,000 civilian victims of the campaign. Several Polish Navy ships reached the United Kingdom and tens of thousands of soldiers escaped through Hungary, Romania, Lithuania and Sweden to continue the fight. Many Poles took part in the Battle of France , the Battle of Britain , and, allied with the British forces, in other operations (see Polish contribution to World War II ). The greatest extent of depredations and terror inflicted on and suffered by

14444-549: The elections organised by the occupying Soviet authorities were falsified and were used to provide a veneer of legitimacy for Soviet hegemony over Polish affairs. The Soviet Union instituted a new communist government in Poland, analogous to much of the rest of the Eastern Bloc . As elsewhere in Communist Europe , the Soviet influence over Poland was met with armed resistance from the outset which continued into

14601-602: The end of World War I in 1918 with the creation of the Second Polish Republic , which emerged victorious in various conflicts of the interbellum period. In September 1939, the invasion of Poland by Germany and the Soviet Union marked the beginning of World War II , which resulted in the Holocaust and millions of Polish casualties . Forced into the Eastern Bloc in the global Cold War ,

14758-763: The end of the Last Glacial Period . Culturally diverse throughout late antiquity , in the early medieval period the region became inhabited by the West Slavic tribal Polans , who gave Poland its name . The process of establishing statehood coincided with the conversion of a pagan ruler of the Polans to Christianity, under the auspices of the Roman Catholic Church in 966. The Kingdom of Poland emerged in 1025, and in 1569 cemented its long-standing association with Lithuania , thus forming

14915-563: The estimated 300,000 to 400,000 refugees that arrived there from German-occupied Poland) and some were sheltered by Polish families . The population in the General Government's territory was initially about 11.5 million in an area of 95,500 km , but this increased as about 860,000 Poles and Jews were expelled from the German-annexed areas and "resettled" in the General Government. After Operation Barbarossa ,

15072-503: The first King of Poland in c.  1025 , when Bolesław received permission for his coronation from Pope John XIX . Bolesław also expanded the realm considerably by seizing parts of German Lusatia , Czech Moravia , Upper Hungary , and southwestern regions of the Kievan Rus' . The transition from paganism in Poland was not instantaneous and resulted in the pagan reaction of the 1030s . In 1031, Mieszko II Lambert lost

15229-647: The first elected king, approbated the Henrician Articles which obliged future monarchs to respect the rights of nobles. When he left Poland to become King of France , his successor, Stephen Báthory , led a successful campaign in the Livonian War , granting Poland more lands across the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea. State affairs were then headed by Jan Zamoyski , the Crown Chancellor . Stephen's successor, Sigismund III , defeated

15386-524: The first to be crowned at Wawel Cathedral in Kraków. Beginning in 1333, the reign of Casimir III the Great was marked by developments in castle infrastructure , army, judiciary and diplomacy . Under his authority, Poland transformed into a major European power; he instituted Polish rule over Ruthenia in 1340 and imposed quarantine that prevented the spread of Black Death . In 1364, Casimir inaugurated

15543-591: The foundation of the post- World War I international order. Unable to prevent Hitler's remilitarization of the Rhineland , the United Kingdom and France also pursued rearmament. Meanwhile, German territorial expansion into central Europe began in earnest with the Anschluss of Austria in March 1938. Poland dispatched special diversionary groups to the disputed Zaolzie ( Czech Silesia ) area in hope of expediting

15700-652: The genocidal Generalplan Ost . Poland made the fourth-largest troop contribution in Europe, and its troops served both the Polish Government in Exile in the west and Soviet leadership in the east . Polish troops played an important role in the Normandy , Italian , North African Campaigns and Netherlands and are particularly remembered for the Battle of Britain and Battle of Monte Cassino . Polish intelligence operatives proved extremely valuable to

15857-406: The geopolitical situation of Poland. In November, the Polish government also annexed a small border region in dispute with the newly autonomous state of Slovakia and gave its support to Hungary 's expansion into Carpatho-Ukraine , located within the now federal Czechoslovakia. The Munich Agreement of 1938 did not last for long. In March 1939 the German occupation of Czechoslovakia began with

16014-465: The group was interned. The Polish ambassador in Romania helped General Władysław Sikorski , a member of the Polish opposition who was refused a military assignment and also entered Romania, to acquire departure documents and the general left for France. Resistance continued in many places. Warsaw was eventually bombed into submission. The event that served as a trigger for its surrender on 27 September

16171-482: The imminent Polish-German conflict. On 1 September 1939, Poland was invaded by Nazi Germany. Britain and France, bound by military alliances with Poland, declared war on Germany two days later. On 1 September 1939, without a formal declaration of war , Nazi Germany invaded Poland using the pretext of the Gleiwitz incident , a provocation (one of many) staged by the Germans, who claimed that Polish troops attacked

16328-636: The intended continuation abroad as the government of Poland. General Władysław Sikorski , a former prime minister, arrived in France , where a replacement Polish Government-in-Exile was soon formed. After the fall of France , the government was evacuated to Britain . The Polish armed forces were reconstituted and fought alongside the Western Allies in France, Britain and elsewhere. A Resistance movement began organizing in Poland in 1939, soon after

16485-583: The invasion of Bohemia and Moravia , leaving Slovakia as a German puppet state. Lithuania was forced to give up its Klaipėda Region ( Memelland ). Formal demands were made for the return of the Free City of Danzig to Germany, even though its status was guaranteed by the League of Nations . In early 1939 Hitler proposed Poland an alliance on German terms, with an expectation of compliance. The Polish government would have to agree to Danzig's incorporation by

16642-609: The invasions. Its largest military component was a part of the Polish Underground State network and became known as the Home Army . The whole clandestine structure was formally directed by the Government-in-Exile through its delegation resident in Poland. There were also peasant , right-wing , leftist , Jewish and Soviet partisan organizations. Among the failed anti-German uprisings were

16799-500: The killing of large numbers of refugees crowding the transportation facilities), and aerial bombing of undefended cities to sap civilian morale. Deliberate bombing of civilians took place on a massive scale from the first day of the war, also in areas far removed from any other military activity. The German forces, ordered by Hitler to act with the harshest cruelty, massively engaged in murder of Polish civilians. The Polish army, air force and navy had insufficient modern equipment to match

16956-471: The lack of recognition, issued an ultimatum on the day of the Munich Agreement to the government of Czechoslovakia, demanding an immediate return to Poland of the contested Zaolzie border region. The distressed Czechoslovak government complied, and Polish military units took over the area . The move was negatively received in both the West and the Soviet Union, and it contributed to the worsening of

17113-426: The new Prime Minister leading a coalition made up of Civic Coalition , Third Way , and The Left . Law and Justice became the leading opposition party. Poland covers an administrative area of 312,722 km (120,743 sq mi), and is the ninth-largest country in Europe . Approximately 311,895 km (120,423 sq mi) of the country's territory consists of land, 2,041 km (788 sq mi)

17270-591: The nobility. The failed attempts at government restructuring as well as the domestic turmoil provoked its neighbours to invade. In 1772, the First Partition of the Commonwealth by Prussia, Russia and Austria took place; an act which the Partition Sejm , under considerable duress, eventually ratified as a fait accompli . Disregarding the territorial losses, in 1773 a plan of critical reforms

17427-512: The onslaught. Each of Germany's five armies involved in attacking Poland was accompanied by a special security group charged with terrorizing the Polish population; some of the Polish citizens of German nationality had been trained in Germany to help with the invasion, forming the so-called fifth column . Many German leaders in Poland and communist activists were interned by the Polish authorities after 1 September. 10–15,000 ethnic Germans were arrested and force marched toward Kutno soon after

17584-600: The outbreak of the Second World War and the German occupation of Poland , the Poles took the altarpiece apart and stored its main statues in crates dispersed across the country. The crates were located by a Nazi unit called the Sonderkommando Paulsen, plundered and transported to the Third Reich , likely to Berlin . The panels were also found and sent to Germany. They were put in the basement of

17741-569: The period from the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union to the end of World War II . Following the German–Soviet non-aggression pact , Poland was invaded by Nazi Germany on 1 September 1939 and by the Soviet Union on 17 September . The campaigns ended in early October with Germany and the Soviet Union dividing and annexing the whole of Poland . After the Axis attack on

17898-484: The period known as Golden Liberty , when the state was ruled by the seemingly free and equal Polish nobles . The 16th century saw Protestant Reformation movements making deep inroads into Polish Christianity, which resulted in the establishment of policies promoting religious tolerance, unique in Europe at that time. This tolerance allowed the country to avoid the religious turmoil and wars of religion that beset Europe. In Poland, Nontrinitarian Christianity became

18055-580: The population to private manorial farmstead known as folwarks . In 1493, John I Albert sanctioned the creation of a bicameral parliament composed of a lower house, the Sejm , and an upper house, the Senate . The Nihil novi act adopted by the Polish General Sejm in 1505, transferred most of the legislative power from the monarch to the parliament, an event which marked the beginning of

18212-481: The presence of Roman Legions sent to protect the amber trade . The Polish tribes emerged following the second wave of the Migration Period around the 6th century AD; they were Slavic and may have included assimilated remnants of peoples that earlier dwelled in the area. Beginning in the early 10th century, the Polans would come to dominate other Lechitic tribes in the region, initially forming

18369-640: The presidency, was assassinated at the Zachęta Gallery in Warsaw by a painter and right-wing nationalist Eligiusz Niewiadomski . In 1926, the May Coup , led by the hero of the Polish independence campaign Marshal Józef Piłsudski , turned rule of the Second Polish Republic over to the nonpartisan Sanacja ( Healing ) movement to prevent radical political organisations on both the left and

18526-527: The protohistory of Poland is a fortified settlement at Biskupin , attributed to the Lusatian culture of the Late Bronze Age (mid-8th century BC). Throughout antiquity (400 BC–500 AD), many distinct ancient populations inhabited the territory of present-day Poland, notably Celtic , Scythian , Germanic , Sarmatian , Baltic and Slavic tribes. Furthermore, archaeological findings confirmed

18683-486: The remaining majority of Poles into slave labor and annihilating those perceived as " undesirable ". Ethnic cleansing and massacres of Poles and to a lesser extent Ukrainians were perpetrated in western Ukraine (prewar Polish Kresy ) from 1943. The Ukrainian Insurgent Army participated. In September 1939, the Polish government officials sought refuge in Romania , but their subsequent internment there prevented

18840-596: The resistance and others were tortured and executed at the Pawiak prison in Warsaw. From 1941, disease and hunger also began to reduce the population, as the exploitation of resources and labor, terror and Germanisation reached greater intensity after the attack on the Soviet Union. Poles were also deported in large numbers to work as forced labor in Germany, or taken to concentration camps. About two million were transported to Germany to work as slaves and many died there. Łapanka or random roundup, on streets or elsewhere,

18997-500: The right from destabilizing the country. By the late 1930s, due to increased threats posed by political extremism inside the country, the Polish government became increasingly heavy-handed, banning a number of radical organisations, including communist and ultra-nationalist political parties, which threatened the stability of the country. World War II began with the Nazi German invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939, followed by

19154-574: The right of the Red Army troops to pass through Polish territory, the termination of the Polish–Romanian alliance , and the limitation of the British guarantee to Poland to cover only Poland's western frontier with Germany. The Polish leaders believed that once on Polish territory the Soviet troops would not leave and throughout 1939 refused to agree to any arrangement which would allow Soviet troops to enter Poland. The Polish unwillingness to accept

19311-584: The secret transfer of messages based on the Enigma machine . The constantly generated and altered code scheme was broken by Polish mathematicians led by Marian Rejewski and the discovery was shared with the French and the British before the outbreak of the war. Cryptanalysis of the Enigma was an immensely important Polish contribution to the war effort, as it was continued throughout the war in Britain and deprived

19468-402: The security of Poland was not going to be guaranteed by a "Soviet or any other Russia". The Soviets then turned to concluding the German offer of a treaty and the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact was signed. The Soviet-Nazi cooperation had been making progress since May 1939, when Vyacheslav Molotov became the Soviet minister of foreign affairs . The German military used a system of automated code for

19625-502: The segregation of the Jews into ghettos in the larger cities, including Warsaw, and the use of Polish civilians for compulsory labour in German war industries. Some Polish institutions, including the police (the number of the so-called Blue Police reached about 12,500 in 1943), were preserved in the General Government. Over 40,000 Poles worked in the General Government's administration, supervised by over 10,000 Germans. Political activity

19782-653: The so-called Romanian Bridgehead in southeastern Poland, next to the Romanian and Soviet borders, the area he designated to be the final defense bastion. On 11 September, foreign minister Józef Beck asked France to grant asylum to the Polish government and Romania to allow the transfer of the government members through its territory. On 12 September, the Anglo-French Supreme War Council deliberating in Abbeville , France concluded that

19939-411: The southeast Romanian Bridgehead territory and crossed into neutral Romania on the night of 17 September. From Romania on 18 September President Ignacy Mościcki and Marshal Rydz-Śmigły issued declarations and orders, which violated their status of persons passing through a neutral country. Germany pressured Romania not to allow the Polish authorities to depart (their intended destination was France) and

20096-626: The summer of 1944 it initiated Operation Tempest , of which the Warsaw Uprising that began on 1 August 1944 is the best-known operation. Nazi German forces under orders from Adolf Hitler set up six German extermination camps in occupied Poland, including Treblinka , Majdanek and Auschwitz . The Germans transported millions of Jews from across occupied Europe to be murdered in those camps. Altogether, 3 million Polish Jews – approximately 90% of Poland's pre-war Jewry – and between 1.8 and 2.8 million ethnic Poles were killed during

20253-454: The territorial division of this area see General Government .) The General Government was the nearest to Germany proper part of the planned Lebensraum or German "living space" in the east, and constituted the beginning of the implementation of the Nazi grandiose and genocidal human engineering scheme . A German lawyer and prominent Nazi, Hans Frank , was appointed Governor-General of the General Government on 26 October 1939. Frank oversaw

20410-442: The time. In the Baltic Sea region, the struggle of Poland and Lithuania with the Teutonic Knights continued and culminated at the Battle of Grunwald in 1410, where a combined Polish-Lithuanian army inflicted a decisive victory against them. In 1466, after the Thirteen Years' War , king Casimir IV Jagiellon gave royal consent to the Peace of Thorn , which created the future Duchy of Prussia under Polish suzerainty and forced

20567-561: The title of king and fled amidst the violence. The unrest led to the transfer of the capital to Kraków in 1038 by Casimir I the Restorer . In 1076, Bolesław II re-instituted the office of king, but was banished in 1079 for murdering his opponent, Bishop Stanislaus . In 1138, the country fragmented into five principalities when Bolesław III Wrymouth divided his lands among his sons. These were Lesser Poland , Greater Poland, Silesia , Masovia and Sandomierz , with intermittent hold over Pomerania . In 1226, Konrad I of Masovia invited

20724-401: The two signatories. The dividing line was running through the territory of east-central Poland. The "desirability of the maintenance of an independent Polish State" was left to mutually agreed "further political developments" read the text, which was discovered years later. The Soviet Union, having its own reasons to fear the German eastward expansionism, repeatedly negotiated with France and

20881-433: The unemployment rate increased. Poland became a member of the Visegrád Group in 1991, and joined NATO in 1999. Poles then voted to join the European Union in a referendum in June 2003, with Poland becoming a full member on 1 May 2004, following the consequent enlargement of the organisation . Poland has joined the Schengen Area in 2007, as a result of which, the country's borders with other member states of

21038-432: The unsuspecting Germans of secrecy in their crucial communications. At the end of August, the Polish-British and Polish-French alliance obligations were updated. Poland, surrounded by the Nazi-led coalition, was under partial military mobilization but poorly prepared for war. Full (general) mobilization was prevented by the pressure from the British and French governments, who sought a last-minute peaceful solution to

21195-405: The vast Commonwealth began declining from internal disorder and constant warfare. In 1648, the Polish hegemony over Ukraine sparked the Khmelnytsky Uprising , followed by the decimating Swedish Deluge during the Second Northern War , and Prussia's independence in 1657. In 1683, John III Sobieski re-established military prowess when he halted the advance of an Ottoman Army into Europe at

21352-411: The western front . The offensive in the West that the Poles understood they were promised was not materializing, and, according to Norman Davies , it was not even immediately feasible or practical. Because of the Western inaction, of the secret protocols of the German-Soviet treaty, and other factors including its own poor intelligence, the Polish government was initially not fully aware of the degree of

21509-410: Was accepted by default, because the Polish leaders' refusal to cooperate militarily with the Soviets prevented the possibility of the alternate outcome. The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of non-aggression was signed. In anticipation of an attack and occupation of Poland by Nazi Germany, the pact had secret provisions attached, which delineated carving up parts of Eastern Europe into spheres of influence of

21666-399: Was attempted in the Zamość region in 1942 and 1943. 121,000 Poles were removed from their villages and replaced with 10,000 German settlers. Poland – in Europe  (green & dark grey) – in the European Union  (green)  –  [ Legend ] Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe . It extends from

21823-409: Was carved out of a tree trunk of lime (linden). Other parts of the altarpiece are made from oak wood, and the background is constructed of larch wood. When closed, the panels show 12 scenes of the life of Jesus and Mary. The scene at the bottom of the main altarpiece (centre) shows the Dormition of Jesus' mother, Mary , in the presence of the Twelve Apostles . The upper centre part illustrates

21980-494: Was chosen to be President of the European Council , and resigned as prime minister. The 2015 and 2019 elections were won by the national-conservative Law and Justice Party (PiS) led by Jarosław Kaczyński , resulting in increased Euroscepticism and increased friction with the European Union. In December 2017, Mateusz Morawiecki was sworn in as the Prime Minister, succeeding Beata Szydlo , in office since 2015. President Andrzej Duda , supported by Law and Justice party,

22137-472: Was continued with the German–Soviet Frontier Treaty signed on 28 September. It adjusted and finalized the territorial division, placing Lithuania within the Soviet sphere and moving the Soviet-German agreed boundary east from the Vistula to the Bug River, and authorized further joint action to control occupied Poland. An idea of retaining a residual Polish state, considered earlier, was abandoned. The Polish government and military high command retreated to

22294-440: Was determined in a series of negotiations that included the conferences in Tehran , Yalta , and Potsdam . In 1944, the Polish Government-in-Exile approved and the underground in Poland undertook unilateral political and military actions aimed at establishing an independent Polish authority, but the efforts were thwarted by the Soviets. The Polish communists founded the State National Council in 1943/44 in occupied Warsaw and

22451-410: Was established, in which the Commission of National Education , the first government education authority in Europe, was inaugurated. Corporal punishment of schoolchildren was officially prohibited in 1783. Poniatowski was the head figure of the Enlightenment , encouraged the development of industries, and embraced republican neoclassicism . For his contributions to the arts and sciences he was awarded

22608-454: Was extensively funded by his sponsor and former lover, Empress Catherine II of Russia . The new king maneuvered between his desire to implement necessary modernising reforms, and the necessity to remain at peace with surrounding states. His ideals led to the formation of the 1768 Bar Confederation , a rebellion directed against the Poniatowski and all external influence, which ineptly aimed to preserve Poland's sovereignty and privileges held by

22765-427: Was issued on 31 March 1939. Reacting to this act and to Poland's effective rejection of the German demands, Hitler renounced the existing German–Polish Non-Aggression Pact on April 28. In August 1939 negotiations took place in Moscow, launched by the competing Allied-Soviet and Nazi-Soviet working groups, each attempting to enlist Stalin's powerful army on their side. By the evening of 23 August 1939, Germany's offer

22922-406: Was led to believe that a real war on two fronts and a defeat of the Third Reich were coming. The several Polish armies were defending the country in three main concentrations of troops, which had no territorial command structure of their own and operated directly under orders from Marshal Edward Rydz-Śmigły ; it turned out to be a serious logistical shortcoming. The armies were positioned along

23079-437: Was limited by the withdrawal of major ships to the United Kingdom to prevent their destruction, and their linking up with the Royal Navy (known as the Peking Plan ). The navy consisted of four destroyers (of which three had left for England), one minelayer, five submarines, and some smaller vessels, including six new minesweepers. Although the UK and France declared war on Germany on 3 September, little movement took place on

23236-457: Was made more hopeless by the recent German occupation of Czechoslovakia . Poland was now surrounded on three sides by the German territories of Pomerania , Silesia and East Prussia, and the German-controlled Czechoslovakia. The newly formed Slovak state assisted their German allies by attacking Poland from the south. The Polish forces were blockaded on the Baltic Coast by the German navy. The Polish public, conditioned by government propaganda,

23393-440: Was not aware of the gravity of the situation and expected a quick and easy victory of the Polish-French-British alliance. The German "concept of annihilation" ( Vernichtungsgedanke ) that later evolved into the Blitzkrieg ("lightning war") provided for rapid advance of Panzer (armoured) divisions, dive bombing (to break up troop concentrations and destroy airports, railways and stations, roads, and bridges, which resulted in

23550-422: Was one of the methods practiced by the Nazis to catch prisoners for labor. Several hundred Wehrmacht brothels, for which local non-German women were forcibly recruited, operated throughout the Reich. In contrast to Nazi policies in occupied Western Europe , the Germans treated the Poles with intense hostility and all Polish state property and private industrial concerns were taken over by the German state. Poland

23707-518: Was plundered and subjected to extreme economic exploitation throughout the war period. The future fate of Poland and Poles was stipulated in Generalplan Ost , a Nazi plan to engage in genocide and ethnic cleansing of the territories occupied by Germany in Eastern Europe in order to exterminate the Slavic peoples. Tens of millions were to be eliminated, others resettled in Siberia or turned into slave populations. The cleared territories were to be resettled by Germans. A trial evacuation of all Poles

23864-430: Was prohibited and only basic Polish education was allowed. University professors in Kraków were sent to a concentration camp and in Lviv were shot. Ethnic Poles were to be gradually eliminated. The Jews, intended for a more immediate extermination , were herded into ghettos and severely repressed. The Jewish councils in the ghettos had to follow the German policies. Many Jews escaped to the Soviet Union (they were among

24021-426: Was put back at St. Mary's Basilica in 1957. The altarpiece was restored several times in its history, not only after the end of World War II. For the first time, it was renovated before 1600, then in 1866–1870 , 1932–1933, 1946–1949, 1999 and finally, in 2017. St. John Cantius in Chicago , a historic church in the 'Polish Cathedral' style contains a detailed copy of this masterpiece. This one-third scale copy

24178-432: Was re-elected in the 2020 presidential election . As of November 2023 , the Russian invasion of Ukraine had led to 17 million Ukrainian refugees crossing the border to Poland. As of November 2023 , 0.9 million of those had stayed in Poland. In October 2023, the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party won the largest share of the vote in the election , but lost its majority in parliament. In December 2023, Donald Tusk became

24335-507: Was the bombing damage to the water supply system caused by deliberate targeting of the waterworks. Warsaw suffered the greatest damage and civilian losses (40,000 killed), already in September 1939. The Modlin Fortress capitulated on 29 September , the Battle of Hel continued until 2 October, and the Battle of Kock was fought until 4 October. In the country's woodlands, army units began underground resistance almost at once. Major "Hubal" and his regiment pioneered this movement. During

24492-447: Was to become Poland approximately 500,000 years ago, though the ensuing hostile climate prevented early humans from founding more permanent encampments. The arrival of Homo sapiens and anatomically modern humans coincided with the climatic discontinuity at the end of the Last Glacial Period ( Northern Polish glaciation 10,000 BC), when Poland became habitable. Neolithic excavations indicated broad-ranging development in that era;

24649-412: Was under the protection of the Apostolic See . The country's early origins were described by Gallus Anonymus in Gesta principum Polonorum , the oldest Polish chronicle. An important national event of the period was the martyrdom of Saint Adalbert , who was killed by Prussian pagans in 997 and whose remains were reputedly bought back for their weight in gold by Mieszko's successor, Bolesław I

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