Wladyslaw Raczkiewicz, the son of a judge, was born in Russia on 28th January, 1885. He studied in St. Petersburg where he joined the Polish Youth Organization.
After graduating from the Faculty of Law at the University of Dorpat he worked as a lawyer in Minsk. On the outbreak of the First World War he joined the underground movement for Polish freedom. He served under Josef Pilsudski, who had built a private army that he hoped would enable Poland to fight for its independence from Russia.
In 1914 Pilsudski and his 10,000 men fought with the Austrians against the Russian Army but after the Russian Revolution his loyalty was questioned and he was arrested and imprisoned in July 1917.
On his release in 1918 Josef Pilsudski became provisional head of state and leader of all Polish troops. Pilsudski represented Poland at the Versailles Treaty and his army successfully defended Poland against the Red Army (1919-20).
During the Russian Civil War Sikorski commanded the Northern Army, winning one of the decisive battles of the war. Pilsudkis army made considerable gains and the Soviet-Polish Treaty of Riga (1921) left Poland in control of substantial areas of Lithuania, Belorussia and the Ukraine. Pilsudki appointed Raczkiewicz as his Minister of Internal Affairs. Later he became Speaker of the Senate.
When Poland was invaded by the German Army in September 1939. He escaped to London where he joined with Wladyslaw Sikorski and Stanislaw Mikolajczyk to establish a Polish government-in-exile.
Following the invasion of the Soviet Union by the German Army, Joseph Stalin agreed in June 1941, to invalidate the Soviet-German partition of Poland.
The relationship between the governments of Soviet Union and Poland was severely damaged by the discovery of mass graves of Polish officers at Katyn. Joseph Stalin claimed that the atrocity had been carried out by the German Army and in April 1943 broke off relations with the Polish government.
In February, 1945, Joseph Stalin, Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt held a conference in Yalta in the Crimea. With Soviet troops in most of Eastern Europe, Stalin was in a strong negotiating position. Roosevelt and Churchill tried hard to restrict post-war influence in this area but the only concession they could obtain was a promise that free elections would be held in these countries.
Poland was the main debating point. Stalin explained that throughout history Poland had either attacked Russia or had been used as a corridor through which other hostile countries invaded her. Only a strong, pro-Communist government in Poland would be able to guarantee the security of the Soviet Union. As a result of the conference the Allies withdrew their recognition for the Polish government-in-exile.
Wladyslaw Raczkiewicz died on 6th June 1947.
Poland,[b] officially the Republic of Poland,[c] is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of 312,696 km2 (120,733 sq mi). Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous member state of the European Union.[12] Warsaw is the nations capital and largest metropolis. Other major cities include Kraków, Łódź, Wrocław, Poznań, Gdańsk, and Szczecin.
Polands territory extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudeten and Carpathian Mountains in the south. The country is bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast,[d] Belarus and Ukraine to the east, Slovakia and the Czech Republic to the south, and Germany to the west. Poland also shares maritime boundaries with Denmark and Sweden.
The history of human activity on Polish soil spans thousands of years. Throughout the late antiquity period it became extensively diverse, with various cultures and tribes settling on the vast Central European Plain. However, it was the Polans who dominated the region and gave Poland its name. The establishment of Polish statehood can be traced to 966, when the pagan ruler of a realm coextensive with the territory of present-day Poland embraced Christianity and converted to Catholicism.[13] The Kingdom of Poland was founded in 1025 and in 1569 cemented its longstanding political association with Lithuania by signing the Union of Lublin. The latter led to the forming of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, one of the largest and most populous nations of 16th and 17th-century Europe, with a uniquely liberal political system that adopted Europes first modern constitution, the Constitution of 3 May 1791.[14][15][16]
With the end of the prosperous Polish Golden Age, the country was partitioned by neighbouring states at the end of the 18th century. It regained its independence in 1918 with the Treaty of Versailles, and the victory in the Polish–Soviet War restored its key role in European politics. In September 1939, the German-Soviet invasion of Poland marked the beginning of World War II, which resulted in the Holocaust and millions of Polish casualties.[17][18] As a member of the Eastern Bloc in the global Cold War, the Polish Peoples Republic was a founding signatory of the Warsaw Pact. In the wake of anti-communist movements in 1989, notably through the emergence and contributions of the Solidarity movement, the communist government was dissolved and Poland re-established itself as a democratic republic.
Poland is a developed market[19] and a middle power; it has the sixth largest economy in the European Union by GDP (nominal) and the fifth largest by GDP (PPP). It provides very high standards of living, safety and economic freedom, as well as free university education and a universal health care system. The country has 17 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, 15 of which are cultural.[20] Poland is a founding member state of the United Nations, as well as a member of the World Trade Organization, NATO, and the European Union (including the Schengen Area).
Contents
1Etymology
2History
2.1Prehistory and protohistory
2.2Piast dynasty
2.3Jagiellonian dynasty
2.4Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
2.5Partitions
2.6Era of insurrections
2.7Second Polish Republic
2.8World War II
2.9Post-war communism
2.101989 to present
3Geography
3.1Climate
3.2Biodiversity
4Government and politics
4.1Administrative divisions
4.2Law
4.3Foreign relations
4.4Military
4.5Law enforcement and emergency services
5Economy
5.1Tourism
5.2Transport and energy
5.3Science and technology
6Demographics
6.1Languages
6.2Religion
6.3Health
6.4Education
7Culture
7.1Holidays and traditions
7.2Music
7.3Art
7.4Architecture
7.5Literature
7.6Cuisine
7.7Fashion and design
7.8Cinema
7.9Media
7.10Sports
8See also
9Notes
10References
10.1Sources
11External links
Etymology
Main article: Names of Poland
The native Polish name for Poland is Polska.[21] 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).[22] The tribes name stems from the Proto-Slavic noun pole meaning field, which in-itself originates from the Proto-Indo-European word *pleh₂- indicating flatland.[23] The etymology alludes to the topography of the region and the flat landscape of Greater Poland.[24][25] The English name Poland was formed in the 1560s, from German Pole(n) and the suffix -land, denoting a people or nation.[26][27] Prior to its adoption, the Latin form Polonia was widely used throughout medieval Europe.[28]
The countrys alternative archaic name is Lechia and its root syllable remains in official use in several languages, notably Hungarian, Lithuanian, and Persian.[29] The exonym derives from Lech, a legendary ruler of the Lechites, or from the Lendians that dwelled on the south-easternmost edge of present-day Lesser Poland region.[30][31] The origin of the tribes name lies in the Old Polish word lęda (plain).[32] Initially, both names Lechia and Polonia were used interchangeably when referring to Poland by chroniclers during the Middle Ages.[33]
History
Main article: History of Poland
Prehistory and protohistory
Main articles: Bronze- and Iron-Age Poland, Poland in Antiquity, Early Slavs, West Slavs, Lechites, and Poland in the Early Middle Ages
A reconstruction of a Bronze Age, Lusatian culture settlement in Biskupin, 8th century BC
The first Stone Age archaic humans and Homo erectus species settled what was to become Poland approximately 500,000 years ago, though the ensuing hostile climate prevented early humans from founding more permanent encampments.[34] The arrival of Homo sapiens and anatomically modern humans coincided with the climatic discontinuity at the end of the Last Glacial Period (10,000 BC), when Poland became habitable.[35] Neolithic excavations indicated broad-ranging development in that era; the earliest evidence of European cheesemaking (5500 BC) was discovered in Polish Kuyavia,[36] and the Bronocice pot is incised with the earliest known depiction of what may be a wheeled vehicle (3400 BC).[37]
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.[38][39] A significant archaeological find from the protohistory of Poland is a fortified settlement at Biskupin, attributed to the Lusatian culture of the Late Bronze Age (mid-8th century BC).[40]
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.[41] Furthermore, archaeological findings confirmed the presence of Roman Legions sent to protect the amber trade.[42] The Polish tribes emerged following the second wave of the Migration Period around the 6th century AD.[28] They were Slavic and possibly may have included assimilated remnants of peoples that earlier dwelled in the area.[43][44] Beginning in the early 10th century, the Polans would come to dominate other Lechitic tribes in the region, initially forming a tribal federation and later a centralised monarchial state.[45]
Piast dynasty
Main articles: History of Poland during the Piast dynasty, Christianization of Poland, and Kingdom of Poland (1025–1385)
Poland under the rule of Mieszko I, whose acceptance of Christianity under the auspices of the Latin Church and the Baptism of Poland marked the beginning of statehood in 966.
Poland began to form into a recognisable unitary and territorial entity around the middle of the 10th century under the Piast dynasty.[46] In 966 AD, Duke Mieszko I accepted Christianity as the rightful religion under the auspices of the Latin Church with the Baptism of Poland.[47] An incipit titled Dagome iudex first defined Polands geographical boundaries with capital at Gniezno and affirmed that its monarchy was under the protection of the Apostolic See.[48] The countrys early origins were described by Gallus Anonymus in Gesta principum Polonorum, the oldest Polish chronicle.[49] An important national event of the period was the martyrdom of Saint Adalbert, who was killed by pagans in 997 and whose remains were reputedly bought back for their weight in gold by Mieszkos successor, Bolesław I the Brave.[48]
In 1000, Bolesław laid the foundation for what was to become an independent kingdom by obtaining the right of investiture from Otto III, Holy Roman Emperor, who assented to the creation of bishoprics.[48] The first Polish dioceses were subsequently established in Kraków, Kołobrzeg, and Wrocław.[50] At the Congress of Gniezno, Otto bestowed upon Bolesław royal regalia and a replica of the Holy Lance, used for his coronation as the first King of Poland in circa 1025.[51] Bolesław also expanded the realm considerably by seizing parts of German Lusatia, Czech Moravia, Upper Hungary and southwestern regions of the Kievan Rus.[52]
Casimir III the Great is the only Polish king to receive the title of Great. He built extensively during his reign, and reformed the Polish army along with the countrys legal code, 1333–70.
The transition from paganism in Poland was not instantaneous and resulted in the pagan reaction of the 1030s.[53] In 1031, Mieszko II Lambert lost the title of king and fled amidst the violence.[54] The unrest led to the transfer of the capital to Kraków in 1038 by Casimir I the Restorer.[55] In 1076, Bolesław II re-instituted the office of king, but was banished in 1079 for murdering his opponent, Bishop Stanislaus.[56] In 1138, the country fragmented into five principalities when Bolesław III Wrymouth divided his lands among his sons.[30] These comprised Lesser Poland, Greater Poland, Silesia, Masovia and Sandomierz, with intermittent hold over Pomerania.[57] In 1226, Konrad I of Masovia invited the Teutonic Knights to aid in combating the Baltic Prussian pagans; a decision that led to centuries of warfare with the Knights.[58]
In the mid-13th century, Henry I the Bearded and Henry II the Pious aimed to unite the fragmented dukedoms, but the Mongol invasions and the death of Henry II in battle hindered the unification.[59][60] As a result of the devastation which followed, depopulation and the demand for craft labour spurred a migration of German and Flemish settlers into Poland, which was encouraged by the Polish dukes.[61] In 1264, the Statute of Kalisz introduced unprecedented autonomy for the Polish Jews, who came to Poland fleeing persecution elsewhere in Europe.[62] In 1320, Władysław I the Short became the first king of a reunified Poland since Przemysł II in 1296,[63] and the first to be crowned at Wawel Cathedral in Kraków.[64]
Beginning in 1333, the reign of Casimir III the Great was marked by developments in castle infrastructure, army, judiciary and diplomacy.[65][66] 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.[67][68] In 1364, Casimir inaugurated the University of Kraków, one of the oldest institutions of higher learning in Europe.[69] Upon his death in 1370, the Piast dynasty came to an end.[70] He was succeeded by his closest male relative, Louis of Anjou, who ruled Poland, Hungary and Croatia in a personal union.[71] Louis younger daughter Jadwiga became Polands first female monarch in 1384.[71]
Jagiellonian dynasty
Main articles: History of Poland during the Jagiellonian dynasty, Kingdom of Poland (1385–1569), and Renaissance in Poland
The Battle of Grunwald was fought against the German Order of Teutonic Knights, and resulted in a decisive victory for the Kingdom of Poland, 15 July 1410.
In 1386, Jadwiga of Poland entered a marriage of convenience with Władysław II Jagiełło, 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.[72] The partnership between Poles and Lithuanians brought the vast multi-ethnic Lithuanian territories into Polands sphere of influence and proved beneficial for its inhabitants, who coexisted in one of the largest European political entities of the time.[73]
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.[74] 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 the Prussian rulers to pay tributes.[30] The Jagiellonian dynasty also established dynastic control over the kingdoms of Bohemia (1471 onwards) and Hungary.[75] In the south, Poland confronted the Ottoman Empire and the Crimean Tatars, and in the east helped Lithuania to combat Russia.[30]
Poland was developing as a feudal state, with a predominantly agricultural economy and an increasingly powerful landed nobility that confined the population to private manorial farmsteads, or folwarks.[76] 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.[77] 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 the period known as Golden Liberty, when the state was ruled by the seemingly free and equal Polish nobles.[78]
Wawel Castle in Kraków, seat of Polish kings from 1038 until the capital was moved to Warsaw in 1596.
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.[79] This tolerance allowed the country to avoid the religious turmoil and wars of religion that beset Europe.[79] In Poland, Nontrinitarian Christianity became the doctrine of the so-called Polish Brethren, who separated from their Calvinist denomination and became the co-founders of global Unitarianism.[80]
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.[30] During the Polish Golden Age, the nations economy and culture flourished.[30] The Italian-born Bona Sforza, daughter of the Duke of Milan and queen consort to Sigismund I, made considerable contributions to architecture, cuisine, language and court customs at Wawel Castle.[30]
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
Main articles: History of Poland in the Early Modern era (1569–1795), Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, and Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth at its greatest extent in 1619
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.[81] The latter coincided with a period of prosperity; the Polish-dominated union thereafter becoming 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 km2 (390,000 sq mi) at its peak and was the largest state in Europe.[82][83] Simultaneously, Poland imposed Polonisation policies in newly acquired territories which were met with resistance from ethnic and religious minorities.[81]
In 1573, Henry de Valois of France, the first elected king, approbated the Henrician Articles which obliged future monarchs to respect the rights of nobles.[84] His successor, Stephen Báthory, led a successful campaign in the Livonian War, granting Poland more lands across the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea.[85] State affairs were then headed by Jan Zamoyski, the Crown Chancellor.[86] In 1592, Sigismund III of Poland succeeded his father, John Vasa, in Sweden.[87] The Polish-Swedish union endured until 1599, when he was deposed by the Swedes.[88]
King John III Sobieski defeated the Ottoman Turks at the Battle of Vienna on 12 September 1683.
In 1609, Sigismund invaded Russia which was engulfed in a civil war,[30] and a year later the Polish winged hussar units under Stanisław Żółkiewski seized Moscow for two years after defeating the Russians at Klushino.[30] 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.[89][90]
Sigismunds long reign in Poland coincided with the Silver Age.[91] The liberal Władysław IV effectively defended Polands territorial possessions but after his death the vast Commonwealth began declining from internal disorder and constant warfare.[92][93] In 1648, the Polish hegemony over Ukraine sparked the Khmelnytsky Uprising,[94] followed by the decimating Swedish Deluge during the Second Northern War,[95] and Prussias independence in 1657.[95] In 1683, John III Sobieski re-established military prowess when he halted the advance of an Ottoman Army into Europe at the Battle of Vienna.[96] The successive Saxon era, under Augustus II and Augustus III, saw the rise of neighbouring countries in the aftermath of the Great Northern War (1700) and the War of the Polish Succession (1733).[97]
Partitions
Main articles: History of Poland (1795–1918) and Partitions of Poland
Stanisław II Augustus, the last King of Poland, reigned from 1764 until his abdication on 25 November 1795.
The royal election of 1764 resulted in the elevation of Stanisław II Augustus Poniatowski to the monarchy.[98] His candidacy was extensively funded by his sponsor and former lover, Empress Catherine II of Russia.[99] The new king maneuvered between his desire to implement necessary modernising reforms, and the necessity to remain at peace with surrounding states.[100] 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 Polands sovereignty and privileges held by the nobility.[101] The failed attempts at government restructuring as well as the domestic turmoil provoked its neighbours to intervene.[102]
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.[103] Disregarding the territorial losses, in 1773 a plan of critical reforms was established, in which the Commission of National Education, the first government education authority in Europe, was inaugurated.[104] 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.[105] For his contributions to the arts and sciences he was awarded a Fellowship of the Royal Society.[106]
In 1791, Great Sejm parliament adopted the 3 May Constitution, the first set of supreme national laws, and introduced a constitutional monarchy.[107] The Targowica Confederation, an organisation of nobles and deputies opposing the act, appealed to Catherine and caused the 1792 Polish–Russian War.[108] Fearing the reemergence of Polish hegemony, Russia and Prussia arranged and in 1793 executed, 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.[109][110] Stanisław Augustus, the last King of Poland, abdicated the throne on 25 November 1795.[111]
Era of insurrections
Main articles: Austrian Partition, Prussian Partition, and Russian Partition
The partitions of Poland, carried out by the Kingdom of Prussia (blue), the Russian Empire (brown), and the Austrian Habsburg Monarchy (green) in 1772, 1793 and 1795.
The Polish people rose several times against the partitioners and occupying armies. An unsuccessful attempt at defending Polands sovereignty took place in 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.[112] Despite the victory at the Battle of Racławice, his ultimate defeat ended Polands independent existence for 123 years.[113]
In 1806, an insurrection organised by Jan Henryk Dąbrowski liberated western Poland ahead of Napoleons advance into Prussia during 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.[114] In the aftermath of Napoleons exile, the Duchy of Warsaw was abolished at the Congress of Vienna in 1815 and its territory was divided into Russian Congress Poland, the Prussian Grand Duchy of Posen, and Austrian Galicia with the Free City of Kraków.[115]
Tadeusz Kościuszko was a veteran and hero of both the Polish and American wars of independence.[112]
In 1830, non-commissioned officers at Warsaws Officer Cadet School rebelled in what was the November Uprising.[116] After its collapse, Congress Poland lost its constitutional autonomy, army and legislative assembly.[117] During the European Spring of Nations, Poles took up arms in the Greater Poland riot of 1848 to resist Germanisation, but its failure saw Posens status reduced to a mere province; and subsequent integration into the German Empire in 1871.[118] In Russia, the fall of the January Uprising (1863–1864) prompted severe political, social and cultural reprisals, followed by deportations and pogroms of 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.[119][120]
Second Polish Republic
Main articles: History of Poland (1918–1939), Battle of Warsaw (1920), and Second Polish Republic
Chief of State Marshal Józef Piłsudski was a hero of the Polish independence campaign and the nations premiere statesman from 1918 until his death on 12 May 1935.
In the aftermath of World War I, the Allies agreed on the reconstitution of Poland, confirmed through the Treaty of Versailles of June 1919.[121] A total of 2 million Polish troops fought with the armies of the three occupying powers, and over 450,000 died.[122] Following the armistice with Germany in November 1918, Poland regained its independence as the Second Polish Republic.[123] It 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.[124] During this period, Poland successfully managed to fuse the territories of the three former partitioning empires into a cohesive nation-state.
The inter-war period heralded a new era of Polish politics. Whilst Polish political activists had faced heavy censorship in the decades up until the First World War, the country now found itself trying to establish a new political tradition. For this reason, many exiled Polish activists, such as Ignacy Paderewski (who would later become prime minister) returned home to help; 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 the presidency, was assassinated at the Zachęta Gallery in Warsaw by a painter and right-wing nationalist Eligiusz Niewiadomski.[125]
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 organizations on both the left and the right from destabilizing the country.[126] 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 organizations, including communist and ultra-nationalist political parties, which threatened the stability of the country.[127]
World War II
Main articles: History of Poland (1939–1945), Invasion of Poland, Polish contribution to World War II, and War crimes in occupied Poland during World War II
Polish Army 7TP tanks on military manoeuvres shortly before the invasion of Poland in 1939
World War II began with the Nazi German invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939, followed by 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 (inter alia Katyn massacre) ahead of the Operation Barbarossa.[128] German planners had in November 1939 called for "the complete destruction of all Poles" and their fate as outlined in the genocidal Generalplan Ost.[129]
Pilots of the 303 Polish Fighter Squadron during the Battle of Britain, October 1940
Poland made the fourth-largest troop contribution in Europe,[130][131][132] 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 and North African Campaigns and are particularly remembered for the Battle of Monte Cassino.[133][134] Polish intelligence operatives proved extremely valuable to the Allies, providing much of the intelligence from Europe and beyond,[135] and Polish code breakers were responsible for cracking the Enigma cipher.[e] In the east, the Soviet-backed Polish 1st Army distinguished itself in the battles for Warsaw and Berlin.[137]
The wartime resistance movement, and the Armia Krajowa (Home Army), fought against German occupation. It was one of the three largest resistance movements of the entire war,[f] and encompassed a range of clandestine activities, which functioned as an underground state complete with degree-awarding universities and a court system.[144] The resistance was loyal to the exiled government and generally resented the idea of a communist Poland; for this reason, in the summer of 1944 it initiated Operation Tempest, of which the Warsaw Uprising that begun on 1 August 1944 is the best-known operation.[137][145]
Map of the Holocaust in German-occupied Poland with deportation routes and massacre sites. Major ghettos are marked with yellow stars. Nazi extermination camps are marked with white skulls in black squares. The border in 1941 between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union is marked in red.
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.[146][147] Altogether, 3 million Polish Jews[148][149] – approximately 90% of Polands pre-war Jewry – and between 1.8 and 2.8 million ethnic Poles[150][151][152] were killed during 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.[153][154] Around 150,000 Polish civilians were killed by Soviets between 1939 and 1941 during the Soviet Unions 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.[155][156] Of all the countries in the war, Poland lost the highest percentage of its citizens: around 6 million perished – more than one-sixth of Polands pre-war population – half of them Polish Jews.[18][157][158] About 90% of deaths were non-military in nature.[159]
In 1945, Polands borders were shifted westwards. Over two million Polish inhabitants of Kresy were expelled along the Curzon Line by Stalin.[160] The western border became the Oder-Neisse line. As a result, Polands 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.[161][162][163]
Post-war communism
Main articles: History of Poland (1945–1989), Polish Peoples Republic, History of Solidarity, and Polish Round Table Agreement
At High Noon, 4 June 1989 — political poster featuring Gary Cooper to encourage votes for the Solidarity party in the 1989 elections
At the insistence of Joseph Stalin, the Yalta Conference sanctioned the formation of 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 Polands sovereignty and allow democratic elections to take place. However, upon achieving victory in 1945, the elections organized 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 the 1950s.[164]
Despite widespread objections, the new Polish government accepted the Soviet annexation of the pre-war eastern regions of Poland[165] (in particular the cities of Wilno and Lwów) and agreed to the permanent garrisoning of Red Army units on Polands territory. Military alignment within the Warsaw Pact throughout the Cold War came about as a direct result of this change in Polands political culture. In the European scene, it came to characterize the full-fledged integration of Poland into the brotherhood of communist nations.[166]
The new communist government took control with the adoption of the Small Constitution on 19 February 1947. The Polish Peoples 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. Collectivization in the Polish Peoples 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.[167]
Labour turmoil in 1980 led to the formation of the independent trade union "Solidarity" ("Solidarność"), which over time became a political force. Despite persecution and imposition of martial law in 1981, it eroded the dominance of the Polish United Workers Party and by 1989 had triumphed in Polands 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 the collapse of communist regimes and parties across Europe.[168]
1989 to present
Main article: History of Poland (1989–present)
Flowers in front of the Presidential Palace following the death of Polands top government officials in a plane crash on 10 April 2010
A shock therapy program, initiated by Leszek Balcerowicz in the early 1990s, enabled the country to transform its socialist-style planned economy into a market economy.[169] As with other post-communist countries, Poland suffered temporary declines in social, economic, and living standards,[170] but it became the first post-communist country to reach its pre-1989 GDP levels as early as 1995, largely due to its booming economy.[171] Poland became a member of the Visegrád Group in 1991,[172] and joined NATO in 1999.[173] Poles then voted to join the European Union in a referendum in June 2003,[174] with Poland becoming a full member on 1 May 2004, following the consequent en.
PRÉSIDENT POLONAIS À LHÔTEL DE économies LONDRES Władysław Raczkiewicz 1940 négatif original
