In the 17th century Sweden attacked all of Poland (this was called “the Deluge”). Many wars against the Ottoman Empire, Russia, Cossacks, Transylvania and Brandenburg-Prussia ended with the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699. During the following 80 years, the government and natione were weaker, making Poland dependent on Russia. Russian tsars took advantage of this by offering money to traitors, who would block new ideas and solutions. Russia, Prussia, and Austria broke Poland into three pieces in 1772, 1793 and 1795, which dissolved the country. Polish people did not like the new kings, and often rebelled.
In 1791, in an attempt of reform the Sejm of Poland and Lithuania accepted the Constitution of May 3 which was the first modern constitution in Europe and the second (after the United States) on Earth. But that did not help against the partitions of Poland in 1793 and 1795.
Napoleon made another Polish state, “the Dutchy of Warsaw”, but after the Napoleonic Wars, Poland was split again by the countries at the Congress of Vienna. The eastern part was ruled by the Russian tsar.
"See also: Polish victims of The Holocaust"
During World War I all Western Allies agreed to save Poland. Soon after the surrender of Germany in November 1918, Poland became the Second Polish Republic ("II Rzeczpospolita Polska"). It got its freedom after several military conflicts; the largest was in 1919-1921 Polish-Soviet War.
On September 1, 1939, Nazi Germany attacked Poland, and the Soviet Union attacked on September 17. Warsaw was defeated on September 28, and was split up into two pieces, one owned by Nazi Germany, the other by the Soviet Union. The eastern part of the German zone was turned into the German Government area.
Out of all the countries that were in the war, Poland lost the highest amount of its people: over 6 million died, half of them Polish Jews. Poland also gave the most troops, after the US, the British and the Soviets, to ultimately defeat Nazi Germany. At the war's end, Poland's borders were moved west, pushing the east border to the Curzon line. The west border was moved to the Oder-Neisse line. The new Poland became 20% smaller by 77,500 square kilometeres (29,900 sq mi). The shift forced millions of people to move: Poles, Germans, Ukrainians, and Jews.
After these events, Poland became, for the first time, a real country. There are still many Polish in the neighboring countries Ukraine, Belarus, and Lithuania, as well as in other countries. The most Poles outside of Poland are in the United States, especially in Chicago.
After the Second World War, the Soviet Union put a Communist government in Poland, and the country was named the People's Republic of Poland. In 1989 Solidarity - a political group led by Lech Wałęsa - helped defeat the communist government in Poland.
During the early 1990s the country turned its economy into one of the most solid in Central Europe. There were many improvements in human rights, such as free speech, democracy, etc. In 1991 Poland became a member of the Visegrad Group and joined NATO in 1999 also with the Czech Republic and Hungary. Polish voters then voted to join the European Union in a vote in June 2003. The country joined the EU on May 1, 2004.
Polish-Lithuanian Union
The term "Polish-Lithuanian union" means a development from personal union between the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania to the creation of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth — the "Republic of the Two Nations" — in 1569 and eventually to the creation of a short-lived state in 1791.
The most important acts in the process of union were:
Personal union
A personal union is a relationship of two or more sovereign states, which, through law, share the same person as their head of state.
Personal unions can begin for very different reasons. The case that a princess who is already married to a king becomes pregnant, and their child inherits the crown of both countries is a rather common cause. But a personal union sometimes was seen as a means against uprisings if a state wants an annexation of an other state. These unions can be written down in a constitution that clearly expresses that both states shall share the same person as head of state, but that is not always the case. Under these circumstances a personal union can easily be broken.
Personal union with the Congo Free State from 1885 to 1908, when it annexed the Congo Free State.
Personal union with Belgium from 1885 to 1908, when Belgium annexed it.
The actual situation was slightly more complex with the Dutch provinces Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Gelderland and Overijssel entering into personal union in 1689 and Drenthe in 1696. Only 2 Dutch provinces never entered into the personal union: Friesland and Groningen.
Scordatura
Scordatura in music is a technique in which players of string instruments tune their strings to different notes from a normal tuning. The word “scordatura” is an Italian word which means “mistuning”. It was used for lutes, guitars, viols and instruments of the violin family.
Using a scordatura tuning made the instrument sound different. For example: a string tuned to a slightly higher note will sound louder and brighter because it is tighter. Care has to be taken not to tune it too high otherwise it will break. Scordatura also made it possible to play unusual chords or combinations of notes in string-crossing (when the bow moves quickly from one string to another).
When a composer writes for an instrument using scordatura tuning he shows at the beginning of the music what notes the strings must be tuned to. The music is then written, not as it sounds, but so that the player can read it as if the instrument were being played normally, e.g. if a G string is tuned up to G# and the composer wants a G# he simply writes a G, but it will sound G#.
Scordatura tuning was mainly popular in the Baroque period from 1600-1750. Composers such as Heinrich Biber often used it. He composed a group of sonatas for violin and accompaniment called the "Rosary Sonatas". In each sonata the violin is tuned in a different way. In Sonata XI (called "Resurrection") he even asks the violinist to make the two middle strings cross over between the bridge and the tailpiece so that the violin is tuned to two Gs and two Ds.
In the classical period a famous example of scordatura is Mozart’s, "Sinfonia Concertante" for Violin, Viola and Orchestra in which he asks the viola to tune all four strings a semitone higher than usual. This makes it sound louder and brighter so that it matches the brightness of the violin, especially as the violin is playing with normal tuning in the key of E flat, which sounds a soft key (because the key of Eflat hardly uses any “open” strings).
In the late 19th century and 20th century there are examples of composers using scordatura. In his Fourth Symphony Mahler asks the violin soloist (the leader of the orchestra) to play on a violin tuned to Gsharp-D-A-Eflat. The music is describing a poor beggar playing a violin. The violin soloist needs a second instrument for this, so that he can swap quickly back to a normal violin.
Saint-Saëns asks the solo violin in "Danse Macabre" to tune the E string to Eflat to make it sound like the devil.
Zoltán Kodály wrote a sonata in B minor for solo cello, for which the cellist has to tune down the two lower strings to F# and B instead of G and C. This helps to make a very dark, rich sound when playing B minor chords.
2028 Summer Olympics
The 2028 Summer Olympics, which will be officially known as the Games of the XXXIV Olympiad, is a sporting event that will happen from July 21 to August 6 in Los Angeles, California, United States.