Poland

## Kingdom of Poland

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**Prime Minister:**
Mateusz Morawiecki (2017–)

**Poland**, officially the **Kingdom of Poland**, is a country located in Central Europe. It is divided into 18 administrative provinces, and has a largely temperate seasonal climate. Poland has a population of nearly 41 million people, and is the fifth-most populous member state of the European Union. Warsaw is the nation's capital and largest metropolis. Other major cities include Kraków, Łódź, Wrocław, Poznań, Gdańsk, and Szczecin.

Poland's territory extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south. The country is bordered by Danzig, Prussia, Lithuania, Latvia and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukraine to the east, Austria to the south, and East Germany to the west.

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 Western 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. The Kingdom of Poland was founded in 1025 and in 1569 cemented its longstanding political association with Lithuania by signing the Union of Lublin. This union formed the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, one of the largest (over one million square kilometres or 400,000 square miles in area) and most populous nations of 16th and 17th century Europe, with a uniquely liberal political system which adopted Europe's first modern constitution, the Constitution of 3 May 1791.

With the end of the prosperous Polish Golden Age, the country was partitioned by neighbouring states at the end of the 18th century, and regained independence in 1920 with the Treaty of Versailles. After a series of territorial conflicts, the new multi-ethnic Poland restored its position as a key player in European politics. In September 1939, during World War II, Germany invaded Poland and its neighbors, triggering Russian involvement in the war. Approximately six million Polish citizens, including three million of the country's Jews, perished during the course of the war. As a member of the Eastern Bloc, the Polish People's Republic proclaimed forthwith was a chief signatory of the Warsaw Treaty amidst global Cold War tensions. In the wake of the 1989 events, notably through the emergence and contributions of the Solidarity movement, the communist government was dissolved and Poland re-established itself as a democratic kingdom.

Poland is a developed market, and a middle power; it has the sixth largest economy in the European Union by nominal GDP 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. Poland is a member state of the Schengen Area, European Union, European Economic Area, the United Nations, NATO, the OECD, the Three Seas Initiative and the Visegrád Group.

## History

### Prehistory and protohistory

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. There is evidence that sporadic groups of gatherer-hunter Neanderthals penetrated southern Polish regions during the Eemian interglacial period (128,000–115,000 BCE) and in the subsequent millennia. 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. Neolithic excavations indicated broad-ranging development in that era; 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 early Bronze Age in Poland began around 2400 BC, while the Iron Age commenced in approximately 750 BC. During this time, the Lusatian culture, spanning both the Bronze and Iron Ages, became particularly prominent. The most significant archaeological find from the prehistory and protohistory of Poland is the Biskupin fortified settlement (now reconstructed as an open-air museum), dating from the Lusatian culture of the late Bronze Age, around 748 BC.

Throughout antiquity (400 BC–500 AD), many distinct ancient ethnic groups populated the territory of present-day Poland, notably Celtic, Scythian, Germanic, Sarmatian, Slavic and Baltic tribes. Furthermore, archaeological findings confirmed the presence of the Roman Legions. These were most likely expeditionary missions sent out to protect amber trade along the Amber Road. The Polish tribes emerged in the course of the Migration Period in the mid-6th century. These were predominantly West Slavic and Lechitic in origin, but also comprised assimilated ethnic groups who inhabited the area for thousands of years. The earlier tribal communities may have been associated with the ancient Wielbark and Przeworsk cultures.

### Piast dynasty

Poland began to form into a recognizable unitary and territorial entity around the middle of the 10th century under the Piast dynasty. Poland's first historically documented ruler, Mieszko I, accepted Western Christianity as the rightful religion under the auspices of the Latin Church with the Baptism of Poland in 966 AD. In 1000, Boleslaus I the Brave, continuing the policy of his father Mieszko, held a diplomatic congress and established the metropolis of Gniezno followed by dioceses in Kraków, Kołobrzeg, and Wrocław. Otto III, Holy Roman Emperor, assented to the creation of bishoprics and bestowed upon Boleslaus royal regalia and a replica of the Holy Lance, which were used for his coronation as the first King of Poland in circa 1025. He expanded the realm considerably by seizing parts of German Lusatia, Czech Moravia, Upper Hungary and the eastern provinces. However, the transition from paganism proved difficult and was not an instantaneous process for the rest of the population as evident from the pagan reaction of the 1030s. His son, Mieszko II Lambert, lost the title of king and fled amidst the struggles for power in 1031, but was reinstated as duke in 1032. The unrest led to the transfer of the capital to Kraków in 1038 by Casimir I the Restorer.

In 1076, Boleslaus II briefly re-instituted the office of king, but was banished in 1079 for murdering his opponent Bishop Stanislaus, who was then proclaimed a martyr and patron saint. In 1109, Boleslaus III Wrymouth defeated the King of Germany Henry V at the Battle of Hundsfeld, thus stopping the German incursion into Poland. The clash was documented by Gallus Anonymus in *Gesta principum Polonorum*, the oldest Polish chronicle. In 1138, Poland fragmented into several smaller principalities when Boleslaus divided his lands among his sons. These comprised the Duchies of Lesser Poland, Greater Poland, Silesia, Masovia and Sandomierz, with Pomerania ruled by vassals. The division allowed each province to develop its own cultural identity and wealth, but made the country more vulnerable militarily. In 1226, Konrad I of Masovia, one of the regional dukes, invited the Teutonic Knights to aid in combating the Baltic Prussian pagans; a decision that led to centuries of warfare with the Knights.

In the mid-13th century, the Silesian branch of the Piast dynasty (Henry I the Bearded and Henry II the Pious) nearly succeeded in uniting the dukedoms. Their efforts were hindered by the Mongols, who pillaged the southern and eastern regions of Poland, and defeated the combined Polish forces at the Battle of Legnica (1241) where Henry II was killed. The Mongols raided twice more in the second half of the century, but were defeated and driven out by the Poles. In 1264, the Statute of Kalisz, or the General Charter of Jewish Liberties, introduced unprecedented rights for the Polish Jews, leading to a nearly autonomous "nation within a nation". Cities began to grow during this period and new settlements were granted town privileges under Magdeburg Law, which also favoured German migration into Poland.

In 1320, after an earlier unsuccessful attempt at unification by Premislaus II, Ladislaus the Short consolidated his power, took the throne and became the first king of a reunified Poland. He was the first sovereign crowned at Wawel Cathedral with Szczerbiec ("Jagged Sword"), which symbolised the permanent restoration of kingship. His son, Casimir III (reigned 1333–1370), gained wide recognition for improving the country's infrastructure, reforming the army and strengthening diplomacy. He also extended royal protection to Jews, and encouraged them to settle in Poland. Casimir hoped to build a class of educated people, especially lawyers, who could codify the country's laws and administer the courts and offices. His efforts were finally rewarded when Pope Urban V granted him permission to open the University of Kraków in 1364, one of the oldest institutions of higher learning in Europe. Under his authority, Poland was transformed into a major European power.

The Black Death, a plague that ravaged Europe from 1347 to 1351, did not significantly affect Poland, and the country was spared from a major outbreak of the disease. The reason for this was the decision of Casimir to quarantine the nation's borders. Furthermore, the concept of Golden Liberty began to develop under his rule – in return for military support, the king made a series of concessions to the nobility and establishing their legal status as superior to that of the townsfolk. When Casimir the Great died in 1370, leaving no legitimate male heir, the Piast dynasty came to an end.

In November 1370, Casimir's nephew and closest male relative, Louis of Anjou, was crowned king at Wawel. He ruled Poland, Hungary and Croatia in a personal union. Like his uncle, Louis I had no sons and persuaded his subjects to acknowledge the right of his daughters to succeed him in both Poland and Hungary by granting privileges. Upon his death and a two-year interregnum, his younger daughter Hedwig (in Poland known as Jadwiga) became the first female monarch of the Kingdom of Poland in 1384. However, she was stylised as "king" during her reign because the Polish law had no provision for a queen regnant, but did not specify that the monarch had to be male.

### Jagiellonian dynasty

In 1385, Jadwiga was expected to marry William Habsburg of Austria, but the noble lords were apprehensive about the match believing that it would not secure national interests against the Luxembourgs, who controlled Bohemia and Brandenburg. She eventually wedded the Lithuanian Grand Duke Jogaila (Władysław II Jagiełło), thus forming the Jagiellonian dynasty (1386–1572) and the Polish–Lithuanian union that spanned the late Middle Ages and early Modern Era. The partnership brought the vast multi-ethnic Lithuanian territories into Poland's sphere of influence and proved beneficial for the Poles and Lithuanians, who coexisted in one of the largest European political entities of 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. The Jagiellonian dynasty at one point also established dynastic control over the kingdoms of Bohemia (1471 onwards) and Hungary. In the south, Poland confronted the Ottoman Empire and the Crimean Tatars, and in the east helped Lithuania fight Russia.

Poland was developing as a feudal state, with a predominantly agricultural economy and an increasingly powerful landed nobility. 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 the period known as "Golden Liberty", when the state was ruled by the "free and equal" Polish nobility.

The Protestant Reformation movements made 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 most of the religious turmoil that spread over Europe during the 16th century. 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.

The European Renaissance evoked under kings Sigismund I the Old and Sigismund II Augustus a sense of urgency in the need to promote a cultural awakening. During this period Polish culture and the nation's economy flourished; changes and contributions to architecture, cuisine, language and customs were made at the behest of Sigismund the Old's wife, the Italian-born Bona Sforza, daughter of the Duke of Milan. In 1543, Nicolaus Copernicus, an astronomer from Toruń, published his epochal work *De revolutionibus orbium coelestium* (*On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres*) and thereby became the first proponent of a predictive mathematical model confirming the heliocentric theory, which became the accepted basic model for the practice of modern astronomy.

### Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth

The 1569 Union of Lublin established the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, a more closely unified federal state with an elective monarchy, but which was governed largely by the nobility. The Warsaw Confederation (1573) guaranteed religious freedom for the Polish nobles *(szlachta)* and townsfolk *(mieszczanie)*. However, the peasants *(chłopi)* were still subject to severe limitations imposed on them by the nobility, and confined to private folwark farmsteads. The establishment of the Commonwealth coincided with a period of stability and prosperity, with the union thereafter becoming a European power and a major cultural entity, occupying approximately 1 million km2 (390,000 sq mi) after the Truce of Deulino. It was the largest state in Europe at the time. Poland was the dominant partner and acted as an agent for the dissemination of Western culture, Catholicism and Polish traditions through Polonization into areas of North-Eastern Europe which it controlled following the union. Certain factions of Lithuanian nobility were apprehensive about the merger, fearing that it would lead to the loss of Lithuania's cultural identity.

In 1573, Henry de Valois, son of Henry II of France and Catherine de' Medici, was proclaimed King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania in the first election. He hesitantly instituted the Henrician Articles which determined the principles of royal governance, thus further limiting the power of a monarch. Henry's reign was brief; he was dethroned in 1575 after fleeing to succeed his brother, Charles IX, in France. His successor, Stephen Báthory from Transylvania, proved to be a capable military commander. Báthory's involvement alongside Sweden and successful campaign in the Livonian War against Ivan the Terrible granted Poland more territories in the Baltic states.

In 1592, Sigismund III of Poland succeeded his father, John Vasa, in Sweden. Under his authority, the Commonwealth and Sweden temporarily united in what was known as the Polish-Swedish union. Sigismund was a talented figure, but a Catholic fanatic and a despot who hoped to reintroduce absolutism. He was a strong advocate of Counter-Reformation, funded the Jesuits, and furtively supported repressions against the Protestants and other religious minorities. In 1599, he was deposed in Sweden by his Protestant uncle Charles, which ended the union. Sigismund's long reign in Poland was described as the Silver Age due to his investments and patronage over artists, scholars and architects. In politics, he undermined parliament and imposed expansionist policies.

Taking advantage of a civil war in neighbouring Russia, Sigismund invaded the country in 1609. In 1610, the Polish army and winged hussar units under the command of Hetman Stanisław Żółkiewski seized Moscow after defeating the Russians at the Battle of Klushino. The humiliated Vasili IV of Russia was caged and sent to Poland where he paid tribute in Warsaw and was later murdered in captivity. The Poles were eventually driven out of ruined Moscow after two years by a local uprising. Sigismund also countered the Ottoman Empire in the southeast; at Khotyn in 1621 the Commonwealth forces under Jan Karol Chodkiewicz achieved a decisive victory against the Turks. Their defeat and subsequent Janissary revolt marked the downfall of Sultan Osman II. Sigismund's liberal son, Ladislaus IV Vasa, successfully defended Poland's territorial possessions, but his death ended the centuries-long era of relative stability.

From the middle of the 17th century, the nobles' democracy, suffering from internal disorder, gradually declined, thereby leaving the once powerful Commonwealth vulnerable. The Polish and Catholic domination of present-day Ukraine resulted in the 1648 Khmelnytsky Uprising, which engulfed much of the eastern parts of the country and led to the creation of a Ukrainian Cossack state allied with Russia. This was followed by the Swedish Deluge during the Second Northern War, which marched through the Polish heartlands and decimated the country's population and infrastructure. Finding itself subjected to almost constant warfare, the Commonwealth fell into decline, further weakened when Prussia declared independence in 1657. The government became ineffective as a result of internal conflicts, rebellious confederations and corrupted legislative processes. However, under John III Sobieski the Commonwealth's military prowess was re-established, and in 1683 Polish forces played a major role in the Battle of Vienna against the Ottoman Army.

The lesser nobility fell under the control of *magnates*, and this, compounded with two relatively weak kings of the Saxon Wettin dynasty, Augustus II and Augustus III, as well as the rise of neighbouring countries after the Great Northern War only served to worsen the Commonwealth's plight. Despite this, the personal union of Poland and Saxony gave rise to the Commonwealth's first reform movement, and laid the foundations for the Polish Enlightenment. The fundamental internal reforms brought a much improved economy, significant population growth and far-reaching progress in the areas of education, intellectual life, art, and especially toward the end of the period, evolution of the social and political system. The most populous capital city of Warsaw replaced Gdańsk (Danzig) as the leading centre of commerce, and the role of the more prosperous urban population increased.

### Partitions

The royal election of 1764 resulted in the elevation of Stanislaus II Augustus (a Polish aristocrat from the Poniatowski family, connected to the Familia faction of magnates) to the monarchy. His candidacy was extensively funded by his sponsor and former lover, Empress Catherine II of Russia. The new king spent much of his reign maneuvering between his desire to implement necessary reforms to save the country from internal disorder, and the necessity to remain in a political relationship and at peace with surrounding states. This led to the formation of the 1768 Bar Confederation, a rebellion of nobles directed against the Polish king and all external influence, which ineptly aimed to preserve Poland's sovereignty and privileges held by the nobility.

The failed attempts at reform as well as the domestic turmoil caused by the Confederation proved the country's weakness and provoked its neighbours to intervene. 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 the king established a plan of the most necessary reforms, 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 Polish Enlightenment, encouraged the development of industries and embraced "republican" Neoclassical architecture. For his contributions to the arts and sciences he was awarded a Fellowship of the Royal Society, where he became the first royal member outside British royalty.

The Great Sejm (1788–1792) convened by Stanislaus Augustus successfully adopted in 1791 the 3 May Constitution, the first set of modern supreme national laws in Europe. However, this document, accused by detractors of harbouring revolutionary sympathies, generated strong opposition from the Commonwealth's aristocracy and conservatives as well as from Catherine, who, determined to prevent the rebirth of a strong Commonwealth set about planning the final dismemberment of the Polish-Lithuanian state. Russia was aided in achieving its goal when the Targowica Confederation, an organisation of Polish nobles, appealed to the Empress for help. In May 1792, Russian forces crossed the Commonwealth's eastern frontier, thus beginning the Polish–Russian War.

The defensive war fought by the Poles ended prematurely when the King, convinced of the futility of resistance, capitulated and joined the Targowica Confederation, hoping to save the country. The Confederation then took over the government. Russia and Prussia, fearing the reemergence of a Polish state, understanding, that despite the current influence they still cannot control the country, arranged for, and in 1793 executed, the Second Partition of the Commonwealth, which left the country deprived of so much territory that it was practically incapable of independent existence. In 1795, following the failed Kościuszko Uprising, the Commonwealth was partitioned one last time by all three of its more powerful neighbours, and with this, effectively ceased to exist. The 18-century British statesman and philosopher Edmund Burke summed up the partitions: "No wise or honest man can approve of that partition, or can contemplate it without prognosticating great mischief from it to all countries at some future time".

### Era of insurrections

Poles rebelled several times against the partitioners, particularly near the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century. An unsuccessful attempt at defending Poland's sovereignty took place in 1794 during the Kościuszko Uprising, where a popular and distinguished general Tadeusz Kościuszko, who had several years earlier served under Washington in the American Revolutionary War, led Polish insurrectionists. Despite the victory at the Battle of Racławice, his ultimate defeat ended Poland's independent existence for 123 years.

In 1807, Napoleon I of France temporarily recreated a Polish state as the satellite Duchy of Warsaw, after a successful 1806 uprising against Prussian rule. In accordance with the Treaty of Tilsit, the duchy was ruled by his ally, Frederick Augustus I of Saxony. The Polish troops and generals aided Napoleon throughout the Napoleonic Wars, particularly those under Józef Poniatowski, who became the only foreign Marshal of the French Empire shortly before his death at the Battle of Leipzig. In the aftermath of Napoleon's exile, Poland was again split between the victorious powers at the Congress of Vienna in 1815. The eastern part was ruled by the Russian tsar as Congress Poland, which temporarily held a liberal constitution. The Prussian-controlled territory of western Poland came under increased Germanization. Thus, in the 19th century, only Habsburg-ruled Austrian Poland and the Free City of Kraków in the south, allowed free Polish culture to flourish.

In 1830, the November Uprising began in Warsaw when young non-commissioned officers at the Officer Cadet School rebelled. Although the numerically smaller Polish forces successfully defeated several Russian armies, they were left unsupported by France and the newborn United States. With Prussia and Austria deliberately prohibiting the import of military supplies through their territories, the Poles accepted that the uprising was doomed to failure. After the defeat, the semi-independent Congress Poland lost its constitution, army and legislative assembly, and its autonomy was abolished.

During the European Spring of Nations, Poles took up arms in the Greater Poland Uprising of 1848 to resist the Prussians. Initially, the uprising manifested itself in the form of civil disobedience but eventually turned into an armed struggle when the Prussian military was sent in to pacify the region. Subsequently, the uprising was suppressed and the semi-autonomous Grand Duchy of Posen, created from the Prussian partition of Poland, was incorporated into Prussia, and in 1871 into the German Empire.

In 1863, a new Polish uprising against Russia began. The January Uprising started out as a spontaneous protest by young Poles against conscription into the Imperial Russian Army. However, the insurrectionists, despite being joined by high-ranking Polish–Lithuanian officers and numerous politicians, were still severely outnumbered and lacking in foreign support. They were forced to resort to guerrilla warfare tactics and failed to win any major military victories. Consequently, the Poles resorted to fostering economic and cultural self-improvement. Congress Poland was rapidly industrialised towards the end of the 19th century, and successively transformed into the Empire's wealthiest and most developed subject.