Source: MAPS IN MINUTES™ © RH Publications (1997)

A country on the North European Plain with a Baltic Sea coast and bounded by Germany on the west, Russia, Lithuania, Belarus, and Ukraine on the east, and the Czech Republic and Slovakia on the south.

Physical

The North European Plain is sandy in places, marshy in others and requires careful cultivation, although inland it is well drained by the Odra (Oder), Vistula, and other rivers. There are many small forests, which increase in size as the land rises through rolling hills and richer land to the Carpathian Mountains in the south-east.

Economy

Since the collapse of communism, Poland has made the transition to a market economy, aided by EU membership since 2004. However, inefficiency and rigidity remain problems. Extensive mineral resources include coal, copper, iron, silver, sulphur, lead, and natural gas. It is one of the world’s largest coal producers and 85% of its electricity is currently generated from coal. Principal industries include car assembly, machine building, iron and steel, chemicals, and shipbuilding. The agricultural sector produces potatoes and other vegetables, fruit, wheat, meat, eggs, and dairy products. Machinery, cars, manufactured goods, food, and animals are exported.

History

Poland became an independent kingdom in the 9th century and was Christianized under Miezko I (962–92). Unity was imposed under Ladislas I (1305–33) and Casimir the Great, who improved the administration, and the country’s defences, and encouraged trade and industry. Jagiellon rule (1386–1572) culminated in the brief ascendancy of Protestantism, and achievement in the arts and sciences. The 16th century saw Poland at its largest, after Lithuania was incorporated (1447, 1569), stretching from the Baltic to the Black Sea. However, the weakness of a hereditary monarchy took effect and despite the victories of John Casimir (1648–68) and John Sobieski (1674–96), internal decline and foreign attack undermined Polish independence, and much territory was ceded to Sweden and Russia. Ravaged by the Great Northern War and the War of the Polish Succession, it lost its independence in the 18th century. From 1697 the Electors of Saxony took the title of king and partition between Russia, Austria, and Prussia followed in 1772. Brief resistance under Kosciuszko resulted in two further partitions in 1793 and 1795, mainly to the benefit of Catherine the Great’s Russia, and Poland became effectively a protectorate of Russia.

Following the treaties of Tilsit in 1807 Napoleon created the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, under the King of Saxony, introducing the Code Napoléon, but retaining serfdom and the feudal nobility. The duchy collapsed after the Battle of Leipzig and at the Congress of Vienna, when Poland was represented by Count Czartoryski, parts of the duchy reverted to Prussia and Austria, but the bulk became the kingdom of Poland, which had its own administration but with the Russian emperor Alexander I as king. Revolutions took place in 1830, 1846–49, and 1863. Serfdom was ended in 1864, but policies of repression followed in both Russian and Prussian Poland. This did not, however, prevent the development of political parties demanding democratic government. After World War I in 1918 full independence was granted and Poland became a republic. War against Bolshevik Russia (1920–21) was followed by the dictatorship of Marshal Piłsudski. Poland was to have access to the port of Danzig (Gdańsk) via a Polish Corridor. The status of Danzig and the existence of this corridor provided an excuse for the Nazi invasion in 1939, which precipitated World War II. As a result of the Nazi–Soviet Pact, Poland lost territory to both countries. After 1945 two million Germans left East Prussia (now in Poland) for the Federal Republic of Germany, and Poles, mainly from those Polish territories annexed by the Soviet Union, were re-settled in their place. Following the Warsaw Uprising a provisional Polish government was established under Red Army protection, which cooperated with Stalin to bring the country within the Soviet bloc. Political opposition was neutralized, and in 1952 a Soviet-style constitution was adopted. In 1956 Polish workers went on strike to protest against food shortages and other restrictions. Under Wladyslaw Gomulka (1956–70) rigid control by the government was maintained, leading to further strikes (1970). The election of a Polish pope, Karol Wojtyla, as John Paul II in 1978 strengthened the influence of the Roman Catholic Church in the country. Strikes, organized by the Free Union of the Baltic Coast resulted in the formation of Solidarity at Gdańsk. Martial law was imposed by Prime Minister General Wojciech Jaruzelski (1981–82), military tribunals continuing to operate after it officially ended. By 1987 the government was in crisis and put forward plans for limited decentralization of the economy; the ban on Solidarity was lifted, and round-table talks with all groups, including the Roman Catholic Church, began. A new constitution was agreed and multiparty politics were legalized in 1989; in December 1990 Lech Wałȩsa was elected President. In spite of recession, a private sector in the economy grew rapidly. The influence of Solidarity began to wane, and in June 1992 Wałȩsa appointed his first non-Solidarity Prime Minister, Waldemar Pawlak, of the Polish Peasant Party. In 1993 the former Communist Party emerged as the largest single party in elections, forming a government under Józef Oleksy. The last Russian troops stationed in Poland left the country in 1994. Wałȩsa was defeated by the former Communist Aleksander Kwasniewski in presidential elections in 1995. Solidarity won legislative elections in 1997 and headed a coalition government led by Jerzy Buzek. Poland joined NATO in 1999. In 2001 the former Communists won parliamentary elections and Leszek Miller became Prime Minister. Poland joined the European Union in 2004, at which point Miller resigned and was succeeded by Marek Belka. He was in turn replaced by the right-wing nationalist Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz after the 2005 parliamentary elections. Also in 2005, Lech Kaczyński was elected President. His twin brother Jarosław become Prime Minister in 2006, but was replaced by the Civic Platform party'sDonald Tusk at the head of a more moderate centre-right coalition after early elections in 2007. Under Tusk’s government Poland was relatively lightly affected by the 2009 global recession, and he was re-elected in 2011—the first time a Polish Prime Minister had served consecutive terms since the end of communism. In 2010 President Kaczyński and leading Polish figures were killed in a plane crash while visiting the site of the Katyn massacre; Civic Platform strengthened its position with the election of Bronislaw Komorowski as president. The Eurosceptic, Andrzej Duda of the opposition Law and Justice party was elected as president in 2015, defeating Komorowski; Duda was re-elected in 2020. In September 2015 Tusk resigned to become President of the European Council and chose former speaker of Parliament Eva Kopacz to succeed him. In the Nov 2015 parliamentary elections, Kaczynski nominated Beata Szydlo to lead the conservative Law and Justice party; she won with 37% of the vote – the first time a single party has governed alone since democracy was restored in 1989.