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History of Poland

Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe.. 7 eras, 960 CE to today.

Duchy of Poland, 960 CE–1025 Draft, not yet reviewed

Civitas Schinesghe, commonly referred to in historiography as the Duchy of Poland, was the early medieval polity centered around Gniezno and ruled by the Piast dynasty. It emerged in the 10th century and is considered the predecessor state of the Kingdom of Poland, which was formally established in 1025. In 966, Mieszko I, the ruler of the Polans, accepted Christianity through the auspices of the Roman Church in the Baptism of Poland. In 968, a missionary bishopric was established in Poznań.

Seat of power: Gniezno

Kingdom of Poland, 1025–1385 Draft, not yet reviewed

The Kingdom of Poland was a state in Central Europe during the medieval and early modern periods from 1025 until 1795. In 1025, Bolesław I the Brave of the Piast dynasty was crowned the first King of Poland at Gniezno Cathedral, elevating Poland from a duchy to a kingdom with the approval of Pope John XIX. Casimir I the Restorer managed to reunite parts of the kingdom following the crisis and moved the capital to Kraków.

Seat of power: Kraków

Rulers

Kingdom of Poland, 1386–1569 Draft, not yet reviewed

The Crown of the Kingdom of Poland was a political and legal concept that emerged in the 14th century in the Kingdom of Poland, which asserted the unity, indivisibility, and continuity of the state. According to this principle, the state was no longer seen as the patrimonial property of the monarch or dynasty, but became the common good of the kingdom's political community. The term Crown of the Kingdom of Poland also referred to all the lands under the rule of the Polish king.

Seat of power: Kraków

Rulers

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, 1569–1795 Draft, not yet reviewed

The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, also referred to as Poland–Lithuania or the First Polish Republic, was a federative real union between the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, existing from 1569 to 1795. The Union of Lublin established the Commonwealth as a single entity on 1 July 1569. As he remained childless, his death in 1572 marked the end of the Jagiellonian dynasty. The Commonwealth's parliamentary system of government and elective monarchy, called the Golden Liberty, was an early example of constitutional monarchy.

Seat of power: Warsaw

Rulers

Second Polish Republic, 1918–1945 Draft, not yet reviewed

After being established in the final stage of World War I, the Second Polish Republic existed between 7 October 1918 and 6 October 1939. The Second Republic was taken over in 1939 on the eve of its twenty-first anniversary, after it was invaded by Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and the Slovak Republic, marking the beginning of the European theatre of the Second World War. The Polish government-in-exile was established in Paris and later London after the fall of France in 1940.

Seat of power: Warsaw

Rulers

Polish People's Republic, 1944–1989 Draft, not yet reviewed

The Polish People's Republic was a unitary communist state established after the Red Army's takeover of Polish territory from German occupation. Communist control was strengthened through electoral fraud in the 1946 Polish people's referendum and the 1947 Polish parliamentary election. The Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR) became the dominant political faction in a one-party state, but the country had more liberal policies than other socialist states due to its strategic location in the Cold War and internal opposition. The Polish People's Republic was dissolved following the Revolutions of 1989 and the 1990 Polish presidential election.

Seat of power: Warsaw

Rulers

Poland, 1989 to today Draft, not yet reviewed

Through the 1980 emergence and contributions of the Solidarity movement, which initiated the fall of the Iron Curtain, the communist government was dissolved and Poland as the first of the communist countries re-established itself as a liberal democracy in 1989, and held free elections. 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 union. Poland joined the Schengen Area in 2007, as a result of which, the country's borders with other member states of the European Union were dismantled.

Seat of power: Warsaw

Rulers

Text adapted from the Wikipedia articles listed as sources, CC BY-SA 4.0.