Portal:Poland

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Welcome to the Poland Portal — Witaj w Portalu o Polsce

Cityscape of Kraków, Poland's former capital

Poland is a country in Central Europe, bordered by Germany to the west, the Czech Republic to the southwest, Slovakia to the south, Ukraine and Belarus to the east, Lithuania to the northeast, and the Baltic Sea and Russia's Kaliningrad Oblast to the north. It is an ancient nation whose history as a state began near the middle of the 10th century. Its golden age occurred in the 16th century when it united with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania to form the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. During the following century, the strengthening of the gentry and internal disorders weakened the nation. In a series of agreements in the late 18th century, Russia, Prussia and Austria partitioned Poland amongst themselves. It regained independence as the Second Polish Republic in the aftermath of World War I only to lose it again when it was occupied by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union in World War II. The nation lost over six million citizens in the war, following which it emerged as the communist Polish People's Republic under strong Soviet influence within the Eastern Bloc. A westward border shift followed by forced population transfers after the war turned a once multiethnic country into a mostly homogeneous nation state. Labor turmoil in 1980 led to the formation of the independent trade union called Solidarity (Solidarność) that over time became a political force which by 1990 had swept parliamentary elections and the presidency. A shock therapy program during the early 1990s enabled the country to transform its economy into one of the most robust in Central Europe. With its transformation to a democratic, market-oriented country completed, Poland joined NATO in 1999 and the European Union in 2004, but has experienced a constitutional crisis and democratic backsliding since 2015.

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From Polish history – show another

Map of the truncated territory of Poland (pink) after the Second Partition, published in London in 1794

The Second Partition of Poland in 1793 was the second of three partial annexations that ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth by the end of the 18th century. It was a result of the Polish–Russian War of 1792, in which the Targowica Confederation overturned the progressive Constitution of 1791. The Russian Empire took 250,000 km² (97,000 sq mi) of the Commonwealth's eastern territories, now belonging to Belarus and Ukraine, while the Kingdom of Prussia gained Danzig (Gdańsk) and 58,000 km² (22,000 sq mi) of western Poland, which it renamed South Prussia. Poland was left as a rump state of 215,000 km² (83,000 sq mi). Under Russian pressure, the partition was ratified by Poland at the Grodno Sejm in a short-lived attempt to prevent a complete annexation of Poland, which eventually did happen in the Third Partition in 1795. (Full article...)

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Stanisław Koniecpolski

Stanisław Koniecpolski (c.1590–1646) was a Polish magnate, senator and hetman – the second highest military commander of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Koniecpolski lived a life that involved almost constant warfare and won numerous battles during his military career. Before he reached the age of 20, he had fought in the Dimitriads and the Moldavian Magnate Wars, where he was taken captive by the Ottoman forces in the Battle of Ţuţora in 1620. Released in 1623, he soon defeated Ottoman vassals, the Tatars, in 1624. Outnumbered, he fought Swedish forces of Gustavus Adolphus to a stalemate in Prussia during a Polish–Swedish war. He defeated a major Turkish invasion at Kamieniec Podolski in the Ukraine in 1634, and during his life, led many other successful campaigns against rebellious Cossacks and invading Tatars. He is remembered as one of the most skilled military commanders in the history of Poland and Lithuania. (Full article...)

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Medieval port crane in Gdańsk

Gdańsk is Poland's principal seaport located in the Kashubian region on the Baltic Sea. Together with the spa town of Sopot and the industrial city of Gdynia, it forms a conurbation known as Trójmiasto ("Tricity"). It has a complex political history with long spells of Polish rule interspersed with periods of German control and two spells as a free city. As an important port and shipbuilding center, the picturesque city was a member of the Hanseatic League. For much of its history the majority of its inhabitants were German speakers who referred to their city as Danzig, but after World War II it became firmly Polish. Gdańsk is the birthplace of the Solidarity movement which, led by Lech Wałęsa, played a role in bringing down the communist rule across Central Europe. (Full article...)

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Did you know – show different entries

... that in 2005, composer Krzysztof Penderecki (pictured) added a ciaccona for strings to his Polish Requiem, begun in 1980?
... that by the Treaty of Vilnius (1561), Gotthard Kettler exchanged his office as Grand Master of the Livonian Order for that of a duke of Courland and Semigallia?
... that of the two competing Polish kings in 1705, one was allied with Russia and the other one with Sweden?
... that Elżbieta Sieniawska was one of the most powerful women in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth during the reign of Augustus the Strong?

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Poland now

Recent events

On 14 September, southwestern Poland was hit by severe floods (flooded Kłodzko pictured) caused by heavy rains brought by Storm Boris.
Poland won 23 medals, including eight gold, at the 2024 Summer Paralympics, ranking 16th in the medal table.
On 18 August, Polish cyclist Katarzyna Niewiadoma won the 2024 Tour de France Femmes.
Poland won 10 medals, including one gold, at the 2024 Summer Olympics, ranking 42nd in the medal table.

Ongoing
Constitutional crisis • Belarus–EU border crisis • Ukrainian refugee crisis

Holidays and observances in October 2024
(statutory public holidays in bold)

Teachers' Day, 14 October
Pope John Paul II Day (bust pictured), 16 October

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Polish złoty

Credit: National Numismatic Collection, Smithsonian Institution

A 5-zloty note from 1794, part of the first issue of banknotes in Poland. The notes, denominated 5 zł, 10 zł, 25 zł, 50 zł, 100 zł, 500 zł, and 1,000 zł, were issued during the Kościuszko Uprising, just one year before the Third Partition of Poland. The slightly uneven cut into the top design demonstrates the use of a counterfoil.
See other denominations.