The colonization on the Polish land and the beginnings of the statehood

The documented history of the colonization on the Polish territory reaches back to the 7th century BC, at the time of the existence of the town in Biskupin. However, the first mention of the state organism on that land dates back to the 9th century AD, what was connected with the migrations of the Slavonic people. The countries of Wislanie and Polanie were the well known political organizations of that time. In the 10th century the latter ones carried out numerous sorties, under the leadership of the Piast dynasty, aiming to join the neighbouring lands to their own “country”. Around the year 960 Mieszko, called I by the historians, won the ruling over the country of Polanie. So to protect themselves against the designs of the neighbouring, better organized peoples, he, along with his court, became christened in 966, which symbolized the acceptance of the Christianity by the whole nation of his. During his reign he attached Silesia (Slask) and Malopolska with Cracow, and also the Western Pomerania became subordinate. His successor was Boleslaw Chrobry, the son of Mieszko I and Dobrawa, who ruled over the country of Polanie from the year 992. He contributed to the considerable increase of power of Poland, entering the diplomatic and economic relations with the German Empire, an expression of which was a visit of the emperor Otton III in Gniezno in 1000. Not only did that „congress” consolidate the importance of Poland in the international arena, but also became the beginning of the intense economic and cultural development of the Polish land. As a result of that visit an Archbishopric in Gniezno together with bishoprics in Kolobrzeg, Cracow, Wroclaw and Poznan were founded. Boleslaw crowned himself the king of Poland in 1025 and died in the same year. His death and trouble connected with numerous rebellions in the recently attached territories caused a crisis of the Polish Kingdom, which resulted in the partial decay of the country.

The reconstruction of the Polish state

The reconstruction and reunion of the Polish lands was done by Kazimierz Odnowiciel („The Reconstructor”) in the middle of the 11th century. In 1038 Cracow became the new capital of the Polish Kingdom. The following century (up to the year of 1138) was a period of further consolidation on the throne of the Piast dynasty and growth of the political importance of the Polish state.

The partition

In 1138 Boleslaw III Krzywousty („The Crooked-lipped”) divided the Polish lands, according to the obliging feudal law, into districts. However, the rule of primogeniture was broken in 1177, when the youngest of Boleslaw’s sons, Kazimierz II Sprawiedliwy (“The Just”) became the king.

The Union of Poland and the reign of Kazimierz Wielki („The Great”)

During nearly 150 years the Polish lands were not a uniform kingdom, that period is called „the partition” in the Polish history. However, those years strengthened the unifying tendencies, that led to the reunion of all the lands in the reign of Wladyslaw I Lokietek („The Elbow”), which was between 1306 and 1333. Wladyslaw’s successor to the throne of the Polish Kingdom was Kazimierz III Wielki („The Great”), whose wise foreign and interior policies resulted in strengthening the political importance of Poland in the international arena, respecting the law, the development of trade and mining industry in Poland, and also the development of education (in 1364 he established a university in Cracow). After Kazimierz’s death the Hungarian Andegawen dynasty came to the throne, in virtue of the treaties in Buda and Wyszechrad.

The Polish-Lithuanian Treaty

The following dynastic changes in Poland were connected with Jadwiga (Hungarian princess), who married a Lithuanian prince, Jagiello (after baptism - Wladyslaw Jagiello). Those decisions were connected not only with the assurance of the succession on the Polish throne, but also had political and military aspects. Both countries aimed at breaking the invasive policy of the Teutonic Order. Both the Great War and the Thirteen Years’ War led to enormous changes in the composition of political forces on the map of the then Europe. The Teutonic Order did not have such a huge power as it had had at the beginning of the century anymore, while the Grand Teutonic Master was the Polish king’s vassal.

The decline of the Jagiellonian dynasty

During reigns of the last two Jagiellons, meaning Zygmunt I Stary („The Old”) (1506-1548) and Zygmunt II August (1548-1572), Poland went through a period of the biggest bloom. It was a period of increased development of the grange economy and agriculture, mostly caused by the increased demand for Polish crops put forward by the adjacent countries.

Elective Poland

The lack of Zygmunt August’s descendants made „the sejm lubelski” pass the rule of a free election, which meant the choice of a king outside the dynasty. The first king to be chosen that way was Henryk Walezy (1573-1574). He was then replaced by Stefan Batory, who won the territories of Livonia from Russia for the Polish country. His successor, Zygmunt III Waza, led to a long-lasting army conflict between Poland and Sweden by staking out claims to the throne of the Swedish Kingdom. Eventually the Polish-Swedish conflict was ended up by the peace treaty in Oliwa in 1660. The decline of the 17th century was a period of numerous disputes with Turkey, whose imperialistic aspirations attempted to stop the European countries. The event worth mentioning is „the Succor of Vienna” in 1683, when the Polish armed forces under Jan III Sobieski’s command came to the besieged town of the Turks’s rescue.

The partition of the Polish lands and the liberating struggle

Unfortunately the power the Polish Kingdom was threatened because of the territorial expansion of the neighbouring countries. The basis of the subsequent partition was the agreement between Russia, Prussia and Austria in 1732 in order to interfere in the internal matters of Poland. In 1772 the superpowers made the partition on the initiative of Prussia; Prussia seized Warmia, the Pomeranian, Malbork and Chelm provinces, and the strip of land on the Notec and Goplo; Austria seized the southern part of the Cracovian and Sandomierz provinces, the whole Ruthenian province, and parts of the Belt province, Wolyn, Podole, Lublin and Chelm territories; Russia seized Livonia, northern part of the Polocki province, the Witebsk and Mscislaw provinces, and south-eastern part of the Minsk province. The second partition was done by Prussia and Russia in 1793; it was caused by the attempts of Poland of becoming autonomous and stregthening its international position (The Four-Years’ Sejm 1788-92, the Constitution of May the 3rd); Prussia seized Gdansk and Torun, the Poznan, Gniezno, Kalisz, Sieradz, Leczyce, Brzesc, Kujawy, Plock provinces, the Dobrzyn territory, parts of Rawsk and Inowroclaw provinces; Russia seized the Ukrainian territory, Podole, eastern part of Wolyn and the Belarusian lands to the East from route Druja-Pinsk-Zbrucz. The third partition was done by the three superpowers in 1795 decisively liquidating the Polish state; Austria seized Cracow and lands between the Pilica, Vistula and Bug, with the exception of the territory to the East of Warsaw; Prussia seized areas up to pilica, the Bug and Niemen; Russia seized the Lithuanian, Belarusian and Ukrainian areas, and the rest of Wolyn, to the East of route Niemirow-Grodno and the Bug. That was how Poland vanished from the map of Europe for 123 years. That period was full of rebellions and peasant uprisings (among other things: Polish November, Cracovian, Great Polish and January Insurrections). Unfortunately, none of those revolutionary impulses came into the expected effects. Indeed, there was temporary Warsaw Principality joint by a personal union with Saxony, the Polish Kingdom joint by a personal union with Russia. Those formations were not individual state organisms, therefore a great deals of Poles emigrated, to France or England, among other things.

The First World War and the regaining of the independence

The real possibilities of regaining the lost independence emerged in the period of the First World War, when the occupation countries found themselves on the opposite sides of the conflict. After four years of war, on 11 November 1918 a truce was signed on the Western front, whereas the Regency Council handed over the power in Poland to Jozef Pilsudski. The Poles could then begin the reconstruction of the state organismon the Polish lands. In 1922 the first presidential election was held - won by Gabriel Narutowicz. The period of his presidency was aborted unexpectedly, after a week, as a result of his tragic death. The consecutive President of independent Poland was Stanislaw Wojciechowski, who represented Poland for nearly four and a half years. His successor was to be Jozef Pilsudski. However, he refused to take that position, and suggested Ignacy Moscicki for it. Moscicki became the President and remained at his post until the of September 1939.

The Second World War

In 1939 the main aim of Adolf Hitler’s foreign policy was to gain the direct access to the Baltic Sea. Owing to Poland’s outright refusal to a suggestion of a voluntary treaty with the Third Reich, Nazi Germany invaded Westerplatte (Gdansk) on 1 September 1939. After seventeen days of struggle the Red Army marched in the Polish territory, and its official aim was to the „liberation” of the Polish land. That was how Poland found itself under the occupation of Russia and Germany. Struggles on the fronts of the Second World War lasted, with various courses, up to the beginning of May 1945, when the official forces of the German-Italian-Japanese coalition signed a treaty which ended up the Second World War. In July 1945, during the conference in Potsdam, the present-day borders of Poland were accepted.

The transformations in Poland after 1945

In October 1945 Poland signed the United Nations Charter. The Polish government adopted the policy of the economic and political relations with the USSR (cooperation within the confines of the Mutual Economic Help Council, the Warsaw Pact). In 1952 a new constitution was passed, which changed the Polish Republic into the Polish People’s Republic.

The Foundation of the Independent Self-Governing Trade Union "Solidarity"

The taken steps (among other things: taking credits in Western countries) did not ensure peace in the country, there were more and more workmen’s uprisings (1976 - in Radom, 1980 -a wave of strikes in the Pomerania). Strikes on the Coast ended up with extorting the registration of the ISGTU “Solidarity” from the authorities. Lech Walesa, the president of the National Negotiating Committee, became the leader of it.

The period of martial law and the political changes

On 13 December 1981 the martial law was brought in. The power was handed over to the Military Council of the National Rescue. The execution of the martial law involved the usage of force very often. Eventually, in December 1982 the martial law was suspended, although officially was on 22 July 1983. Next changes in the political arena were cennected with the establishment of the All-Polish Trade Union Agreement. The following years brought new institutions, without which there was no possibility of creating a democratic system in Poland:

• The Tribunal of State and the Constitutional Tribunal (1985 )
• The Consultative Council with the President of the State Council (1986)
• The Ombudsman (1987)

The construction of democracy and the Third Republic of Poland

The negotiations held from February to April 1989 resulted in working out a compromise about social-economic reforms in Poland. In April 1989 the Independent Self-Governing Trade Union „Solidarity” was registered. Free election for the Parliament was held in June. The government, which then emerged was literally coalitional. On 1 January 1990 the Sejm (Parliament) introduced a new national name - the Republic of Poland; the national emblem was also given back its crown. On 22 December 1990 the presidential office was taken by Lech Walesa. The new government continued the policy of broad reforms. In December 1995 another presidential election took place; won by the left wing candidate - Aleksander Kwasniewski. On 12 March 1999 Poland joint the structure of the NATO. In the year 2000 Aleksander Kwasniewski again was elected the President. On 13 December 2002 Poland finished the negotiations with the European Union, and on 16 April 2003 expressed the willingness of joining its structure signing the Accession Treaty, which was ratified by the President on 23 July. Moreover, the Poles (in over 72%) opted for our accession to the EU in the referendum held on 7 - 8 June 2003.

Poland in the European Union

"We have passed the examination in Europeaness” - president Aleksander Kwasniewski spoke to the Poles with these words on 1 May 2004, when Poland became a member of the EU, together with other 9 countries. On 2 May 2004 Marek Belka was sworn in the Prime Minister.