|
|
|
|
brief information
Poland presents huge interest for tourists, because in this country there are a large number of architectural and historical monuments, beautiful nature with lakes and ancient forests, the Baltic Sea, numerous balneological and ski resorts. That is why tens of millions of tourists come to Poland every year...
Geography of Poland
Poland is located in Eastern Europe. In the west, Poland borders with Germany, in the south - with the Czech Republic and Slovakia, in the east - with Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania, and in the north - with Russia (Kaliningrad region). In the north, Poland is washed by the Baltic Sea. The total area of this country is 312,679 sq. km
Poland is dominated by a low-lying landscape. Hills and plateaus are located in the south of the country.
In the southeastern part of Poland there are the Sudetenland Mountains, in which the highest peak is Mount Sniezka (1,602 m). The south of Poland is occupied by the Carpathian Mountains and the Tatras, which are divided into the High and Western Tatras. The highest peak in Poland is Rysy in the Tatras, reaching almost 2,500 meters in height. In the east of the country there are Pieniny and Bieszczady mountains.
The main Polish rivers are the Vistula, Odra, Vatra and Bug, flowing across the plain from south to north.
An important element of the Polish landscape are lakes, of which there are more than 9,300 in this country. Most of the lakes in Poland are located in the Masurian Lake District. The area is also home to beautiful majestic ancient forests with many rare animals and unique plants.
Capital
Warsaw has been the capital of Poland since 1791 and now has a population of over 1.82 million. Historians believe that human settlements on the territory of modern Warsaw appeared at the beginning of the 10th century.
Official language
The official language in Poland is Polish, which belongs to the West Slavic languages of the Indo-European language family. Now the Polish language has 4 dialects (Greater Poland, Lesser Poland, Mazovian, and Silesian).
Religion
About 90% of the inhabitants of Poland are Catholics belonging to Roman Catholic Church. Poles have always been considered the most zealous (i.e. devoted) Catholics. In addition, many Orthodox Christians and Protestants live in Poland.
State structure of Poland
Poland is a parliamentary republic. According to the 1997 Constitution, executive power belongs to the head of state - the President, and legislature- bicameral parliament National Assembly, consisting of the Senate (100 people) and the Sejm (460 people).
Major Polish political parties- the liberal-conservative Civic Platform, the conservative Law and Justice, the social-liberal Palikot Movement, the social-democratic Union of Democratic Left Forces, and the centrist Polish Peasants' Party.
Climate and weather
The climate in Poland is mostly temperate. The average annual temperature in Poland is +8C and varies depending on the region and distance from the Baltic Sea. The average temperature in summer is +18C, and in winter in January -4C.
Sea in Poland
In the north, Poland is washed by the Baltic Sea. The length of the coastline is 788 kilometers. The largest Polish port is Gdansk. Poland consists of several islands. The largest of them are Wolin and Usnam.
Rivers and lakes
Four large rivers flow through the territory of Poland from south to north - the Vistula (1,047 km), the Odra (854 km), the Warta (808 km) and the Western Bug (772 km).
Poland also has over 9,300 lakes. Most of the Polish lakes are located in the Masurian Lake District. This lake district includes such lakes as Sniardvy, Mamry and Niegocin.
Trout, salmon, pike, zander, whitefish, tench, bleak, carp, roach, bream, crucian carp, catfish, etc. are found in Polish rivers and lakes. In the Baltic Sea, Poles catch herring, sprats, salmon, cod and flounder.
History of Poland
Greater Poland was founded in 966 BC. the first Polish king Mieszko I from the Piast dynasty. Then the tribes southern Poland form Lesser Poland. In the middle of the 11th century, the Polish king Casimir I the Restorer managed to unite Greater and Lesser Poland.
In 1386, Poland concluded a union with Lithuania (Polish-Lithuanian Union). Thus, the Polish-Lithuanian state was formed, which for several centuries became the strongest in Eastern Europe.
In the 15th century, Poland waged wars with the Teutonic Order, Muscovy and the Ottoman Empire. The famous Battle of Grunwald in 1410 ended with the defeat of the troops Teutonic Order.
In 1569, according to the Union of Lublin, the Commonwealth was formed - union state Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
Throughout the 17th century, the Commonwealth waged wars with its neighbors - Turks, Ukrainians and Russians. Suffice it to recall the campaigns of the Cossacks and Poles against Moscow and the uprising of Bohdan Khmelnitsky.
In the end, Poland suffered a series of defeats, and in 1772 the first partition of the Commonwealth between Russia, Prussia and Austria took place. The second partition of Poland took place in 1792, and the third in 1795.
After that, the Polish state did not exist for more than 100 years, although the Poles made several attempts to restore it (uprisings of 1830-31 and 1861).
Only in October 1918 was the independent state of Poland restored. Marshal Jozef Pilsudski became the head of Poland, and the famous pianist Ignatius Paderewski was elected prime minister.
In 1926, as a result of a coup d'etat, Jozef Pilsudski seized power in Poland, who ruled the country until his death in 1935.
In 1934, Poland and Germany signed a non-aggression pact. However, despite this, on September 1, 1939, a war broke out between these states, which led to World War II.
After the end of World War II, the Republic of Poland was proclaimed, and in 1952, the Polish People's Republic.
In December 1989, under the influence of economic factors (Poland took too many loans that it could not repay) and due to interference in the internal affairs of the Polish People's Republic of some Western states, the Polish Republic was formed, and the Communist Party was outlawed after some time.
In 1999, Poland became a member of the NATO military bloc, and in 2004 it was admitted to the European Union.
culture
The unique character of Polish culture comes from the fact that Poland is located at the crossroads of East and West. The rich culture of Poland is manifested primarily in the local architecture. Many Polish palaces, fortresses and churches are included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
The most famous Polish painters are Jacek Malczewski (1854-1929), Stanisław Wyspianski (1869-1907), Josef Mehoffe (1869-1946), and Josef Chelmonski (1849-1914).
The most famous Polish writers and poets are Adam Mickiewicz, Henryk Sienkiewicz, Boleslaw Prus, Stanislaw Lem, and Andrzej Sapkowski.
As for traditions, they differ in Poland depending on the region. A lot of ancient traditions are still preserved in the mountainous regions of the country.
Some Polish traditions originate from Catholicism, while others have their origins in paganism. The most important religious holidays in Poland are Christmas and Easter.
Poles, like other nations, have their own legends and myths. The oldest and most popular of them are The Legend of Boleslaw and His Knights (it turns out that Poland had its own King Arthur), Dragon of Krakow, Polish Eagle and Janusik (Polish Robin Hood).
Polish cuisine
Polish cuisine has been influenced by several cuisines. First of all, the Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Tatars, Armenians, Italians, and French had an influence on the Polish cuisine.
In the north of Poland, the favorite dish is fish. In addition, traditional Polish dishes include duck, sauerkraut soup, and cheese. Traditional Polish dishes are sauerkraut and meat bigos, kotlet schabowy pork cutlet, dumplings, and cabbage rolls.
Sights of Poland
Poland has always treated its history with care. Therefore, there are a lot of different attractions here, and it is difficult to single out the best of them. In our opinion, the top ten most interesting Polish sights include:
Lancut Castle
Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw
Czartoryski Museum in Krakow
Malbork castle
Lazienkowski park in Warsaw
Pauline Monastery
Slovinsky National Park
Wilanow Palace in Warsaw
Warsaw Uprising Museum
Masurian lakes
Cities and resorts
The largest cities in Poland are Warsaw (more than 1.82 million people), Lodz (790 thousand people), Krakow (780 thousand people), Wroclaw (640 thousand people), Poznan (620 thousand people). ), Gdansk (630 thousand people), and Szczecin (420 thousand people).
Ski resorts in Poland, of course, are less popular than, for example, Austria, Italy and Switzerland, but they are more affordable. In addition, Polish ski resorts are distinguished by their beauty. Therefore, every year hundreds of thousands of foreign tourists come to Poland to ski in the local ski resorts.
The most popular Polish ski resorts are Swieradow-Zdrój, Zakopane, Kotelnica, Uston, Szczyrk, and Szklarska Poreba.
Poland is also famous for its medical resorts with mineral water and healing mud. The most popular of them are Polchin-Zdrój, Bysko-3dryj, Kołobrzeg, Swinoujscie, Uston, Szczawno-Zdrój, and Krynica.
The first reliable information about Poland dates back to the second half of the 10th century. Poland was even then a relatively large state, created by the Piast dynasty by combining several tribal principalities. The first historically reliable ruler of Poland was Mieszko I (reigned 960-992) from the Piast dynasty, whose possessions - Greater Poland - were located between the Odra and Vistula rivers. Under the reign of Mieszko I, who fought against German expansion to the east, the Poles in 966 were converted to Christianity of the Latin rite. In 988 Mieszko annexed Silesia and Pomerania to his principality, and in 990 Moravia. His eldest son Bolesław I the Brave (r. 992–1025) became one of Poland's most prominent rulers. He established his power in the territory from the Odra and Nysa to the Dnieper and from the Baltic Sea to the Carpathians. Having strengthened the independence of Poland in the wars with the Holy Roman Empire, Bolesław took the title of king (1025). After the death of Boleslav, the growing feudal nobility opposed the central government, which led to the separation of Mazovia and Pomerania from Poland.
Feudal fragmentation
Bolesław III (r. 1102–1138) regained Pomerania, but after his death the territory of Poland was divided among his sons. The eldest - Vladislav II - received power over the capital Krakow, Greater Poland and Pomerania. In the second half of the 12th c. Poland, like its neighbors Germany and Kievan Rus, fell apart. The collapse led to political chaos; the vassals soon refused to recognize the sovereignty of the king and, with the help of the church, significantly limited his power.
Teutonic Knights
In the middle of the 13th c. Mongol-Tatar invasion from the east devastated most of Poland. No less dangerous for the country were the incessant raids of pagan Lithuanians and Prussians from the north. To protect his possessions, the prince of Mazovia Konrad in 1226 invited the Teutonic knights from the military-religious order of the Crusaders to the country. Within a short time, the Teutonic Knights conquered part of the Baltic lands, which later became known as East Prussia. This land was settled by German colonists. In 1308, the state created by the Teutonic Knights cut off Poland's access to Baltic Sea.
Decline of the central government
As a result of the fragmentation of Poland, the dependence of the state on the highest aristocracy and the petty nobility began to grow, whose support it needed to protect itself from external enemies. The extermination of the population by the Mongol-Tatars and Lithuanian tribes led to an influx of German settlers into the Polish lands, who either created cities themselves, governed by the laws of Magdeburg law, or received land as free peasants. In contrast, the Polish peasants, like the peasants of almost all of Europe at that time, began to gradually fall into serfdom.
The reunification of most of Poland was carried out by Vladislav Loketok (Ladislav the Short) from Kuyavia, a principality in the north-central part of the country. In 1320 he was crowned as Vladislav I. However, the national revival is more connected with the successful rule of his son, Casimir III the Great (r. 1333–1370). Casimir strengthened royalty, reformed the management, legal and monetary systems according to the Western model, promulgated a set of laws called the Wislice Statutes (1347), eased the situation of the peasants and allowed Jews to settle in Poland - victims of religious persecution in Western Europe. He failed to regain access to the Baltic Sea; he also lost Silesia (withdrawn to the Czech Republic), but captured in the east Galicia, Volhynia and Podolia. In 1364 Casimir founded the first Polish university in Krakow, one of the oldest in Europe. Having no son, Casimir bequeathed the kingdom to his nephew Louis I the Great (Louis of Hungary), at that time one of the most powerful monarchs in Europe. Under Louis (r. 1370–1382), Polish nobles (gentry) received the so-called. Kosice privileges (1374), according to which they were exempted from almost all taxes, having received the right not to pay taxes above a certain amount. In return, the nobles promised to transfer the throne to one of the daughters of King Louis.
Jagiellonian dynasty
After the death of Louis, the Poles turned to his youngest daughter Jadwiga with a request to become their queen. Jadwiga married Jagiello (Jogaila, or Jagiello), the Grand Duke of Lithuania, who ruled in Poland under the name Vladislav II (r. 1386–1434). Vladislav II accepted Christianity himself and converted the Lithuanian people to it, founding one of the most powerful dynasties in Europe. The vast territories of Poland and Lithuania were united in a powerful state union. Lithuania became the last pagan people in Europe to adopt Christianity, so the presence of the Teutonic Order of the Crusaders here lost its meaning. However, the crusaders were no longer going to leave. In 1410, the Poles and Lithuanians defeated the Teutonic Order at the Battle of Grunwald. In 1413 they approved the Polish-Lithuanian union in Horodlo, and in Lithuania appeared public institutions Polish sample. Casimir IV (r. 1447–1492) tried to limit the power of the nobles and the church, but was forced to confirm their privileges and the rights of the Sejm, which included the higher clergy, the aristocracy, and the petty nobility. In 1454, he granted the noblemen the Neshav Statutes, similar to the English Magna Carta. The thirteen-year war with the Teutonic Order (1454-1466) ended with the victory of Poland, and under the agreement in Torun on October 19, 1466, Pomerania and Gdansk were returned to Poland. The order recognized itself as a vassal of Poland.
Golden Age of Poland
16th century became the golden age of Polish history. At this time, Poland was one of the largest countries in Europe, it dominated Eastern Europe, and its culture reached its peak. However, the emergence of a centralized Russian state that claimed the lands of the former Kievan Rus, the unification and strengthening of Brandenburg and Prussia in the west and north, and the threat of the militant Ottoman Empire in the south posed a great danger to the country. In 1505, in Radom, King Alexander (reigned 1501–1506) was forced to adopt a constitution “nothing new” (Latin nihil novi), according to which the parliament received the right to an equal vote with the monarch in making state decisions and the right to veto all issues, concerning the nobility. According to this constitution, the parliament consisted of two chambers - the Sejm, in which the petty nobility was represented, and the Senate, which represented the highest aristocracy and the highest clergy. The long and open borders of Poland, as well as frequent wars, made it necessary to have a powerful trained army in order to ensure the security of the kingdom. The monarchs lacked the funds needed to maintain such an army. Therefore, they were forced to obtain the sanction of Parliament for any large expenditures. The aristocracy (monarchy) and the petty nobility (gentry) demanded privileges for their loyalty. As a result, a system of "small local noble democracy" was formed in Poland, with the gradual expansion of the influence of the richest and most powerful magnates.
Rzeczpospolita
In 1525, Albrecht of Brandenburg, Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, converted to Lutheranism, and the Polish king Sigismund I (r. 1506–1548) allowed him to transform the possessions of the Teutonic Order into the hereditary Duchy of Prussia under Polish suzerainty. During the reign of Sigismund II Augustus (1548-1572), the last king of the Jagiellonian dynasty, Poland reached its greatest power. Krakow has become one of the largest European centers humanities, architecture and art of the Renaissance, Polish poetry and prose, and for a number of years - the center of the reformation. In 1561, Poland annexed Livonia, and on July 1, 1569, at the height of the Livonian War with Russia, the personal royal Polish-Lithuanian union was replaced by the Union of Lublin. The united Polish-Lithuanian state began to be called the Commonwealth (Polish "common cause"). From that time on, the same king was to be elected by the aristocracy in Lithuania and Poland; there was one parliament (Seim) and common laws; common money was put into circulation; religious tolerance became common in both parts of the country. The last question was of particular importance, since large territories conquered in the past by the Lithuanian princes were inhabited by Orthodox Christians.
Elective Kings: The Decline of the Polish State.
After the death of the childless Sigismund II, the central power in the vast Polish-Lithuanian state began to weaken. At a stormy meeting of the Diet, a new king, Henry (Henrik) Valois (r. 1573–1574; he later became Henry III of France), was elected. At the same time, he was forced to accept the principle of "free election" (election of the king by the nobility), as well as the "consent pact", which each new monarch had to swear. The right of the king to choose his heir was transferred to the Sejm. The king was also prohibited from declaring war or raising taxes without the consent of Parliament. He had to be neutral in religious matters, he had to marry on the recommendation of the senate. The council, which consisted of 16 senators appointed by the Sejm, constantly advised him. If the king did not fulfill any of the articles, the people could refuse him obedience. Thus, the Henryk Articles changed the status of the state - Poland moved from a limited monarchy to an aristocratic parliamentary republic; the head of the executive branch, elected for life, did not have sufficient powers to govern the state.
Stefan Batory (r. 1575–1586). The weakening of the supreme power in Poland, which had long and poorly protected borders, but aggressive neighbors, whose power was based on centralization and military force, largely predetermined the future collapse of the Polish state. Henry of Valois ruled for only 13 months, and then left for France, where he received the throne, vacated after the death of his brother Charles IX. The Senate and the Sejm could not agree on the candidacy of the next king, and the gentry finally elected Stefan Batory, Prince of Transylvania (r. 1575–1586), giving him a princess from the Jagiellonian dynasty as his wife. Batory strengthened Polish power over Gdansk, ousted Ivan the Terrible from the Baltic states and returned Livonia. At home, he won the loyalty and help in the fight against the Ottoman Empire from the Cossacks - runaway serfs who organized a military republic on the vast plains of Ukraine - a kind of "border strip" stretching from southeast Poland to the Black Sea along the Dnieper. Bathory gave privileges to the Jews, who were allowed to have their own parliament. He reformed the judiciary, and in 1579 founded a university in Vilna (Vilnius), which became an outpost of Catholicism and European culture in the east.
Sigismund III Vase. A zealous Catholic, Sigismund III Vasa (r. 1587–1632), the son of Johan III of Sweden and Catherine, daughter of Sigismund I, decided to create a Polish-Swedish coalition to fight Russia and return Sweden to the bosom of Catholicism. In 1592 he became the Swedish king.
In order to spread Catholicism among the Orthodox population at the Cathedral in Brest in 1596, the Uniate Church was established, which recognized the supremacy of the Pope, but continued to use Orthodox rituals. The opportunity to seize the throne of Moscow after the suppression of the Rurik dynasty involved the Commonwealth in the war with Russia. In 1610, Polish troops occupied Moscow. The vacant royal throne was offered by the Moscow boyars to Sigismund's son, Vladislav. However, the Muscovites rebelled, and with the help of the people's militia under the leadership of Minin and Pozharsky, the Poles were expelled from Moscow. Sigismund's attempts to introduce absolutism in Poland, which at that time already dominated the rest of Europe, led to a revolt of the gentry and the loss of the king's prestige.
After the death of Albrecht II of Prussia in 1618, the Elector of Brandenburg became the ruler of the Duchy of Prussia. Since that time, the possessions of Poland on the coast of the Baltic Sea have become a corridor between two provinces of the same German state.
decline
During the reign of Sigismund's son, Vladislav IV (1632–1648), the Ukrainian Cossacks revolted against Poland, the wars with Russia and Turkey weakened the country, and the gentry received new privileges in the form of political rights and exemption from income taxes. Under the rule of Vladislav's brother Jan Casimir (1648–1668), the Cossack freemen began to behave even more militantly, the Swedes occupied most of Poland, including the capital, Warsaw, and the king, abandoned by his subjects, was forced to flee to Silesia. In 1657 Poland renounced sovereign rights to East Prussia. As a result of unsuccessful wars with Russia, Poland lost Kyiv and all areas east of the Dnieper under the Andrusovo truce (1667). The process of disintegration began in the country. The magnates, creating alliances with neighboring states, pursued their own goals; the rebellion of Prince Jerzy Lubomirski shook the foundations of the monarchy; the gentry continued to defend their own “freedoms”, which was suicidal for the state. Since 1652, she began to abuse the pernicious practice of "liberum veto", which allowed any deputy to block a decision that he did not like, demand the dissolution of the Sejm and put forward any proposals that should have been considered by its next composition. Taking advantage of this, the neighboring powers, through bribery and other means, repeatedly frustrated the implementation of decisions of the Sejm that were objectionable to them. King Jan Casimir was broken and abdicated the Polish throne in 1668, in the midst of internal anarchy and strife.
External intervention: prelude to partition
Mikhail Vyshnevetsky (r. 1669–1673) turned out to be an unprincipled and inactive monarch who played along with the Habsburgs and ceded Podolia to the Turks. His successor, Jan III Sobieski (r. 1674–1696), waged successful wars with the Ottoman Empire, saved Vienna from the Turks (1683), but was forced to cede some lands to Russia under an "Eternal Peace" treaty in exchange for her promises of assistance in struggle against the Crimean Tatars and Turks. After the death of Sobieski, the Polish throne in the new capital of the country, Warsaw, was occupied for 70 years by foreigners: the Elector of Saxony August II (r. 1697–1704, 1709–1733) and his son August III (1734–1763). August II actually bribed the electors. Having united in an alliance with Peter I, he returned Podolia and Volhynia and stopped the exhausting Polish-Turkish wars, concluding the Karlovitsky Peace with the Ottoman Empire in 1699. The Polish king unsuccessfully tried to recapture the Baltic coast from the King of Sweden, Charles XII, who invaded Poland in 1701, and in 1703 he took Warsaw and Krakow. August II was forced to yield the throne in 1704-1709 to Stanislav Leshchinsky, who was supported by Sweden, but returned to the throne again when Peter I defeated Charles XII at the Battle of Poltava (1709). In 1733, the Poles, supported by the French, elected Stanislav king for the second time, but the Russian troops again removed him from power.
Stanisław II: the last Polish king. Augustus III was nothing more than a puppet of Russia; patriotic Poles tried with all their might to save the state. One of the factions of the Sejm, led by Prince Czartoryski, tried to cancel the pernicious "liberum veto", while the other, led by the powerful Potocki family, opposed any restriction of "freedoms". Desperate, Czartoryski's party began to cooperate with the Russians, and in 1764 Catherine II, Empress of Russia, succeeded in electing her favorite Stanisław August Poniatowski as King of Poland (1764–1795). Poniatowski was the last king of Poland. Russian control became especially evident under Prince N.V. Repnin, who, being ambassador to Poland, in 1767 forced the Sejm of Poland to accept his demands for equality of confessions and the preservation of the “liberum veto”. This led in 1768 to an uprising of Catholics (the Bar Confederation) and even to a war between Russia and Turkey.
Partitions of Poland. First section
In the midst of the Russian-Turkish war of 1768-1774, Prussia, Russia and Austria carried out the first partition of Poland. It was produced in 1772 and ratified by the Sejm under pressure from the occupiers in 1773. Poland ceded to Austria part of Pomerania and Kuyavia (excluding Gdansk and Torun) to Prussia; Galicia, Western Podolia and part of Lesser Poland; eastern Belarus and all lands north of the Western Dvina and east of the Dnieper went to Russia. The victors established a new constitution for Poland, which retained the "liberum veto" and elective monarchy, and created a State Council of 36 elected members of the Sejm. The division of the country awakened a social movement for reform and national revival. In 1773, the Jesuit Order was dissolved and a commission for public education was created, the purpose of which was to reorganize the system of schools and colleges. The four-year Sejm (1788–1792), headed by enlightened patriots Stanislav Malachovsky, Ignacy Potocki and Hugo Kollontai, adopted a new constitution on May 3, 1791. Under this constitution, Poland became a hereditary monarchy with a ministerial system of executive power and a parliament elected every two years. The principle of "liberum veto" and other pernicious practices were abolished; cities received administrative and judicial autonomy, as well as representation in parliament; peasants, over whom the power of the gentry was maintained, were considered as an estate under state protection; measures were taken to prepare for the abolition of serfdom and the organization regular army. The normal work of the parliament and the reforms became possible only because Russia was involved in a protracted war with Sweden, and Turkey supported Poland. However, the magnates opposed the constitution and formed the Targowice Confederation, at the call of which the troops of Russia and Prussia entered Poland.
Second and third sections
January 23, 1793 Prussia and Russia carried out the second partition of Poland. Prussia captured Gdansk, Torun, Greater Poland and Mazovia, and Russia captured most of Lithuania and Belarus, almost all of Volhynia and Podolia. The Poles fought but were defeated, the reforms of the Four Years Sejm were reversed, and the rest of Poland became a puppet state. In 1794, Tadeusz Kosciuszko led a massive popular uprising, which ended in defeat. The third partition of Poland, in which Austria participated, took place on October 24, 1795; after that, Poland as an independent state disappeared from the map of Europe.
foreign rule. Grand Duchy of Warsaw
Although the Polish state ceased to exist, the Poles did not give up hope for the restoration of their independence. Each new generation fought, either by joining the opponents of the powers that divided Poland, or by raising uprisings. As soon as Napoleon I began his military campaigns against monarchical Europe, Polish legions were formed in France. Having defeated Prussia, Napoleon created in 1807 from the territories captured by Prussia during the second and third partitions, the Grand Duchy of Warsaw (1807–1815). Two years later, territories that became part of Austria after the third partition were added to it. Miniature Poland, politically dependent on France, had a territory of 160 thousand square meters. km and 4350 thousand inhabitants. The creation of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw was considered by the Poles as the beginning of their complete liberation.
Territory that was part of Russia. After the defeat of Napoleon, the Congress of Vienna (1815) approved the partitions of Poland with the following changes: Krakow was declared a free city-republic under the auspices of the three powers that divided Poland (1815–1848); West Side The Grand Duchy of Warsaw was transferred to Prussia and became known as the Grand Duchy of Poznań (1815–1846); its other part was declared a monarchy (the so-called Kingdom of Poland) and attached to Russian Empire. In November 1830, the Poles raised an uprising against Russia, but were defeated. Emperor Nicholas I canceled the constitution of the Kingdom of Poland and began repressions. In 1846 and 1848 the Poles tried to organize uprisings, but failed. In 1863, a second uprising broke out against Russia, and after two years of partisan warfare, the Poles were again defeated. With the development of capitalism in Russia, the Russification of Polish society also intensified. The situation improved somewhat after the 1905 revolution in Russia. Polish deputies sat in all four Russian Dumas (1905–1917), seeking Polish autonomy.
Territories controlled by Prussia. On the territory under the rule of Prussia, an intensive Germanization of the former Polish regions was carried out, the farms of Polish peasants were expropriated, and Polish schools were closed. Russia helped Prussia put down the Poznan uprising of 1848. In 1863, both powers signed the Alvensleben Convention on mutual assistance in the fight against national movement. Despite all the efforts of the authorities, at the end of the 19th century. The Poles of Prussia still represented a strong, organized national community.
Polish lands within Austria
On the Austrian Polish lands, the situation was somewhat better. After the Krakow uprising of 1846, the regime was liberalized, and Galicia received local administrative control; schools, institutions and courts used Polish; Jagiellonian (in Krakow) and Lviv universities became all-Polish cultural centers; by the beginning of the 20th century. Polish political parties emerged (National Democratic, Polish Socialist and Peasant). In all three parts of the divided Poland, Polish society actively opposed assimilation. The preservation of the Polish language and Polish culture became the main task of the struggle waged by the intelligentsia, primarily poets and writers, as well as the clergy of the Catholic Church.
World War I
New opportunities for achieving independence. The First World War divided the powers that liquidated Poland: Russia was at war with Germany and Austria-Hungary. This situation opened up fateful opportunities for the Poles, but also created new difficulties. First, the Poles had to fight in opposing armies; secondly, Poland became the scene of battles between the warring powers; thirdly, disagreements between Polish political groups escalated. The conservative national democrats, led by Roman Dmovsky (1864–1939), considered Germany the main enemy and desired the victory of the Entente. Their goal was to unite all Polish lands under Russian control and obtain the status of autonomy. The radical elements, led by the Polish Socialist Party (PPS), on the contrary, considered the defeat of Russia as the most important condition for achieving Poland's independence. They believed that the Poles should create their own armed forces. A few years before the outbreak of World War I, Józef Piłsudski (1867–1935), the radical leader of this group, began military training for Polish youth in Galicia. During the war, he formed the Polish legions and fought on the side of Austria-Hungary.
Polish question
August 14, 1914 Nicholas I in an official declaration promised after the war to unite the three parts of Poland into an autonomous state within the Russian Empire. However, in the autumn of 1915 most of Russian Poland It was occupied by Germany and Austria-Hungary, and on November 5, 1916, the monarchs of the two powers announced a manifesto on the creation of an independent Kingdom of Poland in the Russian part of Poland. On March 30, 1917, after the February Revolution in Russia, the Provisional Government of Prince Lvov recognized Poland's right to self-determination. July 22, 1917 Pilsudski, who fought on the side of the Central Powers, was interned, and his legions were disbanded for refusing to take an oath of allegiance to the emperors of Austria-Hungary and Germany. In France, with the support of the powers of the Entente, in August 1917 the Polish National Committee (PNC) was created, headed by Roman Dmowski and Ignacy Paderewski; the Polish army was also formed with the commander-in-chief Józef Haller. On January 8, 1918, US President Wilson demanded the creation of an independent Polish state with access to the Baltic Sea. In June 1918 Poland was officially recognized as a country fighting on the side of the Entente. On October 6, during the period of the collapse and collapse of the Central Powers, the Regency Council of Poland announced the creation of an independent Polish state, and on November 14 Piłsudski transferred full power in the country. By this time, Germany had already capitulated, Austria-Hungary had collapsed, and a civil war was going on in Russia.
State formation
The new country faced great difficulties. Cities and villages lay in ruins; there were no connections in the economy, which for a long time developed within the framework of three different states; Poland had neither its own currency nor government institutions; finally, its borders were not defined and agreed with the neighbors. Nevertheless, state building and economic recovery were carried out rapidly. After a transitional period, when the socialist cabinet was in power, on January 17, 1919, Paderewski was appointed prime minister, and Dmowski was appointed head of the Polish delegation at the Versailles Peace Conference. On January 26, 1919, elections were held to the Sejm, the new composition of which approved Piłsudski as head of state.
The Question of Borders
The western and northern borders of the country were determined at the Versailles Conference, according to which part of the Pomerania and access to the Baltic Sea were transferred to Poland; Danzig (Gdansk) received the status of a "free city". At a conference of ambassadors on July 28, 1920, the southern border was agreed upon. The city of Cieszyn and its suburb Cesky Teszyn were divided between Poland and Czechoslovakia. Violent disputes between Poland and Lithuania over Wilno (Vilnius), ethnically Polish but historically Lithuanian city, ended with its occupation by the Poles on October 9, 1920; accession to Poland was approved on February 10, 1922 by a democratically elected regional assembly.
April 21, 1920 Pilsudski made an alliance with the Ukrainian leader Petliura and launched an offensive to liberate Ukraine from the Bolsheviks. On May 7, the Poles took Kyiv, but on June 8, pressed by the Red Army, they began to retreat. At the end of July, the Bolsheviks were on the outskirts of Warsaw. However, the Poles managed to defend the capital and repel the enemy; this ended the war. Followed then Riga Treaty(March 18, 1921) represented a territorial compromise for both sides and was officially recognized by the ambassadors' conference on March 15, 1923.
Foreign policy
The leaders of the new Polish Republic tried to secure their state by pursuing a policy of non-alignment. Poland did not join the Little Entente, which included Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and Romania. On January 25, 1932, a non-aggression pact was signed with the USSR.
After Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany in January 1933, Poland failed to establish allied relations with France, while Great Britain and France concluded a "pact of consent and cooperation" with Germany and Italy. After that, on January 26, 1934, Poland and Germany signed a non-aggression pact for a period of 10 years, and soon the duration of a similar agreement with the USSR was extended. In March 1936, after the military occupation of the Rhineland by Germany, Poland again unsuccessfully tried to conclude an agreement with France and Belgium on Poland's support for them in the event of a war with Germany. In October 1938, simultaneously with the annexation Nazi Germany Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia, Poland occupied the Czechoslovak part of the Teszyn region. In March 1939, Hitler occupied Czechoslovakia and put forward territorial claims to Poland. On March 31, Great Britain, and on April 13, France guaranteed the territorial integrity of Poland; in the summer of 1939, Franco-Anglo-Soviet negotiations began in Moscow aimed at curbing German expansion. The Soviet Union in these negotiations demanded the right to occupy the eastern part of Poland and at the same time entered into secret negotiations with the Nazis. On August 23, 1939, a German-Soviet non-aggression pact was concluded, the secret protocols of which provided for the division of Poland between Germany and the USSR. Having ensured Soviet neutrality, Hitler untied his hands. On September 1, 1939, World War II began with an attack on Poland.
Useful data for tourists about Poland, cities and resorts of the country. As well as information about the population, the currency of Poland, the cuisine, the features of visa and customs restrictions in Poland.
Geography of Poland
Poland is a state in Eastern Europe. In the north it is washed by the Baltic Sea, it borders on Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, and also on Russia.
The north of the country is occupied by a long upland of the Baltic Ridge and vast coastal lowlands with a large number of glacial lakes, the southwest by the Sudeten Mountains, the southern part of the country is surrounded by the Carpathians with the Tatras, Beskids and Bieszczady. The highest point is Rysy (2499 m) in the Tatras. The central part of Poland is flat, dissected by many rivers and reservoirs, and abundantly overgrown with forest. The Baltic coast is occupied by dune-covered beaches, numerous bays and lakes.
State
State structure
Democratic parliamentary republic. The head of state is the president. The head of government is the prime minister. Higher Legislature- Bicameral People's Assembly.
Language
Official language: Polish
German, English, Russian and languages of ethnic groups are also used.
Religion
Catholics - 98%.
Currency
International name: PLN
The złoty is subdivided into 100 groszy. In circulation there are coins in denominations of 1, 2, 5, 10, 50 groszy, 1, 2 and 5 zlotys, as well as banknotes in denominations of 10, 20, 50, 100 and 200 zlotys.
Currency can be exchanged at specialized exchange offices ("Kantor"), commissions are not charged. Exchange offices in banks are rare and the rate in them is usually less favorable, exchange from hands is prohibited. The circulation of foreign currencies in the country is officially prohibited.
Credit cards are accepted in many hotels and restaurants, car rental companies, etc. ATMs are widely used in bank branches and large retail outlets. In some banks, ATMs work around the clock, but the entrance to the bank is usually locked with an electronic lock, to open which you need to insert a credit card into the slot of the lock and swipe it from top to bottom. Traveler's checks are accepted almost everywhere.
History of Poland
The Polish state was formed in the 10th century, and for many centuries Poland was one of the most powerful countries in Central Europe. But by the 18th century, many years of heavy wars led to the decline of the country, it lost its independence and was subjected to several partitions between Russia, Prussia and Austria-Hungary. The Polish state was recreated only in 1918, and Poland exists within its modern borders after the Second World War.
Popular Attractions
Poland Tourism
Where to stay
Today in Poland you can find a great variety of comfortable hotels - from inexpensive to luxurious, there are also hotels of world chains.
The most luxurious and, accordingly, expensive hotels are located in buildings of the late 19th - early 20th century. Here you will find not only high quality service, but also elegant old interiors, restored to the smallest detail. If you are a fan of a homely atmosphere and comfort, small modern hotels, of which there are quite a lot in Poland, will satisfy your needs. In addition, the prices for accommodation here are quite affordable.
Recently, rural tourism or, as it is also called, agro-tourism, has been very popular. The features of this type of residence will appeal to those who are fed up with city life. Cozy rooms in rural estates, organic products, the opportunity to take part in agricultural work - attracts more and more city dwellers. The cost of living depends on the region, as well as the level of services provided.
If you want to relax with children, then in Poland many hotels practice a special pricing policy for such accommodation. So, some hotels allow free accommodation for children under 3 years old, in some hotels and up to 14. However, this information should be clarified in advance. In addition, in restaurants, as a rule, you can find a special children's menu.
Hostels are very popular among young people - they can be found throughout Poland. Since such hostels are completely filled in the spring-autumn period and especially during the holidays, it is worth booking a place in advance.
Campsites of various ranks can be found throughout Poland. As a rule, this is a fenced area, on its territory there is electricity, water supply, sewerage, service personnel. Most campsites are open from May to September, but there are also year-round ones.
Hiking in Poland has been very popular for more than a year, so finding the so-called "mountain shelters" can be found without any problems. In such a shelter, they can offer ascetic rooms for the night, and quite comfortable rooms.
Holidays in Poland at the best price
Search and compare prices for all the world's leading booking systems. Find the best price for yourself and save up to 80% on the cost of travel services!
Popular hotels
Tours and attractions in Poland
Poland is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Central Europe. stunning natural landscapes, wonderful resorts and protected areas, an abundance of architectural sights, a huge cultural and historical heritage Every year it attracts many tourists from all over the world.
The capital of Poland is the city of Warsaw - an important economic and Cultural Center countries. Unfortunately, during the Second World War the city was almost completely destroyed. Thanks to the surviving drawings and plans, the Poles were able to restore the historical center, or the so-called "Old Town", with extraordinary precision and return Warsaw to the title of one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. Among the most interesting sights of the capital, it is worth highlighting the Royal Palace, the Lazenkovsky Palace (Lazienki), the Presidential Palace (the Radziwill Palace), the Cathedral of St. John, the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, the Jesuit Church of the Virgin Mary, the Dominican Church of St. Jacek, the Carmelite Church, the Church of Peter and Paul , Royal Arsenal, Sigismund's Column and Market Square. No less interesting are the Uzyadovsky Castle, the Ostrozhsky Palace, the Branitsky Palace, the Church of St. Anna, the Church of Visiting Cards, National Museum, Warsaw History Museum, Saxon Gardens, Defilade Square and Moliere Street. In the vicinity of Warsaw, in Wilanow, there is a magnificent palace and park complex of Jan III Sobieski.
Krakow is one of the most colorful and visited by tourists cities in Poland. He is rightfully considered cultural capital countries. The historic center of the city is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. Krakow is famous for its abundance of stunning architectural monuments, among which the most impressive are the Wawel Castle, the Cathedral of Saints Stanislav and Wenceslas, the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Mary's Church), the Dominican Church of St. Wojciech, the Church of St. Andrew, the Jagiellonian University, etc. It is definitely worth visiting the Krakow National Museum, the Archaeological Museum, the Czartoryski Museum, the House of Jan Matejka, the Kosciuszko Mound, Kazimierz, the famous Cloth Rows and Rynok Square. Walking through the unusually beautiful Volsky forest, which is located right in the city, will also bring special pleasure. Not far from Krakow are the famous Wieliczka salt mines, known since ancient times.
The port city of Gdansk is also very popular among tourists. It is interesting for its centuries-old history, beautiful architectural structures, museums, various cultural events and, of course, the beautiful Baltic beaches. The most visited resorts in Poland include Sopot, Gdynia, Kolobrzeg, Krynica Morska, Ustka and Swinoujscie. Among the Polish resorts are also popular ski resorts Zakopane, Zelenets and Karpacz, a popular health resort and ski resort Krynica-Zdroj, as well as mineral springs Kudowy-Zdrój. You will find a lot of interesting sights and opportunities for a pleasant pastime in Lublin, Lodz, Szczecin and Poznan. No less interesting for travelers are such Polish cities as Katowice, Torun, Zamosc, Malbork, Kielce, Czestochowa, as well as the infamous Oswiecim (Auschwitz).
Among the natural attractions of Poland, it is worth highlighting the stunningly beautiful Tatras, the majestic Sudetenland and the famous Beskids, on the territory of which there are a huge number of resorts and various health resorts. You should definitely visit the famous Masurian Lakes with magnificent parks and protected areas.
Polish cuisine
Many dishes of Polish cuisine are similar in terms of cooking technology and a set of products to dishes of Ukrainian and Russian cuisines.
From appetizers and cold dishes in Polish cuisine, all kinds of salads made from fresh, pickled and salted vegetables, seasoned with mayonnaise, sour cream or yogurt, meat, fish products and poultry, which are served with various vegetables as a side dish, are popular. They prepare stuffed eggs, eggs with mayonnaise, as well as a spicy snack of cottage cheese, to which chopped parsley, dill, green onions, pepper, and salt are added.
Breakfast is often served with yogurt, curdled milk, and hot boiled potatoes are usually served with curdled milk. The first courses are most often represented by borscht, cabbage soup, pickle, beetroot, saltwort, soups-mashed potatoes. In Poland, it is customary to serve borscht and cabbage soup with hot boiled potatoes instead of bread. Favorite dishes in Polish cuisine are tripe dishes (Warsaw-style flaki, flaki in sauce, tripe soup).
Fruit and berry sweet dishes (fruit salads, ice cream, sweet pancakes), confectionery and bakery products are varied in Polish cuisine.
Go to navigation Go to search
| Republic of Poland | |||
| Polish Rzeczpospolita Polska | |||
|
|||
| Hymn: "Dąbrowski's Mazurka" | |||
 Location Poland(dark green): - in (light green and dark gray) - in the European Union (light green) |
|||
| date of independence | November 11, 1918 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Official language | Polish | ||
| Capital | |||
| Largest cities | , | ||
| Form of government | parliamentary republic | ||
| The president | Andrzej Duda | ||
| Prime Minister | Mateusz Morawiecki | ||
| Marshal of the Sejm | Marek Kuchcinski | ||
| Marshal of the Senate | Stanislav Karchevsky | ||
| Territory | 69th in the world | ||
| Total | 312,679 km² | ||
| % water surface | 3,07 | ||
| Population | |||
| Score (2017) | 38 422 346 people (35th) | ||
| Census (2014) | 38 483 957 people | ||
| Density | 123 people/km² | ||
| GDP (PPP) | |||
| Total (2018) | $1,193 billion (21st) | ||
| Per capita | $31,430 (46th) | ||
| GDP (nominal) | |||
| Total (2018) | $614.190 billion (23rd) | ||
| Per capita | $16,179 | ||
| HDI (2015) | ▲ 0.855 (very high; 36th) | ||
| Names of residents | pole, polka, poles | ||
| Currency | Polish zloty (PLN) | ||
| Internet domain | .pl | ||
| ISO code | PL | ||
| IOC code | POL | ||
| Telephone code | +48 | ||
| Time Zones | CET (UTC+1, summer UTC+2) | ||
Poland(Polish: Polska), official name - Republic of Poland(Polish Rzeczpospolita Polska) is a state in Central Europe. The population, according to the results of 2015, is 38,623,221 people, the territory is 312,679 km². It ranks thirty-sixth in the world in terms of population and sixty-ninth in terms of territory.
Most of the believers (about 87% of the population) profess Catholicism, which makes Poland the country with the largest Catholic population in Central Europe.
Industrialized country with a developed economy. The volume of GDP at purchasing power parity (PPP) per capita is $22,162 per year (2012). In 2012, Poland's GDP at PPP amounted to 854.2 billion dollars. The monetary unit is the Polish zloty (the average rate for 2016 is 3.8 zloty per 1 US dollar).
General information
Poland covers an area of 312,679 km², according to this indicator, the country is in 69th place in the world and tenth in Europe. The population is 38 million people (33rd in the world). The country is divided into 16 voivodships, which in turn are divided into powiats (counties) and gminas (volosts).
The date of creation of the first Polish state is considered to be 966, when Mieszko I converted to Christianity. Poland became a kingdom in 1025, and in 1569 united with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (I Rzeczpospolita). In 1795, as a result of three partitions, when the territory was divided between Prussia, Austria and Russia, the Polish state ceased to exist. During the Napoleonic Wars in the period 1807-1813. there was the Duchy of Warsaw, most of which became part of Russia in 1815 as the so-called Kingdom of Poland. Poland regained independence in 1918 after the First World War (II Rzeczpospolita), but in 1939 was divided between Germany and the USSR. After war, Poland within the new borders (without Western Belarus and Western Ukraine, but with significant territorial acquisitions at the expense of Germany) became a "country of people's democracy", dependent on the USSR (Polish People's Republic). In 1989, there were changes in the political system, the transition to a market economy (III Rzeczpospolita).
Member of NATO since March 12, 1999, member since May 1, 2004 European Union. December 21, 2007 entered the Schengen area.
Etymology
After the introduction of the official name - "Rzeczpospolita Polska", it was translated into Russian for some time, as Polish Republic because the word Polska means both "Poland" and Polish. This was followed by an explanation from the Polish Foreign Ministry that the adequate translation was "Republic of Poland". The official name of the country does not use the modern Polish word "republika" (republic), but the outdated one - "rzeczpospolita", which is a literal translation into Polish of the Latin term "rēs rublica" (public cause). Russian name"Poland" goes back to the local singular w Poland(modern Polish w Polsce) from Polish. Polska- substantivized adjective"Polish" from ziemia polska- “Polish land”, that is, “land of glades” (the name of the tribe, in turn, comes from the word "field").
Geography
Territory of Poland. satellite image
Baltic Sea
Mountain landscape of Podhale
The total area of Poland is 312,658 (312,683) km² (in terms of area, it ranks 69th in the world, and 9th in). Land - 304,459 km², water - 8220 km². About 2/3 of the territory in the north and in the center of the country is occupied by the Polish lowland. In the north - the Baltic Ridge, in the south and southeast - the Lesser Poland and Lublin Uplands, along the southern border - the Carpathians (the highest point is 2499 m, Mount Rysy in the Tatras) and the Sudetes. Large rivers - Vistula, Odra; dense river network. Lakes are predominantly in the north. Under the forest 28% of the territory.
Borders
In the north it is washed by the Baltic Sea; borders:
- In the west with - 467 (456) km,
- In the southwest from - 790 (615) km,
- In the south - 539 (420) km,
- In the southeast with - 529 (428) km,
- In the east with - 416 (605) km,
- In the northeast, with - 103 (91) km and () - 206 (210) km.
- In addition, Poland through economic zone in the Baltic Sea it borders on the zones and .
The total length of the borders is 3582 km, of which 3054 (2888) km are land and 528 (491) sea.
Climate
The climate is temperate, transitional from maritime to continental with mild (cold in the mountains) winters and warm (cool in the mountains) summers. The continentality of the climate is lower than in and on, which is expressed primarily in milder winters. Average January temperatures are from -1 to -5 °C (up to -8 °C in the mountains), July from +17 to +19 °C (up to +10 °C in the mountains); rainfall 500-800 mm on the plains; in the mountains in some places more than 1000 mm per year.
Story
background
At the beginning of our era, the fact of the residence of the Germanic tribes of the Skirs and Lugis is known on the territory of Poland. Then they were replaced by the Goths of the Wielbar culture. In the middle of the 1st millennium, the south of Poland was controlled by the Alans and Turkic tribal associations. The Baltic Velbar culture is unsubstantiatedly associated with the Crimean Goths. At the end of the 1st millennium, such tribes as the western meadows (from them the name of the country), Lendzyans (from them the name of the Poles from their neighbors: "Polyakhs"), Kuyavyans, Pomeranians, Mazovshans, Vislyans, Slensyans (in), etc. e. Gradually, on the basis of large tribal principalities, proto-state associations arise; of these principalities, the main principalities were the Principality of the Vistulas in present-day Lesser Poland (district) and Polans in Greater Poland (district).
Gniezno Poland (877-1320)
Poland 992-1025
In 877, after the conquest of Lesser Poland by Great Moravia, Greater Poland remained the center of the formation of the Polish state, the capital of which was the city. The first known ruler of Poland was the Greater Poland prince Mieszko I of the Piast family (960-992); in 966 he accepts Christianity according to the Western rite. Under his son - Boleslav the Brave - the Polish principality reached the pinnacle of power. In 999, Boleslav takes away the future Lesser Poland from the Czech Republic; he was a Czech prince from 1003 to 1004, after a long war with the Holy Roman Empire he annexed Lusatia and Milsko. Boleslav became related to the Kyiv prince Svyatopolk the Accursed and, supporting him against his brother Yaroslav the Wise, occupied Kyiv in 1018; in 1025 he takes the title of king. His son Mieszko II Sluggish, forced to fight simultaneously with Germany and Russia, lost almost all of his father's conquests, including the royal title, which he renounced in 1033. After his death, a period of chaos and anarchy began, and his son Casimir I the Restorer, expelled from Poland by the rebels, restored his power with difficulty and losses. But the son of the latter, Boleslav II the Bold (1058-1079), completely revived the former power of Poland and again (1076) took the royal title; in 1068, supporting his relative Izyaslav Yaroslavich, he also took possession. He was overthrown in a conspiracy; but under Bolesław III Krivoust (1102-1138), the Old Polish state reached its last peak. Boleslav repulsed the invasion of the German emperor in 1109, in 1122 he annexed almost everything to Poland. However, after his death, as in those same years in Russia - after the death of Vladimir Monomakh, feudal fragmentation began in Poland. According to the "Statute of Bolesław Wrymouth" (1138), Poland was divided between four sons with the title of Grand Duke and Grand Duke's inheritance (part of Greater Poland with and Lesser Poland with Krakow) for the elder. A number of principalities were formed: Kuyavia, Mazovia, Silesia, etc.
Just at this time, the German "Onslaught to the East" began. In 1181, the prince recognized himself as a vassal German Emperor; in 1226 the Mazovian prince Konrad called on the Teutonic Order to fight the Prussians. In 1241, the Tatar-Mongols invaded Poland and defeated the Poles and Germans near Liegnitz, but then left for Hungary. AT late XIII century, centripetal tendencies began to appear again. Prince Přemysl II (1290-1296) of Greater Poland assumed the title of king in 1295. Premysl was soon killed by the people of the Elector of Brandenburg and the magnates of Greater Poland.
Kingdom of Poland in 1333-1370
Krakow Poland (1320-1569)
States of the Jagiellons in 1490
The battle of the Polish-Lithuanian army with the Moscow in 1514
In 1320, the Kuyavian prince Vladislav Loketek (1305-1333), having annexed Greater Poland to his possessions, was crowned the Polish king. From now on it becomes the new capital of Poland. Under his successor, Casimir III the Great (1333-1370), Poland flourished. In 1349, Galicia was annexed to Poland. In 1370, Casimir's nephew, King of Hungary Louis (Lajos) I, from the Angevin dynasty (1370-1382) became the king of Poland - the first foreign king on the Polish throne. Not having a strong foothold in the country, he published in 1374 Kosice Privilege, according to which the magnates and the gentry were exempted from all duties, except for military service and a small tax of 2 pennies from the land of the land.
In 1384, the queen of Poland (according to Polish law - king) became Jadwiga. The magnates began to look for a husband for Jadwiga, who could be a full-fledged Polish monarch, and found one in the person of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Jagiello (in the Polish pronunciation Jagiello). In 1385, the Polish-Lithuanian union was concluded, according to which Jagiello was baptized according to the Catholic rite, introduced Catholicism as state religion in Lithuania, married Jadwiga and ascended the Polish throne under the name of Vladislav II. Thus, the Polish-Lithuanian state arose in the East of Europe. Under Jagiello, the infringement of the Orthodox population of the Russian lands occupied by the Poles began. Jagiello gave the Orthodox Cathedral to the Catholics, built under the Russian prince Volodar Rostislavovich, initiating the Catholicization and Polonization of this city. The Orthodox Metropolitan of Galicia was deprived of all his land holdings in favor of the Catholic Archbishop.
In 1410, the Battle of Grunwald took place - the defeat of the Teutonic Order.
Jagiello's son Vladislav III (reigned 1434-1444) became king of Hungary and Poland at the same time, but died in a battle with the Turks near Varna. After that, the Polish-Hungarian union ceased, but the Polish-Lithuanian union (which had ceased) was restored, thanks to the election of Vladislav's brother, the Lithuanian prince Casimir Jagiellonchik (Casimir IV, 1447-1492), to the Polish throne.
In 1454, according to the Neszaw Statutes, Poland became a republic, where supreme power belonged to the Sejm.
Wars with the Teutonic Order resumed. In 1466, according to the Second Peace of Torun, Poland annexed with and gained access to the Baltic Sea. The king's son Vladislav in 1471 became the king of the Czech Republic, and from 1490 - the king of Hungary.
In 1505, the law Nihil novi was passed, limiting the power of the king in favor of the gentry. Since that time, common in relation to the Polish system state structure became the term Rzeczpospolita.
After the Mohacs battle with the Turks, when the Czech-Hungarian king Louis (Lajos) Jagiellon died, in 1526 the geopolitical situation changed dramatically: there was no trace of the predominance of the Jagiellonian dynasty, the territories south of Poland were divided between Turkey and Austria. During the reign of the last Jagiellon, Sigismund II Augustus, the Polish-Lithuanian alliance again had to face the strengthening of the Muscovite state, where Ivan IV the Terrible reigned. Since 1562, Russia and the Polish-Lithuanian alliance were drawn into a fierce, long and devastating Livonian war for both sides.
Rzeczpospolita (1569-1795)
Sigismund Augustus was childless, and as he grew older, the question arose about the future fate of the Polish-Lithuanian state, which was held together only by the unity of the dynasty. The need to build it on new principles led to the conclusion of the Union of Lublin (1569), according to which Poland formed a united confederal state with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, headed by the Sejm and the king chosen by him. The state went down in history as the Commonwealth (Polish Rzeczpospolita, tracing paper from Latin res publica (""), "common cause"; in relation to the Polish state, it was first used in the 13th century by Vikenty Kadlubek).
After the death of Sigismund, the era of elective kings began, in accordance with the new constitution. The Frenchman Heinrich Valois (1572-1574) appeared on the throne and soon fled back to France, while Ivan the Terrible again went on the offensive in. The election in 1576 of the Transylvanian prince Stefan Batory turned the situation in favor of the Commonwealth: he returned the lost (1579), then, in turn, he invaded Russia and besieged. Peace in Yama-Zapolsky (1582) restored the old border.
After the death of Bathory in 1586, the Poles elected the Swedish king Sigismund III Vasa; however, he soon lost the Swedish throne because of his Catholic fanaticism. Three are associated with his reign. important events: transfer in 1596 of the capital from Krakow to (coronations were still held in Krakow); Union of Brest Orthodox and Catholic churches (1596), which put an end to traditional Polish religious tolerance and created the prerequisites for the Khmelnitsky uprising and Poland's intervention in Russia during the Time of Troubles.
Polish intervention in Russia
The surrender of the Kremlin by the Poles to the militia led by Dmitry Pozharsky
The Polish magnates Mniszeki supported the impostor False Dmitry and equipped him with an army consisting of Zaporozhye Cossacks and Polish volunteers. In 1604, the army of the impostor invaded Russia, the cities and the armies sent to meet him swore allegiance to the new tsar. In 1605, the impostor entered Moscow and was crowned, but was soon killed.
The impostor promised the Polish king Sigismund III to return in payment for help. Under the pretext of these promises, Sigismund in 1610 began the siege of Smolensk. The army sent to the rescue by the new Tsar Vasily Shuisky was defeated by Hetman Zholkievsky in the Battle of Klushino, after which the Poles approached Moscow, while the troops of the new impostor False Dmitry II besieged it from the other side. Shuisky was overthrown and subsequently extradited to Zholkevsky. The Moscow boyars swore allegiance to the young son of Sigismund Vladislav, and then let the Polish garrison into Moscow. Sigismund did not want to let his son go to Moscow and baptize him into Orthodoxy (as was supposed under the terms of the agreement), but tried to rule Moscow personally through Alexander Gonsevsky, who led the Polish garrison in Moscow after Zholkievsky left. The result was the unification of the former "Tushino thieves" - the Cossacks with the nobles of Shuisky against the Poles (early 1611) and their joint campaign against Moscow, supported by an uprising in Moscow itself, which the Poles were able to suppress only by setting fire to the city. The siege of Moscow by the first militia was unsuccessful due to contradictions in its ranks. The campaign of the second militia, led by Kuzma Minin and Dmitry Pozharsky, put the Poles in a critical situation. Sigismund, who took Smolensk, disbanded his army, unable to support it. On November 1, 1612 (according to the new style), the militia took Kitay-gorod, the Poles took refuge in the Kremlin. On November 5, the Poles signed a capitulation, releasing the Moscow boyars and other nobles from the Kremlin, and surrendered the next day.
In 1617, Vladislav, who continued to bear the title of Grand Duke of Moscow, invaded Russia, trying to seize the "legitimate" throne, reached Moscow, but could not take it. According to the Truce of Deulino, the Commonwealth received Smolensk and Seversky land. Vladislav retained the title of Grand Duke of Moscow. After the truce expired, Russia unsuccessfully tried to return Smolensk, but after the defeat under its walls in 1633, according to the Polyanovsky peace, Smolensk was recognized by Poland, and Vladislav refused the Moscow title.
The beginning of the disasters of the state
Rzeczpospolita in 1635
Vladislav IV, as king, did not allow the Commonwealth to take part in Thirty Years' War, adhered to religious tolerance and carried out military reform. Unsuccessfully sought to strengthen royal power, speaking out against the magnates. The reign of Vladislav IV turned out to be the last stable era in the history of royal Poland.
At the same time, in the 16th century, there was a rapid Polonization, followed by the transition to Catholicism of the Western Russian gentry, for a long time the transition was spontaneous and voluntary, caused by status superiority. By the end of the 16th century, the Ukrainian-Belarusian Orthodox peasantry was under the rule of the Catholic Polonized nobility. This situation, along with the strengthening of the counter-reformation and the influence of the Jesuits, gave rise to the desire to convert "serfs" to Catholicism. The result of the oppression of the Orthodox is the growth of tension and, in the end, the uprising of Bogdan Khmelnitsky, which began in 1648, was catastrophic for the Commonwealth. In 1654, Russian troops invaded Poland; the next year - the Swedes, who occupied Warsaw, King Jan II Casimir fled to Silesia - anarchy began, which in Poland was called the "Flood". In 1657, Poland renounced sovereign rights to East Prussia. The Swedes were never able to stay in Poland because of the outbreak of guerrilla warfare. On the other hand, part of the Cossack foremen, frightened by the influence of the Moscow governors, recoiled from Moscow and tried to re-establish relations with the Commonwealth, thanks to which the Poles returned Belarus and Right-Bank Ukraine. According to the Andrusovo truce (1667), Poland also lost all areas east of the Dnieper.
decline
Battle of Vienna, 1683 Great Turkish War
The short reign of the young Vishnevetsky was not very successful; Poland lost the war against the Ottoman Empire, which occupied Podolia and forced capitulation. Jan III Sobieski carried out a radical reform in the armament and organization of the army. Under his command, a coalition of Christian powers inflicted a crushing defeat on the Turks at the Battle of Vienna on September 12, 1683, and stopped the advance of the Ottoman Empire into Europe.
The reign of Jan Sobieski was the last brilliant episode in the history of the Commonwealth, then a steady decline begins. In 1697, the Elector of Saxony August II the Strong was elected king of Poland, who opened the era of Saxon kings. His plans for the return of Livonia ended with the Northern War, during which Charles XII of Sweden invaded Poland, defeated Augustus II, occupied Warsaw and approved his creature Stanislav Leshchinsky on the Polish throne. In 1709, Peter I expelled the Swedes and their protege from Poland and restored Augustus the Strong to the throne. A country devoid of internal resources, having neither a tax service, nor a customs office, nor a regular army, nor any capable central government, was henceforth doomed to serve as a toy for strong neighbors. After the death of August the Strong in 1733, the “War of the Polish Succession” broke out, during which the Saxons and Russians expelled Stanislav Leshchinsky, supported by the French, from the country and installed a new Saxon Elector, Augustus III (1734-1763), on the Polish throne.
At the end of the reign of Augustus III came the era of the Seven Years' War, when Poland became a battlefield between Prussia and her opponents. Frederick II of Prussia was already the bearer of the idea of the division of Poland, but his defeat in the war pushed this project back. In 1764, under Russian pressure, the little-known and uninfluential Stanisław August Poniatowski was elected King of Poland. In fact, a Russian protectorate was established over Poland. Poniatowski was an educated and intelligent man, but he lacked the political will to act in such a difficult environment.
The actual protectorate of Russia was expressed, in particular, in the fact that Russia, with the support of Prussia, forced Stanislav to solve the "dissident issue" - to equalize the rights of Orthodox and Protestants with Catholics. Also, the king was forced to cancel the reforms he had begun; Catherine proclaimed herself the guarantor of the "liberum veto". The answer of the gentry was the "Bar Confederation" (1768), which launched guerrilla war against Russian troops. Soon the uprising was crushed and the rebels were exiled to Siberia; for their part, Austria and Prussia, jealously watching the establishment of Russia in Poland and taking advantage of her difficulties in the war with Turkey, demanded their share.
Sections
Three sections of Poland on one map
In 1772, the first partition of the Commonwealth between Prussia, Austria and Russia took place, according to which Galicia went to Austria, to Prussia - West Prussia, to Russia - East End Belarus ( , ).
The position of the Kingdom of Poland in 1773: three monarchs indicate on the map of Poland the part of the country they claim, the diplomat Panin points to an angel proclaiming the will of the monarchs
The dark years that followed the first partition gave way to a new social upsurge in the late 1780s. In 1787, a new Russian-Turkish war began, the Russian occupation troops were withdrawn from Poland. In 1788, the Four-Year Diet began its work, setting itself the task of implementing fundamental reforms that could renew the country. A constitution was drawn up, which was supposed to eliminate the pernicious principle of the "liberum veto", curb the anarchy of the gentry, mitigate serf social inequality, introduce the foundations of civil society and establish a strong and capable centralized government. The May 3rd Constitution (1791) became one of the world's first constitutions.
The magnates, dissatisfied with the abolition of the "golden liberties", went to St. Petersburg in search of support and agreed on Russian intervention. To justify the intervention, they drew up an act of confederation, actually in St. Petersburg, but falsely labeled Targovitsa - the estate of one of the confederates, as a result of which the confederation was called Targovitskaya.
Empress Catherine II moved troops to Poland. A fierce struggle began between the adherents of the new constitution against the confederates and the Russian army. After the victory of the Russian troops, the constitution was abolished, the dictatorship of the Targowice confederates was established; at the same time, Prussian troops also entered Poland, and the Second Partition between Prussia and Russia (1793) of the lands of the Commonwealth was carried out. In the Diet was convened, at which the restoration of the former constitution was proclaimed; Warsaw and several other cities were occupied by Russian garrisons; The Polish army was drastically reduced.
In March 1794, the Kosciuszko national liberation uprising began. Kosciuszko, proclaimed in Krakow "the head of the uprising", defeated the Russian detachment at Raclawice and moved to Warsaw, where the insurgent population destroyed the Russian garrison; I was busy . In the summer, the rebels withstood the siege of Warsaw by Russian-Prussian troops. However, in the autumn the rebels suffered a series of crushing defeats. The lack of support for the uprising by the Belarusian and Ukrainian population was revealed. Kosciuszko was defeated at Maciejowice and taken prisoner, the Warsaw suburb of Prague was taken by storm by Suvorov; Warsaw capitulated. After that, the third partition took place (according to an agreement concluded between Russia, Prussia and Austria in 1795) and Poland as a state ceased to exist.
Period of absence of statehood (1795-1918)
For more than a century, Poland did not have its own statehood, the Polish lands were part of other states: Prussia (and later the German Empire) and (later Austria-Hungary).
Duchy of Warsaw (1807-1813)
Napoleon, having defeated Prussia, created a vassal in relation to the Duchy of Warsaw from part of the Polish lands that belonged to her. recognized this principality, headed by the Saxon king Friedrich August, loyal to Napoleon, and received the Bialystok region. In 1809, after a victorious war with (in which the Poles also participated), Lesser Poland with Krakow was annexed to the Duchy of Warsaw.
The 5th Corps of the Great Army consisted of 3 Polish divisions and light cavalry: the 16th division (Zayonchek), the 17th division (Dombrovsky), the 18th division (Kniazhevich).
The next partition of Poland took place in 1814-1815 at the Congress of Vienna between, Prussia and. Most of the former Duchy of Warsaw was transferred to Russia, Poznan went to Prussia, Krakow was declared a "free city". The Congress of Vienna declared the granting of autonomy to the Polish lands in all three parts, but in fact this was carried out only in Russia, where, to a large extent at the initiative of Emperor Alexander I, known for his liberal aspirations, the constitutional Kingdom of Poland was formed.
Kingdom of Poland (1815-1915)
On November 27, 1815, Poland, as part of Russia, received its own constitution, which bound Poland and Russia with a personal union and allowed Poland to choose the Sejm, its own government and have its own army. The governor of Poland was first appointed Kosciuszko's old comrade-in-arms, General Joseph Zaionchek, then the king's brother - Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich. The constitution, relatively liberal at the beginning, was later limited. Legal opposition appeared in the Polish Sejm, and secret political societies arose.
Polish uprising of 1830-1831
In November 1830, the "November" uprising broke out in Warsaw, after the suppression of which in 1831, Nicholas I canceled the constitution granted to Poland in 1815. National liberation uprisings took place in 1846 in Poznan (they were suppressed by Prussia). In the same year, an uprising took place in, as a result of which (with the consent of Nicholas I) the city went to Austria.
After the death of Nicholas I new force a liberation movement arose, which was now divided into two hostile camps: the "reds" (democrats and socialists) and the "whites" (aristocrats). The general demand was the restoration of the constitution of 1815. In the autumn of 1861, martial law was introduced to stop the unrest in Poland. The liberal Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich, who was appointed viceroy, was unable to cope with the situation. It was decided to announce a recruitment and send pre-selected "unreliable" young people to the soldiers on special lists. The set, in turn, served as the signal for the mass "January Uprising" of 1863. The uprising was suppressed, and a military regime of government was established in the Kingdom of Poland. The January Uprising led Alexander II to the idea of depriving the rebellious gentry of social support and in order to carry out a peasant reform - in 1864, a Decree was adopted on the arrangement of the peasants of the Kingdom of Poland, which eliminated the remnants of serfdom, and the peasants were endowed with land. The suppression of the January Uprising gave impetus to the deployment of a policy of eliminating the autonomy of the Kingdom of Poland and closer integration of Poland into the Russian Empire.
The accession to the Russian throne of Nicholas II revived hopes for the liberalization of Russia's policy towards Poland. In 1897, the emperor visited Warsaw, where he agreed to the establishment Polytechnic University and erection of a monument to Mickiewicz.
In 1897, on the basis of the National League, the National Democratic Party of Poland was created, which, although it had as its strategic goal the restoration of Poland's independence, fought primarily against Russification laws and for the restoration of Poland's autonomy. The National Democratic Party soon became the leading political force in the Kingdom of Poland and took part in the activities of the Russian State Duma (Polish Kolo faction).
Jozef Pilsudski
During the Revolution of 1905-1907 in Russia, revolutionary uprisings also took place in the Kingdom of Poland. The Polish Socialist Party of Jozef Pilsudski gained great influence, which organized a number of strikes and strikes at the industrial enterprises of the Kingdom of Poland. During Russo-Japanese War Pilsudski visited 1904-1905, where he tried to obtain funding for the uprising in Poland and the organization of Polish legions to participate in the war against Russia. This was opposed by the National Democrats of Roman Dmovsky. Nevertheless, Piłsudski managed to enlist the support of Japan in the purchase of weapons, and in 1904 he created the Fighting Organization of the Polish Socialist Party, which over the next years carried out several dozen terrorist attacks and attacks on Russian institutions and organizations, of which the Bezdan robbery of 1908 is most famous. of the year. In 1906 alone, 336 Russian officials and servicemen were killed by Pilsudski's militants.
Polish lands within Prussia and Austria
Intensive Germanization was carried out on the Polish lands as part of Prussia, Polish schools were closed. In 1848, Russia helped Prussia put down the Poznań uprising. In 1863, both powers concluded the Alvensleben Convention to help each other in the fight against the Polish national movement.
The position of the Poles in the lands within Austria was somewhat better. In 1861, the regional Sejm of Galicia was created to resolve issues of local life in the province, which was dominated by Poles; schools, institutions and courts used Polish; and the Jagiellonian (in Krakow) and Lviv universities became all-Polish cultural centers.
World War I
After the outbreak of the First World War on August 14, 1914, Nicholas II promised, after winning the war, to unite the Kingdom of Poland with the Polish lands that would be taken from Germany and Austria-Hungary into an autonomous state within the Russian Empire.
Siege of Przemysl
The war created a situation in which Poles, Russian subjects, fought against Poles who served in the Austro-Hungarian and German armies. The pro-Russian National Democratic Party of Poland, headed by Roman Dmowski, considered Germany the main enemy of Poland, its supporters considered it necessary to unite all Polish lands under Russian control with obtaining the status of autonomy within the Russian Empire. The anti-Russian supporters of the Polish Socialist Party (PPS) believed that the path to Poland's independence lay through Russia's defeat in the war. A few years before the outbreak of World War I, PPS leader Jozef Pilsudski began military training for Polish youth in Austro-Hungarian Galicia. After the outbreak of the war, he formed the Polish legions as part of the Austro-Hungarian army.
In 1915, the territory of Russian Poland was occupied by Germany and Austria-Hungary. On November 5, 1916, the German and Austro-Hungarian emperors published a manifesto on the creation of an independent Kingdom of Poland in the Russian part of Poland. In connection with the absence of the king, his powers were performed by the Regency Council.
After the February Revolution in Russia, the Provisional Government of Russia on March 16 (29), 1917 announced that it would contribute to the creation of the Polish state on all lands inhabited mostly by Poles, subject to the conclusion of a “free military alliance” with Russia.
In France, in August 1917, the Polish National Committee (PNC) was created, headed by Roman Dmowski and Ignacy Paderewski; the Polish "blue army" was formed there, led by Jozef Haller.
On October 6, 1918, the Regency Council of Poland announced the creation of an independent Polish state, the Provisional People's Government of the Polish Republic was created ( Tymczasowy Rząd Ludowy Republiki Polskiej), and on November 14, after the capitulation of Germany and the collapse of Austria-Hungary, he transferred to Jozef Pilsudski all power in the country.
At this time arose armed conflict between the Polish formations and the forces of another newly formed state - the West Ukrainian people's republic(ZUNR) on the territory of Galicia, which resulted in large-scale hostilities that lasted from November 1, 1918 to July 17, 1919 and ended with the defeat of the ZUNR.
On December 27, 1918, the Poles of the German province of Posen raised the Wielkopolska Uprising, after which until mid-1919 the province became an independent state with its own currency and army.
Polish Republic (1918-1939)
Poland in 1921-1939
Ethnic map of Poland in 1931
On January 26, 1919, elections were held to the legislative Sejm, which approved Józef Piłsudski as head of state.
The Treaty of Versailles in 1919 gave Poland most the German province of Posen, as well as part of what gave the country access to the Baltic Sea; Danzig (Gdansk) received the status of a "free city".
Kwasniewski was re-elected president in the 2000 presidential election, the SDLS also won the 2001 parliamentary elections, and SDLS member Leszek Miller became the head of government, who was replaced by Marek Belka in 2004. In 2004 Poland joined the European Union.
In autumn 2005, right-wing forces returned to power in Poland. At this time, two parties that originated from the anti-communist opposition and Solidarity fought for influence on the political scene: Law and Justice (Polish: Prawo i Sprawiedliwość) of the Kaczynski brothers - a conservative party with strong elements of populism and nationalism - and a liberal party -conservative orientation "Civil Platform" (Polish Platforma Obywatelska), which was headed by Donald Tusk and Jan Rokita. On September 25, 2005, the Law and Justice party won the parliamentary elections with a score of 26.99% (155 seats out of 460), followed by the Civic Platform - 24.14% (133 seats), then the populist Self-Defense ( Polish Samoobrona Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej) Andrzej Lepper - 11.41%. The Kaczynski brothers' party, along with two other small parties - Self-Defence and the right-wing nationalist Catholic League of Polish Families - formed the ruling coalition. First, Kazimierz Martsinkevich became prime minister, and since July 2006 - Yaroslav Kaczynski.
On October 9, 2005, Lech Kaczynski and Donald Tusk went to the second round of the presidential elections. On October 23, Lech Kaczynski won and became President of Poland. 54.04% of voters voted for him. His opponent received 45.96% of the vote.
Early parliamentary elections in October 2007 brought victory to the Civic Platform, while the Law and Justice Party and its allies were defeated. Donald Tusk, leader of the Civic Platform, became prime minister.
On April 10, 2010, the president's plane, en route to Smolensk to participate in events dedicated to the anniversary of the Katyn tragedy, crashed. All passengers and crew members were killed, including the president and his wife. Marshal of the Sejm Bronisław Komorowski became acting head of state. On July 4, 2010, the 2nd round of the presidential elections in Poland took place, in which Bronislaw Komorowski scored the most votes, while the gap with Yaroslav Kaczynski was 6%. On August 6, 2010, Bronisław Komorowski took office as President of the Republic of Poland.
On October 9, 2011, regular parliamentary elections were held, in which the ruling coalition of the Civic Platform and the Polish Peasant Party retained a majority in the Sejm and the Senate. The third largest party in the Seimas was the new liberal anti-clerical party Palikota Movement (since 2013 - Your Movement). In 2014, many deputies moved from it to the Union of Democratic Left Forces and the Security and Economy deputy group.
Political structure
Poland is a member of the European Union and the NATO bloc. May 1, 2004 the country joined the European Union, December 21, 2007 - the Schengen area.
The legislative body is the Senate and the Sejm.
Political parties
Parliamentary
- Law and Justice
- Civic platform
- Cookies"15
- Nowoczesna
- Polish Peasants' Party
non-parliamentary
- KORWiN
- Union of Democratic Left
- your movement
- union of labor
- Razem ("Together")
Legal system
- Body of constitutional supervision - the Constitutional Tribunal ( Trybunal Konstytucyjny),
- highest court - Supreme Court (Sąd Najwyższy),
- Courts of Appeal - Courts of Appeal Sad apelacyjny),
- courts of first instance - district courts ( Sad okręgowy),
- the lowest level of the judicial system - district courts ( Sad rejonowy),
- the highest judicial instance of administrative justice - the Supreme Administrative Court ( Naczelny Sąd Administracyjny),
- courts of appellate instance of administrative justice - voivodship administrative courts ( Wojewodzki sąd administracyjny),
- body for the trial of senior officials - the State Tribunal ( Trybunal Stanu),
- courts of appeal of military justice - district military courts ( Wojskowe sądy okręgowe),
- courts of first instance of military justice - garrison military courts ( Wojskowe sady garnizonowe),
- prosecutors - Prosecutor General's Office (Prokuratura Generalna),
- appellate prosecutors ( Procuracy apelacyjne),
- District Attorney's Offices Prokuratury okręgowe),
- district prosecutor's offices Prosecutor's office rejonowe),
- Chief Military Prosecutor's Office ( Naczelna Prokuratura Wojskowa),
- district military prosecutors ( Wojskowe prokuratury okręgowe),
- garrison military prosecutor's offices ( Wojskowe prokuratury garnizonowe).
Administrative division
Voivodeships of Poland.
Poland is divided into 16 voivodships, voivodeships are further divided into powiats, and powiats into gminas.
Economy
Poland is a former socialist country, so its economy was seriously affected political change that took place in the early 1990s. So, at this time, a wave of privatization began, during which the bulk of state property passed into private hands. The wide unfilled niches of the developing economic system are of great interest to many Western investors, which makes the Polish economy significant and important for the entire European market. A developed market economy promotes competition.
The Polish economy also has its weaknesses. Agriculture suffers from a lack of investment, an abundance of small farms and excess staff. The amount of compensation for expropriations during communist rule has not been determined.
Poland is an industrial-agrarian country. Gross national product at purchasing power parity (PPP) per capita $22,162 per year (2012). In 2012, Poland's GDP at PPP amounted to 854.2 billion dollars. Poland's external debt at the end of Q3 2007 amounted to 204 billion 967 million dollars.
Industry
In 2016, the share of industrial production in the structure of GDP was 38.5%. At the same time, the number of people employed in industry is 30.4% of the able-bodied population. The growth rate is higher than in the economy as a whole - about 4.2% in 2016.
Poland produces: hard and brown coal, natural gas, sulfur and nitrate, table, rock and potash salts, asbestos, iron, silver, nickel ores, gold, zinc, shale gas.
Leading manufacturing industries
- mechanical engineering (Poland occupies one of the leading places in the world in the production of fishing vessels, electric trains, freight and passenger cars, road and construction machines, machine tools, engines, electronics, industrial equipment, etc.),
- ferrous and non-ferrous (large zinc production) metallurgy,
- chemical ( sulfuric acid, fertilizers, pharmaceutical, perfumery and cosmetic products, photographic products),
- textile (cotton, linen, wool),
- sewing,
- cement,
- production of porcelain and faience,
- production of sports goods (kayaks, yachts, tents, etc.).
- furniture manufacture
Agriculture
Subcarpathian Voivodeship
Poland has a highly developed agriculture. Agriculture is dominated by crop production. The main crops are rye, wheat, barley, and oats.
Poland is a major producer of sugar beets (over 14 million tons per year), potatoes, and cabbage. The export of apples, strawberries, raspberries, currants, garlic and onions is of great importance.
The leading branch of animal husbandry is pig breeding; dairy and meat cattle breeding, poultry farming (Poland is one of the largest suppliers of eggs); beekeeping. Sea fishing and reindeer husbandry (marals and red deer in the Lublin Voivodeship).
Tourism
Poland has a number of resorts:
Export
- machinery and equipment (about 40% of the cost),
- cars,
- aircraft engineering,
- chemical products (over 10%),
- metals, trams, tractors,
- fuel,
- Food,
- textile,
- clothes,
- building materials,
- electronics
Main seaports countries - and .
Population
Poland population density cartogram
The population of Poland in 2008 was 38,116,000. Thus, it is the eighth most populous country in Europe, and the sixth in the European Union. The average population density is 122 people per km².
Modern Poland is one of the most mono-ethnic states in the world. According to the 2002 census, 96.74% of Poland's population identified themselves as ethnic Poles. 97.8% at the census stated that they speak at home Polish. 1.23% of the country's population identified themselves as other nationalities, of which the largest ethnic groups- Silesians (0.45%), Germans (0.4%), Belarusians (0.1%), Ukrainians (0.1%), Gypsies, Jews, Polish-Lithuanian Tatars. More than 2% of the population refused to answer the question about nationality.
The exceptionally high mono-ethnicity of Poland is a consequence historical events the middle of the 20th century, which radically changed the national structure of the country - namely, the Second World War (Holocaust) and post-war changes European borders and related mass movements of the German, Polish and Ukrainian population, as well as the ethnic policy of the state. As official statistics show, over the past two decades there has been no noticeable influx of immigrants to Poland, with the exception of the acceptance of several thousand refugees from Chechnya. According to Polish law, refugee status gives the right to stay in the country, but does not allow either to work for the purpose of earning money or receive social benefits from the state; international and local humanitarian and charitable organizations take care of the provision of refugees. For this reason, Poland is usually a transit country for refugees.
Polish-Lithuanian Tatars - Mosque in Poland
In recent years, the population of Poland has been gradually decreasing due to an increase in emigration and a drop in the birth rate. After the country joined the European Union, a large number of Poles emigrated to countries in search of work.
Polish diasporas are represented in neighboring states: Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, as well as in other states (see Poles). Total population Poles living abroad is estimated at 20 million people. The largest Polish diaspora lives in. The centers of Polish immigration are the USA and Germany. According to the All-Russian census conducted in 2002, 73,001 (0.05%) residents of the Russian Federation considered themselves Poles (see Poles in Russia).
|
Ethnic composition of the population of Poland according to the 2011 census, which allowed one or two answers about nationality |
|||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nationality | population all answers (thousand people) |
including those who indicated first nationality (thousand people) |
including those who indicated as the only nationality (thousand people) |
share all answers % |
share who indicated first nationality % |
share who indicated as the only nationality % |
Difference since 2002 (thousand people) |
| Poles | 36 085 | 36 007 | 35 251 | 93,72 % | 93,52 % | 91,56 % | ▼ 899 |
| Silesians | 809 | 418 | 362 | 2,10 % | 1,09 % | 0,94 % | ▲ 636 |
| Kashubians | 228 | 17 | 16 | 0,59 % | 0,04 % | 0,04 % | ▲ 223 |
| Germans | 109 | 49 | 26 | 0,28 % | 0,13 % | 0,07 % | ▼ 44 |
| Ukrainians | 48 | 36 | 26 | 0,12 % | 0,09 % | 0,07 % | ▲ 17 |
| Belarusians | 47 | 37 | 31 | 0,12 % | 0,10 % | 0,08 % | ▼ 2 |
| gypsies | 16 | 12 | 9 | 0,04 % | 0,03 % | 0,02 % | ▲ 3 |
| Russians | 13 | 8 | 5 | 0,03 % | 0,02 % | 0,01 % | ▲7 |
| Americans | 11 | 1 | 1 | 0,03 % | 0,003 % | 0,003 % | ▲9 |
| Lemkos | 10 | 7 | 5 | 0,03 % | 0,02 % | 0,02 % | ▲4 |
| English | 10 | 2 | 1 | 0,03 % | 0,01 % | 0,003 % | ▲9 |
| other | 87 | 45 | 34 | 0,23 % | 0,12 % | 0,09 % | |
| unspecified | 1 862 | 1 862 | - | 4,84 % | 4,84 % | - | ▲ 1087 |
| Total | 38 501 | 38 501 | 38 501 | 100,00 % | 100,00 % | 100,00 % | ▲ 271 |
Military establishment
Polish F 16
- Poland is a country with a professional army
- Minimum military recruitment age: 18 years old
- Available military resources: 9,681,703
- Full military personnel: 120,000
- Annual military expenditure: $9,650,000,000
- Total workforce: 17,100,000
Poland is a nuclear-free country.
Armament
- Planes and helicopters: 318
- Naval forces (warships): 87
- Naval Forces ( transport ships): 11
Humanitarian organizations
Polish Red Cross(Polish: Polski Czerwony Krzyż) was founded on April 27, 1919. Pavel Sapieha became the chairman ( Pawel Sapieha), after his resignation - Helena Paderewska ( Helena Paderewska). On July 24, 1919, the Polish Red Cross Society was registered ( Polish Towarzystwo Czerwonego Krzyża) is the only Red Cross organization operating throughout Poland. In 1927, the Polish Red Cross Society changed its name to the Polish Red Cross.
culture
Frederic Chopin
Literature
World famous representatives of Polish literature are:
- Stanislav Lem,
- Andrzej Sapkowski,
- Joanna Khmelevskaya,
- Boleslav Prus,
- Henryk Sienkiewicz,
- Janusz Leon Wisniewski,
- Maria Konopnitskaya,
- Cheslav Milos,
- Adam Miscavige,
- Eliza Ozheshko,
- Tadeusz Ruzewicz,
- Wislava Szymborska,
- Arkady Fidler,
- Stanislav Jerzy Lec.
Architecture
(Marienburg, Polish. Malbork, German. Marienburg) - a city in northern Poland in the Vistula delta (on the Nogat channel), located 80 kilometers from the border with Kaliningrad region Russia. Founded in 1276 as the order castle Marienburg. Population - 40135 inhabitants (2005). Marienburg Castle- the largest brick castle in the world, which served as the residence of the masters of the Teutonic Order. It occupies an area of over 20 hectares. In 1997 the castle was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Music
The central figure of Polish (and one of the key figures of the world) musical culture is Frederic Chopin.
Holidays
Holiday weekends
National Independence Day of Poland
- 1st of January - New Year- Nowy Rock
- January 6 - Epiphany - Trzech Króli - public holiday until 1960 and again since 2011
- Easter (2 days: Sunday and Monday) - Wielkanoc
- May 1 - Labor Day - Święto Pracy
- May 3 - Constitution Day May 3 - Święto Konstytucji 3 Maja
- Green holidays or Descent of the Holy Spirit (49 days after Easter always on Sunday) - Zielone Świątki / Zesłanie Ducha Świętego
- Body of God (60 days after Easter always on Thursday) - Boże Ciało
- August 15 - Ascension of Our Lady - Wniebowzięcie NMP
- November 1 - All Saints - Wszystkich Świętych
- November 11 - National Independence Day of Poland - Święto Niepodległości
- December 25 and 26 - Christmas - Boże Narodzenie
Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ - God's Body
Holidays on non-holiday days
- January 21 - Grandmother's Day - Dzień Babci
- January 22 - Grandfather's Day - Dzień Dziadka
- March 1 - Day of the "cursed soldiers" - Narodowy Dzień Pamięci "Żolnierzy Wyklętych"
- March 8 - Women's Day - Dzień Kobiet
- May 2 - Flag Day of the Polish Republic - Dzień Flagi Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej, Day of Polonia and Poles abroad - Dzień Polonii i Polakow za Granicą
- May 8 - Victory Day - Dzień Zwycięstwa
- May 26 - Mother's Day - Dzień Matki
- June 1 - Children's Day - Dzień Dziecka
- June 23 - Father's Day - Dzień Ojca
- August 1 - Memorial Day of the victims of the Warsaw Uprising - Narodowy Dzień Pamięci Powstania Warszawskiego
- August 31 - Day of Solidarity and Freedom - Dzień Solidarności i Wolności
- October 14 - Day of national education (education) - Dzień Edukacji Narodowej , until 1982 - Teacher's Day
- October 16 - Pope John Paul II Day - Dzień Papieża Jana Pawła II, installed by the Diet after the death of the pope in memory of his choice (October 16, 1978)
- November 2 - Day of the Dead - Dzień Zaduszny
- December 6 - St. Nicholas Day - Dzień Świętego Mikołaja
Religion
Catholic Church in Poland
Religion in Poland occupies a fairly significant place in public life. The most influential religion in the country is Christianity (first of all, Roman Catholicism), whose adherents, according to various estimates, are from 86.7 to 95.5 percent of the population.
Representatives of several other faiths are also present: Orthodox, Lutherans, Calvinists and Jews, Jehovah's Witnesses.
One of the most important places of pilgrimage in Poland is the Catholic monastery of Jasna Gora in Czestochowa belonging to the Pauline Order.
Frombork
see also
- Telecommunications in Poland
- Transport in Poland
- Sports in Poland
- Polish State Railways
- Armed Forces of Poland
- Warsaw Uprising (1944)
- Foreign policy Poland
- Institute of National Memory of Poland
- Polish nobility
- Confederate
- Confederation of the Commonwealth
- Legal system of the Republic of Poland
- Poland awards
- Higher education in Poland
Notes
- National Independence Day; a symbolic date of the restoration of Polish statehood in the 20th century on the lands of the already collapsed Russian, Austro-Hungarian and German empires. See History of Poland.
- According to the law adopted on January 6, 2005, in communes where at least 20% of the population is represented national minorities(there are 41 such communes in Poland), local municipalities have the right to introduce a second language in state institutions. This law also applies to the names of localities. The law applies to the Belarusian, Lithuanian, Kashubian and German languages.
- Atlas of the world: The most detailed information / Project leaders: A. N. Bushnev, A. P. Pritvorov. - Moscow: AST, 2017. - S. 8. - 96 p. - ISBN 978-5-17-10261-4.
- olsztyn.stat.gov.pl/ Wyniki badań bieżących - Baza Demografia - Główny Urząd Statystyczny. demografia.stat.gov.pl.
- Główny Urząd Statystyczny. Ludność. Stan i struktura ludności oraz ruch naturalny w przekroju terytorialnym w 2014 r. Stanu w dniu 30 June 2014
- 5. Report for Selected Countries and Subjects. International Monetary Fund. Retrieved April 21, 2018.
- 2015 Human Development Report. United Nations Development Program (2015). Retrieved December 14, 2015.
- see also Poles#Ethnonyms
- Also .eu, as a member of the European Union.
- According to other classifications, in Eastern or Central and Eastern Europe
- http://countrymeters.info/en/Poland.
- Veeke, Justin van der Developing Countries - isi-web.org. www.isi-web.org. Retrieved May 16, 2017.
- Cite error: Invalid tag ; text not specified for GDP footnotes
- Poland // Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language = Russisches etymologisches Wörterbuch: in 4 volumes / ed. M. Vasmer; per. with him. and additional Corresponding Member Academy of Sciences of the USSR O. N. Trubacheva. - Ed. 2nd, sr. - M.: Progress, 1987. - T. III: Muse - Syat. - S. 321.
- Borys W. Slownik etymologiczny języka polskiego. - Wydawnictwo Literackie. - Kraków, 2005. - P. 459. - ISBN 978-83-08-04191-8.
- Rusina O. V. Ukraine under the Tatars and Lithuania. - Kiev: Vydavnichiy dіm "Alternative", 1998. S. 229.
- op. A. Petrushevsky Suvorov. Polish War: Prague; 1794.
- S. A. Sklyarov Polish-Ukrainian territorial dispute and the great powers in 1918-1919.
- Raisky N. S. Polish-Soviet War 1919-1920 and the fate of prisoners of war, internees, hostages and refugees
- Mihutina I.V. So how many Soviet prisoners of war died in Poland in 1919-1921? // New and recent history. - 1995. - No. 3. - S. 64-69.
- Mihutina I.V. So was there a "mistake"? // Independent newspaper. - 2001. - No. January 13.
- About the tragic fate of the Red Army soldiers and commanders of the Red Army. Military Historical Journal, 5/95.
- The rise and fall of the Third Reich. Volume 1. William Shearer. Edited by O. A. Rzheshevsky. Moscow. Military publishing house. 1991 Part 13. Next in line is Poland.
- Secret protocol to the treaty (Archive of the President of the Russian Federation, Special folder, package No. 34)
- Department of State. Nazi–Soviet Relations, 1939–1941: Documents from the Archives of The German Foreign Office. - 1948.
- G.N. Sevostyanova, B.L. Khavkin. Soviet-German documents 1939–1941 from the archive of the Central Committee of the CPSU// New documents on recent history. - M.: Education, 1996. - S. 151-156. - 348 p. - ISBN 5090067406. - ISBN 9785090067409.
- Telegram No. 442 dated 25 September Schulenburg at the German Foreign Ministry //
- Richard C. Lukas, Norman Davies Forgotten Holocaust. - 2nd Rev. edition. - Hippocrene Books, 2001. - p. 358. ISBN 0-7818-0901-0
- The figures are debatable, since in 1939 a significant part of pre-war Poland was ceded to the USSR and Lithuania.
- Zygmunt Berling (1896-1980)
- Jan M. Ciechanowski. Powstanie Warszawskie. Pułtusk-Warszawa, Akademia Humanistyczna im. Aleksandra Gieysztora, 2009.
- Boris Sokolov Stop order. Why the ashes of Warsaw knock in our hearts. "Political Journal"
- Irina Pakhomova Warsaw tragedy - trial of the winners weekly "First Crimean"
- Winston Churchill World War II The Suffering of Warsaw M. Military Publishing, 1991 Book 1 ISBN 5-203-00705-5 Book 2 ISBN 5-203-00706-3 Book 3 ISBN 5-203-00707-1
- Internal troops of the NKVD against the Polish underground
- Poland- article from the Electronic jewish encyclopedia
- Alexander Smolyar. Polish radicals in power. "Pro et Contra" // Carnegie Moscow Center, no. 5-6, 2006.
- Bukharin N. Internal Factors of the Polish Revolution of 1989 // International Historical Journal No. 7, 2000.
- Kuklinski A. Economic transformations in Poland: experience and prospects (1990-2010)
- Wieczor_wyborczy
- Gazeta.ru
- Economic Information Agency PRIME
- Poland (English) . CIA. - Information about Poland on the official website of the CIA.
- Concise statistical yearbook of Poland (Polish). Central Statistical Office. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
- Polish diaspora in the world
- Polish diaspora in the USA
- Centers of Polish immigration to the USA and Germany
- Wyniki Narodowego Spisu Powszechnego Ludności i Mieszkań 2011 Podstawowe informacje o sytuacji demograficzno-społecznej ludności Polski oraz zasobach mieszkaniowych (Stan w dniu 31 III 2011 r.):
- The first and second days, and December 26 is also the day of remembrance of the Christian first martyr St. Stefan (Polish św. Szczepan). The feast of the Nativity of Christ begins on the evening of December 24 with a gala dinner (Polish Wigilia), but this day is not a day off. At midnight on December 24-25, a solemn mass begins in all Polish Catholic churches (Polish Pasterka).
Links
- Poland awards
- Russian emigration in Poland (1917-1945)
- Castles of Poland
- Official advertising and information portal of the Republic of Poland BNF: 11880842g GND: 4046496-9 ISNI: 0000 0004 0471 0018, 0000 0001 2293 278X LCCN: n79131071 NDL: 00569130 SUDOC: 02658994X VIAF: 14181040
