Poland’s history comes to us around in the early middle ages, roughly around the 10th century. Poland’s golden age however came around the 16th century with their union to Lithuania creating the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Since that time Poles have regarded freedom as their most important value. Poles often call themselves the Nation of the free people. Numerous wars against Turkey, Russia, Sweden, Transylvania and Brandenburg-Prussia ultimately came to an end in 1699. During the following 80 years, the waning of the central government and deadlock of the institutions weakened the nation, leading to dependency on Russia. The Enlightenment in Poland fostered a growing national movement to repair the state, resulting in the first written constitution in Europe. The process of reforms ceased with the partitions of Poland between Russia, Prussia, and Austria in 1772, 1793 and 1795; these ultimately completely dissolved Poland. Poles resented their shrinking freedoms and several times rebelled against their oppressors.

After the Napoleonic wars a reconstituted Polish state, the Duchy of Warsaw, ruled by the Russian tsar as a Congress Kingdom, possessed a liberal constitution. However, the Russian tsars soon reduced Polish freedoms, and Russia eventually annexed the country. During World War I all the Allies agreed on the restitution of Poland. Shortly after the surrender of Germany in November 1918, Poland regained its independence as the Second Polish Republic. The Second Polish Republic lasted until the start of World War II when Germany and the Soviet Union split the Polish territory between them. Of all the countries involved in WWII, Poland lost the highest percentage of its citizens: over 6 million perished, half of them Polish Jews.

Poland joined the NATO alliance in 1999. Following a massive advertising campaign by the government in favour of joining the European Union, Polish voters voted yes to the EU in a referendum in June 2003. Poland joined the European Union on 1 May 2004.

For a more in-depth look at the history of Poland, click HERE