Poland

Overview

Welcome to Poland. Poland is the home of: Nicolaus COPERNICUS, Fryderyk CHOPIN, Lech WALESA and Pope John Paul II.The country, located in the plains between Germany and Russia (today Belarus, Ukraine and Lithuania as well), bordered in the south by Slovakia and the Czech Republic has suffered severely from the ravages of war. But each time it has been rebuilt by its inhabitants. Poland has really opened up after the fall of the Berlin wall and is becoming a very attractive destination for travelers. It has many historic towns and cities that testify of the long history of the Polish state, great natural beauty and a unique coast. The two primary destinations are the present capital Warsaw , which like a phoenix rose from the ashes of total destruction in World War II, and the ancient capital Krakow , untouched by war, which is an exquisite treasure of Gothic and Renaissance architecture.

Poland is too large to be properly appreciated in one visit. There is too much to see. Discover central Poland, with its many wild national parks easily reached from Warsaw, or the north and the Baltic coast with the ancient port of Gdansk . In the western part you will find Wielkopolska, the cradle of the nation, and in the south Malopolska and the Tatry mountains easily reached from Krakow . In the southwest Silesia with its many old castles and mounains is worth a visit.

History

Poland's written history begins with the reign of Mieszko I who accepted Christianity for himself and his kingdom in AD 966. The Polish state reached its zenith under the Jagiellonian dynasty in the years following the union with Lithuania in 1386 and the subsequent defeat of the Teutonic Knights at Grunwald in 1410. The monarchy survived many upheavals but eventually went into a decline which ended with the final partition of Poland by Prussia Russia and Austria in 1795.

Independence for Poland was one of the 14 points enunciated by President Woodrow Wilson during World War I. Many Polish­Americans enlisted in the military services to further this aim and the United States worked at the postwar conference to ensure its implementation.

However the Poles were largely responsible for achieving their own independence in 1918. Authoritarian rule predominated for most of the period before World War II.

In 1938, Poland participated (with Germany) in the partition of Czechoslovakia, taking from CS "Zaolzie" - land behind Olza river (Cesky Tesin, Jablunkov)

On August 23 1939 Germany and the Soviet Union signed the Ribbentrop­Molotov non­aggression pact which secretly provided for the dismemberment of Poland into German and Soviet controlled zones. On September 1 1939 Hitler ordered his troops into Poland. On September 17 Soviet troops invaded and then occupied eastern Poland under the terms of this agreement. After Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941 Poland was completely occupied by German troops.

The Poles formed an underground resistance movement and a government­in­exile first in Paris and later in London which...more