Geography
Poland lies along the Baltic Sea in the north. Russia and Lithuania lie to the northeast, and Belarus and Ukraine to the east. The Sudeten and Carpathian Mountains define Poland’s southern border between the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The Neisse and Oder Rivers in the west divide Poland and Germany The predominantly lowland terrain of the North European Plain accounts for the vast arable lands. Poland has more than 9,300 lakes, the majority in the north. Poland’s highest point, Mount Rysy in the Carpathians, is 8,200 feet. Poland is divided into 16 provinces. Poland’s total area is 120,728 square miles.
INCEPTION AS A NATION
Poland’s frontiers have dramatically shifted within the past millennium. Poland was first united as a kingdom under Mieszko I of the Polanians, who founded the Piast dynasty in 960 c. e. and united the various tribes of Western Slavs. The established territory of the early Poles expanded and diminished over the centuries. The War of the Polish Succession (1733-35) led to a division Polish territories among Russia, Prussia, and Austria. Successive partitions that occurred within the next 40 to 50 years made Poland disappear from the map. The French under Napoleon I Bonaparte established a buffer Polish state in 1807. After Napoleon’s defeat the Congress of Vienna (1814-15) defined a Polish kingdom (Congress Poland) in personal union with Russia. Poland lost autonomy after the Polish Revolt in 1830-31.
POLES: NATIONALITY nation:
Poland (Polska); Republic of Poland (Rzeczpospolita Polska)
Derivation of name:
Polish Polanie, or "dwellers of the field"; pol, or "field", and the Russian poly?, or "open land"; also the Indo-European root pele-, meaning "flat" and - anie, meaning "inhabitants"
Government:
Republic
Capital:
Warsaw
Language:
Polish, a Slavic language, is spoken by the vast majority.
Religion:
About 95 percent of the population are Catholic; the remaining 5 percent are Eastern Orthodox and Protestant.
Earlier inhabitants:
Celts; Goths and other Germanics; Balts (Borussians etc.); tribal Slavs (Polanians; Poles; etc.); Mongols
Demographics:
About 98 percent of the population are Polish; minorities include Germans, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Jews, Belarusians, Ruthenes, Tatars, and Armenians.
A Polish family poses for this early 20th-century photograph. (Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division [LC-USZ62-100123])
After occupation by Germany and Austria during World War I (1914-18), the Treaty of Versailles redefined Poland as an independent republic and settled some territorial disputes, although the Polish-Russian border was controversial even after the Treaty of Riga in 1921. That same year Poland adopted a constitution. One-third of the newly created Poland included peoples who considered themselves Germans, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Jews, and Lithuanians. World War II (1939-45) caused the further shifting of borders. The boundaries of Poland
Were negotiated at the Yalta Conference of 1945 and the Potsdam Conference later that year. In 1947 a Soviet-controlled government gained power. In 1970 a treaty with West Germany determined western Polish boundaries along the Oder-Neisse line. In 1989, free elections led to the victory of the Labor Party.
CULTURAL IDENTITY
The cultural identity of Poles endured for centuries in the absence of a sovereign Polish state. Polish culture developed, crystallized, and
1878 Jan Matejko celebrates Polish and Lithuanian 1410 victory over Germanic forces in his painting The Battle of Crunwald.
1901 Wesele (The wedding), play by Stanistaw Wyspiansky, opens.
1905 Novelist Henryk Sienkiewicz wins Nobel Prize in literature.
1916 National Museum is founded in Warsaw.
1918 After downfall of Russian Empire and collapse of Central Powers at end of World War I Poland proclaims itself independent republic.
1919 Treaty of Versailles gives Poland territorial and economic rights.
1921 Soviet-Polish frontiers are established.
1924 Novelist Wadyslaw Stanislaw Reymont wins Nobel Prize in literature.
1928 National Library is founded in Warsaw.
1930 Composer Karol Maciej Szymanowski becomes head of Warsaw Academy.
1932 Poland agrees to nonaggression pact with Soviet Union (USSR).
1939 Nazi Germany invades Poland, starting World War II.
1944 Anglo-American invasion of France leads to Poland's liberation.
1945 Official frontiers are established under Potsdam Conference, marking end of World War II.
1947 Soviet-controlled government is established.
1948 Mazowsze, Polish state folk song and dance ensemble, is founded.
1952 Poles adopt new constitution.
1955 Poland is an original member of Warsaw Pact formed under direction of Soviet Union.
1960s Jerzy Grotowski's Laboratory Theater and Henryk Tomaszewski's Pantomime Theatre gain international acclaim.
1968 Poland assists Soviet Union with invasion of Czechoslovakia.
1970 West Germany affirms Polish boundary.
1980 Independent trade union, Solidarity, forms in response to labor turmoil.
Poet and novelist Czelsaw MUosz wins Nobel Prize for literature.
1989 Labor Party is victorious in free elections.
1996 Poet Wislawa Szymborska wins Nobel Prize in literature.
1999 Poland joins North Atlantic Trade Organization (NATO).
2004 Poland joins European Union (EU).
Became more visibly distinct in reaction to cultures of the occupying German, Austrian, and Russian powers. Poles of all social strata became increasingly aware of ethnicity and cultural distinctness. A sense of identity motivated a continuing struggle for independence. Polish arts and sciences became the primary bearer of Polish identity to an unusual degree and united Poles, preserving them from Russification and Germanization.
As a number of Polish writers have noted, the strong sense of Polishness risks parochialism, which may make Polish cultural products incomprehensible to foreigners and prevent the creation of art and science of universal reach. Such self-involvement might hinder objectivity and, because the highest art involves a balancing of form and content, might tilt the balance too far toward content—material of national connotations overblown and overemotional— at the expense of form. The composer Frederic Chopin demonstrated that this need not be the case, however. Many of his works are based on Polish dance forms, the polonaise and the
POLIANIANS
Location:
Near Kiev in Ukraine time period:
Sixth to ninth century C. E.
Ancestry:
Slavic
Language:
East Slavic
Mazurka, and have patriotic references, yet his command of counterpoint, among the most highly formal of musical techniques, was absolute.
Although the Polish sociocultural system has been shaped by Polish nationality and the predominance of Roman Catholicism, it was formed in creative cooperation with many ethnic and religious groups. Poland over time included large groups of other Slavic nationalities and many other ethnic groups. In the union of the Polish Commonwealth with the Great Duchy of Lithuania, for example, Poles, Lithuanians, Ukrainians, Germans, Jews, Belarusians, Ruthenes, Tatars, Armenians, and many other smaller ethnic groups lived together in relative peace and solidarity. In this cultural community the tendency was for tolerance of distinctness. In 1505 Jews founded a school of higher education in Lublin, Jeshibot, with academic rights granted by sigismund the Elder. After the Academy of Krakow it was the second most important academic school in the commonwealth, established before academic centers in Vilnius (1578), Zamosc (1595), and Lvov (1661). In the commonwealth there also existed a variety of religions and denominations. In 1772 there were more than 10,000 parishes of the Eastern Orthodox Church in the commonwealth, 3,996 Roman Catholic parishes, hundreds of auxiliary churches and chapels of both denominations and rites, and hundreds of synagogues and Protestant congregations.
The multiethnicity and religious diversity of the Polish sociocultural system were maintained for centuries. Before the outbreak of World War II in 1939 Poland was one of the most ethnically and religiously diversified states of Europe. Because of the large population movements after the war, when many fled a soviet-dominated Poland for the West, and of the annexation by soviet Russia of former Polish territories where Ukrainians and Belarusians lived, Polish society became almost monoethnic and uniconfessional. Today ethnic minorities constitute only about 3 percent of the population. But the traditions of pluralism are deeply rooted. Polish culture is still characterized by a broad openness and tolerance. This does not preclude, however, a relative insularity as well, perhaps a product of the vast tragedies and shocks of the 20th century.
Private ownership of land is a premier value of the Polish peasant, only strengthened by the experience of soviet experimentation with collective landholding. Polish resistance to collectivization caused the Communist government to abandon the effort. A private farm was not only a source of income, but a symbol of personal freedom and independence and a bastion of Polish identity.
Poles consider that a certain set of values characterizes Polish cultural identity. These include a belief in family and home; community; democracy; spirituality based on the tenets of Catholicism; inner freedom and individualism; hospitality, sociability, and generosity; a sense of service; optimism in the face of apparent hopelessness (a trait apparent during the long struggle of the Solidarity Movement); creative activities; criticism of ruling forces; and expression of emotions.
Further Reading
Mieczysaw B. Biskupski. The History of Poland (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood, 2000).
Glenn E. Curtis, ed. Poland: A Country Study (Washington: D. C.: Library of Congress, 1994). Jerzy J. Lerski. Historical Dictionary of Poland, 966-1945. (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood, 1996). Iwo Cyprian Pogonowski. Poland: An Illustrated History (New York: Hippocrene, 2000).
Peter D. Stachura. Poland in the Twentieth Century (New York: St. Martin’s, 1999).
Keely Stauter-Halsted. The Nation in the Village: The Genesis of Peasant National Identity in Austrian Poland, 1848-1914 (Ithaca, N. Y.: Cornell University Press, 2001).
Adam Zamoyski. The Polish Way: A Thousand-Year History of the Poles and Their Culture (New York: Hippocrene, 1993).
World History
