History of Poland

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HistoryofPoland

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• Once upon a time, over a thousand years ago, when
  the area of todays Poland was covered with thick
  and wild forests, there lived three brothers.
  Their names were Lech, Czech and Rus.
• One day they decided to leave their parents and
  village and, accompanied by their servants and
  warriors, look for a new place to settle down and
  start a new life.
• For many days they wandered together, but finally
  understood that they could never find a piece of
  land that would please all three of them. They
  decided to choose separate paths. Czech took the
  path leading to the south, Rus to the east and
  Lech went westwards.
• Lech and his people made their way through the
  forests and they observed that with each day the
  landscapes became more and more beautiful.
  Finally, after many days, they came to an
  exceptionally charming spot. As it was getting
  late, he ordered the camp to be put up for the
  night around a huge oak tree. Suddenly, the sun
  started to set and covered the sky with its red
  flames and some strange noise could be heard, as
  if of the huge wings breaking the forests
  silence. The warriors raised their heads and saw
  a huge, white eagle approaching its nest in the
  oak tree.
• Lech understood that the place was not only
  beautiful, but also abundant in goods of all
  kinds and very safe. He thrust his sword in the
  ground under the oak tree and said Here I will
  build my kingdom and around this magnificent oak
  tree its capital will appear. Because the eagles
  nest is in the oaks branches, the city will be
  called Gniezno (gniazdo is a Polish word for
  nest) and the symbol of our country will be the
  white eagle in the red sky.

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966 The Polish state was born with the baptism
of Mieszko I, duke of the Slavic tribe of Polans
and founder of the Piast dynasty. His conversion
from Paganism to Christianity was Poland's first
recorded historical event.
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• Mieszko's son Boleslaw the Brave built on his
  father's achievements, for the first time uniting
  all the provinces that subsequently came to
  comprise the traditional territory of Poland. In
  1025 he became the first king of Poland.

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1138A Period of Fragmentation

• After Boleslaw the Brave died in 1138, however,
  the kingdom was divided among four of his sons,
  ushering in a period of fragmentation.

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1226

• In 1226, Konrad I of Masovia invited the Teutonic
  Knights to Poland to help him fight the pagan
  Prussians on the border of his lands. After
  exterminating the Prussians, the Knights turned
  their attention to Poland and Lithuania, waging
  war with them for most of the 14th and 15th
  centuries.

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1320 The End of Regional Division

• The regional division ended when Wladyslaw the
  Elbow-high united the various principalities of
  Poland. His son Kazimierz the Great, the last of
  the Piast dynasty, considerably strengthened the
  country's position in both foreign and domestic
  affairs. Before his death in 1370, the sonless
  king arranged for his nephew, the Andegawen Louis
  of Hungary, to inherit the throne.

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1364 . The First University in Poland
Originally founded as Cracow Academy by Casimir
III the Great
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1385 The Union of Krewo was signed between
Louis' daughter Jadwiga and the Lithuanian Grand
Duke Jogaila (later known as Wladyslaw II Jagi),
beginning the Polish-Lithuanian Union and
strengthening both nations in their shared
opposition to the Teutonic Knights and the
growing threat of Muscovy.ello
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1410 BATTLE OF GRUNWALD

• In the north-west, the Teutonic Knights, in
  control of Prussia since the 13th century, were
  forced after their defeats by a combined
  Polish-Lithuanian force in the Battle of Grunwald

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1506 1572 Polands Golden Age

• In politics, it was a period of might and lack
  of dangers. Only a few wars were fought on
  Poland's peripheries or on Lithuania's borders.
  In culture, it was a period of Renaissance and
  development of Polish-language literature. In
  economy, it was a period of prosperity.

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1600 1699 The 17th-century crisis

• Period of Wars against Sweden, Russia, Turkey and
  the Cossacks

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1610 The Polish army entered Moscow and took
over the Kremlin
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1683A powerful Turkish army lay siege to Vienna,
the imperial capital was relieved, thanks to
Polish assistance. The united allied armies were
under the command of King John III Sobieski
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Partition of Poland (1795-1918)

• Polish independence ended in a series of
  partitions (1772, 1793 and 1795) undertaken by
  Russia, Prussia and Austria

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1791Constitution of May 3, the first modern
codified constitution on the European continent
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1794, 1830, 1864 Polish National Uprisings -
the Poles launched attempts to regain
independence
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11 XI 1918 INDEPENDENCE REGAINED
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13-25 VIII 1920 The Battle of Warsaw

• The Battle of Warsaw was fought from August 13 to
  August 25, 1920 as Red Army forces approached the
  Polish capital of Warsaw and nearby Modlin
  Fortress. On August 16, Polish forces commanded
  by Józef Pilsudski counterattacked from the
  south, forcing the Russian forces into a
  disorganised withdrawal eastward and behind the
  Neman River.

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1 IX 1939 The German onslaught on Poland
started the Second World War.
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1944 The Warsaw Uprising

• After the uprising, the entire population, nearly
  one million people, was expelled from the city
  (taken to concentration camps). The Germans
  started destroying what was left of Warsaw.

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1944 The beginning of the Communist Regime in
Poland
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1980 The Birth of Solidarity
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4 VI 1989 the Autumn of Nations

• Round table talks started the process of
  dismantling the Communist Regime in Poland