Poland’s topographically diverse territory extends from the beaches along the Baltic Sea<\/a> in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in its south. The country is bordered by Lithuania<\/a> and Kaliningrad Oblast<\/a> of Russia<\/a> to the northeast, Belarus<\/a> and Ukraine<\/a> to the east, Slovakia <\/a>and the Czech Republic<\/a> to the south, and Germany<\/a> to the west.<\/p>\n The history of human activity on Polish soil spans thousands of years. Throughout the late antiquity period it became extensively diverse, with various cultures and tribes settling on the vast Central European Plain. However, it was the Western Polans<\/a> who dominated the region and gave Poland its name. The establishment of Polish statehood can be traced to 966, when the pagan ruler<\/a> of a realm coextensive with the territory of present-day Poland embraced Christianity and converted to Catholicism. The Kingdom of Poland<\/a> was founded in 1025, and in 1569 it cemented its longstanding political association with Lithuania<\/a> by signing the Union of Lublin<\/a>. This union formed the Polish\u2013Lithuanian Commonwealth, one of the largest (over 1,000,000 square kilometers \u2013 400,000 square miles) and most populous nations of 16th and 17th century Europe, with a uniquely liberal political system<\/a> which adopted Europe’s first modern constitution, the Constitution of 3 May 1791.<\/a><\/p>\n With the passing of prominence and prosperity<\/a>, the country was partitioned<\/a> by neighboring states at the end of the 18th century, and regained independence<\/a> in 1918 with the Treaty of Versailles<\/a>. After a series of territorial conflicts<\/a>, the new multi-ethnic Poland restored its position as a key player in European politics. In September 1939, World War II<\/a> began with the invasion of Poland by Germany<\/a>, followed by the Soviets<\/a> invading Poland in accordance with the Molotov\u2013Ribbentrop Pact<\/a>. Approximately six million Polish citizens, including three million of the country’s Jews<\/a>, perished during the course of the war. As a member of the Eastern Bloc<\/a>, the Polish People’s Republic<\/a> proclaimed forthwith was a chief signatory of the Warsaw Treaty<\/a> amidst global Cold War tensions<\/a>. In the wake of the 1989 events<\/a>, notably through the emergence and contributions of the Solidarity movement<\/a>, the communist government was dissolved and Poland re-established itself as a semi-presidential democratic republic.<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Poland is a developed market and a regional power in Central Europe; it has the sixth largest economy in the European Union by nominal GDP and the fifth largest by GDP (PPP). It provides very high standards of living, safety and economic freedom, as well as free university education and a universal health care system in accordance with EU standards. The country has 16 UNESCO<\/a> World Heritage Sites<\/a>, 15 of which are cultural. Poland is a member state of the Schengen Area<\/a>, the United Nations<\/a>, NATO<\/a>, the OECD<\/a>, the Three Seas Initiative<\/a> and the Visegr\u00e1d Group.<\/a><\/p>\n The early Bronze Age<\/a> in Poland began around 2400 BC, while the Iron Age<\/a> commenced in approximately 750 BC. During this time, the Lusatian culture<\/a>, spanning both the Bronze and Iron Ages, became particularly prominent. The most famous archaeological find from the prehistory and protohistory of Poland is the Biskupin fortified settlement<\/a> (now reconstructed as an open-air museum), dating from the Lusatian culture of the late Bronze Age, around 748 BC.<\/p>\n Throughout the Antiquity period, many distinct ancient ethnic groups populated the regions of what is now Poland in an era that dates from about 400 BC to 500 AD. These groups are identified as Celtic<\/a>, Scythian<\/a>, Germanic<\/a>, Sarmatian<\/a>, Slavic<\/a> and Baltic<\/a> tribes. Also, recent archeological findings in the Kuyavia<\/a> region confirmed the presence of the Roman Legions on the territory of Poland. These were most likely expeditionary missions sent out to protect the amber<\/a> trade.<\/p>\n With the Baptism of Poland<\/a> the Polish rulers accepted Western Christianity and the religious authority of the Roman Church. However, the transition from paganism was not a smooth and instantaneous process for the rest of the population<\/a>.<\/p>\n Poland began to form into a recognizable unitary and territorial entity around the middle of the 10th century under the Piast dynasty<\/a>. Poland’s first historically documented ruler, Mieszko I<\/a>, accepted Christianity, as the rightful religion of his realm, under the auspices of the Latin Church with the Baptism of Poland in 966. The bulk of the population converted in the course of the next few centuries.<\/p>\n In 1320, after a number of earlier unsuccessful attempts by regional rulers at uniting the Polish dukedoms, W\u0142adys\u0142aw I<\/a> consolidated his power, took the throne and became the first king of a reunified Poland. His son, Casimir III<\/a> (reigned 1333\u20131370), has a reputation as one of the greatest Polish kings, and gained wide recognition for improving the country’s infrastructure. He also extended royal protection to Jews, and encouraged their immigration to Poland. Casimir III realized that the nation needed a class of educated people, especially lawyers, who could codify the country’s laws and administer the courts and offices. His efforts to create an institution of higher learning in Poland were finally rewarded when Pope Urban V<\/a> granted him permission to open the University of Krak\u00f3w.<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Black Death, a plague that ravaged Europe from 1347 to 1351, did not significantly affect Poland, and the country was spared from a major outbreak of the disease.[47][48] The reason for this was the decision of Casimir the Great to quarantine the nation’s borders.<\/p>\n The Jagiellon dynasty<\/a> spanned the late Middle Ages and early Modern Era of Polish history. Beginning with the Lithuanian Grand Duke Jogaila (W\u0142adys\u0142aw II Jagie\u0142\u0142o<\/a>), the Jagiellon dynasty (1386\u20131572) formed the Polish\u2013Lithuanian union.<\/p>\n The partnership brought vast Lithuanian-controlled Rus’ areas<\/a> into Poland’s sphere of influence and proved beneficial for the Poles and Lithuanians, who coexisted and cooperated in one of the largest political entities in Europe for the next four centuries.<\/p>\n The 1569 Union of Lublin established the Polish\u2013Lithuanian Commonwealth<\/a>, a more closely unified federal state with an elective monarchy, but which was governed largely by the nobility, through a system of local assemblies with a central parliament. The establishment of the Commonwealth coincided with a period of stability and prosperity in Poland, with the union thereafter becoming a European power and a major cultural entity, occupying approximately one million square kilometers of Central and Eastern Europe, as well as an agent for the dissemination of Western culture through Polonization<\/a> into areas of modern-day Lithuania, Latvia, Ukraine, Belarus and western Russia.<\/p>\n The late 17th Century marked the end of the nation’s golden era. Finding itself subjected to almost constant warfare and suffering enormous population losses as well as massive damage to its economy, the Commonwealth fell into decline.<\/p>\n During the later part of the 18th century, the Commonwealth made attempts to implement fundamental internal reforms; with the second half of the century bringing a much improved economy, significant population growth and far-reaching progress in the areas of education, intellectual life, art, and especially toward the end of the period, evolution of the social and political system.<\/p>\n The royal election of 1764 resulted in the elevation of Stanis\u0142aw II August<\/a> (a Polish aristocrat connected to the Czartoryski family faction of magnates) to the monarchy. Attempts at reform provoked the union’s neighbors, and in 1772 the First Partition of the Commonwealth<\/a> by Prussia, Russia and Austria took place.<\/p>\n Russia and Prussia, fearing the mere existence of a Polish state, arranged for, and in 1793 executed, the Second Partition of the Commonwealth<\/a>, which left the country deprived of so much territory that it was practically incapable of independent existence. Eventually, in 1795, following the failed Ko\u015bciuszko Uprising<\/a>, the Commonwealth was partitioned one last time<\/a> by all three of its more powerful neighbors, and with this, effectively ceased to exist.<\/p>\n Following World War I<\/a> all the Allies agreed on the reconstitution of Poland that United States President Woodrow Wilson<\/a> proclaimed in Point 13 of his Fourteen Points.<\/a> A total of 2 million Polish troops fought with the armies of the three occupying powers, and 450,000 died. Shortly after the armistice with Germany in November 1918, Poland regained its independence as the Second Polish Republic<\/a>.<\/p>\n It reaffirmed its independence after a series of military conflicts, the most notable being the Polish\u2013Soviet War (1919\u201321)<\/a> when Poland inflicted a crushing defeat on the Red Army<\/a> at the Battle of Warsaw<\/a>, an event which is considered to have halted the advance of Communism into Europe and forced Vladimir Lenin<\/a> to rethink his objective of achieving global socialism.<\/p>\n World War II began with the Nazi German invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939, followed by the Soviet invasion of Poland<\/a> on 17 September. On 28 September 1939, Warsaw fell<\/a>. As agreed in the Molotov\u2013Ribbentrop Pact, Poland was split into two zones, one occupied by Nazi Germany<\/a>, the other by the Soviet Union<\/a>. In 1939\u201341, the Soviets deported hundreds of thousands of Poles. The Soviet NKVD<\/a> executed thousands of Polish prisoners of war ahead of the Operation Barbarossa<\/a>. German planners had in November 1939 called for “the complete destruction of all Poles” and their fate as outlined in the genocidal Generalplan Ost.<\/a><\/p>\n The wartime resistance movement<\/a>, and the Armia Krajowa (Home Army)<\/a>, fought against German occupation. It was one of the three largest resistance movements of the entire war. The resistance was loyal to the exiled government and generally resented the idea of a communist Poland; for this reason, in the summer of 1944 it initiated Operation Tempest<\/a>, of which the Warsaw Uprising<\/a> that begun on 1 August 1944 is the best known operation.<\/p>\n Nazi German forces under orders from Adolf Hitler<\/a> set up six German extermination camps<\/a> in occupied Poland, including Treblinka<\/a>, Majdanek<\/a> and Auschwitz<\/a>. The Germans transported millions of Jews from across occupied Europe<\/a> to be murdered in those camps.<\/p>\n Altogether, 3 million Polish Jews \u2013 approximately 90% of Poland’s pre-war Jewry \u2013 and between 1.8 and 2.8 million ethnic Poles were killed during the German occupation of Poland<\/a>, including between 50,000 and 100,000 members of the Polish intelligentsia \u2013 academics, doctors, lawyers, nobility and priesthood. During the Warsaw Uprising alone, over 150,000 Polish civilians were killed, most were murdered by the Germans during the Wola<\/a> and Ochota<\/a> massacres. Around 150,000 Polish civilians were killed by Soviets between 1939 and 1941 during the Soviet Union’s occupation of eastern Poland (Kresy<\/a>), and another estimated 100,000 Poles were murdered by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA)<\/a> between 1943 and 1944 in what became known as the Wo\u0142y\u0144 Massacres<\/a>. Of all the countries in the war, Poland lost the highest percentage of its citizens: around 6 million perished \u2013 more than one-sixth of Poland’s pre-war population \u2013 half of them Polish Jews<\/a>. About 90% of deaths were non-military in nature.<\/p>\n In 1945, Poland’s borders were shifted westwards<\/a>. Over two million Polish inhabitants of Kresy were expelled<\/a> along the Curzon Line<\/a> by Stalin. The western border became the Oder-Neisse line.<\/a> As a result, Poland’s territory was reduced by 20%, or 77,500 square kilometers (29,900 sq mi). The shift forced the migration of millions of other people, most of whom were Poles, Germans, Ukrainians, and Jews.<\/p>\n At the insistence of Joseph Stalin<\/a>, the Yalta Conference<\/a> sanctioned the formation of a new provisional pro-Communist coalition government in Moscow, which ignored the Polish government-in-exile based in London<\/a>. This action angered many Poles who considered it a betrayal by the Allies. In 1944, Stalin had made guarantees to Churchill<\/a> and Roosevelt<\/a> that he would maintain Poland’s sovereignty and allow democratic elections to take place. However, upon achieving victory in 1945, the elections organized by the occupying Soviet authorities were falsified and were used to provide a veneer of legitimacy for Soviet hegemony over Polish affairs. The Soviet Union instituted a new communist government in Poland, analogous to much of the rest of the Eastern Bloc. As elsewhere in Communist Europe, the Soviet influence over Poland was met with armed resistance<\/a> from the outset which continued into the 1950s.<\/p>\n Labor turmoil in 1980 led to the formation of the independent trade union “Solidarity” (“Solidarno\u015b\u0107”), which over time became a political force. Despite persecution and imposition of martial law in 1981<\/a>, it eroded the dominance of the Polish United Workers’ Party<\/a> and by 1989 had triumphed in Poland’s first partially free and democratic parliamentary elections since the end of the Second World War. Lech Wa\u0142\u0119sa<\/a>, a Solidarity candidate, eventually won the presidency in 1990. The Solidarity movement heralded the collapse of communist regimes and parties across Europe.<\/p>\n A shock therapy<\/a> program, initiated by Leszek Balcerowicz<\/a> in the early 1990s, enabled the country to transform its socialist-style planned economy into a market economy. As with other post-communist countries, Poland suffered declines in social and economic standards, but it became the first post-communist country to reach its pre-1989 GDP levels, which it achieved by 1995 thanks largely to its booming economy.<\/p>\n Poland joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)<\/a> alliance in 1999 along with the Czech Republic and Hungary<\/a>. Poles then voted to join the European Union in a referendum in June 2003, with Poland becoming a full member on 1 May 2004. Poland joined the Schengen Area in 2007.<\/p>\n On 10 April 2010, the President of the Republic of Poland, Lech Kaczy\u0144ski<\/a>, along with 89 other high-ranking Polish officials died in a plane crash<\/a> near Smolensk, Russia<\/a>. The president’s party was on their way to attend an annual service of commemoration for the victims of the Katy\u0144 massacre when the tragedy took place.<\/p>\n The 2015 and 2019 elections were won by the conservative Law and Justice Party (PiS), resulting in increased friction between Poland and the EU. In December 2017, Mateusz Morawiecki<\/a> was sworn in as the new Prime Minister, succeeding Beata Szydlo<\/a>, in office since 2015. They both represented ruling Law and Justice party, led by powerful Jaroslaw Kaczynski<\/a>. President Andrzej Duda<\/a>, supported by Law and Justice party, was narrowly re-elected in the 2020 presidential election.<\/p>\n Poland’s vast territory covers approximately 312,696 km2 (120,733 sq mi), of which 98.52% is dry land and 1.48% is water. Extending across several geographical regions, the country is the 9th-largest by area in Europe and 69th largest in the world. Topographically, Poland is diverse and has access to the sea, the mountains and open terrain. Although most of the central parts of the country are flat, there is an abundance of lakes, rivers, hills, swamps, beaches, islands and forests elsewhere.<\/p>\n In the north-west is the Baltic seacoast spanning from the Bay of Pomerania<\/a> to the Gulf of Gda\u0144sk<\/a>. The coast is marked by several spits, coastal lakes (former bays that have been cut off from the sea), and dunes. The largely straight coastline is indented by the Szczecin Lagoon<\/a>, the Bay of Puck<\/a>, and the Vistula Lagoon<\/a>.<\/p>\n The central and northern parts of the country lie within the North European Plain. Rising above these lowlands is a geographical region comprising four hilly districts of moraines and moraine-dammed lakes formed during and after the Pleistocene ice age, notably the Pomeranian Lake District<\/a>, the Greater Polish Lake District, the Kashubian Lake District<\/a>, and the Masurian Lake District<\/a>. The Masurian Lake District is the largest of the four and covers much of north-eastern Poland.<\/p>\n South of the Northern European Plain are the regions of Lusatia<\/a>, Silesia<\/a> and Masovia<\/a>, which are marked by broad ice-age river valleys. The extreme south of Poland is mountainous; it runs from the Sudetes<\/a> in the west to the and the Carpathian Mountains<\/a> in the east. The highest part of the Carpathian massif is the Tatra Mountain range<\/a>, along Poland’s southern border.<\/p>\n Poland’s economy and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is currently the sixth largest in the European Union by nominal standards, and the fifth largest by purchasing power parity. It is also one of the fastest growing within the Union. Around 60% of the employed population belongs to the tertiary service sector, 30% to industry and manufacturing, and the remaining 10% to the agricultural sector. Although Poland is a member of EU’s single market, the country has not adopted the Euro as legal tender and maintains its own currency \u2013 the Polish z\u0142oty<\/a> (z\u0142, PLN).<\/p>\n Having a strong domestic market, low private debt, low unemployment rate, flexible currency, and not being dependent on a single export sector, Poland is the only European economy to have avoided the recession of 2008. The country is the 20th largest exporter of goods and services in the world and its most successful exports include machinery, furniture, food products, clothing, shoes, cosmetics and videogames. These account to approximately 56% of the total GDP, as of 2018. Poland’s largest trading partners include Germany, Czech Republic, United Kingdom, France and Italy. Warsaw leads Central Europe in foreign investment. In September 2018, the unemployment rate was estimated at 5.7%, one of the lowest in the European Union. In 2019, Poland passed a law that would exempt workers under the age of 26 from income tax.<\/p>\n Products and goods manufactured in Poland include: electronics, buses and trams (Solaris<\/a>, Solbus<\/a>), helicopters and planes (PZL \u015awidnik<\/a>, PZL Mielec<\/a>), trains (Pesa<\/a>, Newag<\/a>), ships (Gda\u0144sk Shipyard<\/a>, Szczecin Shipyard<\/a>), military equipment (FB “\u0141ucznik” Radom<\/a>, Bumar-\u0141ab\u0119dy<\/a>, Jelcz<\/a>), medicines (Polpharma<\/a>, Polfa<\/a>), food (Tymbark<\/a>, Hortex<\/a>, E. Wedel<\/a>), clothes (LLP<\/a>), glass, pottery (Boles\u0142awiec<\/a>), chemical products and others. Well-known brands and companies include Alior Bank<\/a>, Orlen<\/a>&Lotos Group<\/a>, Inglot Cosmetics<\/a>, Plus<\/a>, Play<\/a>, Brainly<\/a>, Netguru<\/a>, GOG.com<\/a>, CD Projekt<\/a>, Trefl<\/a> and Allegro<\/a>. Poland is also one of the world’s biggest producers of copper, silver, coal, furniture, automotive parts and soft drink.<\/p>\n Transport in Poland is provided by means of rail, road, marine shipping and air travel. The country is part of EU’s Schengen Area<\/a> and is an important transport hub along neighboring Germany due to its strategic position in Central Europe. Some of the longest European routes, including the E40, run through Poland.<\/p>\n The country has a good network of highways, composed of express roads and motorways. At the start of 2020, Poland had 4,146.5 km (2,576.5 mi) of highways in use. In addition, all local and regional roads are monitored by the National Road Rebuilding Programme, which aims to improve the quality of travel in the countryside and suburban localities.<\/p>\n In 2017, the nation had 18,513 kilometres (11,503 mi) of railway track, the third longest in Europe after Germany and France. The Polish State Railways (PKP)<\/a> is the dominant railway operator in the country.<\/p>\n In December 2014, Poland began to implement high\u2013speed rail routes connecting major Polish cities, and started passenger service using the New Pendolino<\/a> train, operating at 200 km\/h on the Central Rail Line (CMK). The largest passenger train station in terms of the number of travelers is Wroc\u0142aw G\u0142\u00f3wny<\/a>.<\/p>\n The air and maritime transport markets in Poland are largely well developed. Poland has a number of international airports, the largest of which is Warsaw Chopin Airport<\/a>, the primary global hub for LOT Polish Airlines<\/a>. Other major airports with international connections include John Paul II International Airport Krak\u00f3w\u2013Balice<\/a>, Copernicus Airport Wroc\u0142aw<\/a>, Gda\u0144sk Lech Wa\u0142\u0119sa Airport.<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Seaports exist all along Poland’s Baltic coast, with most freight operations using \u015awinouj\u015bcie<\/a>, Police<\/a>, Szczecin<\/a>, Ko\u0142obrzeg<\/a>, Gdynia<\/a>, Gda\u0144sk<\/a> and Elbl\u0105g<\/a> as their base. Passenger ferries link Poland with Scandinavia all year round.<\/p>\n The flag of Poland consists of two horizontal stripes of equal width, the upper one white and the lower one red. The two colors are defined in the Polish constitution as the national colors. A variant of the flag with the national coat of arms in the middle of the white fess is legally reserved for official use abroad and at sea. A similar flag with the addition of a swallow-tail is used as the naval ensign of Poland.<\/p>\n White and red were officially adopted as national colors in 1831, although these were associated with Poland since the Middle Ages and were emphasized on royal banners. They are of heraldic origin and derive from the tinctures of the coats of arms of the two constituent nations of the Polish\u2013Lithuanian Commonwealth<\/a>, i.e. the White Eagle of Poland and the Pursuer of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania<\/a>, a white knight riding a white horse, both on a red shield. Prior to that, Polish soldiers wore cockades of various color combinations. The national flag was officially adopted in 1919.<\/p>\n The flag is flown continuously on the buildings of the highest national authorities, such as the parliament and the presidential palace. Other institutions and many Polish people fly the national flag on national holidays and other special occasions of national significance. Current Polish law does not restrict the use of the national flag without the coat of arms as long as the flag is not disrespected.<\/p>\n Horizontal bicolors of white and red being a relatively widespread design, there are several flags that are similar but unrelated to the Polish one. There are two national flags with the red stripe above the white one: those of Indonesia<\/a> and Monaco<\/a>. In Poland, many flags based on the national design also feature the national colors.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The flag of Poland consists of two horizontal stripes of equal width, the upper one white and the lower one red. The two colours are defined in the Polish constitution as the national colours. A variant of the flag with the national coat of arms in the middle of the white fess is legally reserved for official use abroad and at sea. A similar flag with the addition of a swallow-tail is used as the naval ensign of Poland.<\/p>\n White and red were officially adopted as national colours in 1831, although these were associated with Poland since the Middle Ages and were emphasized on royal banners. They are of heraldic origin and derive from the tinctures of the coats of arms of the two constituent nations of the Polish\u2013Lithuanian Commonwealth, i.e. the White Eagle of Poland and the Pursuer of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, a white knight riding a white horse, both on a red shield. Prior to that, Polish soldiers wore cockades of various color combinations. The national flag was officially adopted in 1919.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8562,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[89,59,26,5,6,7,18,60],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8119"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8119"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8119\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/06\/Poland-on-the-Globe-300x300.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/06\/City-Map-of-Poland-279x300.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>History:<\/h2>\n
Prehistory and Protohistory:<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/06\/Biskupin-Reconstruction-c-700BC-300x225.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Piast Dynasty:<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/06\/Poland-Under-the-Rule-of-Duke-Mieszko-I-300x296.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/06\/Casimir-III-the-Great-192x300.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Jagiellon Dynasty:<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/06\/Wladyslaw-II-Jagiello-203x300.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Polish\u2013Lithuanian Commonwealth:<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/06\/Polish-Lithuanian-Commonwealth-in-1635-300x235.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Partitions:<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/06\/The-Partitions-of-Poland-300x235.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Second Polish Republic:<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/06\/Map-of-Poland-During-the-Interwar-Period-1921\u201339-300x288.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>World War II:<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/06\/Divison-of-Poland-in-1939-267x300.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/06\/Holocaust-in-Poland-279x300.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/06\/303-Polish-Fighter-Squadron-During-the-Battle-of-Britain-October-1940-300x224.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Post-War Communism:<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/06\/Lech-Walesa-240x300.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>1990s to Present:<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/06\/Flowers-in-front-of-the-Presidential-Palace-following-the-death-of-Polands-top-government-officials-in-a-plane-crash-over-Smolensk-in-Russia-10-April-2010-200x300.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Geography:<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/06\/Topographic-Map-of-Poland-300x292.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Economy:<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/06\/Poland-Exports-2017-300x300.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/06\/Warsaw-Stock-Exchange-300x221.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Transportation:<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/06\/Road-Map-of-Poland-300x212.gif\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/06\/Polish-Rail-Routes-300x234.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/06\/PKP-Intercity-Pendolino-at-the-Wroclaw-Railway-Station-300x200.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/06\/LOT-Polish-Airlines-300x201.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Flag of Poland:<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/06\/Flag-of-Poland-300x188.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>