Eastern Europe · POL

Poland

The story · 14 chapters

How it was drawn

Lusatian forts and Slavic tribes, a Piast kingdom and a vast Commonwealth with Lithuania, erased by three partitions, reborn in 1918, ravaged by war and moved bodily westward in 1945.

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Through the ages

Rivals in history

The kingdoms, empires and states Poland fought or stood against, from the first to today.

Holy Roman Empire1002 to 1018
Boleslaw the Brave fought Emperor Henry II for sixteen years over Lusatia, Meissen and Bohemia. The Peace of Bautzen in 1018 left Lusatia and Milsko in Polish hands, and Boleslaw was crowned king in 1025.
Mongol Empire and Golden Horde1241 to 1288
Mongol armies invaded three times. In 1241 they burned Krakow and killed Duke Henry the Pious at Legnica; new invasions in 1259 and 1287 devastated Lesser Poland again before the raids ceased.
Teutonic Order1308 to 1525
The knights invited to fight the Prussians seized Gdansk in 1308 and cut Poland off from the sea. Poland and Lithuania crushed them at Grunwald in 1410, won western Prussia in 1466, and in 1525 the last grand master became a Polish vassal as Duke of Prussia.
Grand Principality of Moscow and Tsardom of Russia1500 to 1667
Lithuania and Poland fought Moscow for the lands of old Rus'. Moscow took Smolensk in 1514; in 1610 a Polish army entered Moscow and held the Kremlin until 1612. The Truce of Andrusovo in 1667 gave Kyiv and the east bank of the Dnieper to Russia.
Swedish Empire1600 to 1660
Sigismund III was king of both Poland and Sweden until the Swedes deposed him in 1599, and the dynastic quarrel became a long war over Livonia and the Baltic. In the Deluge of 1655 to 1660 Swedish armies took Warsaw and Krakow; the Peace of Oliva ended it in 1660.
Ottoman Empire1620 to 1699
Wars with the Ottomans over Moldavia and the Ukrainian steppe: defeat at Cecora in 1620, a stand at Khotyn in 1621, the loss of Podolia in 1672 and Sobieski's victory at Vienna in 1683. Podolia came back by the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699.
Zaporozhian Cossacks1648 to 1657
The uprising of Bohdan Khmelnytsky began in 1648 with Cossack victories at Zhovti Vody and Korsun. It tore much of Ukraine from Polish control, and in 1654 the Cossacks placed themselves under the Russian tsar, drawing Moscow into the war.
Russian Empire1772 to 1918
Russia took the largest share of the partitions and later ruled the Kingdom of Poland from Saint Petersburg. The uprisings of 1830 and 1863 were crushed, followed by executions, deportations to Siberia and the removal of Polish from schools.
Kingdom of Prussia and German Empire1772 to 1919
Prussia took Pomerania, Gdansk and Poznan in the partitions. Under Bismarck's Kulturkampf and later settlement policies, Polish schooling, language and land ownership came under pressure until the Greater Poland Uprising of 1918 and 1919.
Soviet Russia1919 to 1921
The Polish Soviet War decided the eastern border. Polish forces took Kyiv in May 1920, the Red Army reached the outskirts of Warsaw that August, and the Battle of Warsaw turned it back. The Peace of Riga in 1921 split Belarus and Ukraine between them.
Nazi Germany1939 to 1945
Germany's invasion on 1 September 1939 began the Second World War in Europe. Occupation brought terror, mass executions, forced labour and the Holocaust, in which about three million Polish Jews were murdered, along with very many other Polish citizens.
Soviet Union1939 to 1989
The Soviet Union invaded on 17 September 1939, deported Poles to the east and murdered officers at Katyn in 1940. After 1945 it kept eastern Poland and installed a communist regime that lasted until the round table talks of 1989.

Today

Poland now

Poland's history as a state began near the middle of the 10th century. By the mid-16th century, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth ruled a vast tract of land in Central and Eastern Europe. During the 18th century, internal disorder weakened the nation, and in a series of agreements between 1772 and 1795, Russia, Prussia, and Austria partitioned Poland among themselves. Poland regained its independence in 1918 only to be overrun by Germany and the Soviet Union in World War II.

Capital: Warsaw
Government: parliamentary republic
Head of government: Donald Tusk
Head of state: Karol Nawrocki
Languages: Polish
Area: 313,940 km²

Through time

Then and now

Population38.8 million2023 · 24.8 million in 1950
Life expectancy78.6 years2023 · 58.3 years in 1950
GDP per person$32,4682022 · $3,900 in 1950
Living in cities60%2025 · 38% in 1950
Literacy99%1978 · 93% in 1950
Political regimeElectoral democracy2025 · Electoral autocracy in 1950
Military alliancesNATO2024 · None of these in 1950
Military spending4.5% of GDP2025
War deathsNone2025

Population: HYDE 3.3, Gapminder and UN WPP. GDP per capita: Maddison Project Database 2023. Urban share: UN WPP. Life expectancy: Riley, HMD, UN WPP. Literacy: OWID historical estimates, World Bank, UNESCO. Military spending: SIPRI. War deaths: UCDP. Political regime: V-Dem, Regimes of the World. All via Our World in Data (CC BY 4.0). Alliances and organization memberships: compiled by Atlas. Satellites in orbit: CelesTrak SATCAT. Modern borders, backcast.

Relations

Close partners and tensions

Close partners

United States
Ukraine
Germany
France
United Kingdom

Tensions

Russian Federation

Summarised from World Bank and Wikipedia data, updated 24 October 2026.

Rivals in history

The kingdoms, empires and states Poland fought or stood against, from the first to today.

Holy Roman Empire1002 to 1018

Boleslaw the Brave fought Emperor Henry II for sixteen years over Lusatia, Meissen and Bohemia. The Peace of Bautzen in 1018 left Lusatia and Milsko in Polish hands, and Boleslaw was crowned king in 1025.

Mongol Empire and Golden Horde1241 to 1288

Mongol armies invaded three times. In 1241 they burned Krakow and killed Duke Henry the Pious at Legnica; new invasions in 1259 and 1287 devastated Lesser Poland again before the raids ceased.

Teutonic Order1308 to 1525

The knights invited to fight the Prussians seized Gdansk in 1308 and cut Poland off from the sea. Poland and Lithuania crushed them at Grunwald in 1410, won western Prussia in 1466, and in 1525 the last grand master became a Polish vassal as Duke of Prussia.

Grand Principality of Moscow and Tsardom of Russia1500 to 1667

Lithuania and Poland fought Moscow for the lands of old Rus'. Moscow took Smolensk in 1514; in 1610 a Polish army entered Moscow and held the Kremlin until 1612. The Truce of Andrusovo in 1667 gave Kyiv and the east bank of the Dnieper to Russia.

Swedish Empire1600 to 1660

Sigismund III was king of both Poland and Sweden until the Swedes deposed him in 1599, and the dynastic quarrel became a long war over Livonia and the Baltic. In the Deluge of 1655 to 1660 Swedish armies took Warsaw and Krakow; the Peace of Oliva ended it in 1660.

Ottoman Empire1620 to 1699

Wars with the Ottomans over Moldavia and the Ukrainian steppe: defeat at Cecora in 1620, a stand at Khotyn in 1621, the loss of Podolia in 1672 and Sobieski's victory at Vienna in 1683. Podolia came back by the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699.

Zaporozhian Cossacks1648 to 1657

The uprising of Bohdan Khmelnytsky began in 1648 with Cossack victories at Zhovti Vody and Korsun. It tore much of Ukraine from Polish control, and in 1654 the Cossacks placed themselves under the Russian tsar, drawing Moscow into the war.

Russian Empire1772 to 1918

Russia took the largest share of the partitions and later ruled the Kingdom of Poland from Saint Petersburg. The uprisings of 1830 and 1863 were crushed, followed by executions, deportations to Siberia and the removal of Polish from schools.

Kingdom of Prussia and German Empire1772 to 1919

Prussia took Pomerania, Gdansk and Poznan in the partitions. Under Bismarck's Kulturkampf and later settlement policies, Polish schooling, language and land ownership came under pressure until the Greater Poland Uprising of 1918 and 1919.

Soviet Russia1919 to 1921

The Polish Soviet War decided the eastern border. Polish forces took Kyiv in May 1920, the Red Army reached the outskirts of Warsaw that August, and the Battle of Warsaw turned it back. The Peace of Riga in 1921 split Belarus and Ukraine between them.

Nazi Germany1939 to 1945

Germany's invasion on 1 September 1939 began the Second World War in Europe. Occupation brought terror, mass executions, forced labour and the Holocaust, in which about three million Polish Jews were murdered, along with very many other Polish citizens.

Soviet Union1939 to 1989

The Soviet Union invaded on 17 September 1939, deported Poles to the east and murdered officers at Katyn in 1940. After 1945 it kept eastern Poland and installed a communist regime that lasted until the round table talks of 1989.

Poland now

Capital

Warsaw

Government

parliamentary republic

Head of government

Donald Tusk

Head of state

Karol Nawrocki

Languages

Polish

Area

313,940 km²

Then and now

Population38.8 million2023 · 24.8 million in 1950

Life expectancy78.6 years2023 · 58.3 years in 1950

GDP per person$32,4682022 · $3,900 in 1950

Living in cities60%2025 · 38% in 1950

Literacy99%1978 · 93% in 1950

Political regimeElectoral democracy2025 · Electoral autocracy in 1950

Military alliancesNATO2024 · None of these in 1950

Military spending4.5% of GDP2025

War deathsNone2025