Poland Timeline and History Highlights

1493 – The first Polish parliament is established.

1569 – The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is established by the Union of Lublin.

1573 – The League of Warsaw guarantees religious tolerance. Jagiellonian dynasty falls.

1596 – Poland’s capital moves from Krakow to Warsaw.

1600s – A series of wars (Swedish, Russian, Tatar, Turkic) ends Poland’s Golden Age.

1683 – King Sobieski defeats the Turks near Vienna.

1772 – A weakened Poland is divided into Prussia, Austria and Russia in the so-called First Partition.

1791 – Poland introduces a new constitution with liberal reforms.

1793 – Russia and Prussia invade Poland, dividing Poland again in the Second Partition.

1807 – Napoleon invades and conquers the region. He founded the Principality of Warsaw.

1815 – Poland falls under Russian rule.

1863 – However, the Polish uprising against Russia is defeated.

1914 – World War I begins. The Poles join Austria and Germany in the fight against Russia.

1917 – The Russian Revolution takes place.

1918 – World War I ends with Poland’s independence. Józef Pilsudski becomes leader of the Second Polish Republic.

1926 – Pilsudski becomes dictator of Poland in a military coup.

1939 – Germany invades Poland from the west, beginning World War II. Then the Soviet Union invaded from the east. Poland is divided between Germany and the Soviet Union.

1941 – German concentration camps are established throughout Poland, including Auschwitz and Treblinka. Millions of Jews were killed in Poland during the Holocaust.

1943 – Jews in the Warsaw ghetto rise up and fight against the Nazis.

1944 – Polish resistance conquers Warsaw. However, in response the Germans burned the city to the ground.

1945 – World War II ends. Russian forces invade and drive the Germans out of Poland.

1947 – Poland becomes a communist state under Soviet rule.

1956 – Protests and riots against Soviet rule erupt in Poznań. Some reforms are allowed.

1970 – People in Gdansk protest against the price of bread. In the so-called “Bloody Tuesday”, 55 demonstrators were killed.

1978 – Karol Wojtila is elected Pope of the Catholic Church. He becomes Pope John Paul II.

1980 – Solidarity union founded by Lev Walesa. 10 million workers will participate.

1981 – The Soviet Union declares martial law to end solidarity. Lev Walesa is imprisoned.

1982 – Lev Walesa wins the Nobel Peace Prize.

1989 – Elections are held and a new government is formed.

1990 – Lech Valesa is elected President of Poland.

1992 – The Soviet Union begins withdrawing troops from Poland.

2004 – Poland becomes a member of the European Union.

The history of Poland begins with the Piast dynasty and the first Polish king, Maisko I. King Maisco adopted Christianity as the state religion. Then, in the 14th century, the Polish kingdom reached its peak under the rule of the Jagiellonian dynasty. Poland merged with Lithuania to create the powerful Polish-Lithuanian Kingdom. For the next 400 years, the Polish-Lithuanian Union will be one of the most powerful states in Europe. One of Poland’s great battles took place during this period when the Poles defeated the Teutonic Knights at the Battle of Grunwald in 1410. Eventually the dynasty ended and Poland was divided into Russia, Austria and Prussia in 1795.

After World War I, Poland became a state again. Poland’s independence was the 13th of US President Woodrow Wilson’s famous 14 points. In 1918 Poland officially became an independent country.

During World War II, Poland was occupied by Germany. The war was devastating for Poland. About 6 million Poles were killed during the war, including about 3 million Jews as part of the Holocaust. After the war, the Communist Party effectively ruled Poland, and Poland became a puppet state of the Soviet Union. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Poland began working towards democracy and a free market economy. In 2004 Poland joined the European Union.