The Republic of Poland

Poland is a country in Central Europe, which has borders with Russia, Germany, Belarus, Ukraine, Lithuania, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. On the north is surrounded by the Baltic Sea.

Capital - Warsaw (1.7 million inhabitants). Other major cities are Lodz, Krakow, Wroclaw, Poznan and Gdansk.

The main religion is Catholicism.

Official language is Polish.

Monetary unit is the Polish zloty.

National holiday: May 3 - the anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution of 1791, and 11 November – the Independence Day (restoration of the statehood of Poland in 1918).

The current constitution came into force in October 1997.

State symbols. Flag - white and red; coat of arms - a white eagle on a red background; the anthem - Dabrowski's Mazurka "Jeszcze Polska nie zginela" («Poland is not yet lost").

Territory - 322.6 thousand square kilometers, population - 38.2 million people, ethnically almost homogeneous, more than 97% - Poles.

Administrative-territorial division is three-staged: 16 provinces, 373 counties, 2478 communes.

Polity. Poland is a parliamentary-presidential republic. The Head of State of the Republic of Poland - a president, who is elected by nation-wide vote to govern five years on direct nation-wide elections. One person can hold the post of president no more than two times. After the death of President L. Kaczynski, on 10 April 2010 in a plane crash near Smolensk, the head of the state as a result of early elections on July 4, 2010, was elected B. Komorowski.

Parliament consists of two chambers: the lower - Sejm (460 deputies) and upper - Senate (100 senators), which form the National Assembly. Deputies and senators are elected at the same time for 4 years period in multiseat electoral districts on the basis of proportional and majority systems, respectively. Marshal of the Sejm is G.Shetina ("Civic Platform"), Marshal of the Senate – B. Borusewicz (supported by the same party).

The next parliamentary elections in Poland will be held on October 9, 2011.

The government - the Council of Ministers - is formed by party, which won the parliamentary elections, is approved by the Sejm and brought by the President to the oath. In November 2007, after the early parliamentary elections, D. Tusk became the Chairman of the Council of Ministers. He is also a leader of the "Civic Platform", which formed a ruling coalition with the Polish Peasants Party, led by V. Pavlyak, who has been appointed as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy. The present government has 18 ministers.

As a priority of its foreign policy, Poland views the strengthening of positions within the bounds of European Union (joined in 2004) and NATO (membership since 1999). In the second half of 2011, Warsaw chairs in the EU. Poland is also a member of "Weimar Triangle", "Visegrad Group", the Central European Initiative, is a part of the Council of the Baltic Sea. Poland pays special attention to bilateral relations with the USA. Poles actively move the "Eastern Partnership" programme, aimed to strengthen the EU's cooperation with Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia.

Economy. Polish authorities manage to maintain macroeconomic stability. GDP growth in 2010 was 3.8%. Increase in industrial production - about 11%.

Science and culture. Poland - a country with rich cultural and scientific traditions. The world-famous scientists are M. Kopernik, M. Sklodowska Curie; composers – F. Chopin and G.Venyavski; writers - B. Prus, H. Sienkiewicz and poet A. Mickiewicz. Well-known movie directors are A. Wajda, K. Zanussi and K. Keslevski. Currently in Poland there are about 500 research institutes and 131 colleges, including 38 universities, where study about 2 million students. The country has more than one hundred drama, musical and puppet theaters, are opened numerous museums and art galleries, most famous of which are the National Museum in Warsaw and the Museum of Modern Art in Lodz.

History. Polish state emerged in the late tenth century and was estimated in the present territory of the country. The history of Poland is closely connected with the history of Russia, where peaceful periods were punctuated by frequent armed conflicts.

In 966, the Polish ruler Mieszko 1 adopted Christianity.

In 1410, at the Battle of Grunwald united Polish-Lithuanian forces, with the participation of Smolensk regiments was defeated army of the Teutonic Order. In 1569, with the signing of the Union of Lublin between Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, was formed the Commonwealth, formally existed until 1795.

In 1610, the son of King Sigismund III of Poland, Prince Vladislav was called to the throne of Moscow. In 1612 Poles were expelled from Moscow by militia of Nizhny Novgorod, led by Minin and Pozharsky.

As a result of three partitions of Commonwealth (1772, 1793 and 1795) between Prussia, Austria and Russia, further redistribution of the Congress of Vienna in 1814-1815, Tsarist Russia got most of the Duchy of Warsaw (established the Kingdom of Poland). Polish national liberation uprisings in 1794 (under the leadership of T. Kostyushko), 1830-1831, 1846, 1848, 1863-1864 were suppressed.

In August 1918, the Soviet government annulled contracts of the imperial government about partitions, and in November 1918, Poland got the independence and proclaimed as a republic. March 18, 1921 in Riga was signed a peace treaty between Soviet Russia and Poland, which also fixed outcomes of the Soviet-Polish war of 1919-1920.

September 1, 1939, Nazi Germany started World War II by attacks on Poland and occupied most of the country. September 17, 1939, the Red Army entered the territory of Western Ukraine and Western Belarus, which were the part of Poland.

In May 1945, the territory of Poland was completely liberated by the Red Army and the Polish Army. In battles for the liberation of Poland were killed over 600 thousand Soviet soldiers and officers. As a result of the Second World War, Poland had lost almost 40% of the national patrimony and more than 6 million people (the fifth of the population). The border in the west was established along the Oder-Neisse line, in the east – along the so-called "Curzon Line" with small deviations for benefit of Poland.

After the war, the country was declared the construction of a socialist society under the leadership of the Polish United Workers' Party (PUWP). The National Republic was a member of the CMEA and the Warsaw Pact Organization until the termination of their activities. In 1993, Russian troops were withdrawn from Poland.

The change of regime in Poland at the end of the 1980-ies was preceded by long internal political struggle, led by the opposition movement "Solidarity". In 1981, the country was placed under martial law, which lasted until 1983. Principles of the present organization of society were formulated in 1989, after negotiations of "Round Table" between the main political forces. In June 1989, were held first free elections. The official name of the Polish state from December 31, 1989 is the Republic of Poland.