Poland - Encyc

Poland is a country in Eastern Europe.

In the late Middle Ages, Poland was very powerful, sprawling from the Ukraine and the Black Sea up into Lithuania. Gradually it was reduced in power as the Ukrainians rebelled, then Poland was attacked from three sides by Germans, Russians, and Austrians. This led to three partitions of Poland, extinguishing the country in the late 18th century. Then, following World War I, Poland was recreated and asserted its independence with a successful war against the Soviet Union.

World War II was started when Nazi Germany invaded Poland, conquering the country in a few weeks in collusion with the Soviet Union. Poles fought in exile through the whole war, famously inflicting heavy casualties on the retreating Germans by closing the Falaise Gap in Normandy, and participating as paratroopers during Operation Market Garden in the Netherlands. As the Soviets liberated Poland the government was not allowed to return to power because the Soviets replaced it with communists. Following the war the borders were adjusted westward, giving Poland large chunks of German territory in exchange for concessions in the east.

Poland was one of the first countries to break free from the Eastern Bloc ? of Soviet satellite states, starting the process with strikes and protests in the late 1980's.