Early history.  In 1795 the more than 200 year old Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth collapsed and Polish territories were partitioned between Prussia, Russia and Austria. That partitioning existed with a short break of eight years when Napoleon I recreated the Polish state as the Duchy of Warsaw in 1807 (revoked at the 1815 Congress of Vienna), until the end of World War I when the Polish people regained their independence.

World War II.  At the outbreak of World War II on 1 September 1939, Nazi Germany and, later in the month, the Soviet Union both invaded Poland. Under the Molotov Ribbentrop Pact the country was divided into two zones, one occupied by Germany, the other that included the eastern provinces, by the Soviet Union. Six million Poles (half of them Jewish), perished in the war, the highest percentage of citizens of any country. The country provided a large contribution of troops to the Allied forces. They were especially prominent in the Italian campaign and at the Battle of Monte Cassino. At the end of World War II, Poland's borders were moved westwards, resulting in a 20% reduction in the size of the country and the migration of millions. The country came under Soviet control as part of the eastern bloc and the People's Republic of Poland was formed in 1952.

Recent history. The formation of the independent trade union Solidarność (Solidarity) in 1980, later to become a political force, ultimately ended the dominance of the Communist party.  In 1989 on the fall of the Communist bloc, Poland regained its independence as a sovereign state and it was the Solidarity candidate, Lech Wałęsa, one year later who was elected the first President of the Third Polish Republic.