Periods of Polish history

The history of Poland from the baptism of Mieszko I to today, period by period. A period ends where the state’s borders change: each one covers the years in which the map of Poland stays the same.

1. 960–1024 The Baptism of Poland

   Mieszko I, ruler of the Polans, holds Greater Poland, Kuyavia and Mazovia, and in 966 accepts baptism from Bohemia.

2. 1025–1137 The Early Piast Monarchy

   Bolesław the Brave is crowned in 1025, but the crown does not hold: Poland is a kingdom only in 1025–31 and 1076–79, and a duchy for the rest of the century.

3. 1138–1319 Fragmentation

   Bolesław Wrymouth’s will divides the realm among his sons.

4. 1320–1384 The Reunited Kingdom

   Władysław the Elbow-high is crowned in 1320 and reassembles the core of the state.

5. 1385–1568 Union with Lithuania

   The Union of Krewo (1385) joins Poland to Lithuania through the marriage of Jadwiga and Jogaila, creating one of the largest states in Europe at the time.

6. 1569–1771 The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

   The Union of Lublin (1569) creates a single state with an elected king and a powerful parliament — a constitution with no European parallel.

7. 1772–1792 The First Partition

   Russia, Prussia and Austria take close to a third of the territory.

8. 1793–1794 The Second Partition

   The war in defence of the Constitution of 3 May is lost, and Russia and Prussia take more than half of what was left; Austria takes no part this time.

9. 1795–1806 Poland Erased from the Map

   The Third Partition abolishes the Commonwealth.

10. 1807–1814 The Duchy of Warsaw

    Napoleon carves a satellite state out of the Prussian partition, with a constitution, a civil code and an army of its own.

11. 1815–1863 The Congress Kingdom

    The Congress of Vienna creates a Kingdom of Poland in personal union with the tsar — with a constitution, a parliament, an army, a currency and a university.

12. 1864–1915 The Vistula Land

    After the January Uprising the Kingdom loses everything but its name: its separate institutions are dismantled between 1864 and 1874, and officials increasingly call it the Vistula Land — ten governorates of the Russian Empire.

13. 1916–1917 The Regency Kingdom

    Russia loses its partition in 1915.

14. 1918–1938 The Second Republic

    After 123 years Poland returns to the map.

15. 1939–1940 Two Occupations

    Germany attacks on 1 September, the USSR on 17 September.

16. 1941–1944 German Occupation

    Germany’s attack on the USSR in June 1941 hands it the whole of pre-war Poland; Eastern Galicia is added to the General Government.

17. 1945–1988 People’s Poland

    Yalta and Potsdam shift Poland several hundred kilometres west: it loses the eastern borderlands, gains Silesia and Pomerania, and millions of people are resettled.

18. 1989–2026 The Third Republic

    The Round Table talks and the partly free election of 4 June 1989 end communist rule.