The document outlines key events in Polish history from the arrival of Slavic tribes in the 4th century AD to modern times. It discusses periods such as the establishment of the Polish state in the 10th century, partitions by neighboring powers in the 18th century, World Wars I and II, communism, and the transition to democracy in 1989. The text also recommends historical films that help foreigners understand events that influenced Polish identity and culture.

1. by
Anna Widzińska and Małgorzata Zoń

2. Introduction
• Each country has its own culture and its own history. The
way people behave and perceive the World is often a
result of both of these aspects. It is not enough then to
learn about the culture ignoring the history of the country
and all the events that might have influenced the
mentality of the nation. Therefore, the aim of this project
is to briefly present Polish history and historical films that
may help foreigners understand Polish past and
therefore become a tool of intercultural communication.

3. Time line
966

4. Before Christianisation (966)
Between IV and V c. AD the Sarmatians and the Slavs came to
inhabit parts of Poland in the place of the Germanic tribes. Most probably
between VI/ VII c. the Slavic tribes spread to the West and North from the
line of the upper Vistula. Later, on the territories between the Oder and the
Bug River the Slavic peoples created several tribal organisms.
The most important Polish tribes were Polans, Masovians,
Vistulans, Silesians and Pomeranians. These tribes lived in the territories
that became Polish from around the mid-7th century to the creation of the
Polish state by the Piast dynasty. However, it was not until the year 966
when the current headman of Poland, Mieszko I, became a Christian and
was followed by his people. This act strengthened the position of Poland
among other European countries and led to the coronation of the first
Polish king - Boleslaw I, the Brave .

5. ”An Ancient Tale: When the Sun Was a God” (2003)
directed by Jerzy Hoffman
• An Ancient Tale: When the Sun Was a God takes place
in pre-Christian Poland, when various Slavic tribes lived
separately in lands that would later become Poland; at a
time when each tribe worshipped its own god – time of
cruel princes, revenge and fight for domination.
• Watch: http://youtu.be/BIs5ls9XwYQ

6. Time line
966
1410

7. The Medieval Period – the Battle of Grunwald
(1410)
Mieszko’s descendants continued to rule Poland for three centuries. The last of the
Piast Dynasty, Casimir the Great, is said to have found a Poland made of wood and
left one made of stone for he built hundreds of castles around the country to protect
it. He is also known for inviting Jews to come and settle in Poland under his
protection.
After Casimir’s death the throne passed to his nephew’s daughter, Jadwiga.
As a monarch of Poland, she married the Great Duke of Lithuania, Wladyslaw
Jagiello thus joining the nations in a union known as the Polish-Lithuanian
Commonwealth.
In the meantime, the north of Poland became the Prussian state of the
Teutonic Knights, a powerful German monastic order. The order tried to expand
their territory at the cost of Poland and Lithuania. In time, this led to the biggest
battle of the Middle Ages, that of Grunwald in 1410.

8. ”Knights of the Teutonic Order” (1960)
directed by Aleksander Ford
• The plot is situated in the late-14th century and early-
15th century Poland and centres around the Polish–
Lithuanian–Teutonic War and the final Battle of
Grunwald. It is based on the novel of the same title
written by Henryk Sienkiewicz.
It was released on 15 July 1960 on the 550th
anniversary of the battle of Grunwald.
( source: Wikipedia)
• Watch: http://youtu.be/ruivAt3_Tnw

9. Time line
966 1655
1410

10. The Swedish invasion on the Polish and
Lithuanian Commonwealth (1655–1660)
For the next couple of hundred years, the country prospered under the rule
of the Jagiellonian Dynasty, gradually becoming more and more democratic. In
1493 the first bicameral Parliament was elected and the power of monarchy
became restricted. In 1573, at the Confederation of Warsaw, a special Act was
passed that recognized freedom for all to practice their faith without fear of
persecution.
Besides the political changes, in the so-called Golden Age (16th c.) Polish
culture flourished (partly thanks to many Italian artists and architects).
After the last of the Jagiellonian monarchs died childless, the throne
passed to elected kings. One of them was a fervent Catholic brought up in
Lutheran Sweden - Sigismund III. He involved Poland in a series of disastrous
wars with Sweden, known as the Swedish Deluge.

11. ”The Deluge” (1974)
directed by Jerzy Hoffman
• The film is set in the 17th century during
the Swedish invasion of the Polish-Lithuanian
Commonwealth in the years 1655 to 1657, known
as The Deluge, which was eventually thwarted by the
Polish-Lithuanian forces. However, a quarter of the
Polish-Lithuanian population died through war and
plague, and the country's economy was devastated.
( source: Wikipedia)
• Watch: http://youtu.be/i0Ll_hE2aeE

12. Time line
966 1655
1410
1772

13. The Three Partitions (1772, 1793 and 1795)
Three partitions which took place in the 2nd half of the 18th century ended
the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. It resulted in the elimination
of sovereign Poland for 123 years. The partitions were perpetrated by the Russian
Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia and Habsburg Austria, which divided up the
Commonwealth lands among themselves progressively in the process of territorial
seizures.
The First Partition of Poland, which the Poles proved incapable of resisting,
was decided in 1772. Two decades later, Russian and Prussian troops entered
Poland again and the Second Partition was signed in 1793. Austria did not
participate in the Second Partition. The Third Partition of Poland took place in 1795,
as soon as the Polish Kosciuszko Uprising was defeated. With this partition, the
independent Polish state ceased to exist.
There were two major rebellions to regain independence in the 19th century:
in 1830-31 the November Uprising and in 1863 the January Uprising. Unfortunately
for the Poles, they both were unsuccessful.

14. Time line
966 1655 1918
1410 1772

15. Independence of Poland (1918-1939)
However, the yearning for independance was never ebbed.
The opportunity came with the outbreak of World War I. In the first
days of November 1918, the Poles liberated themselves and on the 11th
of November under the leadership of Marshal Jozef Pilsudski, they
proclaimed their independence. During the twenty-one years of
independence the Poles succeeded in their efforts of the reconstruction
of their independent state.

16. ”Battle of Warsaw 1920” (2011)
directed by Jerzy Hoffman
• Soon after the end of World War I the Polish-Soviet war broke out,
the decisive battle of which is known as the Battle of Warsaw or
the Miracle at the Vistula. It took place in 1920; its stunning
reversal and unexpected Polish victory crippled the Red Army and is
believed to stop Soviets from seizing the rest of Europe.
• The film’s plot is based on Poland's winning battle against Soviet
Russia as seen through the eyes of two young protagonists, Ola and
Jan. She is a Warsaw cabaret dancer, while he is a cavalry officer
and poet who believes in socialist ideals.
( source: Internet Movie Database)
• Watch: http://youtu.be/DstyaGotWFM

17. Time line
966 1655 1918
1410 1772
1939

18. World War II (1939-1945)
World War II opened with the German Nazi invasion of Poland on
September 1, 1939. The Polish Army was defeated after over a month of
fighting. After Poland had been overrun, a government-in-exile (headquartered in
London), armed forces, and an intelligence service were established outside of
Poland. These organizations contributed to the Allied effort throughout the war.
Notable was the service of the Polish Air Force in the Allied victory in the Battle
of Britain.
The main resistance force in German-occupied Poland was the Armia
Krajowa ("Home Army"; "AK") and an underground ultra-nationalist resistance
force called Narodowe Siły Zbrojne ("National Armed Forces”).
The Warsaw Uprising of 1944 was a major operation by the Polish Home
Army (AK) to liberate Warsaw from Nazi Germany. However, the Germans
demolished the city and defeated the Polish resistance, which fought for 63 days
with little outside support.

19. The Nazis were responsible for The Holocaust, the killing of approximately 6
million Jews, as well as 2 million ethnic Poles and 4 million others who were
deemed "unworthy of life" as part of a programme of deliberate extermination.
About 12 million, most of whom were Eastern Europeans, were employed in the
German war economy as forced labourers. German concentration camps
included: Dachau, Auschwitz-Birkenau, and Majdanek (KL Lublin). The
aforementioned two camps were situated in Poland.

20. ”Days of Honor” (broadcasted since 2008)
• Days of honor is a feature about a shortened youth,
stormy passions, struggle in the name of freedom, and
betrayal, actuated by deceit and fear. This is a story of
those whom the war changed everything: took away their
families, sense of security, tested their character and
male pride many a time, but never dashed their hopes
and appetite for life.
(source: http://dystrybusja.tvp.pl)
• Watch: http://youtu.be/dBfLlBt1roo

21. Time line
966 1655 1918
1410 1772
1939-45

22. Postwar reality (1945-1946)
The end of the war did not mean the end of
problems. Warsaw and some other Polish towns were
destroyed. People lost their homes and families. The
time of relocation of millions of people began. Polish
people had to leave their homes in the east and to
settle in the former German and new Polish territory in
the north and west. Jews came back to Poland from
the Soviet Union and elsewhere. The operation
‘Vistula’ forced many Ukrainians to leave their homes
in eastern Poland and to move to the west and north.
Also, the end of the war did not equal the
return of sovereignty and independence. As a result of
the agreements reached by Churchill, Roosevelt and
Stalin at Yalta, Poland was consigned to the Soviet
sphere of influence and thereby to the Communist
rule.

23. ”Róża” [Rose] (2011)
directed by Wojciech Smarzowski
• In summer 1945 Tadeusz Mazur, an officer of the Armia Krajowa and
veteran of the Warsaw uprising, moves to Masuria, a region in former
German East Prussia, which became part of Poland as a result of
the Potsdam Agreement after World War II. He visits Róża, a widow of a
German Wehrmacht soldier whose death Tadeusz had witnessed, to hand
over her husband’s possessions. While Róża is regarded a German by the
new Polish authorities, thus facing her expulsion, Tadeusz wants her to
declare her Polish nationality as many Masurians did in a "humiliating
nationality verification procedure”. She invites Tadeusz to stay at her farm to
protect her against marauders and the brutal rapes she had previously
experienced in the lawless atmosphere of postwar Masuria.
(source: Wikipedia)
• Watch: http://youtu.be/vV7OW7BmoJU

24. Time line
966 1655 1918 1989
1410 1772 1939-45

25. Communism
People’s Republic of Poland was created behind the Iron Curtain. At
that time, the life of the Poles was under severe control. There was no free
expression, much regimentation, a lack of consumer goods. The Secret
Police was everywhere and each form of uprising was suppressed by
military forces.
In August 1980, the shipyard workers in Gdansk led by Lech Wałęsa,
reacting to Poland’s spiralling economic decline called a strike. The
government agreed on the formation of a national union movement,
Solidarity. However, in December 1981, General Wojciech Jaruzelski
declared the state of Marshal Law and Solidarity was outlawed.
It was the year 1989 that brought the final turn in Polish political
situation. The Round Table Talks resulted in semi-free elections won by
Solidarity. In 1990 the Communist Party dissolved itself and in 1991 new,
totally free elections took place.

26. ”Man of Iron” (1981)
directed by Andrzej Wajda
• The film continues the story of Maciej Tomczyk, the son of
Mateusz Birkut, the protagonist of Wajda's earlier film, Man of
Marble. Here, Maciej is a young worker involved in the anti-
Communist labour movement, described as "the man who
started the Gdańsk Shipyard strike”. The other film character
is a journalist working for the Communist regime's radio
station, who is given a task of slandering Maciej. The young
man is clearly intended as a parallel to Lech Wałęsa (who
appears as himself in the movie).
(source: Wikipedia)
• Watch: http://youtu.be/B7GU98L4Ml0

27. Time line
966 1655 1918 1989
1410 1772 1939-45

28. Modern times
In 1978 a Polish cardinal became the Pope known as John Paul II. The
situation had a great impact on the Polish society. The Pope became an
authority until his death in 2005.
Since 1989 Poland has undergone serious political and economic
changes which have determined the conditions of the Polish society. During this
period the level of education and living conditions have significantly improved.
Yet, people struggle with other problems e.g. unemployment and the negative
population growth. The latter phenomenon results mostly from young people’s
postponement to start a family due to economic reasons.
After 2004, when Poland became a member of the European Union,
more and more Polish people (including well-educated persons) emigrated to
other EU countries in search of better working opportunities. It is estimated that
over 2 million of Polish citizens live and work abroad.

29. ”Karol: The Pope, the Man” (2005)
by Giacomo Battiato
• The film chronicling Pope John Paul II's life as
pope, from October 22, 1978's papal
inauguration to his death in 2005. It is the sequel
to the TV miniseries Karol: A Man Who Became
Pope, which portrayed John Paul's life before
the papacy.
(source: Wikipedia)
• Watch: http://youtu.be/rvjwY74pu-o

30. You can read more in:
Bubczyk, R. (2011) A History of Poland in Outline.
Lublin: Wydawnictwo UMCS.
Lukowski, J. and Zawadzki H. (2006) A Concise History of
Poland. Cambridge: CUP.
Davies, N. (2003) God’s Playground: A History of Poland.
Oxford: OUP.

31. Bonus: An Animated History of Poland
(EXPO 2010, Shanghai)
http://youtu.be/2DrXgj1NwN8

32. Discussion
1. Think about important events in the
history of your country and songs or films
commemorating them.
2. What are the benefits and possible
threats of promoting one’s culture through
art?