|
The
breakdown of Europe's Eastern Bloc proves that the map of Europe
cannot be redrawn merely to serve political ends. Perhaps no
country illustrates this more clearly than Poland, whose
borders often have been a negotiating tool of the Big Powers.
These cassettes enlighten our understanding of the current drama
in Eastern Europe.
7th
Cent.- Slavic tribes are well settled in Poland.
955 - Otto I of Germany
conquers area later known as Great Poland.
963-992 - Rule of Mieszko I; Poland conquers much
of the Baltic coastline and establishes the city of Gdansk.
992-1025 - Poland is Christianized and Westernized under
Boleslaw the Great.
1237-1240 - Tartars (under Genghis Khan) conquer
Russia,
Hungary, and parts of Poland.
1320 - After two centuries of civil wars, Poland reunited
under Wladyslaw the Short.
1333-1370 - Rule of Casimir III the Great; Poland
thrives while Western Europe's population is halved by the Hundred
Years War, plague, and poor harvests.
1493 - First Polish national parliament, or Sejm, is
assembled. Polish Renaissance emerges.
1543 - Poland's Copernicus
shows that the earth orbits the sun.
17th Cent. - Poland at war, suffers economic
and political decline. Threatened by Russian Cossacks to the
east, Ottoman Empire to the south, and Sweden to the north.
1683 - King Jan III Sobieski rescues Vienna from
Turkish seige. Poland is at height of Golden Age (ca 1580-1700);
largest state in Europe.
1733 - Russians invade Poland; War of Polish Succession.
1772-1795 - Poland is erased from the map of Europe by
Prussia, Austria, and Russia (first Polish Partition, 1792).
1791 - Poland adopts first written constitution
in Europe, second in the world (after the U.S.).
1793 - Russo-Prussian treaty seizes Polish lands (Second
Partition).
1795 - Poland is eradicated as a political entity and
is divided between Russia, Prussia,
and Austria (Third Partition).
1806 - Napoleon defeats Prussia and enters Poland. Duchy
of Warsaw formed in 1807; becomes Congress Kingdom (1814), later
absorbed by Russia.
1830 - Sejm declares a nationalist revolution; Poles
soon flee Russians in "Great Emigration".
1914-1918 - World
War I; Poland is a major battleground. Two million
Poles are impressed into the armies of Russia, Germany, and
Austria. Woodrow Wilson's "Fourteen Points" includes
call for independent Polish state. Poland becomes free (1918).
1919-1921 - Poland defeats Soviet Union after Curzon
Line cease-fire proposal fails.
1932-1945
- Non-aggression pact with Russia (1932 and Germany (1934).
Hitler renounces pact with Poland (1939), agrees with
Russia to partition Poland (Fourth Partition). Germany invades
Poland (Sept. 1), starts World
War II. Poland surrenders to German (Oct. 6).
Three million Polish Jews
killed in the Holocaust. Warsaw destroyed. Ware settlement gives
eastern territory to Poland. Socialist government is installed
in Poland.
1980
- Strike of Solidarity union workers, led by Lech Walesa in
Gdansk. Martial law drives movement underground. 1989 accord
brings free elections.
|
