The Polish nation started to form itself into a recognizable unitary territorial entity around the middle of the 10th century. Poland’s golden age occurred in the 16th century during its union with Lithuania in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The citizens of Poland took pride in their ancient freedoms and parliamentary system, though the Szlachta (legally privileged noble class) monopolized the benefits thereof. Since that time Poles have regarded freedom as their most important value. Poles often call themselves the Nation of the free people.

In mid-17th century a rebellion of cossacks led by Bohdan Chmielnicki ushered in the turbulent time of The Deluge. Numerous wars against Turkey, Russia, Sweden, Transylvania and Brandenburg-Prussia ultimately came to an end in 1699. During the following 80 years, the waning of the central government and deadlock of the institutions weakened the nation, leading to dependency on Russia. The Enlightenment in Poland fostered a growing national movement to repair the state, resulting in the first written constitution in Europe. The process of reforms ceased with the partitions of Poland between Russia, Prussia, and Austria in 1772, 1793 and 1795; these ultimately completely dissolved Poland. Poles resented their shrinking freedoms and several times rebelled against their oppressors.

After the Napoleonic wars a reconstituted Polish state, the Duchy of Warsaw, ruled by the Russian tsar as a Congress Kingdom, possessed a liberal constitution. However, the Russian tsars soon reduced Polish freedoms and Russia eventually de facto annexed the country. Later in the 19th century, Austrian-ruled Galicia became the oasis of Polish freedom. During World War I all the Allies agreed on the restitution of Poland that United States President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed in point 13 of his Fourteen Points. Shortly after the surrender of Germany in November 1918, Poland regained its independence as the Second Polish Republic. A new threat, Soviet aggression, arose in the 1919 (Polish-Soviet War), but Poland succeeded in defending its independence.

The Second Polish Republic lasted until the start of World War II when Germany and the Soviet Union split the Polish territory between them (September 27 1939). Poland suffered greatly in this period. Of all the countries involved in the war, Poland lost the highest percentage of its citizens: over 6 million perished, half of them Polish Jews. Poland’s borders shifted westwards; pushing the eastern border to the Curzon line and the western border to the Oder-Neisse line. After the shift Poland emerged smaller by 76 000 km sq. or by 20% of its pre-war size. The shifting of borders also involved the migration of millions of people of different nationalities. Eventually, Poland became, for the first time in history, an ethnically unified country.

The victory of the Soviet Union brought a new communist government to Poland, analogously to much of the rest of Central Europe. In 1948 a turn towards Stalinism brought in the beginning of the next period of totalitarian rule. In 1956 the regime became more liberal, freeing many people from prison and expanding some personal freedoms.

Labor turmoil in 1980 led to the formation of the independent trade union, “Solidarity”, which over time became a political force. It eroded the dominance of the Communist Party; by 1989 it had triumphed in parliamentary elections, and a Solidarity candidate eventually won the presidency.

A shock therapy program during the early 1990s enabled the country to transform its economy into one of the most robust in Central Europe. Despite the regression in levels of social and economic human rights standards, numerous improvements in other human rights standards occurred (free speech, functioning democracy and the like). Poland as the first among post-communist countries regained pre-1989 GDP level. Poland joined the NATO alliance in 1999.

Following a massive advertising campaign by the government in favor of joining the European Union, Polish voters voted yes to the EU in a referendum in June 2003. Poland joined the European Union on 1 May 2004.