Description
The second edition of this guide to Poland has been updated to take account of the years from 1989–2005. This period marked its liberation from the Soviet Union, the birth of Poland's 'Third Republic' and, recently, its accession to the European Union in 2004. Poland's history has been marked by its resilience. Once a dominant force in central and eastern Europe and home to a remarkable experiment in consensual politics, it was excised from the map by its neighbours in 1795. Resurrected in 1918, partitioned afresh during the Second World War, it survived to become a satellite of the Soviet Union. Yet in the 1980s, it was Poland which blazed the trail in casting off communism, and was finally able to reassert its Christian heritage. With its updated bibliography and new chronology, the book is the ideal companion for all looking for a comprehensive survey of this fascinating country.
Table of Contents
Preface; Note on Polish pronunciation; List of illustrations; List of maps; Part I. Poland to 1795: 1. Piast Poland, ?–1385; 2. Jagiellonian Poland, 1385–1572; 3. The commonwealth of the two nations, 1572–1795; Part II. Poland after 1795: 4. Challenging the partitions, 1795–1864; 5. An era of transformation, 1864–1914; 6. Independence regained and lost, 1914–45; 7. Communism and the Cold War, 1945–89; 8. A new republic 1989–; Genealogical charts of Polish rulers; Lists of heads of state, presidents, communist party leaders, 1918–2000; Bibliography.
