INTRODUCTION
Modern Polish History
Between 1795 and 1918 Poland disappeared to Europe. At the end of World War I Poland re-emerged as an independent state only to be dominated by the Nazi regime in 1939. In 1944, at the Conferences of Teheran, Yalta and Potsdam, it was decided to return Poland to its medieval boundaries. This major border adjustment allowed Poles to occupy 120 miles westward forcing them to expel German occupants and recover land they had lost 600 years before. Negatively, other lands that had been occupied by Poland for 600 years were taken away. The devastation of World War II on Poland was great. The war took the lives of nearly six million Poles and material losses equivalent to 50 billion US dollars (History of Poland).
The years following Poland were extremely difficult. In 1956, Wladyslaw Gomulka, a moderate "national Communist" came to power, initiating the period known as "The Thaw." As economic prosperity increased, Polish citizens demanded......
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Approximate Word Count: 934
Approximate Pages: 4 (260 words per double-spaced page) |