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Independent Polish State
After more than a century of foreign rule, an independent Polish state is restored after the end of the First World War. -
Nazi Germany Invasion
Nazi Germany invades, starting the Second World War. Germany and the Soviet Union divide Poland between them and treat Poles with extreme brutality. Germany builds concentration camps whose names - Auschwitz, Treblinka, Majdanek - become synonymous with the Holocaust. -
Soviet forces drive German forces from Poland
Soviet forces drive German forces from Poland, whose borders are set by Potsdam conference; Poland loses territory to the Soviet Union but gains some from Germany. -
Poland becomes a Communist People's Republic
After Soviet-run elections and subsequently joins the Soviet-run Warsaw Pact military alliance. -
Karol Wojtyla's Election as Pope
Cardinal of Krakow, is elected Pope. -
Disturbances at the shipyard in Gdansk
Lead to the emergence of the Solidarity trade union under Lech Walesa, and the imposition of martial law. -
Round-table talks between Solidarity, the Communists and the Catholic Church
Round-table talks between Solidarity, the Communists and the Catholic Church pave the way for fall of communism in Poland. Partially free elections see landslide win for Solidarity, which helps form coalition government. Tadeusz Mazowiecki becomes the first non-Communist Polish prime minister since 1946. -
Lech Walesa elected president
Lech Walesa elected president. Market reforms, including large-scale privatisation, are launched. -
First parliamentary elections since fall of communism
Soviet troops start to leave. -
Poland becomes part of the EU
Poland is one of 10 new states to join the EU.