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At that time Poland consisted mainly of small, unorganized Pagan tribes that were scattered across the region without any central governing body. Poland became an organized state when the Pagan tribes converted to Christianity, Thus the Polish kingdom was established in 1025. Later in 1569 Poland and Lithuania came to an agreement to create an alliance to better protect both group’s interests and increasing protection against any attacks, thus forming the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The creation of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was the biggest political system in Europe in the 15th and 16h centuries, and is said to be one of the first multi-cultural states in Europe (Oleksiak …show more content…
After the First World War Poland had the threat of other countries trying to invade their borders and take land from them. In 1919, Czechoslovakia tried to invade Poland’s borders unsuccessfully as well as Russia during 1919-1921. Things would only get worse for Poland as the 1930’s approached. During 1939, Nazi Germany and Communist Russia held a secret meeting to discuss the future of this new Polish State. The two countries devised a plan that during the war the two countries would split Poland, Germany from the west and Russia to the east. The rise to Power of Nazi Germany and the outbreak of the Second World War had a catastrophic effect on the country of Poland. On 01 September 1939, Germany invaded Poland from the rest. Consequently, at the same time, Russia invaded Poland from the East. The Polish Army was forced to retreat into Hungary and Romania. By 29 September, the capital of Poland had fallen. During World War II, over three million ethic Jews living in Poland would be killed in addition to the three million ethic Poles that would be killed. Poland was now once again divided up and absorbed into other countries with Nazi Germany controlling the West and Communist Russia controlling the East. Poland’s population was decreased by 25 percent due to the aftermath of World War II, consequently, communism was also imposed on the Polish people, which would leave its mark on the country