The Republic of Poland is a country in
Eastern Europe, officially the Republic of
Poland (Polish: Rzeczpospolita Polska). Poland’s capital and largest city
is Warsaw.
The Polish descend from the ethnic group of the West Slavic people. In those lands, there was a miscegenation between the Germanic and Slavic people, expanding the occupation by the lands washed by the Warta River. In the 15th and 16th centuries, Poland, united with Lithuania, was one of the major European powers. In 1572, the country entered a long period of decline, culminating in its partition between Russia, Austria and Prussia in 1772, 1793, and 1795.
Poland was again established as a sovereign state after World War I. It was invaded in 1939 by Germany. After World War II, Polish territory suffered a substantial net loss, as the land ceded to the USSR in the east was nearly double that acquired from Germany in the west.
A marked contrast exists between the northern two-thirds of the country and the southern one-third.
