[[quoteright:328:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pl-map.gif]]

->''"Poland is a major exporter of great Americans, great Israelis, and great Russians."''\\
-- '''Anonymous'''

->''"For centuries, Poland has been known specifically for two things: badass spicy sausages, and [[TheChewToy getting epically fucked over by every other European nation]] in every possible way."''\\
-- ''[[BadassOfTheWeek www.badassoftheweek.com]]''

->''"And now we're gonna play a trick on the Poles and put them between Russia and Germany."''\\
-- '''{{God}}''' ([[http://img.interia.pl/rozrywka/nimg/Niebo_1643125.jpg as seen here]])

Poland. The picked-on kid with glasses of the European school playground, but it hasn't always been.

!!History

'''Early history'''

Poland arose when the West Slavic tribes of the region were united by the Piast dynasty of the Polans around about 1000, cleverly alternating between placating [[HolyRomanEmpire the German emperors]] and going behind their backs. Perhaps the most globally notable event of first two or three centuries of Poland's existence happened during a period of political fragmentation, when one of Polish regional princes [[WhatAnIdiot invited]] TheTeutonicKnights to help him against the pagan Prussians. It later became quite a nuisance, so to say. Reunified Poland, in dire need for allies, became associated with Lithuania. As the last pagan country in Europe, it also had a problem with the Knights, until Grand Duke Jogaila accepted the Polish crown, baptized himself and his realm (thus nullifying the reason of the Order's very presence) and became king Władysław of Poland. Together both countries broke the power of the Order. Over time Lithuania eventually merged with Poland, forming the [[TheFederation Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth]]. Together, Poland and Lithuania ruled over an enormous, immensely powerful and rich empire.

'''The Golden Age'''

[[TheCavalierYears The XVIth and XVIIth Centuries]] are known as, respectively, the Golden Age and the Silver Age of Polish history. Above all, this period is remembered for "Golden Liberty", when [[ElectiveMonarchy kings were elected]] and the franchise included 10% of the population, by far the most inclusive franchise in Europe until the end of the eighteenth century. The King had to share power with the Sejm, or the assembly (not to be confused with Senate, which was a separate upper House), which was itself controlled by the great noble houses (called magnates). The Commonwealth was also known for its religious tolerance (letting, for instance, Jews live more or less in peace when most countries reveled in senseless persecution), at a time when religious wars were consuming the rest of Europe. At its height, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was the largest country by land area in Europe. The Commonwealth in this period is also known for fielding the completely [[{{Badass}} awesome]] [[http://whiskeywolf.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/husaria4zpar7.jpg winged]] [[http://www.badassoftheweek.com/hussars.html hussars]].

Just for the record -- the Commonwealth is one of those complicated cases of historical countries that stubbornly refuse to fit into modern views of state and nationality. Until the Constitution of 3rd May, it was legally a union of two countries, Kingdom of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The nobility of the Grand Duchy became for the most part Polonized, but the lower classes were too busy surviving to bother with that fashion, and later nation-builders had to start from the common folk to create anything not Polish; the nobles themselves preferred to identify as "the Noble nation". Thus, Poles see Poland as the successor to all of the Commonwealth, in spite of differences between the two parts, not to mention Ukraine. Lithuanians picture Lithuania as the successor to Grand Duchy, even though ethnic Lithuanians were actually a minority in a country mostly made of modern-day Belarus, and (due to assimilation) their upper classes were culturally Polish anyway. Ukrainians consider themselves descendants of the Ruthenian population of the region, particularly those who formed the Cossack Host, even though the Cossacks themselves were at least as much [[{{Pirates}} an occupation]] as an ethnic group. Belarussians had all of their upper classes assimilated, or killed off by Hitler and Stalin, so nobody was left to argue it's not just a swampy small part of Russia. All of the latter three, somewhat expectedly, also tend to see Poland as a sort of BigBrotherBully.

'''The loss of independence'''

But let's now come back to politics. Golden Liberty was a great inspiration for the American Revolution, but it had a flaw, to which we owe the existence of a strong US Presidency: any one noble could block laws (the ''Liberum Veto'' with which ''EuropaUniversalis'' players may be familiar), so as soon as one person got bribed by Russia, Prussia, or Austria, the country was in their hands. The Poles got tired of this at about the time of Washington and passed a new constitution, very progressive for the day (the second modern-type written constitution of a sovereign state in history,[[note]]The modern-type constitutions of some US states--including the influential Constitution of Massachusetts--came even before the federal one, but American states have never been accepted subjects of international law (even under the Articles of Confederation, foreign affairs duties were assigned to the otherwise-laughable central government). Some also point out that Corsica had a Constitution during its attempt at independence, even before the US.[[/note]] inspired by the American constitution). Russia, Prussia, and Austria, the "three black eagles", decided that enough was enough and partitioned the country between them.

Poles in Austria generally enjoyed the right to speak their language and quite a bit of self-rule, and were fairly supportive of the Habsburgs (even today, Emperor Franz Josef is remembered fondly in southern Poland, while praising other rulers of the "three black eagles" would make Poles twitch); this was also partly due to the fact that the Catholic Habsburgs much preferred the Catholic Poles to the Orthodox Ukrainians who also lived in Austria's chunk of Poland. Poles in Prussia were, at first, well-treated (Frederick the Great required the heir to the throne to be fluent in Polish, although this was never really implemented). After the NapoleonicWars, borders were shuffled and the smaller number of Poles left in Prussia were often in ethnically-mixed areas such as Upper Silesia and found their circumstances changed drastically for the worse, especially after the abolition of their autonomy in 1848. Political hardship (like Bismarck's efforts at Germanification, mainly by settler colonialism), rather than breaking the Prussian Poles, substantially strengthened their national identity and spirit, but economic hardship compelled many of them to move to the thriving Rhineland (where they were a much smaller minority) or to the Americas.

The Russian Tsars really didn't like Poles, partly due to the fact that Russia had been virtually prostrate before Polish economic and military power in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and so, after they were finally victorious, the Russians went out of their way to punish the Poles under their rule. Not surprising, then, that the Poles tried, several times, to regain their independence (not counting the rioting during the Revolution of 1905). The first big time, the November Uprising, they actually had something of a chance, as the Russian part of Poland was technically autonomous and in personal union with Russia (known as Congress Poland), and as such had a halfway decent military. Unfortunately, the Uprising was botched from the beginning. Not surprisingly, the Russians took further steps to eliminate the Polish threat, which meant that the second big uprising, the January Uprising, was restricted to guerilla warfare and ended in tragedy, and [[NiceJobBreakingItHero the abolition of Polish autonomy]], with many Poles being [[ReassignedToAntarctica sent to Siberia]]. [[hottip:*:Interestingly enough, many of these Poles became great explorers of Siberia -- as commemorated by Chersky Range, though it actually wasn't discovered by Jan Czerski himself.]]

'''Twentieth Century'''

So during WW1, many Poles, including future leaders such as [[BadassMoustache Pilsudski]] and Sikorski, joined Austro-Hungarian forces (though there was a Russian-loyal faction, led by a Nationalist leader Roman Dmowski[[hottip:*:the Nationalists adhered to a sort of political darwinism, believing that stronger cultures inevitably take over the weaker ones. In this case they expected that Polish culture and Poles, given time, will ultimately take over Russia, while risking the same from well-organised Germans]]) and helped the Central Powers to establish a puppet Polish Kingdom in former Russian territory, as the lesser of two evils. If sent to the western front, they usually deserted to join the [[LegionOfLostSouls French Foreign Legion]]. After the war, Piłsudski and his people founded a new, independent Poland which miraculously managed to defeat the Soviets in the PolishSovietWar against terrible, terrible odds. This defeat convinced the Soviets that they weren't in any shape to spread their revolution, which kept them bottled up for about thirty years.

Immediately after the collapse of the Russian Empire resulted in the renewed independence of most of the former Commonwealth, Poland laid claim to the Lithuanian city of Vilnius,[[hottip:*:''both'' home to many Poles (among them Piłsudski's himself) '''and''' the long-standing Lithuanian capital]] leading to a war between the former allies. The Ukrainians who had invited the Poles in to rescue them from the Reds found that Warsaw, ultimately, had none of their best interests at heart (Piłsudski personally was very ashamed by this). The new Poland's German minority also suffered. Poland ended up suffered from a sluggish economy, many and powerful enemies, and deep internal tensions between Poles, Lithuanians, Belarusians, Ukrainians, Germans, and Jews, which became even more severe after a military coup and the establishment of the [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast "Government of Moral Sanitation"]].

Hard as it might have been to imagine, [[WorldWarII in 1939]], things got even worse.

'''The War'''

DuringTheWar, Poland suffered possibly the most brutal occupation in the world. The Holocaust was carried out there, and it was the official intention of the Nazis to plunder Poland and starve it to death. Contrary to popular wisdom, the Poles [[DavidVersusGoliath fought brilliantly against overwhelming odds]], [[YouShallNotPass never surrendered]], and even when [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder stabbed in the back]] by the Commies, [[IShallReturn escaped to fight another day]]. The cavalry charging tanks was a myth, by the way; the incident that inspired this story involved a Polish cavalry division (actually mounted infantry, like most cavalry of the time, though with traditions and training) which routed a German infantry division but was counter-attacked by armoured cars. Additionally, while some Polish cavalry units ''did'' deliberately engage German armor, they did so dismounted while wielding [[BigFreakingGun anti-tank rifles]].

The Poles didn't take occupation lying down. As well as [[LaResistance organising a resistance movement]], tens of thousands of Polish men escaped from the country and [[GovernmentInExile made their way to Britain and France to continue the fight]], forming entire squadrons of airmen and divisions of ground troops. By the end of the war, there were ~250 thousand Poles fighting alongside the Western Allies, with another ~200 thousand aiding the Soviets. Suffice it to say that Poland had more than its fair share of AwesomeMoments during the period.

Poland lost a fifth of its population in the war- ''seven million'' people in all, mostly civilians. Out of a pre-war Jewish population of 3.3 million, only 300,000 survived (Poland's Jewish population were Polish citizens; Israel did not exist until after the war). Most of whom were then [[HappyEndingOverride expelled by the Communists]].

'''Post-War era'''

After the war, the country was taken over by the RedsWithRockets, who kicked millions of Poles out of their ancestral homes, depositing them in former Eastern Germany, where they in turn kicked millions of Germans out of ''their'' ancestral homes, thus accounting for the country's suspiciously straight borders (the western border follows the line of the Oder and Neisse rivers) and the fact that Warsaw, originally chosen as the capital for its central location, is no longer especially central. [[JosephStalin Stalin]] was not a nice guy. Poland suffered long and hard under [[CommieLand deeply incompetent Communist rule]], and eventually Polish people were instrumental in [[TheGreatPoliticsMessUp its downfall]]. [[note]]The Communist rule was contested several times, until finally, almost every opposition group coalesced under the banner of Solidarity - an independent, spontaneously formed ''labour union''. This is especially notable, as it means Communism became [[DeaderThanDisco utterly discredited]] -- the system that claimed to further the interests of the working class was, essentially, defeated by what has been described as "the last workers' revolution in Europe".[[/note]]

Post-1989, Poland joined {{NATO}} and UsefulNotes/TheEuropeanUnion. The latter led to a large movement of Poles to the UK and caused a Polish plumber scare in France. Poland, along with Ukraine, hosted Euro football championships in 2012. The games' overwhelmingly positive reception came off as a shock to many Poles, who by then were used to thinking of their country as one big international humiliation.

Home of the trade unionist with the impressive moustache (who became President) and formerly had identical twins as its President and Prime Minister. Also home of a very famous and popular former [[ThePope pontiff]].

!!Polish language
[[folder:Polish language]]

Polish is a West Slavic language, a group which also includes Czech and Slovak and a number of minority languages. [[hottip:*: Sorbian, Silesian (disputed) and Kashubian, not counting the extinct.]] It is the most spoken member of the group and the second-most spoken Slavic language, with 40 million native speakers (38 million in Poland itself) and over a million second language speakers (no exact figure exists).

Brace yourself now, 'cause you're in for a hell of a ride.

Polish language is hard, meaning it is both hard to learn and pronounce. It has many "hard" consonants like:
* s ('''s'''now; '''s'''izzle)
* ś (similar to 'sz', but softer; '''sh'''ow)
* z ('''z'''oo)
* ź (like 'z', but soft; lei'''s'''ure)
* ż (mira'''ge''', like 'dż', but longer; in transcription from Cyrillic this sound is rendered as "zh")
* sz ('''sh'''ampoo)
* cz (tou'''ch''')
* t ('''t'''one)
* c ('''c'''ent; schni'''tz'''el)
* ć ('''chi'''cken, often transliterated as 'ti')
* dż ('''j'''ournal)
* dź ('''ji'''ngle)
* k ('''k'''ite)
* g ('''g'''un)

The vowels are read like in Spanish.
Sample words:
* ''strzelać'' (pronounced: [s t sz e l a ć]) - to shoot
* ''bezwzględny'' (notice 5 consonants in a row) - ruthless (if describing a person) or absolute (if a scientific term)
* ''gżegżółka'' ([g że g ż ó ł ka]) - a folk name for a cuckoo, and a sadist's favourite spelling bee challenge
* ''Grzegorz Brzęczyszczykiewicz'' ([g ż e g o ż, b ż en cz y sz cz y ki e vi cz]) - a Polish name (the first name meaning: Gregory, last name means something similar to 'buzzing')
** To clarify, this isn't actually a popular name; it was used as a gag in a Polish comedy movie and became somewhat of a meme since then.
*** In this gag the protagonist uses the name to confuse a Nazi officer who tries to write down his personal data (along with birth place: Chrząszczyżewoszczyce, powiat Łękołody). [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmgbmysiJH0 Hitlerity ensues]].


Polish language uses several additional letters:
* ć, ś, ż, ź (described above)
* ą ("ow" ''not as in cow''; w'''on''''t)
* ę ("ew" ''not as in screw''; you r'''an'''g?)
* ł ("w"; bo'''w'''l, '''w'''hy)
* ó (like "oo", only short; h'''oo'''t)
* ń (sort of soft "[[Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail Ni]]"; se'''ni'''or)

This means that when you see a Polish word in a generally English text, you can't be sure if it is really written like that, or just the Polish signs were left out. We try to make this article consistent, except for the links. The ą's and ę's tend to mess with namespaces, so they have to be omitted there.

By the way, ż and rz are pronounced the same way, except when "rz" is just "arr"-"zedd". And ó the same as u, and h same as ch. They, however, make a difference in how the word is inflected.

Many Polish words [[TheUnpronounceable are impossible to pronounce]] by non-native speakers. Very few non-natives can speak Polish so fluently that their foreign accent will not be noticed. Polish is considered to be the most difficult of the Slavic languages for English speakers to learn, which is saying something.

Polish children are taught the poem: ''Chrząszcz brzmi w trzcinie w Szczebrzeszynie i Szczebrzeszyn z tego słynie.'' ([[http://i1.kwejk.pl/site_media/obrazki/19145-664dc5be8cc3c9e19d14d1d42f3bd199..jpg The beetle sings in reeds in the city Szczebrzeszyn, which is famous for it.]]) Making foreigners pronounce the poem is a favourite sadistic pastime of Polish people.
The other is making them pronounce the word ''pchła'' (''flea''). [[hottip:*: The rest of Polish sadism towards foreigners consists of bureaucratic activities and as such does not belong here.]]

Polish grammar is even harder than the pronunciation. There are thousands of rules, each with thousands of exceptions. Some (irregular) words do not obey any rule at all. Most meaningful words undergo inflection.

'''Example'''
* ''wycierać'' - to wipe
* ''wycieram'' - I wipe
* ''wycierasz'' - you wipe
* ''wyciera'' - he/she/it wipes
* ''wycieramy'' - we wipe
* ''wycieracie'' - You wipe (plural)
* ''wycierają'' - they wipe
* ''wycierałem'' - I (a man) was wiping
* ''wycierałam'' - I (a woman) was wiping
* ''wycierałeś'' - you (a man) were wiping
* ''wycierałaś'' - you (a woman) were wiping
* ''wycierał'' - he was wiping
* ''wycierała'' - she was wiping
* ''wycierało'' - it was wiping
* ''wycieraliśmy'' - we (men) were wiping
* ''wycierałyśmy'' - we (women) were wiping
* ''wycieraliście'' - You (men) were wiping (plural)
* ''wycierałyście'' - You (women) were wiping (plural)
* ''wycierali'' - they (men) were wiping
* ''wycierały'' - they (women) were wiping
* ''wycieraj'' - wipe!
* ''wycierajmy'' - let's wipe!
* ''wycierajcie'' - wipe! (plural)
* ''wycierałbym'' - I (a man) would wipe
* ''wycierałabym'' - I (a woman) would wipe
* ''wycierałbyś'' - you (a man) would wipe
* ''wycierałabyś'' - you (a woman) would wipe
* ''wycierałby'' - he would wipe
* ''wycierałaby'' - she would wipe
* ''wycierałoby'' - it would wipe
* ''wycieralibyśmy'' - we (men) would wipe
* ''wycierałybyśmy'' - we (women) would wipe
* ''wycieralibyście'' - you (men) would wipe
* ''wycierałybyście'' - you (women) would wipe
* ''wycieraliby'' - they (men) would wipe
* ''wycierałyby'' - they (women) would wipe
* ''wycierający'' - a wiping man
* ''wycierająca'' - a wiping woman
* ''wycierające'' - wiping something
* ''wycierająco'' - impossible to translate, something like: 'wipingly' [[hottip:*:As opposed to other examples, it's here to show how grammar works. Don't expect anyone to describe anything as "wipingly".]]
* ''wycierając'' - while wiping
* ''wycierany'' - a man being wiped
* ''wycierana'' - a woman being wiped
* ''wycierane'' - something being wiped
* ''wycierano'' - something was being wiped

The word ''wycierać'' belongs to classes: imperfect, transitive. Other classes may have different forms. For example, when one wants to say 'I have wiped', he must use the word ''wytrzeć'' (perfect counterpart of ''wycierać'') - the past form: ''wytarłem''. Note that we didn't include the archaic forms of Polish, which are even worse than the modern language.

In short, Polish language runs on ForTheEvulz.

...On the other hand however, Polish spelling is quite simple (almost phonetic) as compared to English (or traditional Chinese).

[[/folder]]

!!Trivia

Where the Brits would make jokes about the stupid Irish, Americans used to make jokes about stupid Poles (Polacks, if you're being ''really'' offensive; [[JerkAss idiot]] journalist Giles Coren recently brought richly-deserved criticism upon himself for using it in an article in which he suggested that Polish expats had no business in Britain because of what their ancestors ''actually didn't'' do to his), but this seems to have died off sometime in TheSeventies, or transferred over to the Brits, since many migrants go to the UK nowadays.

The origin of the stereotype is probably history: the large wave of Polish immigration to the US came after the large wave of German immigration; Germans generally stereotyped the Poles as being a bit slow. Poles also tended to settle where Germans had shown up the generation prior: for instance, the 1850s-80s saw big German immigration to the Great Lakes region, while the 1870s-1920s (ish) saw big Polish immigration to the same area (sidenote: [[TheWindyCity Chicago]] consequently has the world's highest concentration of ethnic Poles outside of Poland). The jokes probably spread from the more-settled Germans to the wider population. In the meantime, some ethnically German Americans continued to use the word "Polack" for "any stupid person"; a few even [[OrphanedEtymology forgot that it was originally a slur]] and have to be embarrassingly corrected by their Polish friends.

Polish gamers infested ''DawnOfWar'' (and several other online games) for a long time, filling it with servers apparently devoted to nationalism (PL PL PL POLSKA, similar to BR) and being really bad at the game. Two things which don't mix very well, by the way - [[MisplacedNationalism if you're so proud of your nationality, it's best not to spam that nationality out]] while you're getting your rear handed to you.

Notes on Poland: On the subject of "things you must know about X country before writing about it":
* It exists.
** There's [[SmallReferencePools more than one major city]].
** Tropes associated with {{Ruritania}} or {{Uberwald}} are unlikely to be accurate.
* Poles' stereotype of their history tends to be one part GloryDays, one part DoomedMoralVictor. And history is {{SERIOUS BUSINESS}}. This is at least partial reason why they're pissy about forgetting that...
** It's not part of Russia. Even though at least two Polish actors are members of the {{Lzherusskie}} Club.
*** By the way, it's not part of Germany either.
** There hasn't been a [[CommieLand Communist]] government since 1989.
*** Although post-communist leftist parties had held power for ten years, they were democratically elected. They are no different that your average social democratic Western party, though. Advocating true communism (or any totalitarian government) is, in fact, forbidden by law.
** TheTeutonicKnights are bad. RonaldReagan is good. In fact, in contrast to like all the rest of Europe, Poles consequently tend to favour hawkish American politicians.
** Similarly, Poland is like the only country outside France where NapoleonBonaparte is adored.
** Locals are quite insistent that Poland is [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial not in Eastern Europe, but Central.]]
** Having said all that -- the history of Poland in the eyes of the Western world tends to be stereotyped in these two ways: either "ButtMonkey of Europe" or "[[IronWoobie plucky little country]]". We hope the history lecture above can rectify this, even if it still focuses on the worse parts.
* As it's not part of Russia, people usually don't speak Russian as a first language or have Russian names. Use Russian in Poland and you might actually offend people.
** Likewise German and Czech, though they're less likely to cause outright offense.
** On the other hand, most Poles will at least ''understand'' one if not all of the above, but won't admit to it.
** To be more precise, most Poles can more or less understand the meaning of the simple sentences (many words stem from the common Slavic roots) but don't expect comprehension of complex ideas and two-way communication in Czech or Russian from people who never learned these languages. However, someone who speaks Czech in particular should have minimal problems learning ''spoken'' Polish in, say, the space of a year, and vice-versa. The writing system might take longer.
** English is now the most widespread foreign language, and the one which young Poles learn in school - perhaps one reason why so many young Poles choose UK or Ireland to work abroad.
** It should be noted that the closer to border with Germany, the more Polish schools choose to teach German as the second foreign language, whenever curriculum allows.
* It's not cold there, except in the winter.
** However, a winter without snow is extremely rare (although it rarely snows all winter long, either). Poland has a climate in between the temperate maritime climate of Britain and France and the temperate continental climate of European Russia, meaning that compared to the UK the summers are hotter (temperatures in the 30s are common and in the low 40s not unheard of) and the winters are colder (sometimes down to -20, the interior temperature of a domestic freezer).
** Conversely, Polish autumn is either absolutely ugly (if it's wet), or one of the most gorgeous sights on this Lord's good red-golden earth.
* [[VodkaDrunkenski Alcoholic drinks other than vodka are available]]. The most popular drink is beer, which includes several brands of very good lager that have lately become popular in the UK.
** Poles' consumption of alcohol is rather unremarkable, when compared in quantity to other European nations. Be wary, though, if you've made Polish friends. They may want to test your strength, [[DrinkingContest If You Know What I Mean]]. The reason for that reputation might be that unlike Britons and their [[BritishPubs casual pub culture]], Poles prefer to drink in binges, when an occasion (e.g. [[ButForMeItWasTuesday Tuesday]]) arises.
* In the first US Presidential debate of 2004, Sen. John Kerry [[NeverLiveItDown did, indeed, forget Poland]]. Poland had about 200 troops in Iraq when the invasion started.
** There was a quite sizable Polish force in Iraq. Another one is serving in Afghan province of Ghazni.
* Poland is the most religious country in Europe, even more so than (fellow Catholic countries) Ireland and Italy.
** Although recent polls have shown that more and more people are simply getting by without thinking about religion at all. While most admit they're Catholic, they do it out of force of habit, or because they have been brought up that way. Fewer and fewer people are attending masses. There is a growing anti-clerical movement which got 10% of the vote during the 2011 parliamentary elections, echoing that trend.
*** But with Poland producing unquestionably the most beloved [[ThePope pope]] of modern times, it's highly unlikely Catholicism will go away completely in Poland any time soon.
** Related to this, Polish politics fall significantly to the right of most all countries in the EU. Its two largest political parties are the Civic Platform (PO), which is more or less neoliberal, pro-European, and certainly not leftist; and Law and Justice ([=PiS=]), which is national-conservative, deeply rooted in Catholicism, and somewhat Eurosceptic. Its leftist parties haven't been contenders since the early 2000s, although the aforementioned anticlericalist movement has a strong social-democratic twist to it. Interestingly, when you look at a map of Poland according to the strength of the two political parties (here's the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wybory_prezydenckie_2010_I_tura_BK.png map for the 2010 Presidential election]]; PO in orange, [=PiS=] in blue) you find that PO's support almost perfectly matches the once-Prussian part, while the rest (formerly Russian and Austrian) are strongholds of [=PiS=]; the main exception is Warsaw, which, while formerly in the Russian part, is the capital and largest city and consequently has a more cosmopolitan, forward-looking culture.
* Poland also has a long, close relationship with Hungary dating back to the Middle Ages. Today, both nations celebrate a Polish-Hungarian Friendship Day.
* Finally, with the country's admission into European Space Agency in late 2012, it can be assumed [[MemeticMutation Poland can into space]].

Here are some minor tropes memetically related to Poland:
* BadassMustache -- Website/{{Cracked}}.com went as far as to claim Poland's fortune is dependent on the quality of her leader's facial hair. (In that case, Poland should be OK for a while--Bronisław Komorowski, the current (figurehead) president, has a respectable mustache.
* BlingOfWar -- the Winged Hussars tend to prop up in period fiction, if not for any other reason, then because you just can't turn down guys looking so crazy.
* ButtMonkey -- yeah, we spoke of it above.

!!See also:
[[index]]
* Main/PolishEducationalSystem
* Main/PolesWithPoleaxes (the Polish military)
* Main/PolishJews - a little entry intended to cast some light on Polish-Jewish reactions.
* PolishSovietWar
* UsefulNotes/SiegeOfVienna
* TheTeutonicKnights

* Main/PolishMedia

!!Famous RealLife Poles:
* Lech Wałęsa - the former President and leader of the Solidarity movement that toppled the Communist rule.
* [[ThePope Pope John Paul II]]
* RomanPolanski
* Marie Curie - nee Maria Skłodowska.
* Nicolaus Copernicus - quite probably he was ethnically German, but was a loyal subject of the Polish king.
** The above is a matter of hot disputes. While Germans often lay their claim to Copernicus, it should be noted that his family name was actually ''Kopernik'' - its more widespread form is due to latinization, quite common in the period.
* Jan Sobieski - the elective King of Poland, who turned the tide of the Ottoman invasion on Europe by reinforcing the besieged Vienna in 1683.
* FryderykChopin - his father was a Frenchman, but he was very much a Pole.
* Zbigniew Brzezinski, Carter's advisor.
* Creator/StanislawLem - SF author, suspected by PhilipKDick not to exist.
** PhilipKDick suspected him of being a group of KGB agents, to be accurate.
* Paweł Edmund Strzelecki - an explorer of large swaths of Australia and a person who named the continent's tallest mountain after...
* Tadeusz Kościuszko - A revolutionary and {{Badass}} enough to be a national hero in four countries - Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, and USA (he founded West Point).
* Kazimierz Pułaski - the creator of USA's cavalry, a general and an American national hero; commemorated since 1929 with his own Memorial Day (11th Oct.), usually treated as a day of Polish-American pride (and consequently a rather Big Deal in areas with large Polish-American populations like UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}}, Greater UsefulNotes/{{Detroit}}, and Wisconsin). Also, owner of a bombastic name by American standards: ''Kazimierz Michał Władysław Wiktor Pułaski herbu Ślepowron''[[hottip:*:''herb'' refers to the family coat of arms]].
* Creator/JosephConrad, whose given name was Jozef Korzeniowski. Wrote in English.
* Zdzisław Beksiński - Surrealist painter.
* Ernest Malinowski - An engineer. Constructed at that time the world's highest railway Ferrocarril Central Andino in the Peruvian Andes in 1871-1876.

And note that almost none of this includes the large number of ethnic Poles who settled outside of Poland and contributed massively there--particularly in the US.
[[/index]]

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: the Polish flag ]]


[[/folder]]

[[folder: ...yes, it's white on top. Don't confuse it with Useful Notes/Indonesia's or Useful Notes/Monaco's, please ]]

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/125px-Flag_of_Poland_svg.png
----