Information about PolandPoland’s territory extends across several geographical regions. In the northwest is the Baltic seacoast, which extends from the Bay of Pomerania to the Gulf of Gdansk. This coast is marked by several spits, coastal lakes, and dunes. The largely straight coastline is indented by the Szczecin Lagoon, the Bay of Puck, and the Vistula Lagoon. The center and parts of the north lie within the North European Plain. Rising gently above these lowlands is a geographical region comprising the four hilly districts of moraines and moraine-dammed lakes formed during and after the Pleistocene ice age.
After the 2nd World war, the Soviet Union instituted a new Communist government and military alignment within the Warsaw Pact. The People's Republic of Poland was officially proclaimed in 1952. In 1956, the régime of Wladyslaw Gomulka became temporarily more liberal, freeing many people from prison and expanding some personal freedoms. Similar situation repeated itself in the 1970s under Edward Gierek, but most of the time persecution of communist opposition persisted.
Labour turmoil in 1980 led to the formation of the independent trade union "Solidarity", which over time became a political force. Despite persecution and imposition of martial law in 1981, it eroded the dominance of the Communist Party and by 1989 had triumphed in parliamentary elections. Lech Walesa, a Solidarity candidate, eventually won the presidency in 1990. The Solidarity movement heralded the collapse of communism across Eastern Europe.
Major cities include Warszawa (Warsaw), Kraków, Szczecin, Bydgoszcz, Lublin, Katowice, Gdynia, Sosnowiec, Radom, Kielce, Gliwice, Bytom and Zabrze. |
