Poland (Think Before You Act)

Poland, officially the Kingdom of Poland, is a country in Central Europe, covering a part of the Northern European Plain. The country is bordered by France to the west, Russia to the east, and Hungary to the south. It has a coastline at the Baltic Sea, sharing the waters with Russia and the Scandinavian Union. Having 50 million people, it is one of the most populous countries in Europe. The government system is traditionally a unitary state made up oif 16 voivodeships. Poland is a member of the Marsilles Pact, the International League, the European Union, the World Trade Organization, and the G-organizations.

The first Poles to arrive here were Slavs from eastern Europe. Poland was then established thanks to the introduction and adoption of Christianity by Mieszko I in 966, over what is now present-day Poland. The Kingdom of Poland was established in 1025, and in 1586, in entered with a union with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania after signing the Union of Lublin, creating the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Due to the partioning of Polish lands by Prussia, Austria, and Russia in 1795, the commonwealth was dissolved, leaving just a small rump state. Since the Napoleonic Wars, Poland has struggled to help perserve its existence from other greater powers. Its acquistians of parts of Prussia since the Scandinavian War allowed the country to enter a period of growth. During all three Global Wars, it served as a buffer state between enemy sides. During the Cold War, it sided with the French, causing tensions with Russia. Since the end of the Cold War, it has began a peirod of demilitarization now that the conflict has ended.

Poland was regarded as a cultural center of European civilization. Despite the turmoil it underwent, the millenium-old cultural heritage remained intact. It so far has 14 heritage sites according to the ILESCO World Heritage list in Poland.