Alternative History
Alternative History
Kingdom of Poland
Królestwo Polskie
Flag of Poland CV Greater Coat of arms of Polish Kingdom
Motto
""Mazurek Dąbrowskiego"
("Poland is Not Yet Lost")
Royal anthem
"Hymn Królestwa Polskiego"
("Royal Anthem of the Kingdom of Poland")
CapitalWarsaw
Official languages Polish
Demonym Polish
Government Constitutional monarchy, parliamentary democracy
 -  King Michael I
 -  National Marshal Jaczemir Bogusławski
 -  Prime Minister Mateusz Piskorski
 -  Upper House Royal Senate
Population
 -   estimate 48,268,000 
GDP (nominal)  estimate
 -  Total ₽3.2 trillion (zł6.6 trillion/$3.2 trillion OTL USD) 
Currency Zloty

The Kingdom of Poland (Polish: Królestwo Polskie) also known as Poland, is a country in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north, Belarus to the east and Germany to the west.

The history of human activity on Polish soil spans thousands of years. Throughout the late antiquity period it became extensively diverse, with various cultures and tribes settling on the vast Central European Plain. However, it was the Western Polans who dominated the region and gave Poland its name. The establishment of Polish statehood can be traced to 966, when the pagan ruler of a realm coextensive with the territory of present-day Poland embraced Christianity and converted to Catholicism.

The Kingdom of Poland was founded in 1025 and in 1569 cemented its longstanding political association with Lithuania by signing the Union of Lublin. This union formed the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, one of the largest (over one million square kilometres or 400,000 square miles in area) and most populous nations of 16th and 17th century Europe, with a uniquely liberal political system which adopted Europe's first modern constitution, the Constitution of 3 May 1791.

With the passing of prominence and prosperity, the country was partitioned by neighboring states at the end of the 18th century, and regained independence in 1918 with the Treaty of Versailles. After a series of territorial conflicts, the new multi-ethnic Poland restored its position as a key player in European politics, and re-gained historical Ukrainian and Belarusian territory with Russian help. During the Second World, Poland was invaded by Germany and its government fled into exile in Russia, where the Congress of Poland was revived, the two would unite to form the Polish state when the country was liberated by Russia, and grew to become Eastern Europe's secondary major power to Russia.

Poland is a developed market, and a middle power. It has the sixth largest economy in the Royal European Union by nominal GDP and the fifth largest by GDP (PPP). It provides very high standards of living, safety and economic freedom, as well as free university education and a universal health care system. The country has 17 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, 15 of which are cultural. Poland is a member state of the Schengen Area, European Economic Area, the United Nations, Vostok Bloc, CSTO, the OECD, the Three Seas Initiative and the Visegrád Group.

History[]

Kingdom of Poland[]

Same as our timeline

Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth[]

Same as our timeline

Interwar Period (poD)[]

During the Interwar Period, Poland and Russia partitioned Belarus and Ukraine. In Ukraine, the region of Galicia and western Ukraine fell under Polish rule, since Pyotr Wrangel simply did not feel like dealing with Ukrainian ultranationalists. Western Belarus became part of Poland, while eastern Belarus became part of Russia. Because the victorious factions of White Russia support Polish independence, Polish-Russian relations are heavily re-written in the modern history.

During this period, the two nations are friends, where the Poles form several defensive agreements with its Russian neighbor. In spite of Poland being a republic, and Russia being militantly monarchist, the Russians made no attempts at trying to get a moanrch as Poland's head of state.

World War II[]

In 193?, for the very first time in its history, Poland became a Russian ally due to the cooling of relations with the Western powers. It fielded Eastern Europe's second-largest modern military apart from Russia. In 1937, the Russians made an unexpected move by attacking Japan in the Battle of Nanjing, which caused retaliatory political and economic measures from Nazi Germany, who considered Russia a friend.

In 1939, Poland was invaded by Nazi Germany and the Slovak Republic, causing Russia to send troops into Poland. Unlike the Soviet incursion into Poland, in this timeline Russia legitimately tries to help Poland, and the two allies halted and delayed the German invasion for almost three years, and gave the Germans serious problems. After Japan attacked Nanjing and parts of eastern Russia in 1941 however, the latter was forced to pull some of its forces into the war efforts against Japan, prompting both Warsaw and Moscow into a fighting retreat.

Revival of the Congress of Poland[]

The Polish Government-in-Exile operated in Moscow, and its soldiers were trained by the Imperial Russian forces. Within this government-in-exile, pro-monarchist sentiments started to grow, and a separate revived Congress of Poland-in-Exile was revived, with the "-in-Exile" denoting that it is the government of a sovereign state. General Stanisław Bułak-Bałachowicz became the leader of the military forces of the Congress of Poland, starting the seeds for the monarchist camp of Poland.

Vladimir I functioned as the King of this Congress of Poland, but promised that once the German invasion was thwarted from Poland, a Polish and Roman Catholic King would be installed, with the respect of the Polish schlachta. In addition, ethnic Lithuanians were allowed by the Tsar to join this new Congress of Poland, the Royal Polish Army operated separately from that of the Government-in-Exile, which was led by Marshal Edward Rydz-Śmigły, however, after the latter's death of heart failure in 1941, General Bułak-Bałachowicz rose to prominence to take on the Axis forces., setting the seeds for the restoration of the Polish monarchy.

By 1943, the German invasion had seriously thinned out, and most German troops lost all will to fight in Russia. Therefore, under the new Generalissmo, Vladimir Rennenkampf, the both Polish military forces-in-exile, along with the Russians, liberated Poland.

The Russians successfully helped re-install the Polish government, and train its military forces. The Polish also partook in the advance west, to help liberated Czechoslovakia from the Axis.

Like in our timeline, Russia still makes that push to the West, but only goes so far as Czechoslovakia, the Treaty of Bratislava is signed between Germany, Russia and Poland - which Germany recognizes the Polish government, and agreed to withdraw its forces from all Slavic lands.

Cold War[]

After World War II, the Russian Empire became viewed as the most effective monarchy in the world, seeing as to how the British performed so poorly against the Japanese. As promised, Vladimir I abolished the King of Poland title, and decreed that a Polish Catholic monarch would become the Head of State of a monarchial Poland. At this point, the Polish szlachta, for the first time in centuries, began to turn pro-Tsarist, and it was clear and evident that the monarchists and the Congress of Poland had the upper hand, as the liberation of Poland was viewed as being with the help of Tsarist Russia. Thus, this practically eliminated most of the pro-republicanist camp in Poland. In 1947, the monarchsts planted their flag atop the Polish capitol building in Warsaw, and proclaimed ??? ???? as the King. Most of the overwhelming who served the Government-in-Exile were allowed to continue to form part of the Assembly, allowing for the peaceful merging of the two Polish political bodies, but Poland evidently turned monarchist.

General Bułak-Bałachowicz became promoted to Marshal, and was proclaimed the Marshal of Poland. Although of Belarusian ethnicity, he felt much closer and aligned to Poland, and therefore, chose his allegiance towards the Kingdom of Poland. The pre-1939 borders of Poland and Russia were restored as part of status quo, both sides of Belarus were designated as Principalities under Polish and Russian rule. As a result, "West Belarus" became part of Poland, and "East Belarus" part of Russia.

During the Cold War, Poland became part of the Russian sphere of influence, and views of the West significantly deteriorated in the country, especially against the British Empire. Thus, the formation of Russia's military alliance, took place in Warsaw to cement Polish-Russian friendship, now known as the Warsaw Pact, along with the expulsion of British military diplomats from the country.

Marshal Bułak-Bałachowicz respected the democritzation of Poland, and therefore, was not involved in the civil politics.

Poland contributed many scientists and cosmonauts to the Imperiya space program, such as Mirosław Hermaszewski who flew abord the Imperiya-30 space mission. The Polish government also held its currency against the ruble, not the dollar.

Impressively, Poland developed its own arms industry, effectively truly becoming the secondary major power of the Eastern Bloc.

Unlike the subjugated Poland of our timeline, this ATL Cold War Poland is nowhere near-as subjagated, and become respected by Vladimir the Tumultuous as being the second-most influential member of the Warsaw Pact and integral to the pan-Slavic realm of states.

The Tsar commented, "In the lack of Russian soldiers, you got the Poles. They are true friends and allies, and relations coming from centuries of bitterness and feud have been reversed."

And unlike having Soviet-controlled politics in our timeline, Poland's politics were not meddled with by Russia, other than presering the nobility and royal families.

1980s - democratic revolutions & "Solidarity"[]

The effects of the Tumultuous 1990s in the Russian Empire were directly felt in Poland. Labour turmoil in 1980 led to the formation of the independent trade union "Solidarity" ("Solidarność"), which over time became a political force. Despite persecution and imposition of martial law in 1981, it eroded the dominance of the Polish United Workers' Party and by 1989 had triumphed in Poland's first partially free and democratic parliamentary elections since the end of the Second World War. Lech Wałęsa, a Solidarity candidate, eventually won the presidency in 1990.

Language[]

Polish is the national language, and is a Western Slavic language. In its history, Polish has enjoyed being a dominant language of the region, and has overlapped its influence over civilizations now Russian-influenced. It is the second-most spoken Slavic language, and has approximately 76.5 million speakers throughout the world. In addition, there are also many Polish-speaking peoples in western Belarus, western Ukraine and the Russian principality of Lithuania, where Polish enjoys the status of one of the local official languages alongside Lithuanian and Russian. The same can be said of western Ukraine, were Polish is a regional official language. In Belarus, it is one of the two co-official languages to the national language of Belarusian, sharing the spot with Russian.

Economy[]

Poland's economy and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is currently the 2nd-largest in Eastern Europe after Russia. It is also one of the fastest growing within the Union. Around 61% of the employed population belongs to the tertiary service sector, 31% to industry and manufacturing, and the remaining 8% to the agricultural sector. Although Poland is a member of EU's single market, the country has not adopted the Euro as legal tender and maintains its own currency – the Polish złoty (zł, PLN).

Poland is the regional economic leader in Central Europe, with nearly 40 per cent of the 500 biggest companies in the region (by revenues) as well as a high globalisation rate. The country's largest firms compose the WIG20 and WIG30 indexes, which is traded on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. According to reports made by the National Bank of Poland, the value of Polish foreign direct investments reached almost 300 billion PLN at the end of 2014. The Central Statistical Office estimated that in 2014 there were 1,437 Polish corporations with interests in 3,194 foreign entities.

Poland has the largest banking sector in Central Europe, with 32.3 branches per 100,000 adults. It was the only European economy to have avoided the recession of 2008. The country is the 20th largest exporter of goods and services in the world. Exports of goods and services are valued at approximately 56% of GDP, as of 2020. In September 2018, the unemployment rate was estimated at 5.7%, one of the lowest in the European Union. In 2019, Poland passed a law that would exempt workers under the age of 26 from income tax.

Tourism[]

The Old City of Zamość is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Poland experienced a significant increase in the number of tourists after joining the European Union in 2004. With nearly 21 million international arrivals in 2019, tourism contributes considerably to the overall economy and makes up a relatively large proportion of the country's service market.

Tourist attractions in Poland vary, from the mountains in the south to the sandy beaches in the north, with a trail of nearly every architectural style. The most visited city is Kraków, which was the former capital of Poland and serves as a relic of the Polish Golden Age and the Renaissance. Kraków also held royal coronations of most Polish kings and monarchs at Wawel, the nation's chief historical landmark. Among other notable sites in the country is Wrocław, one of the oldest cities in Poland which was a model for the founding of Kraków. Wrocław is famous for its dwarf statues, a large market square with two town halls, and the oldest Zoological Gardens with one of the world's largest number of animal species. The Polish capital Warsaw and its historical Old Town were entirely reconstructed after wartime destruction. Other cities attracting countless tourists include Gdańsk, Poznań, Lublin, Toruń as well as the site of the German Auschwitz concentration camp in Oświęcim. A notable highlight is the 13th-century Wieliczka Salt Mine with its labyrinthine tunnels, a subterranean lake and chapels carved by miners out of rock salt beneath the ground.[citation needed]

Poland's main tourist offerings include outdoor activities such as skiing, sailing, mountain hiking and climbing, as well as agritourism, sightseeing historical monuments. Tourist destinations include the Baltic Sea coast in the north; the Masurian Lake District and Białowieża Forest in the east; on the south Karkonosze, the Table Mountains and the Tatra Mountains, where Rysy – the highest peak of Poland, and Eagle's Path mountain trail are located. The Pieniny and Bieszczady Mountains lie in the extreme south-east. There are over 100 castles in the country, most in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship, and also on the Trail of the Eagles' Nests. The largest castle in the world by land area is situated in Malbork, in north-central Poland.

Demographics[]

Poles make up 80% of the total population, with Belarusians, Russians, Lithuanians and Jews contributing 10% of the total population.

Military[]

The Royal Polish Forces (Królewskie Siły Polskie) are the official fighting wing of the Polish government. It is divide into the Royal Army, Royal Air Force, Royal Navy, Royal Special Forces, Royal Internal Forces and Royal Guards.

The military budget currently sits at ₽55.7 billion rubles, it is currently the 3rd most powerful member of the CSTO nations, behind Greece.

The Polish military has an impressive indigenous arms industry, having developed during the NATO days, as well as Russian equipment from its Warsaw Pact days. For example, Poland produces its own artillery, such as the WR-40 Langusta, M120 RAK and Krab self-propelled systems. However, it also uses the American M142 HIMARS and the Russian 2S1 Goździk. The Polish military currently uses the Russian S-400 air defense system.

Its tanks force however, is almost completely foreign-originated, a mixture of American, German and Russian tanks. For example, it still uses the M1 Abrams, the Leopard 2 from the German Empire, and the Russian T-72, as well as the Polish variant, PT-91 Twardy.

Its aircraft inventory is a hybrid of both American and Russian equipment. It still uses the American F-16, and the Russian MiG-29 and Su-22.

Currently, the Polish military imports the majority of its supplies from Russia. However, most of its small-arms are locally licensed productions of Russian weaponry.