Poland

State · Capital: Warsaw

Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe with over 38 million people, the fifth most populous member state of the European Union; its capital and largest city is Warsaw. The Kingdom of Poland emerged in 1025, and in 1569 it cemented its association with Lithuania, forming the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which was one of the great powers of Europe and adopted Europe's first modern constitution in 1791. The country was partitioned by neighboring states at the end of the 18th century, but regained its independence in 1918 with the founding of the Second Polish Republic. In September 1939 the invasions of Poland by Germany and the Soviet Union marked the beginning of World War II; through the 1980 emergence of the Solidarity movement, the communist government was dissolved and Poland re-established itself as a democracy.