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 APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200070029-7

Chronology (U/OU)

968
 * Prince Mieszko unites several Polish tribes (Polanie or dwellers of the plains) into a political union, accepts Christianity, and places Poland under the protection of the papacy - this establishing traditional relationship between Polish state and the Roman Catholic Church.

1025
 * Mieszko's son, Bolesław I, crowned as first king of the Piast dynasty; extends Polish rule from Oder-Neisse rivers in the west to Dniepr in the east, and from Pomerania to Carpathian Mountains. Boleslaw's death signals a period of internal divisions, and decline of kingdom into principalities.

1144
 * Devastation of much of Poland by Tatar invasions, which are stemmed with the help of Teutonic Knights; influx of Germanic settlers ensues.

1180-1376
 * Cultural revival and political reunion takes place under Kings Ladislaus I and Casimir III the Great; royal power consolidated; administration, justice, and currency are remodeled after Western models, and University of Krakow is founded in 1364; Jews, persecuted in Western Europe, are allowed to settle in Poland.

1386
 * Jagiellon, Grand Duke of Lithuania, accepts Christianity and is crowned Ladislaus II, King of Poland - the first ruler of the Jagiellonian dynasty; Poland and Lithuania formalize political union after defeating Teutonic Knights at Grunwald in 1410.

1506-1560
 * Golden age of the Polish state, the largest and most powerful in east-central Europe; flourishing culture under King Sigismund II rests in Krakow, which becomes a major European center of science, scholarship, and for a time, of the Reformation.

1573-1763
 * Age of Poland's "elective kings" is characterized by steady decline of internal cohesion, dehabilitating wars with Sweden, and general upsurge of foreign intervention, growing power of the nobility, gentry, and the energy particularly erodes royal power and Poland's ability to keep Protestant Prussia and Orthodox Russia at bay.

1768
 * Count Casimir Pulaski leads Catholic patriotic uprising against growing Russian control.

1772
 * The first partition of Poland; about one-quarter of Polish territory is lost to Prussia, Russia, and Austria.

1791
 * Model constitution adopted on 3 May providing for hereditary monarchy, elected parliament, judicial autonomy, and gradual abolition of serfdom.

1793
 * Intrigue between domestic opposition on 1791 constitution and Prussia and Russia leads of second partition of Poland by these two powers; remainder of Poland becomes a puppet state of Russia

1794
 * Patriot Tadeusz Kosciusko leads futile national revolt against Russian rule.

1795
 * Third partition by Prussia, Russia and Austria results in the disappearance of the Polish state.

1807-1815
 * Grand Duchy of Warsaw is created by Napoleon but liquidated by the Congress of Vienna; theoretically autonomous "Congress Poland" under Russian control is created.

1830
 * Uprising against Russian rule initially successful; rebellious Poles dethrone Czar Nicolas I, but revolt is eventually suppressed and autonomy revoked.

1840-1846
 * Attempts at further uprising in Russian-dominated areas are quashed.

1863-1865
 * Two years of guerrilla warfare against Russia rule ends in defeat.

1914
 * Outbreak of World War I makes Poland a main battlefield and pulls Poles in opposing camps.

1917
 * January
 * President Woodrow Wilson endorses creation of independent Poland.


 * October
 * Polish National Committee, organized in France, is recognized as the representative of Poland by the Allied Powers.

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