Animated History of Poland

(For high school students, teachers, and adults) This short video begins with Poland’s Christianization in 966 A.D. and then takes you through the Middle Ages, Early Modern Ages, the Modern Age, and the 20th Century. Like other European countries, Poland is shown growing as a political, economic, and military power; however, as will be seen, it later succumbs to the vagaries of lethargy and indifference. Key historical events include the defeat of the Teutonic Knights at Grunwald in 1410, the heliocentric theory of the solar system by Copernicus in 1543, King Sobieski’s victory over the Ottoman Turks at Vienna in 1683, the creation of the Polish Constitution of 1791, the partitions of Poland ending with Poland’s disappearance in 1795, the Polish Uprising against Russia in 1863, the Polish-Soviet War of 1919, Hitler’s and Stalin’s attack on Poland in 1939 that began World War 2, the Battle of Britain in 1940 where Polish pilots of the 303rd Kosciuszko Squadron had the RAF’s highest kill rate against the German Luftwaffe, the rise of the Solidarity movement beginning in 1978, the Roundtable negotiations in 1989 that ended communist rule, and Poland’s membership in the European Union.