Good neighborly relations with germany, ukraine, belarus, and lithuania, oftentimes despite a difficult history and problems with polish ethnic minorities in those countries, were established surprisingly quickly. This book, as far as i can tell, remains to this day one of the best written and most comprehensive reports on what was happening during the 18 or so months from the creation of solidarity movement in poland in august 1980 to the imposition of martial law on december, 1981. Discover delightful childrens books with prime book box, a subscription that delivers new books every 1, 2, or 3 months new customers receive 15% off your. More recent general history of poland books in english.
By the middle of 1981, solidarity had an estimated 9 million members. Solidarity, polish solidarnosc, officially independent selfgoverning trade union solidarity or polish niezalezny samorzadny zwiazek zawodowy solidarnosc, polish trade union that in the early 1980s became the first independent labour union in a country belonging to the soviet bloc. The history of human activity on polish soil spans almost 500,000 years. A thousandyear history of the poles and their culture 9780781802000. Although polands first free labour union was born out of the 1980 lenin shipyard strikes in gdansk, solidarnosc would bloom into a nationwide social movement. Lech walesa, labor activist who helped form and led 198090 poland s first independent trade union, solidarity, and later was president of the country 199095. A history and millions of other books are available for amazon kindle. National census of population and housing 2011 pdf in polish.
Truth be told there are other cities in poland which feel that gdansk has unfairly become symbolic of a movement that was bravely coordinated by poles across the country. Christian history provides quality articles about the history of the christian church and is the official site of christian history magazine. Led by lech walesa, it grew rapidly in size and political power and soon posed a threat to polands communist government by its sponsorship of labor strikes and other forms of public protest. Having no background in polish history, other than what little was covered in high school history, i wanted to acquaint myself with the history and heritage of this nation, before taking a trip to poland. The word solidarity, or solidarnosc as it is in polish, is synonymous with the city of gdansk. While many history books focus on a limited area, such as the vietnam war, other texts examine far broader subjects, and there are plenty of volumes narrating europes past. Historia polski represents over 1,000 years of recorded historical. Poland for everyone university center for international studies. A concise history of poland the library of congress. Many of solidarity s leaders, including walesa, are.
A chronology of key events in the history of poland, from 966 to the present. Conrads books and published novels like heart of darkness, nostromo and. Yesterday, a new issue of the czech cultural and historical monthly dejiny a. It begins with the story of poland in 800 ad, and continues all the way through the solidarity movement. Rural solidarity, a polish farmers union, was recognized in may, 1981.
Polish borderlands in the czech monthly magazine dejiny a soucasnost. Subsequently, it was the first independent union in a warsaw pact country to be recognised by the state. The unions membership peaked at 10 million in september 1981, representing onethird of the countrys workingage population. The birth of solidarity in poland archive 1980 how the guardian reported the creation of the first independent labour union in the soviet bloc compiled by richard nelsson. Solidaritys leader, lech walesa was awarded the nobel peace prize in 1983 and the union is widely recognised as having played a central role in the end of. Poland officially the republic of poland is a country located in central europe. In the early 1980s, it became the first independent labor union in a sovietbloc country. Solidarity is a trade union founded in augustseptember 1980 at the lenin shipyard in gdansk, poland. The birth of solidarity in poland archive 1980 world. Solidarity was founded in september 1980, was forcibly suppressed by the polish government in december 1981, and reemerged in 1989 to become the first opposition movement to participate in free. Get your kindle here, or download a free kindle reading app.
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