The Kingdom of Poland started its existence in the medieval period as one of the most important countries of eastern Europe. Positioned on key trading routes, it became a powerful nation that had periods of remarkable stability, playing a major role in both the Renaissance and the Reformation.

Despite this, by the time Poland reached the beginning of the modern period, it was broken up and subsumed into the territories of its neighbours – where it could well have been doomed to be a country of the past. Instead, despite its partition the spirit of nationalism and the Polish language kept it alive, so that in the twentieth century Poland re-emerged as a sovereign state. 

This November we are publishing two podcasts on Poland, one that looks at the development of Modern Poland from the emergence of the Second Polish Republic after World War I to the present day and another that looks at the development of the relationship between Britain and Poland in the 20th and early 21st centuries, and the growth and experience of the British Polish community after World War II.

Look out for three more podcasts in 2024 that examine the fascinating history of Poland from the medieval period to the fall of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795.