"Poland Is Not Yet Lost", also known as "Dąbrowski's Mazurka", and the "Song of the Polish Legions in Italy", is the national anthem of the Republic of Poland.
An émigré is a person who has emigrated, often with a connotation of political or social self-exile. The word is the past participle of the French verb émigrer meaning "to emigrate".
The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, was a bi-confederal state, sometimes called a federation, of Poland and Lithuania ruled by a common monarch in real union, who was both King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania. It was one of the largest and most populous countries of 16th- to 17th-century Europe. At its largest territorial extent, in the early 17th century, the Commonwealth covered almost 1,000,000 km2 (400,000 sq mi) and as of 1618 sustained a multi-ethnic population of almost 12 million. Polish and Latin were the two co-official languages.
The Kościuszko Uprising, also known as the Polish Uprising of 1794 and the Second Polish War, was an uprising against the Russian Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia led by Tadeusz Kościuszko in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Prussian partition in 1794. It was a failed attempt to liberate the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from external influence after the Second Partition of Poland (1793) and the creation of the Targowica Confederation.
The Constitution of 3 May 1791, titled the Governance Act, was a constitution adopted by the Great Sejm for the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, a dual monarchy comprising the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The Constitution was designed to correct the Commonwealth's political flaws. It had been preceded by a period of agitation for—and gradual introduction of—reforms, beginning with the Convocation Sejm of 1764 and the ensuing election that year of Stanisław August Poniatowski, the Commonwealth's last king.
Golden Liberty, sometimes referred to as Golden Freedoms, Nobles' Democracy or Nobles' Commonwealth was a political system in the Kingdom of Poland and, after the Union of Lublin (1569), in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Under that system, all nobles (szlachta), regardless of rank, economic status or their ethnic background were considered to have equal legal status and enjoyed extensive legal rights and privileges. The nobility controlled the legislature and the Commonwealth's elected king.
The liberum veto was a parliamentary device in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. It was a form of unanimity voting rule that allowed any member of the Sejm (legislature) to force an immediate end to the current session and to nullify any legislation that had already been passed at the session by shouting either Sisto activitatem! or Nie pozwalam!. The rule was in place from the mid-17th century to the late 18th century in the Sejm's parliamentary deliberations. It was based on the premise that since all Polish noblemen were equal, every measure that came before the Sejm had to be passed unanimously. The liberum veto was a key part of the political system of the Commonwealth, strengthening democratic elements and checking royal power and went against the European-wide trend of having a strong executive.
Krzysztof Opaliński was a Polish szlachta (nobleman), politician, writer, satirist, and Voivode (Governor) of Poznań. A notable figure during the Swedish Deluge, Opaliński was a skilled diplomat who opposed King John II Casimir and published many of his works concerning the daily political or social matters in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Pro Fide, Lege et Rege was an 18th-century motto of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and then of Poland. It superseded the earlier Si Deus Nobiscum quis contra nos and was featured on a variety of buildings, military decorations and equipment. It remains the motto of the Order of the White Eagle. The slogan of the order was that of the king's pro fide lege et grege. The device of the cavaliers was pro fide lege et rege.
For our freedom and yours (Polish: Za naszą i waszą wolność) is one of the unofficial mottos of Poland. It is commonly associated with the times when Polish soldiers, exiled from the partitioned Poland, fought in various independence movements all over the world. First seen during a patriotic demonstration to commemorate the Decembrists, held in Warsaw on January 25, 18311, it was most probably authored by Joachim Lelewel. The initial banner has the inscription in both Polish and Russian, and was meant to underline that the victory of Decembrists would also have meant liberty for Poland. The slogan got shorter with time; the original had the form 'In the name of God, for our freedom and yours' ('W imię Boga za Naszą i Waszą Wolność'). The original banner has been preserved in the collection of Muzeum Wojska Polskiego in Warsaw.
God, Honour, Fatherland or Honour and Fatherland is one of the unofficial mottos of Poland. It is commonly seen as the motto of the military of Poland, and has been confirmed as such by several Polish legal decrees. It traces its history to the era of partitions of Poland and Polish service in Napoleonic army.
Ludwik Narbutt was a Lithuanian noble and a notable military commander during the January Uprising. Son of Teodor Narbutt, he led a large unit of Polish insurgents in the region of the town of Lida, from the start of the uprising till his death in combat on 5 May 1863.
National symbols of Poland are the tangible and intangible symbols, emblems or images that are found in Poland to represent the country's unique customs, traditions, cultural life and its 1000-year history. These symbols serve as the nation's portrayal of patriotism and dedication to their national identity. The Polish people and the Polish diaspora around the world take great pride in their native country, and associate themselves with the colours white and red. The expression biało-czerwoni ("whitereds") is widely used by Poles when referring to their compatriots. A crowned white-tailed eagle on a red shield or background has been Poland's national symbol and coat of arms since the Middle Ages. Other unofficial symbols feature visual personifications, music of Chopin, polka and polonaise dances, animals such as the European bison or the white stork, apples, red poppy flowers and religious insignia of the Roman Catholic church. Several have been popularised in recent years, notably the winged hussars.
Roman Bolesław Bartoszcze was a Polish agrarian politician from Polish People's Party (PSL).
Polska Roma are the largest and one of the oldest ethnolinguistic sub group of Romani people living in Poland. Some Polska Roma also live in North America, Switzerland, Sweden, Great Britain and countries of the European Union. The term "Polska Roma" is both an ethnonym of the group and a term used in the academic literature. As such it is distinct from the terms "Polish Roma" or "Roma in Poland" which better denote the broader Roma population in Poland. Polish ethnographer Jerzy Ficowski, writing in the 1950s and 1960s used the term "Polish Lowlander Gypsies" to refer to the same group, though this terminology is no longer in widespread use.
The Garibaldi Legion was a small unit of Italian volunteers who fought for Polish independence in the January Uprising of 1863. The unit was named after the Italian revolutionary and nationalist Giuseppe Garibaldi, organized in Italy by his son Menotti Garibaldi and led by the general Francesco Nullo.
Serfdom in Poland became the dominant form of relationship between peasants and nobility in the 17th century, and was a major feature of the economy of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, although its origins can be traced back to the 12th century.
"Paradisus Judaeorum" is a Latin phrase which became one of four members of a 19th-century Polish-language proverb that described the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (1569–1795) as "heaven for the nobility, purgatory for townspeople, hell for peasants, paradise for Jews." The proverb's earliest attestation is an anonymous 1606 Latin pasquinade that begins, "Regnum Polonorum est". Stanisław Kot surmised that its author may have been a Catholic cleric who criticized what he regarded as defects of the realm; the pasquinade excoriates virtually every group and class of society.
The history of Polish people in Transnistria goes back centuries when the communities along the lower Dniester river were part of Podolia in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and later the Russian Empire.
They Feed and Defend is a motto originally used by the scythemen regiments of the insurgent forces during the Kościuszko Uprising in 1794. Since then, it became a Polish patriotic motto and the symbol of the Polish peasant movement. The motto refers to the peasants who historically during peace would work on farms making food for the society, and would fight in the defensive wars.
Media related to Za wolność naszą i waszą at Wikimedia Commons
