Poland\'s Position in Europe

Poland is geographically situated in central Europe and is bordered by the Russian Federation and Baltic Sea in the north, Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine in the east, Slovakia to the south, and Czech Republic and Germany in the west. Poland has 70 mountains that reach more than 6,500 feet high, all of which are located in the Tatras, the mountain range that serves as a natural border between Poland and Slovakia in the southern portion of the nation. There is also another mountain range—the Beskids, which forms part of the natural border between Poland and the Czech Republic and stretches all the way to the Ukraine in the east. There is also the Sudetes, which stretches from the north down to the Glubczyce Plateau. The Bieszczady Mountains in the southeast and the Gorce Mountains are small formations. The Vistula Dalta is the lowest point in Poland, 6 feet below sea level. The Vistula and the Oder are the nation’s longest rivers, both of which flow into the Baltic. Poland also has many lakes. The Masurian Lake District has more than 2000 lakes. Roughly one-third of Poland is forest, and the country has a temperate climate.
Poland in the medieval ages was a place of conflict, with fighting among Christians and pagans. During the 14th century, Jews were given a great deal of rights in Poland and essentially established their own state within the Polish state. While the rest of Europe was falling to the Black Plague that same century, Poland remained relatively free from the disease. In the century leading up to WWI, Poland was fought over by the Russians on one side and the Prussians on the other. Wilson helped Poland to unite once more after WWI; however, skirmishes between the Czechs and the Germans paved the way for the escalation that was WWII, when Germany marched into Poland to liberate the German people who had been separated from their native country following the annexation of German territory by the Allies following WWI (Bradberry, 2012). The Soviets invaded Poland in 1939 to counteract the offensive led by the Germans, and thus Poland was once more divided into two separate spheres—one under German control and the other under Soviet control.
After WWII, Poland was effectively under Soviet control. It was only in the 1990s, with the fall of the Soviet Union, that Poland transitioned from a socialist controlled economy to a market economy, which is one of the main reasons Poland formed close ties with the U.S. around that time. Poland and the U.S. were finally on the same side, politically speaking.
Today, Poland has a good infrastructure consisting of roads and rail networks, with more than 150,000 paved roads established by the end of the 20th century (Nations, 2018). The country has nearly as many miles of railroads as well though about 12% of the rail lines have been closed due to increased competition from road transportation companies. The country has several seaports which facilitate trade, particularly the shipment of coal and fishing. North-south barge traffic on Poland’s rivers is also an important part of the country’s infrastructure as it serves the supplying of several industrial towns and farms between the north and the south (Nations, 2018). The nation’s Warsaw airport is its largest. And nearly all of its electricity is created by burning fossil fuels (such as coal). The nation’s government oversees more than 8,000 post offices throughout the countryside. The nation’s telecommunications industry has also been rapidly growing over the past two decades, greatly facilitating wireless communications, which is important for eliminating the digital divide.
Poland’s sufferings as a result of WWII, when the nation was divided between Germany and Russia and many Poles killed as a result, continues to shape its society and its society’s consciousness. Poland tends to look to the West as a protector against any further aggression from the East, and NATO is viewed as playing a critical role in Polish territory.
Poland-U.S. relations were established in 1919 as a result of America’s entry into WWI. However, since 1989 (just prior to the total collapse of the Soviet Union), relations between the two countries have been particularly strong and Poland is viewed as one of the most consistently pro-American European nation, according to the Pew Research Center (2017). Poland has even requested that the U.S. establish a permanent American military base on Polish soil, with the Polish government offering to pay $2 billion in costs to see the base developed (Rempfer, 2018).
The conflict between Russia and the West puts Poland in a particularly important geopolitical spot, as the country seeks to enhance its ties with the U.S. by offering America a permanent base from which it can wage war, if necessary, against Russia, should the latter adopt an aggressive stance towards the West. The fighting in Ukraine has also been seen as a problem for Poland, which seeks to maintain the stability it has developed since the 1990s.
Poland’s place in central Europe makes it one of the more vulnerable countries, should war break out between Russia and the West, as the nation sits right in between the two. However, should peace prevail, the country could benefit from the transportation of goods and services, as energy and goods flow East to West and vice versa. From a geopolitical standpoint, though, Poland is interested in maintaining a strong relationship with the U.S. just in case it does end up requiring military protection.
References
Bradberry, B. (2012). The Myth of German Villainy. IN: AuthorHouse.
Nations. (2018). Poland. Retrieved from https://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/economies/Europe/Poland-INFRASTRUCTURE-POWER-AND-COMMUNICATIONS.html
Pew Research Center. (2017). Retrieved from https://www.pewresearch.org/global/database/
Rempfer, K. (2018). Why Poland wants a permanent US military base, and is willing to pay $2 billion for it. Retrieved from https://www.armytimes.com/news/2018/05/29/why-poland-wants-a-permanent-us-military-base-and-is-willing-to-pay-2-billion-for-it/