History UsefulNotes / PolesWithPoleaxes

* ''VideoGame/{{Cossacks}}:
** ''VideoGame/CossacksEuropeanWars'' features 17th century Poland (Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth). The nation's most unique feature is, of course, the Winged Hussar, a cavalry unit that is both [[LightningBruiser fast and armored]] ([[AchillesHeel except against riflemen]]). The Ukrainian campaign of ''European Wars'' has Ukrainian UsefulNotes/{{Cossacks}} fight for independence against the Poles. The Polish campaign of the ''Art of War'' ExpansionPack, meanwhile, is mostly about crushing Ukrainian Cossacks uprisings, meanwhile.

[[/folder]]

The loss of independence in the late XVIII Century (between 1795 and 1918 Poland was divided between Russia, Prussia/Germany and Austria/Austro-Hungarian Empire) didn't exactly turn Poles into pacifists, either. This period saw the infatuation with SinisterScythe in several uprisings, and Poles (and with them, once more, the Polish cavalry which shone on many battlefields of [[UsefulNotes/TheNapoleonicWars the time]]) were amongst the most loyal allies of UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte. Poles also served across the world as exiles; Casimir Pulaski and Tadeusz Kościuszko being two notable examples, serving in [[UsefulNotes/YanksWithTanks the Continental Army]] of the infant United States during UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution. Pulaski is commemorated as "the father of American cavalry".

But even America's armaments suppliers can't keep up with Poland's demands for modern weapons, so the Polish government went shopping abroad for further suppliers and, shocking most of the world, met [[UsefulNotes/SouthKoreansWithMarines the Republic of Korea]]. South Korea signed its largest arms export contract in the history of the nation with Poland for 288 K239 Chunmoo multiple rocket launchers, 672 K9 Thunder self-propelled artillery vehicles, 48 T-50 Golden Eagle light attack jets, several hundred Daewoo K4 belt-fed grenade launchers, and a sweetheart contract to produce 820 of the South Korean K2 Black Panther main battle tank locally in Poland- something unheard of in international arms deals. A further 180 will be built and shipped from Korea while the factory line gets set up. This spending and armament spree virtually guarantees a greater amount of exercises with allied nations and developing plans in the event of attack on Poland or on the Baltic countries. To crew all of these weapons, Poland has further planned to enlist 300,000 men and women into the Polish Armed Forces by 2035. In addition to all of this, there is active discussion of reorganizing the Territorial Defense Brigades with modern small arms and training for those who fall just outside optimal military service age but could still help in a crisis situation defend the homeland. Unless something gets in the way of its plans, then by the end of 2024 Poland may rightly be considered to have the largest modern army of Europe.

Since its entry to NATO in 1999, the Polish Army has participated and participate in numerous peacekeeping, humanitarian, police, training and observational missions in Europe, Africa and Asia (especially in Kosovo, Iraq, Chad and Afghanistan). Currently there are plans to send a small contingent of soldiers (with British and Americans) to train Ukrainian officers.

* The hero of ''The Polish Officer'' by Creator/AlanFurst was a Polish military cartographer turned spy.

* The protagonist of Ernst von Salomon's semi-autobiographical novel ''The Outlaws'' (1930) fights against Polish insurgents in Upper Silesia during the uprising in early 1920s. Notably, it is one of rare examples in fiction where Polish military plays the role of villains.

* Creator/LeoFrankowski's ''Cross-Time Engineer'' saga features a Polish Air Force officer from 1990 transported back through time to the 13th Century, where he decides that it's time for backwards Poland to conquer the world.

But even America's armaments suppliers can't keep up with Poland's demands for modern weapons, so the Polish government went shopping abroad for further suppliers and, shocking most of the world, met [[UsefulNotes/KoreansWithMarines the Republic of Korea]]. South Korea signed its largest arms export contract in the history of the nation with Poland for 288 K239 Chunmoo multiple rocket launchers, 672 K9 Thunder self-propelled artillery vehicles, 48 T-50 Golden Eagle light attack jets, several hundred Daewoo K4 belt-fed grenade launchers, and a sweetheart contract to produce 820 of the South Korean K2 Black Panther main battle tank locally in Poland- something unheard of in international arms deals. A further 180 will be built and shipped from Korea while the factory line gets set up. This spending and armament spree virtually guarantees a greater amount of exercises with allied nations and developing plans in the event of attack on Poland or on the Baltic countries. To crew all of these weapons, Poland has further planned to enlist 300,000 men and women into the Polish Armed Forces by 2035. In addition to all of this, there is active discussion of reorganizing the Territorial Defense Brigades with modern small arms and training for those who fall just outside optimal military service age but could still help in a crisis situation defend the homeland. Unless something gets in the way of its plans, then by the end of 2024 Poland may rightly be considered to have the largest modern army of Europe.

But even America's armaments suppliers can't keep up with Poland's demands for modern weapons, so the Polish government went shopping abroad for further suppliers and, shocking most of the world, met [[KoreansWithMarines the Republic of Korea]]. South Korea signed its largest arms export contract in the history of the nation with Poland for 288 K239 Chunmoo multiple rocket launchers, 672 K9 Thunder self-propelled artillery vehicles, 48 T-50 Golden Eagle light attack jets, several hundred Daewoo K4 belt-fed grenade launchers, and a sweetheart contract to produce 820 of the South Korean K2 Black Panther main battle tank locally in Poland- something unheard of in international arms deals. A further 180 will be built and shipped from Korea while the factory line gets set up. This spending and armament spree virtually guarantees a greater amount of exercises with allied nations and developing plans in the event of attack on Poland or on the Baltic countries. To crew all of these weapons, Poland has further planned to enlist 300,000 men and women into the Polish Armed Forces by 2035. In addition to all of this, there is active discussion of reorganizing the Territorial Defense Brigades with modern small arms and training for those who fall just outside optimal military service age but could still help in a crisis situation defend the homeland. Unless something gets in the way of its plans, then by the end of 2024 Poland may rightly be considered to have the largest modern army of Europe.

Since its entry to NATO in 1999, the Polish Army participated and participate in numerous peacekeeping, humanitarian, police, training and observational missions in Europe, Africa and Asia (especially in Kosovo, Iraq, Chad and Afghanistan). Currently there are plans to send a small contingent of soldiers (with British and Americans) to train Ukrainian officers.

Although not much really came from it back then, there is some small chance of resumption of talks about this topic, due to the neighboring war in UsefulNotes/{{Ukraine}} waged by Russia. Moreover, Poland's vehicle arsenals are looking more and more empty as their Soviet-era tanks, vehicles, and infantry weapons [[FellOffTheBackOfATruck mysteriously found their way into the hands of Ukraine's army and territorial defense brigades]]. With all of this newly freed space in the garage, Poland has further increased its defense spending to 5% of GDP, the largest percentage of any UsefulNotes/{{NATO}} state (this includes the United States) and gone on a bit of a shopping spree. The Polish government has ordered 18 fully built HIMARS units and 468 HIMARS launchers (literally just the weapon without the transport truck) after seeing the results less than 20 of them have produced in Ukraine, 32 F-35A Lightning aircraft, and 400 M1 Abrams tanks remain on order from the United States.

''Siły Zbrojne Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej'', Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland.

Historically, the geography and politics of Eastern Europe resulted in ways of warfare much different than in the West. In the earliest era of Polish history, the core of the military force consisted of the ruler's personal retainers, aided by footman levies, but over the course of several centuries this model was replaced by more typical feudal military. For some time, the Polish military didn't differ by much from their Western counterparts, but as Poland's attention turned eastward, so did change the ways of waging war. Most notable among Polish military quirks is the peculiar brand of Hussars, which traded being light cavalry for [[BlingOfWar wings strapped to the back]]. From the late medieval to The Partitions Polish army was composed predominantly of cavalry that was usually formed of nobles and their retainers (and thus resembling medieval army model which became obsolete in Europe somewhere around mid-17th century). The noble cavalry wasn't the only tool of a Commonwealth general -- due to the [[OpposingCombatPhilosophies diversity of fighting styles]] preferred by its enemies, there was a need for variety, and his host could include commoner infantry, all manner of Western-style mercenaries, and Tatar or Cossack auxiliaries, and little known as it is, Poland had its artillery developed very well. Still, the general model resulted in very well-trained but unruly and poorly organized forces.

The Polish military were "The First to Fight" in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII[[note]]On the Allied side; On the Axis', the first shots are traditionally said to have been fired by the German battleship ''Schleswig-Holstein'', in Danzig (now Gdansk)[[/note]], playing a major role in the Battle of Britain and having their own version of LaResistance (counting as much as a million people, several hundred thousands at once at its peak and maintained a whole functioning government, complete with postal and tax services, in form of the Polish Underground State functioning in secrecy right under the noses of the occupying Germans). The Polish state maintained the overall largest partisan movement in history, in fact (Tito's Balkan resistance was larger in absolute numbers past ~1943, though it didn't have the state infrastructure as developed). They also gave a great deal of Intelligence support having some of the best field agents in Europe, and cryptographers who were GoodWithNumbers (they actually broke the merchant version of the Enigma code and thus greatly contributed to the joint effort of breaking the military one). It is worth noting that a large part of the Polish LaResistance consisted of soldiers and officers (many of them veterans of the First World War) who decided not to surrender and continued to fight as partisans. Polish troops that had successfully withdrawn from occupied territory were later formed into many units fighting along the Allies, usually British. Among the best known are the 1st Independent Parachute Brigade (Market-Garden), 303 Squadron (the highest-scoring squadron in the Battle of Britain), the Polish Independent Highland Brigade (Narvik Campaign), the Polish Independent Carpathian Brigade (Siege of Tobruk), the 1st Armored Division (Falaise pocket) and the Polish II Corps (Italian Campaign), which notably included a ''[[BearsAreBadNews bear]]'' named [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wojtek_(bear) Private Wojtek]] among their enlisted men (he didn't fight, but he did carry crates of artillery shells). During WWII Poland lost nearly 17% of its pre-war population during the war and subsequent occupations (the second-highest casualty rate of WWII), and held out against the simultaneous invasions of Russia and Germany longer than France would in 1940.

Nowadays, the Polish military still uses a lot of Soviet-built equipment (like [=MiG-29=] and Su-22 planes, Mi-24 helicopters, BWP-1 infantry fighting vehicles, 2S1 howitzers, ''Kilo'' class submarines and small arms) but is rapidly acquiring/already have American and Eastern Europe stuff (like F-16 fighters, ''Kobben'' class submarines, ''Oliver Hazard Perry'' class frigates, Leopard 2A4/5 tanks, C-130 Hercules/C-295 cargo planes, Spike [=ATGMs=], AGM-154C JSOW cruise missiles), modernize its current equipment (for example PT-91 Twardy tanks and WR-40 Langusta MLRS which are upgrades of T-72 and BM-21) and have, builds and designs its own stuff (like W-3 Sokół and SW-4 Puszczyk helicopters, PZL-130 Orlik trainer planes, PL-01 Concept light tank, MSBS Grot assault rifle, light armored vehicles, trucks, artillery, firearms and many more).

In 2012, there were negotiations about building a part of the U.S. anti-missile shield (an idea proposed by the[[UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush Bush administration]]) in Poland, Poland having even made quite a fuss over it. The Polish reasoning was that having American forces on Polish soil would ensure that the Americans would be [[SummonBiggerFish more likely to move]] in case anybody threatens Poland, similar to how American forces stationed in UsefulNotes/SouthKorea would be forced to respond to a North Korean attack. (Seeing [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII what]] [[UsefulNotes/ColdWar happened]] to Poland throughout the 20th century, it's at least [[ProperlyParanoid understandable]]).
Although not much really came from it back then, there is some small chance of resumption of talks about this topic, due to the worsening situation on Ukraine and aggressive moves of Russian government. Moreover, Poland's vehicle arsenals are looking more and more empty as their Soviet-era tanks, vehicles, and infantry weapons [[FellOffTheBackOfATruck mysteriously found their way into the hands of Ukraine's army and territorial defense brigades.]]
With all of this newly freed space in the garage, Poland has further increased its defense spending to 5% of GDP, the largest percentage of any NATO state (this includes the United States) and gone on a bit of a shopping spree. The Polish government has ordered 18 fully built HIMARS units and 468 HIMARS launchers (literally just the weapon without the transport truck) after seeing the results less than 20 of them have produced in Ukraine, 32 F-35A Lightning aircraft, and 400 M1 Abrams tanks remain on order from the United States.

But even America's armaments suppliers can't keep up with Poland's demands for modern weapons, so the Polish government went shopping abroad for further suppliers and, shocking most of the world, met [[KoreansWithMarines the Republic of Korea.]] South Korea signed its largest arms export contract in the history of the nation with Poland for 288 K239 Chunmoo multiple rocket launchers, 672 K9 Thunder self-propelled artillery vehicles, 48 T-50 Golden Eagle light attack jets, several hundred Daewoo K4 belt-fed grenade launchers, and a sweetheart contract to produce 820 of the South Korean K2 Black Panther main battle tank locally in Poland- something unheard of in international arms deals. A further 180 will be built and shipped from Korea while the factory line gets set up. This spending and armament spree virtually guarantees a greater amount of exercises with allied nations and developing plans in the event of attack on Poland or Baltic Republics. To crew all of these weapons, Poland has further planned to enlist 300,000 men and women into the Polish Armed Forces by 2035. In addition to all of this, there is active discussion of reorganizing the Territorial Defense Brigades with modern small arms and training for those who fall just outside optimal military service age but could still help in a crisis situation defend the homeland. [[MightyGlacier Unless something gets in the way of its plans, then by the end of 2024 Poland may rightly be considered to have the largest modern army of Europe.]]

With all of this newly freed space in the garage, Poland has further increased its defense spending to 5% of GDP, the largest percentage of any NATO state (this includes the United States) and gone on a bit of a shopping spree. The Polish government has ordered 18 fully built HIMARS units and 468 HIMARS launchers (literally just the weapon without the transport truck) after seeing the results less than 20 of them have produced in Ukraine, and 400 M1 Abrams tanks remain on order from the United States.

But even America's armaments suppliers can't keep up with Poland's demands for modern weapons, so the Polish government went shopping abroad for further suppliers and, shocking most of the world, met [[KoreansWithMarines the Republic of Korea.]] South Korea signed its largest arms export contract in the history of the nation with Poland for 288 K239 Chunmoo multiple rocket launchers, 650 self-propelled artillery vehicles, 48 T-50 Golden Eagle light attack jets, and a sweetheart contract to produce the South Korean K2 Black Panther main battle tank locally in Poland- something unheard of in international arms deals. This spending and armament spree virtually guarantees a greater amount of exercises with allied nations and developing plans in the event of attack on Poland or Baltic Republics. To crew all of these weapons, Poland has further planned to enlist 300,000 men and women into the Polish Armed Forces by 2035. In addition to all of this, there is active discussion of reorganizing the Territorial Defense Brigades with modern small arms and training for those who fall just outside optimal military service age but could still help in a crisis situation defend the homeland. [[MightyGlacier Unless something gets in the way of its plans, then by the end of 2024 Poland may rightly be considered to have the largest modern army of Europe.]]

Although not much really came from it back then, there is some small chance of resumption of talks about this topic, due to the worsening situation on Ukraine and aggressive moves of Russian government. Moreover, Poland's vehicles arsenals are looking more and more empty as their Soviet-era tanks, vehicles, and infantry weapons [[FellOffTheBackOfATruck mysteriously found their way into the hands of Ukraine's army and territorial defense brigades.]]
With all of this newly freed space in the garages, Poland has further increased its defense spending to 4% of GDP, the largest percentage of any NATO state and gone on a bit of a shopping spree. The Polish government has ordered 18 fully built HIMARS units and 468 HIMARS launchers (literally just the weapon without the transport truck) after seeing the results less than 20 of them have produced in Ukraine, and 400 M1 Abrams tanks remain on order from the United States.

But even America's armaments suppliers can't keep up with Poland's demands for modern weapons, so the Polish government went shopping abroad for further suppliers and, shocking most of the world, met [[KoreansWithMarines the Republic of Korea.]] South Korea signed its largest arms export contract in the history of the nation with Poland for multiple rocket launchers, 650 self-propelled artillery vehicles, 48 T-50 Golden Eagle light attack jets, and a sweetheart contract to produce the South Korean K2 Black Panther main battle tank locally in Poland- something unheard of in international arms deals. This spending and armament spree virtually guarantees a greater amount of exercises with allied nations and developing plans in the event of attack on Poland or Baltic Republics. To crew all of these weapons, Poland has further planned to enlist 300,000 men and women into the Polish Armed Forces. In addition to all of this, there is active discussion of reorganizing the Territorial Defense Brigades with modern small arms and training for those who fall just outside optimal military service age but could still help in a crisis situation defend the homeland. [[MightyGlacier Unless something gets in the way of its plans, then by the end of 2024 Poland may rightly be considered to have the largest modern army of Europe.]]

Although not much really came from it back then, there is some small chance of resumption of talks about this topic, due to the worsening situation on Ukraine and aggressive moves of Russian government.
With the War in Ukraine ongoing, Poland has further increased its defense spending to 4% of GDP, the largest percentage of any NATO state. In addition to reorganizing the Territorial Defense Brigades with modern small arms and training, the government has orderedd 18 fully built HIMARS units and 468 HIMARS launchers (literally just the weapon without the transport truck) after seeing the results less than 20 of them have produced in Ukraine, and 400 M1 Abrams tanks remain on order from the United States.

But even America's armaments suppliers can't keep up with Poland's demands for modern weapons, so the Polish government went shopping abroad for further suppliers and, shocking most of the world, met [[SouthKoreansWithMarines the Republic of Korea.]] South Korea signed its largest arms export contract in the history of the nation with Poland for multiple rocket launchers, 650 self-propelled artillery vehicles, 48 T-50 Golden Eagle light attack jets, and a sweetheart contract to produce the South Korean K2 Black Panther main battle tank locally in Poland- something unheard of in international arms deals. This spending and armament spree virtually guarantees a greater amount of exercises with allied nations and developing plans in the event of attack on Poland or Baltic Republics. To crew all of these weapons, Poland has further planned to enlist 300,000 men and women into the Polish Armed Forces. [[MightyGlacier Unless something gets in the way of its plans, then by the end of 2024 Poland may rightly be considered to have the largest modern army of Europe.]]

But even America's armaments suppliers can't keep up with Poland's demands for modern weapons and the Polish government has further signed a massive arms contract with- of all places- South Korea for multiple rocket launchers, 650 self-propelled artillery vehicles, 48 T-50 Golden Eagle light attack jets, and a massive contract to produce the South Korean K2 Black Panther main battle tank locally in Poland- something unheard of in normal arms deals. This spending and armament spree virtually guarantees a greater amount of exercises with allied nations and developing plans in the event of attack on Poland or Baltic Republics. To crew all of these weapons, Poland has further planned to enlist 300,000 men and women into the Polish Armed Forces. [[MightyGlacier Unless something gets in the way of its plans, then by the end of 2024 Poland may rightly be considered to have the largest modern army of Europe.]]