State · 1944 – 1989
Polish People's Republic
A state of 1944 – 1989 — 45 years in Europe. It replaced Second Polish Republic. It was replaced by Poland. The atlas records 4 things within it — wars and battles 1 · unrest and atrocity 2 · people 1. Its line of rulers holds 7 people.
For the full story, the article on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0); this page holds what the record says of the state.
- Stood
- 45 years
- 1944 – 1989
- Rulers
- 7
- the De facto leader
- Within it
- 4
- recorded rows
- Symbols
- 3
- on record, with years
Where it sits in time
Five thousand years, 3000 BCE to 2026; the state in gold, what it replaced or followed and what replaced or followed it in grey.
Before and after
The states the record files it as replacing or following, and those that replaced or followed it - Wikidata's own statements, each read from this state's side.
Before it
- Second Polish Republic · replaces · 1918 – 1939
After it
- Poland · replaced by · 1989 – present
Rulers
The leaders of its ruling party, read from English Wikipedia, List of de facto leaders of the Polish People's Republic, revision 1377268859 - the line the atlas measures; its formal heads of state are listed with the government below.
| Ruler | Reign | Length | How it ended · source | To the ruler before |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jakub Berman | 1947 – 1947 | under a year | ending not on record | |
| Bolesław Bierut | 1948 – 1956 | 8 years | ending not on record | |
| Edward Ochab | 1956 – 1956 | under a year | ending not on record | |
| Władysław Gomułka | 1956 – 1970 | 14 years | ending not on record | |
| Edward Gierek | 1970 – 1980 | 10 years | deposed, the article saysread from the ruler's own article | |
| Stanisław Kania | 1980 – 1981 | 1 year | ending not on record | |
| Wojciech Jaruzelski | 1981 – 1989 | 8 years | ending not on record |
7 rulers, 7 with terms dated as terms, covering 1947 – 1989. Only 42 years of the line are dated - too short for a median. 1 of 6 handovers irregular - a killing, a deposition, a rival claimant, a rising or a coup beside it. The violent-handover count is withheld: power changed hands so often that any rising falls beside one (exposure 0.67, limit 0.6). A blank in the last column means no kin on record, which is coverage, never “unrelated”.
Flags and arms, in order
Each symbol with the years its own statement gives; the timeline flies the one of the year on screen.
.svg/120px-Coat_of_arms_of_Poland_(1955-1980).svg.png)
coat of arms, undatedCoat of arms of Poland (1955-1980) · Public domain .svg/120px-Flag_of_Poland_(1928%E2%80%931980).svg.png)
flag, undatedFlag of Poland (1928–1980) · Public domain 
flag, from 1919Flag of Poland · Public domain
What happened within it, by century
Every row the atlas hosts under this state, by the century it began in: wars and battles in red, risings, regime changes and massacres beside them, everything else in grey. A tall bar is a century the record is full for, which is partly a fact about Wikipedia.
1900 – 19994 rows · 1 wars and battles · 2 risings, regime changes and massacres
- Mateusz Morawiecki · politician · 1968 – present
- 1956 Poznań protests · unrest · 1956
- Operation Vistula · battle · 1947
- December 1970 protests in Poland · unrest · 1970
Among all states
Each measure against the states that carry it, never against all of them: a bar is the share of those states below this one.
- How long it stood45 years
stood longer than 32% of 3,187 states with a recorded end or still standing.
- Wars recorded per centurynone
had more wars on record per century than 44% of 3,187 states, counting the wars the atlas hosts under each.
- Rulers on record7
has more rulers on record than 73% of 1,968 states with a line of rulers.
What led to it, and what came of it
The investigation's own picture: 83 causes the record names and 1 result, the strongest six of each at their own years, joined to the state by the kind of claim - a recorded statement solid, the article's sentence dashed, a theory dash-dot.
Open the investigation: every row with its evidence, the conditions at the time, the theories condition by condition, and the succession analysed.
Theories that apply to its ending
Of 3 theories of why states fall, 1 has every condition present at this ending; each is applied by its own logic, condition by condition, and whether its authors named this case is a footnote.
Demographic-structural breakdown
Goldstone 1991 · Turchin & Nefedov 2009
Applies by its own logic: 2 of its 3 conditions held here (it needs 2), and this is the kind of outcome it predicts — unrest, adverse regime change or the state's ending.
- overlapping reigns — rival claimants — within 20 y, or 3 or more changes of ruler within 20 y, or 2 or more reigns of two years or less within 20 y, or a monarch deposed or killed within 20 y — handovers 3
- a war the state is fighting, still under way, or a war the state fought, ended within 10 y — warOngoing
Open in the atlas
- On the timeline, 1934 – 1999, with everything that stood beside it.
- On the map in 1967, live: scrub the year and watch its borders move.
- Investigate it: what led to it, what came of it, and its succession analysed.
Wikidata Q211274 (CC0) · symbols from Wikimedia Commons, each credited above · data built 2026-10-06 · Pastlas v2.9.1, by Oleh Voronko. The published atlas and its data are for non-commercial use.