Timeline: Poland

A chronology of key events:

1918 - Independent Polish state created after the end of World War I. Marshal Jozef Pilsudski becomes head of state.

POLAND'S LAST COMMUNIST BOSS Ex-strongman General Jaruzelski may yet be punished Declared martial law in 1981 crackdown on Solidarity trade union movement Poles argue over whether he spared them a Soviet invasion or prolonged communism His talks with Solidarity led eventually to own resignation and end of communism Crackdown remembered

1920 - Soviet Red Army offensive repulsed.

1926 - Pilsudski stages a military coup. There follow nine years of autocratic rule.

1932 - Poland concludes non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union.

1934 - Poland signs similar 10-year pact with Nazi Germany.

1935 - Pilsudski dies. The military regime continues.

Invasion and subjugation

1939 - Nazi Germany invades Poland. Beginning of World War II as the United Kingdom declares war on Germany in response to the invasion. The Soviet Union invades from the east. Germany and the Soviet Union divide Poland between them and treat Polish citizens, particularly Jews, with extreme brutality.

1941 - Germans start to build concentration camps in Poland. Their names - Auschwitz, Treblinka, Majdanek - become synonymous with the Holocaust.

NAZI OCCUPATION Many thousands of Jews perished in the Warsaw Ghetto Remembering ghetto fighters Poles mark 1944 Warsaw uprising

1943 - Warsaw ghetto uprising against German attempts to transport the remaining Jewish inhabitants to concentration camps. Resistance lasts nearly four weeks before the ghetto is burned down. The Germans announce the capture of more than 50,000 Jews.

1944 - Polish resistance forces take control of Warsaw in August. The Germans recapture the city in October and burn it to the ground.

1945 - Soviet forces capture Warsaw in January. All German forces are driven from Poland by March. Poland's borders are set by the postwar Potsdam conference; Poland loses territory to the Soviet Union but gains some from Germany.

Communism and revolt

1947 - Poland becomes a Communist People's Republic. The elections are denounced by the US as undemocratic.

1955 - Poland joins the Warsaw Pact defence organisation.

LECH WALESA Founder of Solidarity union and first popularly-elected president Analysis: Solidarity's legacy 2000: Lech Walesa, Poland's humiliated hero On This Day 1980: Shipyard Poles strike for their rights

1956 - More than 50 people killed in rioting in Poznan over demands for greater freedom.

1970 - Food price riots in Gdansk. The protests are suppressed, hundreds are killed. Edward Gierek becomes party leader.

1970s - Poland enjoys economic prosperity based on foreign loans. Successive US presidents Nixon, Ford and Carter visit Poland.

1978 - Karol Wojtyla, Cardinal of Krakow, elected Pope.

1980 - Disturbances at the shipyard in Gdansk lead to the emergence of the Solidarity trade union under Lech Walesa.

1981 - Martial law imposed. Many of Solidarity's leaders, including Walesa, are imprisoned.

1983 - Martial law lifted.

Success for Solidarity

1989 - Round-table talks between Solidarity, the Communists and the church. Partially free elections see widespread success for Solidarity, which helps form coalition government.

Poland tightened border controls ahead of EU membership 2004: Poland's journey to Brussels 2003: Poland says big Yes to EU 2004: Analysis - Eastern Europe reborn

1990 - Walesa elected president of Poland. Market reforms, including large-scale privatisation, are launched.

1992 - Soviet troops start to leave Poland.

1993 - Reformed Communists enter coalition government. They pledge to continue market reforms.

1994 - Poland joins Nato's Partnership for Peace programme.

1995 - Aleksander Kwasniewski, a former Communist, narrowly beats Lech Walesa to become president.

1997 - Polish parliament adopts a new constitution. General election is won by the Solidarity grouping AWS. Jerzy Buzek forms a coalition government.

Towards EU membership

1998 - The EU opens talks on Polish membership.

1999 - Poland joins Nato.

2000 - Aleksander Kwasniewski re-elected as president.

Polish combat troops joined the US-led coalition in Iraq 2003: Europe's new heavyweight 2004: Poland seeks Iraq reward

2001 - Poland permits citizens to apply to see the files kept on them by the secret police during the communist era.

2001 October - New coalition between the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) and the Peasants' Party forms government with SLD leader Leszek Miller as prime minister.

2002 December - EU summit in Copenhagen formally invites Poland to join in 2004.

2003 March - Polish Peasant's Party ejected from ruling coalition over failure to vote with government on tax. Leszek Miller carries on as PM in minority government.

2003 June - Poles vote in referendum in favour of joining EU.

EU era dawns

2004 May - Poland is one of 10 new states to join the EU.

Prime Minister Miller resigns. Former finance minister Marek Belka succeeds him.

2005 September - Conservative Law and Justice party comes first in general elections.

Palace of Culture and Science: A Soviet relic in Warsaw 2005: Poles tolerate Stalinist palace

2005 October - Law and Justice candidate Lech Kaczynski wins presidential election.

Minority government led by Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz of Law and Justice sworn in.

2006 January - More than 60 people are killed when roof of Katowice trade centre collapses.

2006 May - Law and Justice Party reaches majority coalition agreement with Self-Defence Party and League of Polish Families.

2006 July - Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz resigns as prime minister. President Lech Kaczynski's twin brother, Jaroslaw, becomes premier.

2007 January - Recently-appointed Archbishop of Warsaw Stanislaw Wielgus resigns over revelations about his co-operation with the secret police under communist rule.

2007 April - Prosecutors bring charges against former communist leader General Jaruzelski over his role in introducing martial law in 1981.

2007 August - Governing coalition collapses, paving way for early election.

2007 October - Liberal, pro-EU Civic Platform party wins general election.

2008 February - The government forges an agreement with the US in principle to host a controversial American missile defence system.

2008 September - Poland's last Communist leader, General Wojciech Jaruzelski, goes on trial in connection with the imposition of martial law in 1981.

2008 December - The government adopts a multi-billion dollar stimulus plan to kick-start the economy amid the global slowdown.

2009 May - The IMF approves a one-year credit line for Poland of $20.6 billion to help it weather the global economic crisis.