History of Poland
The Polish People's Republic ("Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa") was established under the rule of the communist Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR). The name change from the Polish Republic was not officially adopted, however, until the proclamation of the Constitution of the Polish People's Republic in 1952.
Polish–Prussian alliance
The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (also known as the Republic of Poland) had been a major European power since its formation in the late 16th century and was still one of the largest states on the European continent in the latter part of the 18th century. Over time, its state machinery had become increasingly dysfunctional. By the early 17th century, the magnates of Poland and Lithuania controlled the state—or rather, they managed to ensure that no reforms would be carried out that might weaken their privileged status (the so-called "Golden Freedoms"). Tentative reforms began in the late 18th century; however, any idea of reforming the Commonwealth was viewed with suspicion not only by its magnates but also by neighboring countries, which were content with the state of the Commonwealth's affairs and abhorred the thought of a resurgent and democratic power on their borders. With the Commonwealth Army only numbering around 16,000, it was easy for its neighbors to intervene directly: the Imperial Russian Army numbered 300,000; the Prussian Army and Imperial Austrian Army, 200,000. All of those powers had already annexed about a third of the Commonwealth territory and population ( and four to five million people) in the First Partition of Poland in 1772–1773.