During the Great War, tension amongst the Polish population rose to a boiling point. Polish men were being conscripted en-masse by both sides of the conflict, and much of the countryside had been turned into wastelands pockmarked with craters and littered with corpses. In 1921, a large portion of the Royal Polish Army revolted against their Germany commanders in response to the continued deportation of Polish citizens to labor camps in Germany. They were quickly followed by the Polish Legions under Jozef Piludski's successor, Lechoslaw Sikorski, who collectively refused to continue to allow deportation of Polish citizens. The rebelling Polish forces experienced heavy casualties during the early days of the revolution, although the distraction they provided only served to worsen the course of the war, further drawing each side into a quagmire. Largely due to the fact that the Russian Empire had long since withdrawn to deal with Bolshevik rebels, the Polish rebels were able to focus almost entirely on Austria and Germany, and had pressured both nations into granting Polish independence as the war continued to worsen. In 1922, Poland was independent once again.

Despite the incredible victory that Poland had just achieved, economic troubles were close behind. In the initial years, with much of its farmland still in the process of being prepared for cultivation, the Polish government was forced to turn to trade in order to survive. Many surplus weapons were sold off to various bidders in return for food, and ports such as Gdansk were rapidly remade into the trading capitals they had been centuries ago in an effort to provide the country with a much-needed lifeline. Initially, casualties due to famine and disease were high, although a renewed focus on international trade and domestic industry allowed Poland to eventually recover and reach a state of economic growth. Perhaps most importantly, though,

The Polish government and its people clung to their newfound freedom, and took drastic steps to ensure that their position remained secure, especially beginning in the 1970s. Austria, unable to exert sufficient force against Poland, lost the territory to the Republic of Poland, which soon afterwards adopted the name of "the Slavic Union", in an effort to appear more welcoming to the citizens of the Czech Republic. Their efforts, though, were not entirely successful, and civil unrest remained common for several years. The Czech people, after all, had just broken free of the Austrian Empire and were rightly afraid that Poland would control them in much the same way. In the way of encouraging the Czech Republic to transition smoothly into Polish government, the Polish Armed Forces engaged in several months of relief operations in the Czech Republic, providing medical care and assistance in construction to foster trust. In addition, the Czech Republic was transitioned into the political system of the Republic of Poland, and, for the most part, was given the same political rights as Poland itself - eventually reaching the same status within a few years. Later, a similar process would occur in the Ukraine.

Only five years later, though, eastern Europe would be embroiled in conflict once again. Poland's relations with the Ukraine, at the time, were largely neutral, but still quite strained, largely due to Poland's evident attempts to increase its base of power. But a few weeks into the Hungarian invasion, the Polish military had mobilized, and, after an agreement had been reached with the Ukrainian government, crossed the border into the Ukraine. Despite initial successes, the Polish military encountered several obstacles along the way. In particular, Ukrainian civilians often attempted to slow

the progress of Polish troops in rural areas, due to the fact that modern communication in the area was extremely sparse and many rural communities still held animosity towards Poland. In particular, though, the fact that large portions of the Polish military hadn't seen combat in several years resulted in heavy losses against the Hungarian forces in the first few battles of the war, though they were largely successful.

Polish Forces, despite initially heavy losses, were able to force the Hungarian forces out of the Ukraine in short order, gaining both valuable military experience (which, for the most part, they lacked) and a third member of the Slavic Union in the process. Despite the actions they had taken to discourage anti-Union sentiment, protests were still relatively common even at the end of the 1970s, although riots and terrorist attacks had mostly subsided by that point (though not completely). For the most part, the populations of the Ukraine and the Czech Republic support a strong military and economic coalition, while still wishing for political independence.

One year later, in 1976, the Polish government deployed forces in Moscow as part of a peacekeeping operation. Violence in Moscow was reaching an incredible high, and came to threaten the stability of Eastern Europe as a whole -- especially the weakened, recently invaded Ukraine. Thankfully, Polish forces were able to quell the ongoing violence, and, soon afterwards, occupied Moscow and the surrounding area. President Anatol was quick to pull forces out of the region and replace them with mercenaries, a move that was widely opposed by his political enemies. Now composed of three nations, though, the government of the Slavic Union was quick to pour funding into military research and logistics in order to relieve its already badly stretched forces. In addition to political freedoms, the Polish government made frequent use of propaganda to foster friendly sentiment.

Despite the generally unified state that Poland is in, there are several notable people with political stances largely contrary to that of the current government. This is especially true in the military and the arms industry, where a more aggressive Poland is encouraged. Perhaps most notably, Mateusz Wyrzyk, CEO of Poznan Engineering Works (Poznań Zakłady Inżynieryjne), has frequently pushed for a more aggressive and independent stance to be adopted by the Polish government. PZI was and remains one of the largest manufacturing corporations in Poland, in both military and civilian sectors. Despite what the name may imply, the company also oftentimes funds research into various technologies, and maintains strong relations with major Polish universities like the Warsaw University of Technology, Jagiellonian University, and the University of Wroclaw.