Ministry of National Defense ( Polish: ''Ministerstwo Obrony Narodowej, MON'') is the office of government in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

under the Minister of National Defense. It is responsible for the organization and management of the

Polish Armed Forces The Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland ( pl, Siły Zbrojne Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej, abbreviated ''SZ RP''; popularly called ''Wojsko Polskie'' in Poland, abbreviated ''WP''—roughly, the "Polish Military") are the national armed forces of ...

. During the Second Polish Republic and

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

it was called the Ministry of Military Affairs (''Ministerstwo Spraw Wojskowych''). Ministry budget for 2022 was 140 billion PLN.

History

The beginning of the Ministry of Defense's operations is connected with the 1775 establishment of the Military Department within the

Permanent Council The Permanent Council () was the highest administrative authority in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth between 1775 and 1789 and the first modern executive government in Europe. As is still typically the case in contemporary parliamentary pol ...

. In 1789, the Military Commission of the

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and, after 1791, as the Commonwealth of Poland, was a bi-confederal state, sometimes called a federation, of Crown of the Kingdom of ...

was established, and from the Constitution of 3 May 1791 was under the Guardians of the Laws. Between 1793-94, the department was restored in the Supreme National Council. When

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officiall ...

became part of the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (german: Königreich Preußen, ) was a German kingdom that constituted the state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. ...

after the Third Partition of Poland in 1795), the Prussian Ministry of War headquarters was moved into the local Copper-Roof Palace. Another War Ministry was established in the Duchy of Warsaw. After the establishment of the

Stanisław Małachowski Count Stanisław Małachowski, of the Nałęcz coat-of-arms (; 1736–1809) was the first List of Polish Prime Ministers, Prime Minister of Poland, a member of the Poland, Polish government's Permanent Council (Rada Nieustająca) (1776–1780), M ...

government on 5 October 1807, the War Directorate became the Minister of War. From 1807 to 1810, the number of ministry officials increased from a dozen to over one hundred. The ministry's activities ceased on 4 May 1813. In 1814, the Military Organizing Committee was established in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

to regulate the military affairs of the Kingdom of Poland in 1815.Komisja Rządowa Wojny z lat [1811-1814] 1815-1832 [1833-1866]
/ref> After the November Uprising and the introduction of the Organic Statute of the Kingdom of Poland in the early 1830s, the distinctiveness of the Polish defence establishment from the Ministry of War of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War ...

ceased to exist. On 30 January 1917, the Provisional Council of State created an acting military commission, which was to deal with Polish military matters until a war office was organized. MON, Warszawa

On 2 November 1918, the commission was transformed into the Ministry of Military Affairs, based at the Copper-Roof Palace.VII. Narodziny Wojska Polskiego (październik – grudzień 1918)
/ref> During the London emigration of Polish power during World War II, on November 30, 1942, the name of the Ministry of Military Affairs was changed to the Ministry of National Defense. In 1944, under the

Polish Committee of National Liberation The Polish Committee of National Liberation (Polish: ''Polski Komitet Wyzwolenia Narodowego'', ''PKWN''), also known as the Lublin Committee, was an executive governing authority established by the Soviet-backed communists in Poland at the la ...

under the communists controlled a National Defense Center to manage the war front. After the war, the Provisional Government of National Unity (TRJN) reestablished the Military Affairs Ministry, which would be replaced by the Ministry of National Defense in 1979 and was under the Polish People's Army (LWP) in the People's Republic of Poland. The ministry would be transferred from the LWP to the Polish Army in 1990.

Organizational structure

The ministry includes political departments, Cabinet of the Minister and the following organizational units including units P1-P8 forming Polish General Staff: * Operational Center * Administrative Department * Budget Department * Department of Education, Culture and Heritage * Department of Infrastructure * Personnel Department * Department of Control * Department of Science and Military Education * Department of Protection of Classified Information * Department of International Security Policy * Armaments Policy Department * Law Department * Department of Social Affairs * Department of Strategy and Defense Planning * Department of Military Health Service * Department of Military Foreign Affairs * Office of the General Director * Office of the Minister of National Defence * Offset Contracts Office * Management Board of the Organization and Additions (P1) * Management of Intelligence and Reconnaissance Intelligence (P2) * Armed Forces Planning and Training Management Board (P3/P7) * Logistics Management (P4) * Management Board of Armed Forces Development Planning and Programming (P5) * Management and Command Board (P6) * Material Planning Board (P8) *

Military Information Services Military Information Services (, or WSI) was a common name for the Polish military intelligence and counter-intelligence agency. The agency was created in 1990 after the Revolutions of 1989 ended the Communist regime as a merger between the f ...

** Internal Military Service *

Military Intelligence Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist commanders in their decisions. This aim is achieved by providing an assessment of data from a ...

Service Units subordinate to the MON: * Armed Forces General Command * Operational Command * Support Command * Military Gendarmerie * Territorial Defence Force * Warsaw Garrison Command * National Center for Kryptologii * Provincial Military Headquarters * Center of Monitoring and Analysis * Inspectorate of Armaments * Innovative Defense Technology * Inspectorate of Military Fires * Military Centre for Standardization, Quality and Codification * Military Centre of Metrology * National Military Representative to

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two N ...

* Internal Audit for the Energy Sector * Military Technical Supervision * Military Studies of Teaching Foreign Languages * Central Military-Medical Commission * Military Pension Offices * House of the Retired Military Personnel (

) * Registration Office of the Polish Army

Ministers

; Second Polish Republic * Brigadier general Edward Rydz-Śmigły (1918) * (acting) Major general Jan Wroczyński (1918–1919) * Major general Józef Leśniewski (1919–1920) * Major general Kazimierz Sosnkowski (1921–1923) * (acting) Major general Aleksander Osiński (1923) * Major general Władysław Sikorski (1924–1925) * Lieutenant general Lucjan Żeligowski (1925–1926) * Major general Juliusz Tadeusz Tarnawa-Malczewski (1926) * Marshal of Poland Józef Piłsudski (1926–1935) * Major general Tadeusz Kasprzycki (1935–1939) ;

Polish government-in-exile The Polish government-in-exile, officially known as the Government of the Republic of Poland in exile ( pl, Rząd Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej na uchodźstwie), was the government in exile of Poland formed in the aftermath of the Invasion of Pola ...

* Lieutenant general Władysław Sikorski (1939–1942) * Major general

Marian Kukiel Marian Włodzimierz Kukiel (pseudonyms: ''Marek Kąkol'', ''Stach Zawierucha''; 15 May 1885 in Dąbrowa Tarnowska – 15 August 1973 in London) was a Polish major general, historian, social and political activist. One of the founders of Zwi ...

(1942–1944) ;Republic of Poland / People's Republic of Poland * Marshal of Poland Michał Rola-Żymierski (1945–1949) * Marshal of Poland/ Marshal of the Soviet Union Konstantin Rokossovsky (1949–1956) * Marshal of Poland Marian Spychalski (1956–1968) * Army General Wojciech Jaruzelski (1968–1983) * Army General Florian Siwicki (1983–1989) POL Flaga MON

;

Third Polish Republic Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (disambiguation) * Third Avenue (disambiguation) * Hi ...

* Army General Florian Siwicki (1989–1990) * Vice Admiral Piotr Kołodziejczyk (1990–1991) * Jan Parys (December 23, 1991 – 1992) * (acting)

Romuald Szeremietiew Romuald Szeremietiew (born 25 October 1945 in Olmonty) is a Polish politician, columnist, habilitated doctor of military sciences and associated professor at the Academy of National Defense and the War Studies Academy. He was a founding membe ...

(1992) *

Janusz Onyszkiewicz Janusz Adam Onyszkiewicz (, born 18 December 1937) is a Polish mathematician, alpinist, politicianEuropa Publications, "The International Who's Who 2004", Routledge, 2003pg. 1258/ref> and was a vice-president of the European Parliament's Foreign ...

(1992–1993) * Piotr Kołodziejczyk (1993–1994) * (acting) Jerzy Milewski (1994–1995) * Zbigniew Okoński (1995) * Stanisław Dobrzański (1996–1997) *

(1997–2000) * Bronisław Komorowski (2000–2001) *

Jerzy Szmajdziński Jerzy Andrzej Szmajdziński (, 9 April 1952 – 10 April 2010) was a Polish politician who was a Deputy Marshal of Polish Sejm and previously served as Minister of Defence. He was a candidate for President of Poland in the 2010 election. Szma ...

(October 19, 2001 – October 31, 2005) * Radosław Sikorski (October 31, 2005 – February 7, 2007) *

Aleksander Szczygło Aleksander Marek Szczygło (27 October 1963 – 10 April 2010) was a Polish politician. He was first elected to Polish parliament Sejm in 2001 and subsequently reelected on 25 September 2005 with 19,006 votes in 35th electoral district (Olszty ...

(February 7, 2007 – November 16, 2007 ''excluding 7–9 October 2007'') *

Jarosław Kaczyński Jarosław Aleksander Kaczyński (; born 18 June 1949) is a Polish politician who is currently serving as leader of the Law and Justice party (known by its Polish acronym PiS), which he co-founded in 2001 with his twin brother, Lech Kaczyński, ...

(7–9 October 2007 ''as Prime Minister and Minister of ND'') *

Bogdan Klich Bogdan Adam Klich (born on 8 May 1960 in Kraków) is a former Minister of National Defence of Poland. Son to Adam Klich. Bogdan Klich was interned in 1981 during the martial law set by the communist regime. Until November 16, 2007, he was a ...

(November 16, 2007 – July 29, 2011) *

Tomasz Siemoniak Tomasz Siemoniak (born 2 July 1967) is a Polish politician, Minister of National Defence from 2 August 2011 to 16 November 2015 and Deputy Prime Minister of Poland from 22 September 2014 to 16 November 2015. Early life and education Siemoniak ...

(August 2, 2011 – November 12, 2015) * Antoni Macierewicz (November 16, 2015 – January 9, 2018) *

Mariusz Błaszczak Mariusz Błaszczak (born 19 September 1969, in Legionowo) is a Polish politician, historian, and local government representative. Since 9 January 2018, Blaszczak has been the Minister of National Defence of Poland. On 22 June 2022 Preside ...

(January 9, 2018 – present)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ministry Of National Defence Of The Republic Of Poland

National Defence National security, or national defence, is the security and defence of a sovereign state, including its citizens, economy, and institutions, which is regarded as a duty of government. Originally conceived as protection against military attac ...

Poland, National Defence Military of Poland 1918 establishments in Poland

History

Organizational structure

Ministers

See also

References

External links