Ministry of National Defense (

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

: ''Ministerstwo Obrony Narodowej, MON'') is the office of government in Poland under the Minister of National Defense. It is responsible for the organization and management of the Polish Armed Forces. During the

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 1918 and 1939. The state was established on 6 November 1918, before the end of ...

and World War II 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 poli ...

. In 1789, the Military Commission of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was established, and from the Constitution of 3 May 1791 was under the

Guardians of the Laws Guardians of the Laws or Guard of Laws ( pl, Straż Praw) was a short-lived supreme executive governing body of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth established by the Constitution of May 3, 1791. It was abolished, together with other reforms of th ...

. Between 1793-94, the department was restored in the Supreme National Council. When Warsaw became part of the Kingdom of Prussia after the Third Partition of Poland in 1795), the Prussian Ministry of War headquarters was moved into the local

Copper-Roof Palace The Copper-Roof Palace ( pl, pałac Pod Blachą) is an 18th-century palace in Warsaw, Poland. It takes its name (which is less precisely phrased in the original Polish) from the copper roof, a rarity in the first half of the 18th century. Since 19 ...

. 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 Prime Minister of Poland, a member of the Polish government's Permanent Council (Rada Nieustająca) (1776–1780), Marshal of the Crown Courts of Justice fr ...

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 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 The November Uprising (1830–31), also known as the Polish–Russian War 1830–31 or the Cadet Revolution, was an armed rebellion in the heartland of partitioned Poland against the Russian Empire. The uprising began on 29 November 1830 in W ...

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 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

.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 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 Polish People's Republic ( pl, Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa, PRL) was a country in Central Europe that existed from 1947 to 1989 as the predecessor of the modern Republic of Poland. With a population of approximately 37.9 million nea ...

. 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 fo ...

Internal Military Service The Internal Military Service, ( pl, Wojskowa Służba Wewnętrzna, ''WSW'') Szefostwo, was an armed military counterintelligence, military police, and military secret police within the structure of Ministry of National Defense or (MON). It se ...

* Military Intelligence 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 * 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 ( Warsaw) * Registration Office of the Polish Army

Ministers

;

* Brigadier general Edward Rydz-Śmigły (1918) * (acting) Major general

Jan Wroczyński Jan, JaN or JAN may refer to: Acronyms * Jackson, Mississippi (Amtrak station), US, Amtrak station code JAN * Jackson-Evers International Airport, Mississippi, US, IATA code * Jabhat al-Nusra (JaN), a Syrian militant group * Japanese Article Numb ...

(1918–1919) * Major general

Józef Leśniewski Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...

(1919–1920) * Major general

Kazimierz Sosnkowski General Kazimierz Sosnkowski (; Warsaw, 19 November 1885 – 11 October 1969, Arundel, Quebec) was a Polish independence fighter, general, diplomat, and architect. He was a major political figure and an accomplished commander, notable in p ...

(1921–1923) * (acting) Major general

Aleksander Osiński Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...

(1923) * Major general Władysław Sikorski (1924–1925) * Lieutenant general

Lucjan Żeligowski Lucjan Żeligowski (; 17 October 1865 – 9 July 1947) was a Polish-Lithuanian general, politician, military commander and veteran of World War I, the Polish-Soviet War and World War II. He is mostly remembered for his role in Żeligowski's M ...

(1925–1926) * Major general

Juliusz Tadeusz Tarnawa-Malczewski Juliusz is a given name. Notable people with the name include: *Juliusz Bardach (1914–2010), Polish legal historian *Juliusz Bursche (1862–1942), bishop of the Evangelical-Augsburg Church in Poland *Juliusz Bogdan Deczkowski (1924–1998), note ...

(1926) * Marshal of Poland Józef Piłsudski (1926–1935) * Major general

Tadeusz Kasprzycki Tadeusz Adam Kasprzycki (16 January 1891, Warsaw – 4 December 1978, Montreal) was a member of the Polish Legions in First World War, major general of the Polish Armed Forces from 1929 and Minister of Military Affairs of Poland from 1935 to 1 ...

(1935–1939) ; Polish government-in-exile * 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 /

* 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) * Hig ...

* Army General Florian Siwicki (1989–1990) * Vice Admiral

Piotr Kołodziejczyk Piotr Franciszek Kołodziejczyk (June 8, 1939, in Poznań–September 2, 2019, in Rekowo Górny) was a Polish vice-admiral, commander of the 3rd Flotilla of Ships and Navy, Minister of National Defence (Poland), Minister of National Defence from 1 ...

(1990–1991) *

Jan Parys Jan Stanisław Parys (born 1950) was the Minister of National Defence for Poland from 1991 to 1992. He was the President of the Jagiellonian College, and is currently a Board Member at the Polish Institute of International Affairs. He holds a do ...

(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 (1992–1993) *

(1993–1994) * (acting)

Jerzy Milewski Jerzy is the Polish version of the masculine given name George. The most common nickname for Jerzy is Jurek (), which may also be used as an official first name. Occasionally the nickname Jerzyk may be used, which means "swift" in Polish. People ...

(1994–1995) *

Zbigniew Okoński Zbigniew Wojciech Okoński (born 1949) is a Polish politician and businessman. Education Okoński is a graduate of the University of Gdańsk and the University of Agriculture in Szczecin. He completed additional coursework at Michigan University ...

(1995) *

Stanisław Dobrzański Stanislav and variants may refer to: People *Stanislav (given name), a Slavic given name with many spelling variations (Stanislaus, Stanislas, Stanisław, etc.) Places * Stanislav, a coastal village in Kherson, Ukraine * Stanislaus County, Cal ...

(1996–1997) * Janusz Onyszkiewicz (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 (Olsztyn ...

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

(January 9, 2018 – present)

References

External links

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

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

Poland, National Defence Military of Poland 1918 establishments in Poland

History

Organizational structure

Ministers

See also

References

External links