Poland now spends a bigger share of GDP on defence than any other NATO member
In 2025 Poland devoted 4.2 percent of its economy to its military, the highest share in NATO, and with more than 216,000 active personnel it fields the alliance's third-largest force after the United States and Turkey. It is a striking position for a country whose army had to be rebuilt from scratch in 1918.
Polish forces, known collectively as the Wojsko Polskie, have a lineage that runs back through centuries of wars, but the modern institution dates from the early twentieth century. During the long partition period from 1795 to 1918, Polish armies reappeared repeatedly: Polish Legions fought alongside Napoleon in Italy, Congress Poland kept its own army from 1815 to 1830, and insurrections flared in 1830 and 1863.
The First World War created two new formations. Polish Legions were raised in Austrian-ruled Galicia, and General Józef Haller switched sides in late 1917, taking troops via Murmansk to France, where he built the Blue Army, joined by several thousand volunteers from the United States. In 1918 a national army was assembled from soldiers of the Russian, Austro-Hungarian and German forces. During the war with Soviet Russia it swelled to nearly 800,000 men.
German invasion on 1 September 1939 and a Soviet attack on 17 September overwhelmed Poland. Some units escaped to fight with the Allies abroad, while others at home became the Home Army and other resistance groups. After 1945 the communist-era Polish People's Army followed Warsaw Pact standards, and its prestige sank as it was used to resettle minorities and to put down protests in 1956 and 1970 and during martial law from 1981 to 1983; it also took part in crushing the Prague Spring in 1968.
After communism collapsed, the forces adopted their present name in 1990, and Poland joined NATO on 12 March 1999, starting a deep reorganisation to Western standards. Its contingent in the NATO mission in Afghanistan from 2002 to 2014 was its largest since joining, and from 2003 to 2008 it commanded a multinational division in south-central Iraq. Today there are five branches under the Ministry of National Defence: land forces, navy, air force, special forces and a territorial defence force. SIPRI puts 2025 defence spending at 46.8 billion dollars, 14th in the world.
Source: Polish Armed Forces
