Military of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in the context of "Crown Army"

The Polish Golden Age (Polish: Złoty Wiek Polski [ˈzwɔ.tɘ ˈvjɛk ˈpɔl.ski] ) was the Renaissance period in the Kingdom of Poland and subsequently in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, which started in the late 15th century. Historians argue that the Polish Golden Age ended by the mid-17th century, when Poland was ravaged by the Khmelnytsky Uprising (1648–57) and by the Swedish and Russian invasion. During its Golden Age, the Commonwealth became one of the largest kingdoms of Europe and at its peak stretched from modern-day Estonia in the north to Moldavia in the south and from Moscow in the east to Brandenburg in the west.

In the 16th century the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth grew to 1 million km, with a population of 11 million. It prospered from its enormous grain, wood, salt, and cloth trade with Western Europe via the Baltic Sea ports of Gdańsk, Elbląg, Riga, Memel, and Königsberg. The Commonwealth's major cities also included Poznań, Kraków, Warsaw, Lwów, Wilno, Toruń, and, for a time, Kyiv and Smolensk. The Commonwealth army was able to defend the realm from foreign invasion, and also participated in aggressive campaigns against Poland's neighbors. As voluntary Polonization followed in unified territories, the Polish language became the lingua franca of Central and Eastern Europe.

The Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland (Polish: Siły Zbrojne Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej, pronounced [ˈɕiwɨ ˈzbrɔjnɛ ʐɛt͡ʂpɔsˈpɔlitɛj ˈpɔlskʲɛj]; abbreviated SZ RP), also called the Polish Armed Forces and popularly called Wojsko Polskie in Poland ([ˈvɔj.skɔ ˈpɔl.skjɛ], roughly "the Polish Military"—abbreviated WP), are the national armed forces of the Republic of Poland. The name has been used since the early 1800s, but can also be applied to earlier periods.

The Polish Legions and the Blue Army, composed of Polish volunteers from the United States and those who switched sides from the Central Powers, were formed during World War I. In the war's aftermath, the Polish Army was reformed from the remnants of the partitioning powers' forces and expanded significantly during the Polish–Soviet War of 1920. World War II dramatically impacted Polish military structures, with the initial defeat by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union invasions leading to the dispersion of Polish forces into the underground. After the war, the Polish People's Army (LWP) was formed, and its standards aligned with those of the former Warsaw Pact. The LWP's reputation suffered due to its role in political suppression both domestically and abroad, such as during the Prague Spring. Following the fall of communism, Poland shifted towards Western military standards, joining NATO in 1999, participating in missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, and undertaking substantial modernization of its forces.

Rawa Mazowiecka [ˈrava mazɔˈvʲɛt͡ska] is a town in central Poland, with 16,090 inhabitants (2022). It lies in the Łódź Voivodeship and is the capital of the Rawa County.

Rawa is a former medieval ducal seat of the Piast dynasty and an early modern provincial capital and royal city of Poland. From 1562 the city hosted the Rawa Treasury for the Polish army. It prospered thanks to its location on important trade routes, then in the 19th century it became a center of cloth manufacturing, and currently it is a center of the food and light industries. The town features heritage sites in a variety of styles, including Gothic, Baroque and Neoclassical and a regional museum.