The political transformation in Poland resulted in the reorientation of Polish policy in the field of understanding security. It found its reflection in newly defined policy directions, which were manifested in the search for new guarantees of security, development opportunities and giving a new character to Polish politics. The problem of ensuring state security in new geopolitical conditions is expressed in the adopted hierarchy of priorities for the implementation of the Polish raison d’etat. The implementation of the policy priorities means that Poland has a solid foundation for security. The Polish Army carries out many key tasks in it. The armed forces of the Republic of Poland became an element of the broad NATO security system. Building faith in defensive self-sufficiency, Poland distances itself more and more from Europe. Both threats and challenges require decision-making in matters of security and go beyond the traditionally understood security. As a consequence, Poland responds to both threats and challenges in the security policy of the Republic of Poland to a small extent.

The consequence of systemic and political changes in Poland involved reorientation of Polish policy in terms of perceiving security. It was reflected in newly defined policy directions which expression involved a search for the new guarantees of security. The problem of ensuring state security in new geopolitical conditions is expressed in the adopted hierarchy of priorities of implementation of the Polish national interest. The exercise of the specified policy priorities means Poland’s obtaining a solid security basis. The Polish Army, the armed forces of the Republic of Poland, has become an element of NATO’s broad security system. The implementation of the policy in this regard by the Polish government has recently been more and more unidimensional. Only cooperation with the USA is at the target of the Polish security policy. Issues related to its costs remain outside its determinants. There is no reflection on being dependent on another egoistic player.

1st Polish Rifle Regiment in France During the Great War

The article presents a fragment of the history of the 1st Polish Rifle Regiment, the first independent unit that was a part of the Polish Army in France (also known as the Blue Army or the Army of General Józef Haller). The unit was organized in January 1918 and the only Polish formation of Blue Army of that period that participated in the final stages of the Great War on the Western Front. The paper’s chronological scope covers the period from the formation of the regiment in January 1918 to the end of the war in November 1918. The 1st Polish Rifle Regiment together with the Polish Army in France provided enormous support for the Polish Army during the Polish-Ukrainian and Polish-Soviet wars. The article is divided into parts corresponding to the various stages of regiment’s service in France during the Great War – formation and training, stay at the front in Champagne, joining the 1st Polish Rifle Division, and filling a section of the front in the Vosges. The paper is based on primary sources available in the Central Military Archives in Warsaw, the Archives of Modern Records, memories and diaries, and French regulations and their Polish translations. Critical analysis method was used to analyze the sources.