For forty-five years following World War II, the Polish military subordinated its organization and its doctrine to the larger geopolitical and military aims of the Soviet Union. Until 1981, however, Polish society largely retained the traditional notion that the first mission of its army was to represent and defend the Polish people, regardless of political conditions. The final eight years of communist rule marked an unnatural combination of military and political doctrines, triggering a reorganization process that continued into the noncommunist 1990s.

Data as of October 1992