country minsk governorate
Wrocaw (, ; ) is the largest city in western ___MASK37___ . It is on the River Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe , roughly 350 kilometres ( 220 mi ) from the Baltic Sea to the north and 40 kilometres ( 25 mi ) from the Sudeten Mountains to the south . Wrocaw is the historical capital of Silesia and Lower Silesia . Today , it is the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship . At various times in history , it has been part of the Kingdom of ___MASK37___ , Bohemia , ___MASK80___ , the ___MASK46___ , ___MASK99___ and Germany . It became part of ___MASK37___ in 1945 , as a result of the border changes after the Second World War . The population of Wrocaw in 2016 was 637 , 075 making it the fourth - largest city in ___MASK37___ and the main city of Wrocaw agglomeration . The Commonwealth of Independent States ( CIS ), also called the Russian Commonwealth ( to distinguish it from the British Commonwealth of Nations ), is a regional organization formed during the dissolution of the ___MASK76___ . Nine out of the 15 former Soviet Republics are member states , and two are associate members ( ___MASK17___ and Turkmenistan ). Georgia withdrew its membership in 2008 , while the Baltic states ( ___MASK73___ , ___MASK2___ and Latvia ) refused to participate . The Polish  Lithuanian Commonwealth , formally the Kingdom of ___MASK37___ and the Grand Duchy of ___MASK2___ , after 1791 the Commonwealth of ___MASK37___ , was a dualistic state , a bi - confederation , of ___MASK37___ and ___MASK2___ ruled by a common monarch , who was both the King of ___MASK37___ and the Grand Duke of ___MASK2___ . It was one of the largest and most populous countries of 16th - and 17th - century Europe . At its peak in the early 17th century , the Commonwealth spanned some and sustained a multi - ethnic population of 11 million . The union was formalized by the Union of Lublin in July 1569 , but the Crown of the Kingdom of ___MASK37___ and the Grand Duchy of ___MASK2___ were in a de - facto personal union since 1386 with the marriage of the Polish queen Hedwig and ___MASK2___ ' s Grand Duke Jogaila , who was crowned King " jure uxoris " Wadysaw II Jagieo of ___MASK37___ . The First Partition of ___MASK37___ in 1772 and the Second Partition of ___MASK37___ in 1793 greatly reduced the nation ' s size and the Commonwealth disappeared as an independent state following the Third Partition of ___MASK37___ in 1795 . The ___MASK61___ ( EU ) is a political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe . It has an area of , and an estimated population of over 510 million . The EU has developed an internal single market through a standardised system of laws that apply in all member states . EU policies aim to ensure the free movement of people , goods , services , and capital within the internal market , enact legislation in justice and home affairs , and maintain common policies on trade , agriculture , fisheries , and regional development . Within the Schengen Area , passport controls have been abolished . A monetary union was established in 1999 and came into full force in 2002 , and is composed of 19 EU member states which use the euro currency . Warsaw (; see also other names ) is the capital and largest city of ___MASK37___ . It stands on the Vistula River in east - central ___MASK37___ , roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains . Its population is estimated at 1 . 750 million residents within a greater metropolitan area of 3 . 105 million residents , which makes Warsaw the 9th most - populous capital city in the ___MASK61___ . The city limits cover , while the metropolitan area covers . Pozna ( known also by other historical names ) is a city on the Warta river in west - central ___MASK37___ , in the Greater ___MASK37___ region . It is best known for its renaissance Old Town , destroyed during World War II and then rebuilt , and Ostrów Tumski Cathedral . Today , Pozna is an important cultural and business centre and one of ___MASK37___ ' s most populous regions with many regional customs such as Jarmark witojaski , traditional Saint Martin ' s croissants and a local dialect . ___MASK37___ , officially the Republic of ___MASK37___ , is a country in Central Europe , situated between the Baltic Sea in the north and two mountain ranges ( the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains ) in the south . Bordered by Germany to the west ; the ___MASK59___ and ___MASK91___ to the south ; Ukraine and ___MASK25___ to the east ; and the Baltic Sea , Kaliningrad Oblast ( a Russian exclave ) and Lithuania to the north . The total area of ___MASK37___ is , making it the 69th largest country in the world and the 9th largest in Europe . With a population of over 38 . 5 million people , ___MASK37___ is the 34th most populous country in the world , the 8th most populous country in Europe and the sixth most populous member of the European Union . ___MASK37___ is a unitary state divided into 16 administrative subdivisions , and its capital and largest city is Warsaw . Other metropolises include Kraków , Wrocaw , Pozna , Gdask and Szczecin . A governorate is an administrative division of a country . It is headed by a governor . As English - speaking nations tend to call regions administered by governors either states , provinces , or colonies , the term " governorate " is often used in translation from non - English - speaking administrations . A unitary state is a state governed as a single power in which the central government is ultimately supreme and any administrative divisions ( sub - national units ) exercise only the powers that the central government chooses to delegate . The majority of states in the ___MASK96___ have a unitary system of government . Of the 193 UN member states , 165 of them are governed as unitary states . Gdask ( German : ) is a Polish city on the Baltic coast . It is the capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship , ___MASK37___ ' s principal seaport and is also the centre of the country ' s fourth - largest metropolitan area . ___MASK84___ ( from the  Rus '), also officially known as the Russian Federation , is a country in Eurasia . At , ___MASK84___ is the largest country in the world by surface area , covering more than one - eighth of the Earth ' s inhabited land area , and the ninth most populous , with over 140 million people at the end of March 2016 . The European western part of the country is much more populated and urbanised than the eastern , about 77 % of the population live in European ___MASK84___ . ___MASK84___ ' s capital Moscow is one of the largest cities in the world , other major urban centers include Saint Petersburg , Novosibirsk , Yekaterinburg , Nizhny Novgorod and Samara . The Partitions of ___MASK37___ were three partitions of the Polish  Lithuanian Commonwealth that took place towards the end of the 18th century and ended the existence of the state , resulting in the elimination of the sovereign ___MASK37___ for 123 years . The partitions were conducted by the ___MASK92___ , the Kingdom of ___MASK99___ and Habsburg ___MASK88___ , which divided up the Commonwealth lands among themselves progressively in the process of territorial seizures . The ___MASK30___ refers to the Kingdom of ___MASK52___ ' s territorial control of much of the Baltic region during the 17th and early 18th centuries , a time when ___MASK52___ was one of the great European powers . The beginning of the Empire is usually taken as the reign of Gustavus Adolphus , who ascended the throne in 1611 , and the end as the loss of territories in 1721 following the Great Northern War . In Swedish history , the period is referred to as " stormaktstiden ", literally meaning " the Great Power era ". The ___MASK59___ , also known by the short name Czechia , is a nation state in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west , ___MASK88___ to the south , ___MASK91___ to the east and Poland to the northeast . The ___MASK59___ covers an area of with mostly temperate continental climate and oceanic climate . It is a unitary parliamentary republic , has 10 . 5 million inhabitants and the capital and largest city is Prague , with over 1 . 2 million residents . The ___MASK59___ includes the historical territories of Bohemia , Moravia , and Czech Silesia . A province is almost always an administrative division , within a country or state . The term derives from the ancient Roman " provincia ", which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the ___MASK40___ ' s territorial possessions outside ___MASK57___ . The term province has since been adopted by many countries , and in those with no actual provinces , it has come to mean " outside the capital city ". While some provinces were produced artificially by colonial powers , others were formed around local groups with their own ethnic identities . Many have their own powers independent of federal authority , especially in ___MASK93___ . In other countries , like ___MASK83___ , provinces are the creation of central government , with very little autonomy . ___MASK91___ , officially the Slovak Republic , is a landlocked country in Central Europe . It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west , Poland to the north , Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south . ___MASK91___ ' s territory spans about and is mostly mountainous . The population is over 5 million and comprises mostly ethnic Slovaks . The capital and largest city is Bratislava . The official language is Slovak , a member of the Slavic language family . Kraków , also Cracow or Krakow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in ___MASK37___ . Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser ___MASK37___ region , the city dates back to the 7th century . Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic , cultural , and artistic life and is one of ___MASK37___ ' s most important economic hubs . It was the capital of the Crown of the Kingdom of ___MASK37___ from 1038 to 1569 ; the Polish  Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1569 to 1795 ; the Free City of Kraków from 1815 to 1846 ; the Grand Duchy of Cracow from 1846 to 1918 ; and Kraków Voivodeship from the 14th century to 1998 . It has been the capital of Lesser ___MASK37___ Voivodeship since 1999 . Napoleon Bonaparte (" Napoléon Bonaparte "; , born "" Napoleone di Buonaparte ""; 15 August 1769  5 May 1821 ) was a French military and political leader who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led several successful campaigns during the French Revolutionary Wars . As Napoleon I , he was Emperor of the French from 1804 until 1814 , and again in 1815 . Napoleon dominated European and global affairs for more than a decade while leading ___MASK32___ against a series of coalitions in the Napoleonic Wars . He won most of these wars and the vast majority of his battles , building a large empire that ruled over continental Europe before its final collapse in 1815 . One of the greatest commanders in history , his wars and campaigns are studied at military schools ___MASK78___ . Napoleon ' s political and cultural legacy has ensured his status as one of the most celebrated and controversial leaders in human history . Szczecin ( German and , known also by other alternative names ) is the capital city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in ___MASK37___ . Located near the Baltic Sea , it is a major seaport and ___MASK37___ ' s seventh - largest city . As of June 2011 , the population was 407 , 811 . The Baltic Sea ( ; ) is a sea of the ___MASK63___ , enclosed by Scandinavia , Finland , the Baltic countries , and the North European Plain . It includes the Gulf of Bothnia , the Bay of Bothnia , the Gulf of Finland , the Gulf of Riga , and the Bay of Gdask . The sea stretches from 53 ° N to 66 ° N latitude and from 10 ° E to 30 ° E longitude . A mediterranean sea of the Atlantic , with limited water exchange between the two bodies , the Baltic Sea drains through the Danish islands into the Kattegat by way of the straits of Øresund , the Great Belt , and the Little Belt . Minsk (; is the capital and largest city of the Republic of ___MASK25___ , situated on the Svislach and Nyamiha rivers . It is the administrative centre of the Commonwealth of Independent States ( CIS ). As the national capital , Minsk has a special administrative status in ___MASK25___ and is the administrative centre of Minsk Region ( voblast ) and Minsk raion ( district ). In 2013 , it had a population of 2 , 002 , 600 . ___MASK17___ ( tr . ) is a sovereign state in Eastern Europe , bordered by ___MASK84___ to the east and northeast , ___MASK25___ to the northwest , Poland and Slovakia to the west , Hungary , Romania , and Moldova to the southwest , and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south and southeast , respectively . ___MASK17___ is currently in territorial dispute with ___MASK84___ over the Crimean Peninsula which ___MASK84___ annexed in 2014 but which ___MASK17___ and most of the international community recognise as Ukrainian . Including Crimea , ___MASK17___ has an area of , making it the largest country entirely within Europe and the 46th largest country in the world . It has a population of about 44 . 5 million , making it the 32nd most populous country in the world . ___MASK84___ , also officially known as the ___MASK92___ , was a state that existed from 1721 until it was overthrown by the short - lived liberal February Revolution in 1917 . One of the largest empires in world history , stretching over three continents , the ___MASK92___ was surpassed in landmass only by the British and Mongol empires . The rise of the ___MASK92___ happened in association with the decline of neighboring rival powers : the ___MASK30___ , the Polish  Lithuanian Commonwealth , Persia and the ___MASK64___ . It played a major role in 1812  14 in defeating Napoleon ' s ambitions to control Europe , and expanded to the west and south . The Kingdom of ___MASK99___ was a German kingdom that constituted the state of ___MASK99___ between 1701 and 1918 and included parts of present - day Germany , Poland , Russia , ___MASK2___ , Denmark , Belgium and the Czech Republic . It was the driving force behind the unification of Germany in 1871 and was the leading state of the ___MASK19___ until its dissolution in 1918 . Although it took its name from the region called ___MASK99___ , it was based in the Margraviate of Brandenburg , where its capital was Berlin . The ___MASK64___ ('; Modern Turkish : ' or '), also known as the Turkish Empire , Ottoman ___MASK21___ , was an empire founded at the end of the thirteenth century in northwestern Anatolia in the vicinity of Bilecik and Söüt by the Oghuz Turkish tribal leader Osman . After 1354 , the Ottomans crossed into Europe , and with the conquest of the Balkans the Ottoman Beylik was transformed into a transcontinental empire . The Ottomans ended the Byzantine Empire with the 1453 conquest of Constantinople by Mehmed the Conqueror . ___MASK2___ ( UK and US : ), officially the Republic of ___MASK2___ , is a country in Northern Europe . One of the three Baltic states , it is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea , to the east of Sweden and Denmark . It is bordered by Latvia to the north , ___MASK25___ to the east and south , Poland to the south , and Kaliningrad Oblast ( a Russian exclave ) to the southwest . ___MASK2___ has an estimated population of 2 . 9 million people , and its capital and largest city is Vilnius . Lithuanians are a Baltic people . The official language , Lithuanian , along with Latvian , is one of only two living languages in the Baltic branch of the Indo - European language family . ___MASK25___ ( lat . ',      ), officially the Republic of ___MASK25___ , formerly known by its Russian name Byelorussia ( though this name is no longer used in ___MASK25___ itself , even in Russian language ), is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe bordered by Russia to the northeast , Ukraine to the south , Poland to the west , and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest . Its capital and most populous city is Minsk . Over 40 % of its is forested . Its strongest economic sectors are service industries and manufacturing . Until the 20th century , different states at various times controlled the lands of modern - day ___MASK25___ , including the Principality of Polotsk ( 11th to 14th centuries ), the Grand Duchy of Lithuania , the Polish  Lithuanian Commonwealth , and the Russian Empire . The Minsk Governorate ( Russian :   ) or Government of Minsk was a governorate ( guberniya ) of the ___MASK92___ . The seat was in Minsk . It was created in 1793 from the land acquired in the partitions of Poland , and lasted until 1921 . ___MASK99___ was a historic state originating out of the Duchy of ___MASK99___ and the Margraviate of Brandenburg , and centred on the region of ___MASK99___ . For centuries , the House of ruled ___MASK99___ , successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well - organised and effective army . ___MASK99___ , with its capital in and from 1701 in Berlin , shaped the history of Germany . In 1871 , German states united to create the ___MASK19___ under Prussian leadership . In November 1918 , the monarchies were abolished and the nobility lost its political power during the German Revolution of 1918  19 . The Kingdom of ___MASK99___ was thus abolished in favour of a republic  the Free State of ___MASK99___ , a state of Germany from 1918 until 1933 . From 1933 , ___MASK99___ lost its independence as a result of the Prussian coup , when the Nazi regime was successfully establishing its ' laws in pursuit of a unitary state . With the end of the Nazi regime , the division of Germany into allied - occupation zones and the separation of its territories east of the line , which were incorporated into Poland and the Soviet Union , the State of ___MASK99___ ceased to exist de facto in 1945 . ___MASK99___ existed "" until its formal liquidation by the Allied Control Council Enactment No . 46 of 25 February 1947 . Minsk Region or Minsk Voblas or Minsk Oblast (" Minskaja voblas " " Minskaja oblastj ") is one of the regions of ___MASK25___ . Its administrative center is Minsk , although it is a separate administrative territorial entity of ___MASK25___ . As of 2011 , the region ' s population is 1 , 411 , 500 .