Hearts of Iron

Hearts of Iron is a grand strategy computer game developed by Paradox Development Studio and published by Strategy First, set in the years 1936-1948. In the game players can control any one nation as World War II unfolds. It was released for Windows-compatible PCs in 2002. A Macintosh version was also released by Virtual Programming. The lead game programmer was Johan Andersson.

Gameplay

Hearts of Iron is based on Paradox's successful Europa Universalis game engine, but has many changes:

Hearts of Iron II

Hearts of Iron II is a grand strategy computer war game for the PC based upon its predecessor, Hearts of Iron. It was developed by Paradox Development Studio and published by Paradox Interactive. It takes place in the period from 1 January 1936 through 30 December 1947 (1964 with the expansion), and allows the player to assume control of any one of over 175 nations of the time and guide its development through the years before, during and after the Second World War. It was developed by Paradox Interactive and released 4 January 2005. The lead game programmer was Johan Andersson.

A sequel, Hearts of Iron III was released in August 2009. Arsenal of Democracy, a grand strategy wargame based on Hearts of Iron II was released in February 2010.Iron Cross a Hearts of Iron II expansion, was released on October 7, 2010, and Darkest Hour, a stand-alone strategy game based on Hearts of Iron II, was released on April 5, 2011.

Gameplay

Hearts of Iron II is a grand strategy game. The player can build land divisions, aircraft squadrons, and naval ships/fleets, and combine these into corps and armies. The player also has the ability to control the appointment of commanders of forces under their nation's flag or that of controlled nations as well as to control the appointment of individual government ministers and military commanders in key General Staff positions. The player also has a broader ability to control the heads of state and government; however, this option is only available to democracies and only then through elections, in which the player chooses the winner. Technological research is controlled by the player. All this is on a global scale, with the player simultaneously dealing and interacting with nations across the world. The game can be paused at any point.

Hearts of Iron III

Hearts of Iron III is a grand strategy wargame developed by Paradox Development Studio and published by Paradox Interactive that is the sequel to the previous Hearts of Iron games. It was announced on August 20, 2008 and was released on August 7, 2009.

A Mac OS X version was announced by Virtual Programming on December 7, 2009. The game was available for purchase the same day.

Gameplay

Hearts of Iron III allows the player to take control of almost any nation that existed during the period of 1936–1948, guiding it through World War II. A variety of decisions regarding the armed forces, production, research, diplomacy, politics and espionage is the focus of the game.

The game centers around three factions: the Axis (led by Germany), the Allies (led by Great Britain), and the Comintern (led by the Soviet Union). All other nations can slowly align with one of the factions. Nations are more likely to side with those with similar ideology, threat and proximity.

Resources found in the game include: energy, metal, rare materials, and oil. The first three are required for industrial production, while oil is converted to fuel for vehicles, planes and ships.

Poland

Coordinates: 52°N 20°E / 52°N 20°E / 52; 20

Poland (Polish: Polska [ˈpɔlska]), officially the Republic of Poland (Polish: Rzeczpospolita Polska, listen ), is a country in Central Europe,bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine and Belarus to the east; and the Baltic Sea, Kaliningrad Oblast (a Russian exclave) and Lithuania to the north. The total area of Poland is 312,679 square kilometres (120,726 sq mi), making it the 71st largest country in the world and the 9th largest in Europe. With a population of over 38.5 million people, Poland 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, as well as the most populous post-communist member of the European Union. Poland is a unitary state divided into 16 administrative subdivisions.

The establishment of a Polish state can be traced back to 966, when Mieszko I, ruler of a territory roughly coextensive with that of present-day Poland, converted to Christianity. The Kingdom of Poland was founded in 1025, and in 1569 it cemented a longstanding political association with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania by signing the Union of Lublin. This union formed the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, one of the largest and most populous countries of 16th and 17th-century Europe. The Commonwealth ceased to exist in the years 1772–1795, when its territory was partitioned among Prussia, the Russian Empire, and Austria. Poland regained its independence (as the Second Polish Republic) at the end of World War I, in 1918.

Poland, New York

Poland is the name of some places in the U.S. state of New York:

Poland (novel)

Poland is a historical novel written by James A. Michener and published in 1983 detailing the times and tribulations of three Polish families (the Lubonski family, the Bukowski family, and the Buk family) across eight centuries, ending in the then-present day (1981).

Overview

Michener was hired by a television company to travel to a foreign country to shoot a documentary. He was offered support to go anywhere in the world and Michener decided to make the trip to Poland. Following this, Michener made several trips back to Poland and conducted extensive study of Poland's history and culture. He began writing the book in 1979 and it was published four years later.

Like Michener's other works, he includes an acknowledgments section at the beginning of the book; however due to the political turmoil in Poland at the time, Michener decided not to include the names of the people he traveled with for fear of persecutions against them. He writes: "Normally, as I have done in my other novels, I would list their names, their impressive occupations, their achievements in research and scholarship, but I cannot ascertain whether in the present climate this would hurt or help them."