The government of the Polish People's Republic drastically restricted everyday life by introducing martial law and a military junta in an attempt to counter political opposition, in particular the Solidarity movement.

Edward Gierek, First Secretary of the Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR), had obtained a series of large loans from foreign creditors to achieve better economic output, but they instead resulted in a domestic crisis.

On 13 December 1981, Jaruzelski announced the imposition of martial law in a televised speech, following the vote of the Council of State the previous day which formally authorised its introduction.

The Polish People's Army, Citizens' Militia (MO), ZOMO special paramilitary units, and tanks were deployed on the streets to demoralize demonstrators, begin regular patrols, control strategic enterprises, and maintain curfew.

Other demonstrations across Poland were dispersed by the military or paramilitary units, which utilized water cannons, tear gas, batons, truncheons, and clubs, killing 91 people in total, though this figure is uncertain and is still debated among historians.

Apart from financing the economic sector, the money was spent on social housing and on expanding road connections, for example the first fully operational highway linking Warsaw with industrial Silesia was opened for traffic in 1976.

[25] The living standards began to sharply decline; the supply of imported goods was kept to a low minimum and the country was forced to export everything it could, including coal necessary for basic heating and power plants.

[27] At the same time, the newly founded Solidarity movement encouraged farmers to refrain from selling agricultural products (wheat, grain, fruit and others) to the state as a sign of protest.

[30] On 6 September 1980, Gierek was dismissed from his office, expelled from the Polish United Workers' Party (possibly under the pressure from the Soviet Union) and falsely charged with corruption.

[41] This method entailed strong propaganda[41] against the movement and deploying secret services (SB) to go undercover and infiltrate Solidarity headquarters in the hope of creating internal conflicts within the opposition.

Stanisław Kania warned Brezhnev that an armed intervention from the Soviet side to aid Jaruzelski would be met "with a violent reaction, or even with a national uprising"[42] that would shake the politics of the Eastern Bloc.

[42] Zbigniew Brzezinski, chief security advisor to US president Jimmy Carter, stated that if the Soviet Union undertook an armed intervention in Poland, the US would strike back in a riposte manner.

[43] According to historian and publicist Paul Kengor, then-US president Ronald Reagan considered sending American troops to Poland to scare off the Soviets.

[44] Kengor then elaborated that Reagan eventually abandoned the plan after he was convinced by his own advisors that the US army stationed across Europe was less capable and much weaker than the Soviet forces.

[45] The ministries agreed that martial law should be preceded by appropriate propaganda calling for its support, and the decision itself should be based on a pretext that it would bring social stability and peace.

[46] It was also highlighted that martial law must occur before the fully mobilized Fighting Solidarity and its allies organize a general strike that would paralyze the entire country.

It is suspected that Kulikov, acting on behalf of the Soviet Union, was tasked with sending undercover KGB agents to monitor the situation in Poland from the Polish military's perspective.

[49] Over 25,000 posters announcing martial law were secretly printed in the Soviet Union, transported to Poland by airplane and hidden in the large building housing the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

At precisely 00:00 (12:00 a.m.), the Motorized Reserves of the Citizens' Militia (ZOMO) began "Akcja Jodła" (English: Operation Fir) and arrested the first members of Solidarity who were at close reach.

Three days after restrictions were imposed, miners at the Wujek Coal Mine in the industrial city of Katowice began striking against the declaration of martial law by General Jaruzelski.

[67] The southern city of Kraków was also witnessing heavy demonstrations, with thousands marching on the street demanding an end to the martial law and communist rule.

[68] On the night of 29–30 April 1982, local miners in Wodzisław Śląski planted a bomb and blew up a monument dedicated to Soviet soldiers who took control of Poland from the Nazis in 1945.

On August 14, 1982, in an even known as "Bloody Saturday", the most brutal pacification of the ZOMO took place in the Kwidzyn internment camp located in the territory of the city's prison.

[75] On that day, the gathered people sang the Polish national anthem and chanted slurs and slogans against the communist regime, against the military junta with Jaruzelski as its head and against the Soviets.

[84] Telephone lines were disconnected, mail was subjected to renewed postal censorship,[85] all independent political organizations were criminalized and lessons in schools and universities temporarily suspended.

As part of the crackdown, media and educational institutions underwent "verification", a process that tested each employee's attitude towards the regime and to the Solidarity movement; as a result, thousands of journalists, teachers and professors were banned from their professions.

[89] Even after martial law was lifted, a number of restrictions remained in place for several years that drastically reduced the civil liberties of the citizenry.

[97] Henry Hyde, U.S. House intelligence committee member, stated that the USA provided "supplies and technical assistance in terms of clandestine newspapers, broadcasting, propaganda, money, organizational help and advice".

[98] Pope John Paul II wrote a letter to the Primate of Poland, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński, in which he called for peace talks between the state and the workers, supporting the Poles' "undeniable right to resolve their problems by themselves".

[102] Led by General of the Army Wojciech Jaruzelski, the Military Council of National Salvation (Wojskowa Rada Ocalenia Narodowego, WRON) usurped for itself powers reserved for wartime, hence the name.