Since the Late Middle Ages, both nations formed the preeminent states of their regions, i.e., East-Central Europe and Central Asia,[1][2][3][4] where cities flourished as learning (chiefly Kraków and Bukhara),[2][4] cultural and political centers, reflected in magnificent architecture, with some, such as Kraków, Toruń, Warsaw, Samarkand and Bukhara, now listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Both the Poles and Uzbeks endured several foreign invasions, including Russian,[3] and their states declined in the 18th century, to eventually lose their independence to Russia.

During World War I, ethnic Polish conscripts and legionnaires from the Austrian and German armies were held by the Russians in a prisoner-of-war camp in Fergana.

[10] The Poles suffered from epidemics and famine, so they opened temporary feeding centers, orphanages, clinics and small hospitals, yet 2,500 soldiers and many more civilians still died.

[11][12][13] A remnant of this period are Polish military cemeteries located in 15 cities in Uzbekistan, including Chiroqchi, Gʻuzor, Jizzakh, Karmana, Kenimekh, Kitob, Margilan, Olmazor, Qarshi, Shahrisabz, Tashkent, Yakkabogʻ, Yangiyoʻl.