Silesia

Silesia (-Latin, Polish ?l?sk, German Schlesien, Czech Slezsko) is a historical region in central Europe. Most of it is now within the borders of Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Silesia is located along the upper and middle Oder River (Odra) and along the Sudetes mountain range. In the local Silesian language or dialect, the region is called ?lonsk or ?lunsk. The largest city of Silesia is Wroc?aw.

History

Early people

Silesia was inhabited by various people that belonged to changing archeological cultures in the Stone, Bronze, and Iron Ages.

Related Topics:
Stone - Bronze - Iron Age

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According to Tacitus, in the 1st century Silesia was inhabited by a multi-ethnic league dominated by the Lugii/Lygii. The Silingi were also part of this federation, and most likely a Vandalic people that lived south of the Baltic Sea in the Elbe, Oder, and Vistula river area.

Related Topics:
Tacitus - 1st century - Lugii/Lygii - Silingi - Vandalic - Baltic Sea - Elbe - Oder - Vistula

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Middle Ages

Early documents mention a couple of tribes most probably living in Silesia. The Bavarian Geographer (ca. 845) specifies the following peoples: the Slenzanie, Dzhadoshanie, Opolanie, Lupiglaa, and Golenshitse. A document of a bishopric from Prague (1086) also mentions the Zlasane, Trebovyane, Poborane, and Dedositze.

Related Topics:
Bavarian Geographer - 845 - Slenzanie - Dzhadoshanie - Opolanie - Lupiglaa - Golenshitse - Prague - 1086 - Zlasane - Trebovyane - Poborane - Dedositze

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In the 9th and 10th centuries, the territory later called Silesia was subject to Moravian, and then Bohemian rulers of the neighbouring area covered by today's Czech Republic to the south. About 990, Silesia was incorporated into Poland by Mieszko I (although some historians move this date to 999 and the rule of Boleslaus I, duke of the Polanie and later king of Poland). During Poland's fragmentation (1138–1320) into duchies ruled by different branches of the Piast dynasty, Silesia was ruled by descendants of the former royal family.

Related Topics:
Moravian - Bohemian - Czech Republic - 990 - Poland - Mieszko I - 999 - Boleslaus I - Poland's fragmentation - Duchies - Piast dynasty

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In 1146, senior duke Wladislaus II acknowledged the overlordship of the Holy Roman Empire over Poland, but was driven into exile. Seventeen years later, in 1163, his two sons took possession of Silesia with imperial backing, dividing the land between them as dukes of Lower and Upper Silesia. The policy of subdivision continued under their successors, with Silesia being divided into 16 principalities by the 1390s.

Related Topics:
1146 - Wladislaus II - Holy Roman Empire - Exile - 1163 - 1390s

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In 1241, the region experienced the Mongol invasion of Europe. After raiding Lesser Poland, they entered Silesia and caused widespread panic and mass migrations. The Mongols looted much of the region but abandoned their siege of the castle of Wroc?aw, supposedly after being fended off by Blessed Cheslav's "miraculous fireball." The Mongols defeated the combined Polish and German forces at the Battle of Legnica, which took place at the Legnickie Pole near modern Legnica. Upon the death of Ögedei Khan, the Mongols chose not to press forward further into Europe, but rather returned east.

Related Topics:
1241 - Mongol invasion of Europe - Lesser Poland - Mongols - Wroc?aw - Battle of Legnica - Legnickie Pole - Legnica - Ögedei Khan

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The ruling Silesian lords decided to rebuild their cities according to the latest administrative ideas. They founded or relocated some 160 cities and 1,500 towns and imposed a codified German law in place of the older, customary Polish laws. They also made up for the recent population loss by inviting foreigners, mostly Germans from the Holy Roman Empire. With this, and with the ruling classes adopting German culture, the foundation for the ethnic tensions found later in Silesia were laid.

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In the second half of the 13th century, various knightly orders also settled in Silesia - the Knights of the Red Star were the first, soon followed by the Hospitaller and the Teutonic Knights.

Related Topics:
Knights of the Red Star - Hospitaller - Teutonic Knights

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In 1335, Duke Henry VI of Wroc?aw and the Upper Silesian dukes recognized the overlordship of the king of Bohemia, John of Luxemburg. The last independent Piast duchies in Silesia ceased to exist in 1368, although the Silesian branch of the Piast dynasty went extinct only in 1675. From that time Silesia indirectly became a part of the Holy Roman Empire, as Bohemia was itself its autonomous part. Silesia remained part of the lands of the Bohemian crown until 1740, under kings from Czech, Polish, and German dynasties. Under the emperor and king of Bohemia Charles IV, Silesia and especially Wroc?aw gained greatly in importance - many great buildings and large Gothic churches were built.

Related Topics:
1335 - Bohemia - John of Luxemburg - 1368 - 1675 - Holy Roman Empire - 1740 - Charles IV - Gothic

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Between 1425 and 1435, devastation was caused by the Hussite Wars in Bohemia. The Hussites turned against the German population, and some regions, especially Upper Silesia, became Slavic-speaking again. Despite the widespread nature of the conflagration, Silesia remained largely Catholic.

Related Topics:
1425 - 1435 - Hussite Wars - Hussite

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Early Modern Period

The Protestant Reformation of the 16th century took an early hold in Silesia, and most of the inhabitants became Lutheran. In 1526, King Ferdinand I made the elected crown of Bohemia an inherited possession of the Habsburg dynasty. In 1537 the Piast duke Frederick II of Brzeg(Brieg) concluded a treaty with Elector Joachim II of Brandenburg, whereby the Hohenzollerns of Brandenburg would inherit the duchy upon the extinction of the Piasts, but the treaty was rejected by Ferdinand.

Related Topics:
Protestant Reformation - 16th century - Lutheran - 1526 - Ferdinand I - Habsburg - 1537 - Brzeg - Elector - Joachim II - Brandenburg - Hohenzollern

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The second "Defenestration of Prague" in 1618 sparked the Thirty Years' War, caused by attempts of King Ferdinand II to restore Catholicism and stamp out Protestantism. After the end of the Thirty Years' War in 1648, the Habsburgs greatly encouraged Catholicism, and succeeded in reconverting about 60 % of the population of Silesia. By 1675, the last Silesian Piast rulers had died out.

Related Topics:
Defenestration of Prague - 1618 - Thirty Years' War - Ferdinand II - 1648 - 1675

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In 1740, the seizure of Silesia by King Frederick II of Prussia (the Great), was welcomed by the Silesians, not only the Protestant population. Frederick based his claims on the Treaty of Brieg, began the War of the Austrian Succession which ended in 1748. At the end of this war, the Kingdom of Prussia had conquered almost all of Silesia (some parts of Silesia in the extreme southeast remained possessions of Austria), and the Seven Years' War (1756-1763) only confirmed this result – Silesia became one of the most loyal a provinces of Prussia. In 1815, the area around Görlitz was incorporated as a part of the province in an administrative reform.

Related Topics:
1740 - Frederick II of Prussia - War of the Austrian Succession - 1748 - Kingdom of Prussia - Austria - Seven Years' War - 1756 - 1763 - Prussia - 1815 - Görlitz

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Silesia in Germany

Silesia became part of the German Empire when Germany was unified in 1871. There was considerable industrialization in Upper Silesia, and many people moved there at that time. The majority of the population of Lower Silesia was German-speaking and Lutheran, including the capital Wroc?aw, then known as Breslau. There were areas such as the District of Opole and parts of Upper Silesia, however, where a larger portion or even majority of the population was Polish-speaking and Roman Catholic. In Silesia as a whole, Poles comprised about 30% of the population. The Kulturkampf set Catholics in opposition to the government and sparked a Polish revival in the province.

Related Topics:
German Empire - 1871 - Industrialization - Lower Silesia - Wroc?aw - District - Opole - Kulturkampf

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After the defeat of the German Empire and Austria-Hungary in World War I the Austrian parts of Silesia were divided between Poland and Czechoslovakia. In the Treaty of Versailles, it was decided that the population of the German Upper Silesia should hold a plebiscite in order to determine the future of the province, with the exception of a 333 km2 area around Hlu?ín, which was granted to Czechoslovakia in 1920 despite having a German majority. The plebiscite between Germany and Poland, organised by the League of Nations, was held in 1921 - the outcome was 706,000 votes for Germany and 479,000 for Poland. In the southeastern areas that were the backbone of the economy and industry, there was a strong majority for Poland.

Related Topics:
Austria-Hungary - World War I - Poland - Czechoslovakia - Treaty of Versailles - Hlu?ín - 1920 - League of Nations - 1921

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Between the wars

After the referendum, there were three Silesian Insurrections, as a result of which the League of Nations decided that the province should be split again and that the areas that voted for Poland should become an autonomous area within Poland, organised as the Silesian Voivodship (Wojewodztwo ?l?skie). One of the central political figures that drive for these changes was Wojciech Korfanty.

Related Topics:
Silesian Insurrections - Silesian Voivodship - Wojciech Korfanty

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The Silesian Uprisings 1919-1921:

Related Topics:
Silesian Uprisings - 1919 - 1921

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• First Silesian Uprising: 16 August-26 August 1919
• Second Silesian Uprising: 19 August-25 August 1920
• Third Silesian Uprising: 2 May-5 July 1921

Silesia was then reorganised within the two Prussian provinces of Upper Silesia and Lower Silesia. In October of 1938, Cieszyn Silesia (the disputed area West of the Olza river, also called Zaolzie - 906km² with 258,000 inhabitants), was retaken by Poland from Czechoslovakia, in accord with the Munich Agreement.

Related Topics:
Upper Silesia - Lower Silesia - 1938 - Cieszyn Silesia - Olza - Zaolzie - Munich Agreement

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Germany again took possession of these parts of Silesia in 1939, when an attack on Poland marked the beginning of the Second World War. Silesian Poles were massively killed or deported, and new German settlers were brought to their homes after these atrocities.

Related Topics:
Germany - 1939 - Attack on Poland - Second World War

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Silesia after WWII

In 1945, all of Silesia was occupied by the Soviet Red Army. By then a large portion of the German population had fled Silesia, but many returned after German capitulation. Under the terms of the agreements at the Yalta Conference of 1944 and the Potsdam Agreement of 1945, most of Silesia east of the rivers Oder (Odra) and Neisse (Nysa) were transferred to Poland. Most of the remaining Silesian Germans, who before World War II amounted to about 4 million, were forcibly expelled. A small part of Silesia, surrounding the city of Görlitz, remained part of the German Democratic Republic, and is now part of the Federal State of Saxony in the Federal Republic of Germany.

Related Topics:
1945 - Soviet - Red Army - Yalta Conference - 1944 - Potsdam Agreement - Oder - Neisse - Poland - Forcibly expelled - Görlitz - German Democratic Republic - Federal State - Saxony - Federal Republic of Germany

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The industry of Silesia was rebuilt after the war, and the region was populated by Poles (mostly by Poles who were themselves expelled from lands annexed by the Soviet Union). Today, more than 20 % of the entire population of Poland lives in Silesia.

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