Silesia

Silesia
Language(s):	Silesian, Polish, German, Czech
Time zone:	CET (UTC+1) CEST (UTC+2)

Silesia (Czech: Slezsko; Template:Audio-de; Latin: Silesia; Polish: Śląsk; Silesian: Ślónsk) 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 (Odra) River, upper Vistula River, and along the Sudetes, Carpathian (Silesian Beskids) mountain range. The largest cities of Silesia are Wrocław and Katowice.

Silesia is situated entirely in territory named by Tacitus in 98 C.E. Magna Germania. Slavic people arrived to this territory around the 6th century. It became the territory of Greater Moravia and Bohemia. Rulers of Bohemia received ducal authority by pledging allegiance to Emperor Otto I in 950 C.E. With the establishment of the Piast Poland shortly thereafter, Boleslaw I Chrobry united Silesia with the rest of his territories.

In the Middle Ages, Silesia was divided between many independent duchies ruled by a cadet branch of the Piast dynasty. During this time, cultural and ethnical Germanisation increased due to immigrants from the Holy Roman Empire. It subsequently became a possession of the Bohemian crown under the Holy Roman Empire in the 14th century, and passed with that crown to the Habsburg Monarchy of Austria in 1526. The Duchy of Krosno Odrzańskie (Crossen) was inherited by Brandenburg in 1476 and, with the renouncement by Emperor Ferdinand I in 1538, it became an integral part of Brandenburg.

In 1742, most of Silesia was seized by King Frederick the Great of Prussia in the War of the Austrian Succession. This part of Silesia constituted the Province of Silesia (later the Prussian provinces of Upper and Lower Silesia) until 1945, when most of the German part of Silesia was seized by the Soviets and transferred to Poland after World War II. Austrian Silesia, the small portion of Silesia retained by Austria after the Silesian Wars, is now within the borders of the Czech Republic. In the Middle Ages, Silesia was inhabited mostly by people of Slavonic ethnic background and belonged at first to Poland and later to Bohemia. Since the 13th century Silesia together with Bohemia has come under German cultural and political influence. In the 16th century it became part of Austria and a significant part of the inhabitants were germanized. This process continued during the next centuries. In 1742 Prussia conquered most of Silesia, only the southernmost regions (marked in orange on the map below) of Opava and Cieszyn remained Austrian. In 1815 the eastern part of Saxony was incoporated into Silesia, while the northernmost part of Silesia, the enclave of Swiebodzin (Schwiebus) became part of the Province of Brandenburg (marked in red on the map of Brandenburg). In the 19th century the greater part of the Silesian people were Roman Catholics. In the western and central regions practically only German was spoken, while in the eastern part of Silesia (Upper Silesia) the Polish language was predominant. As independent Poland came into existence in 1918, the Polish speaking populace also wanted to belong to it. After three Polish uprisings and a plebiscite, the region was divided between Poland and Germany (the area which then became Polish is shown in green). Small fragments of Middle Silesia (marked in cyan) were also incorporated into Poland and a little area in the south (marked in magenta) - into Czechoslovakia. After WWII, the greater part of Silesia became part of Poland. Only three districts west of the Neisse River remained German (they are now part of the State of Saxony). German inhabitants of the province either escaped or were expelled from Silesia after 1945 and Poles from the formerly Polish regions in the East settled there.

Administration

Silesia is a region of central Europe, extending along both banks of the Oder River and bounded in the south by the mountain ranges of the Sudetes and the Western Carpathians. Politically, almost all of Silesia is divided between Poland and the Czech Republic. The Polish portion comprises most of the former Prussian provinces of Upper Silesia and Lower Silesia, both of which were transferred to Polish administration at the Potsdam Conference of 1945; the Polish portion also includes those parts of Upper Silesia that were ceded by Germany to Poland after World War I and part of the former Austrian principality of Teschen. A second, much smaller part of Silesia belonged to Czechoslovakia since 1918, and became part of the Czech Republic with the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1993.

Most of Silesia lies within modern Poland, divided within the following voivodeships (provinces):

• Greater Poland Voivodeship
• Lower Silesian Voivodeship
• Lubusz Voivodeship
• Opole Voivodeship
• Silesian Voivodeship

The Opole and Silesian Voivodeships form Upper Silesia. The small portion in the Czech Republic known as Czech Silesia forms, with the northern part of Moravia, the Moravian-Silesian Region of that country, while the remainder forms a small part of the Olomouc Region.

Traditionally, Silesia was bounded by the Kwisa and Bobr rivers, while the territory west of the Kwisa was Upper Lusatia (earlier Milsko). However, because part of it was included in the Prussian Province of Lower Silesia, in Germany the Niederschlesischer Oberlausitzkreis and Hoyerswerda are considered parts of Silesia. Those districts, along with the Lower Silesian Voivodeship, make up the geographic region of Lower Silesia.

Etymology

One source attributes the origin of the name Silesia to the Silingi, who were most likely a Vandalic (East Germanic) people presumably living south of the Baltic Sea along the Elbe, Oder, and Vistula Rivers in the second century. When the Silingi moved out during the Migration Period, they left remnants of their society behind, the most obvious being the names of places imposed by the new inhabitants, Slavic peoples (Polish: Śląsk; Old Polish: Śląžsk [-o]; Old Slavic: *Sьlьąžьskъ [<*sǐlęgǐskǔ], from Old Vandalic *Siling-isk [land]). These people became associated with the place and subsequently became known as Silesians (using a Latinized form of the Polish name, Ślężanie), although they had little in common with the original Silingi. Archeological research has uncovered former largely populated areas from the 7th and 8th centuries, which were protected by a dense system of fortifications to the west and south; the lack of such systems to the north or east supports the hypothesis that Silesia was populated by early Slavic tribes from the 5th to 13th centuries. Because Goths, another East Germanic group, were settled in eastern Silesia while Slavic Wends lived in western Silesia, there cannot be any mention of a nation.

Another source has it that Silesia is derived from the river Ślęza.

History

Early people

Silesia was inhabited by various peoples in the Stone, Bronze, and Iron Ages. The earliest written sources come from the Egyptian Claudius Ptolemaeus (Magna Germania) and the Roman Gaius Cornelius Tacitus (Germania). Tacitus recorded that the first century Silesia was inhabited by a multi-ethnic league dominated by the Lugii, an East Germanic tribe. The Silingi were also part of this grouping, and so were most likely (East Germanic) Vandals, who lived south of the Baltic Sea in the Elbe, Oder, and Vistula river areas. Other East Germanic tribes also inhabited the scarcely populated region. Slavic tribes entered in the scene in 500 C.E.

Middle Ages

After 500 C.E. the Great Migration had induced the bulk of the original East Germanic tribes to leave Silesia and wander through Southern Europe, while Asian tribes had been arriving for centuries, and Slavic tribes started forming first settlements, including the Silesian lands. Early documents mention a couple of mostly (postulated) Slavic tribes most probably living in Silesia. The Bavarian Geographer (around 845) specifies the following peoples: the Slenzanie, Dzhadoshanie, Opolanie, Lupiglaa, and Golenshitse. A document of the Bishopric of Prague (1086) adds to the list the Zlasane, Trebovyane, Poborane, and Dedositze.

In the 9th and 10th centuries, the territory to be called Silesia was part of Great Moravia, Moravia, and then Bohemia neighboring on the Czech Republic to the south. After the breakup of Great Moravia, Silesia for centuries became a target of protracted disputes and wars mostly between Czech and Polish rulers. Around 990, several parts of Silesia were conquered and annexed to the newly-created Polish state by Duke Mieszko I (see map), although other sources date this event to 999 under the rule of Duke Boleslaus I. 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. the Premyslid Dynasty gain control of Silesia in the 10th century, but by the end of the century, the region was back in the hands of Piasts. The two dynasties vied for the territory until the 12th century.

In 1146, High Duke Władysław II acknowledged the overlordship of the Holy Roman Empire over Poland, but was driven into exile. In 1163 his two sons took possession of Silesia with Imperial backing, dividing the land between them as dukes of Lower and Upper Silesia. They created two main Piast lines in Silesia, Wrocławska (of Wrocław)) and Opolsko-Raciborska (of Opole and Racibórz. The policy of subdivision continued under their successors, with Silesia gradually being divided into 16 principalities by the 1390s.

In 1241, the Mongols invaded Europe—and Silesia—and sowed panic, looting much of the region but abandoning the siege of the castle of Wrocław, supposedly after being fended off by Blessed Cheslav's "miraculous fireball." They then annihilated the combined Polish and German forces at the Battle of Legnica. Upon the death of Ögedei Khan, the Mongols chose not to press forward further into Europe and left, while the region was further disintegrating until it counted almost 20 small administrative units and invited attempts at annexation by the Premyslid Dynasty, focused primarily on Upper Silesia.

The ruling Silesian lords rebuilt some 160 cities and 1,500 towns and restored the most recent administrative divisions, while at the same time introducing the codified German city law (Magdeburg law and Środa Śląska law) in place of the older, customary Slavic and Polish laws. They also made up for the recent population loss by inviting new settlers, mostly German and Dutch colonists from the Holy Roman Empire. Around the end of the 13th or early 14th century, Silesian dukes invited many German settlers to improve their duchies. Germans settled mostly in cities, as did Jews and some Czechs. In the countryside, especially in Upper Silesia, people of Polish origins still outnumbered the rest of the population. The Germans quickly rose to prominent positions in the economic life, although this policy of inviting Germans to colonize and cultivate the barren lands, as well as the assimilation of the ruling classes and the German and Slavic inhabitants, would feed ideological and nationalist tensions between the Poles and Germans in the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century.

In the second half of the 13th century, various knightly orders settled in Silesia, among them the Knights of the Red Star were the Hospitaller, and the Teutonic Knights. Silesia was an integral part of Poland by the 11th century. King Boleslaus III (1102–38), of the Piast dynasty divided Poland into four hereditary duchies, of which Silesia was one, for his sons. After 1200, the duchy of Silesia disintegrated into numerous minor principalities.

Czech king Wenceslas II ascended to the Polish throne in 1300 and annexed most of Lower Silesia to the Kingdom of Gohemia. King John Luxembourg then claimed further parts of Silesia. These territorial gains of Czech kings were acknowledged by the Polish king in 1335 in exchange for the Luxembourg Dynasty’s giving up their claims on the Polish throne. Charles IV Luxembourg then incorporated Silesian duchies into the Czech Crown lands. In the early 14th century, the Silesian princes accepted the king of Bohemia as their suzerain and thus became princes of the Holy Roman Empire.

During the Hussite Wars of the 15th century, Silesia was temporarily detached from the Bohemian crown and was ruled by Hungary. In 1490, however, both Silesia and Moravia reverted to Bohemia, with which they passed to the house of Habsburg in 1526.

Silesian duchies

Many Piast dukes tried to reincorporate Silesia into the Polish kingdom and reunite Poland during the time of divisions. The first significant attempts were made by Duke Henryk IV Probus of Silesia, but he died in 1290 before realizing his goal. Duke Przemysł II of Greater Poland united two of the original provinces and was crowned in 1295, but was murdered in 1296. According to his will Greater Poland was supposed to be inherited by Duke Henryk Głogowski (of Głogów)who also aspired to unite Poland and even claimed the title Duke of Poland. However, most nobles of Greater Poland supported another candidate from the Kuyavian line of Piasts, Duke Władysław I the Elbow-high. Władysław eventually won the struggle because of his broader support. In the meantime, King Wenceslaus II of Bohemia decided to extend his rule and crowned himself King of Poland in 1302. The next half century was rife with wars between Władysław (later his son Casimir III the Great) and a coalition of Bohemians, Brandenburgers and Teutonic Knights trying to divide Poland. During this time most Silesian dukes, despite their ties with Poland, ruled small realms that were unable to unite with Poland and thus fell under the influence of neighboring Bohemia.

In 1335 Duke Henry VI of Breslau and the Upper Silesian dukes recognized the overlordship of King John I of Bohemia, while in 1348 King Casimir III of Poland was forced to accept Bohemian control of most of Silesia. Over the following centuries the lines of the Piast dukes of Silesia died out and were inherited by the Bohemian crown:

• Wrocławska (of Wrocław) in 1335;
• Świdnicka (of Świdnica) in 1368;
• Oleśnicka (Oleśnica and Głogów) in 1476;
• Żagańska (of Żagań) in 1504;
• Opolska (of Opole) in 1532;
• Cieszyńska (of Cieszyn) in 1625;
• and Brzesko-Legnicka (of Brzeg and Legnica) in 1675.

Although Fryderyk Wilhelm, the last male Piast Duke of Cieszyn died in 1625, rule of the duchy passed to his sister Elżbieta Lukrecja until her death in 1653.

By the end of the 14th century the country had been split up into 18 principalities: Breslau, Brieg, Glogau, Jauer, Liegnitz, Munsterberg, Ols, Schweidnitz and Steinau in Lower Silesia; Beuthen, Falkenberg, Kosel, Neiße, Oppeln, Ratibor, Strehlitz, Teschen and Troppau in the upper district. The petty rulers of these sections wasted their strength with internecine quarrels and proved quite incompetent to check the lawlessness of their feudal vassals. Save under the vigorous rule of some dukes of Lower Silesia, such as Henry I and Bolko I, and the above-named Henry II and IV, who succeeded in reuniting most of the principalities under their sway, the country fell into a state of growing anarchy.

The inheritance of the Silesian duchies by Bohemia incorporated the region into the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. Under Emperor Charles IV, Silesia and especially Breslau gained greatly in importance, as many great buildings and large Gothic churches were built. From the 13th century onward the population of the region became increasingly Germanized through the arrival of more German settlers and the assimilation of local rulers and peasants within this new German majority.

V husitském období zůstalo Slezsko věrno katolické víře a králi Zikmundovi Lucemburskému. Zástupci slezských knížat se účastnili první i druhé křížové výpravy proti husitským Čechám. Husité podnikli po roce 1425 celou řadu válečných výprav, při nichž došlo k poplenění slezských knížectví. Řadu měst obsadili téměř bez boje a vytvořili ve Slezsku síť vojenských posádek. Konec této etapy přinesla až bitva u Lipan, po které se husité ze Slezska stáhli.

Po smrti císaře Zikmunda se slezská knížectví postavila na stranu Albrechta Habsburského a později Ladislava Pohrobka. Nečekané úmrtí mladičkého krále (1457) přineslo další nejistotu. Českým králem se stal Jiří z Poděbrad, kterého ovšem část slezských knížat a město Vratislav odmítaly uznat. V konfliktu mezi Jiřím z Poděbrad a Matyášem Korvínem, který se rozhořel v druhé polovině šedesátých let, se Slezsko postavilo na stranu uherského krále a roku 1469 ho přijalo za panovníka. Boje neustaly ani za vlády Jiříkova nástupce Vladislava Jagellonského a smír přinesly až olomoucké dohody (1478/79), ve kterých si oba panovníci rozdělili sféry vlivu. Matyáš Korvín si podržel Moravu, Slezsko a Lužici, zatímco Vladislavovi připadlo České království. Oba pak užívali titulu českého krále. Korvín podnikl řadu kroků k centralizaci správy Slezska a za jeho vlády se též poprvé sešel celoslezský sněm (1474). Po Matyášově smrti se Slezsko vrátilo zpět do svazku Koruny české.

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 partly Slavic-speaking again. Despite the widespread nature of the conflagration, Silesia remained largely Catholic, excluding Cieszyn Silesia where Hussite ideas became popular.

Under later rulers the connection with Bohemia brought the Silesians no benefit, but involved them in the destructive Hussite wars. At the outbreak of this conflict in 1420 they gave ready support to their king Sigismund against the Bohemian rebels, whom they regarded as dangerous to their German nationality, but by this act they exposed themselves to a series of invasions (1425-1435) by which the country was severely devastated. In consequence of these raids the German element of population in Upper Silesia permanently lost ground; and a complete restitution of the Slavonic nationality seemed imminent on the appointment of the Hussite, George Podiebrad, to the Bohemian kingship in 1457. Though most of the Silesian dynasts seemed ready to acquiesce, the burghers of Breslau fiercely repudiated the new suzerain, and before he could enforce his claims to homage he was ousted by the Hungarian king, Matthias Corvinus, who was readily recognized as overlord (1469).

Although part of the Holy Roman Empire, Silesia continued to have strong economic ties, especially through the Jewish merchants in the cities, with the neighbouring Kingdom of Poland during the Renaissance period and beyond.

Matthias enforced his authority by the vigorous use of his mercenaries and by wholesale confiscations of the lands of turbulent nobles. By instituting a permanent diet of Silesian. princes and estates to co-operate with his vicegerent, he took an important step towards the abolition of particularism and the establishment of an effective central government. In spite of these reforms the Silesians, who felt severely the financial exactions of Matthias, began to resent the control of the Bohemian crown. Profiting by the feebleness of Matthias successor Vladislav, they extorted concessions which secured to them a practical autonomy. These privileges still remained to them at the outset of the religious Reformation, which the Silesians, in spite of their Catholic zeal during the Hussite wars, accepted readily and carried out with singularly little opposition from within or without.

But a drastic revolution in their government was imposed upon them by the German king, Ferdinand I, who had been prevented from interference during his early reign by his wars with the Turks, and who showed little disposition to check the Reformation in Silesia by forcible means, but subsequently reasserted the control of the Bohemian crown by a series of important enactments. He abolished all privileges which were not secured by charter and imposed a more rigidly centralized scheme of government in which the activities of the provincial diet were restricted to some judicial and financial functions, and their freedom in matters of foreign policy was withdrawn altogether. Henceforth, too, annexations of territory were frequently carried out by the Bohemian crown on the extinction of Silesian dynasties, and the surviving princes showed an increasing reluctance to the exercise of their authority. Accordingly the Silesian estates never again chose to exercise initiative save on rare occasions, and from 1550 Silesia passed almost completely under foreign. administration.

Protestant Reformation

Upper Silesia's historical coat of arms

The Protestant Reformation of the 16th century took an early hold in Silesia, and most inhabitants became Lutheran. Many Reformation pastors contributed to developing and reemphasizing Slavic culture and language in Silesia.

After the death of King Louis II of Hungary and Bohemia in 1526, Ferdinand I of the Habsburg dynasty was elected King of Bohemia. In the same year he made the formerly elected Bohemian crown an inherited possession of the Habsburg dynasty. In 1537 the Piast Duke Frederick II of Brzeg 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.

Hapsburg rule and increasing Germanization loosened Silesia's historic ties with Poland. However, the ducal title, along with several fiefs, remained with the Silesian branch of the Piast dynasty until the extinction of the line in 1675. The margraviate of Jägerndorf was purchased in 1523 by a cadet branch of the Hohenzollern dynasty of Brandenburg, which later also claimed inheritance to other Silesian fiefs. Elector Joachim II of Brandenburg, moreover, concluded (1537) an alliance with the Piast duke, by which Brandenburg would inherit the Piast principalities if the Piast dynasty became extinct. This treaty was declared invalid by King Ferdinand I of Bohemia (later Emperor Ferdinand I). In 1621, John George of Jägerndorf, brother of the elector of Brandenburg, lost his fief for having supported Frederick the Winter King. The Thirty Years War (1618–48) brought untold misery to Silesia under successive Saxon, imperial, and Swedish occupation. It reverted to Austrian control at the Peace of Westphalia (1648). In 1675, on the death of the last Piast, Austria incorporated the Piast territories into the Bohemian crown domain. The Counter Reformation had by then made great progress in Silesia, although Lutheranism was tolerated in Breslau (Wrocław) and certain other districts. It was on the very shaky dynastic grounds indicated above that Frederick II of Prussia, as heir of the house of Brandenburg, claimed a portion of Silesia in 1740 from Maria Theresa, who had just assumed the succession to Austria, Bohemia, and Hungary. His claim and his offer to assist Maria Theresa in the impending War of the Austrian Succession were rejected by the queen while Prussian troops were already invading Silesia. The Silesian Wars (1740–42 and 1744–45) were part of the general War of the Austrian Succession. By the Treaty of Berlin (1742), Maria Theresa ceded all of Silesia except Teschen and present Czech Silesia to Prussia; this cession was ratified by the Treaty of Dresden (1745). In the Seven Years War, Prussia retained Silesia.

The religious conflicts and wars of the Reformation and Counter Reformation in the 17th century led many Silesian Protestants to seek refuge in the then-tolerant Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Thousands settled in the province of Greater Poland, under the protection of powerful Protestant magnates like Rafał Leszczyński. Silesian members of the Czech Brethren, under the leadership of Comenius, settled in Leszno. Protestant Silesians often circumvented restrictive laws by building their churches on the Polish side of the border. Jakkoli zůstalo Slezsko chladné vůči husitským myšlenkám, luterská reformace se zde uchytila velmi rychle a záhy vytlačila dosud převládající katolictví. I z tohoto důvodu byl přijat s rozpaky nový panovník Ferdinand I. Habsburský, neboť se Slezané obávali možných rekatolizačních opatření. Nový král si zpočátku počínal zdrženlivě, neboť neměl mnoho prostředků k prosazení své vůle. Šance se mu naskytla až po šmalkaldské válce (1546/47), v níž slezské stavy sympatizovaly s poraženými protivníky Habsburků. Ferdinand I. využil situaci k uskutečnění některých svých představ, jež měly za následek rozvoj centralizace země. Jednou z největších změn bylo založení slezské královské komory v roce 1557. Stejně jako v Českém království se postihy i zde nejvíce dotkly královských měst.

Na přelomu 16. a 17. století se vyhrotilo napětí mezi katolíky a evangelíky. Vleklý svár mezi Rudolfem II. a jeho bratrem Matyášem umožnil nekatolickým stavům přimět císaře k vydání tzv. Majestátů náboženských svobod. Nejprve byl vydán 9. 7. 1609 pro Čechy a 20. 8. 1609 pro Slezsko. Slezské stavy si znovu vymohly potvrzení Majestátu i na Matyášovi I. po jeho nástupu na trůn v roce 1611. Je paradoxem, že v době, kdy byl legitimován nárok na náboženskou svobodu, prakticky končilo období dlouhé náboženské tolerance a snášenlivosti mezi katolíky a nekatolíky v zemích České koruny. Zástupci slezských nekatolických stavů, kteří se už v roce 1609 zavázali spolupracovat s ostatními nekatolickými stavy monarchie, se velkou měrou zapojili do stavovského povstání. Po bitvě na Bílé Hoře se i Slezska dotkla opatření Ferdinanda II. proti vzbouřencům. Ačkoli pro Slezsko nebyla vydána obdoba Obnoveného zřízení zemského, ztratily stavy zákonodárnou moc a správa země přešla pod Českou dvorskou kancelář.

Thirty Years' War

File:Lower Silesia coat of arms.jpg

Lower Silesia's historical coat of arms

The second "Defenestration of Prague" in 1618 sparked the Thirty Years' War, caused by King Ferdinand II's attempts to restore Catholicism and stamp out Protestantism with Bohemia.

Although Ferdinand requested assistance from the mostly Catholic Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Polish szlachta sympathized with the Bohemian and Hungarian nobility despite their religious differences and refused King Sigismund III Vasa's attempt to assist the Habsburgs. Finally, Sigismund decided to help the Habsburgs by sending an unemployed mercenary group called the Lisowczycy in late 1619, hoping to regain parts of Silesia in exchange. The Lisowczycy's support would prove decisive during the Battle of White Mountain in 1620. However, as the Habsburgs' situation improved, Emperor Ferdinand II did not agree to any concessions in Silesia, nor did he help in Poland's war against the Ottoman Empire, and the Polish kings never received anything except a vague set of promises and several brides to keep them favourably inclined to the Habsburg dynasty.

After the end of the Thirty Years' War with the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648, the Habsburgs greatly encouraged Catholicism and succeeded in reconverting to Catholicism about 60% of the population of Silesia. By 1675 the last Silesian Piast rulers had died out. Krutou ránu přinesla Slezsku třicetiletá válka, provázená ohromnými materiálními i lidskými ztrátámi. Na rozdíl od Českého království zaručoval vestfálský mír protestantským knížatům na jejich území svobodu luterského vyznání a totéž platilo pro město Vratislav. Ostatní evangelíci směli setrvat při své konfesi, aniž by museli opustit svoje domovy. Při rozsáhlé rekatolizaci, jež Slezsko zasáhla, si ovšem mohli vystavět zprvu pouze tři nové protestantské kostely, pro jejichž stavbu platila přísná pravidla (musely být ze dřeva, bez věží a mimo hradby města). Tak jako v ostatních zemích sehráli při rekatolizaci Slezska důležitou roli jezuité, kteří se ve svých školách zaměřili především na výchovu dalších generací studentů z řad šlechticů i nešlechticů. Na jejich popud založil Leopold I. v roce 1702 vratislavskou Akademii, pozdější univerzitu, jež měla původně jen dvě fakulty – teologickou a filozofickou. Škola velmi rychle vzkvétala a kolem roku 1724 čítala přes 1300 studentů.

Klidné období netrvalo pro Slezsko dlouho. Země se stala předmětem zájmu saské diplomacie ve válkách o dědictví španělské a nevyhnul se jí ani konflikt mezi polským králem a saským kurfiřtem Augustem II. Silným a švédským králem Karlem XII. – severní válka. Pobyt švédského vojska na slezském území přinesl protestantům určité naděje na změnu náboženských poměrů. Evangelíci se proto obrátili na švédského panovníka s žádostí o pomoc. Výsledkem jednání mezi Karlem XII. a císařem Josefem I. byla tzv. altranstädská smlouva uzavřená v roce 1707. Dohoda stvrzovala větší míru náboženské svobody v knížectvích jmenovaných ve vestfálském míru a umožňovala vystavět šest nových protestantských kostelů.

Kingdom of Prussia

In 1740, the annexation of Silesia by King Frederick II (the Great) of Prussia was welcomed by many Silesians, not only by Protestants or Germans. Frederick based his claims on the Treaty of Brieg and began the War of the Austrian Succession (1740-1748). By war's end, the Kingdom of Prussia had conquered almost all of Silesia, while some parts of Silesia in the extreme southeast, like the Duchy of Cieszyn and Duchy of Opava, remained possessions of the Habsburg Monarchy. The Seven Years' War (1756-1763) confirmed Prussian control over most of Silesia, and the Prussian Province of Silesia became one of the most loyal provinces of Prussia. In 1815 the area around Görlitz, formerly part of Saxony, was incorporated into the province after the Napoleonic Wars. By this time German had become the only popular language in Lower Silesia, while dialects of Polish and Czech were used in most of the countryside of Upper Silesia. German was the most common language in most Silesian cities.

Silesia in Germany and Austria

Poslední etapa dějin Slezska jako vedlejší země Koruny české se začala psát po nástupu Marie Terezie na český trůn. Přestože většina evropských panovníků přistoupila na tzv. pragmatickou sankci (1713), která upravovala nástupnictví po Karlovi VI., vzplanuly po jeho smrti války o dědictví rakouské. Největšími soupeři Marie Terezie se stali bavorský kurfiřt Karel Albrecht, pruský král Fridrich II. a saský kurfiřt a polský král August III. Pruská vojska obsadila na přelomu let 1740 a 1741 téměř celé Slezsko. Jejich postup se pokusila zastavit „pragmatická“ armáda, která se ale po porážce u Molvic v dubnu 1741 musela stáhnout. Marie Terezie uzavřela s Fridrichem II. v Klein Schellendorfu tajnou dohodu, podle níž měl pruský král za neutralitu v konfliktu habsburské monarchie s koalicí Saska, Bavorska a Francie získat Dolní Slezsko. Fridrich II. se ovšem už v listopadu 1741 připojil k protihabsburské koalici, jež obsadila většinu Slezska a pronikla až k Brnu. Porážka císařských vojsk armádou Fridricha II. u Chotusic v květnu 1742 měla za následek ztrátu většiny Slezska ve prospěch Pruska. Po podpisu tzv. berlínského míru zůstaly součástí habsburské monarchie jen části Opavska, Krnovska, Niska a Těšínsko. http://www.troppau.estranky.cz/clanky/misc/slezsko During the Industrial Revolution of the late 18th and 19th cent. textile weaving and coal mining developed rapidly in Silesia, but industrialization brought great social tension. The Silesian weavers became dependent on entrepreneurs who farmed out work; working conditions and unemployment became intolerable, and discontent ran high. Most coal mining was in the hands of private industry, under which miners were often mistreated. Landholding conditions also were iniquitous, most of the land being held by owners of large estates. The resulting tensions assumed an ethnic character, since the upper and middle classes were predominantly German, while a large percentage of the workers were Polish. Though these conditions were gradually improved, Silesia even in the 20th cent. remained, despite its great productivity, a relatively backward area.

Imperial German Silesia 1905

As a Prussian province, Silesia became part of the German Empire during the unification of Germany in 1871. There was considerable industrialization in Upper Silesia, and many people moved there at that time. The overwhelming majority of the population of Lower Silesia was by then German-speaking and many were Lutheran, including the capital Breslau. There were areas such as the District of Oppeln (then Regierungsbezirk Oppeln) and rural parts of Upper Silesia, however, where a larger portion or even majority of the population was Slavic-speaking and Roman Catholic. In Silesia as a whole, ethnic Poles comprised about 30% of the population, but most of them lived around Katowice in the southeast of Upper Silesia. Many people from Poland moved into Germany, coming through Silesia, often going to Berlin during Industrialisation. and particularly to get away from Russian Polish territory. The installation of trains made mass movements possible and there were times, that trains would not stop in the eastern parts of Germany in order to curb the massive onslaught of people moving in from the east. The Kulturkampf set Catholics in opposition to the government and sparked a Polish revival, much of it fostered by Poles from outside of Germany, in the Upper Silesian parts of the province. The first conference of Hovevei Zion groups took place in Kattowitz (Katowice), German Empire in 1884.

At the same time, the areas of Ostrava and Karvina in Austrian Silesia became increasingly industrialized. Most of the Polish-speaking people there, however, were Slavic Lutherans in contrast to the German-speaking Catholic Habsburg dynasty ruling Austria-Hungary.

In 1900 the population numbered 680,422, which corresponds to 342 inhabitants per square mile (132/km²). The Germans formed 44.69% of the population, 33.21% were Poles and 22.05% Czechs and Slays. According to religion, 84% were Roman Catholics, 14% Protestants and the remainder were Jews. The local diet is composed of 31 members, and Silesia sends 12 deputies to the Reichsrat at Vienna. For administrative purposes Silesia is divided into 9 districts and 3 towns with autonomous municipalities: Troppau, the capital, Bielitz and Friedek. Other principal towns are: Teschen, Polnisch-Ostrau, Jagerndorf, Karwin, Freudenthal, Freiwaldau and Bennisch.

In the Treaty of Versailles after the defeat of Imperial Germany and Austria-Hungary in World War I, it was decided that the population of Upper Silesia should hold a plebiscite in order to determine the future of the province, with the exception of a 333 km² area around Hlučín (Hultschiner Ländchen), which was granted to Czechoslovakia in 1920 despite having a German majority. The plebiscite, organised by the League of Nations, was held in 1921. In Cieszyn Silesia firstly was a deal between Rada Narodowa Księstwa Cieszyńskiego and Národním Výborem pro Slezsko about partition past lands of the Duchy of Cieszyn according to ethnic lines. However, that deal was not approved by the Czechoslovak government in Prague. On 23 January 1919, Czechoslovakia invaded the lands of Cieszyn Silesia and stopped on 30 January 1919 on the Vistula River near Skoczów. The planned plebiscite was not organised and the division of Cieszyn Silesia was decided on 28 July 1920 by the Ambassadors' Council at the Treaty of Versailles, which instituted the present-day border between Poland and the Czech Republic.

After World War I the Treaty of Versailles (1919) provided for a plebiscite to determine if Upper Silesia was to remain German or to pass to Poland. The results of the plebiscite (1921) were favorable to Germany except in the easternmost part of Upper Silesia, where the Polish population predominated. After an armed rising of the Poles (1922) the League of Nations accepted a partition of the territory; the larger part of the industrial district, including Katowice, passed to Poland. The contested city and district of Teschen were partitioned in 1920 between Poland and Czechoslovakia (to the satisfaction of neither) by the conference of ambassadors. The political division of the Silesian industrial district was carried out so arbitrarily that the boundaries often cut through mines; some workers slept in one country and worked in another. As a result of the Munich Pact of 1938 most of Czech Silesia was partitioned between Germany and Poland, and after the German conquest of Poland in 1939 all Polish Silesia was annexed to Germany.

Interwar period

Military band walks under the sign made by Polish people of Karwina during the 1938 annexation of Zaolzie by Poland. The sign reads "We've been waiting for you 600 years".

After the referendum, there were three Silesian Insurrections instigated by Polish inhabitants of the area, as a result of which the League of Nations decided that the province should be split again and that the eastern-most Upper Silesian areas, even though a majority there had voted to remain inside Germany, should become an autonomous area within Poland organised as the Autonomous Silesian Voivodeship (Autonomiczne Wojewodztwo Śląskie) and with Silesian Parliament as a constituency and Silesian Voivodship Council as the executive body. One of the central political figures that stirred these changes was Wojciech Korfanty.

The Silesian Uprisings 1919-1921:

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

The major part of Silesia, remaining in Germany, was reorganised into the two provinces of Upper Silesia and Lower Silesia. In Silesia the synagogues in Breslau and in many other cities were destroyed during the Kristallnacht of 1938. In October 1938, Cieszyn Silesia (the disputed area west of the Olza River, also called Zaolzie in Polish - 876 km² with 258,000 inhabitants), was taken by Poland from Czechoslovakia, in accord with the Munich Agreement that surrendered Czechoslovakia to Nazi Germany in the same year. Czech Silesia with Ostrau was incorporated into the Sudetenland Gau, while Hultschin was incorporated into Upper Silesia province.

World War II

The German Reich retook possession of these mostly Polish parts of Upper Silesia along with Sosnowiec (Sosnowitz), Będzin (Bendzin, Bendsburg), Chrzanów (Krenau), and Zawiercie (Warthenau) counties and parts of Olkusz (Ilkenau) and Zywiec (Saybusch) counties in 1939, when the invasion of Poland marked the beginning of World War II. The local German populations frequently welcomed the Wehrmacht. In 1940 the Germans started to construct the Auschwitz concentration camp, which was later used as a death camp during the Holocaust. The Groß-Rosen concentration camp, which had subcamps in many Silesian cities, was also constructed in 1940. The Riese Project was later implemented, during which thousands of prisoners died.

Silesia after WWII

In 1945, all of Silesia was occupied by the Soviet Red Army and Polish-Communist Army. By then a large portion of the German population had fled or were evacuated from Silesia out of fear of revenge by Soviet soldiers, but many returned after the German capitulation. Under the terms of the agreements at the Yalta Conference of 1944 and the Potsdam Agreement of 1945, German Silesia east of the rivers Oder and Lusatian Neisse Rivers was transferred to Poland (see Oder-Neisse line). Most of the remaining Silesian Germans, who before World War II amounted to more than four million, were forcibly expelled, some of them imprisoned in labour camps, e.g. Lamsdorf (Łambinowice) and Zgoda labour camp. Many perished in those camps due to Polish and Soviet torture, starvation and cruelty. More than 30,000 Silesian men (majority of German roots, some having partially Polish roots) were deported to Soviet mines and Siberia, the majority of whom never returned. Others emigrated from Silesia in the years after the war (see German exodus from Eastern Europe).

The industry of Silesia was rebuilt after the war and the region was repopulated by Poles, many of whom had themselves been expelled from eastern Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union. Today, more than 20% of the entire population of Poland lives in Silesia, but many families do not have Silesian ancestry.

A small German speaking remnant exists in the region around Opole (Oppeln), as well as some Slavic speaking and bilingual remnants of the pre-1945 population of Upper Silesia. In official Polish census 153,000 people declared German nationality, though up to 500,000 are of German ancestry.

After World War II the pre-1938 boundaries were restored, but all formerly Prussian Silesia E of the Lusatian Neisse was placed under Polish administration (a small section of Lower Silesia W of the Neisse was incorporated with the East German state of Saxony). The Allies also allowed the expulsion (in an “orderly and humane” manner) of the German population from Czech Silesia, Polish Silesia, and Polish-administered Silesia. The mass expulsion of Germans was, perforce, neither orderly nor humane; moreover, although the transfer of territories to Polish administration was made subject to revision in a final peace treaty with Germany, the Polish government treated all Silesia as integral Polish territory. West Germany finally relinquished all claims to the area under the terms of a nonaggression pact with Poland in 1972. With the unification of East and West Germany in 1990, German leaders attempted once again to allay the fears of its neighbors, particularly Poland, by declaring the stability of the borders determined at the end of World War II.

Natural resources

Silesia is a populous and resource-rich region, with coal and iron deposits and booming manufacturing. Lower Silesia between the cities of Legnica (Liegnitz), Lubin and Polkowice is the largest centre of copper mining in Poland. The fall of Communism, however, has brought to light the obsolete facilities that inevitably pose environmental problems. The region also boasts thriving agriculture, producing mainly grains, potatoes, and sugar beets. Except in the south, Silesia is largely an agricultural and forested lowland, drained by the Oder and its tributaries. The major city of the region is Wroc aw. Along the slopes of the Sudetes there are numerous small industrial centers with traditional textile and glass industries. Czech Silesia comprises the rich Karvinna coal basin. The most important part of Silesia is, however, its southern tip—Upper Silesia, in Poland. One of the largest industrial concentrations of Europe, it has extensive coal and lignite deposits and zinc, lead, iron, and other ores. The industrial area around Katowice comprises such important centers as Bytom, Gliwice, Zabrze, and Cz stochowa, and has iron and steel mills, coke ovens, and chemical plants. Opole, the former capital of Upper Silesia, is an important trade center.

Demographics

Modern Silesia is inhabited mostly by Poles and Silesians, but also by minorities of Germans, Czechs, and Moravians. The last Polish census of 2002 showed that the Slavic Silesians are the largest ethnic minority in Poland, Germans being the second — both groups are located mostly in Upper Silesia. The Czech part of Silesia is inhabited by Czechs, Moravians, and Poles.

Before the Second World War, Silesia was inhabited by Germans, Poles, and Czechs. The 1905 census showed that 75% of the population was German and 25% Polish. The vast majority of German Silesians fled or were expelled from Silesia during and after World War II. Most ethnic German Silesians today live in the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany, many of them working as miners in the Ruhr area, as did their ancestors in the Silesian mines. In order to facilitate their integration into West German society after 1945, the West German government established and sponsored organizations such as the Landsmannschaft Schlesien. Public opinion in Germany favors reconciliation of these organizations with the Polish Silesians, which is already in the making. Many of the pre-war Germanized Slavic Silesians living in Upper Silesia have remained culturally united and have sought work in the Federal Republic of Germany after 1990, along with their ethnic German Silesian countrymen.

Cities in Silesia

The following table lists cities in Silesia with a population greater than 100,000 (2006):

Wrocław

Katowice

Ostrava

Opole

		Official name	German name	Population	Area	Administrative	Country
1		Wrocław	Breslau	635 932	293 km²	Lower Silesian V.
2		Katowice	Kattowitz	317 220	165 km²	Silesian Voivodeship
4		Ostrava	Ostrau	309 531	214 km²	Moravian-Silesian R.
4		Gliwice	Gleiwitz	199 451	134 km²	Silesian Voivodeship
5		Bytom	Beuthen	187 943	69 km²	Silesian Voivodeship
6		Zabrze	Hindenburg	191 247	80 km²	Silesian Voivodeship
7		Bielsko-Biała	Bielitz	176 864	125 km²	Silesian Voivodeship
8		Ruda Śląska	Ruda	146 658	78 km²	Silesian Voivodeship
9		Rybnik	Rybnik	141 580	148 km²	Silesian Voivodeship
10		Tychy	Tichau	131 153	82 km²	Silesian Voivodeship
28	File:POL Opole COA.svg	Opole	Oppeln	128 268	97 km²	Opole Voivodeship
11	File:POL Wałbrzych COA.svg	Wałbrzych	Waldenburg	126 465	85 km²	Lower Silesian V.
12	File:POL Zielona Góra COA.svg	Zielona Góra	Grünberg	118 221	58 km²	Lubusz Voivodeship
13		Chorzów	Königshütte	114 686	33 km²	Silesian Voivodeship
14		Legnica	Liegnitz	105 750	56 km²	Lower Silesian V.

Sources and Further Reading

• Długajczyk, Edward, Tajny front na granicy cieszyńskiej : wywiad i dywersja w latach 1919-1939, Katowice, Śląsk, 1993, ISBN 8385831037 OCLC 34150911
• Zahradnik, Stanisław Zahradnik; Ryczkowski, Marek, Korzenie Zaolzia, Warszawa, PAI-press, 1992
• Butler, Rohan, Documents on British Foreign Policy 1919-1939, London, Her Majesty's Stationary Office, 1961, OCLC: 63769283
• Medlicott, W.N.; Dakin, Douglas; Lambert, M.E., Documents on British Foreign Policy 1919-1939, London, Her Majesty's Stationary Office, 1968, ISBN 0115915591 OCLC 58619553
• Davies, Norman; Moorhouse, Roger, Microcosm, Portrait of a Central European City, London, Jonathan Cape, 2002, ISBN 0224062433 OCLC 49551193

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Silesia

• Republic of Silesia, REPUBLIKA S'LOONSKO, Accessed February 3,2007
• Silesia on Germany Map of 1600, Blaeu Atlas, Accessed February 3,2007
• Historical Map of Silesia 1763, Thomas Höckmann, Accessed February 3,2007
• Willkommen im schlesischen Museum!, Manfred Schürmann, Accessed February 3,2007
• Historical Maps: Silesia, German Genealogy, Accessed February 3,2007
• Where is Upper Silesia?, Geography, Accessed February 3,2007
• Silesian Autonomy Movement, Ruch Autonomii Śląska, Accessed February 3,2007

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