Silesia

Silesia is the Latin and English name for the Polish province of Slask, located between the Oder and Vistula rivers. Schlesien is the German name for this province, and Slezsko is its Czech name. Since the end of World War II Silesia is almost entirely within the borders of Poland, with the exception of the Tešin Silesia, part of the Czech Republic. Silesia is directly adjacent to Saxony, Little Poland, Great Poland, and Brandenburg, and very near to Berlin and Cracow. The territory is now divided into the Dolnoslaskie (capital: Wroclaw), Opolskie (capital: Opole), and Slaskie (capital: Katowice) voivoidships.

There are many theories as to how Silesia derived its name. These theories tend to fall along the lines of national interest. The "Silesia is part of Germany" argument claims that the name is derived from the Silingii, most likely a Vandalic people, who lived south of the Baltic Sea in the Elbe, Oder, and Vistula river area of later Germany and Poland. The "Silesia is Polish" argument is based on etymology, archeology, interpretation of place-names in the area and the fact that neither Silingii or Vandalic people were Germans. The "Silesia is Czech" argument is based on the fact that most of the province belonged to them for most of its history.

Another theory claims that the area was indeed inhabited around the 4th century AD by the Silingii, who moved westward during the subsequent migration period or Völkerwanderung, leaving remnants of their society behind. The most evident remnants were in the place-names, which were adopted (in Slavic form) by the new Slavic inhabitants. These people became associated with the place, and were known as Silesians, even though they were otherwise unconnected to the Silingii.

History -- Middle Ages

In the 9th and 10th centuries the territory later called Silesia was subject to the Moravian and then Bohemian rulers of the neighbouring area covered by today's Czech Republic to the south, who pledged allegiance to Charlemagne and his successors as emperors in the west. Under Charlemagne the territory was sectioned into four pagi. Wratislaw I founded Wratislawia, the later city of Breslau, now Wroclaw.

In 999 Silesia was incorporated into territory ruled by Boleslaus I, duke of the Polianie and later king of Poland. (See [[1]] for the previous boundaries of Poland.) During Poland's Fragmentation (1138-1320) into duchies ruled by different branches of the Piast royal family, Silesia was ruled by descendants of the royal house.

In 1146, duke Wladislaw II acknowledged the overlordship of the Holy Roman Empire, but was driven into exile. After 17 years in Germany, his two sons took possession of Silesia in 1163 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 18 territories by the 1390s.

From around 1210 Henry I the Bearded, duke of Lower Silesia, and his wife Hedwig of Andechs invited the Knights Templar and other religious, many of them from Germany, to settle the land. The ruling classes increasingly adopted German language and culture. Germans moved in from other parts of the Holy Roman Empire in the wake of the dislocation caused by the 1241 Mongol invasion of Silesia. 160 cities and 1500 towns were founded with German charters and laws.

The Silesian duchies had accepted the suzerainty of the predominantly German-speaking but loosely governed Holy Roman Empire in 1163. In 1327, Duke Henry VI of Breslau and the Upper Silesian dukes in 1327 recognized the suzerainty of the king of Bohemia (John of Luxemburg). Bohemia was itself a part of the Holy Roman Empire. Silesia remained part of the lands of the Bohemian crown until the eighteenth century.

Under the emperor and king of Bohemia and Charles IV, Silesia and especially Wroclaw gained greatly in importance, and many great buildings and large Gothic churches were built.

Between 1425 and 1435, devastation was caused by Hussite rebellion in Bohemia proper - Silesia remained largely Catholicm however.

History - Early Modern Period

The Protestant reformation took an early hold, and most of Silesia became Lutheran.

- In 1537 the rulers of Brandenburg and Silesia concluded an inheritance treaty, but it was vetoed by the emperor Ferdinand.

- date??? Habsburgs elected/inherited the Bohemian crown (it is disputed by what right they ruled)

The second "Defenestration of Prague", in 1618, sparked the Thirty Years War, caused by attempts of the Catholic Habsburg ruler to restore Catholicism and stamp out Protestantism.

After the end of the Thirty Years War, the Habsburgs greatly encouraged Catholicism, and suceeded in reconverting around sixty percent of the population of Silesia.

By 1675 the last Silesian Piast rulers had died out.

In 1740 the seizure of Silesia by Frederick (the Great) of Brandenburg began the War of the Austrian Succession, which ended in 1748. At the end of this war, Prussia retained almost all of Silesia. The Seven Years War (1756-1763 confirmed this result.

Silesia in the Modern World

Silesia, then part of the Kingdom of Prussia, became part of the German Empire when Prussia unified Germany by force (1866-71). There was considerable industrialization in Upper Silesia, and many Slavic-speaking people moved there.

After Germany's defeat in World War I, a 1921 referendum was held by the League of Nations in Upper Silesia, to determine which parts should became part of Poland and which part should remain in Germany. Suprisingly large part number of people opted to remain in Germany, despite being Slavic speakers. This result was due to the German government shipping tens of thousands of Germans who had anything to do with Silesia (like a grand-grandfather) and paying them to pose as Silesians in order to vote. After this fraudulent referendum, there were three Silesian Insurrections, as a result of which, parts of Silesia became part of Poland. (By the 20th century over three-quarters of Silesians spoke Polish and German.)

In 1945 all of Silesia was freed from Nazi terror and rulership by Soviet troops. The treaty between the USSR, Great Britain, France, and the United States assigned Silesia to Poland.