Silesia - Administration, History, Natural resources, Demographics, Cities in Silesia, Other essential reading

Region of EC Europe on both banks of the R Oder in SW Poland, N Czech Republic, and SE Germany; bounded S by Sudetes Mts; disputed area between Austria and Prussia, 17th18th-c; divided into Upper and Lower Silesia, 1919; greater part granted to Poland, 1945; a largely industrial region, including the coal-mining and metal industries of Katowice and nearby cities.

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

Silesia (Czech: Slezsko;

Silesia is situated entirely in territory earlier named Magna Germania.

In the Middle Ages, Silesia was divided between many independent duchies ruled by a cadet branch of the Piast dynasty.

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.

Administration

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

Greater Poland Voivodeship Lesser Poland Voivodeship Lower Silesian Voivodeship Lubusz Voivodeship Opole Voivodeship Silesian Voivodeship

The Opole and Silesian Voivodeships are called 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. Because Goths, another East Germanic group, settled in eastern Silesia while Slavic Wends lived in western Silesia during that time, the fortifications do not support any nationalistic theory.

History

Early people

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

Middle Ages

After 500 the Great Migration had induced the bulk of the original East Germanic tribes to leave Silesia and wander through Southern Europe, while from Asia for centuries groups of people came into eastern Germania and Slavic tribes began to appear and spread including the Silesian lands.

Early documents mention a couple of mostly (postulated) Slavic tribes most probably living in Silesia.

In the 9th and 10th centuries, the territory later called Silesia was part of Great Moravia, Moravia, and then Bohemia in the neighbouring area within today's Czech Republic to the south. In 1163 his two sons took possession of Silesia with Imperial backing, dividing the land between them as dukes of Lower and Upper Silesia.

In 1241 after raiding Lesser Poland, the Mongols invaded Silesia and caused widespread panic and mass flight.

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

Silesian duchies

Many Piast dukes tried to reincorporate Silesia into the Polish kingdom and reunite Poland during the time of divisions.

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. 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.

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

Protestant Reformation

The Protestant Reformation of the 16th century took an early hold in Silesia, and most inhabitants became Lutheran. 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.

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. 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.

Silesia in Germany and Austria

As a Prussian province, Silesia became part of the German Empire during the unification of Germany in 1871. 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.

At the same time, the areas of Ostrava and Karvina in Austrian Silesia became increasingly industrialized.

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.

Interwar period

After the referendum, there were three Silesian Insurrections instigated by Polish nationalists, 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 Silesian Voivodeship (wojewodztwo Śląskie).

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 October 1938, Cieszyn Silesia (the disputed area west of the Olza river, also called Zaolzie - 906 km² with 258,000 inhabitants), was retaken by Poland from Czechoslovakia, in accord with the Munich Agreement that surrendered Czechoslovakia to Nazi Germany.

World War II

Nazi Germany retook possession of these parts of 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.

Silesia after WWII

In 1945, all of Silesia was occupied by the Soviet Red Army and Polish-Communist Army.

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.

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.

Natural resources

Silesia is a resource-rich and populous region.

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.

Before the Second World War, Silesia was inhabited by Germans, Poles, and Czechs. The vast majority of German Silesians fled or were expelled from Silesia during and after World War II. Many of the pre-war Germanised Slavic Silesians living in Upper Silesia have remained culturally bound to 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

	Local name	German name	Population	Area	Administrative
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	Opole	Oppeln	128 268	97 km²	Opole Voivodeship
11	Wałbrzych	Waldenburg	126 465	85 km²	Lower Silesian V.
12	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.