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125-743: Breslau (present-day Wrocław, Poland ) was the provincial capital. The territory on both sides of the Oder river formed the southeastern part of the Prussian kingdom. It comprised the bulk of the former Bohemian crown land of Upper and Lower Silesia as well as the adjacent County of Kladsko , which the Prussian King Frederick the Great had all conquered from the Austrian Habsburg monarchy under Empress Maria Theresa in

250-514: A West Slavic tribe, settled on the Oder river and erected a fortified gord on Ostrów Tumski . Wrocław originated at the intersection of two trade routes , the Via Regia and the Amber Road . Archeological research conducted in the city indicates that it was founded around 940. In 985, Duke Mieszko I of Poland conquered Silesia, and constructed new fortifcations on Ostrów. The town

375-489: A copyright law and freedom of the press. With them came a host of courtiers, secretaries, civil servants and ladies to enjoy the magnificent social life of the Austrian court. The Congress was noted for its lavish entertainment: according to a famous joke of an attendee, it danced a lot but did not move forward. On the other hand, the possibilities for informal gatherings created by this "side program" may have helped ensure

500-643: A cumbersome process that required much in the way of time and transportation. The format set at the Congress of Vienna would serve as inspiration for the 1856 peace conference brokered by France (the Congress of Paris ) that settled the Crimean War . The Congress of Vienna settlement gave birth to the Concert of Europe , an international political doctrine that emphasized the maintaining of political boundaries,

625-593: A fortress ( Festung ), to be held at all costs. An attempted evacuation of the city took place in January 1945, with 18,000 people freezing to death in icy snowstorms of −20 °C (−4 °F) weather. In February 1945, the Soviet Army approached the city and the German Luftwaffe began an airlift to the besieged garrison. A large area of the city centre was demolished and turned into an airfield by

750-639: A large portion of the Congress was conducted informally at salons, banquets, and balls. Four great powers had previously formed the core of the Sixth Coalition , a covenant of nations allied in the war against France. On the verge of Napoleon's defeat they had outlined their common position in the Treaty of Chaumont (March 1814), and negotiated the Treaty of Paris (1814) with the Bourbons during their restoration : These parties had not been part of

875-681: A long-term peace plan for Europe by settling critical issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars through negotiation. The goal was not simply to restore old boundaries, but to resize the main powers so they could balance each other and remain at peace, being at the same time shepherds for the smaller powers. More generally, conservative leaders like Metternich also sought to restrain or eliminate republican , liberal , and revolutionary movements which, from their point of view, had upended

1000-617: A major centre of science; Johannes Brahms later wrote his Academic Festival Overture to thank the university for an honorary doctorate awarded in 1879. In 1821, the (Arch)Diocese of Breslau withdrew from dependence on the Polish archbishopric of Gniezno, and Breslau became an exempt see. In 1822, the Prussian police discovered the Polonia Polish youth resistance organization and carried out arrests of its members and searches of their homes. In 1848, many local Polish students joined

1125-653: A mob. The number of Poles as a percentage of the total population fell to just 0.5% after the re-emergence of Poland as a state in 1918, when many moved to Poland. Antisemitic riots occurred in 1923. The city boundaries were expanded between 1925 and 1930 to include an area of 175 km (68 sq mi) with a population of 600,000. In 1929, the Werkbund opened WuWa ( German : Wohnungs- und Werkraumausstellung ) in Breslau-Scheitnig, an international showcase of modern architecture by architects of

1250-735: A model for later organizations such as the League of Nations in 1919 and the United Nations in 1945. Before the opening of the Paris peace conference of 1918, the British Foreign Office commissioned a history of the Congress of Vienna to serve as an example to its own delegates of how to achieve an equally successful peace. Besides, the main decisions of the Congress were made by the Four Great Powers and not all

1375-476: A settlement belonging to Governor Piotr Włostowic (also known as Piotr Włast Dunin ) was built, and another on the left bank of the River Oder, near the present site of the university. While the city was largely Polish, it also had communities of Bohemians (Czechs), Germans , Walloons and Jews . In the 13th century, Wrocław was the political centre of the divided Polish kingdom. In April 1241, during

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1500-587: A significant role in European wars for several hundred years: the Congress intended to put a stop to these activities permanently. During the wars, Portugal had lost its town of Olivenza to Spain and moved to have it restored. Portugal is historically Britain's oldest ally, and with British support succeeded in having the re-incorporation of Olivenza decreed in Article CV of the General Treaty of

1625-866: A traditional, realistic picture of a pigeon, without an olive branch, was created on a napkin at the Monopol Hotel in Wrocław during the World Congress of Intellectuals in Defense of Peace . In 1963, Wrocław was declared a closed city because of a smallpox epidemic . In 1982, during martial law in Poland , the anti-communist underground organizations Fighting Solidarity and Orange Alternative were founded in Wrocław. Wrocław's dwarves , made of bronze, famously grew out of and commemorate Orange Alternative. In 1983 and 1997, Pope John Paul II visited

1750-589: A treaty on 3 January 1815 , among only the three of them, agreeing to go to war against Russia and Prussia, if necessary, to prevent the Russo-Prussian plan from coming to fruition. When the Tsar heard of the treaty he agreed to a compromise that satisfied all parties on 24 October 1815. Russia received most of the Napoleonic Duchy of Warsaw as a "Kingdom of Poland" – called Congress Poland , with

1875-668: Is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city and historical capital of the region of Silesia . It lies on the banks of the Oder River in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe , roughly 40 kilometres (25 mi) from the Sudeten Mountains to the south. As of 2023 , the official population of Wrocław is 674,132 making it the third largest city in Poland. The population of the Wrocław metropolitan area

2000-634: Is around 1.25 million. Wrocław is the historical capital of Silesia and Lower Silesia . Today, it is the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship . The history of the city dates back over 1,000 years; at various times, it has been part of the Kingdom of Poland , the Kingdom of Bohemia , the Kingdom of Hungary , the Habsburg monarchy of Austria, the Kingdom of Prussia and Germany , until it became again part of Poland in 1945 as

2125-417: Is going to Vienna." Talleyrand skirted additional articles suggested by Labrador: he had no intention of handing over the 12,000 afrancesados – Spanish fugitives, sympathetic to France, who had sworn fealty to Joseph Bonaparte , nor the bulk of the documents, paintings, pieces of fine art, and books that had been looted from the archives, palaces, churches and cathedrals of Spain. The most complex topic at

2250-486: The "Sokół" Polish Gymnastic Society , shut down Polish newspapers and seized the funds of Polish banks from the pre-war German Province of Silesia. The arrested Poles were deported to concentration camps. Polish church services were abolished, with the last Polish service held in the Saint Martin church in Wrocław on 17 September 1939. Soon the border was extended eastwards when parts of Polish Silesia were annexed into

2375-800: The -Vr- sound being replaced over time by -Br- , and the suffix -slav- replaced with -slau- . These variations included Wrotizla , Vratizlau , Wratislau , Wrezlau , Breßlau or Bresslau among others. A Prussian description from 1819 mentions two names of the city – Polish and German – stating "Breslau (polnisch Wraclaw)”. In other languages, the city's name is: German : Breslau [ˈbʁɛslaʊ] ; Silesian German : Brassel ; Yiddish : ברעסלוי , romanized :  Bresloi ; Silesian : Wrocław ; modern Czech : Vratislav [ˈvracɪslaf] ; Hungarian : Boroszló [ˈborosloː] ; Hebrew : ורוצלב , romanized :  Vrotsláv ; and Latin : Wratislavia or Vratislavia . People born or resident in

2500-762: The Battle of Hundsfeld , stopping the German advance into Poland. The medieval chronicle, Gesta principum Polonorum (1112–1116) by Gallus Anonymus , named Wrocław, along with Kraków and Sandomierz , as one of three capitals of the Polish Kingdom. Also, the Tabula Rogeriana , a book written by the Arab geographer Muhammad al-Idrisi in 1154, describes Wrocław as one of the Polish cities, alongside Kraków, Gniezno , Sieradz , Łęczyca and Santok . By 1139,

2625-525: The Battle of Waterloo ). Its provisions included: Representatives of Austria, France, Portugal , Prussia, Russia, Sweden-Norway , and Britain signed the Final Act. Spain did not sign, but ratified the outcome in 1817. Subsequently, Ferdinand IV , the Bourbon King of Sicily, regained control of the Kingdom of Naples after Joachim Murat , the king installed by Bonaparte, supported Napoleon in

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2750-573: The Chaumont agreement , but had joined the Treaty of Paris (1814) : Virtually every state in Europe had a delegation in Vienna – more than 200 states and princely houses were represented at the Congress. In addition, there were representatives of cities, corporations, religious organizations (for instance, abbeys) and special interest groups – e.g., a delegation representing German publishers, demanding

2875-715: The Duchy of Parma ). The Papal States were restored to the Pope. The Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia was restored to its mainland possessions, and also gained control of the Republic of Genoa . In Southern Italy, Napoleon's brother-in-law, Joachim Murat , was originally allowed to retain his Kingdom of Naples , but his support of Napoleon in the Hundred Days led to the restoration of the Bourbon Ferdinand IV to

3000-696: The Duchy of Silesia . One of the most important events during this period was the foundation of the Diocese of Wrocław in 1000. Along with the Bishoprics of Kraków and Kołobrzeg , Wrocław was placed under the Archbishopric of Gniezno in Greater Poland , founded by Pope Sylvester II through the intercession of Polish duke (and later king) Bolesław I the Brave and Emperor Otto III , during

3125-790: The German Empire as a province of Prussia following the unification of Germany . The Upper Silesian Industrial Region was the second largest industrial agglomeration of the German Empire after the Ruhr area. Over decades the mainly Catholic Upper Silesian citizens in majority voted for the German Centre Party , while the Lower Silesian constituencies were dominated by the Free-minded Party and

3250-559: The Greater Poland uprising against Prussia. On 5 May 1848, a convention of Polish activists from the Prussian and Austrian partitions of Poland was held in the city. On 10 October 1854, the Jewish Theological Seminary opened. The institution was the first modern rabbinical seminary in Central Europe. In 1863 the brothers Karl and Louis Stangen founded the travel agency Stangen, the second travel agency in

3375-431: The Hundred Days and started the 1815 Neapolitan War by attacking Austria. The Congress's principal results, apart from its confirmation of France's loss of the territories annexed between 1795 and 1810, which had already been settled by the Treaty of Paris , were the enlargement of Russia, (which gained most of the Duchy of Warsaw ) and Prussia, which acquired the district of Poznań, Swedish Pomerania, Westphalia and

3500-410: The Hundred Days of March to July 1815. The Congress's agreement was signed nine days before Napoleon's final defeat at Waterloo on 18 June 1815. Some historians have criticised the outcomes of the Congress for causing the subsequent suppression of national, democratic, and liberal movements, and it has been seen as a reactionary settlement for the benefit of traditional monarchs. Others have praised

3625-758: The Main Market Square , Cathedral Island , Wrocław Opera , the National Museum and the Centennial Hall , which is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site . The city is also home to the Wrocław Zoo , the oldest zoological garden in Poland. Wrocław is classified as a Sufficiency global city by GaWC . It is often featured in lists of the most livable places in the world, and was ranked 1st among all medium and small cities by fDi Intelligence in 2021. In 1989, 1995 and 2019 Wrocław hosted

3750-670: The Polish Legion , but three Legions' envoys were arrested by the Germans in November 1914 and deported to Austria, and the organization soon ended its activities in the city. During the war, the Germans operated seven forced labour camps for Allied prisoners of war in the city. Following the war, Breslau became the capital of the newly created Prussian Province of Lower Silesia of the Weimar Republic in 1919. After

3875-673: The Russian Empire until 1867 when it was formally integrated as the Vistula Land . In the east lay the Austrian share, the Lesser Polish Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria with the Free City of Kraków until 1846, and in the south the remaining Bohemian crown lands of Austrian Silesia , Moravia and Bohemia proper. The incorporated Upper Lusatian strip of land in the west touched the remaining territory of

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4000-639: The Seven Years' War at the Battle of Breslau , but they were unsuccessful. The Venetian Italian adventurer, Giacomo Casanova , stayed in Breslau in 1766. During the Napoleonic Wars , it was occupied by the Confederation of the Rhine army. The fortifications of the city were levelled, and monasteries and cloisters were seized. The Protestant Viadrina European University at Frankfurt an der Oder

4125-597: The Social Democrats . Ethnic tensions rose on the eve of World War I , with politicians like Wojciech Korfanty separating from the Centre Party and giving utterance to distinct Polish interests. In 1919, a year after the war ended, the parts of Silesia remaining in Weimar Germany were re-organized into the two provinces of Lower Silesia ( Niederschlesien ) and Upper Silesia ( Oberschlesien ,

4250-535: The Treaty of Dresden . The Third Silesian War (1756–1763), a theatre of the Seven Years' War , once again confirmed Prussian control over most of Silesia, and due to its predominantly Protestant population especially in Lower Silesia, it became one of the most loyal territories of the House of Hohenzollern . When the Prussian territories were reorganized upon the Congress of Vienna , the province of Silesia

4375-593: The Treaty of Paris between France and the Sixth Coalition , and the Treaty of Kiel that covered issues raised regarding Scandinavia . The Treaty of Paris had determined that a "general congress" should be held in Vienna and that invitations would be issued to "all the Powers engaged on either side in the present war". The opening was scheduled for July 1814. The Congress functioned through formal meetings such as working groups and official diplomatic functions; however,

4500-451: The Western Allies to place the southern Polish-German boundary on the Eastern Neisse , which meant post-war Germany would have been allowed to retain approximately half of Silesia, including those parts of Breslau that lay on the west bank of the Oder. However, the Soviet government insisted the border be drawn at the Lusatian Neisse farther west. The city's German inhabitants who had not fled, or who had returned to their home city after

4625-407: The constitutional order of the European ancien régime . At the negotiation table, the position of France was weak in relation to that of Britain , Prussia , Austria , and Russia , partly due to the military strategy of its leader, Napoleon Bonaparte , over the previous two decades, and his recent defeat. In the settlement the parties did reach, France had to give up all recent conquests, while

4750-407: The first Mongol invasion of Poland , the city was abandoned by its inhabitants and burnt down for strategic reasons. During the battles with the Mongols Wrocław Castle was successfully defended by Henry II the Pious . In 1245, in Wrocław, Franciscan friar Benedict of Poland , considered one of the first Polish explorers, joined Italian diplomat Giovanni da Pian del Carpine , on his journey to

4875-404: The 125th anniversary of the German Wars of Liberation against Napoleon's invasion. During the invasion of Poland , which started World War II , in September 1939, the Germans carried out mass arrests of local Polish activists and banned Polish organizations, and the city was made the headquarters of the southern district of the Selbstschutz , whose task was to persecute Poles . For most of

5000-445: The 18th century Silesian Wars . It included the northeastern part of Upper Lusatia around Görlitz and Lauban ( Lubań ), ceded to Prussia by the Kingdom of Saxony according to the resolutions of the Congress of Vienna in 1815. The province bordered on the Prussian heartland of Brandenburg (including the newly acquired lands of Lower Lusatia ) in the northwest, and on the Grand Duchy of Posen ( Province of Posen from 1848) in

5125-516: The 20th century, however, historians and politicians looking backward came to praise the Congress as well, because they saw it did prevent another widespread European war for nearly 100 years (1815–1914) and a significant step in the transition to a new international order in which peace was largely maintained through diplomatic dialogue. Among these is Henry Kissinger , who in 1954 wrote his doctoral dissertation , A World Restored , on it and Paul Schroeder. Historian and jurist Mark Jarrett argues that

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5250-592: The Concert of Europe was built on came about through closed-doors dealing among the five Great Powers – Austria, Britain, Russia, Prussia and France. The first four of the five dominant peacemakers held sway simply because they brought to the table "negotiating power" that came of hard-won victory in the Napoleonic Wars; France enjoyed her advantageous position largely through the brilliant diplomatic maneuvering by senior statesman Talleyrand . Lesser powers, like Spain, Sweden, and Portugal, were given few opportunities to advocate their interests and only occasionally partook in

5375-534: The Congress for protecting Europe from large and widespread wars for almost a century. The name "Congress of Vienna" was not meant to suggest a formal plenary session , but rather the creation of a diplomatic organizational framework bringing together stakeholders of all flocks to enable the expression of opinions, interests and sentiments and facilitate discussion of general issues among them. The Congress format had been developed by Austrian Foreign Minister Klemens von Metternich , assisted by Friedrich von Gentz , and

5500-458: The Congress was the Polish-Saxon Crisis. Russia wanted most of Poland, and Prussia wanted all of Saxony, whose king had allied with Napoleon. The tsar would like to become king of Poland. Austria analysed, this could make Russia too powerful, a view which was supported by Britain. The result was a deadlock, for which Talleyrand proposed a solution: admit France to the inner circle, and France would support Austria and Britain. The three nations signed

5625-417: The Congress's success. Initially, the representatives of the four victorious powers hoped to exclude the French from serious participation in the negotiations, but Talleyrand skillfully managed to insert himself into "her inner councils" in the first weeks of negotiations. He allied himself to a Committee of Eight lesser powers (including Spain, Sweden, and Portugal) to control the negotiations. Once Talleyrand

5750-426: The European Youth Meetings of the Taizé Community , the Eucharistic Congress in 1997, and the 2012 European Football Championship . In 2016, the city was a European Capital of Culture and the World Book Capital . Also in that year, Wrocław hosted the Theatre Olympics , World Bridge Games and the European Film Awards . In 2017, the city was host to the IFLA Annual Conference and the World Games . In 2019, it

5875-408: The European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte . Participants were representatives of all European powers (other than the Ottoman Empire ) and other stakeholders. The Congress was chaired by Austrian statesman Klemens von Metternich , and was held in Vienna from September 1814 to June 1815. The objective of the Congress was to provide

6000-471: The Final Act, which stated that "The Powers, recognizing the justice of the claims of ... Portugal and the Brazils, upon the town of Olivenza, and the other territories ceded to Spain by the Treaty of Badajoz of 1801 ". Portugal ratified the Final Act in 1815 but Spain would not sign, and this became the most important hold-out against the Congress of Vienna. Deciding in the end that it was better to become part of Europe than to stand alone, Spain finally accepted

6125-479: The Four Great Powers sought to ensure future disputes would be settled in a manner that would avoid the terrible wars of the previous 20 years. Although the Congress of Vienna preserved the balance of power in Europe, it could not check the spread of revolutionary movements across the continent some 30 years later . Some authors have suggested that the Congress of Vienna may provide a model for settling multiple interlocking conflicts in Eastern Europe that arose after

6250-430: The German Empire, Breslau eventually became one of the strongest support bases of the Nazi Party , which in the 1932 elections received 44% of the city's vote, their third-highest total in all Germany. After Hitler 's appointment as German Chancellor in 1933, political enemies of the Nazis were persecuted, and their institutions closed or destroyed. KZ Dürrgoy , one of the first concentration camps in Nazi Germany ,

6375-413: The German Kingdoms of Hanover (which gained East Frisia from Prussia and various other territories in Northwest Germany) and Bavaria (which gained the Rhenish Palatinate and territories in Franconia ). The Duchy of Lauenburg was transferred from Hanover to Denmark, and Prussia annexed Swedish Pomerania . Switzerland was enlarged, and Swiss neutrality was established. Swiss mercenaries had played

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6500-401: The Gniezno Congress. In the years 1034–1038 the city was affected by the pagan reaction in Poland . The city became a commercial centre and expanded to Wyspa Piasek (Sand Island), and then onto the left bank of the River Oder . Around 1000, the town had about 1,000 inhabitants. In 1109 during the Polish-German war , Prince Bolesław III Wrymouth defeated the King of Germany Henry V at

6625-472: The Habsburg crown land in Silesia. According to the peace treaties of Breslau and Berlin , only some smaller parts in the extreme southeast, like the Duchy of Cieszyn as well as the southern parts of the duchies of Troppau and Nysa , remained possessions of the Habsburg monarchy as Austrian Silesia . Attempts by Maria Theresa to regain the crown land in the Second Silesian War (1744–1745) failed and she ultimately had to relinquish her claims over Silesia by

6750-419: The Ionian Islands . The Congress of Vienna has been criticized by 19th century and more recent historians and politicians for ignoring national and liberal impulses, and for imposing a stifling reaction on the Continent. It was an integral part in what became known as the Conservative Order , in which democracy and civil rights associated with the American and French Revolutions were de-emphasized. In

6875-516: The Lutheran Church not to staff bilingual German-Sorbian parishes with new Sorbian preachers, and the Bund Deutscher Osten demanded a ban on Sorbian church masses, but only a limit of two such masses per month was imposed. There were instances of expulsions of Sorbian pastors. During the German invasion of Poland , which started World War II in September 1939, Gestapo carried out mass arrests of Polish activists, teachers, journalists, entrepreneurs, library directors and chairmen of local branches of

7000-501: The Napoleonic wars, Prussian Silesia was formally reorganized into the province of Silesia. The character of the province's eastern third, Upper Silesia, had been much lesser shaped by the medieval German Ostsiedlung . According to the census of 1905, about three-quarters of the Silesian inhabitants were German –speaking, while a majority of the population to the east of the Oder river spoke Polish , including Silesian and Lach dialects . The indigenous Polish and Sorbian population

7125-428: The Saxon kingdom and in the furthest west the Prussian Province of Saxony . The coronation of Maria Theresa as queen regnant of the Kingdom of Bohemia immediately triggered an invasion of the region of Silesia by King Frederick the Great of Prussia , thereby starting the War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748). By the end of the First Silesian War in 1742, the Prussian forces had conquered almost all of

7250-443: The Silesian branch of the Werkbund. In June 1930, Breslau hosted the Deutsche Kampfspiele , a sporting event for German athletes after Germany was excluded from the Olympic Games after World War I. The number of Jews remaining in Breslau fell from 23,240 in 1925 to 10,659 in 1933. Up to the beginning of World War II, Breslau was the largest city in Germany east of Berlin . Known as a stronghold of left wing liberalism during

7375-442: The Treaty on 7 May 1817; however, Olivenza and its surroundings were never returned to Portuguese control and, to the present day, this issue remains unresolved. The United Kingdom received parts of the West Indies at the expense of the Netherlands and Spain and kept the former Dutch colonies of Ceylon and the Cape Colony as well as Malta and Heligoland . Under the Treaty of Paris (1814) Article VIII France ceded to Britain

7500-416: The Wrocław bishops. In the 16th century, the Breslauer Schöps beer style was created in Breslau. The Protestant Reformation reached the city in 1518 and it converted to the new rite. However, starting in 1526 Silesia was ruled by the Catholic House of Habsburg . In 1618, it supported the Bohemian Revolt out of fear of losing the right to religious freedom . During the ensuing Thirty Years' War ,

7625-425: The balance of powers, and respecting spheres of influence and which guided foreign policy among the nations of Europe until the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. To reach amiable consensus among the many different nations holding great interest in the settlement proceedings, informal, face-to-face deliberative sessions were held where opinions and proposed solutions could be inventoried. The policy work on which

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7750-399: The campaign which ended at the Battle of Leipzig . The Confederation of the Rhine had increased prosperity in Silesia and in the city. The removal of fortifications opened room for the city to expand beyond its former limits. Breslau became an important railway hub and industrial centre, notably for linen and cotton manufacture and the metal industry. The reconstructed university served as

7875-438: The centre of German Baroque literature and was home to the First and Second Silesian school of poets. In 1742, the Schlesische Zeitung was founded in Breslau. In the 1740s the Kingdom of Prussia annexed the city and most of Silesia during the War of the Austrian Succession . Habsburg Empress Maria Theresa ceded most of the territory in the Treaty of Breslau in 1742 to Prussia. Austria attempted to recover Silesia during

8000-408: The city are known as " Wrocławians " or "Vratislavians" ( Polish : wrocławianie ). The now little-used German equivalent is " Breslauer ." In ancient times, there was a place called Budorigum at or near the site of Wrocław. It was already mapped on Claudius Ptolemy 's map of AD 142–147. Settlements in the area existed from the 6th century onward during the migration period . The Ślężans ,

8125-462: The city at the time at 20,000 to 30,000. The population was 58% Protestant, 37% Catholic (including at least 2% Polish) and 5% Jewish (totaling 20,536 in the 1905 census). The Jewish community of Breslau was among the most important in Germany, producing several distinguished artists and scientists. From 1912, the head of the university's Department of Psychiatry and director of the Clinic of Psychiatry ( Königlich Psychiatrischen und Nervenklinik )

8250-416: The city was occupied by Saxon and Swedish troops and lost thousands of inhabitants to the plague . The Emperor brought in the Counter-Reformation by encouraging Catholic orders to settle in the city, starting in 1610 with the Franciscans , followed by the Jesuits , then Capuchins , and finally Ursuline nuns in 1687. These orders erected buildings that shaped the city's appearance until 1945. At

8375-407: The city's defenses. Important landmarks were inaugurated in 1910, the Kaiser bridge (today Grunwald Bridge ) and the Technical University , which now houses the Wrocław University of Technology . The 1900 census listed 98% of the population as German-speakers, with 5,363 Polish-speakers (1.3%), and 3,103 (0.7%) as bilingual in German and Polish, although some estimates put the number of Poles in

8500-440: The city's name as Wrotizlava and Wrotizlaensem , characteristic of Old Polish -ro-, unlike Old Czech -ra- . In the Polish language , the city's name Wrocław derives from the given name Wrocisław , which is the Polish equivalent of the Czech Vratislav. Also, the earliest variations of this name in the Old Polish language would have used the letter l instead of the modern Polish ł . The Old Czech language version of

8625-449: The city, as well as Polish slave labourers, organised a resistance group called Olimp . The organisation gathered intelligence, carrying out sabotage and organising aid for Polish slave workers. In September 1941 the city's 10,000 Jews were expelled from their homes and soon deported to concentration camps. Few survived the Holocaust . As the war continued, refugees from bombed-out German cities, and later refugees from farther east, swelled

8750-399: The city, so that today the proportion of the Polish population compared to that of the Germans is the reverse of what it was a hundred years ago. Traces of the German past, such as inscriptions and signs, were removed. In 1948, Wrocław organized the Recovered Territories Exhibition and the World Congress of Intellectuals in Defense of Peace . Picasso 's lithograph, La Colombe (The Dove),

8875-410: The city. PTV Echo, the first non-state television station in Poland and in the post-communist countries, began to broadcast in Wrocław on 6 February 1990. In May 1997, Wrocław hosted the 46th International Eucharistic Congress . Congress of Vienna The Congress of Vienna of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of

9000-420: The city. After the outbreak of the uprising in 1863, the Prussian police carried out mass searches of Polish homes, especially those of Poles who had recently come to the city. The city's inhabitants, both Poles and Germans, excluding the German aristocracy, largely sympathized with the uprising, and some Germans even joined local Poles in their secret activities. In June 1863 the city was officially confirmed as

9125-558: The countries of Europe could extend their rights at the Congress. The Italian peninsula became a mere "geographical expression" as divided into seven parts: Lombardy–Venetia , Modena , Naples–Sicily , Parma , Piedmont–Sardinia , Tuscany , and the Papal States under the control of different powers. Poland remained partitioned between Russia, Prussia and Austria, with the largest part, the newly created Kingdom of Poland , remaining under Russian control. The arrangements made by

9250-629: The death of Henry VI the Good , to John of Luxembourg . His son Emperor Charles IV in 1348 formally incorporated the city into the Holy Roman Empire . Between 1342 and 1344, two fires destroyed large parts of the city. In 1387 the city joined the Hanseatic League . On 5 June 1443, the city was rocked by an earthquake, estimated at magnitude 6, which destroyed or seriously damaged many of its buildings. Between 1469 and 1490, Wrocław

9375-693: The defenders. By the end of the three-month siege in May 1945, half the city had been destroyed. Breslau was the last major city in Germany to surrender, capitulating only two days before the end of the war in Europe. Civilian deaths amounted to as many as 80,000. In August the Soviets placed the city under the control of German communists . Following the Yalta Conference held in February 1945, where

9500-430: The diaries of the master of affairs Von Gentz that diplomatic tactics possibly included bribing. He notes that at the Congress he received £22,000 through Talleyrand from Louis XVIII , while Castlereagh gave him £600, accompanied by " les plus folles promesses " ("the wildest promises"); his diary is full of such entries. The Final Act, embodying all the separate treaties, was signed on 9 June 1815 (nine days before

9625-509: The diplomatic congress format marked "the true beginning of our modern era". To his analyses the Congress organisation was deliberate conflict management and was the first genuine attempt to create an international order based upon consensus rather than conflict. "Europe was ready," Jarrett states, "to accept an unprecedented degree of international cooperation in response to the French Revolution." Historian Paul Schroeder argues that

9750-545: The end of the Thirty Years' War, however, it was one of only a few Silesian cities to stay Protestant. The Polish Municipal school opened in 1666 and lasted until 1766. Precise record-keeping of births and deaths by the city fathers led to the use of their data for analysis of mortality, first by John Graunt and then, based on data provided to him by Breslau professor Caspar Neumann , by Edmond Halley . Halley's tables and analysis, published in 1693, are considered to be

9875-718: The first true actuarial tables, and thus the foundation of modern actuarial science . During the Counter-Reformation, the intellectual life of the city flourished, as the Protestant bourgeoisie lost some of its dominance to the Catholic orders as patrons of the arts. One of two main routes connecting Warsaw and Dresden ran through the city in the 18th century and Kings Augustus II the Strong and Augustus III of Poland often traveled that route. The city became

10000-583: The forced deportations from Polish lands annexed by the Soviet Union in the east region, some of whom came from Lviv ( Lwów ), Volhynia , and the Vilnius Region . However, despite the prime role given to re-settlers from the Kresy , in 1949, only 20% of the new Polish population actually were refugees themselves. A small German minority (about 1,000 people, or 2% of the population) remains in

10125-728: The former Regierungsbezirk Oppeln ). After three Silesian Uprisings and the 1921 Upper Silesia plebiscite , the East Upper Silesian part of the province around the industrial city of Katowice was transferred to the Second Polish Republic and incorporated into the Silesian Voivodeship in 1922. In 1920 the Hlučín Region was ceded to Czechoslovakia according to the Treaty of Versailles . ( Niederschlesiens Ostmark ) On 1 April 1938

10250-591: The former Dutch Seven Provinces together with formerly Austrian territory, and was meant to serve as a buffer between the German Confederation and France. The immediate background was Napoleonic France's defeat and surrender in May 1814 , which brought an end to 23 years of nearly continuous war. Remarkably, negotiations continued unaffected despite the outbreak of fighting triggered by Napoleon's return from exile and resumption of power in France during

10375-523: The fourth camp. Many prisoners died, and the remaining were evacuated to the main camp of Gross-Rosen in January 1945. There were also three subcamps of the Stalag VIII-B/344 prisoner-of-war camp , and two Nazi prisons in the city, including a youth prison, with multiple forced labour subcamps. In 1945, the city became part of the front lines and was the site of the brutal Siege of Breslau . Adolf Hitler had in 1944 declared Breslau to be

10500-639: The islands of " Tobago and Saint Lucia , and of the Isle of France and its dependencies, especially Rodrigues and Les Seychelles ", and under the Treaty between Great Britain and Austria, Prussia and Russia, respecting the Ionian Islands (signed in Paris on 5 November 1815), as one of the treaties signed during the Peace of Paris (1815) , Britain obtained a protectorate over the United States of

10625-537: The junction of the Via Regia and the Amber Road. With the influx of settlers, the town expanded and in 1242 came under German town law . The city council used both Latin and German , and the early forms of the name Breslau , the German name of the city, appeared for the first time in its written records. Polish gradually ceased to be used in the town books, while it survived in the courts until 1337, when it

10750-524: The king of Denmark-Norway to the king of Sweden . This sparked the nationalist movement which led to the establishment of the Kingdom of Norway on 17 May 1814 and the subsequent personal Union with Sweden . Austria gained Lombardy–Venetia in Northern Italy, while much of the rest of North-Central Italy went to Habsburg dynasties (the Grand Duchy of Tuscany , the Duchy of Modena , and

10875-579: The meetings held between the great powers. However, because all representatives were gathered in one city it was relatively easy to communicate, to hear and spread news and gossip, and to present points of view for both powerful and less powerful nations. Also of great importance to the parties convened in Vienna were the opportunities presented at wine and dinner functions to establish formal relationships with one another and build-up diplomatic networks. The Treaty of Chaumont in 1814 had reaffirmed decisions that had been made already and that would be ratified by

11000-630: The more important Congress of Vienna. They included the establishment of a confederated Germany, the division of Italy into independent states, the restoration of the Bourbon kings of Spain, and the enlargement of the Netherlands to include what in 1830 became modern Belgium. The Treaty of Chaumont became the cornerstone of the European Alliance that formed the balance of power for decades. Other partial settlements had already occurred at

11125-535: The name was used in Latin documents, as Vratislavia or Wratislavia . The city's first municipal seal was inscribed with Sigillum civitatis Wratislavie . By the 15th century, the Early New High German variations of the name, Breslau , first began to be used. Despite the noticeable differences in spelling, the numerous German forms were still based on the original West Slavic name of the city, with

11250-564: The nearby village of Muchobór Wielki (present-day a district of Wrocław), and in December 1474 a ceasefire was signed according to which the city remained under Hungarian rule. The following year was marked by the publication in Wrocław of the Statuta Synodalia Episcoporum Wratislaviensium (1475) by Kasper Elyan, the first ever incunable in Polish, containing the proceedings and prayers of

11375-553: The new geopolitics of Central Europe were decided, the terms of the Potsdam Conference decreed that along with almost all of Lower Silesia, the city would again become part of Poland in exchange for Poland's loss of the city of Lwów along with the massive territory of Kresy in the east, which was annexed by the Soviet Union . The Polish name of Wrocław was declared official. There had been discussion among

11500-663: The north, i.e. the Greater Polish lands that before the 18th century Partitions of Poland had belonged to the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth . In the northeast, Upper Silesia bordered on Congress Poland , i.e. the Kingdom of Poland which had been reconstituted from the Duchy of Warsaw and was made up of former parts of the Prussian and Austrian partitions . Congress Poland was in a personal union with

11625-440: The northern Rhineland. The consolidation of Germany from the nearly 300 states of the Holy Roman Empire (dissolved in 1806) into a much less complex system of thirty-nine states (4 of which were free cities) was confirmed. These states formed a loose German Confederation under the leadership of Austria. Representatives at the Congress agreed to numerous other territorial changes. By the Treaty of Kiel , Norway had been ceded by

11750-416: The old formulae for " balance of power " were in fact highly destabilizing and predatory. He says the Congress of Vienna avoided them and instead set up rules that produced a stable and benign equilibrium. The Congress of Vienna was the first of a series of international meetings that came to be known as the Concert of Europe , which was an attempt to forge a peaceful balance of power in Europe. It served as

11875-514: The other three main powers made major territorial gains around the world. Prussia added territory from smaller states: Swedish Pomerania , most of the Kingdom of Saxony , and the western part of the former Duchy of Warsaw . Austria gained much of northern Italy . Russia added the central and eastern parts of the Duchy of Warsaw. All agreed upon ratifying the creation of the new Kingdom of the Netherlands , which had been created just months before from

12000-554: The parts of Poland that had been incorporated into Russia in the 1790s . Prussia received 60 percent of Saxony, much of which became part of the new Province of Saxony from 1816 (the now-Prussian parts of Lower Lusatia and some other areas instead became part of the Province of Brandenburg , with Prussian Upper Lusatia becoming part of the Province of Silesia by 1825); the remainder of Saxony returned to King Frederick Augustus I as his Kingdom of Saxony . It can be learned from

12125-706: The population to nearly one million, including 51,000 forced labourers in 1944, and 9,876 Allied PoWs. At the end of 1944 an additional 30,000–60,000 Poles were moved into the city after the Germans crushed the Warsaw Uprising . During the war the Germans operated four subcamps of the Gross-Rosen concentration camp in the city. Approximately 3,400–3,800 men were imprisoned in three subcamps, among them Poles, Russians , Italians , Frenchmen , Ukrainians , Czechs , Belgians , Yugoslavs , Dutchmen , Chinese , and about 1,500 Jewish women were imprisoned in

12250-627: The procedure we have adopted and soundly [be]rated us for two hours. It was a scene I shall never forget." The embarrassed representatives of the Allies replied that the document concerning the protocol they had arranged actually meant nothing. "If it means so little, why did you sign it?" snapped Labrador. Talleyrand's policy, directed as much by national as personal ambitions, demanded the close but by no means amicable relationship he had with Labrador, whom Talleyrand regarded with disdain. Labrador later remarked of Talleyrand: "that cripple, unfortunately,

12375-950: The province of Silesia was divided again by reverting into Upper Silesia and Lower Silesia. In the Prussian census of 1890, the province of Silesia had a population of 4,224,458, of which 3,105,843 (73.52%) spoke German , 973,596 (23.05%) spoke Polish , 68,781 (1.63%) spoke Czech , 26,257 (0.62%) spoke Sorbian and 48,045 (1.14%) identified as bilingual. Regierungsbezirk Liegnitz - 1,047,405 (96.41% German, 2.51% Sorbian, 0.53% Polish, 0.11% Czech, 0.38% bilingual). Regierungsbezirk Breslau - 1,599,322 (95.63% German, 3.08% Polish, 0.59% Czech, 0.64% bilingual). Regierungsbezirk Oppeln - 1,577,731 (58.23% Polish, 35.91% German, 3.69% Czech, 2.14% bilingual). Regierungsbezirk Breslau Regierungsbezirk Liegnitz Regierungsbezirk Oppeln Wroc%C5%82aw Wrocław ( Polish: [ˈvrɔt͡swaf] ; German : Breslau [ˈbʁɛslaʊ] ; also known by other names )

12500-590: The province of Silesia was re-established by Nazi Germany by uniting the existing Upper Silesia and Lower Silesia provinces. Nazi German persecution of Poles in the province intensified in 1938–1939 with expulsions of Polish activists, distributors of Polish press, priests, craftsmen, farmers, students etc., attacks on Polish cultural centers, banks, enterprises, schools, churches and houses, seizure of Polish libraries, confiscations of Polish press, arrests and deportations of Polish activists to concentration camps and even assassinations. In 1938, Nazi authorities forced

12625-576: The province. In the annexed pre-war Polish part the occupiers conducted the genocidal Intelligenzaktion campaign and expulsions of Poles . The Germans also established the Gross-Rosen concentration camp and multiple prisoner-of-war camps with numerous forced labour subcamps in the region, including Stalag VIII-A , Stalag VIII-B , Stalag VIII-C , Stalag VIII-E , Oflag VIII-A, Oflag VIII-B, Oflag VIII-C, Oflag VIII-F , for Polish POWs and civilians, and French , Belgian, Dutch and later also other Allied POWs. On 27 January 1941, during World War II,

12750-584: The region, the city council's ability to govern independently had increased. In 1274 prince Henry IV Probus gave the city its staple right . In the 13th century, two Polish monarchs were buried in Wrocław churches founded by them, Henry II the Pious in the St. Vincent church and Henryk IV Probus in the Holy Cross church . Wrocław, which for 350 years had been mostly under Polish hegemony , fell in 1335, after

12875-625: The result of territorial changes of Poland immediately after World War II . Wrocław is a university city with a student population of over 130,000, making it one of the most youth-oriented cities in the country. Since the beginning of the 20th century, the University of Wrocław , previously the German Breslau University, has produced nine Nobel Prize laureates and is renowned for its high quality of teaching. Wrocław also possesses numerous historical landmarks, including

13000-431: The seat of secret Polish insurgent authorities. In January 1864, the Prussian police arrested a number of members of the Polish insurgent movement. The Unification of Germany in 1871 turned Breslau into the sixth-largest city in the German Empire . Its population more than tripled to over half a million between 1860 and 1910. The 1900 census listed 422,709 residents. In 1890, construction began of Breslau Fortress as

13125-577: The seat of the Mongol Khan near Karakorum , the capital of the Mongol Empire , in what is considered the first such journey by Europeans. After the Mongol invasion the town was partly populated by German settlers who, in the ensuing centuries, gradually became its dominant population. The city, however, retained its multi-ethnic character, a reflection of its importance as a trading post on

13250-528: The throne. A large United Kingdom of the Netherlands was formed for the Prince of Orange , including both the old United Provinces and the formerly Austrian-ruled territories in the Southern Netherlands, which gave way to the formation of a democratic state, formally headed by a constitutional monarch . Other, less important, territorial adjustments included significant territorial gains for

13375-457: The tsar as a king ruling it independently of Russia. However, the majority of Greater Poland and Kuyavia , as well as the Chełmno Land , were given to Prussia and mostly included within the newly formed Grand Duchy of Posen ( Poznań ), while Kraków became a free city as a shared protectorate of Austria, Prussia and Russia. Furthermore, the tsar was forbidden from uniting his new realm with

13500-596: The war had ended, were expelled between 1945 and 1949 in accordance to the Potsdam Agreement and were settled in the Soviet occupation zone or in the Allied Occupation Zones in the remainder of Germany. The city's last pre-war German school was closed in 1963. The Polish population was dramatically increased by the resettlement of Poles, partly due to postwar population transfers during

13625-786: The war the Polish community began holding masses in Polish at the Church of Saint Anne, and, as of 1921, at St. Martin's and a Polish School was founded by Helena Adamczewska. In 1920 a Polish consulate was opened on the Main Square. In August 1920, during the Polish Silesian Uprising in Upper Silesia , the Polish Consulate and School were destroyed, while the Polish Library was burned down by

13750-412: The war, the fighting did not affect the city. During the war, the Germans opened the graves of medieval Polish monarchs and local dukes to carry out anthropological research for propaganda purposes, wanting to demonstrate German " racial purity ." The remains were transported to other places by the Germans, and they have not been found to this day. In 1941 the remnants of the pre-war Polish minority in

13875-803: The world. The city was an important centre of the Polish secret resistance movement and the seat of a Polish uprising committee before and during the January Uprising of 1863–1864 in the Russian Partition of Poland. Local Poles took part in Polish national mourning after the Russian massacre of Polish protesters in Warsaw in February 1861, and also organized several patriotic Polish church services throughout 1861. Secret Polish correspondence, weapons, and insurgents were transported through

14000-525: Was Alois Alzheimer and, that same year, professor William Stern introduced the concept of IQ . In 1913, the newly built Centennial Hall housed an exhibition commemorating the 100th anniversary of the historical German Wars of Liberation against Napoleon and the first award of the Iron Cross . The Centennial Hall was built by Max Berg (1870–1947), since 2006 it is part of the world heritage of UNESCO. The central station (by Wilhelm Grapow, 1857)

14125-646: Was able to use this committee to make himself a part of the inner negotiations, he then left it, once again abandoning his allies. The major Allies' indecision on how to conduct their affairs without provoking a united protest from the lesser powers led to the calling of a preliminary conference on the protocol, to which Talleyrand and the Marquess of Labrador, Spain's representative, were invited on 30 September 1814. Congress Secretary Friedrich von Gentz reported, "The intervention of Talleyrand and Labrador has hopelessly upset all our plans. Talleyrand protested against

14250-540: Was banned by the new rulers, the German-speaking House of Luxembourg . The enlarged town covered around 60 hectares (150 acres), and the new main market square , surrounded by timber-frame houses, became the trade centre of the town. The original foundation, Ostrów Tumski , became its religious centre. The city gained Magdeburg rights in 1261. While the Polish Piast dynasty remained in control of

14375-495: Was created out of the territories acquired by Prussia in the Silesian Wars, as well as those Upper Lusatian territories which King Frederick Augustus I of Saxony had to relinquish due to his indecisive attitude in the Napoleonic Wars . As the lands had been part of the Holy Roman Empire until 1806, Silesia was among the western Prussian provinces that lay within the borders of the German Confederation . In 1815, after

14500-549: Was established around Breslau to serve industrial concerns, including FAMO , Junkers , and Krupp . Tens of thousands of forced laborers were imprisoned there. The last big event organized by the National Socialist League of the Reich for Physical Exercise , called Deutsches Turn-und-Sportfest (Gym and Sports Festivities), took place in Breslau from 26 to 31 July 1938. The Sportsfest was held to commemorate

14625-465: Was mentioned by Thietmar explicitly in the year 1000 AD in connection with its promotion to an episcopal see during the Congress of Gniezno . During Wrocław's early history, control over it changed hands between the Duchy of Bohemia (1038–1054), the Duchy of Poland and the Kingdom of Poland (985–1038 and 1054–1320). Following the fragmentation of the Kingdom of Poland , the Piast dynasty ruled

14750-460: Was named a UNESCO City of Literature . The origin of the city's name is disputed. The city was believed to be named after Duke Vratislav I of Bohemia from the Czech Přemyslid dynasty , who supposedly ruled the region between 915 and 921. However, modern scholars and historians dispute this theory; recent archeological studies prove that even if Vratislav once ruled over the area, the city

14875-466: Was not founded until at least 20 years after his death. They suggest that the founder of the city might have simply been a local prince who only shared the popular West Slavic name with the Bohemian Duke. Further evidence against Czech origin is that the oldest surviving documents containing the recorded name, such as the chronicle of Thietmar of Merseburg from the early 11th century, records

15000-510: Was one of the biggest in Germany and one of the first stations with electrified railway services. Since 1900 modern department stores like Barasch (today "Feniks") or Petersdorff (built by architect Erich Mendelsohn) were erected. During World War I , in 1914, a branch of the Organizacja Pomocy Legionom ("Legion Assistance Organization") operated in the city with the goal of gaining support and recruiting volunteers for

15125-470: Was part of the Kingdom of Hungary , and king Matthias Corvinus was said to have had a Vratislavian mistress who bore him a son. In 1474, after almost a century, the city left the Hanseatic League. Also in 1474, the city was besieged by combined Polish-Czech forces. However, in November 1474, Kings Casimir IV of Poland , his son Vladislaus II of Bohemia , and Matthias Corvinus of Hungary met in

15250-483: Was relocated to Breslau in 1811, and united with the local Jesuit University to create the new Silesian Frederick-William University ( German : Schlesische Friedrich-Wilhelm-Universität , now the University of Wrocław ). The city became a centre of the German Liberation movement against Napoleon, and a gathering place for volunteers from all over Germany. The city was the centre of Prussian mobilisation for

15375-618: Was set up in the city in 1933. The Gestapo began actions against Polish and Jewish students (see: Jewish Theological Seminary of Breslau ), Communists , Social Democrats , and trade unionists . Arrests were made for speaking Polish in public, and in 1938 the Nazi-controlled police destroyed the Polish cultural centre. In June 1939, Polish students were expelled from the university. Also many other people seen as "undesirable" by Nazi Germany were sent to concentration camps . A network of concentration camps and forced labour camps

15500-598: Was subjected to Germanisation policies. Sorbian-language Lutheran preparations for Confirmation were prohibited with the ban lifted only after World War I. Because of the extended iron ore and black coal deposits of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin , there was considerable industrialization and urbanization in Upper Silesia and many people from neighbouring Posen and Congress Poland immigrated at that time. In 1871, Silesia became part of

15625-402: Was the first occasion in history where, on a continental scale, national representatives and other stakeholders came together in one city at the same time to discuss and formulate the conditions and provisions of treaties. Before the Congress of Vienna the common method of diplomacy involved the exchange of notes sent back and forth among the several capitals and separate talks in different places,

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