History of Wrocław

Wrocław (German: Breslau) has long been the largest and culturally dominant city in Silesia, and is today the capital of Poland's Lower Silesian Voivodeship, and the country's third most populous city proper.

The history of Wrocław starts at a crossroads in Lower Silesia. It was one of the centres of the Duchy and then Kingdom of Poland, and briefly, in the first half of the 13th century, the centre of half of the divided Kingdom of Poland. German settlers arrived in increasing numbers after the first Mongol invasion of Poland in 1241. Later on, the city became part of the Bohemian Crown Lands and the Holy Roman Empire following the Treaty of Trentschin of 1335. In 1526, it came under Habsburg rule as part of the Bohemian Crown. After the War of Austrian Succession, Austria ceded the city and region to the Kingdom of Prussia in the Treaty of Breslau of 1742. Following the unification of Germany, Breslau became part of the German Reich in 1871. The city was the economic, cultural and scientific centre of Eastern Germany with the University of Breslau producing nine Nobel Prize laureates. During World War II, the Nazis operated multiple labour camps and prisons throughout the city. In the final phase of the war, the city was besieged by the Red Army in the Battle of Breslau and suffered extensive destruction as a result of the combat. After the war, the city became part of Poland and the German-speaking majority of its population was expelled to the remainder of Germany in accordance with the Potsdam Agreement.