The history of Warsaw is mostly synonymous with the history of Poland. First fortified settlements on area of today Warsaw were founded in the 9th century and for many centuries coincided with the development of what is today known as the Warsaw Old Town.
During this time the city has experienced numerous plagues, invasions, devastating fires and administrative restrictions on its growth. The most crucial of those events included the Deluge, the Great Northern War (1702, 1704, 1705), War of the Polish Succession, Warsaw Uprising (1794), Battle of Praga and the Massacre of Praga inhabitants, November Uprising, January Uprising, World War I, Siege of Warsaw (1939) and aerial bombardment, Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, Warsaw Uprising (which in the aftermath nearly reduced all of the city to rubble by German occupiers).
The city was a site of other significant but less destructive events. It was the site of election of Polish kings, meeting of Polish parliament (Sejm), and events such as the Polish victory over the Bolsheviks at the Vistula, during the Battle of Warsaw (1920). Yet it has still grown to the multicultural capital of a modern European state and a major commercial and cultural centres of Central Europe.
Read more about History Of Warsaw: Early History, 1526-1700, 1700-1795, 1795-1914, World War I, 1918-1939, World War II, Modern Times, Historical Images
Famous quotes containing the words history of and/or history:
“Classes struggle, some classes triumph, others are eliminated. Such is history; such is the history of civilization for thousands of years.”
—Mao Zedong (1893–1976)
“We don’t know when our name came into being or how some distant ancestor acquired it. We don’t understand our name at all, we don’t know its history and yet we bear it with exalted fidelity, we merge with it, we like it, we are ridiculously proud of it as if we had thought it up ourselves in a moment of brilliant inspiration.”
—Milan Kundera (b. 1929)