Historic Background Of Warsaw

Legend has it that Warsaw got its name from two children, Wars and Sawa, when Syrenka –a mermaid from the Wisla – prophesied the founding of the city to them. But according to more credible historical records, the city was founded at the turn of the 14th century by the Duke Boleslaw of Mazovia. Till 1527 it was an independent principality, but after the last of the Mazovian princes died, the city was absorbed into the Polish state. Warsaw became the capital of the Polish empire in 1596, replacing Krakow, at the behest of King Zygmunt III. The city suffered its first round of devastation in the middle of the 17th century, when the Swedes invaded Poland and cracked down on the city. By the end of the 19th century, Poland had been sliced into nice, even pieces by Russia, Prussia and Austria, and Warsaw became an ordinary regional town of Prussia.

Napoleon set his sights on Warsaw in 1807 and established the Independent Duchy of Warsaw, only to be torn down again by the Russians following his defeat at Waterloo.

In the meantime, Warsaw’s population was growing and industrialization was taking place rapidly. By 1939, Warsaw had a population nearing 1 million. However, this population would dwindle very soon, once the Nazis marched into the city on Sept 27, 1939 after practically shelling it to pieces. German troops then built a walled ghetto around the city, into which they herded all the Jews of Warsaw. In April 1943, the famous Warsaw Ghetto Uprising took the city by storm – a heroic attempt by the surviving Jews of the ghetto to revolt against their torturers. Although the rebels finally succumbed, the uprising gave the Germans a jolt and revived the hopes for liberation.

After the Axis defeat, the city became the seat of the centralized Communist Govt for the next fifty years. Although in recent years the city has been struck by several urban crises, it has done a commendable job rehabilitating itself from the horrors of war and military occupation.