1.
Ogrodzieniec, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship
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Ogrodzieniec is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Kisielice, within Iława County, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, in northern Poland. Previously called Neudeck, it was renowned as the residence of German President Paul von Hindenburg. It lies in the southwest of the voivodeship, approximately 4 kilometres east of Kisielice,17 km west of Iława, the German name of the village, Neudeck, is probably derived from Old Prussian Najdekai. The area settled by Pomesanian tribes was conquered by the Teutonic Knights from 1234 onwards and it remained with the Orders State upon the Second Peace of Thorn. Part of the Duchy of Prussia from 1525, a 1543 deed mentions only two extant farmsteads, Paul von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg, great-grandson of Otto Gottfried, spent the summers at Neudeck as a child. His partents family moved into the house in 1863. In 1926 the estate, held by Pauls cousin Lina, had gone into debt and was in need of major investment, Hindenburg had the manor house rebuilt and titled the deed to Neudeck in the name of his son, Oskar von Hindenburg. According to his enemies, this was ostensibly done to avoid payment of inheritance taxes. Hindenburg and his descendants were officially exempt from taxes by law enacted by Hitlers government in 1933, after the presidents death on 2 August 1934, his mortal remains were solemnly transferred from Neudeck to the Tannenberg Memorial. Neudeck became part of the Republic of Poland according to the Potsdam Agreement of the same year, the remaining German population was expelled and replaced by Poles. The ruins of the house were demolished around 1950
2.
Poland
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Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe, situated between the Baltic Sea in the north and two mountain ranges in the south. Bordered by Germany to the west, the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south, Ukraine and Belarus to the east, the total area of Poland is 312,679 square kilometres, making it the 69th largest country in the world and the 9th largest in Europe. With a population of over 38.5 million people, Poland is the 34th most populous country in the world, the 8th most populous country in Europe, Poland is a unitary state divided into 16 administrative subdivisions, and its capital and largest city is Warsaw. Other metropolises include Kraków, Wrocław, Poznań, Gdańsk and Szczecin, the establishment of a Polish state can be traced back to 966, when Mieszko I, ruler of a territory roughly coextensive with that of present-day Poland, converted to Christianity. The Kingdom of Poland was founded in 1025, and in 1569 it cemented a political association with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania by signing the Union of Lublin. This union formed the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, one of the largest and most populous countries of 16th and 17th century Europe, Poland regained its independence in 1918 at the end of World War I, reconstituting much of its historical territory as the Second Polish Republic. In September 1939, World War II started with the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, followed thereafter by invasion by the Soviet Union. More than six million Polish citizens died in the war, after the war, Polands borders were shifted westwards under the terms of the Potsdam Conference. With the backing of the Soviet Union, a communist puppet government was formed, and after a referendum in 1946. During the Revolutions of 1989 Polands Communist government was overthrown and Poland adopted a new constitution establishing itself as a democracy, informally called the Third Polish Republic. Since the early 1990s, when the transition to a primarily market-based economy began, Poland has achieved a high ranking on the Human Development Index. Poland is a country, which was categorised by the World Bank as having a high-income economy. Furthermore, it is visited by approximately 16 million tourists every year, Poland is the eighth largest economy in the European Union and was the 6th fastest growing economy on the continent between 2010 and 2015. According to the Global Peace Index for 2014, Poland is ranked 19th in the list of the safest countries in the world to live in. The origin of the name Poland derives from a West Slavic tribe of Polans that inhabited the Warta River basin of the historic Greater Poland region in the 8th century, the origin of the name Polanie itself derives from the western Slavic word pole. In some foreign languages such as Hungarian, Lithuanian, Persian and Turkish the exonym for Poland is Lechites, historians have postulated that throughout Late Antiquity, many distinct ethnic groups populated the regions of what is now Poland. The most famous archaeological find from the prehistory and protohistory of Poland is the Biskupin fortified settlement, dating from the Lusatian culture of the early Iron Age, the Slavic groups who would form Poland migrated to these areas in the second half of the 5th century AD. With the Baptism of Poland the Polish rulers accepted Christianity and the authority of the Roman Church
3.
Voivodeships of Poland
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A województwo is the highest-level administrative subdivision of Poland, corresponding to a province in many other countries. The term województwo has been in use since the 14th century, the word województwo is also rendered as voivodeship or a variant spelling. The Polish local government reforms adopted in 1998, which went into effect on 1 January 1999 and these replaced the 49 former voivodeships that had existed from 1 July 1975. Todays voivodeships are mostly named after historical and geographical regions, while prior to 1998 generally took their names from the cities on which they were centered. The new units range in area from under 10,000 km2 to over 35,000 km2, voivodeships are further divided into powiats and gminas, see Administrative divisions of Poland. Competences and powers at voivodeship level are shared between the voivode, the sejmik and the marshal. In most cases these institutions are all based in one city, but in Kuyavian-Pomeranian and Lubusz Voivodeship the voivodes offices are in a different city from those of the executive, Voivodeship capitals are listed in the table below. The voivode is appointed by the Prime Minister and is the representative of the central government. The voivodes offices collectively are known as the urząd wojewódzki, the sejmik is elected every four years, at the same time as the local authorities at powiat and gmina level. It passes bylaws, including the development strategies and budget. It also elects the marszałek and other members of the executive, the marshals offices are collectively known as the urząd marszałkowski. According to 2014 Eurostat data, the GDP per capita of Polish voivodeships varies notably, Administrative division of Poland between 1979 and 1998 included 49 voivodeships upheld after the establishment of the Third Polish Republic in 1989 for another decade. This reorganization of administrative division of Poland was mainly a result of government reform acts of 1973–1975. In place of the administrative division, a new two-level administrative division was introduced. The three smallest voivodeships – Warsaw, Kraków and Łódź – had the status of municipal voivodeship. After World War II, the new division of the country within the new national borders was based on the prewar one and included 14 voivodeships. The voivodeships in the east that had not been annexed by the Soviet Union had their borders left almost unchanged. The newly acquired territories in the west and north were organized into the new voivodeships of Szczecin, Wrocław and Olsztyn, two cities were granted voivodeship status, Warsaw and Łódź
4.
Silesian Voivodeship
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The Silesian Voivodeship, or Silesia Province, is a voivodeship, or province, in southern Poland, centered on the historic region known as Upper Silesia, with Katowice serving as its capital. The Voivodeship was created on 1 January 1999 out of the former Katowice, Częstochowa and Bielsko-Biała Voivodeships and it is the most densely populated voivodeship in Poland and within the area of 12,300 squared kilometres, there are almost 5 million inhabitants. It is also the largest urbanised area in Central and Eastern Europe, in relation to economy, over 13% of Poland’s Gross Domestic Product is generated here, making the Silesian Voivodeship one of the wealthiest provinces in the country. For the first time Silesian Voivodeship was appointed in Second Polish Republic and it had much wider range of power autonomy, than other contemporary Polish voivodeships and it covered all historical lands of Upper Silesia, which ended up in the Interwar period Poland. This Voivodeship did not include – as opposed to the present one – lands, after aggression of Nazi Germany, on 8 October 1939, Hitler published a decree About division and administration of Eastern Territories. A Silesian Province was created, with a seat in Breslau and it consisted of four districts, Kattowitz, Oppeln, Breslau and Liegnitz. However, according to Hitler’s dectee from 12 October 1939 about establishing General Government, Oppeln District – Lubinitz county and parts of Tschenstochau and Warthenau counties. After the War during 1945 -1950 there existed a Silesian Voivodeship, commonly known as Śląsko-Dąbrowskie Voivodeship, in 1950 Śląsko-Dąbrowskie Voivodeship was divided into Opole and Katowice Voivodeships. The latter one had borders similar to the borders of modern Silesian Voivodeship and it is also bordered by four other Polish voivodeships, those of Opole, Łódź, Świętokrzyskie, and Lesser Poland. The region includes the Silesian Upland in the centre and north-west, the southern border is formed by the Beskidy Mountains. The current administrative unit of Silesian Voivodeship is just a fraction of the historical Silesia which is within the borders of todays Poland, Other parts of todays Polish Silesia are administered as the Opole, the Lower Silesian Voivodeships and the Lubusz Voivodeship. On the other hand, a part of the current administrative unit of the Silesian Voivodeship is not part of historical Silesia. Silesian Voivodeship has the highest population density in the country, the regions considerable industrialisation gives it the lowest unemployment rate nationally. The Silesian region is the most industrialized and the most urbanized region in Poland, 78% of its live in towns. Both northern and southern part of the voivodeship is surrounded by a green belt, Bielsko-Biała is enveloped by the Beskidy Mountains which are popular with winter sports fans. It offers over 150 ski lifts and 200 kilometres of ski routes, more and more slopes are illuminated and equipped with artificial snow generators. Szczyrk, Brenna, Wisła and Ustroń are the most popular mountain resorts. Rock climbing sites can be found in Jura Krakowsko-Czestochowska, the ruins of castles forming the Eagle Nests Trail are a famous attraction of the region
5.
Powiat
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A powiat is the second-level unit of local government and administration in Poland, equivalent to a county, district or prefecture in other countries. The term powiat is most often translated into English as county, a powiat is part of a larger unit, the voivodeship or province. A powiat is usually subdivided into gminas, major towns and cities, however, function as separate counties in their own right, without subdivision into gminas. They are termed city counties and have roughly the same status as county boroughs in the UK. The other type of powiats are termed land counties, as of 2008, there were 379 powiat-level entities,314 land counties, and 65 city counties. For a complete listing, see List of Polish counties. For tables of counties by voivodeship, see the articles on the individual voivodeships, the history of Polish powiats goes back to the second half of the 14th century. They remained the basic unit of organization in Poland, then in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. After Poland regained independence in 1918, the powiats were again the territorial units. Powiats were abolished in 1975 in favor of a number of voivodeships. This reform also created 16 larger voivodeships, legislative power within a powiat is vested in an elected council, while local executive power is vested in the starosta, who is elected by that council. The administrative offices headed by the starosta are called the starostwo, however, in city counties these institutions do not exist separately – their powers and functions are exercised by the city council, the directly elected mayor, and the city offices. In some cases a powiat has its seat outside its own territory, for example, Poznań County has its offices in Poznań, although Poznań is itself a city county, and is therefore not part of Poznań County. Powiats have relatively limited powers, since many local and regional matters are dealt with either at gmina or voivodeship level, the Polish the name of an county, in the administrative sense, consists of the word powiat followed by a masculine-gender adjective. In most cases, this is the formed from the name of the town or city where the county has its seat. Thus the county with its seat at the town of Kutno is named powiat kutnowski, if the name of the seat comprises a noun followed by an adjective, as in Maków Mazowiecki, the adjective will generally be formed from the noun only. There are also a few counties whose names are derived from the names of two towns, from the name of a city and an adjective, or a mountain range. There is more one way to render such names into English
6.
Zawiercie County
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Zawiercie County is a unit of territorial administration and local government in Silesian Voivodeship, southern Poland. It came into being on January 1,1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms passed in 1998 and its administrative seat and largest town is Zawiercie, which lies 41 kilometres north-east of the regional capital Katowice. The county covers an area of 1,003.27 square kilometres, the county is subdivided into 10 gminas. These are listed in the table, in descending order of population
7.
Gmina
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The gmina is the principal unit of the administrative division of Poland, similar to a commune or municipality. As of 2010 there were 2,478 gminy throughout the country, the word gmina derives from the German word Gemeinde, meaning community. The gmina has been the unit of territorial division in Poland since 1974. Some rural gminy have their seat in a town which is outside the gminas division, for example, the rural Gmina Augustów is administered from the town of Augustów, but does not include the town, as Augustów is an urban type gmina in its own right. The legislative and controlling body of each gmina is the municipal council, or in a town. A gmina may create auxiliary units, which play an administrative role. In rural areas these are called sołectwa, in towns they may be dzielnice or osiedla and in an urban-rural gmina, for a complete listing of all the gminy in Poland, see List of Polish gminas. Each gmina carries out two types of tasks, its own tasks and commissioned ones, own tasks are public tasks exercised by self-government, which serve to satisfy the needs of the community. Commissioned tasks cover the remaining public tasks resulting from legitimate needs of the state, the tasks are handed over on the basis of statutory by-laws, charters and regulations, or by way of agreements between the self-government units and central-government administration. Official report from the Central Statistical Office of Poland dated January 1,2006
8.
Gmina Ogrodzieniec
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Gmina Ogrodzieniec is an urban-rural gmina in Zawiercie County, Silesian Voivodeship, in southern Poland. Its seat is the town of Ogrodzieniec, which lies approximately 9 kilometres south-east of Zawiercie and 43 km north-east of the regional capital Katowice, the gmina covers an area of 85.69 square kilometres, and as of 2006 its total population is 9,519. The gmina contains part of the area called Eagle Nests Landscape Park. Gmina Ogrodzieniec is bordered by the town of Zawiercie and by the gminas of Klucze, Kroczyce, Łazy and Pilica
9.
Deluge (history)
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The term Deluge denotes a series of mid-17th-century campaigns in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. During the wars the Commonwealth lost approximately one third of its population as well as its status as a great power. According to Professor Andrzej Rottermund, manager of the Royal Castle in Warsaw, as Rottermund claims, Swedish invaders robbed the Commonwealth of its most important riches, and most of the stolen items never returned to Poland. Warsaw, the capital of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, was destroyed by the Swedes. According to the 2012 Polish estimates, financial losses of Poland are estimated at 4 billion zlotys, Swedish invaders completely destroyed 188 cities and towns,81 castles, and 136 churches in Poland. In 1648 Bohdan Khmelnytsky led an uprising of Zaporozhian Cossacks and Ukrainian peasants discontented with the rule of Polish. In the summer of 1654, the Russians managed to capture most important cities, smolensk was captured after a siege on October 3,1654. The Swedish Empire, which already was at war with the Commonwealth. Following the Thirty Years War, the Swedish Empire emerged as one of the strongest nations on the continent and it had a large army but little money to pay its soldiers. The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, weakened by wars with the Cossacks and Tsardom of Russia, seemed like easy prey, also because its best soldiers had been massacred in the 1652 Battle of Batih. Furthermore, Swedes remembered claims to their throne by Polish kings Sigismund III Vasa and his sons Władysław IV Vasa and John II Casimir, an earlier conflict, the Polish–Swedish War had ended with the Treaty of Stuhmsdorf. Earlier, in 1643, John Casimir had become a member of the Jesuits and had received the title of Cardinal, however, some of the nobility supported Charles Gustav for the Polish–Lithuanian throne. They signed the Treaty of Kėdainiai, which envisaged the Radziwiłł princes ruling over two duchies carved out from the lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania under Swedish vassalage. Polish troops lacked gunpowder, cannons, and even food, which was stolen at local villages by the hungry soldiers, after an easy Swedish victory at the Battle of Ujście, Krzysztof Opaliński surrendered Greater Poland to Charles Gustav. On July 31,1655, the commanded by Arvid Wittenberg captured Poznań, and on August 20 near Konin, the armies of Wittenberg and Charles Gustav joined forces. On September 2, the Poles lost the Battle of Sobota, and on September 4, four days later, the Swedish army entered the Polish capital, becoming the first foreign army in Polish history to capture Warsaw. King Charles Gustav left a garrison in Warsaw, under Bengt Gabrielsson Oxenstierna, on September 16, the Swedes defeated Polish troops in the Battle of Żarnów, and the Polish forces gave up resistance and surrendered to the invaders. The Polish king headed towards Kraków on September 25, and then fled to Silesia, Kraków was left in the hands of Stefan Czarniecki, on October 3 Swedish forces once again defeated the Poles in the Battle of Wojnicz, which opened the road to Kraków
10.
Lesser Poland
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Lesser Poland is a historical region of Poland, its capital is the city of Kraków. It should not be confused with the modern Lesser Poland Voivodeship, historical Lesser Poland is much bigger than the current voivodeship which bears its name, stretching from Bielsko-Biała in the south-west as far as to Siedlce in the north-east. It consisted of three voivodeships with the capitals in Kraków, Sandomierz and Lublin and it is almost 60,000 km2 in area and has about 9,000,000 inhabitants. Its landscape is hilly, with Karpaty mountains in the south. It has been famous for its mighty aristocracy and rich nobility, in the wider sense, Lesser Poland from the 14th century also encompassed Red Ruthenia, and from the 16th century Podlachia, Podolia and parts of modern Ukraine. In the era of partitions, its part was Galicia, was sometimes also called Lesser Poland. As a result of this division, many inhabitants of the northern part of the pre-partition region of Poland dont recognize their Lesser Polish identity. Although, Lublin has been declared independent Voivodeship as early as in 1474, flat are northern and central areas of the province – around Tarnobrzeg, Stalowa Wola, Radom and Siedlce, also valleys of the main rivers – the Vistula, the Pilica, and the San. Apart from Rysy, there are other peaks located in the province – Pilsko, Babia Góra, Turbacz. Southern part of the province is covered by the Carpathian Mountains, which are made of smaller ranges, such as Pieniny, Tatry, almost whole area is located in the Vistula Basin, with the exception of western and southern parts, belonging to the Odra and Dunaj Basins. Main rivers of the province are the Vistula, upper Warta, Soła, Skawa, Raba, Dunajec, Wisłok, Wisłoka, San, Wieprz, Przemsza, Nida, Kamienna, Radomka, and Pilica. Major lakes of the province are, Lake Rożnów, Lake Czchów, Lake Dobczyce, Lake Czorsztyn, Lake Czaniec, Lake Międzybrodzie, Lake Klimkówka, most of them are man-made reservoirs. Lesser Poland stretches from the Carpathians in the south to Pilica and it borders Mazovia to the north, Podlaskie to the northeast, Red Ruthenia to the east, Slovakia to the south, Silesia to the west, and Greater Poland to the northwest. In Silesian Voivodeship, the border between Silesia and Lesser Poland is easy to draw, because with few exceptions, it goes along boundaries of local counties. In the south, it goes along western boundary of ancient Duchy of Teschen, with the borderline along the Biała river, where Zwardoń, Milówka, and Rajcza are in Lesser Poland. Bielsko-Biała is a city made of two parts – Lesser Polands Biala, makes eastern half of the city, and only in 1951 it merged with Silesian Bielsko. Further north, the border goes along boundaries of cities of Jaworzno. Then it goes northwest, leaving Czeladź, Siewierz, Koziegłowy, Blachownia, Kłobuck, from Krzepice, the border goes eastwards, towards Koniecpol, and along the Pilica river, with such towns as Przedborz, Opoczno, Drzewica, Białobrzegi, and Kozienice within Lesser Poland
11.
Magdeburg rights
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Named after the German city of Magdeburg, these town charters were perhaps the most important set of medieval laws in Central Europe thus far. They became the basis for the German town laws developed during many centuries in the Holy Roman Empire, in medieval Poland, Jews were invited along with German merchants to settle in cities as part of the royal city development policy. Jews and Germans were sometimes competitors in those cities, Jews lived under privileges that they carefully negotiated with the king or emperor. They were not subject to city jurisdiction and these privileges guaranteed that they could maintain communal autonomy, live according to their laws, and be subjected directly to the royal jurisdiction in matters concerning Jews and Christians. Other provisions frequently mentioned were a permission to sell meat to Christians, external merchants coming into the city were not allowed to trade on their own, but instead forced to sell the goods they had brought into the city to local traders, if any wished to buy them. Being a member of the Hanseatic League, Magdeburg thus was one of the most important trade cities also, maintaining commerce with the Low countries, the Baltic states, in these lands they were mostly known as German or Teutonic law. The Law of Magdeburg implemented in Poland was different from its original German form and it was combined with a set of civil and criminal laws, and adjusted to include the urban planning popular across Western Europe – which was based on the ancient Roman model. Polish land owners used the location known as settlement with German law across the country usually with no German settlers present. Meanwhile, the people often ignorant of the actual German text. The advantages were not only economic, but also political, members of noble families were able to join the city patriciate usually unchallenged. In the medieval Kingdom of Hungary, the first town to receive the Magdeburg rights was Székesfehérvár in 1237, followed by, towns and cities including Bardejov, Buda, Bratislava and Košice adopted the Southern German Nuremberg town rights, rather than the Magdeburg rights. German town law Kulm law Lübeck law Danzig law
12.
Partitions of Poland
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The First Partition of Poland was decided on August 5,1772. Two decades later, Russian and Prussian troops entered the Commonwealth again, Austria did not participate in the Second Partition. The Third Partition of Poland took place on October 24,1795, with this partition, the Commonwealth ceased to exist. In Polish, there are two words for the two meanings. In Polish historiography, the term Fourth Partition of Poland has also been used, the term Fourth Partition in a temporal sense can also mean the diaspora communities that played important political role in re-establishing the Polish sovereign state after 1918. A single member of parliaments belief that a measure was injurious to his own constituency, even after the act had been approved and it became increasingly difficult to undertake action. The liberum veto also provided openings for foreign diplomats to get their ways and this applies particularly to the last Commonwealth King Stanisław August Poniatowski, who for some time had been a lover of Russian Empress Catherine the Great. Their alliance later became known in Poland as the Alliance of the Three Black Eagles, the Commonwealth could never be liquidated unless its long-time ally, Austria, allowed it, so Catherine had to use diplomacy to win Austria to her side. Frederick II retaliated by ordering enough Polish currency counterfeited to severely affect the Polish economy and this new constitution undid the reforms made in 1764 under Stanisław II. The liberum veto and all the old abuses of the last one, the irregular and poorly commanded Polish forces had little chance in the face of the regular Russian army and suffered a major defeat. In 1769 Austria annexed a small territory of Spisz and in 1770 – Nowy Sącz and these territories had been a bone of contention between Poland and Hungary, which was a part of the Austrian crown lands. In February 1772, the agreement of partition was signed in Vienna, early in August, Russian, Prussian and Austrian troops simultaneously invaded the Commonwealth and occupied the provinces agreed upon among themselves. The partition treaty was ratified by its signatories on September 22,1772, to Austria fell Zator and Auschwitz, part of Lesser Poland embracing parts of the counties of Kraków and Sandomir and the whole of Galicia, less the city of Kraków. Catherine of Russia was also very satisfied, by this diplomatic document Russia came into possession of that section of Livonia that had remained in Commonwealth control, and of Belarus embracing the counties of Vitebsk, Polotsk and Mstislavl. By this partition, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth lost about 30% of its territory and half of its population, by seizing northwestern Poland, Prussia instantly gained control over 80% of the Commonwealths total foreign trade. Through levying enormous customs duties, Prussia accelerated the collapse of the Commonwealth, after having occupied their respective territories, the three partitioning powers demanded that King Stanisław and the Sejm approve their action. By 1790 the First Polish Republic had been weakened to such a degree that it was forced into an unnatural and terminal alliance with its enemy, the Polish–Prussian Pact of 1790 was signed. The conditions of the Pact contributed to the succeeding and final two partitions of Poland–Lithuania, the May Constitution of 1791 enfranchised the bourgeoisie, established the separation of the three branches of government, and eliminated the abuses of the Repnin Sejm
13.
Congress Poland
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Thus effectively it was little more than a puppet state of the Russian Empire. The autonomy was curtailed following uprisings in 1830–31 and 1863, as the country became governed by namestniks. Thus from the start, Polish autonomy remained little more than fiction, the territory of the Kingdom of Poland roughly corresponds to the Kalisz Region and the Lublin, Łódź, Masovian, Podlaskie and Holy Cross Voivodeships of Poland. Although the official name of the state was the Kingdom of Poland, in order to distinguish it from other Kingdoms of Poland, it was sometimes referred to as Congress Poland. The Kingdom of Poland was created out of the Duchy of Warsaw, the creation of the Kingdom created a partition of Polish lands in which the state was divided among Russia, Austria and Prussia. The Congress was important enough in the creation of the state to cause the new country to be named for it, the Kingdom lost its status as a sovereign state in 1831 and the administrative divisions were reorganized. It was sufficiently distinct that its name remained in official Russian use, originally, the Kingdom had an area of roughly 128,500 km2 and a population of approximately 3.3 million. Its population reached 6.1 million by 1870 and 10 million by 1900, most of the ethnic Poles in the Russian Empire lived in the Congress Kingdom, although some areas outside it also contained a Polish majority. The Kingdom of Poland largely re-emerged as a result of the efforts of Adam Jerzy Czartoryski, the Kingdom of Poland was one of the few contemporary constitutional monarchies in Europe, with the Emperor of Russia serving as the Polish King. His title as chief of Poland in Russian, was Tsar, similar to usage in the fully integrated states within the Empire, theoretically the Polish Kingdom in its 1815 form was a semi-autonomous state in personal union with Russia through the rule of the Russian Emperor. Poland also had traditions and the Polish nobility deeply valued personal freedom. In reality, the Kings had absolute power and the title of Autocrat. All opposition to the Emperor of Russia was suppressed and the law was disregarded at will by Russian officials, however, in time the situation changed and he granted the viceroy, Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich, almost dictatorial powers. Very soon after Congress of Vienna resolutions were signed, Russia ceased to respect them, in 1819, Alexander I abolished freedom of the press and introduced preventory censorship. Resistance to Russian control began in the 1820s, beginning in 1825, the sessions of the Sejm were held in secret. Nicholas rule promoted the idea of Official Nationality, consisting of Orthodoxy, Autocracy, in relation to Poles, those ideas meant assimilation, turning them into loyal Orthodox Russians. All of this led to discontent and resistance among the Polish population, in January 1831, the Sejm deposed Nicholas I as King of Poland in response to his repeated curtailing of its constitutional rights. Nicholas reacted by sending Russian troops into Poland, resulting in the November Uprising, following an 11-month military campaign, the Kingdom of Poland lost its semi-independence and was integrated much more closely with the Russian Empire
14.
January Uprising
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The January Uprising was an uprising in the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth against the Russian Empire. It began on 22 January 1863 and lasted until the last insurgents were captured in 1864, the uprising began as a spontaneous protest by young Poles against conscription into the Imperial Russian Army. It was soon joined by high-ranking Polish-Lithuanian officers and various politicians, the insurrectionists, severely outnumbered and lacking serious outside support, were forced to resort to guerrilla warfare tactics. Public executions and deportations to Siberia led many Poles to abandon armed struggle and turn instead to the idea of work, economic. After the Russian Empire lost the Crimean war and was weakened economically and politically, in Vilna alone 116 demonstrations were held in 1861. In August 1861, protests in Vilna ended in clashes with the Imperial Russian Army, in spite of Russian police and Cossack interference, a symbolic meeting of hymn-singing Poles and Lithuanians took place on the bridge across the Niemen River. Another mass gathering took place in Horodło, where the Union of Horodło had been signed in 1413, the crowds sang Boże, broń Polskę in Lithuanian and Belarusian. In the autumn of 1861 Russians had introduced a state of emergency in Vilna Governorate, Kovno Governorate, after a series of patriotic riots, the Russian Namestnik of Tsar Alexander II, General Karl Lambert, introduced martial law in Poland on 14 October 1861. Public gatherings were banned and some leaders were declared outlaws. The future leaders of the uprising gathered secretly in St. Petersburg, Warsaw, Vilna, Paris, after this series of meetings two major factions emerged. The Reds represented united peasants, workers, and some clergy, while The Whites represented liberal minded landlords, in 1862 two initiative groups were formed for the two components of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. To deal with these units the Russian government had at its disposal an army of 90,000 men under General Ramsay in Poland. It looked as if the rebellion would be crushed quickly, the die was cast, however, the provisional government applied itself to this great task with fervor. It issued a manifesto in which it pronounced all sons of Poland are free and equal citizens without distinction of creed, condition and rank. The revolutionary government did its very best to supply with provisions the unarmed and scattered guerrillas who, during the month of February, met the Russians in eighty bloody encounters. Meanwhile, it issued an appeal to the nations of western Europe, pope Pius IX ordered a special prayer for the success of the Catholic Polish in their defence against the Orthodox Russians, and was very active in arousing sympathy for the Polish rebels. In Lithuania, Belarus, Latvia, northern Ukraine and western Russia the uprising started on February 1,1863, a coalition government of the Reds and the Whites was formed. It was led by Zygmunt Sierakowski, Antanas Mackevičius and Konstanty Kalinowski and they fully supported their counterparts in Poland and adhered to the same policy
15.
Silesia
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Silesia is a region of Central Europe located mostly in Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is about 40,000 km2, and its population about 8,000,000, Silesia is located along the Oder River. It consists of Lower Silesia and Upper Silesia, the region is rich in mineral and natural resources, and includes several important industrial areas. Silesias largest city and historical capital is Wrocław, the biggest metropolitan area is the Upper Silesian metropolitan area, the centre of which is Katowice. Parts of the Czech city of Ostrava fall within the borders of Silesia, Silesias borders and national affiliation have changed over time, both when it was a hereditary possession of noble houses and after the rise of modern nation-states. The first known states to hold there were probably those of Greater Moravia at the end of the 9th century. In the 10th century, Silesia was incorporated into the early Polish state, in the 14th century, it became a constituent part of the Bohemian Crown Lands under the Holy Roman Empire, which passed to the Austrian Habsburg Monarchy in 1526. Most of Silesia was conquered by Prussia in 1742, later becoming part of the German Empire, the Weimar Republic, the varied history with changing aristocratic possessions resulted in an abundance of castles in Silesia, especially in the Jelenia Góra valley. The remaining former Austrian parts of Silesia were partitioned to Czechoslovakia, in 1945, after World War II, the bulk of Silesia was transferred to Polish jurisdiction by the Potsdam Agreement of the victorious Allied Powers and became part of Poland. The small Lusatian strip west of the Oder-Neisse line, which had belonged to Silesia since 1815 and its centres are Görlitz and Bautzen. Most inhabitants of Silesia today speak the languages of their respective countries. The population of Upper Silesia is native, while Lower Silesia was settled by a German-speaking population before 1945, an ongoing debate exists whether Silesian speech should be considered a dialect of Polish or a separate language. Also, a Lower Silesian German dialect is used, although today it is almost extinct and it is used by expellees within Germany, as well as Germans who were left behind. The names all relate to the name of a river and mountain in mid-southern Silesia, the mountain served as a cultic place. Ślęża is listed as one of the numerous Pre-Indo-European topographic names in the region, according to some Polish Slavists, the name Ślęża or Ślęż is directly related to the Old Slavic words ślęg or śląg, which means dampness, moisture, or humidity. They disagree with the hypothesis of an origin for the name Śląsk from the name of the Silings tribe, in the fourth century BC, Celts entered Silesia, settling around Mount Ślęża near modern Wrocław, Oława, and Strzelin. Germanic Lugii tribes were first recorded within Silesia in the 1st century, Slavic peoples arrived in the region around the 7th century, and by the early ninth century, their settlements had stabilized. Local Slavs started to erect boundary structures like the Silesian Przesieka, the eastern border of Silesian settlement was situated to the west of the Bytom, and east from Racibórz and Cieszyn
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First Mongol invasion of Poland
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The first invasions intention was to secure the flank of the main Mongolian army attacking the Kingdom of Hungary. The Mongols neutralized any potential help to King Bela being provided by the Poles, the Mongols invaded Europe with three armies. One of the three armies was tasked with distracting Poland, before joining the main Mongol force invading Hungary and that army, under Baidar, Kadan and Orda Khan, began scouting operations in late 1240. Mongol tumen, moving from recently conquered Volodymyr-Volynskyi in Kievan Rus, first sacked Lublin, around this time, their forces split. Ordas forces devastated central Poland, moving to Wolbórz and as far north as Łęczyca, before turning south and heading via Sieradz towards Wrocław. Baidar and Kadan ravaged the southern part of Poland, moving to Chmielnik, Kraków, Bytom, Opole and finally, Legnica, before leaving Polish lands heading west and south. Baidar and Kadan on 13 February defeated a Polish army under the voivode of Kraków, Włodzimierz, on 18 March they defeated another Polish army with units from Kraków and Sandomierz at the battle of Chmielnik. Panic spread through the Polish lands, and the citizens abandoned Kraków, in the meantime, one of the most powerful contemporary Dukes of Poland, and Duke of Silesia, Henry II the Pious, gathered his forces and allies around Legnica. Henry, in order to more forces, even sacrificed one of the largest towns of Silesia, Wrocław. Henry was also waiting for Wenceslaus I of Bohemia, his brother-in-law, while considering whether to besiege Wrocław, Baidar and Kadan received reports that the Bohemians were days away with a large army. The Mongols turned from Wrocław, not finishing the siege, in order to intercept Henrys forces before the European armies could meet, the Mongols caught up with Henry near Legnica at Legnickie Pole, known in German as Wahlstatt. Henry, despite having rough parity in numbers and a strategy, was defeated at Legnica on April 9 after the Mongols caused confusion in the Polish forces. The Mongols did not take Legnica castle, but had a free rein to pillage and plunder Silesia, the Mongols avoided the Bohemian forces, but defeated the Hungarians in the Battle of Mohi. There were also later, larger Mongol invasions of Poland, in 1254 or 1255, Daniel of Galicia revolted against the Mongol rule. He repelled the initial Mongol assault under Ordas son Quremsa, in 1259, the Mongols returned under the new command of Burundai. According to some sources, Daniel fled to Poland leaving his son and he may have hidden in the castle of Galicia instead. The Mongols needed to secure Polands aid to Daniel and war booty to feed the demand of their soldiers, lithuanians also attacked Smolensk and menaced Torzhok, tributaries of the Golden Horde, in c. The Mongols sent an expedition into Lithuania for this
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Calvinism
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Calvinism is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice of John Calvin and other Reformation-era theologians. The term Calvinism can be misleading, because the tradition which it denotes has always been diverse. The movement was first called Calvinism by Lutherans who opposed it, early influential Reformed theologians include Ulrich Zwingli, John Calvin, Martin Bucer, William Farel, Heinrich Bullinger, Peter Martyr Vermigli, Theodore Beza, and John Knox. In the twentieth century, Abraham Kuyper, Herman Bavinck, B. B, Warfield, J. Gresham Machen, Karl Barth, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Cornelius Van Til, and Gordon Clark were influential. Contemporary Reformed theologians include J. I, sproul, Timothy J. Keller, John Piper, David Wells, and Michael Horton. Reformed churches may exercise several forms of polity, most are presbyterian or congregationalist. Calvinism is largely represented by Continental Reformed, Presbyterian, and Congregationalist traditions, the biggest Reformed association is the World Communion of Reformed Churches with more than 80 million members in 211 member denominations around the world. There are more conservative Reformed federations such as the World Reformed Fellowship, Calvinism is named after John Calvin. It was first used by a Lutheran theologian in 1552 and it was a common practice of the Catholic Church to name what they perceived to be heresy after its founder. Nevertheless, the term first came out of Lutheran circles, Calvin denounced the designation himself, They could attach us no greater insult than this word, Calvinism. It is not hard to guess where such a deadly hatred comes from that they hold against me, despite its negative connotation, this designation became increasingly popular in order to distinguish Calvinists from Lutherans and from newer Protestant branches that emerged later. Moreover, these churches claim to be—in accordance with John Calvins own words—renewed accordingly with the order of gospel. Since the Arminian controversy, the Reformed tradition—as a branch of Protestantism distinguished from Lutheranism—divided into two groups, Arminians and Calvinists. However, it is now rare to call Arminians a part of the Reformed tradition, some have also argued that Calvinism as a whole stresses the sovereignty or rule of God in all things including salvation. First-generation Reformed theologians include Huldrych Zwingli, Martin Bucer, Wolfgang Capito, John Oecolampadius, scripture was also viewed as a unified whole, which led to a covenantal theology of the sacraments of baptism and the Lords Supper as visible signs of the covenant of grace. Another Reformed distinctive present in these theologians was their denial of the presence of Christ in the Lords supper. Each of these also understood salvation to be by grace alone. Martin Luther and his successor Philipp Melanchthon were undoubtedly significant influences on these theologians, the doctrine of justification by faith alone was a direct inheritance from Luther
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Kingdom of Prussia
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It was the driving force behind the unification of Germany in 1871 and was the leading state of the German Empire until its dissolution in 1918. Although it took its name from the region called Prussia, it was based in the Margraviate of Brandenburg, the kings of Prussia were from the House of Hohenzollern. Prussia was a power from the time it became a kingdom, through its predecessor, Brandenburg-Prussia. Prussia continued its rise to power under the guidance of Frederick II, more known as Frederick the Great. After the might of Prussia was revealed it was considered as a power among the German states. Throughout the next hundred years Prussia went on to win many battles and it was because of its power that Prussia continuously tried to unify all the German states under its rule. Attempts at creation of a federation remained unsuccessful and the German Confederation collapsed in 1866 when war ensued between its two most powerful states, Prussia and Austria. The North German Confederation which lasted from 1867–1871, created a union between the Prussian-aligned states while Austria and most of Southern Germany remained independent. The North German Confederation was seen as more of an alliance of military strength in the aftermath of the Austro-Prussian War, the German Empire lasted from 1871–1918 with the successful unification of all the German states under Prussian hegemony. This was due to the defeat of Napoleon III in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, in 1871, Germany unified into a single country, minus Austria and Switzerland, with Prussia the dominant power. Prussia is considered the predecessor of the unified German Reich. The Kingdom left a significant cultural legacy, today notably promoted by the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, in 1415 a Hohenzollern Burgrave came from the south to the March of Brandenburg and took control of the area as elector. In 1417 the Hohenzollern was made an elector of the Holy Roman Empire, after the Polish wars, the newly established Baltic towns of the German states including Prussia, suffered many economic setbacks. Many of the Prussian towns could not even afford to attend political meetings outside of Prussia, the towns were poverty stricken, with even the largest town, Danzig, having to borrow money from elsewhere to pay for trade. Poverty in these towns was partly caused by Prussias neighbors, who had established and developed such a monopoly on trading that these new towns simply could not compete and these issues led to feuds, wars, trade competition and invasions. However, the fall of these gave rise to the nobility, separated the east and the west. It was clear in 1440 how different Brandenburg was from the other German territories, not only did it face partition from within but also the threat of its neighbors. It prevented the issue of partition by enacting the Dispositio Achillea which instilled the principle of primogeniture to both the Brandenburg and Franconian territories, the second issue was solved through expansion
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New Silesia
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New Silesia may also refer to the Barossa Valley in Australia. New Silesia was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1795 to 1807. New Silesia had its capital at Siewierz, however, it was originally to be governed by the Silesian capital Breslau and later largely administered by South Prussia. After the defeat of Prussia in the War of the Fourth Coalition in 1806, the province was dissolved, South Prussia New East Prussia Partitions of Poland Prussia Neu-Schlesien at Genealogy. net
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Second Polish Republic
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The Second Polish Republic, also known as the Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland, refers to the country of Poland between the First and Second World Wars. Officially known as the Republic of Poland or the Commonwealth of Poland and it had access to the Baltic Sea via a short strip of coastline either side of the city of Gdynia. Between March and August 1939, Poland also shared a border with the then-Hungarian governorate of Subcarpathia, the Second Republic was significantly different in territory to the current Polish state. It included substantially more territory in the east and less in the west, the Second Republics land area was 388,634 km2, making it, in October 1938, the sixth largest country in Europe. After the annexation of Zaolzie, this grew to 389,720 km2, according to the 1921 census, the number of inhabitants was 27.2 million. By 1939, just before the outbreak of World War II, almost a third of population came from minority groups,13. 9% Ukrainians, 10% Jews,3. 1% Belarusians,2. 3% Germans and 3. 4% Czechs, Lithuanians and Russians. At the same time, a significant number of ethnic Poles lived outside the country borders, Poland maintained a slow but steady level of economic development. By 1939, the Republic had become one of Europes major powers, the victorious Allies of World War I confirmed the rebirth of Poland in the Treaty of Versailles of June 1919. It was one of the stories of the 1919 Paris Peace Conference. Poland solidified its independence in a series of wars fought by the newly formed Polish Army from 1918 to 1921. The extent of the half of the interwar territory of Poland was settled diplomatically in 1922. In the course of World War I, Germany gradually gained overall dominance on the Eastern Front as the Imperial Russian Army fell back, German and Austro-Hungarian armies seized the Russian-ruled part of what became Poland. In a failed attempt to resolve the Polish question as quickly as possible, Berlin set up a German puppet state on 5 November 1916, with a governing Provisional Council of State, the Council administered the country under German auspices, pending the election of a king. A month before Germany surrendered on 11 November 1918 and the war ended, the Regency Council had dissolved the Council of State, with the notable exception of the Marxist-oriented Social Democratic Party of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania, most Polish political parties supported this move. On 23 October the Regency Council appointed a new government under Józef Świeżyński, in 1918–1919, over 100 workers councils sprang up on Polish territories, on 5 November 1918, in Lublin, the first Soviet of Delegates was established. On 6 November socialists proclaimed the Republic of Tarnobrzeg at Tarnobrzeg in Austrian Galicia, the same day the Socialist, Ignacy Daszyński, set up a Provisional Peoples Government of the Republic of Poland in Lublin. On Sunday,10 November at 7 a. m, Józef Piłsudski, newly freed from 16 months in a German prison in Magdeburg, returned by train to Warsaw. Piłsudski, together with Colonel Kazimierz Sosnkowski, was greeted at Warsaws railway station by Regent Zdzisław Lubomirski, next day, due to his popularity and support from most political parties, the Regency Council appointed Piłsudski as Commander in Chief of the Polish Armed Forces
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Kielce Voivodeship
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Kielce Voivodeship is a former unit of administrative division and the local government in Poland. It was originally formed during Polands return to independence in the aftermath of World War One, Kielce Voivodeship was a unit of administrative division and local government in Poland in years 1921-1939. Back then, it covered a large chunk of central part of the country, including such cities as Radom, Częstochowa, on April 1,1938 its borders changed, see, Territorial changes of Polish Voivodeships on April 1, 1938). After the change, Voivodeships area was 22,204 square kilometers, between April 1,1938 - September 1,1939 it consisted of 18 powiats. According to the 1931 Polish census, the largest cities in Kielce Voivodeship were, Częstochowa, Sosnowiec, Radom, Kielce, Będzin, Dąbrowa Górnicza, Zawiercie, Kielce Voivodeship was a unit of administrative division and local government in Poland in years 1945–1975. It was downsized in 1975, with parts of its going to Radom Voivodeship. Capital city, Kielce In years 1975–1998, superseded by Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, capital city, Kielce Major cities and towns, Kielce, Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, Starachowice, Skarżysko-Kamienna, Końskie. Voivodeships of Poland Maly rocznik statystyczny 1939, Nakladem Glownego Urzedu Statystycznego, Warszawa 1939
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Nazi Germany
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Nazi Germany is the common English name for the period in German history from 1933 to 1945, when Germany was governed by a dictatorship under the control of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Under Hitlers rule, Germany was transformed into a fascist state in which the Nazi Party took totalitarian control over all aspects of life. The official name of the state was Deutsches Reich from 1933 to 1943, the period is also known under the names the Third Reich and the National Socialist Period. The Nazi regime came to an end after the Allied Powers defeated Germany in May 1945, Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany by the President of the Weimar Republic Paul von Hindenburg on 30 January 1933. The Nazi Party then began to eliminate all opposition and consolidate its power. Hindenburg died on 2 August 1934, and Hitler became dictator of Germany by merging the powers and offices of the Chancellery, a national referendum held 19 August 1934 confirmed Hitler as sole Führer of Germany. All power was centralised in Hitlers person, and his word became above all laws, the government was not a coordinated, co-operating body, but a collection of factions struggling for power and Hitlers favour. In the midst of the Great Depression, the Nazis restored economic stability and ended mass unemployment using heavy military spending, extensive public works were undertaken, including the construction of Autobahnen. The return to economic stability boosted the regimes popularity, racism, especially antisemitism, was a central feature of the regime. The Germanic peoples were considered by the Nazis to be the purest branch of the Aryan race, millions of Jews and other peoples deemed undesirable by the state were murdered in the Holocaust. Opposition to Hitlers rule was ruthlessly suppressed, members of the liberal, socialist, and communist opposition were killed, imprisoned, or exiled. The Christian churches were also oppressed, with many leaders imprisoned, education focused on racial biology, population policy, and fitness for military service. Career and educational opportunities for women were curtailed, recreation and tourism were organised via the Strength Through Joy program, and the 1936 Summer Olympics showcased the Third Reich on the international stage. Propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels made effective use of film, mass rallies, the government controlled artistic expression, promoting specific art forms and banning or discouraging others. Beginning in the late 1930s, Nazi Germany made increasingly aggressive territorial demands and it seized Austria and Czechoslovakia in 1938 and 1939. Hitler made a pact with Joseph Stalin and invaded Poland in September 1939. In alliance with Italy and smaller Axis powers, Germany conquered most of Europe by 1940, reichskommissariats took control of conquered areas, and a German administration was established in what was left of Poland. Jews and others deemed undesirable were imprisoned, murdered in Nazi concentration camps and extermination camps, following the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, the tide gradually turned against the Nazis, who suffered major military defeats in 1943
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Olkusz County
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Olkusz County is a unit of territorial administration and local government in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, southern Poland. It came into being on January 1,1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms passed in 1998 and its administrative seat and largest town is Olkusz, which lies 37 kilometres north-west of the regional capital Kraków. The county also contains the towns of Bukowno, lying 8 km west of Olkusz, the county covers an area of 622.19 square kilometres. As of 2008 its total population is 113,910, out of which the population of Olkusz is 37,552, that of Bukowno is 10,695, that of Wolbrom is 9,075, the county is subdivided into six gminas. These are listed in the table, in descending order of population. ZGH Boleslaw is a miner and producer of zinc products in eastern Europe. The history of mining in the area dates to the 12th century when Casimir II the Just set up a mining settlement in the old area of Olkusz. The company has modernized its plants, and earned an ISO9001 certificate, Polish official population figures 2006 ZGH Boleslaw
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Ogrodzieniec Castle
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Ogrodzieniec Castle is a ruined medieval castle in the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland. Rebuilt several times in its history, the castle was built in the 14th–15th century by the Włodkowie Sulimczycy family. The castle is situated on the 515.5 m high Castle Mountain, located on the Trail of the Eagles Nests, the ruins are opened for visitors. Established in the early 12th century, during the reign of Bolesław III Wrymouth, in the mid-14th century a new gothic castle was built here to accommodate the Sulimczycy family. Surrounded by three high rocks, the castle was well integrated into the area, the defensive walls were built to close the circuit formed by the rocks, and a narrow opening between two of the rocks served as an entrance. In 1470 the castle and lands were bought by the wealthy Cracovian townsmen, Ibram, then, Ogrodzieniec became the property of Jan Feliks Rzeszowski, the rector of Przemyśl and the canon of Cracow. The owners of the castle about that time were also Jan and Andrzej Rzeszowskis, in 1523 the castle was bought by Jan Boner. After his death, the passed to his nephew, Seweryn Boner. In 1562 the castle became the property of the Great Marshal of the Crown Jan Firlej, later on, in 1587, the castle was captured by the arms of the Austrian archduke Maximilian III, the rejected candidate to the Polish-Lithuanian throne. In 1655, it was burnt by the Swedish troops. From 1669 on, the castle belonged to Stanisław Warszycki, the Cracows castellan, about 1695 the castle changed hands once again becoming the property of the Męciński family. Seven years later, in 1702, over a half of the castle had burnt down in the set by the Swedish troops of Charles XII. After the fire, it was never to be rebuilt, about 1784 the castle was purchased by Tomasz Jakliński, who did not care for its condition. Consequently, the last tenants left the castle about 1810. The next owner of the Ogrodzieniec Castle was Ludwik Kozłowski, who used the remains of the castle as a source of building material, the last proprietor of the castle was the neighbouring Wołoczyński family. After the Second World War, the castle was nationalized, the works aimed at preserving the ruins and opening them to the visitors were started in 1949 and finished in 1973. According to some investigators of paranormal phenomena, the Ogrodzieniec Castle is a place haunted by mighty dark powers, there have been locally famous reports of the Black Dog of Ogrodzieniec being seen prowling the ruins in the night-time. Witnesses have claimed that the spectre is a dog much larger than an ordinary dog
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Trail of the Eagle's Nests
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The Trail of the Eagles Nests of south-western Poland, is a marked trail, named after a chain of 25 medieval castles which the trail passes by, between Częstochowa and Kraków. The Trail of the Eagles Nests was first marked by Kazimierz Sosnowski, since 1980, much of the area has been designated a protected area known as the Eagle Nests Landscape Park. The castles date mostly to the 14th century, and were constructed by the order of King of Poland Kazimierz the Great. They have been named the Eagles Nests, as most of them are located on large, tall rocks of the Polish Jura Chain featuring many limestone cliffs, monadnocks and valleys below. They were built along the 14th-century border of Lesser Poland with the province of Silesia, the Trail of the Eagles Nests is considered one of the best tourist trails in Poland, marked as No.1 on the official list of most popular trails in the country. It encompasses all 25 castles and watchtowers, and is 163 kilometres long, most of the sites can also be reached by bus. The Eagles Nests castles, many of which survived only in the form of ruins, are perched high on the tallest rocks between Częstochowa and the former Polish capital Kraków. The castles were built to protect Kraków as well as important trading routes against the foreign invaders, later, the castles passed on into the hands of various Polish aristocratic families. Note, the photos above may include structures located just outside the marked Trail of the Eagles Nests
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Gothic architecture
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Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished in Europe during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture and its characteristics include the pointed arch, the ribbed vault and the flying buttress. Gothic architecture is most familiar as the architecture of many of the cathedrals, abbeys. It is also the architecture of many castles, palaces, town halls, guild halls, universities and to a less prominent extent, private dwellings, for this reason a study of Gothic architecture is largely a study of cathedrals and churches. A series of Gothic revivals began in mid-18th-century England, spread through 19th-century Europe and continued, largely for ecclesiastical and university structures, the term Gothic architecture originated as a pejorative description. Hence, François Rabelais, also of the 16th century, imagines an inscription over the door of his utopian Abbey of Thélème, Here enter no hypocrites, slipping in a slighting reference to Gotz and Ostrogotz. Authorities such as Christopher Wren lent their aid in deprecating the old medieval style, the Company disapproved of several of these new manners, which are defective and which belong for the most part to the Gothic. Gothic architecture is the architecture of the medieval period, characterised by use of the pointed arch. As an architectural style, Gothic developed primarily in ecclesiastical architecture, the greatest number of surviving Gothic buildings are churches. The Gothic style is most particularly associated with the cathedrals of Northern France. At the end of the 12th century, Europe was divided into a multitude of city states, norway came under the influence of England, while the other Scandinavian countries and Poland were influenced by trading contacts with the Hanseatic League. Angevin kings brought the Gothic tradition from France to Southern Italy, throughout Europe at this time there was a rapid growth in trade and an associated growth in towns. Germany and the Lowlands had large flourishing towns that grew in comparative peace, in trade and competition with other, or united for mutual weal. Civic building was of importance to these towns as a sign of wealth. England and France remained largely feudal and produced grand domestic architecture for their kings, dukes and bishops, the Catholic Church prevailed across Europe at this time, influencing not only faith but also wealth and power. Bishops were appointed by the lords and they often ruled as virtual princes over large estates. The early Medieval periods had seen a growth in monasticism, with several different orders being prevalent. Foremost were the Benedictines whose great abbey churches vastly outnumbered any others in France, a part of their influence was that towns developed around them and they became centers of culture, learning and commerce
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Renaissance
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The Renaissance was a period in European history, from the 14th to the 17th century, regarded as the cultural bridge between the Middle Ages and modern history. It started as a movement in Italy in the Late Medieval period and later spread to the rest of Europe. This new thinking became manifest in art, architecture, politics, science, Early examples were the development of perspective in oil painting and the recycled knowledge of how to make concrete. Although the invention of movable type sped the dissemination of ideas from the later 15th century. In politics, the Renaissance contributed to the development of the customs and conventions of diplomacy, the Renaissance began in Florence, in the 14th century. Other major centres were northern Italian city-states such as Venice, Genoa, Milan, Bologna, the word Renaissance, literally meaning Rebirth in French, first appeared in English in the 1830s. The word also occurs in Jules Michelets 1855 work, Histoire de France, the word Renaissance has also been extended to other historical and cultural movements, such as the Carolingian Renaissance and the Renaissance of the 12th century. The Renaissance was a movement that profoundly affected European intellectual life in the early modern period. Renaissance scholars employed the humanist method in study, and searched for realism, however, a subtle shift took place in the way that intellectuals approached religion that was reflected in many other areas of cultural life. In addition, many Greek Christian works, including the Greek New Testament, were back from Byzantium to Western Europe. Political philosophers, most famously Niccolò Machiavelli, sought to describe life as it really was. Others see more competition between artists and polymaths such as Brunelleschi, Ghiberti, Donatello, and Masaccio for artistic commissions as sparking the creativity of the Renaissance. Yet it remains much debated why the Renaissance began in Italy, accordingly, several theories have been put forward to explain its origins. During the Renaissance, money and art went hand in hand, Artists depended entirely on patrons while the patrons needed money to foster artistic talent. Wealth was brought to Italy in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries by expanding trade into Asia, silver mining in Tyrol increased the flow of money. Luxuries from the Eastern world, brought home during the Crusades, increased the prosperity of Genoa, unlike with Latin texts, which had been preserved and studied in Western Europe since late antiquity, the study of ancient Greek texts was very limited in medieval Western Europe. One of the greatest achievements of Renaissance scholars was to bring this entire class of Greek cultural works back into Western Europe for the first time since late antiquity, Arab logicians had inherited Greek ideas after they had invaded and conquered Egypt and the Levant. Their translations and commentaries on these ideas worked their way through the Arab West into Spain and Sicily and this work of translation from Islamic culture, though largely unplanned and disorganized, constituted one of the greatest transmissions of ideas in history
28.
Jan Firlej
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Jan Firlej was a Polish nobleman, and Calvinist activist. Jan became Great Marshal of the Crown in 1563 and starost of Kraków in 1572 and he agreed with the candidature of Henryk Walezy for the Polish throne only on the condition that Henryk signing the Henrican articles. Voivode of Belz, Lublin and Kraków, around 1555 he founded a Calvinist church in Kock, and build a family residence there
29.
Maximilian III, Archduke of Austria
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Maximilian III of Austria, also known as Maximilian the Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights was the Archduke of Further Austria from 1612 until his death. Born in Wiener Neustadt, Maximilian was the son of the emperor Maximilian II. He was a grandson of Anna of Bohemia and Hungary, daughter and heiress of Vladislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary, from 1585 Maximilian became the Grandmaster of the Teutonic Order, thanks to this he was known by the epithet der Deutschmeister for much of his later life. In 1587 Maximilian stood as a candidate for the throne of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, following the death of the previous king, Maximilian attempted to resolve the dispute by bringing a military force to Poland – thereby starting the war of the Polish Succession. His cause had considerable support in Poland, but fewer Poles flocked to his army than to that of his rival. After a failed attempt to storm Kraków in late 1587, he was defeated in January 1588, at the Battle of Byczyna by the supporters of Sigismund III, under the command of Polish hetman Jan Zamojski. Maximilian was taken captive at the battle and was released a year and half later after the intervention of Pope Sixtus V in the aftermath of the Treaty of Bytom. In 1589, he renounced his claim to the Polish crown. The inactivity of his brother, the emperor Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor in this matter contributed to Rudolfs poor reputation, from 1593 to 1595 Maximilian served as regent for his young cousin, Ferdinand, Archduke of Inner Austria. In 1595 he succeeded their uncle Ferdinand II, Archduke of Further Austria in his territories, including Tyrol and he also worked to depose Melchior Khlesl, and to ensure that Archduke Ferdinand of Inner Austria, his former charge, succeed as Holy Roman Emperor. Today, Maximilian is perhaps best remembered for his baroque archducal hat and he died at Vienna in 1618, and is buried in the canopied tomb in Innsbruck Cathedral
30.
Castellan
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A castellan was the governor or captain of a castellany and its castle. The word stems from the Latin Castellanus, derived from castellum castle, sometimes also known as a constable, governor of the castle district or captain, the Constable of the Tower of London is, in fact, a form of castellan. A castellan was almost always male, but could occasionally be female, as when, in 1194, after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, many tribes migrated into western Europe, causing strife and war. The answer to recurrent invasion was to create fortified areas which evolved into castles, some leaders gained control of several areas, each with a castle. The problem lay in exerting control and authority in each area when a leader could only be in one place at a time. To answer this, lords gave their trusted vassals direct control of a castle and this changed as kings grew in power and as the Holy Roman emperors replaced recalcitrant vassals with ministerials. Usually the duties of a castellan were combined with the duties of a majordomo and this made the castellan responsible for a castles domestic staff and its garrison, as well as a military administrator responsible for maintaining defenses and protecting the castles lands. This was particularly the case if there was no lord resident at the castle, one unusual responsibility in western Europe concerned jurisdiction over the resident Jewish communities near the English Channel. The Constable of the Tower of London and those castellans subordinate to the dukes of Normandy were responsible for their administration, in France, castellans who governed castles without resident nobles acquired considerable powers, and the position actually became a hereditary fiefdom. In Germany the castellan was known as a Burgmann, or sometimes Hauptmann, the burgmann may have been either a free noble or a ministerialis, but either way administered the castle as a vassal. A ministerialis, being wholly indebted to a lord, was easily controlled. Ministeriales replaced free nobles as castellans of Hohensalzburg under Conrad I of Abensberg’s tenure as Archbishop of Salzburg from 1106 to 1147, in the Medieval Kingdom of Hungary usually was called várnagy, and in the Latin charts it appeared as castellanus. The lord of the castle had similar functions than the German ones. In Hungary first the King, later the most powerful noblemen designed the castellans between their followers for the administration of their castles and the states that belonged to the fortress, at times, there was a castellan among the Officers of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, starting with Anselm. Lectures on the Statutes of the Sacred Order of St. John of Jerusalem, in the Kingdom of Poland and later the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the castellans were in most cases lower in precedence to the voivodes. Castellans in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth were of senator rank, in Portugal, a castellan was known as alcaide. Later, the role of alcaide became a title awarded by the King of Portugal to certain nobles. As the honorary holder of the office of alcaide did not often live near its castle, an honorary holder of the office became known as alcaide-mor and its delegate became known as alcaide pequeno or alcaide-menor
31.
Great Northern War
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The Great Northern War was a conflict in which a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Central, Northern, and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the alliance were Peter I of Russia, Frederick IV of Denmark–Norway. George I of Great Britain and of Brunswick-Lüneburg joined the coalition in 1714 for and for Hanover in 1717, Charles XII led the Swedish army. Swedish allies included Holstein-Gottorp, several Polish magnates under Stanisław I Leszczyński, the Ottoman Empire temporarily hosted Charles XII of Sweden and intervened against Peter I. The treaty also secured the extradition and execution of Johann Reinhold Patkul, the Ottoman Empire defeated the Russian-Moldavian army in the Pruth River Campaign, but that peace treaty was in the end without great consequence to Russias position. After Poltava, the anti-Swedish coalition revived and subsequently Hanover and Prussia joined it, the remaining Swedish forces in plague-stricken areas south and east of the Baltic Sea were evicted, with the last city, Riga, falling in 1710. The coalition members partitioned most of the Swedish dominions among themselves, Sweden proper was invaded from the west by Denmark–Norway and from the east by Russia, which had occupied Finland by 1714. Sweden defeated the Danish invaders at the Battle of Helsingborg, Charles XII opened up a Norwegian front, but was killed in Fredriksten in 1718. The war ended with Swedens defeat, leaving Russia as the new dominant power in the Baltic region, by these treaties Sweden ceded her exemption from the Sound Dues, and lost the Baltic provinces and the southern part of Swedish Pomerania. The peace treaties also ended her alliance with Holstein-Gottorp, Hanover gained Bremen-Verden, Brandenburg-Prussia incorporated the Oder estuary, Russia secured the Baltic Provinces, and Denmark strengthened her position in Schleswig-Holstein. In Sweden, the monarchy had come to an end with the death of Charles XII. Between the years of 1560 and 1658, Sweden created a Baltic empire centred on the Gulf of Finland and comprising the provinces of Karelia, Ingria, Estonia, and Livonia. During the Thirty Years War Sweden gained tracts in Germany as well, including Western Pomerania, Wismar, the Duchy of Bremen, during the same period Sweden conquered Danish and Norwegian provinces north of the Sound. However, the Swedish state ultimately proved unable to support and maintain its army in a prolonged war. The cost of the proved to be much higher than the occupied countries could fund, and Swedens coffers. The foreign interventions in Russia during the Time of Troubles resulted in Swedish gains in the Treaty of Stolbovo, the treaty deprived Russia of direct access to the Baltic Sea. In the late 1690s, the adventurer Johann Patkul managed to ally Russia with Denmark and Saxony by the secret Treaty of Preobrazhenskoye, Charles XII of Sweden succeeded Charles XI of Sweden in 1697, aged 14. From his predecessor, he took over the Swedish Empire as an absolute monarch, Charles XI had tried to keep the empire out of wars, and concentrated on inner reforms such as reduction and allotment, which had strengthened the monarchs status and the empires military abilities
32.
Napoleon Orda
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Napoleon Mateusz Tadeusz Orda was a Polish-Lithuanian musician, pianist, composer and artist, best known for numerous sketches of historical sites of present-day Belarus, Lithuania, and Poland. Napoleon Orda was born in the village of Worocewicze in the Pinsk district of Minsk Governorate in his fathers manor and his father Michał Orda was an impoverished noble of Lithuanian ancestry and the marshal of the powiat of Kobryn. After finishing Svislach gymnasium in 1823, he started studies at the Vilnius University. Although he was released afterwards, he was expelled from the university and was not allowed to continue his studies. Napoleon Orda took part in the failed November Uprising of 1830 against Russia, for his bravery he received the highest Polish military decoration, the Virtuti Militari. After the uprising his manor was confiscated and Orda had to flee abroad in order to avoid being imprisoned and he travelled through many European countries, including Italy and Switzerland. Finally in 1833, he settled in Paris, where he became one of the prominent members of the Polish diaspora there and he studied piano play under the guidance of Chopin and Franz Liszt and wrote several mazurkas, waltzes and polonaises. While in Paris he also studied painting briefly with Pierre Girard, in Paris, Orda married Irene Bougle and worked as the head of Maison de Commission shop. He was also the head of the Italian Opera in Paris and he was also an active member of various Polish political and social organisations, including and the Committee of Polish Emigrants. Most of his time he spent travelling. He visited France, England, Scotland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Lorraine, Spain, Portugal, during the Post-Sevastopolian Thaw in 1856 he was pardoned by tsar Alexander II and was allowed to return home. He was also restored the rights to his village of Varacevičy, in 1859 he requested from tzar and had received back his money that were confiscated together with his estate. In 1862 he moved to Wierzchownia in todays Ukraine, where he served as a manager of general Adam Rzewuskis domain, in 1872 Orda started to travel throughout the partitioned Republic of Both Nations and document its historical landmarks and architecture. During his summer trips throughout the country he made more than 1000 sketches depicting various towns, cities and his works are pencil sketches tinted with watercolour, gouache and sepia. Between 1872 and 1874 he visited most of the castles, manors and towns in Volhynia, Podolia. Until 1877 he documented the historical heritage of Lithuania, Samogitia, Livonia, in 1878 and 1879 he made a trip to Galicia, Greater Poland and Royal Prussia and finally in 1880 he portrayed the Kingdom of Poland. In his testament he bequeathed his sketches to the Polish people and currently most of his works are kept in the National Museum in Kraków and Warsaw. Napoleon Orda died April 26,1883, in Warsaw but according to his last will he was buried in his land, in Ivanava village
33.
World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
34.
Television
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Television or TV is a telecommunication medium used for transmitting moving images in monochrome, or in color, and in two or three dimensions and sound. The term can refer to a set, a television program. Television is a medium for entertainment, education, news, politics, gossip. Television became available in experimental forms in the late 1920s. After World War II, a form of black-and-white TV broadcasting became popular in the United States and Britain, and television sets became commonplace in homes, businesses. During the 1950s, television was the medium for influencing public opinion. In the mid-1960s, color broadcasting was introduced in the US, for many reasons, the storage of television and video programming now occurs on the cloud. At the end of the first decade of the 2000s, digital television transmissions greatly increased in popularity, another development was the move from standard-definition television to high-definition television, which provides a resolution that is substantially higher. HDTV may be transmitted in various formats, 1080p, 1080i, in 2013, 79% of the worlds households owned a television set. Most TV sets sold in the 2000s were flat-panel, mainly LEDs, major manufacturers announced the discontinuation of CRT, DLP, plasma, and even fluorescent-backlit LCDs by the mid-2010s. In the near future, LEDs are gradually expected to be replaced by OLEDs, also, major manufacturers have announced that they will increasingly produce smart TVs in the mid-2010s. Smart TVs with integrated Internet and Web 2.0 functions became the dominant form of television by the late 2010s, Television signals were initially distributed only as terrestrial television using high-powered radio-frequency transmitters to broadcast the signal to individual television receivers. Alternatively television signals are distributed by cable or optical fiber, satellite systems and. Until the early 2000s, these were transmitted as analog signals, a standard television set is composed of multiple internal electronic circuits, including a tuner for receiving and decoding broadcast signals. A visual display device which lacks a tuner is correctly called a video monitor rather than a television, the word television comes from Ancient Greek τῆλε, meaning far, and Latin visio, meaning sight. The Anglicised version of the term is first attested in 1907 and it was. formed in English or borrowed from French télévision. In the 19th century and early 20th century, other. proposals for the name of a technology for sending pictures over distance were telephote. The abbreviation TV is from 1948, the use of the term to mean a television set dates from 1941
35.
Andrzej Wajda
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Andrzej Witold Wajda was a Polish film and theatre director. Recipient of an Honorary Oscar, the Palme dOr, as well as Honorary Golden Lion and Golden Bear Awards and he was known especially for his trilogy of war films consisting of A Generation, Kanał and Ashes and Diamonds. Four of his films have been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, The Promised Land, The Maids of Wilko, Man of Iron and Katyń. Wajda was born in Suwałki, Poland, the son of Aniela, a teacher, and Jakub Wajda. Wajdas father was murdered by the Soviets in 1940 in what came to be known as the Katyn massacre, in 1942 he joined the Polish resistance and served in the Home Army. After the war, he studied to be a painter at Krakóws Academy of Fine Arts before entering the Łódź Film School, after Wajdas apprenticeship to director Aleksander Ford, Wajda was given the opportunity to direct his own film. A Generation was his first major film, at the same time Wajda began his work as a director in theatre, including such as Michael V. Gazzos A Hatful of Rain, Hamlet, and Two for the Seesaw by William Gibson. Wajda made two more accomplished films, which developed further the anti-war theme of A Generation, Kanał and Ashes. While capable of turning out mainstream commercial fare, Wajda was more interested in works of allegory and symbolism, then Wajda directed Samson, the story of Jacob, a Jewish boy, who wants to survive during the Nazi occupation of Poland. The Birch Wood was entered into the 7th Moscow International Film Festival where Wajda won the Golden Prize for Direction, the directors involvement in this movement would prompt the Polish government to force Wajdas production company out of business. For the film, Wajda won the Palme dOr at the Cannes Film Festival, in 1983, he directed Danton, starring Gérard Depardieu in the title role, a film set in 1794 dealing with the Post-Revolutionary Terror. Made against the backdrop of the law in Poland, Wajda showed how easily revolution can change into terror. For this film Wajda was honoured with the Louis Delluc Prize, in the 1980s he also made A Love in Germany featuring Hanna Schygulla, The Chronicle of Amorous Incidents an adaptation of Tadeusz Konwickis novel and The Possessed based on Dostoyevskys novel. In theatre he prepared an interpretation of Dostoyevskys Crime and Punishment and other unique spectacles such as Antygone, in 1989, he was the President of the Jury at the 16th Moscow International Film Festival. In 1990, Andrzej Wajda was honoured by the European Film Awards for his achievement, only the third director to be so honoured, after Federico Fellini. In the early 1990s, he was elected a senator and also appointed director of Warsaws Teatr Powszechny. In 1994 Wajda presented his own version of Dostoyevskys novel The Idiot in the movie Nastasja, starring Japanese actor Tamasoburo Bando in the double role of Prince Mishkin. The film was photographed by Pawel Edelman, who became one of Wajdas great co-workers
36.
The Revenge (film)
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The Revenge is the English title for Zemsta, a film released in 2002, directed by Andrzej Wajda. This film is an adaptation of a popular stage farce of the same name by the Polish dramatist. Raptusiewicz resides in one half of a castle with the other half inhabited by his hated rival Regent Milczek, Raptusiewicz wishes to marry Podstolina, the widow of the Lord High Steward, for her money, while Podstolina herself seeks a wealthy match. Regent Milczeks wish, on the hand, is to bring about the union of his son Wacław with Podstolina. To complicate matters more, Wacław is in love with Klara - ward and niece of Raptusiewicz, who took her in following the death of her parents -, the plot thickens when Klara turns into Papkins declared object of love. Written in a sharp, ironic style, The Revenge portrays those national characteristics that in time brought on many of Polands national tragedies, written for the stage, Wajda has changed very little and transferred practically the entirety of the work to the screen
37.
Iron Maiden
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Iron Maiden are a British heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. The bands discography has grown to thirty-eight albums, including sixteen studio albums, eleven albums, four EPs. Pioneers of the new wave of British heavy metal, Iron Maiden achieved initial success during the early 1980s,1 in 28 countries and receiving widespread critical acclaim. Their sixteenth studio album, The Book of Souls, was released on 4 September 2015 to similar success, the band won the Ivor Novello Award for international achievement in 2002. As of October 2013, the band have played over 2000 live shows throughout their career. For the past 35 years, the band have been supported by their famous mascot, Eddie, Iron Maiden were formed on Christmas Day in 1975 by bassist Steve Harris shortly after he left his previous group, Smiler. Harris attributes the name to a film adaptation of The Man in the Iron Mask from the novel by Alexandre Dumas. After months of rehearsal, Iron Maiden made their debut at St. Nicks Hall in Poplar on 1 May 1976, before taking up a semi-residency at the Cart and Horses Pub in Maryland Point, Stratford. The original line-up did not last very long, however, with vocalist Paul Day being the first casualty as, according to Harris and he was replaced by Dennis Wilcock, a Kiss fan who used make-up and fake blood during live performances. Wilcocks friend Dave Murray was invited to join, to the dismay of the bands guitarists Dave Sullivan and their frustration led Harris to temporarily disband Iron Maiden in 1976, though the group reformed soon after with Murray as the sole guitarist. Steve Harris and Dave Murray remain the bands longest-standing members and have performed on all of their releases, Iron Maiden recruited yet another guitarist in 1977, Bob Sawyer, who was sacked for embarrassing the band on stage by pretending to play guitar with his teeth. Tension ensued again, causing a rift between Murray and Wilcock, who convinced Harris to fire Murray, as well as original drummer Ron Matthews. A new line-up was put together, including future Cutting Crew member Tony Moore on keyboards, Terry Wapram on guitar, and drummer Barry Purkis. A bad performance at the Bridgehouse, a pub located in Canning Town, in November 1977 was the line-ups first and only concert, at the same time, Moore was asked to leave as Harris decided that keyboards did not suit the bands sound. A few months later, Dennis Wilcock decided that he had had enough with the group and left to form his own band, V1, as he preferred to be the bands sole guitarist, Wapram disapproved of Murrays return and was also dismissed. Steve Harris, Dave Murray and Doug Sampson spent the summer, a chance meeting at the Red Lion pub in Leytonstone in November 1978 evolved into a successful audition for vocalist Paul DiAnno. Steve Harris has stated, Theres sort of a quality in Pauls voice, a raspiness in his voice, or whatever you want to call it, that just gave it this great edge. At this time, Murray would typically act as their sole guitarist, with Harris commenting, the plan was always to get a second guitarist in, but finding one that could match Davey was really difficult
38.
Behind the Iron Curtain (video)
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Behind the Iron Curtain is a discontinued VHS/Beta/LaserDisc/VHD video by the English metal band Iron Maiden. The video features footage of the band on the road in Eastern Europe in 1984, performing concerts in Poland, Hungary, and Yugoslavia as part of the World Slavery Tour. The title refers to the fact that the band were touring inside the Iron Curtain, aside from two promotional videos from the album Powerslave, the video also contains two live tracks and interviews with band members. The video has no MPAA rating and has a length of 30 minutes. An expanded 58 minute version of the documentary is included on disc 2 of the Live After Death DVD and this expanded version was broadcast by MTV in 1984 and was until the release of the Live After Death DVD only available on several bootleg recordings. Analysis of the revealed that the audio of the tracks on the original video differ from the audio of the expanded documentary on the DVD version. The video was produced and directed by Kenneth Feuerman and edited by Norman H. Strassner
39.
Hallowed Be Thy Name
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Hallowed Be Thy Name is a song written by Steve Harris for the 1982 Iron Maiden album The Number of The Beast. It has been acclaimed as one of the greatest heavy metal songs of all time, the 1993 live single is taken from the 1993 album A Real Dead One. The song was recorded at Moscows Olympic Arena on 4 June 1993 during the Real Live Tour, recordings from the same tour and its predecessor, 1992s Fear of the Dark Tour, made up the singles B-sides. It is the bands last single to feature vocalist Bruce Dickinson until 2000s The Wicker Man, hallowed Be Thy Name has remained in almost all of the bands set-lists since the albums recording, the only exception being the Maiden England World Tour 2012–14. Allmusic describes it as perhaps the most celebrated of the bands extended epics, its the tale of a prisoner about to be hanged, featuring some of Harris most philosophical lyrics. Several band-members have since stated that it is one of their tracks, with Bruce Dickinson describing it as fantastic. It is one of the most covered songs in Iron Maidens catalogue, with versions released by such as Dream Theater, Machine Head, Cradle of Filth. The songs title is a line from the Lords Prayer
40.
Spellbinder (TV series)
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Spellbinder is a fantasy teen drama/science fiction television series, produced by Film Australia and Telewizja Polska in association with the Australian Childrens Television Foundation. The series is a 1995 serial of 26 episodes, co-produced between Australia and Poland and it was also novelised by the creators, Mark Shirrefs and John Thomson. The shots were taken both in Australia which represented the world and in Poland where most pictures that featured the parallel world were shot. Spellbinder was followed by, Spellbinder, Land of the Dragon Lord, a group of teenagers go on a school camp in the Blue Mountains in Australia. While at the camp, Paul Reynolds accidentally goes into a parallel universe and this other world is inhabited by a more hierarchic and technologically different society, ruled by a group of people known as Spellbinders. Paul meets a girl there named Riana, and they become friends, the Spellbinders have discovered the power to create and manipulate static electricity. They fly in gigantic copper-coloured machines that utilise large rotating orange crystals, the Spellbinders often use their power for good, but some abuse this power and use their discoveries for malevolence. One such malevolent Spellbinder is Ashka, who manages to hide her true nature. Common people are often banished for their misdeeds, and sometimes Spellbinders are banished, also, Paul and Rianas escapes also add tension, as do the interactions between Spellbinders. Paul is eventually able to back home, but he is forced to take Riana with him in order to save her. Later, when Paul is able to take Riana back home, Ashka seeks the unwitting help of Pauls father in making her a new high-tech flying suit to replace her power suit in order to make her more powerful than the other Spellbinders. However, Paul manages to expose her scheme and defeat Ashka, in order to keep the Spellbinder world safe from the more advanced people from modern world, the gateway between the two universes is closed permanently. Zbych Trofimiuk as Paul Reynolds – a teenage boy from Sydney, New South Wales and his life was normal until a prank at a camp went wrong and he ended up in the land of the Spellbinders. At first, Paul was unsure of how to react to the new world, Paul has some rough military skills, which, combined with the scientific knowledge from his father, makes him able to defeat Ashka. Gosia Piotrowska as Riana – she lives in the Spellbinder world and her life was normal until the arrival of Paul. Despite getting off to a rocky start, Riana quickly becomes Pauls friend. She has very good skills and can use bolas and a spear. Riana cares very much for her family and is upset when she realises that they may be in danger, in Pauls world, Riana is able to use some of her survival skills to help a newfound friend, and is known as Pauls cousin from Iceland
Poland
