You can trace the history of Warsaw back to the 12th/13th century when the first fortified settlements were built around a small fishing village by the name of Warszowa.

In 1596, Warsaw became the Capital of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (present-day Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, Latvia, parts of Ukraine, western Russia) and the Polish Crown when the court was moved to Warsaw from Krakow by King Sigismund 111 Vasa. This remained the case until 1795 at which time Warsaw was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia to become the capital of the province of South Prussia.

In 1807, Warsaw was made the capital of the Duchy of Warsaw after being liberated by Napolean and became the centre of the Congress Poland (a constitutional monarchy under a personal union with Imperial Russia) in 1815 following the Congress of Vienna.

The Polish / Russian relationship began to deteriorate around this time and in 1830 the now famous November Uprising (also known as the Cadet Revolution) broke out following repeated violations of the Polish constitution by the Russians. This was effectively an armed rebellion against the rule of the Russian Empire in Poland and Lithuania, which was eventually crushed in 1831 by a numerically superior Russian army.

This all came to a head on 27 February 1861 when a Warsaw crowd protesting over Russian rule in Poland was fired upon by Russian troops resulting in the death of 5 Poles further stirring ill-feeling against the Russian Empire.

In 1863, this ill-feeling fuelled the January Uprising by the citizens of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth against the Russian Empire beginning on 22 January 1863 and ending in 1865 when the last insurgents were eventually captured.

The January Uprising was sparked by a protest by young polish men who did not want to be conscripted into the Russian Army and this soon had the backing of politicians.

The Russian Army crushed the insurrectionists due to scale of numbers and the war quickly became a guerrilla war, which did not result in any significant victories. Insurgents were dealt with harshly with many being deported to Siberia or publicly executed in an attempt to persuade others not to rebel.

In the early 19th century, Warsaw benefited from the leadership of a new Mayor (Sokrates Starynkiewicz) who ordered the development of water and sewage systems and modernisation of public transport infrastructure and public services. This investment in infrastructure resulted in Warsaw becoming the capital of the newly independent Poland in 1918.

One of the most famous battles to take place in Warsaw was the Battle of Warsaw during the Polish-Bolshevik War of 1920 when the city was defended against the Red Army.

During the Second World War, Warsaw (and all of Central Poland) was governed by a Nazi colonial administration. The entire Jewish population of several hundred thousand (30% of the city) were confined in the Warsaw Ghetto. Hitler ordered the annihilation of the Warsaw Ghetto (and everyone in it) on 19 April 1943; however the German Army did not find this an easy task because Jewish fighters launched the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and fought the Germans (often hand-to-hand) for almost a month before finally being defeated. Only a few survivors escaped the massacre that followed.

Towards the end of World War 11, the Polish Government in exile located in London became concerned that the Red Army were close to occupying Warsaw and in an attempt to keep Warsaw under the control of the Polish, they ordered the Home Army (AK) to seize control of Warsaw from the Nazis prior to the Red Army’s arrival.

This resulted in the Warsaw Uprising with the Home Army and civilian population fighting the German Army in a struggle lasting 63 days before eventually being forced to give up. The punishment for being involved in the uprising was severe. Home Army fighters were sent to POW camps in Germany and the entire civilian population were expelled. The entire city of Warsaw was razed to the ground with anything of value including museum and library collections either taken to Germany if transport was available or burned.

By the time World War 11 ended, 85% of Warsaw had been destroyed.

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