Ruda Śląska, city, Śląskie województwo (province), south-central Poland, in the heart of the Upper Silesia coal-mining region. An old industrial city, Ruda Śląska was founded in the Middle Ages as an iron-mining settlement, but it was not incorporated until after World War II. Poland’s first coal mine was operated there in 1751. Pop. (2011) 142,510.
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Śląskie, województwo(province), southern Poland. It is bordered by the provinces of Łódzkie to the north, Świętokrzyskie to the northeast, Małopolskie to the east, and Opolskie to the west; Slovakia and the Czech Republic are to the south. Created in 1999 as part of Poland’s provincial reorganization,…
Poland, country of central Europe. Poland is located at a geographic crossroads that links the forested lands of northwestern Europe to the sea lanes of the Atlantic Ocean and the fertile plains of the Eurasian frontier. Now bounded by seven nations, Poland has waxed and waned over the centuries, buffeted…
Silesia, historical region that is now in southwestern Poland. Silesia was originally a Polish province, which became a possession of the Bohemian crown in 1335, passed with that crown to the Austrian Habsburgs in 1526, and was taken by Prussia in 1742. In 1945,…
Middle Ages, the period in European history from the collapse of Roman civilization in the 5th century ceto the period of the Renaissance (variously interpreted as beginning in the 13th, 14th, or 15th century, depending on the region of Europe and on other factors).…
World War II
World War II, conflict that involved virtually every part of the world during the years 1939–45. The principal belligerents were the Axis powers—Germany, Italy, and Japan—and the Allies—France, Great Britain, the United States, the Soviet Union, and, to a lesser extent, China. The war was…