History

The beginnings of colonisation in the Gdańsk area date back to the 7th century when it was a small group of fishing hamlets. Because of its strategic position at the head of the Vistula River, Gdańsk developed as an important trade centre.

10th Century The first Christian mission comes to the small fishing village of Gdańsk. The Bishop of Prague, Adalbert, christens the inhabitants with the year 997 commonly accepted as the year that Gdańsk was founded.

13th Century Gdańsk welcomes vessels from England, Sweden and the Walloon Lands. The Teutonic Knights penetrate Polish regions from the west in 1226.

14th Century The Teutonic Knights make a treacherous assault on Gdańsk in 1308. The Knights meanwhile crown Malbork 60km south, the capital of their Teutonic state. In 1361 Gdańsk joins the Hanseatic League, a mercantile organisation, and its sea port prospers.

15th Century Polish-Lithuanian forces defeat the Teutonic Knights at the Battle of Grunwald in 1410, thereby stopping German expansion eastward.

16th Century Gdańsk enjoys a golden era, prospering into a rich seaport and important centre of trade and culture. Besides Germans, Gdańsk’s ethnic make-up is predominantly Polish, Dutch and Jewish, as well as a large number of Scotsmen.

18th Century Poland becomes a playground for Tsar Peter the Great, and in 1734 Gdańsk is besieged by the Russian army. Austria, Prussia and Russia impose the first partition of Poland in 1773. Gdańsk loses its trade routes and falls into decline. A Prussian-Russian agreement on the second partition of Poland is concluded in 1793. In 1795 Austria, Prussia and Russia impose a third partition of Poland, ending Polish independence for more than a century.

19th Century Gdańsk is established as a free city, with French troops stationed there. After Napoleon’s defeat and the Congress of Vienna in 1815, Poland is partitioned anew: Danzig (Gdańsk) is given back to Prussia. In 1871 it is officially incorporated into the German Empire.

Early 20th century On 11th November 1918, Poland regains independence giving birth to what is regarded as the Second Polish Republic. With Germany defeated, the partition collapses leaving Gdansk caught in a tug of war between Germany and Poland who turn to the League of Nations to decide on control. Since the majority of the city’s inhabitants were German the city is not placed under Polish sovereignty, instead The Free City of Danzig is established in 1920 complete with its own parliament, currency and postal stamps. In 1939, WWII starts with Nazi Germany’s September 1 attack on Poland’s military posts at Westerplatte. From 1940-44 all
Polish territory falls under Nazi occupation and becomes its primary killing ground. Six million Poles, including three million Jews, are killed. Although most of Gdańsk’s pre-war Jewish population managed to escape in time to avoid the Holocaust, much of Gdańsk’s Polish intelligentsia found itself rounded up and murdered in the nearby Stutthoff death camp. On March 28, 1945, the Soviet Army seizes Gdańsk, now a smouldering mass of rubble. From 1945 Poland is Sovietised. Control of Gdańsk is given over to Poland, and most Germans exiled, replaced by refugees from east Poland. In 1947 the Communists consolidate political monopoly after rigged elections. In 1955 the Warsaw Pact is created. The 50s and 60s mark a time of major urban rebuilding following the large-scale wartime destruction of the city.

By 1968 popular disenchantment begins and an opposition that will eventually overthrow the government is born.

1970 The events of 1970 in Gdańsk are the first to rock the system. In December shipyard workers in Gdańsk strike to protest poor living standards. The army intervene to put an end to the protests, resulting in clashes in which 44 die. It is also in this year that West German chancellor Willy Brandt formally renounces German territorial claims to the city.

1980-1989 A general strike is called in August 1980 by the fledgling Solidarność (Solidarity) trade union, led by shipyard electrician Lech Wałęsa. Martial law is declared the following year. In 1982 Solidarność is outlawed by the government and its leadership imprisoned. Other union activists are driven underground. In protest, more than 20,000 Gdańsk citizens take sanctuary in St. Mary’s Church in Gdańsk. In 1983 martial law is lifted. Wałęsa is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The late 1980s see a period of gradual liberalisation due in part to Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev’s perestroika in the Soviet Union. Renewed strikes in 1988 and a failing economy convince General Jaruzelski to initiate talks with Solidarność. In 1989 Round Table talks produce a formula for power sharing between the Communists and Solidarność. Partly-free elections result in sweeping Solidarność victories and the communist regime crumbles.

Post 1989 Finance Minister, Leszek Balcerowicz, launches an ambitious shock-therapy economic reform programme. Lech Wałęsa becomes Poland’s first democratically-elected, post-communist President. In 1995 reformed communist, Aleksander Kwaśniewski, defeats Wałęsa in presidential elections. The following year the Gdańsk shipyards are declared bankrupt. 2001 sees flash floods hit the Tri-City area. Three people die.

2004 May - Poland enters the European Union on May 1.

2005 Pope John Paul II loses his battle against illness and passes away.

2007 – Platforma (PO) defeat PiS, the party of the Kaczynski twins, which results in local boy Donald Tusk becoming Prime Minister.

2010 – April 10th sees 96 high-ranking Poles tragically killed in the air disaster at Smoleńsk in Russia. Among the dead are President Lech Kaczyński and his wife along with a number of well-known Gdanskians including Solidarity’s Anna Walentynowicz, Senator Maciej Płażyński and MP Arkadiusz Rybicki whose funerals take place in various old town churches.