Province of Silesia Provinz Schlesien |
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Province of Prussia | ||||||
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Silesia Province (red) within Prussia (yellow), within the German Empire, 1871 |
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Capital |
Breslau 51°7′N 17°2′E / 51.117°N 17.033°ECoordinates: 51°7′N 17°2′E / 51.117°N 17.033°E |
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History | ||||||
• | Established | 1815 | ||||
• | Disestablished | 1919 | ||||
• | Briefly re-established | 1938–1941 | ||||
Area | ||||||
• | 1905 | 40,319 km2(15,567 sq mi) | ||||
Population | ||||||
• | 1905 | 4,935,823 | ||||
Density | 122.4 /km2 (317.1 /sq mi) | |||||
Political subdivisions |
Breslau Liegnitz Oppeln |
The Province of Silesia (German: Provinz Schlesien; Polish: Prowincja Śląska; Silesian: Prowincyjŏ Ślōnskŏ) was a province of the German Kingdom of Prussia, existing from 1815 to 1919, when it was divided into the Upper and Lower Silesia provinces, and briefly again from 1938 to 1941. As a Prussian province, Silesia became part of the German Empire during the Prussian-led unification of Germany in 1871. The provincial capital was Breslau (present-day Wrocław, Poland).
The territory on both sides of the Oder river formed the southeastern part of the Prussian kingdom. It comprised the bulk of the former Bohemian crown land of Upper and Lower Silesia as well as the adjacent County of Kladsko, which the Prussian King Frederick the Great had all conquered from the Austrian Habsburg Monarchy under Empress Maria Theresa in the 18th century Silesian Wars. It furthermore included the northeastern part of Upper Lusatia around Görlitz and Lauban, ceded to Prussia by the Kingdom of Saxony according to the resolutions of the Vienna Congress in 1815.