Gleiwitz

Early Modern Age

During the mid 18th century Silesian Wars, Gleiwitz was taken from the Habsburg monarchy by the Kingdom of Prussia along with the majority of Silesia. After the end of the Napoleonic Wars, Gleiwitz was administered in the Prussian district of Tost-Gleiwitz within the Province of Silesia in 1816. In the 19th century, the city was visited by writers Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz, Wincenty Pol, Honoré de Balzac and Józef Ignacy Kraszewski. The city was incorporated with Prussia into the German Empire in 1871 during the unification of Germany. In 1897, Gleiwitz became its own Stadtkreis, or urban district.