as a guy who reads alot of central european history, ive never understood the deal with silesia coming up every so often in some kind of military/dynastic struggle. why is this particular region important? were there any wars in particular that was fought because of it?
were there any wars in particular that was fought because of it?
Yes, the region was particularly important to Frederick the Great, who inaugurated Prussia's entrance into Great Power status by invading it and conquering it from Austria in 1740. At a stroke he had doubled the population of Prussia, increase her territory by one third, and demonstrated to Europe the power of the Prussian army. Austria subsequently fought two wars (as part of wider European wars) in attempts to regain Silesia, ultimately failing to do and confirming Prussian possession of the province.
Silesia's role in promoting Prussia to great power status and initiating the Prussian-Austrian rivalry played an integral role in European and German history for much of the 18th and 19th century.
Coming from Russino's "Hitler Strikes Poland", he says Silesia was a very industrialized region and provided the majority of Polish industrial capacity when they controlled it. Germany viewed it as theirs and only gave up control in a plebiscite and three bloody insurgencies. It was one of the first targets in the '39 invasion because of these reasons.