Cieszyn Silesia
Cieszyn Silesia is a historic region in modern Czechia and Poland. It is a subregion of Silesia.
Contents
Name
The Polish term for this region is Cieszyn Silesia (Śląsk Cieszyński).
In German and Czech, the name is spelled more like Teschen (Teschener Schlesien and Těšínské Slezsko respectively).
The Czech portion is named Trans-Olza, after the Olza River running through.
History
The duchy of Racibórz was formed by Frederick Barbarossa for Mieszko IV. A personal union briefly established the duchy of Opole and Raciborz. This was partitioned by his grandsons and great grandsons, establishing (among others) the duchy of Cieszyn.
When Frederick the Great claimed most of Silesia in the Silesian Wars, Teschen notably was retained by the Austrian Empire and was incorporated as an Austrian Silesia crownland.
Following World War 1, Poland invaded and occupied Cieszyn. Czechoslovakia launched a counter invasion. Both were already involved in unrelated land wars (against Ukraine and Hungary). The Spa Conference arbitrarily partitioned the region in July 1920. The Czech side became Trans-Olza.
As a part of the Munich Agreement, Poland took Trans-Olza. Following the invasion of Poland and launch of World War 2, Germany annexed it.
In 1958, Poland and Czechoslovakia agreed to the 1938 borders.