Vistula

Major river in Central Europe

"Visla" redirects here. For the dog breed, see Vizsla. For other uses, see Vistula (disambiguation).

Not to be confused with Fistula.

Vistula

Vistula in the Polish region of Kuyavia and southern Pomerania

Vistula River drainage basin in Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, and Slovakia

Native name| Wisła (Polish)
Location
Country| Poland
Towns/Cities| Wisła, Oświęcim, Kraków, Sandomierz, Warsaw, Płock, Włocławek, Toruń, Bydgoszcz, Grudziądz, Tczew, Gdańsk
Physical characteristics
Source|
• location| Barania Góra, Silesian Beskids
• coordinates| 49°36′21″N 19°00′13″E﻿ / ﻿49.60583°N 19.00361°E﻿ / 49.60583; 19.00361
• elevation| 1,106 m (3,629 ft)
Mouth|

• location

| Mikoszewo, Gdańsk Bay, Baltic Sea,
Przekop channel near Świbno, Poland

• coordinates

| 54°21′42″N 18°57′07″E﻿ / ﻿54.36167°N 18.95194°E﻿ / 54.36167; 18.95194

• elevation

| 0 m (0 ft)
Length| 1,047 km (651 mi)
Basin size| 193,960 km2 (74,890 sq mi)
Discharge|
• location| Gdańsk Bay, Baltic Sea, Mikoszewo
• average| 1,080 m3/s (38,000 cu ft/s)
Basin features
Tributaries|
• left| Nida, Pilica, Bzura, Brda, Wda
• right| Dunajec, Wisłoka, San, Wieprz, Narew, Drwęca

The Vistula (/ˈvɪstjʊlə/; Polish: Wisła [ˈviswa] ⓘ) is the longest river in Poland and the ninth-longest in Europe, at 1,047 kilometres (651 miles) in length.[1][2] Its drainage basin, extending into three other countries apart from Poland, covers 193,960 km2 (74,890 sq mi), of which 168,868 km2 (65,200 sq mi) is in Poland.[3]

The Vistula rises at Barania Góra in the south of Poland, 1,220 meters (4,000 ft) above sea level in the Silesian Beskids (western part of Carpathian Mountains), where it begins with the White Little Vistula (Biała Wisełka) and the Black Little Vistula (Czarna Wisełka).[4] It flows through Poland's largest cities, including Kraków, Sandomierz, Warsaw, Płock, Włocławek, Toruń, Bydgoszcz, Świecie, Grudziądz, Tczew and Gdańsk. It empties into the Vistula Lagoon (Zalew Wiślany) or directly into the Gdańsk Bay of the Baltic Sea with a delta of six main branches (Leniwka, Przekop, Śmiała Wisła, Martwa Wisła, Nogat and Szkarpawa).

The river has many associations with Polish culture, history and national identity. It is Poland's most important waterway and natural symbol, flowing through its two main cities (Kraków and Warsaw), and the phrase "Land on the Vistula" (Polish: kraj nad Wisłą) can be synonymous with Poland.[5][6][7] Historically, the river was also important for the Baltic and German (Prussian) peoples.

The Vistula has given its name to the last glacial period that occurred in northern Europe, approximately between 100,000 and 10,000 BC, the Weichselian glaciation.

## Etymology

[edit]

The name Vistula first appears in the written record of Pomponius Mela (3.33) in AD 40\. Pliny in AD 77 in his Natural History names the river Vistla (4.81, 4.97, 4.100). The root of the name Vistula is often thought to come from Proto-Indo-European *weys-: 'to ooze, flow slowly' (cf. Sanskrit अवेषन् avēṣan "they flowed", Old Norse veisa "slime"), and similar elements appear in many European river-names (e.g. Svislach (Berezina), Svislach (Neman), Weser, Viešinta).[8]

In writing about the river and its peoples, Ptolemy uses Greek spelling: Ouistoula. Other ancient sources[which?] spell the name Istula. Ammianus Marcellinus referred to the Bisula (Book 22) in the 380s. In the sixth century Jordanes (Getica 5 & 17) used Viscla.

The Anglo-Saxon poem Widsith refers to the Wistla.[9] The 12th-century Polish chronicler Wincenty Kadłubek Latinised the river's name as Vandalus, a form presumably influenced by Lithuanian vanduõ 'water'. Jan Długosz (1415–1480) in his Annales seu cronicae incliti regni Poloniae contextually points to the river, stating "of the eastern nations, of the Polish east, from the brightness of the water the White Water...so named" (Alba aqua),[10] perhaps referring to the White Little Vistula (Biała Wisełka).[citation needed]

In the course of history the river has borne similar names in different languages: German: Weichsel; Low German: Wießel; Dutch: Wijsel [ˈʋɛisəl]; Yiddish: ווייסל, romanized: Veysl [ˈvajsl̩]; and Russian: Висла, romanized: Visla.

## Sources

[edit]

Vistula rises in the southern Silesian Voivodeship close to the tripoint involving the Czech Republic and Slovakia from two sources: Czarna ("Black") Wisełka at altitude 1,107 m (3,632 ft) and Biała ("White") Wisełka at altitude 1,080 m (3,540 ft).[11] Both are on the western slope of Barania Góra in the Silesian Beskids in Poland.[12]

## Geography

[edit]

Vistula can be divided into three parts: upper, from its sources to Sandomierz; central, from Sandomierz to the confluences with the Narew river and the Bug river; and bottom, from the confluence with Narew to the sea.

The Vistula river basin covers 194,424 square kilometres (75,068 square miles) (in Poland 168,700 square kilometres (65,135 square miles)); its average altitude is 270 metres (886 feet) above sea level. In addition, the majority of its river basin (55%) is 100 to 200 m above sea level; over 3⁄4 of the river basin ranges from 100 to 300 metres (328 to 984 feet) in altitude. The highest point of the river basin is at 2,655 metres (8,711 feet) (Gerlach Peak in the Tatra mountains). One of the features of the river basin of the Vistula is its asymmetry—in great measure resulting from the tilting direction of the Central European Lowland toward the northwest, the direction of the flow of glacial waters, and considerable predisposition of its older base. The asymmetry of the river basin (right-hand to left-hand side) is 73–27%.

The most recent glaciation of the Pleistocene epoch, which ended around 10,000 BC, is called the Vistulian glaciation or Weichselian glaciation in regard to north-central Europe.[13]

## Major cities

[edit]

Vistula River

Vistula River in the vicinity of Płock, Poland

Vistula River near Bydgoszcz, Poland

Medieval Wawel Castle in Kraków seen from the Vistula river

Vistula River and the Warsaw Old Town

Vistula River and Gdańsk

Renaissance town of Kazimierz Dolny overlooking serene Vistula

Granaries in Grudziądz seen from the left riverside of the Vistula river, 13th–17th century

Vistula River seen from The Piłsudski Bridge in Toruń, facing upstream

Agglomeration  | Tributary

|

Wisła (Silesian Voivodeship)  | river source: Biała Wisełka and Czarna Wisełka
Ustroń |
Skoczów | Brennica
Strumień | Knajka
Goczałkowice-Zdrój |
Czechowice-Dziedzice | Biała
Brzeszcze | Vistula, Soła
Oświęcim | Soła
Zator | Skawa
Skawina | Skawinka
Kraków (Cracow)  | Sanka, Rudawa, Prądnik, Dłubnia, Wilga (most are canalized streams)
Niepołomice |
Nowe Brzesko |
Nowy Korczyn | Nida
Opatowiec | Dunajec
Szczucin |
Połaniec | Czarna
Baranów Sandomierski | Babolówka
Tarnobrzeg |
Sandomierz | Koprzywianka, Trześniówka
Zawichost |
Annopol | Sanna
Józefów nad Wisłą |
Solec nad Wisłą |
Kazimierz Dolny | Bystra
Puławy | Kurówka
Dęblin | Wieprz
Magnuszew |
Wilga | Wilga
Góra Kalwaria | Czarna
Karczew |
Otwock, Józefów | Świder
Konstancin-Jeziorna | Jeziorka
Warsaw | Żerań canal (incl. several smaller streams)
Łomianki |
Legionowo |
Modlin | Narew
Zakroczym |
Czerwińsk nad Wisłą |
Wyszogród | Bzura
Płock | Słupianka, Rosica, Brzeźnica, Skrwa Lewa, Skrwa Prawa
Dobrzyń nad Wisłą |
Włocławek | Zgłowiączka
Nieszawa | Mień
Ciechocinek |
Toruń | Drwęca, Bacha
Solec Kujawski |
Bydgoszcz | Brda (canalized)
Chełmno |
Świecie | Wda
Grudziądz |
Nowe |
Gniew | Wierzyca
Tczew |
Mikoszewo, Gdańsk (Sobieszewo Island)  | Szkarpawa, Martwa Wisła

## Delta

[edit]

The river forms a wide delta called Żuławy Wiślane, or the "Vistula Fens" in English. The delta currently starts around Biała Góra near Sztum, about 50 km (31 mi) from the mouth, where the river Nogat splits off. The Nogat also starts separately as a river named (on this map [14]) Alte Nogat (Old Nogat) south of Kwidzyn, but further north it picks up water from a crosslink with the Vistula, and becomes a distributary of the Vistula, flowing away northeast into the Vistula Lagoon (Polish: Zalew Wiślany) with a small delta. The Nogat formed part of the border between East Prussia and interwar Poland. The other channel of the Vistula below this point is sometimes called the Leniwka.

Various causes (rain, snow melt, ice jams) have caused many severe floods of the Vistula over the centuries. Land in the area was sometimes depopulated by severe flooding, and later had to be resettled.

See (Figure 7, on page 812 at History of floods on the River Vistula) for a reconstruction map of the delta area as it was around the year 1300: note much more water in the area, and the west end of the Vistula Lagoon (Frisches Haff) was bigger and nearly continuous with the Drausen See.[15]

### Channel changes

[edit]

As with some aggrading rivers, the lower Vistula has been subject to channel changing.

Near the sea, the Vistula was diverted sideways by coastal sand as a result of longshore drift and split into an east-flowing branch (the Elbing (Elbląg) Vistula, Elbinger Weichsel, Szkarpawa, flows into the Vistula Lagoon, now for flood control closed to the east with a lock) and a west-flowing branch (the Danzig (Gdańsk) Vistula, Przegalinie branch, reached the sea in Danzig). Until the 14th century, the Elbing Vistula was the bigger.

* 1242: The Stara Wisła (Old Vistula) cut an outlet to the sea through the barrier near Mikoszewo where the Vistula Cut is now; this gap later closed or was closed.
* 1371: The Danzig Vistula became bigger than the Elbing Vistula.
* 1540 and 1543: Huge floods depopulated the delta area, and afterwards the land was resettled by Mennonite Germans, and economic development followed.[15]
* 1553: By a plan made by Danzig and Elbing, a channel was dug between the Vistula and the Nogat at Weissenberg (now Biała Góra). As a result, most of the Vistula water flowed down the Nogat, which hindered navigation at Danzig by lowering the water level; this caused a long dispute about the river water between Danzig on one side and Elbing and Marienburg on the other side.
* 1611: Great flood near Marienburg.
* 1613: As a result, a royal decree was issued to build a dam at Biała Góra, diverting only a third of the Vistula's water into the Nogat.
* 1618–1648 Thirty Years' War and 1655–1661 Second Northern War: In wars involving Sweden the river works at Biała Góra were destroyed or damaged.
* 1724: Until this year the Vistula in Danzig flowed to sea straight through the east end of the Westerplatte. This year it started to turn west to flow south of the Westerplatte.
* 1747: In a big flood the Vistula broke into the Nogat.
* 1772: First Partition of Poland: Prussia got control of the Vistula delta area.
* 1793: Second Partition of Poland: Prussia got control of more of the Vistula drainage area.
* 1830 and later: Cleaning the riverbed; eliminating meanders; re-routing some tributaries, e.g. the Rudawa.
* 1840: A flood caused by an ice-jam[15] formed a shortcut from the Danzig Vistula to the sea (shown as Durchbruch v. J 1840 (Breakthrough of year 1840), on this map[14]), a few miles east of and bypassing Danzig, now called the Śmiała Wisła or Wisła Śmiała ("Bold Vistula"). The Vistula channel west of this lost much of its flow and was known thereafter as the Dead Vistula (German: Tote Weichsel; Polish: Martwa Wisła).
* 1848 or after: In flood control works the link from the Vistula to the Nogat was moved 4 km (2.5 miles) downstream. In the end, the Nogat got a fifth of the flow of the Vistula.
* 1888: A large flood in the Vistula delta.[15]
* 1889 to 1895: As a result, to try to stop recurrent flooding on the lower Vistula, the Prussian government constructed an artificial channel about 12 kilometres (7.5 miles) east of Danzig (now named Gdańsk), known as the Vistula Cut (German: Weichseldurchstich; Polish: Przekop Wisły) (ref map [14]) from the old fork of the Danzig and Elbing Vistulas straight north to the Baltic Sea, diverting much of the Vistula's flow. One main purpose was to let the river easily flush floating ice into the sea to avoid ice-jam floods downstream. This is now the main mouth of the Vistula, bypassing Gdańsk; Google Earth shows only a narrow new connection with water-control works with the old westward channel. The name Dead Vistula was extended to mean all of the old channel of the Vistula below this diversion.
* 1914–1917: The Elbing Vistula (Szkarpawa) and the Dead Vistula were cut off from the new main river course with the help of locks.
* 1944–1945: Retreating WWII German forces destroyed many flood-prevention works in the area. After the war, Poland needed over ten years to repair the damage.

Nogat | Leniwka

|

Town  | Tributaries  | Remarks  | Town  | Tributaries  | Remarks
Sztum |  |  | Tczew |  |
Malbork |  |  | Gdańsk | Motława, Radunia, Potok Oliwski | In the city the river divides into several separate branches that reach the Baltic Sea at different points, the main branch reaches the sea at Westerplatte
Elbląg | Elbląg | shortly before reaching Vistula Bay |  |  |

### Tributaries

[edit]

List of right and left tributaries with a nearby city, from source to mouth:

Right tributaries

* Brennica—Skoczów
* Iłownica
* Biała—Czechowice-Dziedzice
* Soła
* Skawa—Zator
* Skawinka—Skawina
* Wilga—Kraków
* Drwinka
* Raba
* Gróbka
* Uszwica
* Kisielina
* Dunajec
* Breń
* Brnik
* Wisłoka
* Babulówka—Baranów Sandomierski
* Trześniówka—Sandomierz
* Łęg—Sandomierz
* San
* Sanna—Annopol
* Wyżnica—Józefów
* Chodelka
* Bystra—Bochotnica
* Kurówka—Puławy
* Wieprz—Dęblin
* Okrzejka
* Promnik
* Wilga—Wilga
* Świder—Otwock, Józefów
* Kanał Żerański—Warsaw
* Narew—Nowy Dwór Mazowiecki
* Mołtawa
* Słupianka—Płock
* Rosica—Płock
* Brzeźnica—Płock
* Skrwa Prawa—Płock
* Mień—Nieszawa
* Drwęca—Toruń
* Bacha—Toruń
* Struga
* Osa—Grudziądz
* Liwa

|  | Left tributaries

* Knajka—Strumień
* Pszczynka
* Gostynia
* Przemsza—Chełmek
* Chech
* Rudno
* Sanka—Kraków
* Rudawa—Kraków
* Prądnik—Kraków
* Dłubnia—Kraków
* Roporek—Nowe Brzesko
* Szreniawa
* Nidzica
* Nida—Nowy Korczyn
* Strumień
* Czarna—Połaniec
* Koprzywianka—Sandomierz
* Opatówka
* Kamienna
* Krępianka—Solec nad Wisłą
* Iłżanka
* Zwoleńka
* Plewka—Janowiec
* Zagożdzonka—Kozienice
* Radomka
* Pilica—Warka
* Czarna—Góra Kalwaria
* Jeziorka—Konstancin-Jeziorna
* Bzura—Wyszogród
* Skrwa Lewa—Płock
* Zgłowiączka—Włocławek
* Tążyna
* Zielona
* Brda—Bydgoszcz
* Wda—Świecie
* Wierzyca—Gniew
* Motława—Gdańsk
* Radunia—Gdańsk

|
|

### Climate change and the flooding of the Vistula delta

[edit]

Widespread flooding along the Vistula River in south-eastern Poland

According to flood studies carried out by Zbigniew Pruszak, who is the co-author of the scientific paper Implications of SLR[16] and further studies carried out by scientists attending Poland's Final International ASTRA Conference,[17] and predictions stated by climate scientists at the climate change pre-summit in Copenhagen,[18] it is highly likely most of the Vistula Delta region (which is below sea level[19]) will be flooded due to the sea level rise caused by climate change by 2100.

## Geological history

[edit]

The history of the River Vistula and its valley spans over 2 million years. The river is connected to the geological period called the Quaternary, in which distinct cooling of the climate took place. In the last million years, an ice sheet entered the area of Poland eight times, bringing along with it changes of reaches of the river. In warmer periods, when the ice sheet retreated, the Vistula deepened and widened its valley. The river took its present shape within the last 14,000 years, after the complete recession of the Scandinavian ice sheet from the area. At present, along with the Vistula valley, erosion of the banks and collecting of new deposits are still occurring.[20]

As the principal river of Poland, the Vistula is also in the centre of Europe. Three principal geographical and geological land masses of the continent meet in its river basin: the Eastern European Plain, Western Europe, and the Alpine zone to which the Alps and the Carpathians belong. The Vistula begins in the Carpathian mountains. The run and character of the river were shaped by ice sheets flowing down from the Scandinavian peninsula. The last ice sheet entered the area of Poland about 20,000 years ago. During periods of warmer weather, the ancient Vistula, "Pra-Wisła", searched for the shortest way to the sea—thousands of years ago it flowed into the North Sea somewhere at the latitude of contemporary Scotland. The climate of the Vistula valley, its plants, animals, and its very character changed considerably during the process of glacial retreat.[21]

* Biała Wisełka

* Vistula in southern Poland with the Silesian Beskids

* Vistula in northern Poland

* Przekop Wisły

* Vistula Shore, painted by Bogdan Cierpisz in 1898, oil on canvas

## Navigation

[edit]

Vistula is navigable from the Baltic Sea to Bydgoszcz (where the Bydgoszcz Canal joins the river). It can accommodate modest river vessels of CEMT class II. Farther upstream the river depth lessens. Although a project was undertaken to increase the traffic-carrying capacity of the river upstream of Warsaw by building a number of locks in and around Kraków, this project was not extended further, so that navigability of the Vistula remains limited. The potential of the river would increase considerably if a restoration of the east–west connection via the Narew–Bug–Mukhovets–Pripyat–Dnieper waterways were considered. The shifting economic importance of parts of Europe may make this option more likely.

Vistula is the northern part of the proposed E40 waterway, continuing eastward into the Bug River, linking the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea.[22][23]

## Historical relevance

[edit]

Vistula valley east (upstream) of Toruń

Large parts of the Vistula Basin were occupied by the Iron Age Lusatian and Przeworsk cultures in the first millennium BC. Genetic analysis indicates that there has been an unbroken genetic continuity[clarification needed] of the inhabitants over the last 3,500 years.[24] The Vistula Basin along with the lands of the Rhine, Danube, Elbe, and Oder came to be called Magna Germania by Roman authors of the first century AD.[24] This does not imply that the inhabitants were "Germanic peoples" in the modern sense of the term; Tacitus, when describing the Venethi, Peucini and Fenni, wrote that he was not sure if he should call them Germans, since they had settlements and they fought on foot, or rather Sarmatians since they have some similar customs to them.[25] Ptolemy, in the second century AD, would describe the Vistula as the border between Germania and Sarmatia.

Death of Princess Wanda, by Maximilian Piotrowski, 1859

Vistula River used to be connected to the Dnieper River, and thence to the Black Sea via the Augustów Canal, a technological marvel with numerous sluices contributing to its aesthetic appeal. It was the first waterway in Central Europe to provide a direct link between the two major rivers, the Vistula and the Neman. It provided a link with the Black Sea to the south through the Oginski Canal, Dnieper River, Berezina Canal, and Dvina River. The Baltic Sea- Vistula- Dnieper- Black Sea route with its rivers was one of the most ancient trade routes, the Amber Road, on which amber and other items were traded from Northern Europe to Greece, Asia, Egypt, and elsewhere.[26][27]

A Vistulan stronghold in Wiślica once stood here.

The Vistula estuary was settled by Slavs in the seventh and eighth century.[28] Based on archeological and linguistic findings, it has been postulated that these settlers moved northward along the Vistula River.[28] This however contradicts another hypothesis supported by some researchers saying the Veleti moved westward from the Vistula delta.[28]

A number of West Slavic Polish tribes formed small dominions beginning in the eighth century, some of which coalesced later into larger ones. Among the tribes listed in the Bavarian Geographer's ninth-century document was the Vistulans (Wiślanie) in southern Poland. Kraków and Wiślica were their main centres.

Many Polish legends are connected with the Vistula river and the beginnings of Polish statehood. One of the most enduring is that about Princess Wanda co nie chciała Niemca (who rejected the German).[29] According to the most popular variant, popularized by the 15th-century historian Jan Długosz,[30] Wanda, daughter of King Krak, became queen of the Poles upon her father's death.[29] She refused to marry a German prince Rytigier (Rüdiger), who took offence and invaded Poland, but was repelled.[31] Wanda however committed suicide, drowning in the Vistula River, to ensure he would not invade her country again.[31]

### Main trading artery

[edit]

For hundreds of years the river was one of the main trading arteries of Poland, and the castles that line its banks were highly prized possessions. Salt, timber, grain, and building stone were among goods shipped via that route between the 10th and 13th centuries.[32]

In the 14th century the lower Vistula was controlled by the Teutonic Knights Order, invited in 1226 by Konrad I of Masovia to help him fight the pagan Prussians on the border of his lands. In 1308 the Teutonic Knights captured the Gdańsk castle and murdered the population.[33] Since then the event is known as the Gdańsk slaughter. The Order had inherited Gniew from Sambor II, thus gaining a foothold on the left bank of the Vistula.[34] Many granaries and storehouses, built in the 14th century, line the banks of the Vistula.[35] In the 15th century the city of Gdańsk gained great importance in the Baltic area as a centre of merchants and trade and as a port city. At this time the surrounding lands were inhabited by Pomeranians, but Gdańsk soon became a starting point for German settlement of the largely fallow Vistulan country.[36]

Before its peak in 1618, trade increased by a factor of 20 from 1491. This factor is evident when looking at the tonnage of grain traded on the river in the key years of: 1491: 14,000; 1537: 23,000; 1563: 150,000; 1618: 310,000.[37]

In the 16th century most of the grain exported was leaving Poland through Gdańsk, which because of its location at the end of the Vistula and its tributary waterway and of its Baltic seaport trade role became the wealthiest, most highly developed, and by far the largest centre of crafts and manufacturing, and the most autonomous of the Polish cities.[38] Other towns were negatively affected by Gdańsk's near-monopoly in foreign trade. During the reign of Stephen Báthory Poland ruled two main Baltic Sea ports: Gdańsk[39] controlling the Vistula river trade and Riga controlling the Western Dvina trade. Both cities were among the largest in the country. Around 70% the exports from Gdańsk were of grain.[37]

Grain was also the largest export commodity of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The volume of traded grain can be considered a good and well-measured proxy for the economic growth of the Commonwealth.

The owner of a folwark usually signed a contract with the merchants of Gdańsk, who controlled 80% of this inland trade, to ship the grain to Gdańsk. Many rivers in the Commonwealth were used for shipping, including the Vistula, which had a relatively well-developed infrastructure, with river ports and granaries. Most river shipping travelled north, with southward transport being less profitable, and barges and rafts often being sold off in Gdańsk for lumber.

In order to arrest recurrent flooding on the lower Vistula, the Prussian government in 1889–95 constructed an artificial channel about 12 kilometres (7 miles) east of Gdańsk (German name: Danzig)—known as the Vistula Cut (German: Weichseldurchstich; Polish: Przekop Wisły)—that acted as a huge sluice, diverting much of the Vistula flow directly into the Baltic. As a result, the historic Vistula channel through Gdańsk lost much of its flow and was known thereafter as the Dead Vistula (German: Tote Weichsel; Polish: Martwa Wisła). German states acquired complete control of the region in 1795–1812 (see: Partitions of Poland), as well as during the World Wars, in 1914–1918 and 1939–1945.

From 1867 to 1917, after the collapse of the January Uprising (1863–1865), the Russian tsarist administration called the Kingdom of Poland the Vistula Land.[40]

Almost 75% of the territory of interbellum Poland was drained northward into the Baltic Sea by the Vistula (total area of drainage basin of the Vistula within boundaries of the Second Polish Republic was 180,300 km2 (69,600 sq mi), the Niemen (51,600 km2 [19,900 sq mi]), the Oder (46,700 km2 [18,000 sq mi]) and the Daugava (10,400 km2 [4,000 sq mi]).

In 1920 the decisive battle of the Polish–Soviet War Battle of Warsaw (sometimes referred to as the Miracle at the Vistula), was fought as Red Army forces commanded by Mikhail Tukhachevsky approached the Polish capital of Warsaw and nearby Modlin Fortress by the river's mouth.[citation needed]

* The 11th century Benedictine Abbey in Tyniec overlooks Vistula.

* Vistula River near the Duke of Masovia Castle in Czersk

* Vistula River in Warsaw near the end of the 16th century. The right side shows the Sigismund Augustus bridge built 1568–1573 by Erazm Cziotko (c. 500 m (1,600 ft) long).[41]

* Vistula river (Vistvla fluvivs) in Toruń in 1641

* Jewish Feast of Trumpets (Polish: Święto trąbek) at the banks of the Vistula, Aleksander Gierymski, 1884

* Kierbedź Bridge over the Vistula in Warsaw (c. 1900). This framework bridge was constructed by Stanisław Kierbedź in 1850–1864. It was destroyed by the Germans in 1944.[42]

* Vistula River in spa town Wisła (1939) just before the World War II

### World War II

[edit]

The Polish September campaign included battles over control of the mouth of the Vistula, and of the city of Gdańsk, close to the river delta. During the Invasion of Poland (1939), after the initial battles in Pomerelia, the remains of the Polish Army of Pomerania withdrew to the southern bank of the Vistula.[43] After defending Toruń for several days, the army withdrew further south under pressure of the overall strained strategic situation, and took part in the main battle of Bzura.[43]

The Auschwitz complex of concentration camps was at the confluence of the Vistula and the Soła rivers.[44] Ashes of murdered Auschwitz victims were dumped into the river.[45]

During World War II prisoners of war from the Nazi Stalag XX-B camp were assigned to cut ice blocks from the River Vistula. The ice would then be transported by truck to the local beer houses.[citation needed]

The 1944 Warsaw Uprising was planned with the expectation that the Soviet forces, who had arrived in the course of their offensive and were waiting on the other side of the Vistula River in full force, would help in the battle for Warsaw.[46] However, the Soviets let down the Poles, stopping their advance at the Vistula and branding the insurgents as criminals in radio broadcasts.[46][47][48]

In early 1945, in the Vistula–Oder Offensive, the Red Army crossed the Vistula and drove the German Wehrmacht back past the Oder river in Germany.

After the war in late 1946, the former Austrian SS member Amon Göth was sentenced to death and hanged on 13 September at the Montelupich Prison in Kraków, not far from the site of the Płaszów camp, the camp of which he was commandant throughout The Holocaust. His remains were cremated and the ashes thrown in the Vistula River.[49]

## See also

[edit]

* Geography of Poland
* Rivers of Poland
* Vistula Lagoon
* Vistula Spit

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Vistula River". pomorskie.travel. Archived from the original on 13 August 2018. Retrieved 13 August 2018. "Vistula - the most important and the longest river in Poland, and the largest river in the area of the Baltic Sea. The length of Vistula is 1047 km."
2. ^ "Top Ten Longest Rivers in Europe". www.top-ten-10.com. Archived from the original on 7 August 2018. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
3. ^ Statistical Yearbook of the Republic of Poland 2017, Statistics Poland, p. 85-86
4. ^ Barania Góra - Tam, gdzie biją źródła Wisły at PolskaNiezwykla.pl
5. ^ Morys-Twarowski, Michael (8 February 2016). Polskie Imperium. Otwarte. ISBN 978-83-240-3074-3 - via Google Books.
6. ^ Bartmiński, Jerzy (30 March 2006). Język - wartości - polityka: zmiany rozumienia nazw wartości w okresie transformacji ustrojowej w Polsce: raport z badań empirycznych. Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Marii Curie-Skłodowskiej. ISBN 978-83-227-2503-0 - via Google Books.
7. ^ Trawkowski, StanisŁaw Trawkowski (30 March 1966). "Jak powstawaŁa Polska". Wiedza Powszechna - via Google Books.
8. ^ D.Q. Adams, Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture (London: Fitzroy–Dearborn, 1997), 207.
9. ^ William Napier (20 November 2005). "Building a Library: The Fall of Rome". findarticles.com. Independent Newspapers UK Limited. Retrieved 1 April 2009. [dead link]
10. ^ Długosz, Jan. Annales seu cronicae incliti regni Poloniae a nationibus orientalibus Polonis vicinis, ob aquae candorem Alba aqua ... nominatur
11. ^ Żaneta Kosińska: Rzeka Wisła.
12. ^ Nazewnictwo geograficzne Polski. T.1: Hydronimy. 2cz. w 2 vol. Główny Urząd Geodezji i Kartografii. 2006. ISBN 978-83-239-9607-1.
13. ^ Wysota, W.; Molewski, P.; Sokołowski, R.J., Robert J. (2009). "Record of the Vistula ice lobe advances in the Late Weichselian glacial sequence in north-central Poland". Quaternary International. 207 (1–2): 26–41\. Bibcode:2009QuInt.207...26W. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2008.12.015.1–2&rft.pages=26-41&rft.date=2009&rft_id=info:doi/10.1016/j.quaint.2008.12.015&rft_id=info:bibcode/2009QuInt.207...26W&rft.aulast=Wysota&rft.aufirst=W.&rft.au=Molewski,+P.&rft.au=Sokołowski,+R.J.,+Robert+J.&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:Vistula" class="Z3988">
14. ^ a b c "map dated 1899 of parts of Poland". Archived from the original on 26 January 2021. Retrieved 15 July 2018.
15. ^ a b c d CYBERSKI, JERZY; GRZEŚ, MAREK; GUTRY-KORYCKA, MAŁGORZATA; NACHLIK, ELŻBIETA; KUNDZEWICZ, ZBIGNIEW W. (1 October 2006). "History of floods on the River Vistula". Hydrological Sciences Journal. 51 (5): 799–817\. Bibcode:2006HydSJ..51..799C. doi:10.1623/hysj.51.5.799. S2CID 214652302.
16. ^ Zbigniew Pruszaka; Elżbieta Zawadzka (2008). "Potential Implications of Sea-Level Rise for Poland". Journal of Coastal Research. 242: 410–422\. doi:10.2112/07A-0014.1. S2CID 130427456.
17. ^ "Final International ASTRA conference in Espoo, Finland, 10–11 December 2007". www.astra-project.org. Archived from the original on 17 November 2021. Retrieved 23 October 2009.
18. ^ Matt McGrath (12 March 2009). "Climate scenarios 'being realised'". BBC News. Retrieved 23 October 2009.
19. ^ "Hydrology and morphology of two river mouth regions (temperate Vistula Delta and subtropical Red River Delta)" (PDF). www.iopan.gda.pl. Retrieved 23 October 2009.
20. ^ Państwowy Instytut Geologiczny (State Geological Institute), Warsaw, "Geologiczna Historia Wisły"
21. ^ R. Mierzejewski, Państwowa Wyższa Szkoła Filmowa, Telewizyjna I Teatralna im. Leona Schiller w Łodzi, Narodziny rzeki
22. ^ Weston, Phoebe (23 December 2020). "Chernobyl fears resurface as river dredging begins in exclusion zone". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
23. ^ Alexandra St John Murphy (4 May 2020). "The E40 Waterway: The Polish Dimension". Eurasia Daily Monitor. 17 (61). The Jamestown Foundation. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
24. ^ a b Jędrzej Giertych. "Tysiąc lat historii narodu polskiego" (in Polish). www.chipublib.org. Retrieved 3 April 2009.
25. ^ "De Origine et Situ Germanorum Liber by Tacitus Latin Text". 12 November 2007. Archived from the original on 12 November 2007.
26. ^ Centre, UNESCO World Heritage. "The Augustów Canal (Kanal Augustowski) - UNESCO World Heritage Centre". whc.unesco.org. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
27. ^ "Suwalszczyzna - Suwalki Region". www.suwalszczyzna.pl. Archived from the original on 7 July 2014. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
28. ^ a b c Jan M. Piskorski (1999). Pommern im Wandel der Zeit (in German). Zamek Książąt Pomorskich. ISBN 978-83-906184-8-7. p.29
29. ^ a b Paul Havers. "The Legend of Wanda". www.kresy.co.uk. Archived from the original on 5 February 2012. Retrieved 31 March 2009.
30. ^ Leszek Paweł Słupecki. "The Krakus' and Wanda's Burial Mounds of Cracow" (PDF). sms.zrc-sazu.si. Retrieved 31 March 2009. p.84
31. ^ a b "Wanda". www.brooklynmuseum.org. Retrieved 31 March 2009.
32. ^ Władysław Parczewski; Jerzy Pruchnicki. "Vistula River". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 3 April 2009.
33. ^ "History of the City Gdańsk". www.en.gdansk.gda.pl. Archived from the original on 17 October 2012. Retrieved 3 April 2009.
34. ^ Rosamond McKitterick; Timothy Reuter; David Abulafia; C. T. Allmand (1995). The New Cambridge Medieval History: c. 1198–c. 1300. Vol. 5\. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-36289-4.
35. ^ Krzysztof Mikulski. "Dzieje dawnego Torunia" (in Polish). www.mowiawieki.pl. Archived from the original on 18 July 2011. Retrieved 3 April 2009.
36. ^ Oskar Halecki; Antony Polonsky (1978). A history of Poland (in German). Routledge. ISBN 978-0-7100-8647-1. p.35
37. ^ a b Krzysztof Olszewski (2007). The Rise and Decline of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth due to Grain Trade. a: p. 6, b: p. 7, c: p. 5, d: p. 5
38. ^ "Gdańsk (Poland)". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 3 April 2009.
39. ^ "Stephen Bathory (king of Poland)". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 3 April 2009.
40. ^ "The name of the kingdom was changed to Privislinsky Krai, which was reduced to a tsarist province; it lost all autonomy and separate administrative institutions". Richard C. Frucht (2008). Eastern Europe: An Introduction to the People, Lands, and Culture. ABC-CLIO. p. 19\. ISBN 978-1-57607-800-6.
41. ^ Jerzy S. Majewski (29 April 2004). "Most Zygmunta Augusta" (in Polish). miasta.gazeta.pl. Retrieved 25 October 2009.
42. ^ "SEPTEMBER 13, 1944". www.1944.pl. Archived from the original on 23 May 2006. Retrieved 25 October 2009.
43. ^ a b Marek Jan Chodakiewicz (1978). Between Nazis and Soviets: Occupation Politics in Poland, 1939–1947. Lexington Books. ISBN 978-0-7391-0484-2.
44. ^ the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, Holocaust Encyclopedia, Auschwitz Environs, Summer 1944, online map Archived 6 May 2009 at the Wayback Machine
45. ^ Auschwitz-Birkenau: History & Overview Jewish Virtual Library
46. ^ a b "Warsaw Uprising of 1944". www.warsawuprising.com. Archived from the original on 3 August 2018. Retrieved 14 July 2008.
47. ^ "The Uprising remained the ultimate symbol of Communist betrayal and bad faith for Poles." John Radzilowski. "Warsaw Uprising". ww2db.com. Retrieved 25 March 2010.
48. ^ "The Warsaw Rising was termed a 'criminal organization'" Radzilowski, John (2009). "Remembrance and Recovery: The Museum of the Warsaw Rising and the Memory of World War II in Post-communist Poland". The Public Historian. 31 (4): 143–158\. doi:10.1525/tph.2009.31.4.143.
49. ^ Crowe, David (2004). Oskar Schindler: The Untold Account of His Life, Wartime Activities, and the True Story Behind the List (First ed.). Westview Press. ISBN 978-0813333755.

## External links

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Vistula.

* Geographic data related to Vistula at OpenStreetMap
* Vistula at GEOnet Names Server
* "History of Floods on the River Vistula", Hydrological Sciences Journal

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Vistula River

Tributaries|

* Brda
* Bzura
* Drwęca
* Dunajec
* Narew
* Nida
* Pilica
* San
* Wda
* Wieprz
* Wisłoka

Cities|

* Gdańsk
* Elbląg
* Tczew
* Grudziądz
* Bydgoszcz
* Toruń
* Włocławek
* Płock
* Warsaw
* Sandomierz
* Kraków

Notable crossings|

* Anna Jagiellon Bridge
* Cross-City Bridge
* Gdańsk Bridge
* General Stefan Grot-Rowecki Bridge
* John Paul II Bridge
* Łazienki Bridge
* Maria Skłodowska-Curie Bridge
* Poniatowski Bridge
* Siekierki Bridge
* Silesian–Dąbrowa Bridge
* Solidarity Bridge

* Świętokrzyski Bridge
* Third Millennium John Paul II Bridge

Channels and artificial waterways|

* Augustów Canal
* Przekop Wisły
* Vistula Spit canal
* Bydgoszcz Canal

Historical and prehistoric inhabitants|

* Oksywie culture
* Przeworsk culture
* Wielbark culture
* Lusatian culture
* Vistulans
* Polans
* Pomeranians
* Vistula Veneti
* Vistula delta Mennonites
* Vistula Germans

Related articles|

* Vistula–Bug offensive
* Vistula–Oder offensive
* Vistula, Indiana (likely named after the Vistula)
* Vistula Land
* Vistula Spit
* Vistula Lagoon
* Vistula University

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* t
* e

Tributaries of the Vistula River

Forming rivers|

* Biała Wisełka
* Czarna Wisełka

Main tributaries of the left bank|

* Krajka
* Pszczynka
* Gostynia
* Przemsza
* Chech
* Rudno
* Sanka
* Rudawa
* Prądnik
* Dłubnia
* Roporek
* Szreniawa
* Nidzica
* Nida
* Strumień
* Czarna
* Koprzywianka
* Opatówka
* Kamienna
* Krępianka
* Iłżanka
* Zwoleńka
* Plewka
* Zagożdżonka
* Radomka
* Pilica
* Czarna
* Jeziorka
* Bzura
* Skrwa Lewa
* Zgłowiączka
* Tążyna
* Zielona
* Brda
* Wda
* Wierzyca

Main tributaries of the right bank|

* Brennica
* Iłownica
* Biała
* Soła
* Skawa
* Skawinka
* Wilga (Krakow)
* Drwinka
* Raba
* Gróbka
* Uszwica
* Kisielina
* Dunajec
* Breń
* Brnik
* Wisłoka
* Babulówka
* Trześniówka
* Łęg
* San
* Sanna
* Wyżnica
* Chodelka
* Bystra
* Kurówka
* Wieprz
* Okrzejka
* Promnik
* Wilga (Garwolin)
* Świder
* Kanał Żerański
* Narew
* Mołtawa
* Słupianka
* Rosica
* Brzeźnica
* Skrwa Prawa
* Mień
* Drwęca
* Bacha
* Struga
* Osa
* Liwa

Distributary|

* Mała Wisełka (Polska Wisła)
* Nogat
* Leniwka
* Szkarpawa
* Vistula Lagoon
* Śmiała Wisła
* Martwa Wisła
* Przekop Canal

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Rivers of Poland by watershed

Vistula|

* Narew
* Bug
* Wkra
* Biebrza

* San
* Wisłok

* Dunajec
* Poprad

* Pilica
* Wieprz
* Brda
* Drwęca
* Wda
* Bzura
* Wisłoka
* Nida

Odra|

* Warta
* Prosna
* Noteć
* Drawa

* Nysa Łużycka
* Nysa Kłodzka
* Bóbr
* Obra

Vistula Lagoon|

* Pregolya
* Łyna
* Angrapa
* Pasłęka

Baltic Sea|

* Rega
* Parsęta
* Wieprza
* Słupia
* Łeba
* Reda

Authority control databases

International|

* VIAF
* FAST

National|

* Germany
* United States
* Czech Republic
* Spain
* Latvia
* Israel

Geographic|

* Pleiades

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