The capital of Poland , Warsaw is also the country's largest city .
Polish Warszawa , city , capital of Poland .

Warsaw is located in central Poland on the Vistula River .
Warsaw lies on the Vistula ( Wisla ) River , about 240 miles ( 386 kilometres ) southeast of the Baltic coast city of Gdansk .

The city's motto is Contemnit procellas , which means , "It defies the storms."
The city's motto is , appropriately , "Contemnit procellas" ( "It defies the storms") .

Sigismund made Warsaw the capital of Poland in 1611 .
There are many Baroque churches of the Counter-Reformation period , including the Jesuit Church next to the cathedral and the Church of the Holy Cross , which contains Chopin's heart .

Saint John's Cathedral is the oldest church in Warsaw .
In the Old Town , the Gothic St . John's Cathedral and the red-brick fortifications known as the Barbican remain from the medieval period .

In terms of music , the National Philharmonic Orchestra draws large crowds .
The National Philharmonic orchestra draws large crowds .

Warsaw is the educational and cultural center of Poland .
Warsaw's writers , artists , and musicians play a major role in creating the cultural values of the nation .

There are several institutions of higher learning , including the University of Warsaw and the Technical University of Warsaw .
The Technical University of Warsaw and the University of Warsaw are notable institutions .

In 1526 , when the last of the Mazovian dukes died , Warsaw became a part of the Polish kingdom .
In 1526 both city and province became incorporated into the kingdom of Poland; from 1569 the Sejm met in Warsaw , and from 1573 the elections of the kings took place there .

In 1596 the Polish king decided to move the capital from Krakow to Warsaw , making Warsaw the most important city in Poland .
In 1611 the king and his court finally moved from Krakow ( Cracow ) to Warsaw , making it the capital of the Polish state .

Warsaw was invaded by the Swedes in 1655 , and the city was devastated .
This growth proved short-lived , for a Swedish invasion ( 1655-56 ) devastated the flourishing city .

At the end of the 18th century , Poland was divided into parts , and Warsaw became a town in Prussia .
The national insurrection of 1794 , led by Tadeusz Kosciuszko against the Russo-Prussian second partition , was brutally crushed; the ensuing third partition of Poland among Russia , Prussia , and Austria left Warsaw a provincial town of South Prussia .

The French emperor Napoleon entered the city in 1806 and made it the capital of the Duchy of Warsaw .
The occupation of Warsaw by the French Army in 1806 was followed a year later by Napoleon's creation of the duchy of Warsaw , a measure that reinstated the city as a capital .

Despite its many setbacks , Warsaw continued to grow .
Economic growth , however , continued , and by the mid-19th century textile , metal , and tannery industries were well established and the city had become the centre of a continentwide rail network .

At the beginning of the 20th century , Warsaw had about 700,000 residents .
Population soared , reaching 756,000 by 1903 , and urban services underwent extensive modification .

After World War I ( 1914-18 ) , Warsaw again became the capital of an independent Poland .
After World War I the city regained its status as the national capital .

Many people were killed in the city or sent to concentration camps and killed .
The subsequent Nazi occupation was aimed at reducing Warsaw to a provincial city; its cultural treasures were systematically plundered and its inhabitants carried away to German labour camps or to concentration camps .

Jews were confined to the Jewish part of town called a ghetto , and many people there starved to death .
Disease , starvation , and overcrowding caused thousands to perish before deportations to the Nazi death camps , especially to Treblinka , began in late 1941 .

When the Soviet Army arrived in Warsaw in 1945 , the city was in ruins .
In all , some 600,000 to 800,000 Varsovians are estimated to have died between 1939 and 1944 , and the Soviet armies in 1945 found the city in a state of almost total devastation .

Warsaw remained Poland's capital after the war .
On Feb . 1 , 1945 , the Polish government made Warsaw its capital , and an office for urban reconstruction was set up .

The residents of Warsaw decided to rebuild the city .
In the decades that followed the city was rebuilt; the scars of war almost entirely healed over , and the city expanded beyond its prewar size in both area and population .

By the end of the 20th century the city had expanded beyond its prewar size in both area and population .
In the decades that followed the city was rebuilt; the scars of war almost entirely healed over , and the city expanded beyond its prewar size in both area and population .