Kaliningrad OblastKaliningrad Oblast (Калининградская область) is the westernmost federal subject of the Russian Federation. It is a semi-exclave situated on the Baltic Sea. The largest city and administrative centre of the province (oblast) is the city of Kaliningrad, formerly known as Königsberg. The port city of Baltiysk is Russia's only port on the Baltic Sea that remains ice-free in winter. Kaliningrad Oblast had a population of roughly 1 million in the Russian Census of 2021.
Curzon LineThe Curzon Line was a proposed demarcation line between the Second Polish Republic and the Soviet Union, two new states emerging after World War I. Based on a suggestion by Herbert James Paton, it was first proposed in 1919 by Lord Curzon, the British Foreign Secretary, to the Supreme War Council as a diplomatic basis for a future border agreement. The line became a major geopolitical factor during World War II, when the USSR invaded eastern Poland, resulting in the split of Poland's territory between the USSR and Nazi Germany along the Curzon Line.
OstsiedlungOstsiedlung (ˈɔstˌziːdlʊŋ, literally "East settlement") is the term for the Early Medieval and High Medieval migration of ethnic Germans into the territories in the eastern part of Francia, East Francia, and the Holy Roman Empire and beyond; and the consequences for settlement development and social structures in the areas of settlement. Generally sparsely and in some inland areas only relatively recently populated by Slavic, Baltic and Finnic peoples, the most settled area was known as Germania Slavica.
Łyna (river)The Łyna (ˈwɨna; Alle ˈalə; Alna; Ла́ва - Lava), is a river that begins in northern Poland's Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship and ends in Russia's Kaliningrad Oblast. The Łyna is a tributary of the Pregolya River, and has a total length of 264 km (207 km in Poland and 57 km in Russia) and a basin area of 7,126 km2 (5,298 km2 in Poland). It is connected to Lake Mamry by the 18th-century Masurian Canal. The river's source is located near the village of Łyna in Masuria, Poland. It then flows through the regions of Warmia, Bartia and Nadrovia.
FromborkFrombork (ˈfrɔmbɔrk; Frauenburg ˈfʁaʊənbʊʁk) is a town in northern Poland, situated on the Vistula Lagoon in Braniewo County, within Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship. As of December 2021, it has a population of 2,260. The town was first mentioned in a 13th-century document. In the early 16th century it was the residence of the astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus, who used it as a site for several of his observations. The town and its 14th century cathedral were badly damaged in World War II.
Prussian CrusadeThe Prussian Crusade was a series of 13th-century campaigns of Roman Catholic crusaders, primarily led by the Teutonic Knights, to Christianize under duress the pagan Old Prussians. Invited after earlier unsuccessful expeditions against the Prussians by Christian Polish kings, the Teutonic Knights began campaigning against the Prussians, Lithuanians and Samogitians in 1230.
