Mława

Coordinates: 53°07′N 20°22′E / 53.117°N 20.367°E / 53.117; 20.367

Mława [ˈmwava] is a town in north-central Poland with 30,957 inhabitants in 2012. It is the capital of the Mława County.

The town is situated in the Masovian Voivodeship (since 1999), previously it was part of the Ciechanów Voivodeship (since 1975).

During the invasion of Poland in 1939, the battle of Mława was fought to the north of the city.

History

The first mention of Mława comes from July 2, 1426, when three princes of Mazovia - Siemowit V, Trojden II and Władysław I came here to a session of a local court. It is not known if Mława had already been an urban center, as there are no sources which would prove it. Three years later, Mława was incorporated as a town and in 1521 during the Polish-Teutonic War, the town was captured and looted by the Teutonic Knights. In 1659 the town was burned by the Swedish troops, and in 1795, following the Partitions of Poland, Mława became part of the Kingdom of Prussia.

After Napoleonic Wars, in the 1815 Congress of Vienna Mława (along with the entire province) was incorporated into the Russian Partition of Poland where it remained until World War I. Since the town was located along the pre-1914 imperial Russian-German border, Mława was a place of heavy fighting between the two opposing armies. During the interbellum, the town was assigned to the Warsaw Voivodeship (1919–39). The government of the Second Polish Republic constructed several fortifications there due to proximity of the German border.