Middle Ages The first written mention of Plzeň Castle is from 976. The city of New Plzeň was founded nearby in 1295 by King
Wenceslaus II. The old settlement then became known as
Starý Plzenec and New Plzeň became known as Plzeň. It quickly became an important city on trade routes leading from
Bohemia to
Nuremberg and
Regensburg. The first written mention of beer brewing is from 1307. In the 14th century, the city had about 3,000 inhabitants on an area of , making it the third largest city in Bohemia after Prague and
Kutná Hora. During the
Hussite Wars, it was the centre of Catholic resistance to the
Hussites:
Prokop the Great unsuccessfully
besieged it three times, and it joined the league of Catholic nobles against King
George of Poděbrady. In the 1470s and 1480s, the city had the first
printing press in Bohemia. The first book printed here and therefore the oldest book in Bohemia is
Statuta written by
Arnošt of Pardubice, which was printed in 1476. From the end of the 17th century, the architecture of Plzeň has been influenced by the
Baroque style.
19th century In the second half of the 19th century, Plzeň, already an important trade centre for
Bohemia, near the Bavarian/German border, began to industrialise rapidly. In 1869
Emil Škoda founded the
Škoda Works, which became the most important and influential engineering company in the country and a crucial supplier of arms to the
Austro-Hungarian Army. By 1917, the Škoda Works employed over 30,000 workers. After 1898, the second largest employer was the National Railways train workshop, with about 2,000 employees: this was the largest rail repair shop in all
Austria-Hungary. Between 1861 and 1877, the Plzeň railway junction was completed, and in 1899, the first tram line started in the city. This burst of industry had two important effects: the growth of the local
Czech population and of the urban poor. After 1868, the first Czech mayor of the city was elected.
World War II Following
Czechoslovak independence from
Austria-Hungary in 1918, the ethnic German minority in the countryside bordering the city of Plzeň hoped to be united with Austria and were unhappy at being included in Czechoslovakia. Many allied themselves to the
Nazis after 1933 in the hope that
Adolf Hitler might be able to unite them with their German-speaking neighbours. Following the
Munich Agreement in 1938, Plzeň became a frontier town as the creation of the
Sudetenland moved
Nazi Germany's borders closer to the city's outer limits. During the
German occupation from 1939 to 1945, the
Škoda Works in Pilsen was forced to provide armaments for the
Wehrmacht, and Czech contributions, particularly in the field of tanks, were noted. The Nazis operated a
Gestapo prison in the city, and a
forced labour camp in the Karlov district. Between 17 and 26 January 1942, the majority of the city's Jewish population, over 2,000 people, were deported by the Nazis to the
Theresienstadt concentration camp in
Terezín. of the
United States Army at the top of Americká, the main commercial boulevard In April 1945, as World War II neared its end, Plzeň endured its most devastating air raids. On 17 April, British
Royal Air Force bombers targeted the city's marshalling yard, aiming to disrupt German military logistics. The attack resulted in significant civilian casualties and widespread destruction of residential areas. Just days later, on 25 April, the U.S.
Eighth Air Force launched a major bombing mission against the
Škoda Works armament factory in Plzeň. This operation marked the last heavy bomber mission by the Eighth Air Force against an industrial target in Europe. The raids caused extensive damage to the city's infrastructure and left a lasting impact on its inhabitants. These attacks were part of the Allies' final efforts to cripple Nazi Germany's war capabilities. On 6 May 1945, in the final days before the
end of World War II in Europe, Plzeň was liberated from Nazi Germany by the
16th Armored Division of General
George Patton's
Third Army. Also participating in the liberation of the city were elements of the 97th and 2nd Infantry Divisions supported by the Polish
Holy Cross Mountains Brigade. Other Third Army units liberated major portions of Western Bohemia. The rest of
Czechoslovakia was liberated from German control by the Soviet
Red Army. Elements of the 3rd Army, as well as units from the 1st Army, remained in Plzeň until late November 1945. After the end of the war, the city's ethnic German minority population was
expelled and their property was confiscated in accordance with the provisions of the
Potsdam Agreement.
Communist era After the
1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état, the government launched a currency reform in 1953, which caused a wave of discontent, including the
Plzeň uprising. On 1 June 1953, over 20,000 people, mainly workers at the Škoda Works, began protesting against the government. Protesters forced their way into the town hall and threw communist symbols, furniture and other objects out of the windows. The protest caused a retaliation from the government, which included the destruction of the statue of
Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, the first president of Czechoslovakia. The statue has since been re-erected. ==Demographics==