Short answers, pulled from the story.
Archaeological evidence from the Bronze Age, estimated between 2500 and 1700 BC, reveals the earliest human presence on the lands now known as Gdańsk. Excavations have uncovered traces of the Lusatian culture and an ancient trade route for amber known as the Amber Road.
The Teutonic Order massacred between one thousand commoners and local knights following a rebellion against Brandenburg forces, leaving the population reduced to approximately two thousand people before rebuilding efforts began in the mid-1320s. Lübeckers returned to the ruins, bringing back the pre-1308 town seal and establishing a German-dominated community.
Danzig remained part of Poland as an exclave separated from the rest of the country until the Second Partition annexed the city directly to the Kingdom of Prussia in 1793. Prussian authorities cut off shipping links with foreign ports under the pretext of preventing cattle plague outbreaks during this period.
The Battle of Westerplatte began on the 1st of September 1939 at 04:45 a.m. when German warships fired the first shots of World War II on a Polish military depot. This event marked the start of the conflict that would eventually lead to Soviet soldiers capturing the city in March 1945.
In August 1980, the Gdańsk Shipyard became the birthplace of the Solidarity trade union and political movement following anti-regime demonstrations that erupted in December 1970. The opposition movement sparked a series of protests that overthrew communist regimes across Eastern Europe by 1989.