Short answers, pulled from the story.
Warsaw became the capital of Poland in 1596 when Sigismund III Vasa transferred his royal court from Kraków to Warsaw. This decision transformed the town from a provincial outpost into the capital of the Polish, Lithuanian Commonwealth.
The German Nazi regime destroyed approximately 85 percent of Warsaw's buildings in 1944. This destruction included the historic Old Town and the Royal Castle, leaving the city physically erased before its reconstruction.
Mayor Sokrates Starynkiewicz served as the mayor of Warsaw from 1875 to 1892. He was appointed by Alexander III and oversaw the construction of the city's first water and sewer systems designed by William Lindley.
The Warsaw Uprising began on the 1st of August 1944 and lasted for 63 days. The armed struggle ended when Home Army fighters and civilians were forced to capitulate after the Red Army neared the city.
Warsaw's Old Town was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980. This designation recognized the city's deliberate reconstruction with a level of historical fidelity following its total annihilation in 1944.