Żurawski vel Grajewski, Przemysław - Poland in the Period of Partitions 1795–1914 (2015).pdf

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Radosław Żurawski vel Grajewski
Institute of History
University of Łódź
Poland in the Period of Partitions
1795–1914
1. The Polish cause during Napoleonic wars (1797–1815)
After the third partition of Poland in 1795, the Polish state had been
erased from the  political map of Europe for more than 120 years (see:
the map “The Partitions of the Polish – Lithuania Commonwealth 1772–
1795”). Nevertheless, the nation itself did not cease to exist. The collapse of
the state resulted in the emigration that although small in number was still
important for political and military reasons. Two organisations were created
in exile in France: the right wing of emigration was united in the Agency
(Agencja), while the left wing was organised under the name of
Deputation
(Deputacja). Both of them hoped that revolutionary France would be able
to help Poland to regain her independence. It was the  Agency that was
allowed by the French government to organise Polish troops to fight side
by side with the French revolutionary army. Soon, in 1797, the Polish Le-
gion under the command of General
Jan Henryk Dąbrowski
was formed in
Italy in the service of the Republic of Lombardy. It was incorporated as aux-
iliary forces into the French army in Italy led by General Napoleon Bona-
parte. For that Legion, a patriotic song known as “Dąbrowski’s Mazurka”
(that later became the Polish national anthem) was composed by Józef
Wy-
bicki,
a Polish patriot and poet, one of the members of the Agency. Another
Polish legion was organised by General
Karol Kniaziewicz.
It was formed
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Radosław Żurawski vel Grajewski
in the direct service of the French Republic to fight in Germany and was
named the Danube’s Legion. Both legions took part in all French military
campaigns of those times fighting against Austrian and Russian troops in
Italy, Switzerland and Germany until the armistice of Lunéville (1801) that
ended the war between France and Austria. After the peace had been secured,
the French government got rid of no more needed Polish legionnaires and in
1802 sent some of them to San Domingo (Haiti). The Poles were forced to
fight the Negro’s rebel in that remote island situated in the Caribbean Archi-
pelago. Most of them died there infected with tropical diseases. In spite of
that bitter end, the Polish legions played a very important role maintaining
the idea of independence of the country. Legionnaires wore Polish uniforms
in traditional Polish colours; they served under Polish command and Polish
standards. More than 25 000 soldiers served in the legions during the five
years of their history. This Polish army in exile was a true symbol of the inde-
pendence of the country. Although its members were actually soldiers with-
out the state, they sang the first words of “Dąbrowski’s Mazurka” – “Poland
has not succumbed yet, as long as we remain”.
There was a short break in the Napoleonic wars following the peace
treaty of Amiens. The dreams of the Poles hoping to liberate their home-
land with the  help of the  French Republic did not come true. In 1804
France ceased to be a republic and became an empire. Napoleon Bonaparte,
who as the Commander-in-Chief of the French Army of Italy had helped
the Poles to organise the legions, became emperor. He defeated Austrian
and Russian army in the battle of Austerlitz in 1805 and in 1806 Napole-
onic troops marched across Germany and crushed two Prussian armies at
Jena and Auerstädt. Soon the French entered the Prussian part of the for-
mer Polish state. Within two years Napoleon defeated the  armies of all
the states that had participated in the partitions of Poland and in this way
became almost a Polish national hero. While French troops were approach-
ing the former Polish borders, Polish uprising broke out in Great Poland
(or Major – Poland
Wielkopolska)
– that is in the Prussian part of the coun-
try. Although a military power of the Kingdom of Prussia had been crushed
in 1806, the Tsar of Russia, Alexander I, decided to intervene in favour of
Prussia, hence the war proclaimed by Napoleon as “the Polish War” lasted
until 1807. New Polish detachments were organised under the protection
Poland in the Period of Partitions 1795–1914
97
of Napoleon. The army of 30 000 soldiers grouped in the national forces
ready to fight for the  liberation of the  entire country had been formed
by the end of the war. Eventually, Napoleon signed a peace treaty with Al-
exander I in Tilsit (Tylża) in 1807. According to that agreement a so-called
Duchy of Warsaw
was created (see: the map “Poland 1807–1813”). It was
a  vassal state to the  French empire and consisted merely of the  territory
that had been taken away from Poland by Prussia in the second and third
partitions (1793 and 1795). This was augmented by a narrow strip of land
north of the Noteć River captured by Prussia in the first partition (1772)
but without the so called district of
Białystok
that was given by Napoleon
to Alexander I and thus became part of the Russian Empire then.
Gdańsk
was also lost by Prussia and proclaimed a free city under French protection.
The  king of Saxony became a  duke of the  Duchy of Warsaw. Although
the new state was merely a small scrap of the former Poland, it had its own
constitution, parliament (Sejm) and national army. Half of its troops (circa
15 000) was organised by Napoleon under the name of Vistula Legion and
sent to fight Spaniards. The Legion took part in some bloody campaigns
in Spain during the siege of Saragossa and covered themselves with glory
during the victorious charge in Somosierra ravine where Polish cavalierly
opened the way to Madrid for the French army. The glory was bitter though,
as the Poles knew very well that the Spaniards were fighting for their own
liberty too. Still there was hope that Napoleon would reciprocate the effort
and help rebuild a whole and independent Poland.
As soon as the new war with Austria broke out (1809) the Polish army
that remained in the Duchy of Warsaw under the command of Prince
Józef
Poniatowski
(a nephew of the last king of Poland) faced an Austrian inva-
sion. After the battle of Raszyn the Poles had to give up Warsaw, but then
they managed to reconquer the entire territory of former Poland that had
been taken by Austria in the third partition, the so called “New Galicia”.
Soon Napoleon defeated the main Austrian army in the battle of Wagram
and the war ended. It was the only victorious Polish war in the 19
th
century.
The Duchy of Warsaw was aggrandised as regards its territory and the num-
ber of inhabitants. All the  formerly Polish territory occupied by  Russia,
however, and the districts that had been taken by Austria and Prussia in
the first partition were under foreign rule. It was clear that without a new
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Radosław Żurawski vel Grajewski
war with the Russian Empire the resurrection of Poland would be impossi-
ble. The war the Poles hoped for broke out in 1812. Napoleon proclaimed
it to be “the Second Polish War”. About 100 000 Polish soldiers marched in
the ranks of the “Grand Armée” towards Moscow. Fighting both the Russian
troops and Russian winter they were finally defeated. After the  disaster at
the banks of the Berezyna River (near Studzianka village), only several thou-
sands of survivors, still carrying all their cannons and their standards, came
back to the Duchy of Warsaw at the beginning of 1813 followed by the vic-
torious Russians. Prince
Poniatowski
– Commander-in-Chief of the Polish
Army – refused the Russian proposal to join the anti-Napoleonic coalition.
Instead he decided to withdraw the Polish troops to Saxony where he fell in
action on the battlefield near Leipzig, shortly after Napoleon nominated him
Marshal of France. The Poles proved to be the most faithful ally of France
– both revolutionary and Napoleonic one. Some Polish troops took part in
the  spring campaign of 1814 in France, went together with Napoleon to
Elba, and even fought in the last battle of the Napoleonic campaign, Water-
loo. Although they were often betrayed and exploited as a tool of the French
policy, they knew very well that only the destabilisation of the political order
in Europe could bring them a chance for independence. It was France and
her emperor who fought Austria, Prussia and Russia – the three states that
had partitioned and enslaved Poland, so there was no other way but to join
the French and fight side by side against the common enemies.
2. Constitutional Kingdom of Poland as part
of the Russian Empire (1815–1830)
The outcomes of the period of the revolutionary and Napoleonic wars
fell short of Polish expectations, although they resulted in some important
profits. After the  third partition of Poland in 1795, there was no Polish
territory under Polish administration at all and even the name of Poland
itself was forbidden. In 1814, when the Congress of Vienna started to dis-
cuss a new shape of the map of Europe, the Duchy of Warsaw still exist-
ed, occupied by  Russian troops but under Polish administration. Polish
army was not dismissed when it returned from France to Poland. So once
Poland in the Period of Partitions 1795–1914
99
again it was difficult to erase the Polish state entirely. The Tsar, Alexander I,
wanted to maintain the Duchy of Warsaw under his sceptre. That territory
(created from former Prussian and Austrian parts of Poland) had never be-
longed to the Russian state before. Facing the opposition of Britain, Austria
and France he could not simply incorporate the entire Duchy into Russia.
Such a step would break the European balance of power, so according to
the decision of the Congress of Vienna, the Duchy of Warsaw was parti-
tioned. Great Poland, with its capital
Poznań,
was cut out and given back to
the Kingdom of Prussia;
Kraków
and a small territory around the city were
turned into a newly created Republic of
Kraków,
called also the Free Town
of
Kraków;
the rest under the name of the Kingdom
of Poland
was given
to the Tsar
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(see: the map “The former Polish territories after the Congress
of Viena in 1815”). Alexander I decided to give a liberal constitution of its
own to that new state and became King of Poland himself. Polish admin-
istration, Polish Diet (parliament), and army were maintained. He also
promised to reunite with the Kingdom those former Polish provinces that
had been annexed by Russia during the partitions, but it was never to be
done. In this way the liberal, constitutional Kingdom of Poland became an
autonomous part of the despotic Russian Empire. One can say that it was
a forced marriage between “the Beauty and the Beast”.
Soon it appeared that the Tsar was not going to observe the consti-
tution. He used to be an autocratic ruler in Russia and he could hardly
stand any opposition in the Polish Diet. He appointed his brother, Grand
Duke Constantin, Commander-in-Chief of the Polish army and thus made
him the  real governor of the  country. The  wild and cruel personality of
the Grand Duke was hardly acceptable to the Poles who really hated him.
In 1819, Major
Walerian Łukasiński
organised a conspiracy called the Na-
tional Freemasonry
(Wolnomularstwo
Narodowe)
and, in 1821, another
even more secret one known as the Patriotic
Society
(Towarzystwo
Patrio-
tyczne).
The main aim of those conspiracies was to unite again the whole
country, as it existed in 1772 and regain its independence. Illegal student
It was not as an integral part of the Russian Empire, but a separate state in personal
union with Russia often called the  Congress Kingdom to distinguish it from the former
Kingdom of Poland that existed before the partitions.
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