Greater Poland Uprising of 1806 was a military insurrection by
Poles in
Wielkopolska (Greater Poland) against the occupying
Prussian forces after the
Partitions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (1772–1793).
The 1806 Greater Poland Uprising was organized by General
Jan Henryk Dąbrowski to help advancing French forces under
Napoleon I in liberating
Poland from Prussian occupation. The Wielkopolska Uprising was a decisive factor that allowed the formation of the
Duchy of Warsaw (1806) and the inclusion of
Wielkopolska in the Duchy of Warsaw.
It was one of the two most successful (entirely victorious) uprisings in the
history of Poland, in addition to the
Greater Poland Uprising of 1918-1919.
Contents
1 Historical background2 Mission of General Dąbrowski3 Uprising4 Pommeranian Campaign5 Aftermath6 References//
[
edit] Historical background
The
War of the Fourth Coalition between Napoleonic
France and
Kingdom of Prussia gave hope to the Polish inhabitants of
Greater Poland of recovering their independance.
Napoleon, counting on the benefits of gaining control over lands on the other side of Prussia, sent a group of emissaries to
South Prussia to collect information about the situation in the province and the sympathies of the Polish citizens. On
20 September 1806 the emperor issued orders to form a new
division from Polish deserters from the Prussian army. There were so many that two days later, Napoleon decided to form a second division.
The open conflict between France and Prussia ensured that Prussia could only maintain a small number of troops in Greater Poland. Moreover, a large portion of those solders were Polish nationals. This caused a great deal of trouble for Prussian commanders; for instance, between
1 November and
20 December, 3000 Polish troops (1/7th) deserted from the
Toruń Corps.
The low morale of Germans contributed to the French victory at the
battle of Jena-Auerstedt.
[
edit] Mission of General Dąbrowski
In order to organize a diversion on the back of Prussians, Napoleon chose General
Jan Henryk Dąbrowski, who was staying in Italy. This decision was intentional. Dąbrowski was chosen for this mission because he had a great respect in Greater Poland from his military leadership during the
uprising of 1794.
Napoleon sent a message to Dąbrowski on
5 October 1806, and on
22 October the General met with the Emperor at
Dessau. During this audience, Napoleon ordered Dąbrowski to go to
Poznań and organize regular Polish troops. After four days of preparation, Dąbrowski proposed to the French Emperor his plan of forming a Polish army of 40,000 soldiers. To realize this plan, Dąbrowski asked to have Polish officers from other napoleonic units sent to him, and on his special request,
Józef Wybicki was designated to become the future head of the civilian authorities. This group heard from Napoleon, who was already in
Berlin, that "[Poles] have to deserve independence" and, when asked whether he would create a Polish State, Napoleon answered: "If I see that Poles are worth being a nation".
[
edit] Uprising
Dąbrowski sent emissaries before him to
Poznań, to evaluate the situation. After they returned to the General with the news that the whole "region is full of patriotic spirit and joy about the success of the French Army", Dąbrowski and Wybicki entered the city on
3 November 1806 leading the first units of the French army. Their arrival became a large Polish patriotic demonstration. On this same day, Dąbrowski called Poles to stand with arms on Napoleon's side and fight against Prussian occupation. Dąbrowski and Wybicki created Voivodship Commissions (Komisja wojewódzka) whose tasks were to take administrative control and keep the area quiet, preventing fights about social and economical issues.
Dąbrowski's and Wybicki's proclamation was enthusiastically adopted by the
bourgeoisie but with reserve by the
szlachta. Therefore, in the newly created
Poznań Department, Polish units were formed mostly in large urban areas like Poznań, and in the countryside, mobilisation was very slow.
In the
Kalisz Department, a special Proclamation for this area was announced on
9 November. Large centers of uprising fighters formed in
Kalisz and
Konin. On
10 November, Polish fighters engaged in battles against Prussian troops near
Ostrzeszów and
Kępno; then, on
13 November the uprising spread to the area around
Sieradz.
Poles had the most difficult fighting in the
Bydgoszcz Department. As Commander of the newly created Polish units in this region, General
Amilkar Kosiński had to fight against the largest Prussian troops in Greater Poland on one side and with an uncooperative French
intendent on the other one, using troops with very little training or experience.
Meanwhile, Dąbrowski was already creating a regular army, mobilising one man from each ten cottages, and on
3 December appointed the
pospolite ruszenie as auxiliaries to the regular troops. These regular Army units, alongside some irregular uprising troops, cleaned Greater Poland of some pockets of remaining Prussian units. An uprising spread in other regions, and in November, fighters took control over the
Jasna Góra fortress.
Mainly due to the action of Wybicki at the beginning of January 1807, the regular Polish army, organised like other Napoleon's armies, had 23,000 soldiers (20,000 of them were from the Poznań and Kalisz Departments). The French Emperor stayed in Poznań between
27 November and
12 December 1806.
[
edit] Pommeranian Campaign
On
1 January 1807, Dąbrowski was near
Łowicz, where he received from the hands of
Wincenty Krasiński a
bulawa of
hetman Stefan Czarniecki. The great merits of Dąbrowski and his popularity among soldiers weren't given much consideration, in the appointment of the Chief of the War Office in the Ruling Commission (szef Dyrekcji Wojny w Komisji Rządzącej).
Józef Poniatowski, who was unfavourable to Dąbrowski, was appointed instead. Napoleon chose him because he wanted to guarantee the cooperation of the Polish aristocracy. A large difference between Dąbrowski and Poniatowski was exemplified during the writing of the Polish Army Code. Poniatowski wanted to keep
corporal punishment, but Dąbrowski loudly opposed against it. To avoid this conflict, Napoleon decided that Polish Army would adopt the
French code.
On
3 January, French marshal
Louis Alexandre Berthier gave the order to existing units of planned divisions of Poznań and Kalisz Departments to form one
brigade from each Department. The Commander of the Poznań Brigade was General
Wincenty Axamitowski and the Kalisz Brigade was commanded by General
Stanisław Fiszer. Both brigades of infantry formed a division commanded by general Dąbrowski. Brigades were strengthened by 300
Polish cavalry units, in addition to the unit from the
Warsaw Department, that were both transformed in a unique regiment of cavalry commanded by the son of Jan Henryk Dąbrowski - Lt. Col.
Jan Michał Dąbrowski. All the units of the new division, that started their march on
7 January, had to meet in
Bydgoszcz.
Meanwhile, the units commanded by Amilkar Kosiński, which had been fighting against regular Prussian troops since December, won the battle of
Koronowo and marched to
Świecie, forcing the enemy to leave the town and securing this place of concentration for the newly created division.
Before the beginning of the new campaign, the main Polish troops were strengthened and reorganized into three divisions: Poznań Division commanded by J. H. Dąbrowski, Kalisz Division commanded by
Józef Zajączek and Warsaw Division commanded by Józef Poniatowski. Kalisz Division was sent to the
siege of
Grudziądz and the Warsaw Division moved northwards with the whole French Army in the direction of
Gdańsk. At this time, 6000 soldiers of the Poznań Division stayed near Bydgoszcz and later advanced on
Gniezno and
Tczew. Both towns were captured, but the Poles were forced to retreat by Prussian troops. Later on, Poniatowski ordered a part of the
pospolite ruszenie that weakened the Poznań Division to disband, which were returned as reinforcements on February 1807. After that, only the troops of Gen. Kosiński were fighting in this area.
After a reorganization, Poznań Division was composed of 6
battalions of
infantry, 3
squadrons of cavalry and 2,000 pospolite ruszenie commanded by Gen.
Michał Sokolnicki. On
15 February, cavalry again captured
Tczew, but was once again forced to retreat. 8 days later, on
23 February, the whole division attacked the town which was defended by a strong Prussian garrison. After 7 hours of battle, Poles captured Tczew, but Gen. Dąbrowski was wounded, forcing him to leave his division for a while, and his son was badly injured as well. Therefore, J. M. Dąbrowski was promoted to the rank of
Brigade General and moved to the Invalide Corps. After the battle, Gen. Kosiński became the new division commander.
Earlier, in January 1807, Dąbrowski had formed from the Poznań troops, a Division group commanded by Col. Garczyński. This unit captured
Piła,
Wałcz and
Wieluń. February 1807, Garczyński's group was subordinated to Gen. Kosiński and later, with some troops of pospolite ruszenie, was sent to fight near
Szczecinek. At this time, the troops of Sokolnicki captured
Słupsk and, later on, took part in the siege of Gdańsk, which surrendered in May. Also in May, Poznań Division, renamed as 3rd Polish Division, returned under the command of Gen. J. H. Dąbrowski. After the capture of Gdańsk, Polish troops fought also in
Masuria, including the
battle of Friedland.
[
edit] Aftermath
The Pomeranian Campaign was ended by the capitulation of
Königsberg on
15 June 1807, the later
treaties of Tilsit and the recognition of the
Duchy of Warsaw by the Kingdom of Prussia.
However, there was a more immediate effect. By the time of the uprising, the Prussian army, previously though invincible, had been fought to almost the point of total liquidation. Napoleon had destroyed the majority of the Prussian army only months after the declaration of war, and the only significant force loyal to the Prussian regime left was garrisoning Prussian Poland. These troops were expected to reinforce the Russians and continue fighting the French. With this Polish uprising supported by French military operations, this was no longer possible for the simple reason that outside a handful of Prussian units who managed to escape and join the Russians, the Prussian army had been completely and systematically wiped out. Russia would face France alone.
[
edit] References
Marek Rezler Jan Henryk Dąbrowski 1755--1818, Poznań 1982, Krajowa Agencja Wydawnicza
Jerzy Topolski,
Lech Trzeciakowski (red) Dzieje Poznania, tome II part 1 1793-1918, Warszawa-Poznań 1994, Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe
ISBN 83-01-11393-6
