Duchy of Warsaw
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Duchy of Warsaw | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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1807–1815 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Frederick Augustus I | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Prime Minister | |||||||||||||||||||||||
• 1807 | Stanisław Małachowski | ||||||||||||||||||||||
• 1807–1808 | Ludwik S. Gutakowski | ||||||||||||||||||||||
• 1808–1809 | Józef Poniatowski | ||||||||||||||||||||||
• 1809–1815 | Stanisław K. Potocki | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Legislature | Sejm | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Senate | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Chamber of Deputies | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Historical era | Napoleonic Wars | ||||||||||||||||||||||
9 June 1807 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
22 July 1807 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
19 April 1809 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
14 October 1809 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
24 June 1812 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
9 June 1815 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Currency | Złoty | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Duchy of Warsaw (
The duchy was held in
History
The area of the duchy had already been liberated by
The Duchy of Warsaw was officially created by French Emperor
The newly recreated state was formally an independent duchy, allied to France, and in a personal union with the Kingdom of Saxony. King Frederick Augustus I of Saxony was compelled by Napoleon to make his new realm a constitutional monarchy, with a parliament (the Sejm of the Duchy of Warsaw).
The Varsovian duchy was never allowed to develop as a truly independent state; Frederick Augustus' rule was subordinated to the requirements of the French
In 1809, a short war with
Peninsular War
Napoleon's campaign against Russia
As a result of Napoleon's campaign in 1812 against Russia, the Poles expected that the duchy would be upgraded to the status of a kingdom and that during Napoleon's invasion of Russia, they would be joined by the liberated territories of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Poland's historic partner in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. On June 28, the Sejm formed the General Confederation of the Kingdom of Poland, establishing a system of government similar to the former commonwealth with the hope of reclaiming the partitioned territories. However, Napoleon did not want to make a permanent decision that would tie his hands before his anticipated peace settlement with Russia, and did not recognize the confederation of June 28. Nevertheless, he proclaimed the attack on Russia as a second Polish war and allowed the Lithuanian Provisional Governing Commission to fall under Polish influence.
Any peace settlement or restoration of Poland-Lithuania were not to be, however. Napoleon's Grande Armée, including a substantial contingent of Polish troops, set out with the purpose of bringing the Russian Empire to its knees, but his military ambitions were frustrated by his failure to supply the army in Russia and Russia's refusal to surrender after the capture of Moscow; few returned from the march back. The failed campaign against Russia proved to be a major turning point in Napoleon's fortunes.
After Napoleon's defeat in the east, most of the territory of the Duchy of Warsaw was occupied by Russia in January 1813 during their advance on France and its allies. The rest of the duchy was restored to Prussia. Although several isolated fortresses held out for more than a year, the existence of the Varsovian state in anything but the name came to an end. Alexander I of Russia created a Provisional Highest Council of the Duchy of Warsaw to govern the area through his generals.
The Congress of Vienna and the Fourth Partition
Although many European states and ex-rulers were represented at the Congress of Vienna in 1815, the decision-making was largely in the hands of the major powers. It was perhaps inevitable, therefore, that both Prussia and Russia would effectively partition Poland between them; Austria was to more-or-less retain its gains of the First Partition of 1772.
Russia sought all territories of the Duchy of Warsaw. It kept all its gains from the three previous partitions, together with Białystok and the surrounding territory that it had obtained in 1807. Its demands for the whole Duchy of Warsaw were denied by other European powers.
Prussia regained some of the territory it had lost to the Duchy of Warsaw in 1807: a portion of what it had conquered in the Second Partition. The
The city of Kraków and some surrounding territory, previously part of the Duchy of Warsaw, were established as the semi-independent Free City of Cracow [sic], under the "protection" of its three powerful neighbors. The city's territory measured some 1,164 km2 (449 sq mi), and had a population of about 88,000 people. The city was eventually annexed by Austria in 1846, becoming the Grand Duchy of Kraków.
Finally, the bulk of the former Duchy of Warsaw, measuring some 128,000 km2 (49,000 sq mi), was re-established as what is commonly referred to as the "Congress Kingdom" of Poland, in a personal union with the Russian Empire. This broadly corresponded to the Prussian and Austrian portions of the Third Partition (apart from the area around Białystok) plus around half of Prussia's Second Partition conquests and a small part of Austria's First Partition gains. De facto a Russian puppet state, it maintained its separate status only until 1831 when it was effectively annexed to the Russian Empire. Its constituent territories became the Vistula Land in 1867.
Government and politics
Constitution
The Constitution of the Duchy of Warsaw could be considered liberal for its time. It provided for a bicameral Sejm consisting of a Senate and a Chamber of Deputies. A Council of Ministers functioned as the executive body of the duchy. Serfdom was partially abolished, as the serfs were granted personal freedom without gaining any economic liberties or privileges. All classes were to be equal before the law, although the nobility was still greatly favoured as members of the Sejm. While Roman Catholicism was the state religion, and religious tolerance was also guaranteed by the constitution.
Administrative divisions
The
There were 6 initial departments, after 1809 (after Napoleon's defeat of the Austrians and the Treaty of Schönbrunn) increased to 10 (as the duchy territory increased). Each department was named after its capital city.
In January 1807:
- Warsaw Department (Polish: Departament warszawski)
- Poznań Department (Polish: Departament poznański)
- Kalisz Department (Polish: Departament kaliski)
- Bydgoszcz Department (Polish: Departament bydgoski)
- Płock Department (Polish: Departament płocki)
- Łomża Department (Polish: Departament łomżyński) – for the first few months known as Białystok Department (Polish: Departament białostocki)[citation needed]
The above 6 departments were divided into 60 powiats.
Added in 1809:
- Kraków Department (Polish: Departament krakowski)
- Lublin Department (Polish: Departament lubelski)
- Radom Department (Polish: Departament radomski)
- Siedlce Department (Polish: Departament siedlecki)
Military
The duchy's armed forces were completely under French control via its war minister, Prince Józef Poniatowski, who was also a Marshal of France. In fact, the duchy was heavily militarized, bordered as it was by Prussia, the Austrian Empire, and Russia, and it was to be a significant source for troops in various campaigns of Napoleon.
The duchy's army was of considerable size when compared to the duchy's number of inhabitants. Initially consisting of 30,000 of regular soldiers (made up of both
Economy
The heavy drain on its resources by forced military recruitment, combined with a drop in exports of grain, caused significant problems for the duchy's economy. To make matters worse, in 1808 the French Empire imposed on the duchy an agreement at Bayonne to buy from France the debts owed to it by Prussia.[12] The debt, amounting to more than 43 million francs in gold, was bought at a discounted rate of 21 million francs.[12]
Although the duchy made its payments in installments to France over a four-year period, Prussia was unable to pay it (due to a very large indemnity it owed to France), causing the Polish economy to suffer heavily. Indeed, to this day the phrase "sum of Bayonne" is a synonym in Polish for a huge amount of money.[12] All these problems resulted in both inflation and over-taxation.
To counter the threat of
Geography and demographics
According to the
Altogether, the duchy had an initial area of around 104,000 km2 (40,000 sq mi), with a population of approximately 2,600,000. The bulk of its inhabitants were Poles.[13]
Following the annexation in 1809 of Austrian West Galicia and the district of Zamość (Zamoscer Kreis ), the duchy's area increased significantly, to around 155,000 km2 (60,000 sq mi), and the population also substantially increased, to roughly 4,300,000.
According to the 1810 census, the duchy had a population of 4,334,000, of whom a clear majority were ethnic Poles. Jews constituted 7% of the inhabitants (perhaps an underestimation), Germans - 6%, Lithuanians and Ruthenians - 4%.[14]
Legacy
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Superficially, the Duchy of Warsaw was just one of the various states set up during Napoleon's dominance over Eastern and Central Europe, lasting only a few years and passing with his fall. However, its establishment a little over a decade after the Second and Third Partitions, that had appeared to wipe Poland off the map, meant that Poles had their hopes rekindled of a resurrected Polish state. Even with Napoleon's defeat, a Polish state continued in some form until the increasingly autocratic Russian state eliminated Poland once again as a separate entity. Altogether, this meant that an identifiable Polish state was in existence for at least a quarter of a century.
At the 200th anniversary of the creation of this iteration of the Polish state, numerous commemorative events dedicated to that event were held in the Polish capital of Warsaw. In addition, the Polish Ministry of Defense asked for the honor of holding a joint parade of Polish and French soldiers to which President Nicolas Sarkozy agreed.[15]
See also
- History of Poland (1795–1918)
- Polish Legions (Napoleonic period)
- Legion of the Vistula
- 1st Polish Light Cavalry Regiment of the Imperial Guard
- Army of the Duchy of Warsaw
- Greater Poland Uprising (1806)
- Congress Poland
- List of French possessions and colonies
References
- ^ "A Guide to the United States' History of Recognition, Diplomatic, and Consular Relations, by Country, since 1776: Poland". US Department of state.
- ISBN 9781316620038.
- ISBN 978-0-8117-0828-9.
- S2CID 247911190.
- ISBN 978-0-85773-677-2.
As a result of this, the Duchy of Warsaw was created.... Nevertheless, although a French puppet state, the Duchy was...
- ISBN 978-1-84415-260-5.
- ISSN 0358-5522.
- ISBN 978-1-349-23436-3, retrieved 2023-05-10
- ISBN 9780698176287. chap. 19(no pg. no. in e-book).
- ^ Kolonizacja niemiecka w południowo-wschodniej cześci Królestwa Polskiego w latach 1815-1915 Wiesław Śladkowski Wydawn. Lubelskie, 1969, page 234
- ISBN 978-0-295-80361-6.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-295-95358-8. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
- ^ "ВАРШАВСЬКЕ КНЯЗІВСТВО [Електронний ресурс]". ІНСТИТУТ ІСТОРІЇ УКРАЇНИ. НАЦІОНАЛЬНА АКАДЕМІЯ НАУК УКРАЇНИ.
- ^ Czubaty, Jarosław (2016). The Duchy of Warsaw, 1807-1815: A Napoleonic Outpost in Central Europe. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 109.
- ^ "Rp.pl: Najważniejsze wiadomości gospodarcze, prawne i polityczne z Polski i ze świata. Aktualne wiadomości z dnia - rp.pl". www.rp.pl.
Further reading
- Martyna Deszczyńska. "'As Poor as Church Mice': Bishops, Finances, Posts, and Civil Duties in the Duchy of Warsaw, 1807-13," Central Europe (2011) 9#1 pp 18–31.
- E. Fedosova (December 1998), Polish Projects of Napoleon Bonaparte, Journal of the International Napoleonic Society 1(2)
- Alexander Grab, Napoleon and the Transformation of Europe (2003) pp 176–87
- Otto Pivka (2012). Napoleon's Polish Troops. Osprey Publishing. pp. 8–10. ]