Greater Poland uprising (1794)
Greater Poland uprising of 1794 | |||||||
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Part of Kościuszko Uprising | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
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Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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The 1794 Greater Poland uprising (Polish: Powstanie Wielkopolskie 1794 roku) was a military insurrection by
Origins
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/75/POL_J%C3%B3zef_Niemojewski.jpg/150px-POL_J%C3%B3zef_Niemojewski.jpg)
The outbreak of
Rebellion
The initial center of the uprising was the
A Polish corps under Jan Henryk Dąbrowski captured Bydgoszcz on 2 October and entered Pomerania almost unopposed.[1][4] Dąbrowski planned to winter in Bydgoszcz and then move through Toruń, but because of Kościuszko's defeat at the Battle of Maciejowice he decided instead to evacuate Wielkopolska and make his way into central Poland.[1] Although thanks to the mobility of his forces he evaded being encircled by a much less mobile Prussian army, the Prussians recaptured most of the gains made by the insurrectionists in the previous few months.[1]
Dąbrowski unsuccessfully tried to convince Kościuszko's successor, Tomasz Wawrzecki to move the insurrection from central Poland to the Prussian partition.[1] On 17 November 1794, the last Polish units in central Poland capitulated to the Russians at Radoszyce.[5] In Wielkopolska sporadic guerrilla fighting continued until mid-December. The uprising almost got a second life when a hero of the fighting in Warsaw and one of Kościuszko's colonels, the shoemaker Jan Kiliński (who had been born in Trzemeszno), arrived in Wielkopolska to try to reorganize the Polish forces.[1] However, he was soon captured by the Prussians and handed over to the Russians.[1]
With the end of the uprising, Dąbrowski was offered commissions in the Russian and Prussian armies but turned these down and emigrated abroad.
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Marek Rezler, "Powstanie Wielkopolskie", Rebis, Poznan, 2008, pg. 12-15
- ^ Marek Rezler, "Powstanie Wielkopolskie", Rebis, Poznan, 2008, pg. 12 "Insurrectionist units were formed, however, initially these did not have the support of Tadeusz Kościuszko, who wished to avoid a war on two fronts"
- ^ Jerzy Topolski, "An outline history of Poland", Interpress, 1986, pg. 144, [1]
- ^ a b Hugh Chisholm, "The Encyclopædia britannica: a dictionary of arts, sciences, literature and general information, Volume 15", The Encyclopædia Britannica Company, 1911, pg. 915, [2]
- ^ William Fiddian Reddaway, "The Cambridge history of Poland: from Augustus II to Pilsudski (1697-1935), Volume 1", CUP Archive, 1950, pg. 172, [3]
- ^ Piotr Stefan Wandycz, "The lands of partitioned Poland, 1795-1918", University of Washington Press, 1974, pg. 25, [4]
- ^ Norman Davies, "God's playground: a history of Poland in two volumes", Oxford University Press, 2005, [5], pg. 216
- ^ Henry L. Gaidis, "Napoleon's Lithuanian Forces", Lithuanian Quarterly Journal of Arts and Sciences, Volume 30, No.1 - Spring 1984, [6]