Legions and the Duchy of Warsaw
where the most important battles of the Polish Legions in Italy took place;
to indicate the location of the Duchy of Warsaw on the map;
to describe the system and territory of the Duchy of Warsaw, its achievements and failures.
On January 9, 1797, at the initiative of Jan Henryk Dąbrowski, Polish Legions were founded in Italy. Already after several months, the number of legionnaires has grown to over 8,000. Initially, the legions fought with the Austrian army in Italy and then all over Europe (including Switzerland, the Netherlands and Bavaria), and after the conclusion of the peace in Luneville in 1801, some of them were sent to San Domingo. Out of 6,000 soldiers only a few hundred returned to Europe after a few years. In total, 20,000 people were killed of the 35,000 who passed through the legionary ranks. The Duchy of Warsaw was created under the French‑Russian peace treaty signed in Tilsit in July 1807. Poles recovered 1/7 of the former territory of the Republic. Two years later, after the well‑fought battle of Raszyn (19 April 1809) under Prince Józef Poniatowski, and the defeat of Austria by Napoleon in the next war, the boundaries of the Duchy of Warsaw expanded significantly. The Duchy was a constitutional monarchy connected in the personal union with Saxony. It was dependent on France and also constituted its military and economic base. The failure of Napoleon's campaign against Russia resulted in its eradication in 1815.
On which front were these battles fought? Drag the items to the right places.
Battle of Trebbia, Battle of Hohenlinden, Battle of Marengo, Battle of Mantua
| on the Italian front | |
|---|---|
| on the German front |
Listen to the recording. Characterize the differences regarding the service of Poles in the partitioned armies and in the Dąbrowski Legions.
After the Poles came under the foreign rule, the duty of military service became extremely onerous. It was not yet universal, only peasants and the poorer urban population were subject to it. In Russia, Prussia and Austria, the so‑called contingent systemcontingent system
was in force at the time. In each province, censuses were made annually and the province received an appropriate contingent of recruits on their basis. Young boys who fell victims to conscription (referred to in the Russian partition as „branka”, and in the remaining partitions as „asenterunek” - „Assentierung” in German) were taken into the army for lifelong service. In Prussia, the front‑line service lasted 20 years, in Austria from 12 to 14 years, while in Russia a period of 25 years was obligatory. Therefore, the conscription to the army was tantamount to detachment from families for almost the entire life, it often meant permanent loss of a farm which was taken over by someone else, it was combined with the inability to establish a family. After years of service, meritorious veterans most often lived out their days as beggars. Before this happened, the service itself in foreign countries, among strangers, under incomprehensible command at the beginning, was a sequence of suffering and punishment. Flogging, meted out with a knout, also known as „przepędzanie przez rózgi” (chasing through rods), was infamous among them.
The soldiers of the Polish Legions, formed alongside Napoleon Bonaparte, were formally citizens of Lombardy, but they had the right to return to the Vistula, which was guaranteed by a contract, at the end of their war service. The legionnaire uniforms referred to the Polish uniforms, the military commands were also expressed in their native language. However, the banner of Polish Legions did not have Polish symbols. Its colors referred to the three colors of revolutionary France. It bore an inscription in Italian: „All free men are brothers”. General Jan Henryk Dąbrowski introduced the French command method in the Polish Legions and ensured their democratic character. Privates were allowed to be promoted based on merit, regardless of their social background. The internal judicature rejected the corporal punishment, popular in many armies of that time. Dąbrowski encouraged the legionnaires, many of whom were illiterate, to learn mathematics, history, geography and foreign languages. A few years later, after the creation of the Duchy of Warsaw, the first substitute of an independent Polish state, the obligatory military service in the ranks of his army concerned recruits aged 21‑27 and lasted for 6 years.
Compare the map of the Republic of Poland during the partitions with the map of the Duchy of Warsaw dating from 1807. Select the names of the territories of the Republic of Poland which did not belong to the Duchy of Warsaw in 1807.
- Podolia
- Podlachia
- Livonia
- Lesser Poland
- Volhynia
- Greater Poland
- Mazovia
Connect the following sentences into pairs.
a two-year occupation of the country by Russian troops and the eradication of the Duchy of Warsaw., was subordinate to the Emperor of the French., civil marriages and divorces., abolished personal serfdom of peasants, declared the establishment of the Kingdom of Poland., the Duchy of Warsaw significantly expanded its territory.
| The Constitution of the Duchy of Warsaw | |
| The General Confederation | |
| After the successful war with Austria in 1809 | |
| The failure of Napoleon's campaign against Russia resulted in | |
| The Napoleonic Code introduced | |
| The foreign policy of the Duchy of Warsaw |
Keywords
Duchy of Warsaw, Napoleon, Polish Legions, Jan Henryk Dąbrowski
Glossary
system kontyngentowy – system poboru rekruta.
konstytucja Napoleona – konstytucja nadana przez Cesarza Francuzów Księstwu Warszawskiemu w lipcu 1807 roku.
dekret grudniowy – dekret w sprawie chłopów, nadający im wolność osobistą, ale pozbawiający ich własności ziemi. Nadany przez władze Księstwa Warszawskiego jako rozwiniecie postanowień konstytucji.