Topic: Legions and the Duchy of Warsaw

Target group

6th‑grade students of elementary school

Core curriculum

XVIII. Napoleonic epoch. Pupil:

2. describes the circumstances of the creation of the Polish Legions and discusses their history;

3. describes the creation of the Duchy of Warsaw, its system and territory;

4. presents Napoleon's attitude to the Polish question and the attitude of Poles towards Napoleon.

General aim of education

You will learn and describe the circumstances of the creation and history of the Polish Legions, and the circumstances of the establishment of the Duchy of Warsaw, its system and territory

Key competences

• communication in foreign languages;

• digital competence;

• learning to learn.

Criteria for success
The student will learn:

• 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.

Methods/techniques

• expository

  • talk.

• activating

  • discussion.

• programmed

  • with computer;

  • with e‑textbook.

• practical

  • exercices concerned.

Forms of work

• individual activity;

• activity in pairs;

• activity in groups;

• collective activity.

Teaching aids

• e‑textbook;

• notebook and crayons/felt‑tip pens;

• interactive whiteboard, tablets/computers.

Lesson plan overview

Before classes

1. The teacher asks to read the chapter „Użyteczni Polacy” and do „Exercise 2” from the e‑textbook, and the chapter „Jak przekreślono rozbiory”. Students prepare a collection of illustrations at home, related to the uniforms and arming of the Dąbrowski Legions (e‑textbook resources, others from the Internet, albums, books). They take them to the lesson.

Introduction

1. The teacher talks with the students about the reasons why the Polish Legions in Italy were created, based on the material prepared before the lesson. The students check their solutions. Next, the teacher presents the students a brief summary of the actions of the Polish Legions in Italy using the map contained in the e‑textbook (expository method). Students do Exercise 1 on tablets / computers. The teacher makes sure that the exercise has been correctly performed and gives feedback.

2. The teacher gives the topic and explains what the lesson will be and what success criteria should be achieved by the students.

Realization

1. The teacher divides the students into two groups. The aim of the work will be to collect information on the situation of Polish soldiers in the armies of states that partitioned Poland and in the Polish Legions in Italy. Each group does Exercise 2 and makes a note on the sheet of basic information, creating a mind map. Group 1 - Poles in armies of partitioners. Group 2 - Poles in the legions of Jan Henryk Dąbrowski.

2. Students present the results of their work during the class. The teacher comments on the information provided, or alternatively supplements it with further information. He discusses with students the democratic experience that the Polish legionary era brought to the Poles. Students use the illustrations provided. The teacher asks: how do we know that the Legions were democratic? What did J.H. Dąbrowski mean when he wrote: „Not with numbers, but with attributes and virtue, we can draw [Europe's attention] on us”? what do they consider to be the greatest success of the Legions? What was Mazurek Dąbrowskiego?.

3. Students do Exercise 3. The teacher discusses the circumstances of the creation of the Duchy of Warsaw, and enlargement of its territory in 1809 using the maps from Task 1. Students do Exercise 4. The teacher always makes sure that the tasks have been correctly performed by the students and then gives them feedback.

4. The teacher presents the basic assumptions of the Constitution of 1807 and the decree of December.

Summary

1. The teacher asks: Which assumptions of the Constitution given by Napoleon had a revolutionary character for Poles and Polish women? How were they trying to limit their impact? Students do Exercise 5. Then, together with the teacher, they check the solutions and their correctness. The teacher provides feedback to students.

Homework

1. Homework (note, the homework is not an obligatory part of the scenario). The teacher proposes to create a presentation on legal changes introduced by Napoleon in the Duchy of Warsaw. He proposes an analysis of fragments of the constitution and the Civil Code.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Legions and the Duchy of Warsaw

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.