On 29 November 1830, 194 years ago, a group of young Polish officers decided to rebel against the Russian occupation of Warsaw and those who supported it. Consequently, the new Polish government waged a war against the Russian empire that lasted almost a year. It was the most successful attempt of Poles to regain independence after the third partition of Poland in 1795.
After years of tsarist persecution since the establishment of the Kingdom of Poland in the Vienna Treaty of 1815, the Polish society was furious because of systemic violations of the social contract.
The Polish Kingdom was ruled by the Russian Tsar Nicolas I who issued a liberal constitution for the new Polish statehood. The initial enthusiasm of Poles was broken through the persecution of patriotic groups, free trade and other social and political freedoms.
Interestingly the Polish army at the time stood at perfect military readiness and was even considered to be the intervening force in the process of establishing independent Belgium. Up until today, the Polish November uprising is considered one of the most important factors in the creation of Belgium.
The military drill of the Polish troops came at a high cost, as Grand Duke Konstanty humiliated the soldiers during heavy training and even made many young officers commit suicide.
At 6 p.m. Second Lieutenant Piotr Wysocki entered the Infantry Cadet School in Lazienki Park and led the cadets to the monument to Jan III Sobieski. They set off for the Belvedere, where the Grand Duke, son of Peter I, military governor of the Kingdom of Poland, was in office. The officers wanted to assassinate the hated governor of the Tsar and take vengeance for their friends.
The Grand Duke was able to leave the Belvedere. According to various legends, he used a female dress to escape the danger zone. Interestingly, until the last days of the uprising, Konstanty was verbally taking the side of the Poles, most probably because of his connection to the army that he created.
On 1 December 1830, Joachim Lelewel headed the Patriotic Society, which demanded the commencement of hostilities against the Russian army on the territory of the Kingdom. This was followed by the formation of the Provisional Government, with Prince Adam Czartoryski as its president. Negotiations on the Polish question began in Russia.
Historians regard such a conservative action as a mistake. Prince Franciszek Ksawery Drucki-Lubecki was sent to St Petersburg. There he was to demand that Nicholas I respect the provisions of the Constitution of 1815, but above all that Russian troops leave the territory of the Kingdom of Poland immediately.
Prince Drucki-Lubecki’s mission was unsuccessful. The Tsar imposed martial law on the partitioned territories and ordered the military commander Ivan Dybicz to suppress the uprising.
The brightest moment of the Uprising was surely the battle of Olszynka Grochowska. A much smaller Polish army was able to defeat the intervening Russian force of 60 thousand soldiers and almost 180 cannons.
One of many problems of the National Government was the lack of faith in victory among the top-ranked politicians.
Unfortunately, the lack of adequate decisions led to the collapse of Warsaw and then, the quick fall of the Uprising.
After the defeat little remained of the autonomy of the Kingdom of Poland. The constitution of 1815 was abolished, and the so-called Organic Statute was introduced, with a provision that the Kingdom would be annexed to the Russian state forever.
The symbol of those times was the construction of the Warsaw Citadel as the Russian garrison, but also a political prison and a place of death and torture for the next generations of Polish patriots.
Tomasz Modrzejewski
Source: Polskie Radio
Photo: @LeszekLubicki
