Greater Poland Uprising of 1806

Greater Poland uprising of 1806 was a Polish military insurrection which occurred in the region of Wielkopolska, also known as Greater Poland, against the occupying"In 1772, before the Prussian occupation, only four Jewish families had lived there; in 1815, it numbered 233 Jewish inhabitants" ''A History of Modern Jewry: 1780–1815'', Raphael Mahler, page 364. Schocken Books Prussian forces after the Partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (1772–1795).

The uprising was organized by General Jan Henryk Dąbrowski to help advancing French forces under Napoleon in liberating Poland from Prussian occupation. The Wielkopolska Uprising was a decisive factor that allowed the formation of the Duchy of Warsaw (1807) and the inclusion of Wielkopolska in the Duchy of Warsaw.

Historical background

While the Kingdom of Prussia already possessed large Polish population in Upper Silesia, it gained additional Polish citizens during the partitions of Poland. From the beginnings of Prussian rule Poles were subject to a series of measures aimed against them and their culture, notably the Polish language was abolished in favour of German.Andrzej Chwalba – Historia Polski 1795–1918 Wydawnictwo Literackie 2000 Kraków pages 175–184, 307–312

The War of the Fourth Coalition between Napoleonic France and the Kingdom of Prussia gave hope to the Polish inhabitants of Greater Poland of recovering their independence and ending oppressive Prussian rule.

Napoleon, counting on the benefits of gaining control over lands on the other side of Prussia, sent a group of emissaries to South Prussia to collect information about the situation in the province and the sympathies of the Polish citizens. On 20 September 1806 the emperor issued orders to form a new division from Polish deserters from the Prussian army. There were so many that two days later, Napoleon decided to form a second division.

The open conflict between France and Prussia ensured that Prussia could only maintain a small number of troops in Greater Poland. Moreover, a large portion of those soldiers were Polish nationals. This caused a great deal of trouble for Prussian commanders; for instance, between 1 November and 20 December, 3000 Polish troops (¹/₇th) deserted from the Toruń Corps.

Mission of General Dąbrowski

In order to organize a diversion on the back of Prussians, Napoleon chose General Jan Henryk Dąbrowski, who was staying in Italy. Dąbrowski was chosen for this mission because he had a great respect in Greater Poland from his military leadership during the uprising of 1794.

Napoleon sent a message to Dąbrowski on 5 October 1806, and on 22 October the General met with the Emperor at Dessau. During this audience, Napoleon ordered Dąbrowski to go to Poznań and organize regular Polish troops. After four days of preparation, Dąbrowski proposed to the French Emperor his plan of forming a Polish army of 40,000 soldiers. To realize this plan, Dąbrowski asked to have Polish officers from other Napoleonic units sent to him, and on his special request, Józef Wybicki was designated to become the future head of the civilian authorities. This group heard from Napoleon, who was already in Berlin, that "oleshave to deserve independence" and, when asked whether he would create a Polish State, Napoleon answered: "I will see whether the Poles are worthy of being a nation".

Uprising

Dąbrowski sent emissaries before him to Poznań, to evaluate the situation. After they returned to the General with the news that the whole "region is full of patriotic spirit and joy about the success of the French Army", Dąbrowski and Wybicki entered the city on 3 November 1806 leading the first units of the French army. Their arrival became a large Polish patriotic demonstration. On this same day, Dąbrowski called Poles to stand with arms on Napoleon's side and fight against Prussian occupation. Dąbrowski and Wybicki created ''Voivodship Commissions'' (Komisja wojewódzka) whose tasks were to take administrative control and keep the area quiet, preventing fights about social and economical issues.

Dąbrowski's and Wybicki's proclamation was enthusiastically adopted by the bourgeoisie but with reserve by the szlachta. Therefore, in the newly created Poznań Department, Polish units were formed mostly in large urban areas like Poznań, and in the countryside, mobilisation was very slow.

In the Kalisz Department, a special Proclamation for this area was announced on 9 November. Large centers of uprising fighters formed in Kalisz and Konin. On 10 November, Polish fighters engaged in battles against Prussian troops near Ostrzeszów and Kępno; then, on 13 November the uprising spread to the area around Sieradz.

Poles had the most difficult fighting in the Bydgoszcz Department. As Commander of the newly created Polish units in this region, General Amilkar Kosiński had to fight against the largest Prussian troops in Greater Poland on one side and with an uncooperative French intendent on the other one, using troops with very little training or experience.

Meanwhile, Dąbrowski was already creating a regular army, mobilising one man from each ten cottages, and on 3 December appointed the pospolite ruszenie as auxiliaries to the regular troops. These regular Army units, alongside some irregular uprising troops, cleaned Greater Poland of some pockets of remaining Prussian units. An uprising spread in other regions, and in November, fighters took control over the Jasna Góra fortress.

Mainly due to the action of Wybicki at the beginning of January 1807, the regular Polish army, organised like other Napoleon's armies, had 23,000 soldiers (20,000 of them were from the Poznań and Kalisz Departments). The French Emperor stayed in Poznań between 27 November and 12 December 1806.

Pomeranian Campaign

On 1 January 1807, Dąbrowski was near Łowicz, where he received from the hands of Wincenty Krasiński a bulawa of hetman Stefan Czarniecki. The great merits of Dąbrowski and his popularity among soldiers weren't given much consideration, in the appointment of the Chief of the War Office in the Ruling Commission (szef Dyrekcji Wojny w Komisji Rządzącej). Józef Poniatowski, who was unfavourable to Dąbrowski, was appointed instead. Napoleon chose him because he wanted to guarantee the cooperation of the Polish aristocracy. A large difference between Dąbrowski and Poniatowski was exemplified during the writing of the Polish Army Code. Poniatowski wanted to keep corporal punishment, but Dąbrowski loudly opposed against it. To avoid this conflict, Napoleon decided that Polish Army would adopt the French code.

On 3 January, French marshal Louis-Alexandre Berthier gave the order to existing units of planned divisions of Poznań and Kalisz Departments to form one brigade from each Department. The Commander of the Poznań Brigade was General Wincenty Axamitowski and the Kalisz Brigade was commanded by General Stanisław Fiszer. Both brigades of infantry formed a division commanded by general Dąbrowski. Brigades were strengthened by 300 Polish cavalry units, in addition to the unit from the Warsaw Department

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