Polish Legions (Napoleonic period)

Jan Henryk Dąbrowski, the most famous commander of the Polish Legions

Banner of the 1st Legion of the Polish Legions in Italy

Polish Legions soldier in Italy

Dąbrowski's entry into Rome

The Polish Legions, in the Napoleonic period, were several Polish military units that served with the French Army from the 1790s to the 1810s.

After the Third Partition of Poland (1795), many Poles believed that revolutionary France and her allies would come to Poland's aid. France's enemies included Poland's partitioners, Prussia, Austria and Imperial Russia. Many Polish soldiers, officers and volunteers therefore emigrated, especially to Italy (leading to the expression, "the Polish Legions in Italy") and to France, where they joined forces with the local military.

The number of Polish recruits soon reached many thousands. With support from Napoleon Bonaparte, Polish military units were formed, bearing Polish military ranks and commanded by Polish officers. They became known as the "Polish Legions" and were considered a Polish army in exile, under French command. Their Polish commanders included Jan Henryk Dąbrowski, Karol Kniaziewicz, Józef Wybicki and Antoni Amilkar Kosiński.

The Polish Legions serving alongside the French Army during the Napoleonic Wars saw combat in most of Napoleon's campaigns, from the West Indies, through Italy and Egypt. When the Duchy of Warsaw was created in 1807, many of the veterans of the legions formed a core around which the Duchy's army was formed serving under Józef Poniatowski. This force fought a victorious war against Austria in 1809 and would go on to fight alongside the French army in numerous campaigns, culminating in the invasion of Russia in 1812.

History

Jan Henryk Dąbrowski, a former high-ranking officer in the army of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, began his work in 1796 - a year after the total destruction of the Commonwealth - when he was summoned to Paris by Napoleon Bonaparte.^[1] He was soon authorised by the French-allied Cisalpine Republic to create Polish legions, which would be part of the army of the newly created Republic of Lombardy. He was also authorised to sign an agreement with the new government of the Republic of Lombardy, where the Republic agreed to create a second legion.

Dąbrowski's Legions were first used against Austrians in Italy, where Poles who had a natural sympathy for people fighting for their own independence saw the Italian cause for independence as similar to that of their own. Early on, the Legions, numbering about 6,000 and including many Polish deserters from the Austrian army, proved to be a valuable military asset; in March 1797 they garrisoned Mantua, later they quelled peasant unrest in Rimini and retook Verona. In May 1798 the Poles helped the French to capture and later, garrison, Rome. Later they fought the anti-French forces from the Kingdom of Naples, defeating them at Magliano on 1 December and Civita Castellana at 4 December. Later, the Polish Legion would take Gaeta fortress.

In 1798, General Józef Zajączek organized the Second Polish Legion under the French. In 1799, Karol Kniaziewicz organized the Third Legion (the Danube Legion) to fight against the Austrians in Bavaria.^[2] The Poles could not choose all their fights. Their morale weakened when, instead of being sent against the partitioners of Poland, they were used by the French to put down uprisings (like that in the Papal States). Particularly during treaty negotiations between the French and Austrians, the French were finding the Polish issue to be a problem. It was then that the future Polish national anthem, Mazurek Dąbrowskiego, was created by Józef Wybicki, with words promising 'the return of the Polish army from Italy to Poland'.

During the War of the Second Coalition, the First Legion fought against the Russians at Trebbia (17–19 June 1799) where it acted as the rearguard of retreating French forces. Polish legionaries under General Dądrowski fought at Novi (15 July 1799), where Russian and Austrian armies defeated the French army. The Second Legion suffered heavily; particularly in the first battles on the Adige (26 March, 4 April 1799) - where it also acted as the rear guard to the retreating French. It also suffered in the battle of Mantua (April-July), when French commander Foissac-Latour decided to release Polish soldiers under general Wielhorski into Austrian custody as Austrians claimed them to be deserters.^[1] Polish forces also fought in the battle of Hohenlinden on 3 December 1800.

According to the Treaty of Amiens's secret articles, France agreed to disband Polish legions. In 1802, France sent the legions (5,280 strong) to Haiti to put down the Haitian Revolution (on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, known then as French West Indies or St. Domingue. Napoleon wanted to regain the colony of Saint Domingue, but had no wish to deplete his main French army any more than he had to. Polish legions were accompanied by contingents of Germans and Swiss French allies, as well as by the less favoured units of Napoleon's French army.

Many Polish soldiers became sympathetic to the natives' cause. In Haiti it was (and still is) widely believed that Poles supported Jean-Jacques Dessalines in significant numbers, with entire units changing sides. The actual desertion rate was much lower (about 150 Polish soldiers joined the Haitian rebels). Combat casualties and tropical diseases (like yellow fever) reduced the 5,280 strong Legion to a few hundred survivors in the space of less than two years. By the time French forces retreated from the island in 1803, about 4,000 Poles were dead (either from disease or combat), about 400 remained on the island, a few dozen dispersed to the nearby islands or to the United States, and about 700 returned to France.^[3][4] Loss of that many patriotic army personnel was a serious blow to Polish aspirations for regaining independence. Further, the Haitian experience undermined the belief among Poles in France's good intentions toward Poland.

In 1806, what was left of the old Dąbrowski and Kniaziewicz's Legions was one infantry regiment and one cavalry regiment in the service of the Kingdom of Naples. Prussians created a 'Northern Legion' under General Zajączek. French armies, including the Legion units, defeated the Prussians in Saxony at the battle of Jena and Poles under Dąbrowski entered former Polish territories (near the city of Poznań), which resulted in the influx of recruits for the legion..^[2] A year later, Napoleon having defeated the Russian armies met with the Russian Tsar Alexander I at Tilsit and in the ensuing negotiations they agreed that a new, small Polish state under French control would be created.

Duchy of Warsaw after 1809

This state was known as the Duchy of Warsaw and although it was much smaller than the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, made up only of some of the lands the defeated Prussians had taken in the partitions of Poland (it would be expanded in 1809 to include a portion of the territories seized in the partitions by Austria), its creation brought hope to many Poles - and more Polish volunteers flocked to the French banners. Despite Polish support and his own promises, Napoleon did not hurry with the re-establishment of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The duchy was ruled by a French-allied King Frederick Augustus I of Saxony and was never allowed to develop as a truly independent state; Frederick Augustus' rule was subordinated to the requirements of the French raison d'état, who largely treated the state as a source of resources. The most important person in the duchy was in fact the French ambassador, based in the duchy's capital, Warsaw.

During the Peninsular War in Spain, Polish forces, rebuilt to an about 6,000 strong contingent and now known as the Vistula Legion gained fame at the Battle of Zaragoza.^[5] Other troops served in Napoleon's Imperial Guard. The Polish Chevauleger regiment distinguished itself at the Battle of Somosierra (1808). Another Polish cavalry regiment - the Vistula uhlans- fought in Spain as well. They distinguished themselves many times there, e.g. at the Battle of Albuhera (1811) where they destroyed a British infantry brigade. Their valour in that conflict inspired the British to create the English lancers equipped with Polish-style uniforms and weapons.^[2]

Napoleon in 1812

Polish Legions in San Domingo

In 1812 as Napoleon entered Russia the Poles and Lithuanians rallied to Napoleon's Grande Armée during invasion of Russia in the hope of resurrecting the Commonwealth. They formed the largest foreign contingent, 98,000 strong (the entire French Grande Armée was about 600,000 strong).^[2] Polish Lancers of the Vistula Legion were the first unit to cross the Neman River when the Grand Armee entered Russia, and the first unit to enter Moscow.^[2] They distinguished themselves in the battle of Borodino and, under Prince Józef Poniatowski (who personally saved Napoleon's life), were one of the units serving as the rear guard during Napoleon's retreat, it is said that just as they were the first to enter it, they were the last to leave Russia.^[2] They sustained heavy losses during the campaign: only 26,000 of the original 98,000 strong contingent have returned.^[2] The elite Vistula Legion entering Russia was about 7,000 strong; its strength at the end of the campaign was 1,500.^[5]

The end of the Polish Legions came with the end of Napoleon's career and the existence of the Duchy of Warsaw. The Duchy was occupied by Prussian and Russian troops following Napoleon's retreat from Russia. When Napoleon was forced into exile on Elba, the only unit he was allowed to have with him as the guards were the Polish Lancers.^[2] During the 1815 campaign (Napoleon's Hundred Days) 325 men under Colonel Golaszewski were the last of the famous Vistula Legion to fight under Napoleon.^[5] Poles remained loyal to him until the bitter end, with Polish units holding their ground at his last battles (battle of Leipzig and battle of Waterloo). In 1815, when the Duchy of Warsaw was formally partitioned between Prussia and Russia at the Congress of Vienna (in what is sometimes known as the Fourth Partition of Poland), and Napoleon relieved of his honour guard, the Legions ceased to exist. Yet even today the memory of Napoleon's Polish Legions is strong, and Napoleon himself is often regarded in Poland as a hero and liberator.^[6]

Notable members

• Jan Henryk Dąbrowski
• Stanisław Dunin-Wąsowicz
• Jan Konopka
• Karol Kniaziewicz
• Feliks de Melfort
• Józef Antoni Poniatowski
• Józef Wybicki

Quotes

Napoleon is quoted to have said that 800 Poles would equal 8000 enemy soldiers.^[7]

See also

• Great Emigration
• History of Poland (1795-1918)
• Polish–Russian War of 1792

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} In the Aftermath of the Partitions
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h} "Revolution and Rebirth". Kasprzyk.demon.co.uk. 1921-03-17. http://www.kasprzyk.demon.co.uk/www/history/Revolution.html. Retrieved 2011-09-08. 
3. ^ Pachonski, Wilson
4. ^ Urbankowski gives 6,000 sent and 330 returned
5. ^ ^{a b c} George Nafziger and Tad J. Kwiatkowski, The Polish Vistula Legion
6. ^ "Napoleon became the de facto liberator and restorer of Poland and, in the eyes of the Poles, their hero", Marian Kukiel, "Czartoryski and European Unity 1770-1861", page 78.
7. ^ The Duchy of Warsaw, 1807-1813

References

• Jan Pachonski, Reuel K. Wilson. Poland's Caribbean Tragedy: A Study of Polish Legions in the Haitian War of Independence 1802-1803. East European Monographs, 1986. ISBN 0-88033-093-7. review and notes on the book. (A new work by the late author of Legiony Polskie which contains some listings of officers in the Santo Domingo campaign. This is one of the best studies available at the moment in English on this campaign.)
• (Polish) Bohdan Urbankowski, Józef Piłsudski: marzyciel i strateg (Józef Piłsudski: Dreamer and Strategist), Wydawnictwo ALFA, Warsaw, 1997, ISBN 8370019145, p. 155-165 (chapter IV 'Legions', subchapter I 'Dzieje idei' (History of an idea))

Further reading

List based on the compilation of Polish Genealogical Society of America [1]

• Leonard Chodźko, Histoire Des Légions Polonaises en Italie, Paris, 1929. (Important first comprehensive study of the Polish Legions in Italy during the Napoleonic wars which contains many references to officers and enlisted men.)
• Elena I. Fedosova, Polish Projects of Napoleon Bonaparte, The Journal of the International Napoleonic Society, 1/2/98
• Bronisław Gembarzewski, Wojsko Polskie. Ksiestwo Warszawskie 1807-1814. Warszawa, 1905 (lst), 1912, (2nd) edition. (The best reference on the Army of the Duchy of Warsaw contains a list of officers of the Duchy of Warsaw from 1809 to 1814 as well as a list of officers of the Lithuanian Regiments in 1812.)
• Stanisław Kirkor, Legia Nadwislanska, 1808-1814. Londyn, 1981. (The best history of the Vistula Legion contains biographical sketches of all officers and sometimes includes not only the father's name but the mothers maiden name also. It also lists the recipients of Virtuti Militari and the Legion of Honour.)
• Stanisław Kirkor, Pod Sztandarami Napoleona, Londyn, 1982. (Under the Standards of Napoleon has lists of officers of the 4th, 7th and 9th Regiments of infantry of the Duchy of Warsaw which was the Polish Division in the service of France and Napoleon in Spain. It also lists the officers and enlisted men of the Elba Squadron and contains other articles about Napoleonic Polish officers.)
• Kozlowski, Historya lgo Potem 9go Pulku Wielkiego Ksiestwa Warszawskiego, Napisana Prez Kpt. Kozlowskiego, Poznań - Kraków, 1887. (Captain Kozlowski presents a history of the 1st and later 9th regiment of the Duchy of Warsaw.)
• Jan Pachonski, Legiony Polskie. Prawda i Legenda, 1794-1807. Warszawa, I-1969, II-1976, III-1971, IV-1979. (The most scholarly comprehensive work ever done on the Polish Legions which includes biographical sketches of practically all officers including birthplaces, parents' names as well as service records.)
• Jan Pachonski, Polacy Na Antylach i Morzu Karaibskim, Kraków, 1979. (Sketches of officers and some enlisted men who served in the various islands of the Caribbean during the Napoleonic wars.)
• Aleksander Rembowski, Żródła do Historii Pulku Polskiego Lekkokonnego Gwardii Napoleona I, Wyd. A. Rembowski, Warszawa, 1899. (The best book on the Polish Light Horse of the Guard contains a complete list of all officers and enlisted men with reference to their service records.)
• A.M. Skałkowski, Polacy Na San Domingo, 1802-1809. Poznań, 1921. (One of the best early works on the San Domingo war which lists most officers and some enlisted men.)
• Joseph Tyszkiewicz, Histoire Du 17ième Régiment De Cavalerie Polonaise Ðe Lanciers Du Comte Michel Tyszkiewlcz, 1812-1815. Cracow, 1904. (Limited edition regimental history of the 17th Lancers contains a complete listing of all officers and enlisted men of this so-called Lithuanian regiment.)
• Henry Lachougue; Ann Brown, The Anatomy of Glory, Napoleon and His Guard, Providence, R.I., London, 1962, (2nd) ed. New York, 1978, (3rd) ed.

Fiction

• Michael Large, Song of the Legions, 2011, a novel about the origin of the Polish Legion, ISBN 978-0-9568853-0-2.

External links

• History of the Vistula Legion
• Napoleon and the Duchy of Warsaw
• Polish Army of the Napoleonic Wars
• Napoleon.gery.pl