And again, another interesting find in a plowed field prompted me to study the historical event itself. And I must say that I liked the story, a huge amount of detailed material on the topic, the views of different historians, documents, reports, reports, newspaper articles and even printed memoirs of participants in the events. My isolated point of view on this issue was formed almost immediately, and with each source I read, this point only became stronger. And therefore, the whole history of the Polish rebellion of 1863-64 began to terribly remind me of a low-budget, teenage, black comedy, and now I’ll tell you why.
Where did it all start? The question is complex and, as always, each side of the conflict has its own truth. In general, this was the third rebellion of the Poles within the Russian Empire. Therefore, if you go into the history of the relationship between two neighboring peoples, you can reach the ancient Polish legend about the three brothers Ruse, Czech and Lech. Three brothers of the same father Pan, while hunting, dispersed in three different directions, where they began to trace their family. But I will not retreat that far in this note, otherwise I will have to describe the entire period of the Russian-Polish wars. Therefore, we will examine precisely the causes and consequences of the rebellion of 1863-64 in the context of a separate event, but taking into account that relations between Russia and Poland are justified claims and accusations against each other for almost a thousand years.
So, the middle of the 19th century, the territory of Poland is divided between Prussia, Austria and Russia. (See the topic about the three partitions of Poland). A number of separate laws apply to Polish territories, although the sovereignty that existed before 1831 was greatly limited after the suppression of the second uprising. And if you think that the Poles rebelled only in the territories that were part of the Republic of Ingushetia, then you are mistaken. In the territories of Austria and Prussia, uprisings, conspiracies, speeches and local riots occurred no less regularly. So to say that the Polish movement for independence in the 19th century was exclusively anti-Russian in nature is fundamentally incorrect and one-sided. And this is exactly how the history of the Polish uprisings is now presented.
And yet, where it all began? In the case of this particular rebellion, two events can be taken as a starting point. The first is the death of the governor of the Polish kingdom, Prince Paskevich. And the accession to the throne of Emperor Alexander II. General Paskevich, an outstanding Russian commander, commanded the military operation to pacify the Polish rebellion of 1830-31. After which he was appointed governor of the Kingdom of Poland. He served in this post until his death for 25 years. Contemporaries noted his determination and managerial talent. He was an irreconcilable opponent of any ideas about the independence of Poland, and therefore at the slightest suspicion of freethinking or the creation of secret societies, all activists were sent either to hard labor or to permanent settlement in the internal provinces of the Republic of Ingushetia. Paskevich created an effective and durable system of checks and balances in the administrative and political system of the Kingdom of Poland. Therefore, large magnates and noble nobles, who received privileges, benefits and government contracts, as well as occupied high administrative positions, were very loyal to Poland’s presence in the Republic of Ingushetia. In general, and as a whole, the state system and social structure were stable.
After Paskevich’s death, the system he had established began to fall apart. Many young and ambitious nobles, as well as representatives of the intelligentsia, perceived Paskevich’s departure as a kind of wind of change. In five years, six people have replaced the governor’s post. In 1856, the new Emperor Alexander II ascended to the Russian throne. According to established historical tradition, the young emperor bestowed his mercy on political prisoners. The practice of releasing political prisoners upon the coronation of a new emperor was so typical that in the Russian Empire until 1917, jokes regularly circulated among people about how in Kazan there were two stages, the first with officials and political prisoners stealing to Siberia, the second from there with the same contingent, but pardoned by amnesty.
And after the coronation of Alexander II, activists and participants in the last Polish rebellion began to return to Poland. How they were greeted in Poland? Yes, just like Ukrainian citizens recently met Nadezhda Savchenko. The comparison is absolutely appropriate and clear. This was followed by relaxations in the political and social life of the Kingdom of Poland. Censorship on the publication of individual Polish writers was lifted, a medical academy was opened (after the second rebellion, all higher educational institutions in the territory of the Polish kingdom were abolished, even the national library was transferred to St. Petersburg), 8,700 exiled Poles returned from Siberia under an amnesty, and so An Agricultural Society was established in Warsaw. According to the authorities, the society was supposed to help develop laws and regulations for the upcoming land reform. However, as time has shown, the Agricultural Society became the ideological center of the coming rebellion. 
Causes of the Mutiny.All the sources that I have worked with, from Wikipedia to analytical articles of the 19th century, cite dissatisfaction with Russian governance as the main reason for the rebellion. The phrase is vague and does not give a clear understanding of what, who and how exactly was dissatisfied. As usually happens in such cases, each person had his own personal motives, but the presence of unity of views united people. So what is the essence of discontent? Nothing new, everything is as old as the world itself. During the period of stability, the administrative system became bronzed and young, energetic people did not see prospects and vectors for applying their strength. Social and administrative elevators did not work. Promotion was based not on length of service and skills, but on connections, patronage and family ties. As expected, anger and intolerance were projected not onto local officials, consisting of the same Poles, but onto the central government. Therefore, independence, for many Poles dissatisfied with the existing system, seemed like a real solution to pressing issues and problems.
As a result of public discussions and meetings of secret societies, two political factions were formed. “Red” and “White”, please do not confuse it with the civil war in Russia itself 60 years later. The Whites advocated political dialogue with the Russian authorities and obtaining autonomy status within the framework of the constitution of 1815, then the transition to independence within the borders of the Kingdom of Poland in 1772. The Reds wanted to achieve independence through a military rebellion and a general uprising of the popular masses. In addition to the Whites and Reds, there was also a committee of Russian officers, consisting of Poles, retired officers who served in the army of the Russian Empire. Among the retired officers there was also no agreement on what methods to achieve independence. People who had real experience of military service, who went through the Crimean War and served in the Caucasus, understood perfectly well that without a nationwide uprising it would be impossible to defeat regular Russian troops.
Until a certain time, most of the rebellious sentiments were not taken seriously by the central government. They also could not come to a solution, how and by what methods, to solve the problem, with carrots or sticks. At the same time, intensive intelligence work was carried out, as a result, lists of moderate opposition and the most reactionary citizens were compiled. Negotiations were conducted with the moderate opposition on the principle of pacification and persuasion; preventive measures of a different nature were prepared for the “Reds”. The first mass protests of the Poles took place at the funeral of the widow of the Polish general Sowinski, who died during the Russian assault on Warsaw during the pacification of the second revolt of 1831. After the funeral, some of the townspeople who took part in the funeral procession went to the Orthodox cemetery and began spitting on the graves and picking flowers. This event was widely covered in the Russian press, which caused a sharp increase in anti-Polish sentiment.
Then events occurred on the anniversary of the start of the second Polish uprising. A significant number of residents of Warsaw (there are no data on the number) went out on a mass procession and… And according to Polish historians, they walked peacefully around the city, and according to Russian historians, they tried to break through to the arsenal of the Warsaw garrison. The soldiers opened fire, killing five and wounding about ten people. And, as they write in Polish sources, this event stirred up the entire Polish society with righteous anger. But if you look at it, that’s not all. A significant part of the population was indifferent to the ideas of the rebels, or looked at the situation soberly.
What the rebels were counting on(independence fighters)? Despite the fact that the driving force behind any popular uprising against the government is ardent and romantically minded young people, at the head of any rebellion there must be people who are practical, rational and have extensive experience. Otherwise, any uprising or rebellion is doomed to be suppressed within a short time. Of course, the plan for the uprising was worked out and discussed at numerous secret meetings with retired officers. The experience of the second Polish revolt and the war for the unification of Italy was taken into account. In the latter case, the French Emperor Napoleon III made a great contribution to the war for the independence of the Italian provinces from Austria. It is unknown whether there were decisions between the leaders of the upcoming rebellion and the French government, but all historical sources indicate that the Polish rebels, when planning their actions, actually counted on the military intervention of the French.
This was the plan.
- Create the most extensive clandestine network of underground organizations throughout the entire territory of the Kingdom of Poland.
- Conduct campaigning and recruitment of activists and patriots.
- On the appointed day, on a common front, immediately in dozens of places throughout Poland, and, if possible, in the territories that were part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, attack military garrisons and arsenals in order to seize small arms and cannons.
- Unification of detachments and a full-scale attack against Russian troops.
- General battle and victory over the Russians. The implementation of this point was necessary in taking into account the experience of the Polish uprising of 1794. Then the broad masses of the people joined the rebels after the first significant military victory – the Battle of Racławice. What led to the rebellion in Warsaw «Warsaw Morning» and the capture (liberation) of the Capital of Poland by rebels (patriots)
- Determination with the national leader of the uprising. Transferring the functions of the ruler to him.
- Declaration of an independent state.
- Alliance treaty with France and receiving foreign military assistance.
- Military victories, negotiations and peace with Russia, recognition of the independence of Poland.
Procession of a squad of rebels. The drawing well reflects the story of who initiated the rebellion and who he inspired.
Separately, the Polish rebels hoped that their uprising would encourage the revolutionary masses within Russia itself to take active military action against the autocracy. They learned this fact for themselves after reading Herzen’s works.
The beginning of the rebellion.The formal reason for the start of the uprising was the announcement of a new recruitment on the territory of the Kingdom of Poland. For obvious reasons, the lists of conscripted recruits included all active members of the underground cells of the “reds” and all activists of the “whites” fit for conscription, as well as a number of active citizens of military age who were members of other social groups. What did this mean? First of all, it became clear to all the conspirators that they had been exposed. Despite the secrecy measures taken, when the underground organizations consisted of cells of three people. Each participant knew only his troika and his guide. There were no lists, and there were only our own people everywhere. All this turned out to be useless; the employees of the first Expedition of the III Department of the Imperial Chancellery (political investigation, monitored the “state of mind”) knew everything about the conspiracy and all the conspirators by name.
Activists subject to mobilization, more than 6,000 people in total, fled Warsaw to the countryside where they began to form their own units. The rebellion had to start urgently. January 10, 1863 was designated as the general day of the uprising. They did so, but immediately everything did not go as planned. In different parts of the Kingdom of Poland, attacks were simultaneously carried out on military garrisons. There were approximately 25 armed attacks in total. How to say armed? On average there are four guns and a couple of revolvers per hundred rebels. Just from this example one can understand the level of preparation for the uprising and its future prospects. But this did not diminish the ardor of the rebels at all. There were some local victories, or rather, successes that were presented in retellings as great victories of the rebels.
For example: Collision near Tselkovo.In European sources, the battle of Tselkovo. On January 10, 1863, the commander of the regular troops in Polotsk, General Semeka, was informed that rebels began to gather in the area of the village of Tselkovo. To eliminate the rebellion, a company of infantrymen, 80 people, was sent under the command of Colonel Kozlyanikov. The colonel, having arrived at the place, learned from local residents that teenagers aged 15 to 25 years had gathered in the estate of a local gentleman, near the village. The rebels have one hunting rifle, two revolvers and axes. (Please evaluate the level of preparedness for the mutiny) Kozlyannikov gives the order to the soldiers to unload their guns and not point bayonets, so as not to accidentally lead to bloodshed. The soldiers surrounded the estate in an open chain and Kozlyanikov went to negotiate with the rebels. The colonel promised that only the instigators would be punished, while the rest could safely go home. The commander of the rebel detachment turned out to be a retired Austrian officer, hussar Alexander Rogolinsky. He refused to negotiate and fired a shot at Colonel Kozlyanikov from the gun he had. The colonel was wounded and only after that the soldiers began to hastily load their guns; seeing this, Rogolinsky gave the order to go into hand-to-hand combat. The effect of surprise, the numerical advantage of the rebels was about a hundred people, the stretched formation of the Russian soldiers, all this determined the victory of the rebels. As a result, 17 soldiers were killed, including Colonel Kozlyanikov, 43 were wounded and captured, 18 people managed to retreat and, under the leadership of Lieutenant Ponomarenko, reach the location of their unit. The rebels received war trophies of fifty rifles with bullets and gunpowder, and they released the prisoners the next day, taking from them an oral promise not to fight against the Poles anymore.
Rogolinsky was wounded in a clash, his eye was knocked out with a butt, two days later the officer left the detachment and went to Warsaw for treatment. Then he fled to France, his own detachment was defeated a few days later when trying to attack a column of regular troops. And we can evaluate from this example what the effect and result of the first day of the rebellion was, because the clash near Tselkovo was presented as the most successful battle of the beginning of the uprising on the territory of the Kingdom of Poland.
General leadership of the uprisingtook over the Central National Committee in 1863, transformed into the Provisional National Government (Zhond Narodovo), in the territories captured by the rebels, the Government began to introduce new military laws. This included printing their own banknotes; people quickly called them receipts, and no one wanted to trade with unsecured securities. Therefore, the rebels simply took away food and other necessary household items by force at gunpoint. One of the indicative indications of the GNP was the law on a complete ban on the sale and production of vodka and other alcoholic products in rebel-controlled territories. It quickly became clear that the rebel detachments in the occupied territories were drinking, partying and committing numerous outrages. In fact, no one observed this law, and the sale of alcohol was carried out semi-underground, from which it brought fabulous profits.
Leader of the rebellion. This point of the plan somehow also didn’t work out right away. It was not possible to find our heroes in the first month, there were no commanders of units with resounding victories, and even the main investor of the rebellion — France wanted to see its own person at the head of the entire event. Therefore, on February 19, Louis Mieroslawski secretly arrived in Warsaw from France. Louis himself was an experienced rebel. At forty-nine years old, he had extensive experience in underground and insurgent work. As a young man, he took part in the second Polish uprising of 1830. After the suppression of the rebellion he emigrated to France. There he worked for a long time in various radical nationalist organizations. In 1845, he took an active part in preparing the uprising in the Polish territories within Prussia. He was appointed commander-in-chief. But the conspiracy was discovered and most of its participants were sentenced to death. However, there was a revolution in Berlin, Mieroslawski escaped from prison and returned to France. Then, participated in several military companies as a volunteer. In Sicily, in Badan, and even was the commander of the international legion under Garibaldi. Therefore, when the question arose about the appointment and recognition of the dictator of the uprising, the candidacy of Louis Mierosławski was approved almost unanimously.
To consolidate the authority of the newly elected dictator, he needed a resounding victory. He was provided with all possible resources for this. But first we needed to assemble our own squad. Mierosławski chose a forest near the village of Krzywozondz on the border with Austria as the location and gathering place for the detachment. Within a week, about a hundred young guys and several small detachments joined him. As a result, Mieroslawski’s detachment numbered approximately five hundred people and twenty horsemen. There is no information about the detachment’s weapons, but the presence of a sufficient number of army rifles is mentioned in the sources.
It was difficult to hide the concentration of such a large number of rebels, especially since the Polish peasants did not support the ideas of the rebels, and also did not want to feed them for free for some lofty ideas. Therefore, already on February 18, 1863, the commander of the regular troops in the region, Colonel Yuri Schilder-Schuldner (a good name for the work of a speech therapist, I myself was only able to read it the third time) received detailed and comprehensive information about the composition and location of the rebel detachment. A detachment of one thousand infantry with three guns was advanced against the rebels.
The progress of the battle. And there was no battle. The rebels did not bother to set up a military guard for their camp, they also did not conduct reconnaissance of distant approaches and generally did not expect an attack. Therefore, when the Russian troops came close to the camp, it was useless to resist, part of the detachment was destroyed immediately, the other part tried to retreat into the forest and organize a defense there, but it was all useless. The dense forest helped the rebels escape. The rebels lost more than a hundred people killed and about two hundred wounded and captured. Government casualties were 3 soldiers killed and 19 wounded. Mieroslawski retreated with the remnants of the detachment to the village of Troyachek, where he united with another rebel detachment, but the very next day the rebel detachment was finally defeated by the formation of Colonel Schilder-Schuldner.
And so ended the career of the first Dictator of the Polish rebellion. Mierosławski no longer wanted to take part in the rebellion and returned to Paris, where in numerous notes to the press he said that the reasons for the defeat were the complete lack of military discipline, the individualism of the detachment commanders and the poor training of ordinary soldiers. Based on this, we can understand that the squad’s weapons were still quite good.
Actions of government troops.Remembering the experience of the uprising of 1830, the military command in the Kingdom of Poland on the second day of the beginning of the general uprising gave the order for all military units to concentrate in large populated areas, combining their forces. But when information about the number and armament of the rebels began to arrive, the order was changed. All commanders of combat units on Polish territory were ordered to act, independently taking into account and taking into account the specifics of events on the ground. Regular troops were instructed, first of all, to ensure the security of main transport hubs, roads and industrial enterprises.
The defeat of the rebel detachment led by Louis Narbutte. Narbutt’s detachment conducted active partisan activities in Lida district. On May 5, 1863, the forester indicated the detachment’s camp site. Colonel Timofeev’s detachment surrounded the rebel camp and after a short battle, part of the detachment was destroyed, the rest was scattered. Narbutt received two wounds and died in action. Source: wiki-org.ru
The rebellion, which failed from the first day, entered the stage of guerrilla warfare. The rebel (rebel) detachments did not reach more than a hundred people. To carry out assigned tasks, small detachments united, after the first clash they scattered or ceased to exist completely. As can be seen from the reports of the actions of the regular troops, the army did not receive an order for the complete suppression of the rebellious partisan detachments. And here we can see a very competent plan on the part of the military and politicians. The Russian Empire, since the reign of Peter the Great, had extensive experience in suppressing popular uprisings. And, as historical practice has shown, the most important thing in suppressing any rebellion is not to defeat the military forces of the rebels. The most important thing is to discredit the rebels themselves, their leaders and all the inspired ideas of the rebellion in advance and for many years to come.
This was the case in Poland. Throughout 1863, there were no active hostilities. Small groups of rebels operated in remote areas dominated by wooded areas. Most of the detachments existed for no more than three months, gathered, made two or three sorties, after which they were liquidated by detachments of the regular army. There were several cases of cities being captured, and this was due to the fact that no one was guarding the city. As soon as the regular troops approached the city captured by the rebels, the latter surrendered it without a fight, again leaving for the forests. In some areas, rebel detachments became pocket gangs of local gentry and acted in the interests of whoever paid them. They took away land and mills and forced them to sell their property for next to nothing. They were engaged in open robbery, racketeering and extortion. All this was aggravated by continuous drunkenness and lack of military discipline. The rebels began to attribute their failures in the uprising to the reluctance of the Polish population to support them. Including the complete inertia and even hostility of the peasants towards the rebels. To which the rebels responded with punitive operations.
Daggermenis a deeply secret terrorist (sabotage) detachment, whose members set themselves the task of liberating Poland through committing political murders. Over the three years of the organization’s existence, terrorists (saboteurs) organized and carried out attempts to assassinate a number of officials and statesmen of the Russian Empire. To Grand Duke Constantine, General Fyodor Berg, General Fyodor Trepov. Of all the actions organized by the dagger men, only a few murders were able to achieve their plans, including the murder of the Polish writer and journalist Jozef Miniszewski. He openly opposed the rebellion in his publications and criticized the ideas of the rebels.
Gendarmes-hangers. Specialized secret detachment of the revolutionary police “People’s Gendarmerie”. It was formed from daggermen and acted on the orders of the National Provisional Government. In the period 1863-64, detachments of the people’s gendarmerie were repeatedly sent to various regions of the Kingdom of Poland, Lithuania and Belarus to carry out punitive operations. The main punishment was hanging, for which the detachments of the People’s Gendarmerie were quickly nicknamed «gendarmes-hangers». In just two years of the rebellion, according to Polish sources, more than 1,000 people were sentenced to death and hanged by detachments of the People’s Gendarmerie.
in 1864, the National Government and the Provisional Provincial Government in Lithuania and Belarus issued a decree according to which commanders of rebel detachments could freely confiscate weapons, horses and necessary provisions found among the population for the needs and conduct of military operations. In case of disagreement or resistance of the peasants, as well as their suspicion of collaboration with the Russian authorities, the commanders of the detachments were allowed to pass immediate sentences. So subsequently, after the rebellion was pacified, repeated cases of murder of wealthy peasants or shop owners under the guise of trial of traitors were documented. Then, the true goal was to seize property and money. There were known cases of incredible cruelty towards prisoners, Orthodox priests and Old Believers.
How the rebellion was pacified? Active hostilities of the Polish rebellion began in the spring of 1864. This became possible thanks to a series of reorganization actions on the part of the Provisional National Government. First of all, we managed to restore order in the system of financial flows. Control was established over donations to churches and the receipt of funds from abroad. We received small arms from France, and they managed to transport them to especially active units. Detachments of international volunteers also went to Poland to participate in the rebellion; volunteers with combat experience were distributed among detachments for the purpose of training and transfer of experience. The Provisional Government began printing its own monetary bonds, but this, as I wrote above, did not help with the confidence of the population. And also, trying to enlist the support of the peasants, the rebel government published a decree that every peasant who joined the rebel forces would receive land plots free of charge.
40 zloty banknote of the Provisional National Government 1864
The last measure turned out to be absolutely useless, since two months earlier the Russian authorities had passed a law according to which the lands of landowners and gentry who assisted the rebels or were themselves such became the property of the peasants free of charge. (According to the land reform, after the abolition of serfdom, the land remained the property of the landowner, but the peasant who worked on this land could buy it in installments over 30 years) And then such a gift from the government of the Republic of Ingushetia – the installment plan was canceled. What started then? The peasants inundated the district police officers with reports about who, when and under what circumstances spent the night, rested or ate with the local lord, whom the lord helped with weapons, food or just a kind word. The local peasants themselves united into detachments and caught the rebels one by one or in groups, handed them over to the authorities, but often committed lynching. So much so that the authorities had to send soldiers to escort and save the local nobleman from peasant lynching.
As stated above, in 1864, rebel activity increased markedly; in May of that year, the total number of rebels reached 60,000 people. But after three months, during continuous skirmishes, battles, ambushes and raids of the Cossacks, only three to four thousand fighters remained from this army. These were small detachments roaming through forests and mountainous areas. The actions of the regular Russian troops were competent and very inventive. I strongly recommend that everyone who found this topic interesting read “Notes of a spy during the pacification of the rebellion in Poland in 1863” by author. Bulantsov. The author of the book, a Russian military officer who knew the Polish language in several dialects, dressed in Polish clothes and infiltrated rebel detachments, then led them into pre-prepared ambushes or reported the place where the rebel detachment was hiding to the Cossack hundred to which he was assigned. The highest degree of military professionalism and skill.
The official date of the end of the uprising and suppression of the rebellion is considered to be June 18, 1864. Although there is evidence that individual units fought even before November 3. But if you look at it, they weren’t doing anything, they were constantly running away from raids, and on November 3 they simply caught the last gang that did not manage to escape beyond the borders of the Kingdom of Poland.
Arthur Grotger “The Path to Siberia” participants in the Polish uprising of 1863
Results. Very disappointing for all Polish nationalists and patriots of that time. Poland lost the last remnants of independence, autonomy rights, and any preferential concessions in the general legislation of the Russian Empire. The authorities began to take strict measures to prevent nationalism. In particular, censorship was introduced on a number of book publications; books were confiscated from libraries and were prohibited from being kept by private individuals. The Polish language was prohibited in official business, as well as for use in government institutions and at official events. In the territories of Belarus and Lithuania, rural schools began to be created with a focus on educating children according to local customs and traditions.
This is the entertaining story of an interesting object found in a plowed field. And you, dear readers, are studying the history of interesting objects? If yes, then share your experience in the comments, it will be fascinating to learn the stories of your finds.
