Part I: The November Uprising
The Partitions of Poland wiped the country of the map of Europe for the time being. Due to the Napoleonic Wars and the Polish participation in the wars against Russia and Austria resulted in the creation of the Duchy of Warsaw. But in the wake of the defeat of Napoleon, the Congress of Vienna, the Polish nation was once again not on the maps of Europe. This time Poland was divided between Russia, Prussia and the Habsburg Empire. Initially the Poles had been given a large degree of autonomy over their internal affairs. The Polish estates could elect their own parliament, government; furthermore the Kingdom had its own courts, army and treasury.
Grand Duke Konstantin was installed by the Russian Tsar as the de facto ruler of Congress Poland. His efforts to strengthen the secret police and suppress the patriotic movements led to discontent amongst his subjects. Konstantin persecuted the liberal opposition, important post in the local administration and army were given to Russians. More often as not he insulted and assaulted his subordinates, which led to conflicts with the officer corps. The disobedience of the constitution, which he was personally proud of, brought conflict between him and the Sjem, who at that time was dominated by supported of a personal union with the Russian Empire
The November Uprising began when a group of conspirators under the leadership of Piotr Wysocki took up arms from their garrison and attacked the palace of the Grand Duke on the 29th of November 1831. The spark that finally ignited Warsaw was the Russian plan to send the Polish army to France and the Netherlands to suppress the July Revolution and the Belgian Revolution. During the night of 29th of November the insurgents captured the city’s arsenal after a short fight with Russian troops. With the acquired weapons, the Polish civilians managed to push the Russians out of Warsaw the following day. Taken by surprise the Polish government replaced unpopular ministers with the likes of Prince Adam Jerzy Czartoryski, who tried to negotiate a settlement with the Grand Duke. When the council heard that the Russians were willing to settle the matter amicably, Maurycy Mochnacki and other radicals wanted a national uprising. He advocated for a military campaign outside Poland, so to spare the country of the devastations of war. By the 3rd of December the entire Polish Army, except for two generals, defected.
The taking of the Warsaw Arsenal
Negotiations were held between the Tsar and the Polish government, but the Tsar demanded a complete and unconditional surrender by the Poles. And on 25 January 1831, the Sjem past a law, which dethroned Nicholas I as King of Poland, which ended the personal union between Poland and Russia and was effectively a declaration of war against Russia. By this time it was too late to move the theatre of operations to Lithuania, as a Russian army of 115,000 soldiers under the leadership of von Diebitsch, crossed the Polish borders. In what became known as the Polish War of Independence, the Battle at Stoczek was the first battle where Polish and Russian troops met. With a victory for the Poles there, Polish morale was high and many believed that an independent Poland was becoming a reality. But within a month of several clashes with the Russian forces, the Polish were being pushed back to the capital. Polish forces prepared to defend their capital on the right bank of the Vistula and on 25 February 1831, a 40,000 men strong Polish army encountered a Russian force of 60,000. After two days of heavy fighting, both sides withdrew after sustaining heavy losses. For the time being Warsaw was saved and Diebitsch was forced to withdraw to Siedlice.
The Battle of Olszynka Grochowska
Sympathetic echoes of the Polish dream for independence were spreading through Europe, just as the Greek and Belgian cause had done. Especially in France and Britain the people supported an independent Polish state, but unlike the people the governments of those nations didn’t actively support an independent Poland. King Louis-Phillipe of France sought recognition for himself from the European nations; and the British government sought to keep her relationships with Russia warm and at the same time feared an independent Poland would weaken Russia, as Britain might need her services once again in the cause of order and to prevent Poland to become a French province of the Vistula. Both Prussia and Austria, who had significant Polish communities in the bordering provinces, remained benevolently neutral towards Russia. Both were quick to close the borders with Poland to prevent the transportation of any munitions or war supplies to Poland. Regarding these circumstances, the future for Poland started to look dark and disquieting.
