Kosciusko And The Fall Of Poland
Of the several nations that made up the Europe of the eighteenth
century, one, the kingdom of Poland, vanished before the nineteenth
century began. Destitute of a strong central government, the scene of
continual anarchy among the turbulent nobles, possessing no national
frontiers and no national middle class, its population being made up of
nobles, serfs, and foreigners, it lay at the mercy of the ambitious
surroundin
kingdoms, by which it was finally absorbed. On three
successive occasions was the territory of the feeble nation divided
between its foes, the first partition being made in 1772, between
Russia, Prussia, and Austria; the second in 1793, between Russia and
Prussia; and the third and final in 1795, in which Russia, Prussia, and
Austria again took part, all that remained of the country being now
distributed and the ancient kingdom of Poland effaced from the map of
Europe.
Only one vigorous attempt was made to save the imperilled realm, that of
the illustrious Kosciusko, who, though he failed in his patriotic
purpose, made his name famous as the noblest of the Poles. When he
appeared at the head of its armies, Poland was in a desperate strait.
Some of its own nobles had been bought by Russian gold, Russian armies
had overrun the land, and a Prussian force was marching to their aid.
At Grodno the Russian general proudly took his seat on that throne which
he was striving to overthrow. The defenders of Poland had been
dispersed, their property confiscated, their families reduced to
poverty. The Russians, swarming through the kingdom, committed the
greatest excesses, while Warsaw, which had fallen into their hands, was
governed with arrogant barbarity. Such was the state of affairs when
some of the most patriotic of the nobles assembled and sent to
Kosciusko, asking him to put himself at their head.
As a young man this valiant Pole had aided in the war for American
independence. In 1792 he took part in the war for the defence of his
native land. But he declared that there could be no hope of success
unless the peasants were given their liberty. Hitherto they had been
treated in Poland like slaves. It was with these despised serfs that
this effort was made.
In 1794 the insurrection broke out. Kosciusko, finding that the country
was ripe for revolt against its oppressors, hastened from Italy, whither
he had retired, and appeared at Cracow, where he was hailed as the
coming deliverer of the land. The only troops in arms were a small force
of about four thousand in all, who were joined by about three hundred
peasants armed with scythes. These were soon met by an army of seven
thousand Russians, whom they put to flight after a sharp engagement.
The news of this battle stirred the Russian general in command at Warsaw
to active measures. All whom he suspected of favoring the insurrection
were arrested. The result was different from what he had expected. The
city blazed into insurrection, two thousand Russians fell before the
onslaught of the incensed patriots, and their general saved himself only
by flight.
The outbreak at Warsaw was followed by one at Vilna, the capital of
Lithuania, the Russians here being all taken prisoners. Three Polish
regiments mustered into the Russian service deserted to the army of
their compatriots, and far and wide over the country the flames of
insurrection spread.
Kosciusko rapidly increased his forces by recruiting the peasantry,
whose dress he wore and whose food he shared in. But these men
distrusted the nobles, who had so long oppressed them, while many of the
latter, eager to retain their valued prerogatives, worked against the
patriot cause, in which they were aided by King Stanislaus, who had been
subsidized by Russian gold.
To put down this effort of despair on the part of the Poles, Catharine
of Russia sent fresh armies to Poland, led by her ablest generals.
Prussians and Austrians also joined in the movement for enslavement,
Frederick William of Prussia fighting at the head of his troops against
the Polish patriot. Kosciusko had established a provisional government,
and faced his foes boldly in the field. Defeated, he fell back on
Warsaw, where he valiantly maintained himself until threatened by two
new Russian armies, whom he marched out to meet, in the hope of
preventing their junction.
The decisive battle took place at Maciejowice, in October, 1794.
Kosciusko, though pressed by superior forces, fought with the greatest
valor and desperation. His men at length, overpowered by numbers, were
in great part cut to pieces or obliged to yield, while their leader,
covered with wounds, fell into the hands of his foes. It is said that he
exclaimed, on seeing all hopes at an end, "Finis Poloniae!" In the words
of the poet Byron, "Freedom shrieked when Kosciusko fell."
Warsaw still held out. Here all who had escaped from the field took
refuge, occupying Praga, the eastern suburb of the city, where
twenty-six thousand Poles, with over one hundred cannon and mortars,
defended the bridges over the Vistula. Suwarrow, the greatest of the
Russian generals, was quickly at the city gates. He was weaker, both in
men and in guns, than the defenders of the city; but with his wonted
impetuosity he resolved to employ the same tactics which he had more
than once used against the Turks, and seek to carry the Polish lines at
the bayonet's point.
After a two days' cannonade, he ordered the assault at daybreak of
November 4. A desperate conflict continued during the five succeeding
hours, ending in the carrying of the trenches and the defeat of the
garrison. The Russians now poured into the suburb, where a scene of
frightful carnage began. Not only men in arms, but old men, women, and
children were ruthlessly slaughtered, the wooden houses set on fire, the
bridges broken down, and the throng of helpless people who sought to
escape into the city driven ruthlessly into the waters of the Vistula.
In this butchery not only ten thousand soldiers, but twelve thousand
citizens of every age and sex were remorselessly slain.
On the following day the city capitulated, and on the 6th the Russian
victors marched into its streets. It was, as Kosciusko had said, "the
end of Poland." The troops were disarmed, the officers were seized as
prisoners, and the feeble king was nominally raised again to the head of
the kingdom, so soon to be swept from existence. For a year Suwarrow
held a military court in Warsaw, far eclipsing the king in the splendor
of his surroundings. By the close of 1795 all was at an end. The small
remnant left of the kingdom was parted between the greedy aspirants, and
on the 1st of January, 1796, Warsaw was handed over to Prussia, to whose
share of the spoils it appertained.
In this arbitrary manner was a kingdom which had an area of nearly three
hundred thousand square miles and a population of twelve millions, and
whose history dated back to the tenth century, removed from the map of
the world, while the heavy hand of oppression fell upon all who dared to
speak or act in its behalf. One bold stroke for freedom was afterwards
made, but it ended as before, and Poland is now but a name.