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.