"Father of the American Cavalry" – Kazimierz Pułaski
Early life and the Uprising of the Baltics
Kazimierz Puławski was born in early March of 1745 on a family estate near Warsaw to polish aristocratic parents, and his father, Joseph, was a judge of the Polish Supreme Court. Kazimierz was the eldest of the three sons in the family. In 1762, Poławski became a knight's retinue of the Duke of Courland, and later became a vassal of the Polish king, and from then on began to enter politics, and after returning from Korla, his father transferred the village of Zezurince in Puertoria to his eldest son. Thus became a Polish nobleman. Two years later, the Pułaski family participated together in the election of a new king of Poland and Lithuania. But whoever is chosen cannot stop the moribund state of the Polish rivers.
In 1768, a group of disgruntled Catholic nobles formed a military alliance in Bar near Ottoman Turkey, and a civil war was inevitable, and Połaski and his father were active participants in the Bar League. The alliance represented the conservative Polish catholic aristocracy, who opposed the reform measures of the new king, but also opposed the aggression and intervention of Russia, Austria and other countries in Poland, and their position was supported by France and the Ottomans, both of which hoped to contain Russia's expansionary momentum. At the end of February, the Baltiks swore an uprising, and the French not only delivered arms directly to the Baltiques through the Ottomans, but also sent a group of officers to help the Bal Confederates train their troops, who later participated directly in the battle and helped the Baltie to direct the operations. The Ottomans directly used the Baltic uprising as an opportunity to declare war on Russia and launched the Fifth Russo-Turkish War.
Exiled members of the Bar League in Siberia
However, the Bal League, as an inevitable product of polish aristocratic democracy, has never eliminated the contradictions between the Polish nobility, and the alliance has not had a clear supreme commander, at first, Puwalski did not directly participate in the war, but the above rank of colonel successfully persuaded some local nobles to support themselves, from late April, Puwäski officially led the army into battle, in late May, stationed in a monastery in Berkitov, he was heavily besieged by the Russian army, at that time, Puwski only 700 people, But it persisted for more than two weeks, but Pławski eventually had to surrender his weapons to the Russians and was forced to swear against his will that he would no longer participate in the baltic military operations, lobbying other Polish generals to lay down their arms.
At the beginning of 1769, Puwäsky, who had spent the winter at Trinity Fort, was again besieged by the Russians, and this time he successfully broke through, and was subsequently appointed as the supreme commander of the Bar Islanders in Krakow Province, and from May to June, the Pu'er driver marched on Lviv and Przemysir, but all returned home. He then returned to Lithuania to recruit troops, and soon his army expanded from 600 to 4,000, and at one point in August he conquered the important town of Zamošić. He successfully countered the distrust and accusations of his opponents.
Portrait of Powalski
But just as the situation was getting better, Pławski and the old enemy of Poland as a whole emerged. This man was Alexander Suvorov. Although Sulov was only a brigadier general at this time, he was already very experienced in combat. On 1 September, Suvorov led his squad east from Brest. At noon, Solov encountered Puławski's main force in the dense forest near Orzerhof, and according to Russian records, Suvorov's 320 men successfully resisted four sieges by more than 2,000 Płaski's cavalry group, and then Suvorovs' grenadiers actually launched a counterattack on the Polish cavalry and successfully repelled the Poles. The next day, the remnants of the Poles were again crushed by the main Russian forces. Kazimierz's younger brother Francesco was captured to cover his brother's retreat and died the next day. Suffering the loss of his brother, Pułassky had to leave the Carpathian Mountains and rebuild his forces there.
In 1770, Pułaski began fighting on the upper Vistula River. In early August, Pursky met with a new French military adviser, Charles di Mullier, who would later become famous in Valmy. However, the meeting between the two men was unpleasant, after which Poiss launched an attack on Krakoff based on the Meeting of September 1 and other forces, and then turned to the northeast and occupied Częstochowa with a plot. The City's Mount of Light Monastery is a religious shrine in Poland, and the "Black Madonna" in the monastery is the most precious relics of the Polish Catholic Church, and it is also a strong military fortress. During the Great Flood of the second half of the 17th century, Częstochowa successfully resisted the siege of the Swedish army, which became a turning point for the Poles to fight back against foreign enemies, so Pławski decided to negotiate with the Russian army here for a long time. At the beginning of the battle, the Russians ordered the local peasants to fill the trenches around the monastery with wood and mud, but Połaski not only repelled the Russian attack and defended the monastery, but also launched a counter-attack. Although the battle ended in a Polish victory, Pławski almost died in the raid, and on the way back, Puwäsky's spurs and cloaks came together, causing him to be thrown off his horse, and a Russian soldier tried to launch a sneak attack on him, but thanks to Puwäsky's timely withdrawal of his pistol and the first to kill the other side, he survived. For the next four months, the two sides were caught in a long siege, and in January of the following year, the Russians were forced to withdraw. Thereupon. For a long time after that, the city became the most important base of Pułaski. This series of battles also brought him a high personal prestige, even on a par with the Siege of Vienna in 1683. Pułaski became famous throughout Europe, and the dignitaries of France and Prussia paid tribute to him.
Beginning in early 1771, under the planning of Di Murière, the Baltics launched a massive offensive against the Russians. On 18 April, Polish forces under Di Mullier besieged and reoccupied Krakow. Upon hearing this news, Suvorov, who had been promoted to major general, came out again. On 10 May, the two armies took up positions in Landscolona, near Krakow, preparing for a decisive battle. The Russian army of 3,500 men was under the command of Suvorov, and the Baltik force of 2,000 men was under the command of Di Murière. Pułaski's cavalry was led by him alone. The course of the battle was completely one-sided, and in only half an hour, Suvorov's Cossack cavalry swept through Dimurier's carefully arranged positions with fortresses and woods, the Poles lost more than 500 people at once, and after crushing Dimurier's main force, the Russian army turned to Pułaski's cavalry, however, he attracted Suvorov's main force with a small number of troops, but he bypassed the Russian army and successfully withdrew from the battle.
Dumourière during the French Revolution
The battle devastated Dimurier and he soon left Poland and returned to France. He also accused Puwalski of not listening to commands. However, Puwski's level of combat was highly recognized by Suvorov, who released a captured officer under Puvsky and asked him to present his favorite pipe to Puvsky as a tribute.
The following year, a series of blows followed, beginning with The Last Baleant in October 1771 when Suvorov defeated the last main force of the Baltics. At the same time, the Baltic plot to kidnap the Polish king was uncovered, and Pułaski was unfortunately involved in the plot. In April of the following year, the Kraków defenders surrendered to the Russians. End of May. Pułaski left Częstochowa and fled to Silesia, Prussia, where he traveled to France, where in August Częstochowa was finally occupied by russian forces, which declared the final defeat of the Baltik uprising, and shortly thereafter the three countries signed a treaty in St. Petersburg, completing the first round of partition of Poland.
After Pułaski left Poland, his opponents in Parliament attempted to convict him of murder, declared him guilty of all honour, and sentenced him to death in absentia to confiscate all his property, and the Polish king privately advised him not to return to his country, otherwise he would be convicted of these crimes. After that, Pułaski's attempts to join the French army and his attempts to organize another anti-Russian uprising in the Old Ottoman League failed. He had to return to Marseille and was once imprisoned for his debts. However, in his time in France, he was not without nothing, and Poissky met the famous Count Lafayette and Benjamin Franklin, who came to France as the most important envoy after the founding of the United States. Franklin met with Powalski in early 1777, who was so impressed with him that he later wrote: "Count Pułaski of Poland was a well-known European officer who showed extraordinary bravery and talent in defending his homeland from the three great powers of Opus and Austria, and which will be of great help to our cause." Subsequently, Poissky accepted Lafayette and Franklin's invitation to travel to the New World.
Pułaski in Częstochowa, with the flag as the "Black Madonna" statue
Second, the journey of the New World
On July 23, 1777, Poissky arrived in Mabulhead, Massachusetts. When I arrived in the United States, he immediately wrote to Washington, saying that I had come to this land that was defending freedom, and that I was willing to fight for it or sacrifice for it. On August 20, Washington met with Puwsky at headquarters near Philadelphia, and Powalski showed Washington his superb horsemanship and introduced the enormous superiority of cavalry over infantry.
September 11, 1777. The Battle of Brandy River broke out, and Powalski took part in his first battle since setting foot in the New World, a battle that was key to defending the temporary capital, Philadelphia. In this battle, the British attacked the flank of General John Sullivan in Washington, just as the Americans were preparing to withdraw from the battle. Puwalski took the initiative to ask Washington to lead washington's guards to carry out a counterattack, the 30-man cavalry detachment successfully blocked the British advance, he also reminded Washington that the British army may attack during the retreat of the American army, Washington then ordered the Puwsky organization to collect all the defeated pads he could find, and had the right to command these troops, take all measures to prevent the British pursuit, under the organizational arrangements of Puwsky and the wounded Lafayette, the American army was defeated without chaos, The more complete withdrawal from the battlefield also saved Washington himself.
Battle of the Brandy River
Powalski's bravery and boldness at the Battle of the Brandy River impressed the Continental Congress. On 15 September, Pułaski was formally appointed by the Continental Congress as the Brigadier General of the Continental Cavalry to become the supreme commander of the Continental Cavalry, at this time, the Continental Cavalry was only a few hundred, and it was scattered among the various units, only responsible for reconnaissance, order protection, and other work. As commander of the cavalry, Pułaski immediately began to draw up the statutes for the formation of cavalry units. He once envisioned four regiments of Continental Cavalry, but such a large formation was certainly not possible with a lack of funds and equipment, and although Powalski was outstanding, it still could not change the outcome of the British occupation of Philadelphia. Later, in the battle of Chester Hill, Pułaski won a small victory over the British. In the winter of that year, he spent the winter with Washington in Valley Forge, and although the conditions were difficult, the two men and the Continental Army were still fiercely fighting for the next battle.
In February 1778, Powalski teamed up with Army General Anthony Wayne to achieve victory at Hattonsfield, New Jersey. In the course of the battle, he was shot in the crotch and fell to the ground, but The hard-working Puwalski began to bear pressure from all sides: Continental Army officers generally complained that he had a bad temper and was difficult to get along with; His tactics and the fighting habits of the North American cavalry were so different that it was difficult for the Continental Army to get used to; In addition, Pułaski barely speaks English, making it extremely difficult to communicate with other people. In this case, Puwäsky's position was once precarious, but after the intervention and mediation of Washington himself and General Horatio Gates, Pulsky eventually remained in the Continental Army, and the Continental Congress gave him the special title of Commander of the Cavalry. At the same time, at Gates' initiative, the Continental Congress ordered Pulski to form an independent force under his command, which was later named the Płaski Regiment. Formally formed near Baltimore in April 1778, the force consisted of a Lancers Company and two Dragoon Companies. A total of 68 cavalry and 200 infantry.
Pułaski during the Revolutionary War
The force was highly international, and Baltimore was a gathering place for the German population, so the legion recruited many Germans, as well as a large number of Hesse mercenaries who also jumped from the opposite side. Although Pułaski could hardly speak English, he was fluent in German. Soon mingled with the soldiers. His deputy was a volunteer from Hungary, Colonel Kovac Mihaj, with whom he had met. By August, the Płaski Regiment had grown to three hundred men, about a third of whom were cavalry, and Płaski was very responsible, and the training of the entire corps was all undertaken by him, and General Charles Lee had commented that the training standards of this force were relatively high, and when the continental congress appropriations were not timely, Puwäsky even subsidized the military expenses out of his own pocket. But on the one hand, this led to the deployment of other tasks from the Płaski Regiment more than once by other units of the Continental Army, and on the other hand, it also caused a mess in the finances of the entire Legion. He himself was even labeled as embezzlement of military pay, and until the matter of sacrifice was inconclusive.
To make matters worse. On October 15, the Puwäsky Regiment was attacked by the British at Night In Egg Harbor, New Jersey, and due to the lack of vigilance of the infantry unit and the panic of the Hesse soldiers, the soldiers of the Legion were killed by the British bayonet in their sleep. The following spring. Pułaski was again almost arranged to deal with the Indians, and he was extremely dissatisfied with this practice, saying that if he could not fight against the British to liberate the colonies, he would return to Europe. This time, it was Washington himself who did the work before he was left behind and transferred to the Southern Front. In May 1779, Powalski arrived in Charleston, the headquarters of the Southern Continental Army.
Hesse mercenaries
At this time, the situation on the southern front was extremely unfavorable to the Continental Army. At the end of December 1778, the British general Henry Clinton sent a partial division to defeat the American army and occupy the important southern port of Savannah, threatening Charleston, so that the First Arrival of the Mainland army and the British army would determine the city's ownership, and Poiss arrived in Charleston on May 8, and on the 11th, it was the British Savannah garrison General Augustine Prevost who came with the defeated South Carolina militia and prepared to attack. Before the main continental army arrived, Puwäsky decided to lead the legion into battle, and after a bitter battle, the Puwalski regiment successfully repelled the British army, but the legion itself also suffered heavy casualties, about 60 infantry almost all lost.
By this time the French fleet had reached the North American coast and besieged Savannah with the main continental force, and from the beginning of September, Puwalski's legions had become part of the Continental Army's forwards, first establishing contact with the French fleet and later losing a British stronghold. However, during the battle on 9 October, Puwalski led a cavalry charge, and while trying to reorganize the retreating French army, he was seriously wounded by a grape bomb and immediately fell unconscious. He died two days later at the age of 34, fulfilling a promise he had made when he arrived in the United States: to give his life for the freedom of the land.
A commemorative stamp of Powalski issued by the United States in 1931
The fighter for the defense of the Constitution and the emancipation of serfs – Tadiusz Kosciuszko
Early years and the American War of Independence
Born in February 1746 in a manor house near Kosov in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Tadeusz Kosciusko was a highly Polish lithuanian nobleman, his father was an officer, and his mother was descended from Ruthenian nobility. When his father died at the age of 12, his family could no longer afford to pay for Kosciuszko's schooling. Fortunately, he was sponsored by the nobility to study at the noble military academy run by the Polish king, where he received a systematic education in the military and humanities. After graduation, he received the rank of captain. In 1768, when the Bal Confederate Revolt broke out. Kosciuszko agreed with the rebels' desire for national independence, but was reluctant to oppose the Polish king and the nobles who had previously financed him. So he chose to go to Paris, France to study.
In France, he originally hoped to enter the military academy, but because of his status as a foreigner, he could not do so, and finally, he could only enter the French Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture to study art. Here, Kosciuszko laid a firm foundation in architecture and drawing, and also provided the prerequisites for him to become a military engineer. At the same time, he was also deeply influenced by the Enlightenment, especially physiocratism, which became an important source of ideas for his later emancipation of serfs. In 1774, Kosciuszko returned to his homeland, but the country had been almost divided, and he was already in the middle of nowhere, unlikely to gain an official position in the corrupt Polish army. He left Poland the following year and went to Saxony, hoping to join the Saxon army, but was refused. At this time, she heard the news of the outbreak of the War of Independence in the United States, and the north American people's resistance to colonial rule and the struggle for independence and freedom gave Kosciuszko great encouragement. So he made contact with the New World through the old acquaintances he had met while studying in France, and in June 1776, Kosciuszko took a boat to the New World as a volunteer to begin his combat experience in another continent.
Kosciuszko was very moved when he read the Declaration of Independence. He managed to meet Thomas Jefferson, one of the drafters of the Declaration of Independence, and the two became lifelong friends. His first task in the New World was to turn the temporary capital, Philadelphia Fortress, and to deter the British, he presided over the construction of Fort Billings on the Delaware River to avoid a British attack, a task that was not completed until the beginning of the following year, during which time Kosciuszko was appointed colonel of the Continental Army by Washington. In the spring of 1777, Kosciuszko was transferred to the north under the command of the aforementioned General Gates, and at the end of May he attacked the Canadian border, and was subsequently sent to investigate the Ticonderoga Fort area, which was located between the Hudson River and the Solier-Champlain Lake, and its strategic location was extremely important, and it was naturally valued by the Continental Army.
Kosciuszko during the Revolutionary War
However, after examining the terrain around the fortress, Kosciuszko suggested that there were huge loopholes in the defense of the fortress. The nearby mountains overlook the entire fortress, so it is necessary to build a fort on the hill so that it can be condescending to protect the safety of the fortress, otherwise it will be in great trouble when defending, or even lost. However, his report did not receive the attention of his superiors, and the price that the Continental Army soon paid for their short-sightedness, and in July, when the British besieged the fort of Ticonderoga along the waterway, it was artillery placed on the hill, and the defenders found it hopeless to withdraw, so the fortress was occupied by the British without bloodshed.
The fall of the Ticonderoga Fortress can be seen as the starting point of the Battle of Saratoga, which the British decided to continue to attack Albany by land. At this time, General Gates was promoted to commander of the Northern Army of the Continental Army, directly dispatching the main force of the Continental Army to meet the British Army, and he ordered the various units of the Continental Army to take advantage of the terrain and resist along the way to slow down the Pace of the British Army to the south. While ordering Koschushko to survey the surrounding terrain and look for favorable conditions for a decisive battle with the British, after the survey, he chose the Bemis Heights near Saratoga, which was condescending and overlooking the nearby Hudson River, and in the following week, the Continental Army built a complete fortification around the Bemis Heights, and on September 19 the American Army won the Victory of freeman Farm under the leadership of general Benedict Arnold, and then on October 7, the American Army fought the British army in the Bemes Heights, and in the battle, The Americans successfully defeated the more effective British forces, and finally nine days later, the British surrendered their weapons to the Americans. This great victory became a turning point in the American Revolutionary War, in which Koschushko was indispensable, and General Gates and other Continental Army officers and men unanimously praised and affirmed.
The following year, Kosciuszko was transferred to New York State, where he presided over the design and construction of the West Point Fortress. Twenty-four years later, it will be home to America's first military academy, the future-famous West Point Military Academy. West Point Fortress was located at the S-shaped bend of the Hudson River, so Koschushko not only built a complete fortification here, but also pulled up chains on the Hudson River to prevent the Passage of the British fleet. August 1780. Washington accepted his request and transferred him to the southern front. On the Southern Front, Kosciuszko served the commander of the Army of the South, Sachenel Green. General Green was a brilliant strategist, adept at rapid maneuvering. In early 1781, the British army was given a 200-mile circle and safely returned to Halifax, Virginia. Along the way, Koschushko, as an engineer, was listed in front of the team to open the way for the whole army, build ships in the water, and also build the Halifax Fortress. It can be said that without this excellent military engineer, many of Green's tactics would be much inferior and even difficult to execute. Subsequently, Koschushko also participated in the Battle of Guildford, in which he was wounded for the first time, but fortunately did not suffer much. In this battle, although the British army won a tactical victory, it was increasingly isolated, and all the towns and important strongholds in the north and south carolinas except Savannah and Charleston were retaken by the Continental Army.
Situation map of the War of Independence
By 1782, Koschushko was mainly involved in combat near Charleston, first preventing the British in Charleston and other places from getting supplies, and at one point taking over the local intelligence system, even commanding a squadron of cavalry and two infantry. In December of that year, Koschushko and other units of the Continental Army liberated Charleston. The following year ushered in the final victory of the War of Independence.
After the victory, Kosciuszko was very busy. He, like Pułassky, who had received a penny from the United States at the end of the seventh year, paid all his expenses in the war or borrowed from Jewish bankers, and needed to be liquidated and repaid after the war. The U.S. government eventually promised to start paying on New Year's Day 1784, but the problem was that the U.S. government did not pay on time, and as a result, he returned to Europe and fell into a financial crisis, as for the second thing, it was to organize charleston's fireworks celebration on the American National Day in 1783, and the third thing was to welcome many honors, October 13, 1783. Kosciuszko was promoted to the rank of brigadier general by the Continental Congress and received American citizenship, a lucrative pension, and 500 acres of land title, in his honor, in his honor, two pistols and a sword. On July 15 of the following year, Kosciuszko left the New World, where he had fought for seven years, and returned to Europe.
Second, fight for the republic and the motherland
Upon his return, Kosciuszko stood with the reformists and in 1789 retained his rank in the Continental Army and rejoined the Polish Army as a major general. At this time, Poland once again set off a wave of reforms to seek a rich country and a strong army, especially worth mentioning that on May 3, 1791, the Polish Parliament adopted the May 3rd Constitution, which was the first written constitution on the European continent, which supplemented the defects in the traditional aristocratic democracy in Poland, abolished a series of aristocratic privileges, improved the status of the bourgeoisie, and protected serfs and peasants more. This progressive constitution, though popular with the reformist nobility, was strongly resisted by the three countries of Russia, Prussia and Austria and by a large number of Polish conservative nobles, and the following year a group of Polish conservative nobles rose up on the border near Russia to oppose the attempts of the king and parliament to eliminate the reformists, and a hundred thousand Russian troops followed them in armed intervention in Poland.
Immediately after the outbreak of war, Kosciuszko threw himself into the battle to defend the Constitution, and soon he and Prince Joseph Poniatovsky, the nephew of the king, later became Marshal of Napoleon. Under their command, the Polish army defeated the Russians at Ziarlenze and Dubinka, especially the latter, which was the epitome of Kosciuszko's military career. Dubinka was close to the Bug River and was also located on the only way for the Russians to attack Warsaw in the south, where the Russians tried to cross the river. However, Kosciuszko had already established perfect fortifications on the riverbank, which made the Russian army fail to cross the river. Subsequently, the Russians shelled the Polish positions, however, the artillery positions were well protected by the fortifications, and the Russian artillery and cavalry failed to destroy the Polish troops here, and in the end, the Russians failed to cross the river.
Kosciuszko during the Great Revolt
The Polish suffered about 900 casualties in this battle, claiming to have wiped out 4,000 Russian troops. With 5,000 men, Kosciuszko was able to resist an enemy force five times as numerous and equipped as himself, and even the Russian generals had to admit that this was the most difficult and most costly battle since the beginning of the war. He was then promoted to the rank of lieutenant general and awarded the newly established Medal of Valor for Military Valor, which later became the highest rank of the Polish Military Medal of Honor. However, the Russians then crossed the Bug River through the supposedly neutral Austria, and Koschushko's forces were in danger of being encircled and had to retreat to Lublin, and just as Koschushko and Poniatowski and others were preparing for a decisive battle, the weak and incompetent king negotiated with Catherine II and declared his support for the rebels. The King's counterattack was disastrous on the Polish military, and the war soon ended. The May 3rd Constitution was repealed, and most reformers in Parliament resigned in protest. In January 1793, when Russia and Prussia divided Poland for the second time, the rebels woke up, but it was too late.
At the same time, the exiled Kosciuszko reversed the same route: he came to France from Saxony, hoping to get some aid from the French side and promising that in the future an independent Poland would establish a French-style revolutionary regime, but the Jacobins and The Gironds, although they both verbally supported the Poles in the uprising, did not give any substantial help. Not only that, but he was even more disappointed by the civil unrest and bloody massacres brought about by the French Revolution. In August Kosciuszko returned to Leipzig, and after learning that the situation had deteriorated sharply, he decided to launch an early uprising while still insufficient preparations.
On 23 March 1794 Kosciuszko secretly returned to Poland and the next morning gave Mass at the Church of the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary in Krakow, where he drew his saber and took the oath, which meant that he was ready to give his life for the defense of his homeland. Then Kosciuszko and a group of senior officers went to the square to give a speech, and were publicly awarded the title of commander-in-chief of the rebel army, and he solemnly swore to his compatriots in full view of the people: I, Tadeusz Kosciuszko, swore before God to the entire Polish state that I would act arbitrarily only in the most critical moments. My power is used only to defend the frontiers of the motherland and regain national sovereignty, freedom and independence. Lord, please help me! ”
Kosciuszko fully developed the military talents he had honed in the United States and did his best to increase his military strength. His army modeled after the U.S. Army, with regulars, volunteers, and militias. Kosciuszko first arrived in Krakow with 800 men and 1,000 horses, and then expanded to 4,000 men. He issued conscription orders to all of Poland, planning to form an army of 100,000 infantry and 10,000 cavalry, which was in fact an unattainable goal. However, at the height of the uprising, more than 50,000 regular troops fought under Kościuszczyko throughout Poland. The militia and volunteers were close to 100,000 in size, but they were extremely poorly equipped, many with spears, axes and even agricultural tools and sickles, and their morale and training were far inferior to those of the regular army. Even so, Koschushko made the most of the militia's strength, and they would select those skilled in firearms to stand in the front rows, followed by sickle hands, and launch a fearless charge in the melee. The scarcity of artillery was a more lethal weakness for the rebels, but as mentioned earlier, Kosciuszko was proficient in artillery tactics, and he was able to make reasonable use of precious artillery and deploy them to the most suitable position for fire output.
Enraged, Catherine II ordered the Russians to assemble in an attempt to retake Kraków, but Kosciuszko personally led his troops to intercept them, and on April 4, 1794, russian forward Alexander Tomasov led 3,000 infantry and 12 artillery pieces to encounter Koschushko's troops near the village of Lakławice. The latter commanded 2,440 infantry, 2,000 militia, and 11 artillery pieces, and the first battle of the uprising was fought here, known as the Battle of Rakovice. Tommasov did not think that half of the scythe-wielding rebels in front would pose a threat to him, and ordered the infantry to storm the Polish positions under the cover of artillery. Kosciuszko's positions took full advantage of the terrain, and the Russian artillery did not cause much damage, but was heavily bombarded by Polish artillery. Tommasov used various means to launch an attack during the hours of fighting, but both the infantry advance and the cavalry charge were repelled. The Cossack commander Denisov tried to support Tommasov, but was intercepted by the Polish forces on the periphery. As the Russian offensive weakened, he ordered the reserves to successfully attack the Russian rear, while ordering the scythe-wielding militia to launch a massive counteroffensive. As night fell, Tommasov was forced to order a retreat, and 12 guns and a large number of heavy loads were abandoned, but the exhausted Polish army was also difficult to launch a further pursuit. The Polish losses in this battle were less than 300, and the Russian casualties were nearly 1,000.
From a holistic perspective, the Battle of Lakvawice was only a local tactical victory and did not have much impact on the overall situation. But the victory inspired rebel generals throughout Poland, prompting more to take up arms against the tyranny and aggression of the Russians and to throw themselves into this duel between dwarfs and giants. Two days after the fighting, the ruthenian province also declared an uprising. Soon after, uprisings broke out in Warsaw and Courland, and the Russians were in disarray.
On May 7 Kosciuszko did something epoch-making in Polish history. He preached a high-profile proclamation in the town of Povanets, known historically as the Povanets Declaration. At that time, this manifesto was issued as a government law and the last legal document of the Republic of Poland, which supplemented the question of serfs in the May-3 Constitution and stipulated that all peasants should be given personal freedom; Give farmers the right to leave the land after certain conditions have been met (repayment of debts, payment of taxes, notification to provincial governments); Give farmers more legal rights and pursue rights; Ensuring farmers' ownership of land and prohibiting land annexation; Reducing the population under serfdom from 1/2 to 1/3 of the current one, and promising to cut it further to zero after winning the uprising; The peasants who made the commission were no longer serfs; Forcing landlords to sign contractual contracts with peasants; Establishment of the caretaker system, the first public institution in Polish history to protect the rights and interests of peasants in accordance with the law; (Confiscation of all traitors' lands and returned to the peasants during the uprising) Kosciuszko's ideal of liberating serfs was finally realized by his own hands!
At the Battle of Lakławice, the horseman was Kosciuszko
A month later, the Prussian and Russian forces met with the main forces of Koschushko's forces, and the Battle of Szczekoneczy broke out. The Russo-Prussian army had 20,000 well-armed infantry, 6,500 cavalry, and 134 artillery pieces. Kosciuszko had 5,500 infantry, 3,500 cavalry, 6,000 militiamen and 33 cannons. In the face of the absolute gap in strength, especially the gap in firepower, the tactical arrangement was almost meaningless, and the two sides fought bloodily for several hours, ending in a fiasco for the Polish army. The Polish generals Joseph Woodsky and Jan Gokhovsky were killed in battle, as were the peasant hero Gwaski. The Polish army killed or captured 2,500 people, more than 1,000 Prussian casualties, and russian casualties are unknown. The battle severed Warsaw and Krakow, which soon fell. Kosciuszko was wounded, but led the remnants back to Warsaw. Two days later, 16,500 Russians defeated another 6,000 Polish troops, who lost nearly 2,000 men and withdrew to Warsaw. On 27 July, Kosciuszko ordered a full-scale uprising in Greater Poland in response to the war in Warsaw. On 22 August, the Prussian Army was forced to retreat to the Buzola River due to internal and external difficulties, losing nearly half of its troops in the process of retreating, and the Siege of Warsaw was lifted. This was the final victory of the rebel army. But Austria had entered the war, and the situation was getting worse.
In September, with the arrival of Suvorov and a large number of Russian reinforcements, the fate of the failure of the uprising was already doomed. The Battle of Masevica on 10 October was the last major battle under the command of Koschushko, and as friendly forces on the Eastern Front continued to rout under Suvorov's heavy blows, he had to lead 6,300 rebel troops to stop them before several Russian forces could be combined. Kosciuszko was ready where they had to pass, and soon the 12,000 troops of General Denisov of Russia spotted them and attacked. Denisov learned the lessons of his last defeat and took full advantage of his numerical superiority to contain the Polish army's division of defenses. Denisov then ordered the Russians to storm the weakly defended right flank of the Polish army, which was quickly breached. At the same time, the Polish artillery ammunition was also used up, and the Russians began to attack more fiercely. He ordered thousands of sickle militiamen to attack, but the Russians defeated them with heavy artillery fire. In order to maintain the front, Koschushko personally went to the charge and suffered three wounds, and was unconscious and fell on his horse and was captured. On 4 November, the city of Warsaw was conquered by Suvorov, and for his exploits in the uprising, he was promoted to Grand Marshal. On 16 November, the last rebel army surrendered. In the end, the vigorous Kosciuszko Uprising failed, and the following year, the three countries of Russia and Prussia divided Poland for the third time, and the former largest european power was completely destroyed.
Before Paul I succeeded to the throne in 1796, Kosciuszko was imprisoned in St. Petersburg. He was later freed and saved many of his comrades at the cost of swearing allegiance to the Tsar. He then returned to the United States via Sweden after a gap of 13 years through Britain. He was warmly welcomed by the American people, but the US government was more indifferent to him. Because it was the Federalists who were in power at the time, and the Democrats were close to him, he made a will a year later, and gave Jefferson the aftermath. He returned to France. In November 1799, he also met with Napoleon, but this meeting was very unpleasant. Staunch republican idealists were very displeased with the style of Napoleon's dictator. The latter responded by overestimating his influence among poles.
When Napoleon formed the Principality of Warsaw, Kosciuszko also pointed out that this was nothing more than Napoleon's better tool for squeezing Polish values, and that in order to achieve the true restoration and independence of Poland, it was necessary to mobilize the masses and carry out a widespread revolution. After Napoleon's defeat, he met twice with the new Tsar Alexander I. The desire for an independent Poland was once again disillusioned. In the last moments of his life, he came to Switzerland. He died in October 1817, freeing all his slaves in Europe at the age of 71.
The two were common heroes of the United States and Poland and were widely commemorated in later generations. Puwski's statue stands on Fifth Avenue in Washington, D.C., and was awarded the title of Honorary Citizen of the United States of America. Kosciuszko's fame extended as far as Australia, when the Australian explorer Andreu Szytrecki, a participant in the Polish Revolution of 1830, named Australia's highest peak after him. This is undoubtedly the best tribute to two people who gave everything for the cause of independence and liberation.
Kosciuszko Uprising Map
Statue of Poissky in Liberty Square, Washington
(This article is transferred from the Zhilan Society)