Grand Duchy of Warsaw
The Duchy of Warsaw (Polish: Księstwo Warszawskie; French: Duché de Varsovie; German: Herzogtum Warschau ) was a political unit created by Napoleon I in 1807 to restore the Polish state. The Duchy arose after the Treaty of Tilsit, signed by France and Russia to end the war of the Fourth Coalition.
The Duchy had a population of four and a half million inhabitants and an area of 155,000 km², and was ruled by Frederick Augustus I (King of Saxony).
Napoleon was defeated by Russia, which attempted to seize the duchy in 1813, but the Congress of Vienna divided the territory among the victorious powers.
Formation of the Duchy
The territory of the Duchy had been liberated by a popular uprising that had spread against the indiscriminate conscription of 1806. One of the first tasks for the new government was to supply food to the French army fighting the Russians in East Prussia.
The Duchy of Warsaw was officially created by Napoleon Bonaparte, as part of the Treaty of Tilsit with Prussia. Its founding received support from republican forces in both parts of divided Poland and from the large Polish diaspora in France, which openly supported Napoleon as the only man capable of restoring Polish sovereignty after the Second Partition of Poland in 1793. Although it was created as a satellite state (and was merely a duchy, rather than a kingdom), it was commonly believed that in time the nation would regain its former status and borders[citation needed].
The new (re)created state was formally an independent duchy, allied with France, in personal union with the Kingdom of Saxony. King Frederick Augustus I of Saxony was forced by Napoleon to make his new duchy a constitutional monarchy, with a parliament (the Sejm). However, the Duchy never developed as a true independent State; Federico Augusto always subordinated himself to the raison d'état of France, which treated him mainly as a source of resources. The most important person in the Duchy was in fact the French ambassador, installed in the capital, Warsaw. It is notorious that the Duchy lacked its own diplomatic representation abroad.
In 1809, a short war began with Austria. Although the Battle of Raszyn ended in defeat and Austrian troops entered Warsaw, Polish forces later overwhelmed the enemy and conquered Kraków, Lviv, and many of the areas annexed by Austria in the Second Partition of Poland. The following Treaty of Schönbrunn allowed a significant extension of its territory to the south with the recovery of previously Polish territories.
Geography and demography
According to the Treaty of Tilsit, the territory of the Duchy covered the areas annexed by Prussia during the II and III Partitions of Poland, with the exception of Danzig (Gdansk), which was named Free City of Danzig under protection joint France and Saxony, and the district around Białystok, which was handed over to Russia. The Prussian territory consisted of the former Prussian provinces of New East Prussia, South Prussia, New Silesia, and West Prussia. Additionally, the new State received the area along the Notec river and the "Kulmerland". Specifically, the Duchy of Warsaw included almost entirely ethnically Polish territories: Mazovia, Posen-Greater Poland, Kuyavia, Podlasia, Western Galicia and the (partly Lithuanian) government of Mariampol (Marijampolė). Together, the Duchy had an initial area of around 104,000 km², with a population of approximately 2,600,000. The bulk of its inhabitants were Poles.
After the annexation in 1809 of Austrian Galicia and the areas of Zamość and Kraków (Kraków), regions annexed by Austria in the III Partition of Poland, the surface of the Duchy increased significantly, to about 155,000 km², and the population increased to about 4,300,000.
The "Departments"
The Duchy was divided into several "Departments," each named after its capital. Initially there were six:
- Departament warszawski (Warsaw Department)
- Departament poznański (Department of Poznań)
- Departament kaliski (Kalisz Department)
- Departament bydgoski (Bydgoszcz Department)
- Departament płocki (Płock Department)
- Departament łomżyński (Department of Łomża)
The additional territories acquired in 1809 were organized into four other departments:
- Departament krakowski (Department of Krakow)
- Departament lubelski (Department of Lublin)
- Departament radomski (Department of Radom)
- Departament siedlecki (Department of Siedlce)
Government
Napoleon set up a government made up of Polish aristocrats and supervised by a French resident. In 1807, a force of 39,000 men was raised, divided into three armies of 13,000 men each under the command of Józef Poniatowski, Józef Zajączek and Jan Henryk Dąbrowski.
In March 1809, the Sejm (parliament) began its work.
Since March 1813, the Duchy was occupied by the Russians. On March 14, 1813, Warsaw became the seat of a provisional Supreme Council of the Tsar for the Duchy of Warsaw, in which only two Poles participated. The Council is chaired by the Russian general Vasily Lanskói, who is also Governor-General of the Duchy of Warsaw (until June 9, 1815).
- Presidents of the Council of Ministers:
- Stanisław Małachowski (until 16 December 1807)
- Ludwik Gutakowski (from 16 December 1807 to 25 March 1809)
- Stanisław Kostka Potocki (from 25 March 1809 until March 1813)
- Chiefs of the armed forces of the Duchy:
- Prince Józef Poniatowski (until 19 October 1813)
- General Paweł Sułkowski
- General Jan Henryk Dąbrowski
Constitution and civil code
Napoleon endowed the Duchy of Warsaw with a constitution and a Civil Code (the Napoleonic Code). The constitution creates a bicameral system headed by a powerless duke. The system was controlled by the French Residents, Marshal Louis Nicolas Davout assisted by Étienne Vincent, Jean-Charles Serra and Louis Édouard Bignon.
The Constitution was more liberal than the Constitution of May 3, 1791. It included:
- Equality of all citizens before the law.
- Abolition of the Privileges of Nobility (szlachta).
- Abolition of servitude.
- Political rights are attributed to the nobles and the bourgeois.
It could be said that it provides one of lime and one of sand. One article stipulated that the official religion was Catholic, the other authorized all cults, and the Napoleonic Code allowed divorce and created civil marriage, which was strongly criticized by the Church. An article abolished serfdom and recognized the status of citizen to a countryman, but the land could only belong to the nobles, denying the countryman full independence from him.
However, the new Constitution and the new civil code set the conditions for the development of the bourgeoisie, allowing it access to the highest functions. The reforms were also introduced in culture and education.
Military and economic demands
The Duchy's armed forces were fully under French control via its minister of war, Prince Józef Poniatowski, who was also a Marshal of France. In fact, the Duchy was severely militarised, surrounded as it was by Prussia, the Austrian Empire and Imperial Russia, and was a major source of troops in several of Napoleon's campaigns.
The regular army was considerable in size compared to the number of inhabitants of the duchy. Initially it consisted of 45,000 regular soldiers (including cavalry and infantry), and its number was increased to more than 100,000 in 1810. At the time of the Napoleonic invasion of Russia in 1812, its army numbered 200,000 (out of a total population of about 3 million inhabitants).
The harsh drain on resources from forced military conscription, combined with a drop in grain exports, caused significant problems for the Duchy's economy. To make matters worse, in 1808 the First French Empire forced an agreement at Bayonne on the Duchy to buy off Prussia's debts from France. The debt, which amounted to more than 43 million francs in gold, was bought at a discount price of 21 million francs. However, although the Duchy made its payments to France in installments, within a period of 4 years, Prussia was unable to make the payments, so the Polish economy suffered heavily. In fact, from that day on the phrase "Bayonne sum" is a synonym in Polish for a huge amount of money. All these problems gave rise to inflation and overpricing.
To contain the bankruptcy, the authorities intensified the development and modernization of agriculture. In addition, a protectionist policy for the industry was introduced.
The end of the Duchy
Napoleon's campaign against Russia
Poles expected the Duchy to become a kingdom in 1812 during Napoleon's campaign against Russia, joining the liberated territories of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Poland's historical partner in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. However, Napoleon did not make a permanent decision on the matter, as he would have ended the chances of an early peace with the Russian Empire. Nevertheless, he proclaimed the attack on Russia as the Second Polish War.
Peace did not come, however. Napoleon's Grande Armée, including a substantial contingent of Polish troops, set out with the ambition of bringing the Russian Empire to its knees, but its military ambitions were frustrated; few returned from the marches to Moscow. The failed Russian campaign was momentous for Napoleon's fortunes.
Following Napoleon's defeat in the east, most of the territory of the Duchy of Warsaw was conquered by Russia in January and February 1813, with Warsaw falling on February 6, Kalisz a week later, and Toruń on April 16. The rest of the Duchy passed to Prussia. Although several isolated fortresses (Zamość and Modlin) held out until November 19 and December 1. Krakow would be occupied on May 7, 1813 after Józef Antoni Poniatowski's withdrawal to Saxony. The existence of the State ended in everything but name. Alexander I of Russia created a Provisional Supreme Council of the Duchy of Warsaw to govern the area through his generals.
The Congress of Vienna and the Fourth Partition
Although many European states and ex-sovereigns were represented at the self-styled Congress of Vienna in 1815, the decision-making power was in the hands of the major powers. It was perhaps inevitable that Prussia and Russia would effectively carve up Poland between them; Austria more or less kept its territories after the First Partition of 1772.
Russia kept all the territories obtained in the three previous partitions, along with Białystok and the surrounding region that it had obtained in 1807.
Prussia recovered the territory obtained in the First Partition, which it had to cede to the Duchy of Warsaw in 1807. It also recovered the "Grand Duchy of Poznań", part of the territory obtained in the Second Partition, which it lost also in 1807. These territories totaled an area of approximately 29,000 km².
The city of Kraków (Kraków) and part of the surrounding territory, formerly part of the Duchy of Warsaw, was established as a semi-independent Free City of Kraków, under the protection of its three powerful neighbors. The territories of the city reached about 1,164 km², with a population of about 88,000 inhabitants. The city was annexed by Austria in 1846.
Lastly, the bulk of the Duchy of Warsaw, some 128,000 km² in area, was established as Tsarate Poland (or Congress Poland), in personal union with the Russian Empire. Its autonomy lasted until 1831, when it was annexed by Russia.
The Duchy's Legacy
On the surface, the Duchy of Warsaw was just one of several states created during Napoleon's rule of Europe, lasting only a few years and disappearing with his fall. However, its establishment just over a decade after the Second and Third Partitions and the attempt to wipe Poland off the map, revived the hopes of Polish nationalists for a revival of the Polish state. Even with the defeat of Napoleon, a Polish state continued to some extent until Russia eliminated Poland again as a separate entity. Taken together, this meant that an identifiable Polish state existed for a quarter of a century.
When the Second Polish Republic was established after World War I, its initial borders were similar to those of the Duchy that preceded it a century earlier.
On the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the creation of the Grand Duchy, multiple commemorative celebrations have been held in Warsaw, including a Franco-Polish military parade backed by President Sarkozy.
Duchy of Warsaw or Grand Duchy of Warsaw?
The Duchy of Warsaw is commonly referred to as the "Grand Duchy of Warsaw". However, the Duchy was never named like that in French, which was the diplomatic language of the time, and of course the language of the First French Empire, which created the State.
Article 5 of the Treaty of Tilsit, which created the duchy, the Convention that transferred it to the Kingdom of Saxony, and Article 1 of the Act of the Congress of Vienna, which abolished it, always refer to it in French as the Duché de Varsovie.
Similarly, the Constitution refers to it in German as Herzogtum Warschau, and its coins read the Latin inscription FRID AVG REX SAX DVX VARSOV (Fridericus Augustus, Rex Saxoniæ, Dux Varsoviæ: Frederick Augustus, King of Saxony, Duke of Warsaw).
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