Polish History Timeline

Pre History - Times of Legends and Dragons ( link to Legends Page )

This Page - Up To the World War l

The World Wars -

966 - Mieszko l creates Kingdom of Poland adopting Catholicism as the state religion.

Most of the peoples of these lands were pagan at this time - worsoping nature and the elements - trees , water, stones.

Establishment of the Polish Piast Dynasty - it's Kings ruled Poland until 1370 with the death of the Great King Kazimierz.

Mieszko is a diminutive of Mieczysław, a combination of two elements or lexemes: Miecz meaning sword and Sław meaning famous together meaning "Sword of Fame"

The early Kings of Poland were crowned in Gniezno near Poznan in the west.

[The names of Polish Kings based on First Name and Numeric Sequence would often also include a characteristic desciption. Here are some examples

Boleslaw l the Brave, Boleslaw ll the Bold, Boleslaw lll the Wrymouth, Boleslaw the Curly,

Henryk the Bearded, Henryk the Pious, Henryk the White, Henryk Probus,

Kazimierz l the Restorer, Kazimierz the Just, Kazimierz the Great,

Wladyslaw the Exile, Wladyslaw Spindleshanks, Wladyslaw the Short.

Not all Polish Kings had the full title of King Of Poland which went with a coronation ceremony, some lesser Kings had the title of Duke of Krakow]

967 - 1025 Bolesław I the Brave or the Valiant (Polish: Bolesław I Chrobry )

He was the firstborn son of Mieszko I by his first wife, Dobrawa, daughter of Boleslav I the Cruel, Duke of Bohemia

Bolesław I was a remarkable politician, strategist and statesman. He was able to turn Poland into one of the largest and most powerful monarchies in eastern Europe.

At the time of his death Bolesław I left Poland larger than he inherited her, adding to its domains the long contested Germananic marches of Lusatia and Sorbian Meissen as well as Red Ruthenia and possibly Lesser Poland. Militarily, at the time, Poland was unquestioningly a considerable power as Bolesław I was able to fight successful campaigns against both Holy Roman Empire and the Kievan Russia.

Boleslaw became a King of Legend - When King Boleslaw died, Poland lost a very able and brave ruler, one who had united her and made her into a really great country.

One legend claims that Boleslaw, and his Knights who fought with him for he was a great warrior and earned his title of the Brave, by routing Poland's enemies he went into a mountain called Giewont. (Overlooks Zakopane) This mountain forms part of the Tatra mountain range, and its shape, if seen from a certain angle, is like the head of a sleeping Knight. Within the mountain is a huge dark cavern and there sleeps King Boleslaw and his Knights. They are mounted on horses, with their swords, bow and lances beside them. And if Poland ever needs them, then some one must awake them, and they will ride forth to serve the Polish nation. (This tale is similar to the one of King Arthur waiting to be roused from beneath Glastonbury or even Alderley Edge)

Home of the Teutonic Knights - Malbork (Marienburg)

1240-1 (also 1259 & 1287) Mongol/Tatar invasions

Southern Poland at this time was fighting back raids from the Muslim Mongol Tatars also referred to as the Golden Horde.

The Krakow signal bugle call, or Hejnal Mariacki, dates back to the Middle Ages when it was announcing the opening and the closing of the city gates. During one of the Mongol invasion of Poland (invasion of 1241), Tatar warriors approached the city. A guard on the Mariacki church tower sounded the alarm by playing the Heynal, and the city gates were closed before the Tatars could take the city by surprise. Away on the far meadows the Tartar warriors were mounting their horses and drawing their swords. But already the old watchman could see the Polish archers arriving. The archers took up their positions along the battlements as the tartars galloped towards the city. But by now the Polish arrows were flying. They rained down on the tartar invaders, wave after wave. Eventually the Tartars were forced to retreat, and Krakow was saved from the Mongols!

The bugler, however, was shot in the throat and did not complete the tune. According to the legend, that is why it now ends abruptly before completion.

Everyday in Krakow every full hour a golden trumpet shows above Krakow’s central Grand Square in the west window just below the spire of the higher tower of the Basilica of the Virgin Mary's to commemorate the saving of the town ending abruptly before completion.

The legend isn't actually true. The Polish armies were heavily defeated outside of Krakow by the invading Tatars forcing King Henryk The Pious to flee to the west of Poland along with many of the town folk. The city was sacked - raped and pillaged. The Tatars then headed in the direction of King Henryk.

The Polish King Henryk ll Pobozny ( The Pious) was also killed / hacked to pieces by the Mongols under the leadership of Batu Khan at the battle of Legnica. On the battle field Henryk's remains could only be recognised by his wife by the fact that he had 6 toes on his left foot.

On hearing of the death of Ögedei Khan (third son of Genghis Khan) on December 1241 (from excessive drinking) the Tatars returned back home. Further foreys from the Tatars would continue but these were more of an annoyance. However some Muslim Tatars did settle in Poland and there are a number of small Muslim communities in Poland that data back to these times.

Casimir III the Great - 1310-1370

The Great King Kazimierz is the only Polish king who both received and kept the title of Great in Polish history (Boleslaw I Chrobry is also called the Great, but his title Chrobry (Valiant) is now more common). When he received the crown, his hold on it was in danger, as even his neighbours did not recognise his title and instead called him "king of Kraków". The economy was ruined, and the country was depopulated and exhausted by war. Upon his death, he left a country doubled in size (mostly through the addition of land in today's Ukraine, then the Duchy of Halicz), prosperous, wealthy and with great prospects for the future. Although he is depicted as a peaceful king in children's books, he in fact waged many victorious wars and was readying for others just before he died.

In order to enlist the support of the nobility, especially the military help of pospolite ruszenie, Kazimierz was forced to give up important privileges to their caste, which made them finally clearly dominant over townsfolk (burghers or mieszczaństwo). This concession to the nobility ulitmately made the nobles more powerful than the monachy.

Kazimierz had no legal sons. Apparently he deemed his own descendants either unsuitable or too young to inherit. Thus In 1355 in Buda , and in order to provide a clear line of succession and avoid dynastic uncertainty, he arranged for his sister Elisabeth, Dowager Queen of Hungary, and her son Louis king of Hungary to be his successors in Poland.

In exchange to agreeing to this, the szlachta's tax burden was reduced and they would no longer be required to pay for military expeditions expenses outside Poland. Those important concessions would eventually lead to the ultimately crippling rise of the unique nobles' democracy in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Louis was proclaimed king on Kazimierz's death in 1370, and Elisabeth held much of the real power until her death in 1380. Thus a regal connection with Hungary was established

.

St. Jadwiga & Jagiello (1373 - 1424)

start of Jagiellon dynasty which would rule Poland for next 200 years

Princes Jadwiga was born in the year of Our Lord 1373, the third daughter of Louis of Hungary. King Louis was the nephew of the great King Casimir, and in 1370 he had claimed the rule of Poland as well, as Casimir's heir.

When Louis died, in 1382, Jadwiga was only nine years old. Because the old king had no sons of his body, he directed that Hungary and Poland should each take one of his daughters and crown her 'king' of the country. Though originally Jadwiga had been destined for Hungary, the Hungarian nobles preferred her older sister, Maria, and the Polish nobles agreed to have Jadwiga as their ruler. (Under Polish customs, both boy and girl children inherit equally, and the king has the right to declare any of his relatives or descendants his heir-- as in the old days of the clans.) In this way, Poland remained separate from Hungary.

Queen Jadwiga was crowned "rex", or King, of Poland in 1384. Alone in a strange country, Jadwiga soon found that she had many troubles to settle. The Teutonic Knights were attacking both Poland and Lithuania, hoping to recapture the lands they lost to Casimir; many of Casimir's other descendants were hoping to claim parts of Poland as well. And of course poor Poland was menaced as always from the West by the greedy Germanic states, from the East by the rulers of Muscovy, and from the South by the continuing threat of invasion by the savage Mongols and barbarian Cossack Tartars.

In these circumstances, the great Polish nobles told the little queen that she could not marry her betrothed, an Austrian prince, since they could not accept an Austrian on the throne. As an alternative, they offered the prince Jagiello, King of Lithuania. If she married Jagiello, he would convert to Christianity, and convert his nation. Not only would the joined might of Poland and Lithuania cow her enemies, but the Teutonic Knights would lose the support of the church for their attempts to conquer 'pagan' Lithuania, the excuse they used for invading Poland.

The Lithuanian King was baptized in February 1386, a few days before the marriage, and took the name "Wladyslaw". Wladyslaw and Jadwiga were married on February 18, and the Lithuanian was crowned king of Poland in March, in the city of Krakow.

Jadwiga ruled jointly with the king, traveling on diplomatic missions, negotiating with German, Muscovite, and Italian princes of the Church, helping to establish the church in Lithuania, and establishing seats of learning. In fact, though the nobles had elected Wladyslaw as their king, they looked to Jadwiga as their true king as long as she lived. The young queen sponsored the refounding of the university at Krakow, the oldest in eastern Europe, naming it the Jagiellonian University, and making it a beacon of learning in law and theology; she also founded a college for Lithuanians in Prague. Churchmen remember her efforts in the founding of the bishopric of Wilno.

But God willed that the beloved Queen was not to live a long life among her children; On June 22, 1399 aged 26 Jadwiga gave birth to a daughter, Elizabeth Bonifacia. Within a month, both the girl and her mother had died from birth complications. They were buried together in Wawel Cathedral. Jadwiga's death undermined Jogaila's position as King of Poland, but he managed to retain the throne until his death 35 years later. Though king Wladyslaw, now sole ruler of Poland and Lithuania, remarried and had a son to succeed him, it is said that he never forgot his young queen, and it is true that her people have never forgotten her. Her memory lives in the union of Poland and Lithuania, and the comparative peace enjoyed under the rule of the Jagiellonian kings.

She is known in Polish as Jadwiga, in English and German as Hedwig, in Lithuanian as Jadvyga, in Hungarian as Hedvig, and in Latin as Hedvigis. She is venerated by the Roman Catholic Church as Saint Hedwig. Jadwiga is the patron saint of queens, and of United Europe.

(On June 8, 1979 Pope John Paul II prayed at her sarcophagus; and the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments officially affirmed her beatification on August 8, 1986. The Pope canonized Jadwiga in Kraków on June 8, 1997)

One interesting story about Jadwiga's benevolence demonstrates the connection between myth and history. It had long been told that Jadwiga had given away all of her wealth (including the crown jewels and her personal jewelry) to help establish the Academy of Cracow (which was later renamed the Jagiellonian University, in honor of her and Wladyslaw). Retold through the centuries, this story became legend, seemingly invented as an example of her good works. However, when her sarcophagus in the Wawel Cathedral was opened in 1887, her skeleton was discovered with the royal scepter and orb with which she had been buried. Shockingly, the scepter and orb were made of humble wood, without even a covering of gold leaf! Jadwiga died at at the young age of 25, so there had been no time for her to reacquire a suitably regal symbols of her sovereignty. The legend proved to be true after all, and today Jadwiga's wooden scepter and orb are on display next to her sarcophagus in the Wawel Cathedral!

Krakow Wawel

1410 The Battle of Grunwald (or 1st Battle of Tannenberg) took place on July 15, 1410 with the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, led by the king Jogaila (Władysław II Jagiełło), ranged against the knights of the Teutonic Order, led by the Grand Master Ulrich von Jungingen. The engagement in the Polish-Lithuanian-Teutonic War (1409-1411) was one of the most important battles in Medieval Europe, and the largest battle to involve knights.

The battle saw the forces of the Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights decisively defeated, but they defended their castles specifically Malbork and retained most of its territories. The order never recovered its former power, and the financial burden of ensuing reparations decades later caused a rebellion of cities and landed gentry.

The offensive that followed lost its impact with the ineffective siege of Malbork (Marienburg). The failure to take the fortress and eliminate and destry the Teutonic (later Prussian) state had for Poland dire historic consequences in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries

In 1456, during the Thirteen Years' War, the Order—deserted and opposed for establishing taxes to pay high ransoms for prisoners taken by the Polish king—could not pay its mercenaries. Hochmeister Ludwig von Erlichshausen moved the seat of the Order to Königsberg, and gave Malbork castle to the Bohemian mercenaries as payment. The mercenaries left, after selling the castle to King Casimir IV Jagiellon, who thus acquired what he and his predecessor could not conquer. He entered the castle triumphantly in 1457.

Under mayor Bartholomäus Blume, the city itself resisted the Polish onslaught for three more years, until the Poles captured and hanged Blume in 1460. A monument to him was erected in 1864. Castle and town became part of Royal Prussia in 1466, and served as one of the several Polish royal residences. During the Thirty Years' War, in 1626 and 1629, Swedes occupied the castle, and again from 1656 to 1660 in The Deluge (see below) during the Northern Wars.

(There was a 2nd epic Battle of Tannenberg in 1914 at the start of WW1 which resulted in the almost complete destruction of the Russian Second Army by the Germans - who like to forget about the first battle and focus on the second which they won.)

The Golden Age

1569 - 1772 The Golden Age of the Polish Commonwealth - Poland was the largest country in Europe at this time. It was free, independent and democratic.

However all power was with the area Barons/Magnates. Each Baron had his own fighting force - generally cavalry.

The Polish term "szlachta" designates the formalized, hereditary noble class.

There was a Polish Parliament "The Seym" all laws passed had to be agreed by ALL the barons. Any one baron had the right of Liberum Vetu, that is they could vote down the entire bill. This was Polands Golden Freedom.

In addition Polish Kings were not hereditary - they were nominated and installed as a figure head by the barons and usually such kings were foreign and not Polish nationals- they were reliant on the barons support and to provide fighting forces.

Poland thus had a large nobility. About ten percent (10%) of the population was noble, as compared to the one (1%) to two (2%) percent in the rest of Europe. The Polish State was set up to serve the Polish nobleman. Over the centuries, the wealthiest Polish families often contrived to acquire foreign titles, and in later periods a small number of titles were awarded by Parliament. As a result many barons/magnates recieved hugh sums from foreign governments to represent their interests and vote for their kings and the majority of the kings of this period tended to be foreign and weak because the noblemen did not want to vote in a King more powerful then they had become.

"The King reigns,

but does not govern."

-Jan Zamoyski

Łańcut Palace ( pronounced Wine-Tsut ) exemplifies the grandeur and opulence of the major Polish Nobility through the inter-marriages of the families of the Lubomirski, Czartoryski, Radziwill and Potocki.

Also noteable residences are the Zamoyski Palace and The Kozlowka Palace which is considered to be one of the most beautiful magnate residencies in Poland. Aleksander Zamoyski bought the Kozlowka for the Zamoyski family who founded the eastern fortified town of Zamość.

There are many hundreds of residences/palaces to discover in Poland all bound to the noble families.

The Deluge "Potop" 1648 -1660

Splits within the Polish nobility between supporting a "Jesuit" King - Jan Kazimierz with sympathies with Austria and nobility supporting the Swedish King Charles X Gustav of Sweden led to the Deluge.

"The Deluge" refers to the Swedish invasion and occupation of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1655 to 1660; When the Swedish armies first invaded Poland, the Voivod of Poznań, Krzysztof Opaliński, surrendered Great Poland to Charles Gustav. Other areas also surrendered in rapid succession. Almost the whole country followed suit, with the Swedes entering Warsaw unopposed in August 1655 and King John ll Casimir fleeing to Silesia.

However several places still resisted, most remarkably (and symbolically) the monastery at Jasna Góra in Czestochowa (pic above) . Led by The Grand Prior Augustyn Kordecki, the garrison of this sanctuary-fortress of Poland held off its enemies in the Siege of Jasna Góra (November 1655 to January 1656). The defense of Jasna Góra galvanized Polish resistance against the Swedes. In December 1655 the Tyszowce Confederation formed in support of the exiled John Casimir (Jan Kazimierz).

Spontaneous uprisings started all over the country, attacking the dispersed occupation forces — who, in their turn, retaliated. The uprisings soon merged under the leadership of Polish military leader Stefan Czarniecki and Grand Hetman of Lithuania Jan Paweł Sapieha, who started organized counterattacks in order to eliminate those loyal to Charles Gustav. In the end, John II Casimir's supporters crowned him in Lwów Cathedral in 1656 (Lwów Oath).

In 1655, the fabled castle of Krzystopor (it really did and does exist) owned by the Ossoliński family was captured by the Swedes, who occupied it until 1657, pillaging the entire complex. The damage to the structure was so extensive that after the Swedes’ withdrawal it was not rebuilt.

The Ossolinski's castle was reputedly the biggest in Europe prior to the building of Versailles. The name 'Krzyztopor' mean The Battle Axe of The Cross - whose descendents are represented in North Western England through Count Boris Ossolinski, whose Jackson heiress bride is remembered in England as Countess Mary Ossalinsky.

Picture - Sobieski sending message to the Pope to say that Vienna was saved.( In Krakow Nat.Museum by Jan Matejko)

King Jan III was succeeded by Augustus II who stayed in power primarily because of Russian support. On his death in 1733, a struggle for the crown of Poland ensued, referred to as the War of the Polish Succession. In real terms Poland was very weak and no longer able to raise an effective national army to defend itself.

Towards 1772 there were proposals in the Seym to extend freedoms and land ownership to the lower classes. This was at direct odds with the dictarships of empires that surrounded Poland and resulted in three great partitions of Poland.

Stanisław August Poniatowski (1732 - 1798 ) ( Last King of Poland and lover of Catherine the Great of Russia )

Poniatowski owed his career ultimately to his family connections to the powerful Czartoryski clan, who in 1755 sent him to Saint Petersburg, Russia, in the service of British ambassador Sir Charles Hanbury-Williams and the same year, through the influence of the Russian Empress Elizabeth and Chancellor Bestuzhev-Ryumin, he joined the Russian court as the ambassador of Saxony.

He met Catherine Alexeievna (Catherine the Great of Russia) and they became lovers. She was irresistibly attracted to the handsome and brilliant young Polish nobleman, for whom she forsook all other lovers. They had a child Anna Petrovna, born in December 1757. He loved Catherine until he died but they would never marry and Catherine would continue having many lovers

After a coup d'état on 7 September 1764 supported by Russian troops, the ambitious, 32-year-old Poniatowski was elected King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

On his election in 1764 he aquired the Łazienki Park (in Warsaw) which was designed in the 17th century for Stanisław Lubomirski who lived in the adjacent Ujazdow Castle. It took the name Łazienki ("Baths") from a bathing pavilion that was located there. The development of the classicist-style gardens became a major project for Stanisław August during his reign and he further developed the bath house into the Łazienki Palace on an Island.

Today the memorial to Chopin is found the in the Łazienki gardens.

He also founded the School of Chivalry (otherwise "Corps of Cadets"), which functioned 1765-1794 and whose alumni included Tadeusz Kościuszko; and the Commission of National Education (1773), the world's first national ministry of education.

It was only during the Four-Year Sejm of 1788-1792 that he threw in his lot with the reformers, centered in the Patriotic Party, and with them co-authored the Constitution of 3 May 1791.Poniatowski's eloquent speech before the Sejm on taking an oath to uphold the newly adopted Constitution moved his audience to tears.

Afraid that the May Constitution of Poland (1791) might lead to a resurgence in the power of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and that the growing democratic movements inside the Commonwealth might become a threat to the European monarchies, Catherine decided to intervene in Poland. She provided support to a Polish anti-reform group known as the Targowica Confederation formed by Polish nobility led by Stanisław Szczęsny Potocki to overthrow the Constitution. The confederates aligned with Russia's Catherine the Great, and the Russian army entered Poland, starting the Polish-Russian War of 1792.

[Targowica Confederation : Agreed in April 27th. in St Petersburg and on May 14, 1792 it was announced in a small town Targowica in Kirovohrad Oblast Ukraine by members of republican plot.

Is this the same town that our folks came from ? No our Targovica is in the Volyn Oblast. However in Poland supporters of the confederation are referred to as "targowiczanin" or foolish traitor- !!]

After a series of battles, Poniatowski, upon the advice of Hugo Kołłątaj and others, acceded to the Confederation. This undermined the operations of the Polish Army, which under Tadeusz Kościuszko and the King's own nephew, Prince Jozef Poniatowski, had been performing miracles on the battlefield.

After defeating Polish loyalist forces in the Polish War in Defense of the Constitution (1792) and in the Kościuszko Uprising (1794), Russia completed the partitioning of Poland, dividing all of the remaining Commonwealth territory with Prussia and Austria (1795).

After the final, Third Partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Stanisław August was forced to abdicate (25 November 1795) and left for Saint Petersburg, Russia. There, a virtual prisoner, he subsisted on a pension granted to him by Empress Catherine the Great, and died deeply in debt. He was buried at the Catholic Church of St. Catherine in St. Petersburg.

And so the ERA's of Polish Kings came to an end

Tadeusz Kościuszko (Son of Liberty) 1746 - 1817

He is a national hero in Poland, Belarus, Lithuania, and the United States. He led the 1794 Kościuszko Uprising against Imperial Russia and Kingdom of Prussia as Supreme Commander of the National Armed Force. He was the son of Polish noble Ludwik Tadeusz Kościuszko and Tekla, née Ratomska. He was the youngest child in a family whose lineages are traced to Lithuanian and Ruthenian nobility.

He joined the Knights Academy in 1765 and In 1769 Kościuszko and his colleague Orłowski were granted a royal scholarship in Paris. Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was forced to cut back its Army to 10,000 men, and when Kościuszko finally returned home in 1774, there was no place for him in the Army. he decided to travel back to Paris. There he was informed of the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, in which the British colonies in North America revolted against the crown and started the fight for independence.Thus he travelled to North America and joined the Continental Army. He was so moved after reading the Declaration of Independance much of which expressed his own opinions of freedoms that he was compelled to meet it's author Thomas Jefferson - becoming good friends in the process.

1776, Congress commissioned him a Colonel of Engineers in the Continental Army. "He was assigned a black slave named Agrippa Hull, whom he eventually freed.

After seven years of service, on October 13, 1783, Kościuszko was promoted by Congress to the rank of brigadier general. He also received American citizenship and a grant of land and was admitted to the prestigious Society of the Cincinnati and to the American Philosophical Society. When he was leaving America, he wrote a last will, naming Thomas Jefferson the executor and leaving his property in America to be used to buy the freedom of black slaves

In July 1784 Kościuszko set off for Poland, where he arrived on August 12. He settled in his home village of Siechnowicze. The property, administered by his brother-in-law, brought a small but stable income, and Kościuszko decided to limit his serfs' corvée to two days a week, while completely exempting female serfs. This move was seen by local szlachta (nobility) as a sign of Kościuszko's dangerous liberalism. But liberal thought was spreading - a strong, if still informal, group of politicians advocated for reforms and for strengthening the state arguing for granting the serfs and burghers more rights and for strengthening the central authorities. These ideas were supported by a large part of the szlachta, who also wanted to curb foreign meddling in Poland's internal affairs.

Finally the Great Sejm of 1788–92 opened the necessary reforms. One of its first acts was to approve the creation of a 100,000-man army to defend the Commonwealth's borders against its aggressive neighbors. Kościuszko applied to the army and on October 12, 1789, received a royal commission as a major general.

The Commonwealth's internal situation and the reforms initiated by the Constitution of May 3, 1791, the first constitution written in the modern era in Europe and second in the world after the American, were seen by the surrounding powers as a threat to their influence over Polish politics. On May 14, 1792, conservative magnates created the Targowica Confederation, which asked Russian Tsarina Catherine II for help in overthrowing the constitution. On May 18, 1792, a 100,000-man Russian army crossed the Polish border and headed for Warsaw, thus opening the Polish-Russian War of 1792.

Victorious in the Battle of Zieleńce (June 18, 1792), Kościuszko was among the first to receive the newly-created Virtuti Militari medal, Poland's highest military decoration even today.

In the ensuing Battles of Włodzimierz (July 17, 1792) and Dubienka (July 18) Kościuszko repulsed the numerically superior enemy and came to be regarded as one of Poland's most brilliant military commanders of the time. On August 1, 1792, King Stanisław August promoted him to Lieutenant General. But before the nomination arrived at Kościuszko's camp in Sieciechów, the King had joined the ranks of the Targowica Confederation and surrendered to the Russians.

The King's capitulation was a hard blow for Kościuszko, who had not lost a single battle in the campaign. Together with many other notable Polish commanders and politicians he fled to Dresden and then to Leipzig, where the émigrées began preparing an uprising against Russian rule in Poland.

On January 13, 1793, Prussia and Russia signed the Second Partition of Poland, which was ratified by the Sejm of Grodno on June 17. Such an outcome was a giant blow for the members of Targowica Confederation who saw their actions as a defense of centuries-old privileges of the magnates, but now were regarded by the majority of the Polish population as traitors. After the partition Poland became a small country of roughly 200,000 square kilometres and a population of approximately 4 million. The economy was ruined and the support for the cause of an uprising grew significantly, especially since there was no serious opposition to the idea after the Targowica Confederation was discredited.

The situation in Poland was changing rapidly. The Russian and Prussian governments forced Poland to again disband the majority of her armed forces and the reduced units were to be drafted to the Russian army. Also, in March the tsarist agents discovered the group of revolutionaries in Warsaw and started arresting notable Polish politicians and military commanders with forced imprisonment and deportation to Siberia.

Picture graphically portrays the poignant plight of the Sybiracy after Uprising against the Russian Empire and deported to Siberia.

Kościuszko was forced to execute his plan earlier than planned and on March 15, 1794 he set off for Kraków.

Kościuszko Uprising: During the Uprising, Kościuszko was made Naczelnik (Commander-in-Chief) of all Polish-Lithuanian forces fighting against Russian occupation, and on the 7th May 1794 issued the famous Proclamation of Połaniec.

This act partially abolished the serfdom in Poland, granting significant civil liberties to all peasants. The reasons behind the Połaniec proclamation were twofold: first, Kosciuszko, a liberal and a reformist, believed that the serfdom was an unfair system and should end; second, the uprising was in desperate need for recruits and freeing the peasants would prompt many of them to fight.The proclamation provided the peasants with the personal freedom right for assistance from the state against the abuses of the Polish nobility (szlachta) and gave them specific property rights to the land they cultivated

Kościuszko and his kosynierzy peasant infantry enjoyed initial successes following the Battle of Racławice, It was the first time in Polish history when the peasants were officially regarded as part of the nation . (Members of the Targovica Coferation if caught were tried and hung). However he was wounded in the Battle of Maciejowice Oct 1794 and taken prisoner by the Russians, who imprisoned him in Saint Petersburg—Kościuszko was held at Prince Orlov's Marble Palace. The uprising ended soon afterwards with the Siege of Warsaw. The Proclamation of Połaniec thus never came into being.

However 127 years later and for the first time in Polish History emerged a similar law granting lands to Polish soldiers (our grandfather/greatgrandfather Stanislaw benefitted) who fought in the Polish Bolshevik war of 1919 - 1921.

Kościuszko was a man of the ordinary people of Poland and as such Polands greatest hero.

In 1796 Tsar Paul I of Russia pardoned Kościuszko and set him free. In exchange for his oath of loyalty, Paul I also freed some 20,000 Polish political prisoners held in Russian prisons and forcibly settled in Siberia.

Kościuszko emigrated to the United States, but the following year returned to Europe and in 1798 settled in Breville, near Paris. Still devoted to the Polish cause, he took part in creating the Polish Legions. Also, on October 17 and November 6, 1799 he met with Napoleon Bonaparte.However, he failed to reach any agreement with the French leader.

He spent some time in Vienna and moved to Solothurn, Switzerland, where his friend Franciszek Zeltner was mayor. Suffering from poor health and old wounds, on October 15 1817 Kościuszko died there of typhoid fever. Two years earlier, he had emancipated his serfs.

Kościuszko's body was embalmed and placed in a crypt at Solothurn's Jesuit Church. His viscera, removed in the process of embalming, were separately interred in a graveyard at Zuchwil, near Solothurn, except for the heart, for which an urn was fashioned. In 1818 Kościuszko's body was transferred to Kraków, Poland, and placed in a crypt at Wawel Cathedral, a pantheon of Polish kings and national heroes. Kościuszko's heart, which had been preserved at the Polish Museum in Rapperswil, Switzerland, was in 1927, along with the rest of the Museum's holdings, repatriated to Warsaw, where the heart now reposes in a chapel at the Royal Castle. Kościuszko's other viscera (innards) remain interred at Zuchwil, where a large memorial stone was erected in 1820 and can be visited today, next to a Polish memorial chapel.

Thus his heart is in Warsaw - his body in Krakow and his innards in Switzerland.

1772 -1795 Three phases of Partitions divide Poland up amongst it's powerful neighbours..

This map shows how Poland was divided by Russia, Prussia and Austria in 3 partitions..

The Marczaks came from near Luck on this map - it was in the centre of Poland during the golden age.

The Partitions and occupation of the country resulted in a considerable increase in titles as collaborationist families were rewarded by the Partitioning powers. Thus to a greater extent there was no significant resistance to the partitioning - some noble families gained considerably - atleast in the early years of the partitions

The effect of the defeat of 1794 Uprising led to Poland being totally partitioned by it's neighbours - there was no Polish State any longer

1806 The Duchy of Warsaw was officially created by the victorious Napoleon Bonaparte, as part of the Treaty of Tilsit with Prussia.

The area of the duchy had already been liberated by a popular uprising that had escalated from anti-conscription rioting in 1806. One of the first tasks for the new government included providing food to the French army fighting the Russians in East Prussia. Its creation met the support of both local republicans in partitioned Poland, and the large Polish diaspora in France, who openly supported Napoleon as the only man capable of restoring Polish sovereignty after the Partitions of Poland of late 18th century. The newly (re)created state was formally an independent duchy, allied to France who treated it as a source of resources - so the duchy of Warsaw was never fully independant. (reason why Kościuszko did not see eye to eye with Napoleon).

However when Napoleon lost his battle with Russia in 1812 the Duchy was divided up once again by Prussia and Russia in 1813.

There were further uprisings

The November Uprising (1830–1831)—also known as the Cadet Revolution—was an armed rebellion against the rule of the Russian Empire in Poland and Lithuania. The uprising began on November 29, 1830 in Warsaw when a group of young non-commissioned officer conspirators from the Imperial Russian Army's military academy in Warsaw led by Piotr Wysocki revolted. They were soon joined by large parts of Polish society. Despite several local successes, the uprising was eventually crushed by a numerically superior Russian army under Ivan Paskevich.

To escape Germanification and Russification of the country many "Polish Elites" emigrated notably to France.

The Great Emigration (Polish: Wielka Emigracja) was an emigration of political elites from Poland from 1831–1870.

They included Polish nobility with anti Russian sympathies along with artist, authors, poets and composers who romanticised about the Polish state, all risked banishment to Central Russia or even deportation to Siberia.

Most of the political émigrés were based in France. The most important wave of emigration came after the November Uprising of 1830–1831. Because of this emigration of political elites, much of the political and ideological activity of the Polish intelligentsia during the 18th and 19th centuries was done outside of the lands of partitioned Poland.

Some of the emigrants included

Adam Mickiewicz (Poet. 1798 - 1855)

Frederick Chopin ( Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. 1810 - 1849)

Prince Adam Jerzy Czartoryski (1770 - 1861) (Leader of Polish Government in Exile in Paris) ( Great Polish Noble family - it was Adam who aquired the Leanardo Da Vinci "Lady with Ermine" painting in 1798 for the collection at the family home at Pulawy near Lublin - The painting is now at the Czartoryski Museum in Krakow- Krakow is one of just six places in the world that can boast a painting by Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), It's one of only three female portraits of which Krakow’s Lady with an Ermine is arguably the most beautiful)

Józef Piłsudski (1865-1935) (SIBIRAK and Marshal of Poland)

We enter the era of our (Great) Grand Father Stanislaw who was born in 1897

It's a stuggle for Polish Territory lost over 100 years earlier to the Russians but within the Polish peoples it's also the period of strugle and change of order between the ruling landowning classes "The Bourgeois" and the working clasees "The Proletariat".

It's a struggle of which political system achieves the best result for Poland - Free Independance or Social Communism.

Our families were pawns in this struggle.