Kosciuszko Uprising - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Kościuszko Uprising was an uprising

Rebellion

Rebellion, uprising or insurrection, is a refusal of obedience or order. It may, therefore, be seen as encompassing a range of behaviors aimed at destroying or replacing an established authority such as a government or a head of state...

against Imperial Russia and the Kingdom of Prussia

Kingdom of Prussia

The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...

led by Tadeusz Kościuszko

Tadeusz Kosciuszko

Andrzej Tadeusz Bonawentura Kościuszko was a Polish–Lithuanian and American general and military leader during the Kościuszko Uprising. He is a national hero of Poland, Lithuania, the United States and Belarus...

in Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

, Belarus

Belarus

Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...

and Lithuania

Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

in 1794. It was a failed attempt to liberate Poland and Lithuania from Russian

Russian Empire

The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...

influence after the Second Partition of Poland

Second Partition of Poland

The 1793 Second Partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was the second of three partitions that ended the existence of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth by 1795. The second partition occurred in the aftermath of the War in Defense of the Constitution and the Targowica Confederation of 1792...

(1793) and the creation of the Targowica Confederation

Targowica Confederation

The Targowica Confederation was a confederation established by Polish and Lithuanian magnates on 27 April 1792, in Saint Petersburg, with the backing of the Russian Empress Catherine II. The confederation opposed the Polish Constitution of May 3, 1791, which had been adopted by the Great Sejm,...

Background

The first partition of Poland

Partitions of Poland

The Partitions of Poland or Partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth took place in the second half of the 18th century and ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, resulting in the elimination of sovereign Poland for 123 years...

and the war in the defence of constitution seriously weakened the reformist movement in the Crown territory of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, supporting the May Constitution. However, after the second partition of Poland

Second Partition of Poland

, the ruling partisans of Imperial Russia united in the Confederation of Targowica were also weakened. The people supporting Russia as the main guarantor of the golden freedoms after the second partition were seen as traitors to their country rather than heroes and opposition to their rule gained much support, both within the nobility

Szlachta

The szlachta was a legally privileged noble class with origins in the Kingdom of Poland. It gained considerable institutional privileges during the 1333-1370 reign of Casimir the Great. In 1413, following a series of tentative personal unions between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of...

and the burghers.

To suppress the opposition, the governments of Prussia

Prussia

Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...

and Russia

Russian Empire

The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...

agreed to demobilise 50% of the Polish Army and draft the remaining Polish soldiers into their own armies. On 12 March 1794, General Antoni Madaliński

Antoni Madalinski

Antoni Madaliński – Polish Lieutenant General, commander of 1st Greater Polish National Cavalry Brigade during Kościuszko Uprising....

, the commander of 1st Greater Polish National Cavalry Brigade (1,500 men) decided to disobey the order to demobilise, advancing his troops from Ostrołęka to Kraków

Kraków

Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...

. This sparked an outbreak of riots against Russian forces throughout the country. The Russian garrison of Kraków

Kraków

was ordered to leave the city and defeat the Polish forces. This left the city completely undefended.

Uprising

On 24 March 1794, Tadeusz Kościuszko

Tadeusz Kosciuszko

, a veteran of the American Revolutionary War

American Revolutionary War

The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...

, announced the general uprising

Kosciuszko's proclamation

Kościuszko's proclamation refers to a speech given by Tadeusz Kościuszko in Kraków on March 24, 1794. The speech is considered the starting point of the Kościuszko's Uprising against the forces of Imperial Russia occupying Poland....

and assumed the powers of the Commander in Chief of all of the Polish forces. He also vowed

not to use these powers to oppress any person, but to defend the integrity of the borders of Poland, regain the independence of the nation, and to strengthen universal liberties.

In order to strengthen the Polish forces, Kościuszko issued an act of mobilisation, requiring that every 5 houses in Lesser Poland

Lesser Poland

Lesser Poland is one of the historical regions of Poland, with its capital in the city of Kraków. It forms the southeastern corner of the country, and should not be confused with the modern Lesser Poland Voivodeship, which covers only a small, southern part of Lesser Poland...

delegate at least one able male soldier equipped with carbine
Carbine
A carbine , from French carabine, is a longarm similar to but shorter than a rifle or musket. Many carbines are shortened versions of full rifles, firing the same ammunition at a lower velocity due to a shorter barrel length....

, pike
Pike (weapon)
A pike is a pole weapon, a very long thrusting spear used extensively by infantry both for attacks on enemy foot soldiers and as a counter-measure against cavalry assaults. Unlike many similar weapons, the pike is not intended to be thrown. Pikes were used regularly in European warfare from the...

, or an axe
Axe
The axe, or ax, is an implement that has been used for millennia to shape, split and cut wood; to harvest timber; as a weapon; and as a ceremonial or heraldic symbol...

. Kościuszko's staff estimated that by mobilising all able males between 18 and 40 years of age the army of the uprising would soon reach 10,000. The difficulties with providing enough armament for the mobilised troops made Kościuszko form large units composed of people armed with scythe

Scythe

A scythe is an agricultural hand tool for mowing grass, or reaping crops. It was largely replaced by horse-drawn and then tractor machinery, but is still used in some areas of Europe and Asia. The Grim Reaper is often depicted carrying or wielding a scythe...

s.

To destroy the still weak opposition, Russian Empress Catherine the Great ordered the corps of Major General Fiodor Denisov to attack Kraków. On 4 April both armies met near the village of Racławice. In what became known as the Battle of Racławice Kościuszko's forces defeated the numerically and technically superior opponent. After the bloody battle the Russian forces withdrew from the battlefield. Kościuszko's forces were too weak to start a successful pursuit and wipe the Russian forces out of Lesser Poland. Although the strategic importance of the victory was close to none, the news of the victory spread fast and soon other parts of Poland joined the ranks of the revolutionaries. By early April the Polish forces concentrated in the lands of Lublin

Lublin

Lublin is the ninth largest city in Poland. It is the capital of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 350,392 . Lublin is also the largest Polish city east of the Vistula river...

and Volhynia

Volhynia

Volhynia, Volynia, or Volyn is a historic region in western Ukraine located between the rivers Prypiat and Southern Bug River, to the north of Galicia and Podolia; the region is named for the former city of Volyn or Velyn, said to have been located on the Southern Bug River, whose name may come...

, ready to be sent to Russia, joined the ranks of Kościuszko's forces.

On 17 April in Warsaw, the Russian attempt to arrest those suspected of supporting the insurrection and to disarm the weak Polish garrison of Warsaw under Gen. Stanisław Mokronowski by seizing the Arsenal

Arsenal

An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, issued to authorized users, or any combination of those...

at Miodowa

Miodowa

Miodowa is a street in Warsaw's Old Town. More precisely, it links the Freta Street in the New Town, with the Krasiński Square. It is also a street in the Kazimierz district in Kraków.-History:...

Street resulted in an uprising against the Russian garrison of Warsaw

Warsaw Uprising (1794)

The Warsaw Uprising of 1794 was an armed Polish insurrection by the city's populace early in the Kościuszko Uprising. Supported by the Polish Army, it aimed to throw off Russian control of the Polish capital city...

, led by Jan Kiliński

Jan Kilinski

Jan Kiliński was one of the commanders of the Kościuszko Uprising. A shoemaker by trade, he commanded the Warsaw Uprising of 1794, an uprising against the Russian garrison in Warsaw. He became a member of Polish provisional government as well.Jan Kiliński was born in Trzemeszno, a minor town in...

, in the face of indecisiveness of the King of Poland, Stanisław II Augustus. The insurgents were aided by the incompetence of Russian ambassador and commander, Iosif Igelström

Iosif Igelström

Count Otto Heinrich Igelström was a Russian general from the noble Swedish family of Igelström.Otto Heinrich Igelström, son of Landmarschall in the Governorate of Livonia freiherr Gustaf Henrik Igelström and Margarethe Elisabeth von Albedyll, got education in Riga and Germany...

, and the fact that the chosen day was the Thursday of Holy Week

Holy Week

Holy Week in Christianity is the last week of Lent and the week before Easter...

when many soldiers of the Russian garrison went to the churches for the Eucharist

Eucharist

The Eucharist , also called Holy Communion, the Sacrament of the Altar, the Blessed Sacrament, the Lord's Supper, and other names, is a Christian sacrament or ordinance...

not carrying their arms. Finally, from the onset of the insurrection, the Polish forces were aided by the civilian population and had surprise on their side as they attacked many separate groups of soldiers at the same time and the resistance to Russian forces quickly spread over the city. After two days of heavy fighting the Russians, who suffered between 2,000 to 4,000 casualties out of an initial 6,000 strong garrison, were forced to leave the city. A similar uprising was started by Jokūbas Jasinskis in Vilnius

Vilnius

Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County...

on 22 April and soon other cities and towns followed. The massacre of unarmed Russian soldiers attending the Easter service was regarded as a "crime against humanity" by Russians and was an argument for a vengeance later, during siege of Warsaw.

On 7 May 1794, Kościuszko issued an act that became known as the "Proclamation of Połaniec", in which he partially abolished the serfdom

Serfdom

Serfdom is the status of peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to Manorialism. It was a condition of bondage or modified slavery which developed primarily during the High Middle Ages in Europe and lasted to the mid-19th century...

in Poland, granted civil liberty to all peasants and provided them with state help against the abuses by the nobility

Nobility

Nobility is a social class which possesses more acknowledged privileges or eminence than members of most other classes in a society, membership therein typically being hereditary. The privileges associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles, or may be...

. Although the new law never fully came into being and was boycotted by much of the nobility, it also attracted many peasants to the ranks of the revolutionists. It was the first time in Polish history when the peasants were officially regarded as part of the nation
Nation
A nation may refer to a community of people who share a common language, culture, ethnicity, descent, and/or history. In this definition, a nation has no physical borders. However, it can also refer to people who share a common territory and government irrespective of their ethnic make-up...

, the word being previously equal to nobility.
Despite the promise of reforms and quick recruitment of new forces, the strategic situation of the Polish forces was still critical. On 10 May the forces of Prussia

Prussia

crossed the Polish borders and joined the Russian armies operating in northern Poland. On 6 June Kościuszko was defeated in the Battle of Szczekociny

Battle of Szczekociny

The Battle of Szczekociny was fought on June 6, 1794, near the town of Szczekociny, between Poland and the combined forces of the Russian Empire and Kingdom of Prussia. The Polish were led by Tadeusz Kościuszko, and the Russians and Prussians by Alexander Tormasov, future eminent general of the...

by a joint Russo-Prussian force and on 8 June General Józef Zajączek

Józef Zajaczek

Prince Józef Zajączek , was a Polish general and politician.His first important military post was that of an aide-de-camp to hetman Franciszek Ksawery Branicki...

was defeated in the Battle of Chełm. Polish forces withdrew towards Warsaw

Warsaw

Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...

and started to fortify the city. On 15 June the Prussian army captured Kraków unopposed, but the Russian forces were defeated in a series of skirmishes near Warsaw

Warsaw

and the defenders managed to finish the fortification efforts. Although it was besieged

Siege

A siege is a military blockade of a city or fortress with the intent of conquering by attrition or assault. The term derives from sedere, Latin for "to sit". Generally speaking, siege warfare is a form of constant, low intensity conflict characterized by one party holding a strong, static...

by Russo-Prussian forces on 22 July, the siege was unsuccessful. On 20 August, an uprising in Greater Poland

Greater Poland

Greater Poland or Great Poland, often known by its Polish name Wielkopolska is a historical region of west-central Poland. Its chief city is Poznań.The boundaries of Greater Poland have varied somewhat throughout history...

started and the Prussians were forced to withdraw their forces from Warsaw. The siege was lifted soon afterwards, on 5 September. Russian forces commanded by Ivan Fersen were withdrawn towards Pilica River

Pilica

Pilica is a river in central Poland, the longest left tributary of the Vistula river, with a length of 319 kilometres and the basin area of 9,273 km2 .-Towns:*Szczekociny*Koniecpol*Przedbórz*Sulejów*Tomaszów Mazowiecki...

.
Although the opposition in Lithuania

Lithuania

was crushed by Russian forces (Vilnius

Vilnius

was besieged and capitulated on 12 August), the uprising in Greater Poland achieved some success. A Polish corps under Jan Henryk Dąbrowski

Jan Henryk Dabrowski

-Biography:Dąbrowski was born to Jan Michal Dąbrowski and Sophie née von Lettow in Pierzchów, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth He grew up in Hoyerswerda, Electorate of Saxony, where his father served as a Colonel in the Saxon army...

captured Bydgoszcz (2 October) and entered Pomerania

Pomerania

Pomerania is a historical region on the south shore of the Baltic Sea. Divided between Germany and Poland, it stretches roughly from the Recknitz River near Stralsund in the West, via the Oder River delta near Szczecin, to the mouth of the Vistula River near Gdańsk in the East...

almost unopposed. Thanks to the mobility of his forces, General Dąbrowski evaded being encircled by a much less mobile Prussian army and disrupted the Prussian lines, forcing the Prussians to withdraw most of their forces from central Poland.

Meanwhile, the Russians equipped a new corps commanded by General Aleksandr Suvorov and ordered it to join up with the corps under Ivan Fersen near Warsaw

Warsaw

. After the battles of Krupczyce (17 September) and Terespol (19 September), the new army started its march towards the Polish capital. To prevent both Russian armies from joining up, Kościuszko mobilised his forces in Warsaw

Warsaw

and on 10 October started the Battle of Maciejowice

Battle of Maciejowice

The Battle of Maciejowice was fought on October 10, 1794, between Poland and the Russian Empire.The Poles were led by Tadeusz Kościuszko. Kościuszko with 6,200 men planned to prevent the linking of two larger Russian armies, 12,000 under Iwan Fersen and 12,500 under Alexander Suvorov...

. Despite Kościuszko's plans, both Russian units entered the combat simultaneously and won the battle. Kościuszko himself was wounded in the battle and was captured by the Russians, who sent him to Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...

.

The new commander of the uprising, Tomasz Wawrzecki

Tomasz Wawrzecki

Tomasz Wawrzecki was a distinguished Polish politician and military commander, a general of the Polish Army. During Kościuszko's Uprising in Warsaw he succeeded Tadeusz Kościuszko as the commander of the Polish forces...

, was not able to control the spreading internal struggles for power and ultimately became only the commander of weakened military forces, while the political power was held by General Józef Zajączek

Józef Zajaczek

Prince Józef Zajączek , was a Polish general and politician.His first important military post was that of an aide-de-camp to hetman Franciszek Ksawery Branicki...

, who in turn had to struggle with both the leftist liberal Polish Jacobins

Polish Jacobins

Polish Jacobins was the name given to a group of late 18th century radical Polish politicians by their opponents.Polish Jacobins formed during the Great Sejm as an offshoot of the "Kołłątaj's Forge" of Hugo Kołłątaj Polish Jacobins (or Hugenots) was the name given to a group of late 18th century...

and the rightist and monarchical nobility.

On 4 November the joint Russian forces started an all-out assault on Praga

Battle of Praga

The Battle of Praga or Battle of Warsaw of 1794 was a Russian assault of Praga, the easternmost suburb of Warsaw, during the Kościuszko Uprising in 1794. It was followed by a massacre of the civilian population of Praga.-Eve of the battle:After the Battle of Maciejowice General Tadeusz Kościuszko...

, the right-bank suburb of Warsaw

Warsaw

. After 4 hours of long hand-to-hand struggle, the 24,000 men strong Russian forces broke through the Polish defences and started to loot and burn the borough. The whole district was completely destroyed and approximately 20,000 of its inhabitants were murdered. The event became known as the massacre of Praga. Dispirited Wawrzecki decided to withdraw his remaining forces southwards and on 5 November Warsaw

Warsaw

was captured.

On 16 November, near Radoszyce, Wawrzecki surrendered. This marked the end of the uprising. The power of Poland was broken and the following year the third partition of Poland

Partitions of Poland

happened, after which Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

, Russia and Prussia

Prussia

annexed the remainder of the country.

Aftermath

After the failure of the Kościuszko Uprising, the country ceased to exist for 123 years and all of its institutions were gradually banned by the partitioning powers. However, the uprising also marked the start of modern political thought in Poland and Central Europe

Central Europe

Central Europe or alternatively Middle Europe is a region of the European continent lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe...

. Kościuszko's Proclamation of Połaniec and the radical leftist Jacobins

Jacobin (politics)

A Jacobin , in the context of the French Revolution, was a member of the Jacobin Club, a revolutionary far-left political movement. The Jacobin Club was the most famous political club of the French Revolution. So called from the Dominican convent where they originally met, in the Rue St. Jacques ,...

started the Polish leftist movement. Many prominent Polish politicians who were active during the uprising became the backbone of Polish politics, both home and abroad, in the 19th century. Also, Prussia had much of its forces tied up in Poland and could not field enough forces to suppress the French Revolution

French Revolution

The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...

, which added to its success.

In the lands of partitioned Poland, the failure of the uprising meant economic catastrophe, as centuries-old economic market

Market

A market is one of many varieties of systems, institutions, procedures, social relations and infrastructures whereby parties engage in exchange. While parties may exchange goods and services by barter, most markets rely on sellers offering their goods or services in exchange for money from buyers...

s became divided and separated from each other, resulting in the collapse of trade

Trade

Trade is the transfer of ownership of goods and services from one person or entity to another. Trade is sometimes loosely called commerce or financial transaction or barter. A network that allows trade is called a market. The original form of trade was barter, the direct exchange of goods and...

. Several bank

Bank

A bank is a financial institution that serves as a financial intermediary. The term "bank" may refer to one of several related types of entities:...

s fell and some of the few manufacturing centres established in the Commonwealth were closed. Reforms made by the reformers and Kosciuszko, aimed at easing serfdom, were revoked. All the partitioning powers heavily taxed their newly-acquired lands, filling their treasuries at the expense of the local population.

The schooling system was also degraded as the schools in those territories were given low priority. The Commission of National Education, the world's first Ministry of Education, was abolished, because the absolutist governments of the partitioning powers saw no gain in investing in education in the territories inhabited by restless Polish minorities. The creation of educational institutions in the partitions became very difficult. For example, an attempt to create a university in Warsaw was opposed by the Prussian authorities. Further, in the German and Russian partitions, all remaining centres of learning were subject to Germanisation

Germanisation

Germanisation is both the spread of the German language, people and culture either by force or assimilation, and the adaptation of a foreign word to the German language in linguistics, much like the Romanisation of many languages which do not use the Latin alphabet...

and Russification

Russification

Russification is an adoption of the Russian language or some other Russian attributes by non-Russian communities...

; only in territories acquired by Austria was there relatively little governmental intervention in the curriculum

Curriculum

See also Syllabus.In formal education, a curriculum is the set of courses, and their content, offered at a school or university. As an idea, curriculum stems from the Latin word for race course, referring to the course of deeds and experiences through which children grow to become mature adults...

. According to S. I. Nikołajew, from the cultural point of view the partitions may have given a step forward towards the development of national Polish literature

Polish literature

Polish literature is the literary tradition of Poland. Most Polish literature has been written in the Polish language, though other languages, used in Poland over the centuries, have also contributed to Polish literary traditions, including Yiddish, Lithuanian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, German and...

and arts, since the inhabitants of partitioned lands could acquire the cultural developments of German and Russian

Russian Enlightenment

The Russian Age of Enlightenment was a period in the eighteenth century in which the government began to actively encourage the proliferation of arts and sciences. This time gave birth to the first Russian university, library, theatre, public museum, and relatively independent press...

Enlightement

Age of Enlightenment

The Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...

.

The conditions for the former Polish elite were particularly harsh in Russian partition. Thousands of Polish schlachta families who supported Kościuszo's uprising were stripped of their possessions and estates, which were in turn awarded to Russian generals and favourites of the Petersburg court. It is estimated that 650,000 former Polish serfs were transferred to Russian officials in this manner. Some among the nobility

Nobility

, especially in Lithuanian and Ruthenia

Ruthenia

Ruthenia is the Latin word used onwards from the 13th century, describing lands of the Ancient Rus in European manuscripts. Its geographic and culturo-ethnic name at that time was applied to the parts of Eastern Europe. Essentially, the word is a false Latin rendering of the ancient place name Rus...

n regions of the former Commonwealth, were expelled to southern Russia, where they were subject to Russification. Other nobles were denied their nobility status by Russian authorities, which meant loss of legal privileges and social status

Social status

In sociology or anthropology, social status is the honor or prestige attached to one's position in society . It may also refer to a rank or position that one holds in a group, for example son or daughter, playmate, pupil, etc....

, significantly limiting any possibility of a career in administration or the military - the traditional career paths of Polish nobles. It also meant that they could not own any land, another blow to their former noble status. But for Orthodox Christian peasants of Western Ukraine

Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

and Belarus

Belarus

, the partition may have brought the decline of religious oppression by their formal lords, followers of Roman Catholicism.

However, Orthodox Christians were only a small minority in Eastern Belarus

Belarus

at that time; the prevailing majority of the country's population was Eastern rite Catholics. Peasants were flogged just for mentioning the name of Kościuszko and his ideas of abolishing serfdom

Serfdom

. Platon Zubov

Platon Zubov

Prince Platon Alexandrovich Zubov was the last of Catherine the Great's favourites and the most powerful man in Russian Empire during the last years of her reign....

, who was awarded estates in Lithuania, was especially infamous, as he personally tortured to death many peasants who complained about worsening conditions. Besides this, the Russian authorities conducted heavy recruiting for the Russian army

Imperial Russian Army

The Imperial Russian Army was the land armed force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian army consisted of around 938,731 regular soldiers and 245,850 irregulars . Until the time of military reform of Dmitry Milyutin in...

among the population, which meant a practically lifelong service. Since the conditions of serfdom in former Poland due to the exploitation by nobility and arendators were already severe, discussion exists on how partitions influenced the life of common people.

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