Polish people and Napoleon Polish people and Napoleon Lesson plan (Polish) Lesson plan (English) Polish people and Napoleon Let the Emperor live! Source: Wojciech Kossak, Niech żyje cesarz!, 1914, domena publiczna. Link to the lesson You will learn about the polish attitude towards Napoleon, and his attitude towards the Polish cause; to list the examples of Polish engagement on Napoleon Bonaparte's side. Nagranie dostępne na portalu epodreczniki.pl Nagranie abstraktu The military confrontation between France and Austria, Prussia and Russia preceding the establishment of peace terms in Tilst made the Polish cause a bargain card of the European diplomacy. To Napoleon the Duchy of Warsaw was an important part of his Empire's political system. Not all Poles, however, supported cooperation with the French. Kościuszko, among others, was an opponent of linking the Polish cause with Napoleon. He flatly refused to cooperate with the French politicians who addressed him. He believed that Poles should fight for their freedom on their own. The enlargement of the area of the Duchy of Warsaw in 1809 undermined the relations between France and Russia. It was then that the idea of cooperation with the Tsar returned, brought back by Czartoryski at Alexander I's request. Nonetheless, the idea was rejected by the Duchy's authorities. The dilemma returned after Napoleon's defeat in Moscow. Prince Józef Poniatowski, stationed with the Polish troops in Kraków, having thought the situation through ultimately refused to go over to the Russian side. Napoleon's defeat in Leipzig and Poniatowski's death in October 1813 marked the end of the Polish pro‐French orientation. Task 1 Read the text. Who among Poles supported Napoleon? Who believed we should not rely on France? Why? Inially, in the era of formaon of the Polish legions in Italy, the supporters of fighng by Napoleon's side derived mainly from the circles of polical radicals (called the Polish Jacobins), urban people and pey nobility. It was not unl the French military confrontaon with Austria, Prussia and Russia that the Polish cause became a bargaining card of the European diplomacy and the circle of cooperators in the Polish society expanded. When the French armies entered the Prussian paron, in the course of talks held with Dąbrowski and Wybicki in Berlin in the autumn of 1806 Napoleon put the responsibility for the possible formaon of an independent Polish state on Jan Henryk Dąbrowski the shoulders of Poles. The speed at which they Source: Jan Henryk Dąbrowski., oil on canvas, organized administraon and army aer the domena publiczna. disaster of Poland's paroning in years 1805-1806 clearly impressed the Emperor. It was then that Napoleon started to noce the direct link between the power interests of France and the Polish cause for the first me. It put the pro-French orientaon, reborn aer the legion's episode in a privileged posion within the Polish society. In 1807, winning aristocracy and richer nobility, who then had the strongest polical and socioeconomic posion on the Polish territory proved to be the breakthrough. This cooperaon was manifested by the involvement of Prince Józef Poniatowski, the nephew of the last King of Poland. By taking the helm in the military maers of the Duchy of Poland, he set aside general Henryk Dąbrowski, the creator of the Polish Legions in Italy. For the Polish polical elites it also meant the rejecon of the Prince Adam Czartoryski's pro-Russian concept, which he had been developing since 1803, i.e. since he took management of the Russian foreign policy at Tsar Alexander I's side. It assumed the connecon of all Polish territories under the Tsar's rule. Prince Józef Poniatowski was the favourite of a significant part of the Polish society. Leist idealists, however, preferred Tadeusz Kościuszko, seeing him as the incarnaon of democrac and republican tradions. The leader of the uprising against Russia in 1794 and a naonal hero, following his liberaon from the Russian imprisonment he emigrated to Switzerland. He flatly refused to cooperate with Napoleon. He believed that Poles should fight for their independence on their own, resorng to peasants. Józef Pawlikowski, Kościuszko's secretary presented the views of the Leader in a brochure tled Can the Poles win back their independence?, published in 1800. Prince Joseph Poniatowski Source: Franciszek Paderewski, Prince Joseph Poniatowski, 1814, domena publiczna. Task 2 Read about the reality of bales of the Napoleonic era. Pay aenon to the significance of events described to the Polish cause. What bale is referred to in the recording you listened to? Nagranie dostępne na portalu epodreczniki.pl Nagranie lektorskie Bale of ??? Source: Alexander Zaureweid, Bale of ???, 1844, domena publiczna. Bernadoe was aacking from the north and was only opposed by the “ weak Souham's III corps, commanded by marshal Ney. Benningsen's army with the Austrian Klenau's IV corps was aacking the city from the east and south-east. The decimated XI MacDonald's and V Lauriston's corpses stood on their way. Inially the strongly advancing Prussian Bülov's III corps was fought off at the outskirts, however later the Wintzingerode's reinforcements and the Swedish forces pped the scales of victory to the allied side. The masses of allied troops started penetrang the city. The worst consequence was that they threatened to capture the bridge the Napoleon's troops were using to evacuate from the city. Bennigsen's 50 cannons were firing at the French soldiers. French infantry defend a barricade against a Prussian assault Source: Paul-Émile Bougny, French infantry defend a barricade against a Prussian assault, domena publiczna. Source: Vladimir Ivanovich Moshkov, 1815, domena publiczna. Poniatowski had been fighng with “ his soldiers since the very morning, giving mulple proofs of courage. At the me his corps counted about 2 thousand men. With his people he bravely opposed Bennigsen's baalions, when they threatened MacDonald, by charging the enemy me and me again. The southern outskirts fell around 11:00 o'clock, with the lack of sturdy forficaons rendering further defense impossible. Poniatowski was fighng his way through the city, baling not only the advancing enemy but also the Poniatowski's Last Charge Source: Richard Caton Woodville, Poniatowski's Last local populaon shoong from the Charge, 1812, domena publiczna. windows at the retreang soldiers. The VIII corps gave its last organized resistance to the enemy on the boulevards near the Wasserkunst fountain. It did not last long, and further retreat had to proceed. In disarray and scaered the corps made its way to reach the bridge at Fleischerplatz. Unfortunately, they were not able to reach it. The corporal who in the absence of the officer kept watch of the explosives prepared to blow up the bridge once Napoleon's troops have passed the bridge panicked, and thinking that the enemy was already there, he proceeded to blow the bridge off, cung 15 thousand soldiers, including the forces of the IV Polish corps, off their salutary escape route. MacDonald, Poniatowski, Lauriston and Reynier were le on the right bank of the Elster river without the possibility of reconnecng with the rest of the army. Retreat of Napoleon Source: Carle Vernet, Retreat of Napoleon, hand-colored lithograph, domena publiczna. A makeshi bridge was built in a hurry, but it collapsed aer a fracon of the troops had crossed it. Part of the Polish troops surrendered to the Austrians aer the inial fight. Poniatowski, however, was trying to withdraw from the city which was almost enrely in the hands of the allied forces. The decision was made to swim across Elster river. The river swollen with the autumn rains was wild and dangerous. The horse, pulled by the strong current could not reach the bank. A young French staff officer, Hipolit Belchamps sought to help Poniatowski free from his horse and get out of the river. They further tried to walk through the gardens, where Poniatowski was hit by an enemy bullet for the fourth me that day, this me at his side. Very weak and losing consciousness the Prince mounted a new horse supported by the surrounding officers and rode towards the river once again. Meanwhile, the enemy reached the bank of the river and in some places even made it to the other side, firing at the soldiers who were trying to cross the river. Seeing the enemy troops on his way, Poniatowski directed his horse to the Elster. The horse reached the other bank, but unfortunately during the climb on steep cliff a fih bullet hit the Prince. He slid into the river. The faithful Blechamps jumped to help for the second me, but they both died in the white currents of Death of Prince Józef Poniatowski Elster. With Prince Józef Source: January Suchodolski, Death of Prince Józef Poniatowski, 1830, domena publiczna. Poniatowski, the great Pole and the best example of sacrifice for the homeland, the wild waters buried the hope for rebuilding free Poland with Napoleon. Exercise 1 What bale is described in the text? The bale of .............. Exercise 2 Exercise 3 Match the pairs: English words with Polish definion. zajmowanie określonego stanowiska w kwesi politycznej; odnosi się również do metod walki o niepodległość narodu, określenie używane przez Napoleona w trakcie wyprawy moskiewskiej 1812 roku. Polical orientaon "Second Polish War" Keywords Political orientation, „Second Polish War” Glossary Polical orientaon Nagranie dostępne na portalu epodreczniki.pl Nagranie słówka: Political orientation Orientacja polityczna – zajmowanie określonego stanowiska w kwestii politycznej; odnosi się również do metod walki o niepodległość narodu „Second Polish War” Nagranie dostępne na portalu epodreczniki.pl Nagranie słówka: "Second Polish War" „Druga wojna polska” – określenie używane przez Napoleona w trakcie wyprawy moskiewskiej 1812 roku.