Published: 2005-12-30

The Question of Fighting for the Sovereignty of the Polish Republic in the Consciousness and Actions of the Polish Political Emigrants

Dariusz Rolnik

Abstract

After the lost Polish war with Russia in 1792, between 200 and 700 persons emigrated, for political reasons, from the Republic. This was a small group, but they had quite considerable political influence in Poland. The part of the society that was hostile to the rule of the Targowica confederacy, and towards their formal protectors - the Russians, pinned their hopes for a better future, to a large extent, on the activity of the emigrants. The latter were not, however, willing, until the announcement of the Second Partition, to undertake any decisive actions aimed at destabilising the government of the country. Only when the inevitability of the new partition became clear, the most energetic part of this expatriate group started to think in terms of fighting for independence. The idea of seeking a compromise with the Targowica people was practically abandoned, while the option of reaching an agreement with the King Stanislaus Augustus was still open only for those who were afraid of violent social changes in Poland comparable with those that were occasioned by the French Revolution. It must be borne in mind, that all the emigrants were fully aware that Poland was heading for a total downfall, they all wanted to save the Republic, but not all were quite ready to take part in such a risky undertaking. The Polish emigrants who left the country after 1792 had no doubt a hand in preparing the outbreak of the Kosciusko insurrection, but they were not the most decisive factor. It seems that the uprising was brought about and started by a group of, predominantly military, enthusiasts who felt that the new reality deprived them of any long-term professional outlooks, of course as long as they were not prepared to forsake a minimum decency and dignity. A large part of the Polish gentry supported the 1794 insurrection because they felt that the country’s economic and moral foundations of existence were shaken by the policy of Russia and the Targowica confederacy. It is also worth observing that the insurrection, without the strong anti-Russian, anti-Prussian sentiments, would have fallen on the day of its outbreak. A part of the emigrants decided to get involved in the political turmoil in Poland only after the fists military successes of the insurrectionists, very few of them took this desperate step immediately, apart from Thaddeus Kosciusko himself.

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Rolnik, D. (2005). The Question of Fighting for the Sovereignty of the Polish Republic in the Consciousness and Actions of the Polish Political Emigrants. Wieki Stare I Nowe, 4, 130–150. https://doi.org/10.31261/WSN.2005.05.08

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Vol. 4 (2005)
Published: 2025-08-13


ISSN: 1899-1556
eISSN: 2353-9739

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Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego | University of Silesia Press

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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