January Uprising 1863 to throw off tsarist yoke

[Bonobo]

We are celebrating the 150th anniversary of January Uprising, the desperate attempt to liberate Poland from imperial Russian occupation during 19th century partitions. The odds were extremely uneven because only Polish gentry fought partisan war against tsarist Russians while most Polish peasants remained passive or even hostile to insurgents (except for peasants in Krakow region). Their national identity was still to be awakened after the lost Uprising.

Archive pictures of Rising veterans from pre WW2 period:
www.tvn24.pl/zdjecia/weterani-powstania-styczniowego,28480,lista.html

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_Uprising

The January Uprising (Polish: powstanie styczniowe) was an uprising in the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (present-day Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, Latvia, parts of Ukraine, western Russia) against the Russian Empire. It began on 22 January 1863 and lasted until the last insurgents were captured in 1865.

The uprising began as a spontaneous protest by young Poles against conscription into the Imperial Russian Army, and was soon joined by high-ranking Polish-Lithuanian officers and various politicians. The insurrectionists, severely outnumbered and lacking serious outside support, were forced to resort to guerrilla warfare tactics. They failed to win any major military victories or capture any major cities or fortresses, but they did blunt the effect of the Tsar's abolition of serfdom in the Russian partition, which had been designed to draw the support of peasants away from the nation. Severe reprisals against insurgents, such as public executions and deportations to Siberia, led many people to abandon armed struggle and turn instead to the idea of "organic work": economic and cultural self-improvement.


Russian occupation


Battle:


Battle - a symbolic image


Aftermath - deportation to Siberia


See the partisan warfare with Polish shooters organizing an ambush on Russian cavalry and using their excellent newest rifles imported from Belgium just before the outbreak of the Rising.
After initial Polish success, Russians prevail in the end and the village pond is red with blood of insurgents and their enemies.

[tufta]

Among many ill-equiped troops there were several well-equipped and well-trained. One of such was formed by the veteran of a Crimean War, Frenchman Franciszek Rochebrune. The guy could simply live peacefully in affluent and free France, eat well, sleep tight, indulge in sophisticated pasttimes and amusements, be happy he's a member of the free world. Having no family links with Poland he prefered to come to the enslaved country and help the Poles in their struggle for freedom.
He formed a volunteer unit called ¯u³awi ¦mierci (Zouaves of Death).



en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zouaves_of_Death

[Bonobo]

Jan 22, 2013 17:22:02 GMT 1 tufta said:

Among many ill-equiped troops there were several well-equipped and well-trained. One of such was formed by the veteran of a Crimean War, Frenchman Franciszek Rochebrune. The guy could simply live peacefully in affluent and free France, eat well, sleep tight, indulge in sophisticated pasttimes and amusements, be happy he's a member of the free world. Having no family links with Poland he prefered to come to the enslaved country and help the Poles in their struggle for freedom.
He formed a volunteer unit called ¯u³awi ¦mierci (Zouaves of Death).

Tufta, do you know that most of his soldiers were recruited in Ojców near Krakow and Krakow itself. That is why I mentioned Krakow region peasants as the most patriotic at the time.

[Bonobo]

More images:

Partisan warfare


Forging scythes


Insurgent patrol




Farewell


Oath


Memory today:





ezamosc.pl/index.php?option=com_zoom&Itemid=47&catid=134

[tufta]

Jan 22, 2013 18:58:47 GMT 1 Bonobo said:

Tufta, do you know that most of his soldiers were recruited in Ojców near Krakow and Krakow itself. That is why I mentioned Krakow region peasants as the most patriotic at the time.

I do, Bo
Those Krakovians, you are always first to fight!

[Bonobo]

Unusual commemoration of January Uprising heroes in Wroc³aw - basins with frozen water and a photo inside:
www.tvn24.pl/zdjecia/zdjecia-zatopione-w-lodzie,28539,lista.html

[Bonobo]

Battle of Wêgrów was one of the most famous skirmishes of January Uprising. It took place February 3, 1863 near Wêgrów in east Masovia.

On January 22, Polish partisans liberated a town from Russians forces. Here Poles established a military base, in a few days gathering almost 3,500 soldiers.

But the Russians decided to recapture Wêgrów by rapid attack force composed of a 1,000-strong unit with artillery, led by colonel Georgi Papaafanasopulo. The Poles were threatened by encirclement, and Polish commander Jan Matliñski ordered a retreat from the town. He left about 500 scythemen to cover the retreat of the main forces. Scythemen attacked the Russian left flank and routed Russian cavalry squadron and cannons, ensuring the safe retreat of the Polish forces from the town. Almost all attacking scythemen were killed by Russian infantry fire. Russians entered the town, but most of the Polish forces had already left it.

The Polish attack was heard of throughout Europe. French poet Henri Auguste Barbier wrote a poem Attack at Wêgrów, comparing the Polish fighters to Spartans at the Battle of Thermopylae. The Polish poet Cyprian Kamil Norwid, writing in France, also compared the battle to Thermopylae. Maria Konopnicka also wrote a poem about the event, in which she referenced Barbier's work. As a result the battle is sometimes called the "Polish Thermopylae."

[propatriapoland]

Artur Grottger - one of the significant representatives of the Polish national school of historical painting. Author of paintings and a series of "cartons" about the January Uprising.

[Bonobo]

Jan 28, 2019 15:29:17 GMT 1 propatriapoland said:

Artur Grottger - one of the significant representatives of the Polish national school of historical painting. Author of paintings and a series of "cartons" about the January Uprising.

And his most famous painting of the event is Reforging Scythes. It suggests that insurgents were mainly armed with scythes, which is a popular myth. Scythes could be a deadly weapon but were no match to modern carbines. Insurgents, just before the outbreak of the Rising, managed to buy a dozen thousand excellent Belgian rifles and used them in sharpshooting style.

You can see it in this informative fragment of a poor film (I left the cinema before the end because it was so stupidly sentimental) about the Rising. The skirmish with a Russian squadron starts at 2.48 and goes on but it is cut and skips the end. After the initial failures, Russians brought artillery and decimated the insurgents.