On this day 231 years ago, on March 24, 1794 (February 23, 1794 in the lunar calendar), the Kosciuszko Uprising. The Greater Poland Uprising was an uprising launched against the Great Russian Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia on March 24, 1794, led by Tadeusz Kosciuszko in Poland and Lithuania. Tadeusz Kosciuszko, also known as Kosciuszko, was born on February 4, 1746, and died on October 15, 1817. Leader of the Polish army, national hero of Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, and the United States. Kosciuszko was born in the village of Merechovshchizna (now deserted) near the town of Kosava. This place is located in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. He was the son of Polish nobles Ludwik Tadeusz Kosiciuszko and Tecla Ni Ratomska. Before leading the 1794 uprising, he participated in the American War of Independence in 1774 as a colonel in the Continental Army. The ethnic group with a majority Polish population in Eastern Europe. About 34.40 million (1978), accounting for 98.4% of the country's population. A text spelled in the Latin alphabet, divided into five dialects of Greater Poland, Lesser Poland, Masovia, Silesia, and Kashub. The Polish standard language was formed on the basis of the Greater and Lesser Polish dialects in the 14th and 15th centuries. Poland is a country located between the two superpowers of the Russian Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. In history, Poland has become a stronghold for both countries to check and balance each other. For this reason, the Polish people have been devastated by war. The most recent history can be traced back to the war between the Soviet Union and Germany in World War II. The First Partition of Poland and the Polish-Russian War of 1792 severely weakened the revolutionary movement in support of the May 3rd Constitution in the Crown of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. But after the Second Partition of Poland, the support for the establishment of the Tagowica Union by the rulers of the Russian Empire was also weakened. Those who recognized Russia as the guarantor of aristocratic democracy were seen as traitors of their country after the Second Partition, not heroes, and opposition to their rule grew among the nobles and citizens. In order to suppress the opposition, the Prussian and Russian governments supported a 50% reduction in the federal army and called the remaining Polish soldiers into their armies. On March 12, 1794, General Antoine Madalinski, commander of the 1st National Cavalry Brigade of Greater Poland (1500 men), disobeyed orders for disarmament and advanced his army from Ostrovika to Krakow. This provoked a nationwide riot against the Russian army. The Russian guards in Krakow were ordered to leave the city. And were defeated by the Polish army. This left the city defenseless. Process of the Uprising On March 24, 1794, Tadeusz Kosciuszko, a veteran returning from the front lines of the American Revolutionary War, declared a general uprising and served as commander-in-chief of all Polish armies. He also swore: "These rights will not be used to suppress anyone, but to defend the integrity of the Polish homeland, to restore the independence of the country, and to consolidate all freedoms." Treaty of March 24, 1794 Kosciuszko Uprising In order to consolidate the Polish army, Kosciuszko drafted a mobilization order ordering that every five houses in Lesser Poland be represented by at least one capable male soldier, armed with "dragoons, spears, or axes." Kosciuszko mobilized an insurgent army of talented men between the ages of 18 and 40, numbering at least 10,000 men. The difficulty of supplying the insurgents with sufficient equipment led Kosciuszko to form a militia equipped with scythes. To eliminate the still-weak opposition, the Russian tsar sent the legions of Major General Fyodor Denisov to attack Krakow. On April 4, the two armies met in the nearby village of Racławicz. In what became known as the Battle of Racławicz, Kosciuszko's army defeated the enemy, which was superior in number and equipment. After a bloody battle, the Russian army withdrew from the battlefield. Kosciuszko's army was too weak to pursue, driving the Russian army out of Lesser Poland. Although the strategic significance of the victory was better than nothing, news of the victory quickly spread, and other parts of Poland joined the uprising. Shortly after the beginning of April, Polish troops were concentrated in Lublin and Wolschlian, ready to be sent to Russia to join Košciuszko's army. In Warsaw on April 17, Russia attempted to arrest suspected supporters of the uprising and cut the weak Warsaw Polish guards under General Stanisław Mokronowski by closing the arsenal on Miodowa Street. This led to an uprising led by Jan Killinski against the Warsaw Russian guards in front of the hesitant Polish King Stanisław II. The insurgents were aided by the incompetent Russian envoy and commander Iosif Igelstrom, and in fact it was the Thursday of Holy Week, and many Russian soldiers came to the church unarmed to enjoy communion. Finally, the Polish army was aided by soldiers and civilians from the beginning of the uprising, and surprisingly, at this time they were secretly attacking many different groups of soldiers and resistance to the Russian army soon spread throughout the city. After two days against the Russian army, the initial 6,000 strong Russian guards suffered 2,000 to 4,000 casualties and were forced to evacuate the city. On April 22, Jakub Jasinski launched the same uprising in Vilnius, followed by several other cities and towns. On May 7, 1794, Kosciuszko issued a manifesto known as the "Povaniec Declaration," in which he partially abolished serfdom in Poland, recognized civil liberties for all peasants, and promised to help them use the power of the government to fight against the abuse of the nobility. Although the new law was never fully implemented, and was resisted by many nobles, it succeeded in attracting many peasants to the ranks of the revolution. This was the first time in Polish history that the peasants were officially recognized as part of the state, and before that the word was synonymous with nobility. Krakow Polish Soldier's Banner Although the promise of reform and the rapid recruitment of new recruits allowed the uprising army to grow, the strategic situation of the Polish army was still not optimistic. On May 10, the Prussian army crossed the Polish border and joined the Russian army in operations in northern Poland. On June 6, Kosciuszko was defeated by the Russian-Prussian army at the Battle of Szczeczyny, and on June 8, General Jozov Gajacek was defeated at the Battle of Khayum. Polish troops retreated to Warsaw and began to strengthen the city's defenses. On June 15, the Prussian army captured Krakow without an enemy garrison, but the Russian army was defeated in a series of small battles near Warsaw, and the defenders managed to complete the fortifications. Although Warsaw was besieged by the Russian-Prussian army on July 22, the siege was unsuccessful. On August 20, an uprising was launched in Greater Poland, and the Prussian army was also forced to withdraw the troops they had brought from Warsaw. The siege failed shortly after September 5. The Russian army led by Ivan Fessen retreated to the Pirica River. Polish troops in the Košciuszko uprising Although Lithuanian opponents were suppressed by Russian troops (Vilnius was occupied by the siege on August 12), the uprising in Greater Poland achieved some results. Polish legions under Jan Henrik Doblovsky captured Bydgoszcz (October 2) and entered Pomerania with little resistance. Relying on the flexibility of his army, General Doblovsky escaped the encirclement of the much smaller Prussian army on horseback and disrupted the Prussian position, allowing the Prussians to withdraw most of their troops from central Poland. At the same time, Russia formed a new corps of General Alexander Suvorov and rendezvoused it with the corps under Ivan Fessen near Warsaw. After the battles of Krupchetz (September 17) and Trespur (September 19), the new army began to advance towards the Polish capital. To stop the Russian army from starting to rendezvous, Kosciuszko mobilized his army in Warsaw and launched the Battle of Macijovitz on October 10. The two Russian armies entered the battle simultaneously and won regardless of Kosciuszko's plans. Kosciuszko was wounded in the battle and captured by the Russians, who took him to St. Petersburg. The new commander of the uprising, Tomasz Vauretsky, could not control the civil unrest for power, but became the commander of the weak army. At this time, Jozov Gayauczek took control and was forced to take turns against the left-wing liberals Polish Jacobins and the right-wing and the royalist aristocracy. On September 4, the Russian coalition launched a full-scale attack on Praga, located on the right outskirts of Warsaw. In a four-hour hand-to-hand battle, 24,000 powerful Russian troops broke through the Polish defensive offensive and began looting and burning towns. The entire region was completely destroyed, and about 20,000 inhabitants were massacred. The event was called the "Praga Massacre". Frustrated, Wauretsky decided to withdraw his remaining army southward and Warsaw was captured on November 5. On November 16, Wauretsky surrendered at Radoszcz. This marked the end of the uprising and the destruction of the Polish regime. The following year began the third partition of Poland, with the Austrian Empire, the Russian Empire, and the Kingdom of Prussia annexing the remaining territory.