Greater Poland Uprising

The Great Polish Uprising was an uprising led by Tadeusz Kosciuszko in Poland and Lithuania on March 24, 1794, against the Russian Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia.

On March 24, 1794, Tadeusz Košicuszko, a veteran returning from the front lines of the American Revolutionary War, declared a full-scale uprising and served as commander-in-chief of all Polish troops. He also swore: "These rights will not be used to suppress anyone, but to defend the integrity of Poland's land, restore the independence of the country, and protect all freedoms."¡»

In order to consolidate the Polish army, Kosciuszko drafted a mobilization order ordering every five houses in Lesser Poland to send at least one capable male soldier as a representative, armed with "dragoons, spears, or axes". Kosciuszko mobilized at least 10,000 talented men between the ages of 18 and 40. The difficulty of supplying the rebels with enough equipment led Kosciuszko to form a militia armed with scythes.

In order 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 Racław. In what became known as the Battle of Racław, Kosciuszko's army defeated the superior enemy in numbers and equipment. After a bloody battle, the Russian army withdrew from the battlefield. Kosciuszko's army was also 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. In early April, the Polish army was concentrated in Lublin and Wolsch Company, ready to be sent to Russia to join Košciuszko's army.

In Warsaw on April 17, Russia tried to arrest suspected supporters of the uprising and cut the weak Warsaw Polish Guard placed by General Stanislaw Mokronowski by closing the arsenal on Miodova Street. This led to an uprising led by Jan Kilinsky against the Russian Guards in Warsaw in front of the indecisive Polish King Stanislaw II. The insurgents were helped by the incompetent Russian envoy and commander Iosefer Igelström, and in fact that day was the Thursday of Holy Week, and many Russian soldiers came to the church without weapons to enjoy Holy Communion. Finally, since the beginning of the uprising, the Polish army had received help from soldiers and civilians, and to their surprise, at this time they secretly attacked many different groups of soldiers and resistance to the Russian army quickly spread throughout the city. After two days of fighting against Russian troops, Russia suffered between 2000 and 4000 casualties out of an initial 6000 strong guards and was forced to evacuate the city. Yakubu Yasinsky launched a similar uprising in Vilnius on April 23, followed by several other cities and towns.