Pospolite ruszenie

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Pospolite ruszenie (common movement, also referred to with the French term levée en masse by some non-Polish historians), is an anachronistic Polish term to describe the mobilisation of armed forces, especially in the times of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The tradition of moblisation of part of population for war existed from before the 13th century to the 19th century. In the later era, pospolite ruszenie units were formed from nobility (szlachta), in cavalry units, and their favourite weapons were the sabre (szabla) and various pistols and carbines.

[edit] Historical development

Before the 13th century pospolite ruszenie was the customary method employed in the raising of royal Polish armies. Gradually, however, because of feudalism economic system and the perceived unreliability of untrained peasants, it became rare for large numbers of them to be mobilised. Therefore only landowners were mobilised. The landowners included knights — who later transformed into nobles (szlachta) — as well as wójts and sołtys.

Pospolite ruszenie units were usually organised on voivodship basis and varied in quality. Szlachta from regions like Kresy (the Commonwealth's eastern borderland),, where combat was common, created fairly competent units, while those from peaceful regions of the Commonwealth lacked battle experience and training and often were substandard compared to regular military (wojsko kwarciane) or mercenaries. From the 16th century the pospolite ruszenie was more and more outclassed by professional military, nonetheless, szlachta continued to believe it formed the elite army and that their participation in the defense of the country is an important reason for their privileged position in it.

The privileges granted by kings to the szlachta (particularly the 15th century privilege of Cerekwica and statutes of Nieszawa) have consequently limited the right of kings to call for pospolite ruszenie, especially for actions outside the territory of Poland. The pospolite ruszenie was eventually outclassed by professional forces.

After 1794, under the influence of revolutionary France and Enlightenment ideas about the role of the militia, pospolite ruszenie was considered to consist of all able males between 18 and 40 years of age. In 1806 by decree of Napoleon, the pospolite ruszenie in the Duchy of Warsaw served for a short period as the reserve force and recruitment pool for the regular army. During the November Uprising in 1831, the Sejm called for pospolite ruszenie from ages 17 to 50, but that plan was opposed by General Jan Zygmunt Skrzynecki.

In the Second Republic of Poland (1918-1939), the pospolite ruszenie was considered to consist of reserve soldiers from ages 40 to 50 and officers from ages 50 to 60. They had to participate in army exercises and serve in armed forces during times of war. In mobilization schemes, the pospolite ruszenie was treated as the third wave of troops to arrive to the front.