Polish–Russian War of 1792

Tadeusz Kościuszko 
Jan Henryk Dąbrowski 
  Józef Judycki 

The Polish–Russian War of 1792 or War in Defence of the Constitution was fought between the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth on one side, and the Targowica Confederation and the Russian Empire on the other.^[1]

On May 18, 1792, without a declaration of war, an army of over 97,000 Russian troops crossed the border into Poland. Stanisław August Poniatowski, King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, was able to field a 54,000-man army to oppose them.

The forces of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, loyal to the King and the Great Sejm (Sejm Wielki), defended Poland's May 3rd Constitution of 1791 against the Targowica Confederation of native opponents of the Constitution and their Russian allies.

War

Poland's ally, the Kingdom of Prussia, broke its alliance with Poland after territorial violations invalidated the agreement and the Prussian commander of the army of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Louis of Württemberg, betrayed the Polish–Lithuanian cause. The Polish army, led by the King's nephew Prince Józef Poniatowski fought a much larger enemy force and won a victory at Zieleńce on June 18. Then it retreated to the Southern Bug River, where under Tadeusz Kościuszko it fought the Battle of Dubienka to a draw. The Russian army, however, was granted free passage through Austrian territory.

Ultimately the Polish Loyalist cause was lost when their own king, Stanisław August Poniatowski joined with the Targowica Confederates. This precipitated the Second Partition of Poland (January 21, 1793) which after the Grodno Sejm reduced Poland's population to only one-third of what it was before the partitions began in 1772. The rump state was garrisoned by foreign troops and its independence was strongly curtailed.

Background

The last bid to save Poland's independence came with the Kościuszko Uprising in 1794. On April 4, 1794, at the Battle of Racławice Kościuszko was victorious. However, on October 10, 1794, fortune was reversed at the Battle of Maciejowice. The Poles, with a force of 6200, planned to prevent the two larger Russian armies (12,000 under Ivan Fersen and 12,500 under Alexander Suvorov) from linking up. Kościuszko requested the support of Adam Poniński (who had 4,000 soldiers) too late, and as a result Poniński failed to arrive on the battlefield in time. The Russians were victorious, and Kościuszko was captured. The uprising failed and resulted in the Third Partition in 1795, in which Poland lost all its remaining territories and ceased to exist as a state.

See also

• Catherine the Great

References