Józef Bem

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Józef Zachariasz Bem
Józef Bem Monument in Budapest
Józef Bem monument in the Bemowo district of Warsaw

Józef Zachariasz Bem (born March 14, 1794 in Tarnów in Galicia , † December 10, 1850 in Aleppo ) was a Polish general who took part in several wars and uprisings against the partitioning powers .

Life

Bem, educated at the University of Cracow , in the Cadet Corps and the Artillery School in Warsaw , joined the Polish mounted artillery and took part in the Russian campaign in 1812 . He was awarded the Legion of Honor for his work in the defense of Danzig .

After returning to Poland, he joined the army, which was reorganized in 1815, as an artillery officer, lectured at the Warsaw Artillery School and became a captain in 1819. His frankness drew him many severe punishments until he was dismissed from the Polish-Russian service after the death of Tsar Alexander I.

He was working on a work on steam engines in Lviv when the Warsaw November Uprising broke out in 1830. Bem hurried to Warsaw and was named artillery major.

Józef Bem, Polish medal undated (around 1970) by J. Misztela

In the Battle of Iganie he contributed much to the victorious outcome of the fight, distinguished himself in the Battle of Ostrołęka and was quickly promoted to commander in chief of all artillery and general. On September 6th and 7th, 1831, he brought his entire artillery into battle near Warsaw, but was unable to repel the Russians as he was not supported by either infantry or cavalry.

Bem monument in the Petofi memorial in Albesti near Sighisoara

After the fall of Warsaw, he transferred to Prussian territory, first lived in Leipzig and Altenburg, and went to Paris in March 1832 . He stayed there until 1848, busy with studies, literary plans and various projects and made trips to Portugal, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands. He published various works that denounced the Russian oppression of the Poles and denied the tsars the historical right to rule over these areas (for example in the "Vision of a Polish Empire").

When the 1848 revolution broke out in Austria , he appeared in March 1848 first in Lemberg and on October 10, 1848 in Vienna, where he took over the organization of the defense means on the part of the revolutionaries and developed extraordinary activities, took part personally in several battles and the Viennese Led the October Revolution of 1848 . On the day of the surrender, he fled to Hungary, where he received the supreme command in Transylvania from the Hungarian revolutionary government under Kossuth . He organized in December 1848 quickly one of Székelys existing Hungarian army of 10,000 men and led with great skill the little war in Transylvania. He held out against FML Puchner , whom he defeated on December 19, 1848 at Dees , whereupon he called the Russians under General Lüders for help. Despite his defeat at Vizakna (February 4, 1849), he was able to occupy all of Transylvania on February 9, after the Battle of Piski . Bems troops were able to retake Kronstadt and Sibiu and push the Austrians and Russians into Wallachia . He then drove Puchner's troops out of the Banat and raised his army to 43,000 men, but then he had to retreat from the Austro-Russian superiority. After trying in vain to pull the enemy into the Vltava region , he was defeated on July 31, 1849 in the Battle of Segesvár ( Sighișoara ). Called back from Kossuth to Hungary, he still took part in the battle of Temesvár (August 9th), where he contributed to the defeat of the Hungarians by moving too quickly.

After trying to defend Transylvania again in vain, he then fled to Turkey , where he converted to Islam and took the name Amurat Pasha . Together with him, 72 officers and generals and 6,000 Hungarian and Polish soldiers converted. He tried to use the position assigned to Bem in the Turkish army to reorganize it, but received objections from Austria and Russia in 1850 to stay in Aleppo, where in November at the head of Turkish troops he put down the bloody pogrom of the Arab population against the Christians. His body, shattered by exertion and wounds, was seized by a persistent fever, to which he succumbed on December 10, 1850, refusing any medical help.

General Józef Bem's ashes have been kept in the sarcophagus of General Józef Bem's mausoleum in Tarnów since June 30, 1929 .

Honors

General Józef Bem mausoleum in Tarnów

literature

Web links

Commons : Józef Bem  - collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Bem, Józef
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bem, Józef Zachariasz; Bem, Josef
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Polish general
DATE OF BIRTH March 14, 1794
PLACE OF BIRTH Tarnów , Galicia
DATE OF DEATH December 10, 1850
Place of death Aleppo , Syria