Battle of Maciejowice

Part of: Kościuszko Uprising

Kościuszko's defeat in the Battle of Maciejowice

date	October 10, 1794
place	Maciejowice
output	Russian victory

Parties to the conflict
Rzeczpospolita	Russia
Commander
Tadeusz Kościuszko	Ivan heels
Troop strength
6000-10,000 men	12,000-20,000 men
losses
4000-6000	1000

The information on troop strengths and losses can vary in the literature

The Battle of Maciejowice took place on October 10, 1794 during the Kościuszko uprising near the place Maciejowice (near Siedlce ). It ended with a Russian victory over the Poles and the capture of Tadeusz Kościuszko . With that the uprising was de facto decided.

prehistory

On September 19, the Russians defeated the Polish troops under Sierakowski near Terespol and dispersed them. The remains went back to Warsaw . Kościuszko gathered as much strength as possible there.

Kościuszko wanted to prevent the unification of two Russian army corps under Suvorov and Denisov and an attack on Warsaw. He attacked the Corps of Fersen (General Repnin Army Corps) when they crossed the Vistula . The information on troop strengths vary. On the Polish side they were probably between 6,000 and 7,000 men with 20 guns. The Russians under General F. Denisov and General I. Fersen, on the other hand, had 14,000-20,000 men and 80 artillery pieces. If you follow Gaston Bodart, however, the numerical strength ratios were less different. After that the Russians had 12,000 and the Poles 10,000 men. In addition, there was no support from General Adam Poniński .

Course and consequences

The battle was bitter and Fersen had to use all his strength. The Polish troops were defeated after eight hours of battle. Most of the troops are said to have fallen and only 2,000 men are said to have escaped. Kościuszko himself was badly wounded and taken prisoner by the Russians. After that, the uprising effectively collapsed. After a few insignificant skirmishes, the bloody capture of Praga and the occupation of Warsaw followed. The indirect consequence of the defeat at Maciejowice was the final partition of Poland .

Quote Finis Poloniae

The battle became known through the alleged saying of Kościuszko, who is said to have said shortly before his capture that this was the “Finis Poloniae” (Latin for “the end of Poland”)! Kościuszko later vehemently opposed this alleged quote. In fact, the word was deliberately wrongly circulated by the Silesian privileged newspaper , which is close to the Prussian government, in order to prepare the world for the coming Polish division and to deprive the Poles of any hope of resistance.

Individual evidence

↑ Gaston Bodart (ed.): Military-historical war lexicon. (1618-1905). Stern, Vienna 1908, p. 304 .
^ Marek Zybura : The Wroclaw Racławice Panorama. In: Martin Aust , Krzysztof Ruchniewicz , Stefan Troebst (eds.): Entwined memories. Poland and its neighbors in the 19th and 20th centuries (= visual history culture. 3). Böhlau, Cologne et al. 2009, ISBN 978-3-412-20292-7 , pp. 61–68, here p. 65.

literature

Jacob Burckhardt : History of the Revolutionary Age (= Works. Critical Complete Edition. Vol. 28). Beck et al., Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-406-59186-0 , p. 553.
Marian Kukiel: Kościuszko and the third partition. In: William F. Reddaway (Ed.): The Cambridge history of Poland. Volume 2: From Augustus II to Pilsudski. (1697-1935). Reprinted edition. Octagon Books, New York NY 1971, pp. 154-176, here p. 172.
Jerzy J. Lerski : Historical dictionary of Poland, 966-1945. Greenwood Press, Westport CT et al. 1996, ISBN 0-313-26007-9 , p. 329.
Сергей Соловьев: История падения Польши. Грачева, Москва 1863, ( digitized version ).