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107-700: The Napoleonic Wars saw significant parts of Prussia's and Austria's partitions reconstituted as the Duchy of Warsaw (a French client state in a personal union under Saxony ), most of which was then reconstituted as the Kingdom of Poland within the Russian Empire in 1815. To both Russians and Poles, the term Russian Poland was not acceptable. To the Russians after partition, Poland ceased to exist, and their newly acquired territories were considered

214-595: A fourth Polish uprising against the Russian Empire . Worsening economic conditions (the recession of 1901-1903) contributed to mounting political tensions in the Russian Empire , including Poland ; the economy of the Kingdom of Poland was also being significantly hit by the aftershocks of the Russo-Japanese War ; by late 1904 over 100,000 Polish workers had lost their jobs. Conscriptions to

321-756: A military dictatorship . There are numerous opinions on the date to use as the formal beginning of the Napoleonic Wars; 18 May 1803 is often used, when Britain and France ended the only short period of peace between 1792 and 1814. The Napoleonic Wars began with the War of the Third Coalition , which was the first of the Coalition Wars against the First French Republic after Napoleon's accession as leader of France. Britain ended

428-529: A Polish socialist statelet centred around the region of Zagłębie Dąbrowskie that existed from October to November 1905. A similar socialist state of the Ostrowiec Republic ( Republika Ostrowiecka ) around the city of Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski existed from late December 1905 to mid-January 1906. In August 1906, revolutionaries near Warsaw shot the chief of the gendarmerie . In June 1907, shootings and violence arose again in Łódź. A mill manager

535-458: A collective war effort. Tactically, the French Army had redefined the role of artillery , while Napoleon emphasised mobility to offset numerical disadvantages, and aerial surveillance was used for the first time in warfare. The highly successful Spanish guerrillas demonstrated the capability of a people driven by fervent nationalism against an occupying force. Due to the longevity of

642-540: A demonstration in Warsaw. Later that month, public order disintegrated in Warsaw for a time during a spontaneous campaign against both the criminal elements and the Russian collaborators. In mid-June 1905, Russian police opened fire on one of many workers' demonstrations in Łódź. The resulting Łódź insurrection saw several days of fighting within the cities and over 2000 casualties, including over 100 fatalities among

749-498: A dramatic miscalculation. There was one serious attempt to negotiate peace with France during the war, made by Charles James Fox in 1806. The British wanted to retain their overseas conquests and have Hanover restored to George III in exchange for accepting French conquests on the continent. The French were willing to cede Malta, Cape Colony, Tobago , and French Indian posts to Britain but wanted to obtain Sicily in exchange for

856-653: A global scale for over a decade. The British government paid out a large amount of money to other European states so that they could pay armies in the field against France. These payments are colloquially known as the Golden Cavalry of St George . The British Army provided long-term support to the Spanish rebellion in the Peninsular War of 1808–1814, assisted by Spanish guerrilla ('little war') tactics. Anglo-Portuguese forces under Arthur Wellesley supported

963-680: A larger Austro–Russian army under the command of Mikhail Kutuzov , with Emperor Alexander I of Russia personally present. On 2 December, Napoleon crushed the Austro–Russian force in Moravia at Austerlitz (usually considered his greatest victory). He inflicted 25,000 casualties on a numerically superior enemy army while sustaining fewer than 7,000 in his own force. Revolution in the Kingdom of Poland (1905%E2%80%931907) [REDACTED] Imperial Government Polish reactionaries [REDACTED] Polish revolutionaries A major part of

1070-421: A military base with exclusively Russian stores and clubs as well as 12 Russian garrisons in the city, equipped with newly built horse stables, and amenities like laundry shacks, and cabbage pickleries. Polish stores – where Russian was not being spoken – were routinely denied a license. Polish names were removed even from botanical signs. Hunger and poverty were rampant with record number of women forced to work at

1177-545: A new alliance began, the War of the Sixth Coalition . The coalition defeated Napoleon at Leipzig , precipitating his fall from power and eventual abdication on 6 April 1814. The victors exiled Napoleon to Elba and restored the Bourbon monarchy . Napoleon escaped from Elba in 1815, gathering enough support to overthrow the monarchy of Louis XVIII , triggering a seventh, and final, coalition against him . Napoleon

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1284-604: A new income tax. The cost of the war amounted to £831 million. In contrast, the French financial system was inadequate and Napoleon's forces had to rely in part on requisitions from conquered lands. From London in 1813 to 1815, Nathan Mayer Rothschild was crucial in almost single-handedly financing the British war effort, organising the shipment of bullion to the Duke of Wellington's armies across Europe, as well as arranging

1391-532: A new wave of Tsarist mass repressions and punitive actions. In 1863–1864 another insurrection, the January Uprising , broke out. This time, the Carmelite friars who helped the insurgents were sent on death marches to Siberia chained by their necks together. The January Uprising lead to the Kingdom's autonomy being drastically reduced, and its renaming as Vistula Land . There is debate as to whether

1498-570: A policeman for directions. In 1909, a gendarme chief was severely wounded in an ambush in Warsaw. In 1910, a bomb exploded at the Grodzisk station, killing or wounding several gendarmes. Ukrainians were officially considered "part of the Russian people " and at the time mostly referred to as Little Russians . Since they were seen as Russians they were not discriminated against at the individual level and (if they could speak Russian ) any career

1605-523: A retention of Malta for at least ten years, the permanent acquisition of the island of Lampedusa from the Kingdom of Sicily, and the evacuation of Holland. They also offered to recognise French gains in Italy if they evacuated Switzerland and compensated the King of Sardinia for his territorial losses. France offered to place Malta in the hands of Russia to satisfy British concerns, pull out of Holland when Malta

1712-641: A series of conflicts fought between the First French Empire under Napoleon Bonaparte (1804–1815) and a fluctuating array of European coalitions . The wars originated in political forces arising from the French Revolution (1789–1799) and from the French Revolutionary Wars (1792–1802) and produced a period of French domination over Continental Europe . The wars are categorised as seven conflicts, five named after

1819-751: A standing army of 220,000 at the height of the Napoleonic Wars, of whom less than 50% were available for campaigning. The rest were necessary for garrisoning Ireland and the colonies and providing security for Britain. France's strength peaked at around 2,500,000 full-time and part-time soldiers including several hundred thousand National Guardsmen whom Napoleon could draft into the military if necessary. Both nations enlisted large numbers of sedentary militia who were unsuited for campaigning and were mostly employed to release regular forces for active duty. The Royal Navy disrupted France's extra-continental trade by seizing and threatening French shipping and colonial possessions , but could do nothing about France's trade with

1926-504: A week. The battalions of 186 men each, divided into 9 companies, were taken to brothels under the command of an infantry sergeant. Each girl was required to service 20-21 members of a battalion, after which she would be allowed to take other men to make money in order to buy food. Jewish girls were especially vulnerable due to the totality of the tsarist official antisemitism including mass expulsions of Litvaks commanded by Alexander III of Russia which led to desperation and hunger. There

2033-679: The Austrian Empire out of the war , and formally dissolving the Holy Roman Empire. Within months, Prussia declared war, triggering a War of the Fourth Coalition . This war ended disastrously for Prussia, which had been defeated and occupied within 19 days of the beginning of the campaign. Napoleon subsequently defeated Russia at Friedland , creating powerful client states in Eastern Europe and ending

2140-633: The Consulate and transforming the republic into a de facto dictatorship. He further reorganised the French military forces, establishing a large reserve army positioned to support campaigns on the Rhine or in Italy. Russia had already been knocked out of the war , and, under Napoleon's leadership, the French decisively defeated the Austrians in June 1800 , crippling Austrian capabilities in Italy. Austria

2247-705: The Directory , suffered from heavy levels of corruption and internal strife . The new republic also lacked funds, no longer enjoying the services of Lazare Carnot , the minister of war who had guided France to its victories during the early stages of the Revolution . Bonaparte, commander of the Armée d'Italie in the latter stages of the First Coalition, had launched a campaign in Egypt , intending to disrupt

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2354-637: The Erster Napoleonischer Krieg ("First Napoleonic War"). In Dutch historiography, it is common to refer to the 7 major wars between 1792 and 1815 as the Coalition Wars ( coalitieoorlogen ), referring to the first two as the French Revolution Wars ( Franse Revolutieoorlogen ). Napoleon was, and remains, famous for his battlefield victories, and historians have spent enormous attention in analysing them. In 2008, Donald Sutherland wrote: The ideal Napoleonic battle

2461-706: The Far East and Siberia . In 1908, trade and industry in Poland were beginning a slow recovery after the years of strikes and disorder. The Financial Times reported that the iron industry had been most severely impacted. Piłsudski's Combat Organization of the Polish Socialist Party , founded in 1904, contributed to some escalation of the hostilities and became more active during the over few years. It started its campaign of assassinations and robberies mostly from 1906, but it grew much less active towards

2568-550: The Kingdom of Poland , as a state, was formally replaced by the Vistula Land . Towns were stripped of their charters in reprisal and turned into villages. The Russian Partition of Poland was made an official province of the Russian Empire in 1867. In the early 20th century, a major part of the Russian Revolution of 1905 was the Revolution in the Kingdom of Poland (1905–1907) . The return to Poland's independence

2675-599: The Nieman River , and the remaining parts of Volhynian Ukraine . Major historical events of the Russian Partition included the Warsaw Uprising (1794) soon after Kościuszko's victory at Racławice . It ended up in the massacre of Praga district of Warsaw , in which the Russian imperial army killed up to 20,000 civilians in reprisal or revenge, regardless of gender and age. "The whole of Praga

2782-719: The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (a real union of Kingdom of Poland with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ). The first Russian partition took place in the late 17th century when the forced Treaty of Andrusovo signed in 1667 granted Russia the Commonwealth's territory in the Eastern Ukraine . Under the Third Partition of Poland Russia acquired Courland , all Lithuanian territory east of

2889-587: The Russian Empire . The territories of the Russian Partition saw very moderate economic growth over time. No business activity could take place without bribing the Tsarist officials first. Much of the output of the Polish Partition was exported to Russia proper, especially after the border between Congress Poland and Russia was abolished in 1851. The emancipation reform of 1861 was a major step towards industrialization and urbanization . Particularly,

2996-578: The Russian Revolution of 1905 took place in the Russian Partition of Poland and lasted until 1907 (see Congress Poland and Privislinsky Krai ). It was the largest wave of strikes and widest emancipatory movement that Poland had ever seen until the 1970s and the 1980s. One of the major events of that period was the insurrection in Łódź in June 1905 . Throughout that period, many smaller demonstrations and armed struggles between

3103-596: The Seven Years' War , which historians term a " world war ". In response to the naval blockade of the French coasts enacted by the British government on 16 May 1806, Napoleon issued the Berlin Decree on November 21, 1806, which brought into effect the Continental System . This policy aimed to eliminate the threat from Britain by closing French-controlled territory to its trade. Britain maintained

3210-516: The Swiss Confederation . Austria joined the alliance after the annexation of Genoa and the proclamation of Napoleon as King of Italy on 17 March 1805. Sweden, which had already agreed to lease Swedish Pomerania as a military base for British troops against France, entered the coalition on 9 August. The Austrians began the war by invading Bavaria on 8 September 1805 with an army of about 70,000 under Karl Mack von Leiberich , and

3317-830: The Treaty of Amiens , declaring war on France in May 1803. Among the reasons were Napoleon's changes to the international system in Western Europe, especially in Switzerland , Germany, Italy , and the Netherlands . Historian Frederick Kagan argues that Britain was irritated in particular by Napoleon's assertion of control over Switzerland. Furthermore, Britons felt insulted when Napoleon stated that their country deserved no voice in European affairs, even though King George III

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3424-415: The long lost parts of Mother Russia . To Poles, Poland was simply Polish, never Russian. While the Russians used varying administrative names for their new territories ( see below ), another popular term, used in Poland and adopted by most other historiographies, was the Russian Partition . Even before the partitions from the late 18th century, the Russian Empire had already acquired some territories of

3531-540: The 19th century, Łódź had become a major Polish industrial centre. Heavily urbanized and industrialized, it was a stronghold of the socialist movement. By January 22, 1905, workers in Łódź had been strike, and on January 31, tsarist police reported that the strikers carried placards with the slogans "Down with the autocracy ! Down with the war!". Similarly in Warsaw , the former capital of Poland and another major industrial centre, uprisings and demonstrations were common. There

3638-421: The British army, in accordance with the orders which had subsequently been countermanded. On 8 March they ordered military preparations to guard against possible French retaliation and justified them by falsely claiming that it was only in response to French preparations and that they were conducting serious negotiations with France. In a few days, it was known that Cape Colony had been surrendered in accordance with

3745-512: The British control of India . Pressed from all sides, the Republic suffered a string of successive defeats against revitalised enemies, who were supported by Britain's financial help. Bonaparte returned to France from Egypt on 23 August 1799, his campaign there having failed . He seized control of the French government on November 9, in a bloodless coup d'état , replacing the Directory with

3852-602: The British fleet away from the English Channel . A complex plan to distract the British by threatening their possessions in the West Indies failed when a Franco-Spanish fleet under Admiral Villeneuve turned back after an indecisive action off Cape Finisterre on 22 July 1805. The Royal Navy blockaded Villeneuve in Cádiz until he left for Naples on 19 October; the British squadron caught and overwhelmingly defeated

3959-564: The British from evacuating it after three months as stipulated in the treaty. The Helvetic Republic was set up by France when it invaded Switzerland in 1798 . France had withdrawn its troops, but violent strife broke out against the government , which many Swiss saw as overly centralised. Bonaparte reoccupied the country in October 1802 and imposed a compromise settlement . This caused widespread outrage in Britain, which protested that this

4066-613: The Commonwealth: It consisted of 9 guberniyas : six Belarusian and Lithuanian ones that constituted the Northwestern Krai ( Vilna Governorate , Kovno Governorate , Grodno Governorate , Minsk Governorate , Mogilev Governorate and Vitebsk Governorate ) and three Ukrainian ones that constituted the Southwestern Krai ( Volhynia Governorate , Podolia Governorate and Kiev Governorate ). In

4173-607: The Continental System, led to Napoleon invading Russia in June 1812. The invasion was an unmitigated disaster for Napoleon; scorched earth tactics, desertion, French strategic failures and the onset of the Russian winter compelled Napoleon to retreat with massive losses . Napoleon suffered further setbacks: French power in the Iberian Peninsula was broken at the Battle of Vitoria the following summer, and

4280-449: The Continental System, prompting Napoleon to launch a massive invasion of Russia in 1812. The resulting campaign ended in disaster for France and the near-destruction of Napoleon's Grande Armée . Encouraged by the defeat, Great Britain, Austria, Prussia, Sweden, and Russia formed the Sixth Coalition and began a new campaign against France, decisively defeating Napoleon at Leipzig in October 1813. The Allies then invaded France from

4387-654: The Fourth Coalition. Concurrently, the refusal of Portugal to commit to the Continental System, and Spain 's failure to maintain it, led to the Peninsular War and the outbreak of the War of the Fifth Coalition . The French occupied Spain and formed a Spanish client kingdom , ending the alliance between the two. Heavy British involvement in the Iberian Peninsula soon followed, while a British effort to capture Antwerp failed. Napoleon oversaw

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4494-651: The French Revolution had been received with great alarm by the rulers of Europe's continental powers, further exacerbated by the execution of Louis XVI , and the overthrow of the French monarchy . In 1793, Austria , the Kingdom of Sardinia , the Kingdom of Naples , Prussia , the Kingdom of Spain , and the Kingdom of Great Britain formed the First Coalition to curtail the growing power of revolutionary France. Measures such as mass conscription , military reforms, and total war allowed France to defeat

4601-545: The French army marched out from Boulogne in late July 1805 to confront them. At Ulm (25 September – 20 October) Napoleon surrounded Mack's army, forcing its surrender without significant losses. With the main Austrian army north of the Alps defeated (another army under Archduke Charles fought against André Masséna 's French army in Italy ), Napoleon occupied Vienna on 13 November. Far from his supply lines, he faced

4708-517: The French government believed that cutting Britain off from the Continent would end its economic influence over Europe and isolate it. A key element in British success was its ability to mobilise the nation's industrial and financial resources, and apply them to defeating France. Though the UK had a population of approximately 16 million against France's 30 million, the French numerical advantage

4815-481: The Italian peninsula . The war in Iberia greatly weakened Spanish power, and the Spanish Empire began to unravel; Spain would lose nearly all of its American possessions by 1833 . The Portuguese Empire also shrank, with Brazil declaring independence in 1822. The wars revolutionised European warfare; the application of mass conscription and total war led to campaigns of unprecedented scale, as whole nations committed all their economic and industrial resources to

4922-402: The PPS' own "Left" (or "Young") wing . The National Democrats believed that the Poles should work together with the Russian authorities and increase their representation in the Duma (Russian parliament), while the PPS Left wanted to work together with Russian revolutionaries to topple the Tsar and saw the creation of a socialist society as more important than Polish independence. During

5029-431: The Royal Navy, doubling the number of frigates , adding 50 per cent more large ships of the line , and increasing the number of sailors from 15,000 to 133,000 in eight years after the war began in 1793. France saw its navy shrink by more than half. The smuggling of finished products into the continent undermined French efforts to weaken the British economy by cutting off markets. Subsidies to Russia and Austria kept them in

5136-420: The Russian Empire created a separate entity called Congress Poland out of some of the above governorates. See administrative division of Congress Poland for details. Territories in the Russian partition which were not incorporated into Congress Poland were officially known as the Western Krai , and in Poland as the taken lands ( Polish : ziemie zabrane ). The Western Krai comprised the following lands of

5243-408: The Russian army, and ongoing russification policies further aggravated the Polish population. News and attitudes of the 1905 Russian Revolution quickly spread from Saint Petersburg (where demonstrators were massacred on January 22) across the Russian Empire and into Russian-controlled Poland. This was capitalized on by factions in Russia and Poland that wanted more or less radical changes. In

5350-448: The Russian military brothels, of which there were some 185 in total, including 16 official ones (1884). In cheap army brothels sex could be bought for as little as 30 kopecks (less than 1/3 of a rouble); one woman for every 30 Russians stationed at a garrison, with beatings and instances of women getting killed by them in drunken rages. Sex slaves were obliged to drink with the clients as a general rule. Officers had their own brothels under

5457-540: The Russians to keep an army of 250,000-300,000 soldiers there, an army even larger than the one fighting the Japanese in the east. In early 1907, the Financial Times indicated that the "labour disturbances in Poland were handicapping trade." Mill owners were still anxious about the "labor question," and new investments in mill equipment were poorly justified. The Financial Times also reported that building and iron trades were reduced to "stagnation." Higher costs of manufacturing in Poland were also pushing some business to

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5564-400: The Spanish, who campaigned successfully against the French armies, eventually driving them from Spain and allowing Britain to invade southern France. By 1815, the British Army played the central role in the final defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo. Beyond minor naval actions against British imperial interests, the Napoleonic Wars were much less global in their scope than preceding conflicts such as

5671-434: The Third Coalition. In December 1805, Napoleon defeated the allied Russo-Austrian army at Austerlitz , thus forcing Austria to make peace. Concerned about increasing French power, Prussia led the creation of the Fourth Coalition, which resumed war in October 1806. Napoleon soon defeated the Prussians at Jena-Auerstedt and the Russians at Friedland , bringing an uneasy peace to the continent. The treaty had failed to end

5778-439: The anti-French press. Malta was captured by Britain during the war and was subject to a complex arrangement in the 10th article of the Treaty of Amiens, where it was to be restored to the Knights of St. John with a Neapolitan garrison and placed under the guarantee of third powers. The weakening of the Knights of St. John by the confiscation of their assets in France and Spain along with delays in obtaining guarantees prevented

5885-457: The bulk of French troops present in Spain, Napoleon seized the opportunity to turn against his former ally, depose the reigning Spanish royal family , and declare his brother King of Spain in 1808 as José I . The Spanish and Portuguese thus revolted, with British support, and expelled the French from Iberia in 1814 after six years of fighting . Concurrently, Russia , unwilling to bear the economic consequences of reduced trade, routinely violated

5992-521: The chief of police (1888–1895), known sex connoisseur Nikolai Kleigels ( Russian : Николай Клейгельс ) who was selling young Polish girls dressed in exotic costumes for 10 roubles a visit. The girls were categorized by the Russian authorities as either inexpensive, medium-priced, or exclusive based on age, beauty and demeanour. In all cities with the Russian garrisons, army-licensed brothels were required to provide so-called "patriotic duty" to their regiments by giving one free visit per soldier, at least once

6099-416: The city was also shut down, and streetcars were turned into barricades. Most of the unrest occurred in 1905, but until 1906-1907, worker unrest, demonstrations and occasional armed clashes continued to occur in Poland. Strikes in Łódź continued until mid-1907, when only the large Russian military presence and mass layoffs of striking workers from the factories pacified the city. The unrest in Poland forced

6206-431: The civilians. Several protests and strikes occurred in major Polish cities under Russian control throughout the year, but as the Polish journalist Włodzimierz Kalicki wrote, the Łódź insurrection was the most dramatic one. The Russian government contributed to the chaos by trying to incite some anti-Jewish pogroms . Another notable occurrence was the establishment of the Zagłębie Republic ( Republika Zagłębiowska ),

6313-433: The coalition, despite the concurrent civil war in France . Napoleon , then a general of the French Revolutionary Army , forced the Austrians to sign the Treaty of Campo Formio , leaving only Great Britain opposed to the fledgling French Republic. A Second Coalition was formed in 1798 by Great Britain, Austria, Naples, the Ottoman Empire , the Papal States , Portugal , Russia , and Sweden . The French Republic, under

6420-412: The coalitions arrayed against him. The so-called Continental System formed a League of Armed Neutrality to disrupt the blockade and enforce free trade with France. The British responded by capturing the Danish fleet , breaking up the league, and later secured dominance over the seas , allowing it to freely continue its strategy. Napoleon won the War of the Third Coalition at Austerlitz , forcing

6527-402: The coalitions that fought Napoleon, plus two named for their respective theatres: the War of the Third Coalition , War of the Fourth Coalition , War of the Fifth Coalition , War of the Sixth Coalition , War of the Seventh Coalition , the Peninsular War , and the French invasion of Russia . The first stage of the war broke out when Britain declared war on France on 18 May 1803, alongside

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6634-448: The combined enemy fleet in the Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October (the British commander, Lord Nelson , died in the battle). Napoleon never again had the opportunity to challenge the British at sea, nor to threaten an invasion. He again turned his attention to the enemies on the Continent. In April 1805, Britain and Russia signed a treaty with the aim of removing the French from the Batavian Republic (roughly present-day Netherlands) and

6741-442: The counter-orders, but it was too late. Bonaparte berated the British ambassador in front of 200 spectators over the military preparations. The Addington ministry realised they would face an inquiry over their false reasons for the military preparations, and during April unsuccessfully attempted to secure the support of William Pitt to shield them from damage. In the same month, the ministry issued an ultimatum to France, demanding

6848-426: The date according to the Republican Calendar then in use; 18 May 1803, when Britain and France ended the one short period of peace between 1792 and 1814; or 2 December 1804, when Bonaparte crowned himself Emperor . British historians occasionally refer to the nearly continuous period of warfare from 1792 to 1815 as the Great French War, or as the final phase of the Anglo-French Second Hundred Years' War , spanning

6955-453: The east , while the Peninsular War spilled over into southwestern France . Coalition troops captured Paris at the end of March 1814, forced Napoleon to abdicate in April, exiled him to the island of Elba , and restored power to the Bourbons . Napoleon escaped in February 1815 and reassumed control of France for around one Hundred Days . The allies formed the Seventh Coalition, which defeated him at Waterloo in June 1815, and exiled him to

7062-449: The end of the decade. Piłsudski's faction was temporarily weakened, and the PPS split; however, by 1909, Piłsudski's faction had again regained prominence on the Polish underground political scene. Piłsudski eventually succeeded in securing Polish independence and became an important political figure in interwar Poland . Another consequence was the evolution of Polish political parties and thought. National consciousness had risen among

7169-404: The first partition, Russia gained 92,000 km and 1.3 million people. In the second, 250,000 km and 1 million people. In the third, 120,000 km and 1.2 million people. Overall, Russia had gained about 62 percent of the former Commonwealth territory (462,000 km) and about 45 percent of the population (3.5 million people). The Russian partition was thus the largest and most populous of

7276-408: The fundamental reorganization of German and Italian territories into larger states, and the introduction of radically new methods of conducting warfare. After the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the Congress of Vienna redrew Europe's borders and brought a relative peace to the continent, lasting until the Revolutions of 1848 and the Crimean War in 1853. Napoleon seized power in 1799, establishing

7383-406: The international system unstable, and forcing Britain to the sidelines. Numerous scholars have argued that Napoleon's aggressive posture made him enemies and cost him potential allies. As late as 1808, the continental powers affirmed most of his gains and titles, but the continuing conflict with Britain led him to start the Peninsular War and the invasion of Russia , which many scholars see as

7490-416: The island of Saint Helena , where he died six years later in 1821. The wars had profound consequences on global history, including the spread of nationalism and liberalism , advancements in civil law , the rise of Britain as the world's foremost naval and economic power , the appearance of independence movements in Spanish America and the subsequent decline of the Spanish and Portuguese Empires ,

7597-412: The last three or four decades before World War I saw significant economic development and urbanization. However, in many areas of the economy, development stalled. The Russian Empire divided the former territories of the Commonwealth it obtained ( Rech Pospolitaya in Russian) by creating or enlarging the following guberniyas (Tsarist governorates, or provinces). After the Congress of Vienna in 1815,

7704-461: The major continental economies, and posed little threat to French territory in Europe. France's population and agricultural capacity greatly outstripped Britain's. Britain had the greatest industrial capacity in Europe, and its mastery of the seas allowed it to build up considerable economic strength through trade. This ensured that France could never consolidate its control over Europe in peace. Many in

7811-538: The meantime, two factions among the Polish political leaders clashed. The wing of the Polish Socialist Party ( Polska Partia Socjalistyczna, PPS ) that was loyal to Józef Piłsudski believed that Poles must show their determination to regain independence through active, violent protests against the Russians. This view was not shared by Roman Dmowski 's National Democratic Party ( endecja ) nor by

7918-574: The orders to not restore Cape Colony. At the same time, Russia finally joined the guarantee regarding Malta. Concerned that there would be hostilities when Bonaparte found out that Cape Colony had been retained , the British began to procrastinate on the evacuation of Malta. In January 1803, a government paper in France published a report from a commercial agent which noted the ease with which Egypt could be conquered. The British seized on this to demand satisfaction and security before evacuating Malta, which

8025-400: The payment of British financial subsidies to their continental allies. Britain gathered allies to form the Third Coalition against The French Empire after Napoleon was self-proclaimed as emperor. In response, Napoleon seriously considered an invasion of Great Britain , massing 180,000 troops at Boulogne . Before he could invade, he needed to achieve naval superiority—or at least to pull

8132-414: The peasants and workers on one side and the government on the other took place. The demands of the demonstrators included the improvement of the workers' living conditions, as well as political freedoms, particularly related to increased autonomy for Poland. Particularly in 1905, Poland was at the verge of a new uprising, revolution or civil war. Some Polish historians even consider the events of that period

8239-632: The period 1689 to 1815. Historian Mike Rapport (2013) suggested using the term "French Wars" to unambiguously describe the entire period from 1792 to 1815. In France, the Napoleonic Wars are generally integrated with the French Revolutionary Wars: Les guerres de la Révolution et de l'Empire . German historiography may count the War of the Second Coalition (1798/9–1801/2), during which Napoleon had seized power, as

8346-456: The process by which even a smaller French army could defeat the enemy's forces one by one. After 1807, Napoleon's creation of a highly mobile, well-armed artillery force gave artillery usage an increased tactical importance. Napoleon, rather than relying on infantry to wear away the enemy's defences, could now use massed artillery as a spearhead to pound a break in the enemy's line. Once that was achieved he sent in infantry and cavalry. Britain

8453-566: The restoration of Hanover, a condition which the British refused. Unlike its many coalition partners, Britain remained at war during the period of the Napoleonic Wars. Protected by naval supremacy (in the words of Admiral Jervis to the House of Lords "I do not say, my Lords, that the French will not come. I say only they will not come by sea"), Britain did not have to spend the entire war defending itself and could thus focus on supporting its embattled allies, maintaining low-intensity land warfare on

8560-544: The right choice for Britain because, in the long run, Napoleon's intentions were hostile to the British national interest. Napoleon was not ready for war, and so this was the best time for Britain to stop them. Britain seized upon the Malta issue, refusing to follow the terms of the Treaty of Amiens and evacuate the island. The deeper British grievance was their perception that Napoleon was taking personal control of Europe, making

8667-527: The right to study in the Polish language. They were joined by high school pupils and even some from the elementary schools. The Russian government gave in and agreed to some concessions towards the Polish nationalist movement by removing some restrictions on the use of Polish in the classrooms, many, particularly the workers, were still dissatisfied. In some places in Poland, the school strikes lasted for nearly three years. Major demonstrations occurred on May 1 ( Labour Day ), and about 30 people were shot during

8774-417: The single largest deportation action commenced by the empire. Polish language was discriminated against, and it lost its official status. "Books were burned; churches destroyed; priests murdered;" wrote Norman Davies . There was no education in the Polish language, and publications in Polish were few. The only elementary schools were constantly underfinanced. The city of Warsaw under the Tsarist rule resembled

8881-801: The situation in Iberia, defeating the Spanish , and expelling the British from the Peninsula. Austria, eager to recover territory lost during the War of the Third Coalition, invaded France's client states in Eastern Europe in April 1809. Napoleon defeated the Fifth Coalition at Wagram . Plans to invade British North America pushed the United States to declare war on Britain in the War of 1812 , but it did not become an ally of France. Grievances over control of Poland , and Russia's withdrawal from

8988-570: The tension, and war broke out again in 1809, with the Austrian-led Fifth Coalition. At first, the Austrians won a significant victory at Aspern-Essling but were quickly defeated at Wagram . Hoping to isolate and weaken Britain economically through his Continental System , Napoleon launched an invasion of Portugal , the only remaining British ally in continental Europe. After occupying Lisbon in November 1807, and with

9095-858: The three partitions (the other two being the Austrian Partition and the Prussian Partition ). For changes in the administrative division of the Russian partition in the 19th century, see administrative division of Congress Poland . During World War I (1914–1918), many of the territories were occupied by the Central Powers (primarily, German Empire ) and came to be administered by the Ober Ost . Napoleonic Wars Other coalition members: 100,000 regulars and militia at peak strength (1813) [REDACTED] French Empire : The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were

9202-602: The uneasy truce created by the Treaty of Amiens when it had declared war on France in May 1803. The British were increasingly angered by Napoleon's reordering of the international system in Western Europe, especially in Switzerland, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. Kagan argues that Britain was especially alarmed by Napoleon's assertion of control over Switzerland. The British felt insulted when Napoleon said it deserved no voice in European affairs (even though King George

9309-523: The war, the Kingdom of Prussia rose to become a great power , while Great Britain, with its unequalled Royal Navy and growing Empire , became the world's dominant superpower , beginning the Pax Britannica . The Holy Roman Empire had been dissolved, and the philosophy of nationalism that emerged early in the war contributed greatly to the later unification of the German states , and those of

9416-514: The war. The British budget in 1814 reached £98 million, including £10 million for the Royal Navy, £40 million for the army, £10 million for the allies, and £38 million as interest on the national debt, which had soared to £679 million, more than double the GDP. This debt was supported by hundreds of thousands of investors and taxpayers, despite the higher taxes on land and

9523-420: The wars, the extent of Napoleon's conquests, and the popularity of the ideals of the French Revolution , the period had a deep impact on European social culture. Many subsequent revolutions, such as that of Russia , looked to the French as a source of inspiration, while its core founding tenets greatly expanded the arena of human rights and shaped modern political philosophies in use today. The outbreak of

9630-510: Was definitively defeated that December , by Moreau 's forces in Bavaria . The Austrian defeat was sealed by the Treaty of Lunéville early the following year, further compelling the British to sign the Treaty of Amiens with France, establishing a tenuous peace. No consensus exists as to when the French Revolutionary Wars ended and the Napoleonic Wars began. Possible dates include 9 November 1799, when Bonaparte seized power on 18 Brumaire ,

9737-478: Was a convenient stepping stone to Egypt. France disclaimed any desire to seize Egypt and asked what sort of satisfaction was required, but the British were unable to give a response. There was still no thought of going to war; Prime Minister Henry Addington publicly affirmed that Britain was in a state of peace. In early March 1803, the Addington ministry received word that Cape Colony had been reoccupied by

9844-531: Was a general strike in Warsaw on January 14 and over 90 fatalities in the city over the next few days. On January 17, the Russian government declared that Warsaw was under a state of siege . On 28 January, the PPS and the Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania called for a general strike. Over 400,000 workers became involved in strikes all over Poland that lasted for four weeks. That

9951-547: Was a result of the First World War on the Polish lands (1914–1918), the overthrow of the Tsarist regime, and the defeat of the Central Powers in 1918. The Russification policies were harsh, and there were many repressions, particularly in the aftermath of the November Uprising (1830–1831) and later, the January Uprising of 1863–1864. Many Poles were exiled to Siberia , some 80,000 of them in 1864 in

10058-454: Was a violation of the Treaty of Lunéville. Although continental powers were unprepared to act, the British decided to send an agent to help the Swiss obtain supplies, and also ordered their military not to return Cape Colony to Holland as they had committed to do in the Treaty of Amiens. Swiss resistance collapsed before anything could be accomplished, and, after a month, Britain countermanded

10165-588: Was an elector of the Holy Roman Empire ) and sought to restrict the London newspapers that were vilifying him. Britain had a sense of loss of control, as well as loss of markets, and was worried by Napoleon's possible threat to its overseas colonies . McLynn argues that Britain went to war in 1803 out of a "mixture of economic motives and national neuroses—an irrational anxiety about Napoleon's motives and intentions." McLynn concludes that it proved to be

10272-440: Was an elector of the Holy Roman Empire . For its part, Russia decided that the intervention in Switzerland indicated that Napoleon was not looking toward a peaceful resolution of his differences with the other European powers. The British hastily enforced a naval blockade of France to starve it of resources. Napoleon responded with economic embargoes against Britain, and sought to eliminate Britain's Continental allies to break

10379-467: Was established in the territory returned to Russia with the Tsar taking the title of King of Poland . The protectorate was gradually integrated into Russia over the course of the 19th century. Notwithstanding, the relentless Russian exploitation activities led to the 1830–1831 November Uprising which took place in the heartland of partitioned Poland, forming a government . Its subsequent defeat resulted in

10486-525: Was evacuated, and form a convention to give satisfaction to Britain on other issues. The British falsely denied that Russia had made an offer, and their ambassador left Paris. Desperate to avoid a war, Bonaparte sent a secret offer where he agreed to let Britain retain Malta if France could occupy the Otranto peninsula in Naples. All efforts were futile, and Britain declared war on 18 May 1803. Britain ended

10593-522: Was irritated by several French actions following the Treaty of Amiens . Bonaparte annexed Piedmont and Elba , made himself President of the Italian Republic , a state in northern Italy that France had set up, and failed to evacuate Holland , as it had agreed to do in the treaty. France then continued to interfere with British trade despite peace having been made and complained about Britain harbouring certain individuals and not cracking down on

10700-547: Was murdered, and a tannery director was also mortally wounded. Local socialist organizations even declared that there had been no reason to target that particular mill manager. A vigilante group also carried out executions during this time, leaving corpses in the street for officers to find the next day. Fifteen people were killed over a few weeks, with thirty wounded. In August 1907 in Łódź, at least 30 men were killed during another disruptive strike, and shops were forced to close. The power plant for an electric traction system in

10807-705: Was nonetheless growth in the national consciousness, and the Revolution in the Kingdom of Poland (1905–1907) resulted in the general improvement of the situation soon before the dissolution of the Empire. Some major political parties of the Second Polish Republic developed around that time in the Russian partition (ex. Polish Socialist Party ). The New York Times noted some aspects of society that were still "risky" or "distressing" in 1907. Police units sometimes feared being stabbed or shot, while civilians sometimes feared being imprisoned while merely asking

10914-503: Was offset by British subsidies that paid for many of the Austrian and Russian soldiers, peaking at about 450,000 men in 1813. Under the Anglo–Russian agreement of 1803, Britain paid a subsidy of £1.5 million for every 100,000 Russian soldiers in the field. British national output continued to be strong, and the well-organised business sector channeled products into what the military needed. Britain used its economic power to expand

11021-456: Was only a prelude to an even larger series of strikes that rocked Poland over next year. In 1905 to 1906, close to 7,000 strikes and other work stoppages occurred, involving 1.3 million Poles. Protesters demanded improved conditions for workers and more political freedom for the Poles. By February, students at Polish universities had joined the demonstrations to protest Russification and demand

11128-542: Was open to them. Nonetheless, in 1804 Ukrainian as a subject and language of instruction was banned from schools. A following 1863 ban on Ukrainian books led to Alexander II 's secret Ems Ukaz , which prohibited publication and importation of most Ukrainian-language books, public performances and lectures, and even banned the printing of Ukrainian texts accompanying musical scores. Ukrainians living in Austria-Hungary were given more rights than Ukrainians living in

11235-537: Was strewn with dead bodies, blood was flowing in streams" wrote Suvorov himself. In 1807, the victorious Napoleon formed the Duchy of Warsaw after his War of the Fourth Coalition against Prussia and Russia. The new Duchy was held in personal union by King Frederick Augustus I of Saxony . However, the Duchy was dissolved after just a few years following the 1815 Congress of Vienna , and all its territory returned to its previous rulers. The Tsarist Kingdom of Poland

11342-464: Was then decisively defeated at Waterloo , and he abdicated again on 22 June. On 15 July, he surrendered to the British at Rochefort , and was permanently exiled to remote Saint Helena . The Treaty of Paris , signed on 20 November 1815, formally ended the war. The Bourbon monarchy was once again restored, and the victors began the Congress of Vienna to restore peace to Europe. As a direct result of

11449-422: Was to manipulate the enemy into an unfavourable position through manoeuvre and deception, force him to commit his main forces and reserve to the main battle and then undertake an enveloping attack with uncommitted or reserve troops on the flank or rear. Such a surprise attack would either produce a devastating effect on morale or force him to weaken his main battle line. Either way, the enemy's own impulsiveness began

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