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"A silver bird over a bloody field, our boys are off to war,

The Pahonia and the Eagle, into battle with no arms they go"*

Even though it is 150 years since the January Uprising, the event still holds sway over Polish national identity, culture and even politics. One may even be as bold as to say that to a large extent is has shaped the contemporary Polish nation, and that its spiritual heritage still affects political choices made by Poles.

How can Poles secure independence? That was the question of the 19th century. One possible answer was to accept fate and resign oneself to the fact that Poland shall never be a country in its own right again. And this was just the attitude prevailing amongst loyalists both living under Austrian as well as Russian partitions. However, those in favour of fighting for independence presented a completely different attitude. The insurgents had an armed uprising in mind which was to take place in areas administered by Russia, the former Kingdom of Poland, as the largest swathes of land where Poles lived. The hope was that in time, other areas inhabited by their compatriots in Galicia and the Poznań region would join in. However, there was no consensus as to the form of the uprising itself. After the November Uprising was supressed, there wasn't a regular armed force which could turn its wrath against the occupiers. There was hope for cooperation with European countries in various political configurations – perhaps the support of England and France or a quiet alliance with Habsburg Austria. The insurgents were biding their time, waiting for a moment when the Russian Empire would become entangled in some war, forcing it to split its forces.

And it seemed that the 1853 - 1856 Crimean War, which Russia lost, was just such a moment.  The Empire's military incapacity and backwardness became evident. Unfortunately, Poles missed that moment. In the early 1860s, the political and military situation in Europe was much less favourable.

Aware of the very difficult position and slim chances of success, conservative groups tried to prevent it from taking place. Margrave Aleksander Wielopolski, the most influential and representative of those circles, head of Poland's Civil Administration within the Russian Empire, decided to thwart a possible uprising by ordering conscriptions to the Russian army in January 1863 and hoping that conscripting a large number of young men with patriotic sentiments will take the wind out of the conspirators' sails. Paradoxically, that decision only brought the start of the uprising forward.

It began in very unfavourable conditions. The uprising's armed units were still in formation, weapons were scarce as these were to be obtained from large Russian stores (Modlin, Płock, Warsaw Citadel). Winter was not conducive to guerrilla type warfare as it entailed camping in forests and marshes. There was a profound shortage of firearms. According to various estimates, between 6 and 7 thousand volunteers turned up on the night of 22 January to fight in the uprising. They only had approximately 700 pieces of long guns. These were primarily shotguns and hunting weapons. There was also a number of pistols and revolvers. For the rest there were cold weapons, or rather scythes improvising cold weapons with their blades set at their ends. However, there was also a shortage of war scythes! There was no time and in some areas insurgent units armed only with poles had to join in the fighting.

Who joined the Uprising?

Predominantly, the most politically aware and patriotic part of the nation, or the nobility. Out of the way, poorer nobility in Mazowsze and Podlasie came forth with particularly large numbers. For them life was not much different than that of the peasants, however they still remembered the times of free Poland.  People from towns and villages, school youths and servants at manor houses joined them. There is a conviction, particularly powerful and reinforced in the history promoted by Poland's communist regime, that peasants were against or indifferent to the Uprising. Certainly such attitudes were present however they were not prevalent. In Podlasie some insurgent units were made up of almost only peasants, who volunteered to fight. Also within the lost lands, or Wołyń, Polesie and Żmudź, insurgent units made up of Byelorussian, Lithuanian or Ukrainian peasants were active. Thus the January Uprising is sometimes referred to as the last armed effort of the former, multi-ethnic Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Losses 

After nearly 2 years, due to a large disproportion of forces and a very unfavourable world political situation the Uprising was suppressed. There is no accurate information as to the losses incurred by the Polish nation, but we know that such information did exist. There were probably many thousands of deaths and an even larger number of people were exiled to Siberia during the aftermath.  Approximately 2000 estates were confiscated. On the 8th of November 1864, Tsar Alexander II of Russia issued a decree on the secularisation of monasteries.  110, or the lion's share of the 155 male monasteries were abolished The remaining were granted a temporary status, they were not permitted to admit novices and when the number of brother fell below 8 they were also abolished. Monasteries, rightly seen as the strongholds of tradition and patriotism were condemned to closure. In 1875, as part of repressions, many small towns, where uprising administration cells were active and where residents supported the armed effort were deprived of city rights.  

In Poland the second half of the 19th century was bursting with thoughts of the Uprising. And not only within the former Kingdom of Poland under Russian partition , which as part of the repressions Tsar's administration officially called the "Vistula Land". There were also families in Galicia and Wielkopolska whose members willingly volunteered to join the uprising. Memory of the catastrophe lurked in Polish minds. On the one hand it deepened the belief that Poland will never regain independence. On the other hand ways to regain it were sought. Lessons from the defats were being learned. Two major independence trends arose from a polemic with the Uprising remembrance – Roman Dmowski's National Movement and a that represented by Józef Piłsudski and his Polish Socialist Party Revolutionary Faction.

In 1918, in the newly re-established Poland, the January Uprising become one of the nation's founding myths. The few surviving 1863 veterans were granted special privileges. All privates were promoted to junior officer ranks, they were given special uniforms, a state pension and places in care homes.

In 1919 the reborn Poland retuned city rights to those towns which lost them in the 19th century.  One of the last acts of reinstating justice was to re-grant town privileges in early 2020 to four towns which were degraded after the Uprising. Czerwińsk nad Wisłą, Klimontów, Lututów and Piątek, old, medieval settlements with a beautiful, patriotic history, are towns once again.

M.B 

* - Lyrics of a January Uprising patriotic song