The 1794 Greater Poland Uprising (Polish: Powstanie wielkopolskie 1794 roku) was a military insurrection by Poles in Wielkopolska (Greater Poland) against Kingdom of Prussia which had taken possession of this territory after the 1793 Second Partition of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Origins
thumb|right|150px|[[Józef Niemojewski, leader of the uprising]]
The outbreak of Kościuszko Uprising in central Poland in March 1794 served as the spark for the formation of Polish military units in the Prussian partition, as Poles in Wielkopolska hoped to liberate their region. Initially, Tadeusz Kościuszko, who had initiated the fight against Russians in central Poland did not want to support the Greater Poland Uprising in the hope of avoiding a two front war (at the time, Kingdom of Prussia was nominally in an alliance with Poland against Russia). As a result, the planned insurrection in Wielkopolska almost ended before it could start. However, the situation changed in June 1794 when the Prussians declared their support for Tsarist Russia and offered them military support in suppressing Kościuszko (after his victory at the Battle of Racławice). On 22 August the insurrectionists took Gniezno and General Paweł Skórzewski took Konin and other towns in the area soon after. Dąbrowski planned to winter in Bydgoszcz and then move through Toruń, but because of Kościuszko's defeat at the Battle of Maciejowice he decided instead to evacuate Wielkopolska and make his way into central Poland. In Wielkopolska sporadic guerrilla fighting continued until mid-December. The uprising almost got a second life when a hero of the fighting in Warsaw and one of Kościuszko's colonels, the shoemaker Jan Kiliński (who had been born in Trzemeszno), arrived in Wielkopolska to try to reorganize the Polish forces. He went on to organize the Polish Legions in Italy which fought alongside Napoleon in subsequent wars. Niemojewski also emigrated to France and served in Napoleon's army where he eventually attained the rank of Brigadier General.