Józef Poniatowski

Prince Józef Antoni Poniatowski (; 7 May 1763 – 19 October 1813) was a Polish military officer and politician who served in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.

A nephew of Stanisław II August, Poniatowski began his military career in 1780 in the Imperial Army of the Holy Roman Emperor, where he attained the rank of colonel. In 1789, after leaving the Imperial Army, he joined the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Army at the request of his uncle. Poniatowski, now at the rank of major general and commander of the Royal Guards, took part in the Polish–Russian War of 1792, leading the Polish army to victory at the Battle of Zieleńce. After the king's support for the Targowica Confederation of 1792, Poniatowski felt compelled to resign. In 1794 he participated in the Kościuszko Uprising against Russia and oversaw the unsuccessful defence of Warsaw, for which Russian authorities exiled him from Poland until 1798.

In 1807, after the First French Empire established the client Duchy of Warsaw, Poniatowski was appointed the duchy's minister of war. He commanded a 16,000-strong army during the Austro-Polish War in 1809 and fought a larger Austrian force in the Battle of Raszyn. There followed a Polish advance into the territory of Galicia. The conflict ended with a Polish victory, which allowed the Duchy of Warsaw to recover some of the lands lost in the Partitions of Poland.

A staunch ally and supporter of Napoleon, Poniatowski voluntarily took part in the French invasion of Russia in 1812. Injuries received during the invasion eventually forced his return to Warsaw, where he worked on the reconstruction of the army of the Duchy of Warsaw, which was intended to fight in the German campaign of 1813. During the Battle of Leipzig, Poniatowski was badly wounded while trying to escape and drowned in the White Elster.

Early life

thumb|125px|left|Portrait of Poniatowski from 1778, by [[Marcello Bacciarelli]]

Prince Józef Antoni Poniatowski was born in Vienna, Austria in the Palais Kinsky He was baptized in Vienna's Schottenkirche.

He was the son of Andrzej Poniatowski, the brother of the last king of Poland and grand duke of Lithuania Stanislaus II Augustus (born Stanisław Poniatowski), and a field marshal in the service of Austria. His mother was Countess Maria Theresia Kinsky von Wchinitz und Tettau (1740-1806), a court lady and a friend of Maria Theresa belonging to an old and influential Austro-Bohemian aristocratic family. His father died when Józef was ten, Stanislaus Augustus then became his guardian and the two enjoyed a close personal relationship that lasted for the rest of their lives.

Maria Theresa was the godmother of Józef's older sister, who was also named Maria Teresa, after the Empress. Józef was born and raised in Vienna, but also spent time with his mother in Prague and later with his uncle the king in Warsaw. Brought up in the "ancient regime" society, he was tutored in French, and spoke to his mother in that language. He also learned Polish, German and later, Russian. As a child he acquired the nickname "Prince Pepi", the Czech diminutive form of Joseph.

thumb|right|[[Colonel Königsfels Teaching Prince Poniatowski to Ride by Bernardo Bellotto, 1773]]

He was trained for a military career, but also learned how to play keyboard instruments and had a portable one which he carried with him later even during military campaigns. Because of Stanislaus' influence, Poniatowski chose to consider himself a Polish citizen and transferred to the Polish army at the age of 26. In Vienna, he represented the king at the funeral of Maria Theresa. In 1787 he travelled with Stanislaus Augustus to Kaniov and Kiev, to meet with Catherine the Great. Laure Junot, Duchess of Abrantès, wife of Jean-Andoche Junot, described Poniatowski in his mid-twenties as having been: <blockquote>handsome, brave, enterprising, and determined, as he himself once assured me, to undertake everything for the liberation of unhappy Poland</blockquote>

Austro-Turkish War

Having chosen a military career, Poniatowski joined the Austrian imperial army, where he was commissioned lieutenant in 1780, in 1786/1788 promoted to colonel, and, when Austria declared war against the Ottoman Empire in 1788, he became an aide-de-camp to Emperor Joseph II. Poniatowski fought in that war and distinguished himself at the storming of Šabac on 25 April 1788, where he was seriously wounded. At Šabac he also reportedly saved the life of a younger colleague, Prince Karl Philipp Schwarzenberg. Later their military paths crossed repeatedly, as friends and foes, and at the end of Poniatowski's career Schwarzenberg delivered the crushing blow at the Battle of Leipzig in which Poniatowski was killed.

Polish military service and defence of the 3 May Constitution

thumb|upright|left|[[Stanislaus Augustus of Poland encouraged his nephew to return and serve in the Polish ranks.]]

Summoned by his uncle, Stanislaus II Augustus, and the Sejm when the Polish Army was reorganized, Poniatowski returned to Poland. The King had made previous arrangements with the Austrian authorities for this transfer, which in the end depended on his nephew's willingness to make the move. In October 1789, together with Tadeusz Kościuszko and three others, Poniatowski received the rank of major-general, and was appointed commander of a division in Ukraine and devoted himself to rebuilding the small, and long-time neglected, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth's army.

This took place during the period of deliberations by the Four-Year Sejm, which ended with the proclamation of the 3 May Constitution in 1791. Poniatowski was an enthusiastic supporter of the reforms and a member of the Friends of the Constitution Association. The passage of the document was assured partially by the military forces under the Prince's command, which surrounded the Royal Castle during the final proceedings. He himself stood in the room with a group of soldiers.

On 6 May 1792 Poniatowski was appointed Lieutenant-General and commander of the Polish army in Ukraine, with the task of defending the country against the imminent Russian attack. There Prince Józef was aided by Kościuszko and Michał Wielhorski, a friend from the Austrian service. In the fighting, badly outnumbered and outgunned by the enemy, obliged constantly to retreat, but disputing every point of vantage, he turned on the pursuer whenever the Russian pressed too closely, and won several notable victories.

thumb|upright|Poniatowski in 1792

The Battle of Zieleńce on 18 June was the first major victorious engagement of the Polish forces since John III Sobieski. Poniatowski personally got involved in the fighting when one of the Polish columns was faltering. To celebrate the victory and commemorate the occasion, the Polish king established the Virtuti Militari order, with which he decorated Poniatowski and Kościuszko first. At the Battle of Dubienka fought by Kościuszko and his soldiers on 18 July, the line of the Southern Bug River was defended for five days against fourfold odds.

The Polish armies converged on Warsaw and prepared for a general engagement. There a courier from the capital informed the Commander in Chief that King Stanislaus had acceded to the pro-Russian Targowica Confederation and had pledged the adherence of the Polish Army to it as well. All hostilities were to be suspended.

The army remained loyal to Prince Józef and he considered staging a coup d'état option that involved kidnapping the King, but after issuing contradictory orders, he finally decided not to do so. Supposedly distressed by the political situation, at the last skirmish of the war at Markuszów on 26 July he supposedly sought his own death, but was saved. After an indignant but fruitless protest, Poniatowski and most of the other Polish generals resigned their commissions and left the army.

In a farewell gesture, Prince Józef's soldiers expressed their gratitude by having a memorial medal minted, and wrote to the Prince's mother in Prague, thanking her for having such a great son. Poniatowski left Warsaw for Vienna, from where he repeatedly challenged the Targowica leader Szczęsny Potocki to a duel. However, the Russian authorities wanted him removed away from Poland even further, and the fearful king pressured him to comply. Poniatowski left Vienna to travel in western Europe, which at the time was traumatized by the violent events of the French Revolution.

In 1792 in a letter to the King, Prince Józef expressed his opinion that in order to save the country and preserve the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth he should have already at the outset of this campaign (since it was not properly prepared militarily) raised the whole country, led the nobility on a horse, armed the towns and given freedom to the peasants. The Polish–Russian War was followed by the Second Partition of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

1794 Kościuszko Uprising

thumb|right|180px|[[Tadeusz Kościuszko under whom Poniatowski served during the 1794 Uprising]]

Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski wrote to his nephew in the spring of 1794, urging him to return to Commonwealth and volunteer for service under his former subordinate Kościuszko, in what came to be known as the Kościuszko Uprising. Poniatowski came with Wielhorski again and reported for duty at Kościuszko's camp near Jędrzejów on 27 May. Kościuszko proposed that Prince Józef lead the insurrection in Lithuania, where he was demoting the radical and successful leader Jakub Jasiński. However, Poniatowski not wanting to be so far from his uncle who needed him, declined. He suggested instead Wielhorski, which Kościuszko approved.

Poniatowski himself participated in combat in and around Warsaw; as a division commander he fought at Błonie between 7 and 10 July, and led cavalry in an anti-Prussian diversion at Marymont on 26–27 July. During the Prussian siege of the city Mokronowski was sent to Lithuania to replace the ailing Wielhorski and Poniatowski was given his post in Warsaw's defense.

Between 5 and 10 August, in a victorious and promising series of confrontations, he took the Góry Szwedzkie region from the Prussians and then lost it after a couple of weeks in a counterattack, for which, despite Kościuszko's warnings, he did not properly prepare. He was injured while trying to recover the lost ground when his horse was shot from under him. In October he led his outnumbered troops in an attack on Prussian entrenchments at the Bzura River, which, at the cost of heavy losses, tied up the Prussians and saved Dąbrowski's corps by allowing it to return to Warsaw.

During the course of the war and revolution the Prince felt alienated by the actions and influence of the radical wing led by Hugo Kołłątaj, while the military cooperation between him, Dąbrowski, and Józef Zajączek was not what it should have been, and worsened after Kościuszko's capture at Maciejowice. while Napoleon, not yet quite trusting him, left the supreme military command in Davout's hands until summer of 1808. Poniatowski officially became Commander in Chief on 21 March 1809. The Minister of War became completely devoted to the creation and development of this new, ostentatiously Polish army. The Duchy's army existed and operated under the most difficult circumstances and its success depended largely on the military and political skills of the chief commander. For example, it was severely underfunded and most of the military units were kept by Napoleon outside of the country, to be used in numerous campaigns, which is why Prince Józef had a rather small force at his disposal during the war of 1809.

thumb|left|[[The Death of Cyprian Godebski at Raszyn by January Suchodolski, 1855. Poniatowski at the Battle of Raszyn]]

In spring of 1809 Poniatowski led his army against an Austrian invasion under the Archduke Ferdinand Karl Joseph of Austria-Este, in the war that was regarded by Austrian high command as a crucial element of their struggle with Napoleonic France.

The initial period of the offensive, when Poniatowski was placed under the direction of Jérôme Bonaparte, was wasted, but after Napoleon's brother left Poniatowski was briefly put in charge of Grande Armée's right wing. Fighting on the avant-garde on the advance to Moscow he distinguished himself at a number of battles. On 17 August at Smolensk he personally led his corps' assault on the city. On 7 September at Borodino the V Corps was involved in the daylong fight over the Utitza Mound, which was finally taken toward the evening, stormed by the entire corps led by Prince Józef again. On 14 September the Polish soldiers were the first ones to enter the Russian capital; by that time however Poniatowski, unlike Napoleon, was convinced that the campaign was doomed. The Polish corps fought then the battles at Chirikovo on 29 September and Vinkovo on 18 October, where Poniatowski saved Murat from a complete defeat by Kutuzov's forces.

Rearguarding the retreat of the Grande Armée, Poniatowski was badly injured during the Battle of Vyazma. He continued in active service for a few days, but his condition forced him to give his command to Józef Zajączek. He then continued the westbound trip in a carriage with two wounded aides, the Legion of the Vistula and Michel Claparède. At the Berezina crossing they barely avoided being captured by the Russians but finally, on 12 December, arrived in Warsaw.

Legacy

thumb|left|234x234px|Monument to Poniatowski in [[Leipzig, Germany]]

Poniatowski's cult developed after his death, as a Polish version of the Napoleonic legend.

thumb|[[The Death of Prince Poniatowski by Horace Vernet, 1816]]

Poniatowski never married and had only illegitimate issues. Among his living relatives is Elena Poniatowska, a Mexican journalist.

thumb|right|200px|[[Bertel Thorvaldsen's equestrian statue of Poniatowski in front of the Presidential Palace in Warsaw]]

He is one of the figures immortalized in Jan Matejko's 1891 painting, Constitution of 3 May 1791.

He was an inspiration for Polish freedom fighters throughout a number of armed conflicts, but especially during the November Uprising of 1830, since many of its leaders had served under Poniatowski's command during the Napoleonic Wars. The Duchy of Warsaw, which Napoleon had created and Poniatowski defended, remained as a residual Polish state to the end of the Partitions period.

A Japanese manga, Ten no Hate made - Porando hishi, was written by Riyoko Ikeda in 1991, commemorating the life of Józef Poniatowski.

A Polish bomber squadron, named after Poniatowski, took part in aerial operations during the Second World War. It was 304 Sqn. RAF "Land of Silesia" Polish Bomber Squadron (Ziemi Śląskiej im. Ks. Józefa Poniatowskiego) which mainly flew Fairey Battle, Vickers Wellington, Vickers Warwick and Handley Page Halifax bombers. Their base airfield was mostly RAF Chivenor in Devon.

Welsh-Polish historian Norman Davies wrote:

References

Attribution:

Endnotes:
Stanisław Kostka Bogusławski, Life of Prince Jòzef Poniatowski , Warsaw, 1831.
Franciszek Paszkowski, Prince Józef Poniatowski , Kraków, 1898.
Correspondence of Poniatowski, edited by E. Raczyński, Poznań, 1843.
Bronisław Dembiński, Stanisław August and Prince Józef Poniatowski in the Light of Their Correspondence (in French), Lemberg, 1904.
Szymon Askenazy, Prince Józef Poniatowski , Warsaw, 1905.