Poland's Historical Ties With Austria: A Complex Past

The history of Poland and Austria is long and complex, dating back several centuries. In the 18th century, the two nations' relationship was strained when Austria participated in the Partitions of Poland, which saw Poland's territory progressively reduced until the state ceased to exist. Austria, along with Russia and Prussia, was one of the main parties responsible for the elimination of the Polish Crown. However, of the three nations, Austria was considered the most tolerant towards Poles, and Polish culture flourished under Austrian rule. After World War I, Poland regained independence from Austria, and the two nations re-established relations, although their relationship was often tense due to differing political alignments during the Cold War.

The Austrian Partition of Poland

Austria acquired Polish lands during the First Partition of 1772 and the Third Partition of Poland in 1795. In the first partition, Austria received the largest share of the formerly Polish population, and the second-largest land share (83,000 square kilometres and over 2.65 million people). Austria did not participate in the second partition, and in the third, it received 47,000 square kilometres with 1.2 million people. Overall, Austria gained about 18% of the former Commonwealth territory (130,000 square kilometres) and about 32% of the population (3.85 million people). From a geographical perspective, much of the Austrian partition corresponded to the Galicia region.

The territories acquired by the Austrian Empire during the First Partition included the Polish Duchy of Zator and Duchy of Oświęcim, as well as part of Lesser Poland with the counties of Kraków, Sandomierz, and Galicia, excluding the city of Kraków. In the Third Partition, the annexed lands included Western Galicia and Southern Masovia.

The Austrian Partition included several major historical events. One notable event was the formation of the Napoleonic Duchy of Warsaw in 1807, followed by the 1809 Austro-Polish War, which was aided by the French and resulted in the Austrian defeat at the Battle of Raszyn. However, the fall of Napoleon and the abolition of the Duchy at the Congress of Vienna in 1815 allowed Austria to regain control. The Congress also created the Free City of Kraków, a protectorate of Austria, Prussia, and Russia, which lasted for a decade until it was abolished by Austria after crushing the Kraków Uprising in 1846.

During most of the 19th century, the Austrian government made few concessions to their Polish constituents, and Polish organizations had little freedom to operate. However, by the early 20th century, just before World War I and the collapse of Austria-Hungary, the Austrian partition had the most local autonomy among the three partitions. Polish was accepted as the official regional language, and Polish parties could formally participate in Austro-Hungarian politics.

The Austro-Polish War of 1809

In the lead-up to the war, the Army of the Duchy of Warsaw was weakened as the French corps garrisoning it were sent to Spain in 1808, leaving only the duchy's Polish forces. On April 14, 1809, an Austrian corps under Archduke Ferdinand Karl Joseph of Austria-Este invaded the Duchy of Warsaw, engaging Polish defenders led by Prince Józef Poniatowski. The Battle of Raszyn on April 19, 1809, was a pivotal moment in the conflict. While the battle was not decisive, it resulted in the Austrians capturing the Polish capital of Warsaw. The Polish forces, despite being outnumbered, managed to hold their ground and launched counterattacks, demonstrating their resilience and military prowess.

Following the Battle of Raszyn, the Polish forces retreated and allowed the Austrians to occupy Warsaw. However, Prince Poniatowski kept his army mobile and engaged the Austrians in a series of battles outside the city. The Polish forces successfully defeated the Austrian army in several engagements, including at Radzymin, Grochów, and Ostrówek, forcing the Austrians to retreat. The Polish troops then abandoned Warsaw and set out to reconquer pre-partition Polish territories, including Kraków and Lwów. This forced the Austrians to abandon their pursuit of the Polish army and withdraw.

The Polish forces, led by General Henryk Dąbrowski and Prince Poniatowski, went on to invade weakly defended Austrian territories to the south, taking major cities such as Lublin, Sandomierz, Zamość, and Lwów. They quickly established Polish administration and military formations in the recaptured territories. Meanwhile, Generals Jan Henryk Dąbrowski and Józef Zajączek commanded units that slowed down the Austrians on the western bank of the Vistula River, preventing them from crossing and cutting off their supply lines.

As the war progressed, the Austrian main army under Archduke Ferdinand was forced to abandon its siege of Toruń and Warsaw, moving south to engage the Polish army in Galicia. However, they were unable to intercept Poniatowski, who focused on capturing as much territory in Galicia as possible. On June 3, Russian forces crossed the Austrian border, aiming to curb Polish gains and acquire Austrian-held territories for themselves. Despite this, the Polish forces continued their campaign, and Poniatowski's corps joined forces with those of Zajączek, Dąbrowski, and Sokolnicki. The Austrians were finally defeated by the French at the Battle of Wagram on July 5-6, 1809.

In the aftermath of the Treaty of Schönbrunn, some of the territories liberated by the Polish forces were returned to Austria, but West Galicia was incorporated into the Duchy of Warsaw. The Austro-Polish War of 1809 ultimately contributed to the complex and strained relationship between Austria and Poland, with Poland seeking independence and reclaiming territories lost during the partitions.

The Kraków Uprising of 1846

The uprising began on the night of 20 February 1846 and was successful in the short term, as the insurgents briefly took control of Kraków. The small Austrian force in the city, led by General Ludwig Collin, quickly retreated in the face of riots, demonstrations, and barricades erected by the rebels. On 22 February, a provisional government was formed and issued a radical "Manifesto for the Polish Nation," proclaiming the end of serfdom, the implementation of universal suffrage, and other revolutionary ideas inspired by the French Revolution.

The leadership of the uprising included notable figures such as Michał Wiszniewski, a philosophy professor at Jagiellonian University, and Jan Tyssowski, a lecturer and lawyer who declared himself dictator on 24 February. Edward Dembowski, a radical democrat acting as Tyssowski's secretary, may have been the true leader of the revolutionary government, according to some sources. However, internal struggles for power led to Wiszniewski's exile by Tyssowski and Dembowski just two days later.

The Austrian forces in the area, led by Ludwig von Benedek, quickly mobilised to suppress the rebellion. Despite having up to 6,000 volunteers, the revolutionaries were poorly trained and armed, and they fared badly in the wider countryside. The Polish forces suffered a significant defeat at the Battle of Gdów on 26 February and were swiftly dispersed by von Benedek's troops. The Polish commander, Colonel Jakub Suchorzewski, was criticised for his inadequate leadership and failure to heed scout reports of the approaching enemy force.

The uprising was ultimately crushed by the Austrian army, with assistance from local peasants who rose up against the insurgents in what became known as the Galician slaughter. It is estimated that approximately 1,000-2,000 Polish nobility who supported the uprising lost their lives in the conflict. The defeat of the Kraków Uprising resulted in the annexation of Kraków and its surrounding areas to the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, a province of the Austrian Empire. This violation of the 1815 Treaty of Vienna caused a diplomatic scandal at the time.

Despite its failure, the Kraków Uprising of 1846 is significant as it represented a deeply democratic movement advocating for land reform and addressing other pressing social issues. Scholars such as Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels praised the uprising as "the first in Europe to plant the banner of social revolution," recognising it as a precursor to the Spring of Nations in 1848. The uprising also had international repercussions, as the Austrian Empire struggled to justify the support it received from the peasantry and ultimately lost the propaganda war that followed.

The Napoleonic Duchy of Warsaw

The Duchy was ruled by King Frederick Augustus I of Saxony, who was compelled by Napoleon to make his realm a constitutional monarchy, with a parliament (the Sejm of the Duchy of Warsaw). The constitution of the Duchy was liberal for its time, providing for a bicameral Sejm, and including liberal ideas such as divorce and civil marriage, the abolition of serfdom, and equality before the law. The Napoleonic Code became the law of the land in 1808.

In 1809, the Duchy was increased in size by territory ceded by Austria in the Treaty of Schönbrunn. This included West Galicia and the district of Zamość, which had been acquired by Austria in the Third Partition of Poland. The Duchy's army, which was under French control, also grew in size, and by 1812, it totalled almost 120,000 troops out of a population of just 4.3 million.

The Duchy of Warsaw was seen by the Poles as a sign of the future restoration of their nation, which had been destroyed by the Partitions of Poland by Russia, Prussia, and Austria in 1772, 1793, and 1795. However, Napoleon did not want to make any permanent decisions regarding the Duchy, and it remained heavily dependent on France. The most important person in the Duchy was the French ambassador, and the Duchy lacked its own diplomatic representation abroad.

The Duchy's existence was tied to Napoleon's fortunes, and after his defeat in Russia, most of its territory was occupied by Russia in January 1813. The remainder of the Duchy was restored to Prussia. The existence of the Duchy of Warsaw effectively came to an end, and its territory was formally divided between Prussia and Russia at the Congress of Vienna in 1815.

The Austrian Empire's smallest partition of Poland

The Austrian Empire's involvement in the partitions of Poland in the late 18th century resulted in the acquisition of Polish lands and the second-largest share of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth's population, after Russia. However, in terms of territory, Austria acquired the smallest partition of Poland, participating only in the First and Third of the three partitions.

The First Partition of Poland occurred in 1772, with Russia, Prussia, and Austria signing a treaty that partitioned Poland and deprived it of approximately half of its population and almost one-third of its land area. Austria acquired regions in Little Poland (Małopolska) south of the Vistula River, western Podolia, and the area that became known as Galicia. The Duchy of Zator and Duchy of Oświęcim, as well as part of Lesser Poland with the counties of Kraków and Sandomierz, were also included, but Austria did not receive the city of Kraków.

Austria did not participate in the Second Partition of Poland in 1793. This partition was a result of the Polish-Russian War of 1792 and the Targowica Confederation, which invited Russia to intervene in Poland's internal affairs.

The Third Partition of Poland took place in 1795, in response to the unsuccessful Polish Kościuszko Uprising the previous year. With this partition, the Commonwealth ceased to exist. Austria received Western Galicia and Southern Masovia, including the remaining section of Little Poland from Kraków to the arc of the Northern Bug River. Overall, Austria's share of the partitioned territory amounted to about 18% of the former Commonwealth lands and about 32% of its population.

The Austrian Partition, as it came to be known, had important consequences for the region. The Austrian government's attitude towards its Polish subjects was characterised by a lack of concessions and a demand for loyalty to the Austrian Emperor. However, by the early 20th century, the Austrian Partition had gained more local autonomy compared to the other two partitions. Polish was accepted as the official regional language, Polish organisations had some freedom, and Polish parties could participate in Austro-Hungarian politics.

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