The Revolutions of 1848 101: The Polish Uprising
Foreword
The revolutions of 1848 are a separate chapter in the study of modern and contemporary European history. The “Springtime of the Peoples,” as they are called by some historians, played a decisive role in the development of the historical events of the 19th century, the 20th century, and also the present. This is the main reason why this 101 series of articles, dedicated to these revolutions, came into being. Specifically, reference will be made to the cases of many European countries and regions, such as France, the German States, the Italian States, Denmark, the territories of the Habsburg Empire, Sweden, Poland, and so on.
The Revolutions of 1848 series consist of nine main articles:
Introduction I, The Congress of Vienna and The Revolutions of 1820
Introduction II, The Revolutions of 1830 and The Ideological Background
The Polish Uprising
Legacy
The Poles could not miss the Springtime of Nations as a nation deprived of independence and freedom since 1795. There had been no Polish state since the late 18th century, as the lands inhabited by the Poles were occupied by neighboring empires. The Prussian, Russian and Austrian empires divided and annexed the Polish territories and effectively deprived the Poles of their rights and their freedom. In fact, in the territories occupied by Prussia, an attempt of “Germanization” was made during the first half of the 19th century. The Polish language was replaced by the German language in the education system and only Germans were appointed to the local government and administration. The Poles rebelled many times, but without success. The first revolution was in 1807 with the support of Napoleon and another very important one took place in November 1830, to which a reference was made in the second introductory article of this series (here). Of course, the fair demands of the Poles were ignored at the Congress of Vienna in 1815 (more here). Subsequently, the Prussians attempted to Germanize the Polish areas, as it is mentioned. In these areas, the Poles were excluded from the local government of their territories and the German language was imposed on all schools. German settlements were founded in areas with purely Polish populations. This was somewhat the case before 1848. The characteristic of the Polish desire for freedom is that apart from the Polish uprising, Polish volunteers fought in the revolutions in Italy, Germany, and other European states (Pekacz, 1997) (1). It is important to note that in 1848, the Poles of the Prussian-occupied territories of the Grand Duchy of Poznan (Greater Poland) revolted, while in 1830 the Poles of the Russian-occupied territories resurrected.
