Polish Revolution of 1898–1901
| Polish Revolution of 1898–1901 | |||||||||
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.jpg) A group of 6 Polish anti-revolutionaries being executed in Bydgoszcz, March 1901. | |||||||||
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Combined Forces¹: Late 1898: ~60,000 Summer 1899: ~75,000 Late 1900: ~80,000 Early 1901: ~56,000 Overall: ~56,000–80,000 |
Polish: Late 1898: ~50,000 Summer 1899: ~105,000 Late 1900: ~90,000 Early 1901: ~50,000 Lithuanian: Late 1898: ~25,000 Summer 1899: ~30,000 Late 1900: ~10,000 Early 1901: ~5,000 Ukrainian: Late 1898: ~45,000 Summer 1899: ~50,000 Late 1900: ~65,000 Early 1901: ~46,000 Overall: ~101,000–130,000 | ||||||||
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| ¹ – Combined forces meaning Russia, Germany, and Austria. Their forces seperately are unconfirmed and underreported. | |||||||||
The Polish Revolution of 1898–1901 (late autumn 1898 – 12 January 1901) was fought primarily between the Second Polish Republic and TBD before it became a confederal republic in the aftermath of the revolution, on territories previously held by Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Russian Empire following the partitions of Poland.
Names and ending dates
The war is known by several names. "Polish Revolutionary War" is the most common, but "The Polish Revolution of 1898–1901" is the only confirmed and government-supported name, with "Polish–Lithuanian War of Independence" and "Central European War" by few. In some Polish sources, it is also referred to the "Polish Independence Movement of 1898" (Polish: Polski ruch niepodległościowy z 1898 r).
The ending year of the conflict is generally accepted to be the 19th of January 1901. The treaty was signed in late January, officially establishing Poland as the overall victor of the war, securing Lithuanian, Polish, and Ukrainian independence.
Background
The war's main territories of contention lie in what is now Ukraine and Belarus. Until the mid-13th century, they formed part of the medieval state of Kievan Rus'. After a period of internal wars and the 1240 Mongol invasion, the lands became objects of expansion for the Kingdom of Poland and for the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In the first half of the 14th century, the Principality of Kiev and the land between the Dnieper, Pripyat, and Daugava (Western Dvina) rivers became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In 1352, Poland and Lithuania divided the Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia between themselves. In 1569, in accordance with the terms of the Union of Lublin between Poland and Lithuania, some of the Ukrainian lands passed to the Polish Crown. Between 1772 and 1795, many of the East Slavic territories became part of the Russian Empire in the course of the Partitions of Poland–Lithuania. In 1795 (the Third Partition of Poland), Poland lost formal independence. After the Congress of Vienna of 1814–1815, much of the territory of the Duchy of Warsaw was transferred to Russian control and became the autonomous Congress Poland (officially the Kingdom of Poland). After young Poles refused conscription to the Imperial Russian Army during the January Uprising of 1863, Tsar Alexander II stripped Congress Poland of its separate constitution, attempted to force general use of the Russian language and took away vast tracts of land from Poles. Congress Poland was incorporated more directly into imperial Russia by being divided into ten provinces, each with an appointed Russian military governor and all under complete control of the Russian Governor-General at Warsaw.
Preliminary hostilities
From early 1897, Polish revolutionary military units were formed in Russia. A Polish government was formed in early 1897 along with the military units that formed. Polish nationalism grew in the former Congress Poland as the government would stay relatively low as the Russian empire gave less attention to the region due to the economic problems they were going through at the time, which would lead to a massive riot caused by Polish, Ukrainian, and Belarusian farmers in what would later be referred to as Greater Poland in the modern day.
In Ukraine at the time as well, farmers were treated unfairly by the government as their food was taken forcefully to feed the upper class along with the royal family.