Jan Henryk Dąbrowski

Early life and education

Dąbrowski was born to Jan Michał Dąbrowski and Zofia Maria Dąbrowska ( Sophie von Lettow), in Pierzchów, Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, on 29 August 1755. He grew up in Hoyerswerda, Electorate of Saxony, where his father served as a colonel in the Saxon Army. He joined the Royal Saxon Horse Guards in 1770 or 1771. His family was of Polish origin. Nonetheless, in his childhood and youth he grew up surrounded by German culture in Saxony, and signed his name as Johann Heinrich Dąbrowski.

Early career

Following the appeal of the Polish Four-Year Sejm to all Poles serving abroad to join the Polish army, and not seeing much opportunity to advance in his military career in the now-peaceful Saxony, on 28 June 1792, Dąbrowski joined the Army of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth with a rank of podpułkownik and on 14 July he was promoted to the rank of vice-brigadier.

Dąbrowski was seen as a cavalry expert, and King Stanisław August Poniatowski was personally interested in obtaining Dąbrowski's services.

The Grodno Sejm, held in the fall of 1793, nominated him for a membership in a military commission; this caused him to be viewed with suspicion by the majority of the dissatisfied military, and he was not included in the preparations for the upcoming uprising. Thus he was taken by surprise when the Kościuszko Insurrection erupted, and his own brigade mutinied. He declared his support for the insurgents after the liberation of Warsaw, and from then on took an active part in the uprising, defending Warsaw and leading an army corps in support of an uprising in Greater Poland. His courage was commended by Tadeusz Kościuszko himself, the Supreme Commander of the National Armed Forces, who promoted him to the rank of general.

In Napoleonic service

After the failure of the uprising he remained in partitioned Poland for a while, attempting to convince the Prussian authorities that they needed Poland as an ally against Austria and Russia. He was unsuccessful, and with the Third Partition of Poland between Russia, Prussia and Austria, Poland disappeared from the map of Europe. Dąbrowski's next solution was to convince the French Republic that it should support a Polish cause, and create a Polish military formation. This proved to be more successful, and indeed Dąbrowski is remembered in the history of Poland as the organiser of Polish Legions in Italy during the Napoleonic Wars. (These Legions are also often known as the "Dąbrowski's Legions".) This event gave hope to contemporary Poles, and is still remembered in the Polish national anthem, named after Dąbrowski.

Dąbrowski began his work in 1796, when he came to Paris and soon afterwards met Napoleon Bonaparte in Milan. In April, Dąbrowski lobbied for a plan to push through to the Polish territories in Galicia, but that was blocked by Napoleon who instead decided to use those troops on the Italian front. Dąbrowski's Polish soldiers fought at Napoleon's side from May 1797 until the beginning of 1803. As a commander of his legion he played an important part in the war in Italy, entered Rome in May 1798, and distinguished himself greatly at the Battle of Trebia on 19 June 1799, where he was wounded, as well as in other battles and combats of 1799–1801.

From the time the Legions garrisoned Rome, Dąbrowski obtained a number of trophies from a Roman representative, namely the ones that the Polish king, Jan III Sobieski, had sent there after his victory over the Ottoman Empire at the siege of Vienna in 1683; amongst these was an Ottoman standard which subsequently became part of the Legions' colors, accompanying them from then on. However, the legions were never able to reach Poland and did not liberate the country, as Dąbrowski had dreamed. Napoleon did, however, notice the growing dissatisfaction of his soldiers and their commanders. They were particularly disappointed by a peace treaty between France and Russia signed in Lunéville on 9 February 1801, which dashed Polish hopes of Bonaparte freeing Poland. Disillusioned with Napoleon after the Lunéville treaty, many legionnaires resigned afterwards; of the others, thousands perished when the Legions were sent in the Saint-Domingue expedition in 1803; by that time Dąbrowski was no longer in command of the Legions.

Dąbrowski, meanwhile, spent the first few years of the new century as a general in the service of the Italian Republic and its successor, the Kingdom of Italy. In December 1805, during the War of the Third Coalition, Dąbrowski participated in the Italian blockade of Venice, and was briefly commander of the province of Pescara in the Napoleonic Kingdom of Naples the following year. Together with Józef Wybicki he was summoned again by Napoleon in the fall of 1806 and tasked with recreating the Polish formation, which Napoleon wanted to use to recapture Greater Poland from Prussia, which had joined the Fourth Coalition against France. The ensuing conflict was known as the Greater Poland Uprising, and Dabrowski was the chief leader of Polish insurgent forces. In February 1807, the remaining infantry and cavalry regiments who had continued in French service in Italy were reorganized in Silesia, in the cities of Wrocław, Prudnik, Nysa, Korfantów and Brzeg, into a Polish-Italian Legion (PolaccoItalienne). Dąbrowski distinguished himself at the Siege of Tczew, the Siege of Gdańsk and at the Battle of Friedland.

In 1807, the Duchy of Warsaw was established in the recaptured territories, essentially as a satellite of Bonaparte's France. Dąbrowski became disappointed with Napoleon, who offered him monetary rewards, but no serious military or government position. In 1809, he set out to defend Poland against an Austrian invasion under the command of Prince Józef Poniatowski.

After the March 1813 reorganization of the Grande Armée, Dąbrowski commanded the 27th (Polish) Infantry Division in the VIII Corps under Poniatowski. During the German campaign of 1813, he led his division at the Battle of Leipzig, where he took command of the VIII Corps on 19 October following Poniatowski's death. On 28 October he became the commander-in-chief of the all remaining Polish troops in French service, succeeding Antoni Paweł Sułkowski. He defended Compiègne in February 1814 during the invasion of France, then led his soldiers back to Poland in May after Napoleon's abdication.

Final years

Dąbrowski always associated independent Poland with a Polish Army, and offered his services to the new power, which promised to organize such a formation: Russia.

Over the years, Dąbrowski wrote several military treatises, primarily about the Legions, in German, French and Polish.

Remembrance

Dąbrowski was often criticized by his contemporaries, and by the early Polish historiography, but his image improved with time. He has been often compared to the two other military heroes of the time of Partitions and the Legions, Tadeusz Kościuszko and Józef Poniatowski, and to the father of the Second Polish Republic, Józef Piłsudski. In particular, his mention in the Polish national anthem, also known as "Dąbrowski's Mazurka", contributed to his fame in Poland. It is not uncommon for modern works of Polish history to describe him as a "(national) hero".

Dąbrowski is also remembered outside of Poland for his historical contributions. His name, in the French version "Dombrowsky", is inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

Awards and decorations

Notes

References

Bibliography

References

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