page_title: January Uprising
section_title: International repercussions
hierarchical_section_title: January Uprising / Uprising spreads to former Grand Duchy of Lithuania / International repercussions
caption_attribution_description: Español: Napoleón III, emperador de Francia.
context_page_description: The January Uprising was an insurrection principally in Russia′s Kingdom of Poland aimed at the restoration of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. It began on 22 January 1863 and continued until the last insurgents were captured by the Russian forces in 1864.
  It was the longest lasting insurgency in post-partition Poland. The conflict engaged all levels of society, and arguably had profound repercussions on contemporary international relations and ultimately provoked a social and ideological paradigm shift in national events that went on to have a decisive influence on the subsequent development of Polish society.
  It was the confluence of a number of factors that rendered the uprising inevitable in early 1863. The Polish nobility and urban bourgeois circles longed for the semi-autonomous status they had enjoyed in Congress Poland before the previous insurgency, a generation earlier in 1830, while youth encouraged by the success of the Italian independence movement urgently desired the same outcome.
context_section_description: The uncovering of the existence of the Alvensleben Convention signed on 8 February 1863 by Prussia and Russia in St. Petersburg to jointly suppress the Poles, internationalised the Uprising. It enabled Western powers to take the diplomatic initiative for their own ends. Napoleon III of France, already a sympathiser with Poland, was concerned to protect his border on the Rhine and turned his political guns on Prussia with a view to provoking a war with it. He was simultaneously seeking an alliance with Austria. The United Kingdom on the other hand, sought to prevent a Franco-Prussian war and to block an Austrian alliance with France and looked to scupper any rapprochement between France and Russia. Austria was competing with Prussia for leadership of the German territories, but rejected French approaches for an alliance, spurning any support of Napoleon III as acting against German interests. There was no discussion of military intervention on behalf of the Poles, despite Napoleon's support for the continuation of the insurgency.
  France, the United Kingdom and Austria agreed a diplomatic intervention in defence of Polish rights and in April issued diplomatic notes that were intended to be no more than persuasive in tone. The Polish RN was hoping that the evolution of the insurgency would ultimately push western powers to adopt an armed intervention, which was the flavour of Polish diplomatic talks with those powers. The Polish line was that the establishment of continued peace in Europe was conditional on the return of an independent Polish state.
  With the threat of war averted, St.Petersburg left the door open for negotiations, but was adamant in its rejection of any western rights to armed conflict. In June 1863 western powers iterated the conditions: an amnesty for the insurgents, the creation of a national representative structure and the development of autonomous concessions across the kingdom, a recall of a conference of Congress of Vienna (1815) signatories and a cease fire for its duration. This fell well below the expectations of the leadership of the Uprising. While concerned by the threat of war, Alexander II felt secure enough with the support of his people to reject the proposals. Although France and the UK were insulted, they did not proceed with further interventions which enabled Russia to extend and finally break off negotiations in September 1863.
caption: Napoleón III, 1865
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