page_title: Warsaw Uprising (1794)
section_title: Prelude
hierarchical_section_title: Warsaw Uprising (1794) / Prelude
context_page_description: The Warsaw Uprising of 1794 or Warsaw Insurrection was an armed insurrection by the people of Warsaw early in the Kościuszko Uprising. Supported by the Polish Army, the uprising aimed to throw off control by the Russian Empire of the Polish capital city. It began on 17 April 1794, soon after Tadeusz Kościuszko's victory at the Battle of Racławice.
  Although the Russian forces had more soldiers and better equipment, the Polish regular forces and militia, armed with rifles and sabres from the Warsaw Arsenal, inflicted heavy losses on the surprised enemy garrison. Russian soldiers found themselves under crossfire from all sides and from buildings, and several units broke early and suffered heavy casualties in their retreat.
  Kościuszko's envoy, Tomasz Maruszewski, and Ignacy Działyński and others had been laying the groundwork for the uprising since early 1793. They succeeded in winning popular support: the majority of Polish units stationed in Warsaw joined the ranks of the uprising. A National Militia was formed by several thousand volunteers, led by Jan Kiliński, a master shoemaker.
context_section_description: Following the Second Partition of Poland of 1793, the presence of Prussian and Imperial Russian garrisons on Polish soil was almost continuous. The foreign occupation forces contributed both to the economic collapse of the already-weakened state and to the growing radicalisation of the population of Warsaw. Foreign influence at the Polish court, often embodied by Russian ambassador Nikolai Repnin, had been strong for many years; during the partitions of Poland it started to influence the Polish government and szlachta (nobility), and the entire people.
  After losing the Polish–Russian War of 1792, the Permanent Council was pressured by Russia to enact an army reform, in which the Polish Army was reduced by half, and the demobilised soldiers conscripted into the Russian and Prussian armies. This move was secretly opposed by many officers and the arms and supplies of disbanded units were stored in warehouses in Warsaw.
  Upon receiving news of Kościuszko's proclamation in Kraków (24 March) and his subsequent victory at Racławice (4 April), tension in Warsaw grew rapidly. Polish king Stanisław August Poniatowski was opposed to Kościuszko's uprising, and with the Permanent Council issued a declaration condemning it on 2 April. The King dispatched Piotr Ożarowski, who as Grand Hetman of the Crown was the second-highest military commander after the king, and the Marshal of the Permanent Council, Józef Ankwicz, to Iosif Igelström, Russian ambassador and commander of all Russian occupation forces in Poland, with a proposal to evacuate both the Russian troops and Polish troops loyal to the King to a military encampment at Nowy Dwór Mazowiecki.
  Igelström rejected the plan and saw no need for the Russians to evacuate Warsaw. He sent a corps under General Aleksandr Khrushchev to intercept Kościuszko and prevent him from approaching Warsaw. He also ordered increased surveillance of suspected supporters of the uprising, and imposed censorship all mail passing through Warsaw. Igelström issued orders for the arrest of those he suspected of having any connection with the insurrection. These included some of the more prominent political leaders, among them Generals Antoni Madaliński, Kazimierz Nestor Sapieha and Ignacy Działyński, King's Chamberlain Jan Walenty Węgierski, Marshal of the Sejm Stanisław Małachowski, Ignacy and Stanisław Potocki and Hugo Kołłątaj. At the same time Russian forces started preparations to disarm the weak Polish garrison of Warsaw under General Stanisław Mokronowski by seizing the Warsaw Arsenal at Miodowa Street. These orders only made the situation worse as they were leaked to the Poles.
  The Russian forces prepared a plan to seize the most important buildings to secure the city until reinforcements arrived from Russia. General Johann Jakob Pistor suggested that the barracks of "unsafe" Polish units be surrounded and the units disarmed, and the Warsaw Arsenal captured to prevent the revolutionaries from seizing arms. At the same time bishop Józef Kossakowski, known for his pro-Russian stance, suggested that the churches be surrounded on Holy Saturday on 19 April with troops and all suspects attending the mass be arrested.
  On the Polish side, weakened by the arrests of some of its leaders, both the radical Polish Jacobins and the centrist supporters of King Stanisław August Poniatowski began preparing plans for an all-out attack on the Russian forces to drive them from Warsaw, which was still in theory the capital of an independent state. Kościuszko already had supporters in Warsaw, including Tomasz Maruszewski, his envoy who was sent to Warsaw with a mission to prepare the uprising. Maruszewski created the Revolution Association (Związek Rewolucyjny), organizing the previously independent anti-Russian factions. The Association included among its members various high-ranking officers from the Polish forces stationed in Warsaw. Among them were Michał Chomentowski, Gen. Krystian Godfryd Deybel de Hammerau, Major Józef Górski, Capt. Stanisław Kosmowski, Fryderyk Melfort, Dionizy Poniatowski, Lt. Grzegorz Ropp and Józe
caption: Centre of Warsaw as seen on an 1831 map
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