page_title: History of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (1764–1795)
section_title: Uprising preparations
hierarchical_section_title: History of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (1764–1795) / Failed efforts to defend reforms and preserve independence / Kościuszko Uprising and Third Partition / Uprising preparations
caption_attribution_description: Ignacy Działyński
context_page_description: The History of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (1764–1795) is concerned with the final decades of existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The period, during which the declining state pursued wide-ranging reforms and was subjected to three partitions by the neighboring powers, coincides with the election and reign of the federation's last king, Stanisław August Poniatowski.
  During the later part of the 18th century, the Commonwealth attempted fundamental internal reforms. The reform activity provoked hostile reaction and eventually military response on the part of the surrounding states. The second half of the century brought improved economy and significant growth of the population. The most populous capital city of Warsaw replaced Danzig as the leading trade center, and the role of the more prosperous urban strata was increasing. The last decades of the independent Commonwealth existence were characterized by intense reform movements and far-reaching progress in the areas of education, intellectual life, arts and sciences, and especially toward the end of the period, evolution of the social and political system.
context_section_description: After the Second Partition, the patriotic, independence-minded forces were left only with the option of organizing a broadly-based national uprising and forming an alliance with the revolutionary forces of Europe.
  The Second Partition brought not only political, but also economic disaster. Territorial reductions disrupted the market, undercut the industries and caused a crash of the banking system. The state treasury had become depleted, which caused a chain economic reaction and social unrest. News of social upheavals were reaching from France, but also from Silesia, in 1793 a scene of labor and other unrest.
  The planned uprising had to be prepared without prematurely provoking the partitioning powers into preemptive action, but also without waiting too long. There were foreign circles pressuring for a final partition, from late 1793 including Austria, now unhappy with bypassing the previous opportunity to enlarge its territory.
  A radical conspiracy wing, aiming for the broadest popular appeal, led by former activists of Kołłątaj's Forge group, developed within the Commonwealth. Their goals included removal of the King and an establishment of a republic. The moderate elements, led by Ignacy Działyński and Warsaw banker Andrzej Kapostas, favored a carefully prepared uprising based on the existing military. Their goal was to reinstate the May 3 Constitution.
  Leaders who left the country were likewise divided. Hugo Kołłątaj, aided by Franciszek Dmochowski and Ignacy Potocki, published in Dresden On the establishment and fall of the May 3 Constitution, in which they blamed the King, preparing the ground for his overthrow. The dominant emigrant radical faction hoped for quick social reforms to engage broad masses in a national insurrection; they also counted on foreign assistance, especially from revolutionary France.
  The international situation had not been developing favorably, though. The Girondists and then the Jacobins were involved in diplomatic maneuvering, trying to get Prussia out of the war with France. Tadeusz Kościuszko, expected to be the leader of the planned uprising, tried to obtain promises of aid, but was not given any specific assurances during his stay in Paris in early 1793. Already during the uprising, its representative in Paris, Franciszek Barss, was also denied help.
  General Kościuszko attended the Polish reformist Corps of Cadets, studied military engineering in Paris and had behind him already distinguished service record from the American Revolutionary War and the recent Polish war with Russia. His intention was to utilize his American experience, combine military operations by a regular army with those of informal and irregular popular forces, based on peasant and urban masses, hoping to substitute their great numbers and motivation for the inevitable deficiencies in equipment and training.
caption: Ignacy Działyński was an organizer and participant of the Kościuszko Insurrection
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