Polish-Russian War of 1792

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(Redirected from War in Defence of the Constitution)

For other Russo-Polish conflicts see Russo-Polish War

Polish-Russian Wars
Kiev Expedition – Muscovite-Lithuanian – Livonian – 1605–18 – Smolensk – 1654–67 – Bar Confederation – 1792 – Kościuszko Uprising – November Uprising – January Uprising – Polish-Soviet – 1939

Polish-Russian War of 1792
Mir • Zelwa • Zieleńce • Dubienka • Markuszów

Image:1792.jpg

War in Defense of the Constitution or Polish-Russian War of 1792 took place in 1792 between Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth on one side, and the Targowica Confederation and the Russian Empire on the other.

On May 18, 1792, an army of over 20,000 confederates crossed the border into Poland, together with 97,000 veteran Russian troops. The Polish King Stanisław August Poniatowski and the reformers could field only a 37,000-man army, many of them untested recruits.

The forces of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, loyal to the King and the Great Sejm (Sejm Wielki), defended Poland's May 3rd Constitution of 1791 against the Targowica Confederation of native opponents of the Constitution and the invading Russian armies allied with that Confederation.

Image:PolishRuswar1792.PNG

Poland's ally, the Kingdom of Prussia, broke its alliance with Poland and the Prussian commander of the army of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania betrayed the Polish-Lithuanian cause. The Polish army, led by the King's nephew Prince Józef Poniatowski fought a much larger enemy force the best it could and won a victory at Zieleńce on June 18. Then it retreated to the Bug River, where Tadeusz Kościuszko fought the Battle of Dubienka to a draw. The Russian army, however, was granted free passage through Austrian territory.

Ultimately the Polish loyalist forces were betrayed by their own king, when Stanisław August Poniatowski joined with the Targowica Confederates. This precipitated the Second Partition of Poland (January 21, 1793) which after the Grodno Sejm reduced Poland's population to only one-third of what it was before the partitions began in 1772. The rump state was garrisoned by foreign troops and its independence was strongly curtailed. The last bid to save Poland's independence was the Kościuszko Uprising in 1794, which failed and resulted in the Third Partition in 1795, as a a result of which Poland lost all its remaining territories and ceased to exist as a state.