Królestwo Polskie 1815–1874. Powstanie i upadek państwa

• Authors: Mażewski Lech

Title variants

EN

The Kingdom of Poland 1815–1874: The Rise and Fall of the State

• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

It was only in 1815–1830 that the Kingdom of Poland had a limited international personality, but it is hard not to treat it as a state. The situation of the Polish state in the years 1815–1874, in the sense of its rise and fall, is not rare in the history of states. The Kingdom of Poland was created out of the Duchy of Warsaw in May 1815 upon the decision of tsar Alexander I and recognized international law status of statehood under the Final Act of the Vienna Congress. Fifteen years later a Polish-Russian war was initiated to acquire the full sovereignty of the Kingdom and to incorporate the Lithuanian-Russian provinces. In 1863, an insurrection broke out inspired by similar goals. After the fall of the January Uprising, tsar Alexander II, wishing to avoid such problems in the future, decided to abolish a separate Polish statehood. The decision was implemented within a few years. With the appearance at the Royal Castle of the Warsaw Governor-General, the history of the Kingdom of Poland finally came to an end, although it really happened a little earlier when, on 12 March 1868, the status of viceroy (namiestnik) of the Kingdom of Poland was equated with that of the Russian governor general. In the legal sense, the fall of the state came to effect with the disappearance of a separate supreme authority in the Kingdom (even if it was exercised by non-Polish actors), the last element of which was the institution of the viceroy. Actually, it was decided by the insurgent attempt of 1863 and the accompanying diplomatic intervention of the Western states, which almost caused the outbreak of pan-European war.

Keywords

EN

Kingdom of Poland; rise of the state; fall of the state; tsar Alexander I; tsar Alexander II

• Publisher: Kancelaria Sejmu / Chancellery of the Sejm
• Journal: Przegląd Sejmowy
• Year: 2017
• Issue: 2(139)
• Pages: 51–73

Contributors

author

Mażewski Lech

• Dr hab., prof. Wyższej Szkoły Administracji i Biznesu im. E. Kwiatkowskiego w Gdyni