The disappearance of Poland as a state

The draft constitution of 1791 was called upon to implement the following transformations on the territory of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth:

• establishment of centralized power;
• curbing gentry anarchy;
• elimination of the harmful principle of “liberum veto”;
• mitigation of social inequality among serfs.

However, the Polish magnates could not come to terms with the abolition of liberties according to constitutional norms. The only way out of this situation for them was intervention from Russia. The formation of a confederation under the leadership of Marshal Potocki and the search for help in St. Petersburg served as the reason for Empress Catherine II to send troops into Polish territory. The second division of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth took place between Russia and Prussia (whose troops were located on Polish territory).

The main prerequisites for the disappearance of Poland as an independent state from the map of Europe:

• repeal of the reforms of the Four-Year Sejm, including the constitution of 1791;
• turning the rest of Poland into a puppet state;
• the defeat of the massive popular uprising of 1794 led by Tadeusz Kościuszko;
• third partition of Poland in 1795 with Austrian participation.

The year 1807 was marked by the creation by Napoleon of the Duchy of Warsaw, which included the Prussian and Austrian lands of Poland. In 1809, the Poles Krakow, Lublin, Radom and Sandomierz, who fought on the side of Napoleon, joined it. The presence of Poland as part of Russia until 1917 brought both great disappointments and new opportunities to the Polish people.

The period of “Alexandrovsky freedoms”

After the defeat in the war with Russia, the territory of the Duchy of Warsaw, created by Napoleon, turned into Russian property. In 1815, the reign of Alexander I began, who inherited a poor country, devastated by military actions, without a single branch of industry, with neglected trade, with devastated cities and villages, where the people suffered from unbearable taxes and levies. Having taken this country under his wing, Alexander made it prosperous.

1. All industries have resumed.
2. Cities were rebuilt, new villages appeared.
3. The drainage of the swamps contributed to the emergence of fertile lands.
4. The construction of new roads made it possible to cross the country in different directions.
5. The emergence of new factories allowed for the import of Polish cloth and other goods into Russia.
6. Polish debt was secured and credit was restored.
7. The establishment of a national Polish bank with capital received from the Russian sovereign helped ensure the rise of all industries.
8. An excellent army was created with a sufficient arsenal of weapons
9. Education was gaining quite a rapid pace of development, evidence of which was: the establishment of the University of Warsaw, the opening of departments of higher sciences, the sending of the best Polish students to study in Paris, London, Berlin at the expense of the Russian government, the opening of gymnasiums, military schools, boarding houses for raising girls in regional Polish cities.
10. The introduction of laws in Poland ensured order, inviolability of property and personal safety.
11. The population doubled during the first ten years of being part of Russia.
12. The adoption of the Founding Charter provided the Poles with a special way of government. In Poland, the Senate and Sejm were created, which were the chambers of the representative assembly. The adoption of each new law was carried out after approval by a majority of votes in both chambers.
13. Municipal government was introduced in Polish cities.
14. Printing received a certain freedom.

The time of the “Nikolaev reaction”

The main essence of the policy of Nicholas I in the Kingdom of Poland was increased Russification and forced conversion to Orthodoxy. The Polish people did not accept these directions, responding with mass protests, creating secret societies to organize uprisings against the government.

The emperor's response was the following: the abolition of the constitution that Alexander had granted to Poland, the abolition of the Polish Sejm and the approval of his proxies to leadership positions.

Polish revolts

The Polish people dreamed of an independent state. The main organizer of the protests was the students, who were later joined by soldiers, workers, and some nobles and landowners. The main demands of the protesters were: agrarian reforms, the democratization of society and the independence of Poland.

Uprisings broke out in different cities (Warsaw - 1830, Poznan - 1846).

The Russian government makes certain decisions, primarily on introducing restrictions on the use of the Polish language and on the movement of male representatives.

To eliminate unrest in the country, martial law was introduced in 1861. A recruitment drive is announced, where unreliable youth are sent.

However, the ascension to the Russian throne of a new ruler, Nicholas II, revived in the souls of the Polish people a certain hope for liberalism in Russia’s policy towards the Kingdom of Poland.

In 1897, the National Democratic Party of Poland was created - the main fighter for the country's independence. Over time, it will take a place in the Russian State Duma as the Polish Kolo faction, thereby establishing itself as the leading political force in the struggle for a free, autonomous Poland.

Benefits of Belonging to an Empire

Being part of the Russian Empire, Poland had certain advantages:

• Opportunity for advancement in public service.
• Supervision of banking spheres by Polish aristocrats.
• Receiving larger amounts of subsidies from the state.
• Increasing literacy rates among the Polish population thanks to government financial support.
• Receiving dividends from participation in rail transportation between Russia and Germany.
• The growth of banks in large cities of the Kingdom of Poland.

A significant year for Russia, 1917 marked the end of the history of “Russian Poland”. He gave the Poles the opportunity to establish their own statehood and the country to gain freedom. However, the expectations of the Russian emperor about the reality of the union with Russia did not materialize.

Like Finland, the Kingdom of Poland was part of the Russian Empire virtually until the end of its existence as an autonomous entity with its own constitution. In 1915, after the occupation of Polish territory by Austro-Hungarian troops, the unrecognized Kingdom of Poland was formed, and after the end of the First World War, the independence of Poland was guaranteed

Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

Under the Union of Lublin in 1569, Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania united into one state, called the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (literal translation into Polish of the Latin respublica). This was an atypical state formation: the king was elected by the Sejm and gradually lost the levers of governing the country. The gentry, that is, the nobility, had significant power. However, the work of the Sejm was also paralyzed, since any decision could only be made unanimously. During the XVII-XVIII centuries. The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth gradually turned into an object of European politics, and its territory was claimed by significantly stronger neighbors: Sweden and the Muscovite kingdom. Despite the awareness of Polish society of numerous problems and bleak prospects, no decisive steps were taken to correct the situation. The king became a figurehead, and the gentry did not want to give up their privileges even in the face of the threat of the state losing its independence.

By the end of the 18th century, Prussia, Austria and Russia were most interested in Polish territories. However, Empress Catherine II sought to maintain an independent Poland, since this allowed her to individually control this state through her proteges. The Austrians and Prussians did not agree with this position. They put pressure on the Russian government, and Catherine, realizing that a new war could break out over Polish lands, agreed to the division.

In 1772, a treaty was imposed on the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, according to which it lost a third of its territory. Russia received the eastern regions of Belarus and the Polish part of Livonia. In 1793 the second partition took place. Russia became the owner of the central regions of Belarus and Right Bank Ukraine. Only a quarter of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth retained independence. After the unsuccessful in 1795, Prussia, Austria and Russia divided the remains of the country among themselves.

During the partitions, the process of returning lands lost was completed. Russia did not lay claim to the historical Polish territory, which allowed Catherine to renounce the title of Queen of Poland.

Formation of the Kingdom of Poland

One of the reasons for the creation of the autonomous Kingdom of Poland within the Russian Empire was the need to achieve the loyalty of the local population and thereby secure the western borders. Another reason stemmed from the declarations of the Congress of Vienna, which took place after the defeat of Napoleonic France. The three states that participated in the partitions guaranteed autonomy for the Polish lands, but this was implemented only by the Russian side.

The liberal-minded Russian Emperor Alexander I played an important role in the process of creating autonomy. He sincerely believed that this would allow organizing cooperation and mutually beneficial existence between the two Slavic peoples.

Legal aspects

Incorporation into the Kingdom of Poland took place in accordance with the provisions of the Vienna Treaties, ratified on May 3, 1815. It followed from them that Polish lands were assigned to Russia forever.

During the Napoleonic wars, there was a redistribution of the lands divided between the three states. Thus, in addition to the previous territories, it was annexed to Russia. Such a significant territorial increase, of course, corresponded to Alexander’s desire to create a bridgehead for Russia in Europe, but at the same time it brought new problems. They were supposed to be resolved by granting a constitution to the Kingdom of Poland under Alexander I. The emperor’s plan aroused sharp opposition from England and Austria. In particular, representatives of these states, referring to the gentry anarchy in the last years of the existence of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, argued that the Poles had not reached the necessary level of development to receive a constitution. They proposed limiting themselves only to the introduction of local self-government, but Alexander decisively rejected such a proposal.

Preparation of the Polish constitution

After the final annexation of the Kingdom of Poland to Russia, a special body involved in the development of a constitution was not created. The first draft of the document was prepared by the emperor's closest advisers, including Prince Adam Czartoryski, a Pole by birth. But Alexander was not satisfied with the document. Firstly, it was excessively large, and secondly, it was imbued with an oligarchic spirit. Czartoryski agreed with the emperor's comments and began developing a new project.

Many prominent Polish public figures were involved in the work. Through their efforts, a new constitutional draft was drawn up, consisting of 162 articles. The Emperor personally reviewed it and made amendments regarding the expansion of his powers. Only after this the text of the constitution in French was signed. On June 20, 1815, it was promulgated and came into force the following year. Thus, it took a little more than two weeks to develop a constitution for the Kingdom of Poland, which became part of the Russian Empire.

The document consisted of seven sections devoted to the main problems of the state structure of the newly formed autonomy. Briefly they can be summarized as follows:

• the basic principles of the government structure of the Kingdom of Poland within the Russian Empire;
• assigned rights and obligations of Poles;
• organization and functioning of the executive branch of government;
• principles of formation of legislative bodies;
• administration of justice and organization of Polish judicial institutions;
• formation of local armed forces.

This organization of articles, their proportion of the overall body of the text of the constitution (the articles relating to the executive branch are most developed in detail) is fully consistent with the Constitutional Charter adopted a year earlier in France.

Legislature

According to the constitution of the Kingdom of Poland in 1815, the highest legislative body became a bicameral Sejm, which also included the Polish Tsar (that is, the Russian Emperor). The Seimas met once every two years, and if an extraordinary session was necessary, the king issued a special decree. Members of the Senate, the upper house, were appointed by the king for life from among princes, bishops, governors and castellans. In order to become a senator, it was necessary to overcome age and property qualifications.

The lower house was formed from representatives of the provinces of the Kingdom of Poland, and therefore it was called the House of Ambassadors. 77 people belonged to the nobility, and a total of 128 deputies sat in the chamber. The size of the Senate should not exceed half of this number. Elections to the House of Ambassadors were a two-stage process, and voters were subject to a moderate property qualification.

Equality was established between the two chambers: the king could send a bill to either of them. An exception was made only for laws related to the financial sector. They were necessarily sent first to the Chamber of Ambassadors. The Sejm did not have any legislative initiative. Voting on the bill was open; no changes to the text were allowed; this was the prerogative of the State Council. The king had the right of absolute veto.

Executive branch

The head of this branch was the king. His powers were extremely broad. Thus, only the monarch had the right to declare war and make peace, as well as control the armed forces. Only he could appoint senators, bishops and judges. The monarch was also in charge of the budget. In addition, the tsar had the right to pardon and dissolve the House of Ambassadors with the appointment of new elections.

Thus, the king was the central figure in the administration of the Kingdom of Poland. At the same time, he was still an unlimited monarch, since he was obliged to take an oath of allegiance to the constitution. Since he could not stay in Poland all the time, the position of governor was introduced, who was appointed by the tsar. His powers coincided with those of the king, with the exception of the right to appoint senior officials.

Under the king or governor, an advisory body was established - the State Council. He could draft bills, approve ministerial reports, and also declare violations of the constitution.

To resolve current issues, a government was created, consisting of five ministries. Their areas of competence were as follows:

• religion and education system;
• justice;
• distribution of finances;
• organization of law enforcement agencies;
• military affairs.

Background to the Polish uprising of 1830

Under Alexander I, the Kingdom of Poland within the Russian Empire was one of the most dynamically developing regions. Economic growth was observed in all areas of the national economy, thanks to which the budget deficit was overcome. The increase in living standards is also evidenced by population growth: in total, by 1825, 4.5 million people lived on the territory of the autonomy.

However, moments of crisis also accumulated. First of all, the Polish national elite counted on the inclusion in the Kingdom of Poland of the lands acquired by Russia during the three partitions. The position of Emperor Alexander allowed us to count on this, but, faced with serious opposition, the emperor abandoned this idea.

Another source of discontent among the Poles was the figure of the governor - the emperor's brother, Constantine. Although he tried in every possible way to please his wards, his openly despotic management methods met with dull resistance. Suicides became more frequent among officers, and the intelligentsia united in underground circles, which were banned after the Decembrist speech.

The accession of Nicholas I, unlike his older brother, who did not sympathize with liberal trends and was hostile to the constitution, did not cause joy either. Despite his personal attitude, he nevertheless took the oath and intended to maintain the methods of governance that had developed since the inclusion of the Kingdom of Poland in the Russian Empire. But the Poles decided to seek independence. In 1828, the “Military Union” took shape, within which plans for an armed uprising were developed.

The uprising and its consequences

The July 1830 revolution in France spurred the Poles to action. Having put forward the slogan of restoring the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth within the borders before the first partition, the Polish army opposed the Russian units. The governor was overthrown and barely escaped execution. It is significant that Konstantin Pavlovich was informed about unrest in the army units, but he was in no hurry to take drastic measures, fearing the Polish nationalists less than the emperor. Nicholas himself, by decision of the rebels, was deposed as the Polish Tsar.

Despite fierce resistance, the Polish army was completely defeated on May 26, 1831. Soon only Warsaw remained under the control of the rebels, holding out until September 7. By decisive actions, Emperor Nicholas managed to keep the Kingdom of Poland within the Russian Empire. But the consequences of the uprising for the Poles were tragic. Nicholas was given the opportunity to abolish the constitution and bring the system of government in line with the general imperial one. The Sejm and the State Council were abolished, and the ministries were replaced by departmental commissions. The army of the Kingdom of Poland was disbanded, and the ability of the local government to manage finances was significantly curtailed.

After the uprising

The privileges of the Kingdom of Poland under Nicholas I were rapidly declining. The constitution was replaced by the Organic Statute of 1832, which laid down the idea of ​​a gradual merger of Poland with the Russian Empire. Leadership positions were replaced by Russian officials, and a number of Polish departments (for example, railways or the Warsaw educational district) came under direct subordination to the central government authorities.

The established authoritarian regime caused mass emigration of the Polish intelligentsia. From abroad they tried, by distributing proclamations and appeals, to rouse the Polish people, especially the peasantry, to revolt. However, the contradictions between the gentry and the peasantry that had persisted since the time of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth were so strong that none of these attempts was crowned with success. In addition, the Nikolaev administration put forward conservatism and clericalism as a counterbalance to nationalism. The influence of the Catholic Church nullified all attempts by emigration to convince the people of the need to fight for independence.

In 1863, the Poles nevertheless launched a new uprising, which the Russian army again managed to suppress. Another attempt to free ourselves from Russian rule showed that the integration course of Nicholas I was not crowned with success. Mutual distrust and hostility established between the two peoples. Forced Russification did not ease the situation: in educational institutions they taught the history of Russia, and the education itself was conducted in Russian.

It should be noted that in educated circles of almost all Western states the divisions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth were considered a historical injustice. This was especially evident when the Poles found themselves divided between two opposing camps during the First World War and were forced to fight each other. Many Russian public figures were also aware of this, but expressing such thoughts out loud was dangerous. However, the persistent desire of the Poles for independence did its job. At the final stage of the First World War, the American president, in his 14 points on a peace settlement, separately addressed the Polish question. In his opinion, the restoration of Poland within its historical borders was a matter of principle. However, the vagueness of the term “historical borders” caused a heated debate: should we consider those that had formed by 1772 or the borders of the medieval Kingdom of Poland as such? Dissatisfaction with the decisions of the conferences in Versailles and Washington led to a war between the RSFSR and Poland, which ended in victory for the latter. But the international contradictions did not end there. A number of Polish regions were claimed by Czechoslovakia and Germany. This, as well as other controversial decisions of the peace conferences after the First World War, led to a new great war in Europe, the first victim of which was independent Poland.

Poland within the Russian Empire formed the Kingdom (Kingdom) of Poland, which initially had autonomy and then existed in the status of a general government. Having become part of the Russian Empire in 1815, the Polish lands actually remained there until 1915, until they were completely occupied by the armies of the Central Powers, and formally until the collapse of the empire in 1917.

Kingdom of Poland in 1815-1830

In May 1815, during the Congress of Vienna, Russian Emperor Alexander I approved the “Fundamentals of the Constitution” of the Kingdom of Poland, in the development of which the monarch’s ally Adam Jerzy Czartoryski took an active part. According to the constitution, the Kingdom of Poland was bound by a personal union with the Russian Empire. Approving the constitution, Alexander I made some amendments to the original text: he refused to give the Sejm legislative initiative, reserved the right to change the budget proposed by the Sejm and postpone the convening of the Sejm indefinitely.

Having retained earlier acquisitions at the expense of the lands of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Russia grew with most of the territory of the Duchy of Warsaw, which formed the “Ardom of Poland.” In administrative-territorial terms, the Kingdom was divided into eight voivodeships: Augustow, Kalisz, Krakow, Lublin, Mazovia, Plock, Radom and Sandomierz. Executive power belonged to the Russian emperor, who was also the Polish king, while legislative power was distributed between the king and the Sejm (in fact, the last word remained with the monarch). The State Council became the highest government body, and the administration of the Kingdom was carried out by a governor appointed by the king. Administrative and judicial records were supposed to be carried out in the Polish language, their own Polish army was formed, and residents were guaranteed personal integrity, freedom of speech and the press. A significant part of the Polish public reacted positively to the provided constitution: Poles received more rights than subjects of the Russian Empire; The Polish constitution of 1815 was one of the most liberal constitutions of that time.

The middle-aged General Józef Zajonczek, a former Polish Jacobin and participant in the 1794 Uprising, became the royal governor. The brother of Alexander I, Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich, was appointed commander-in-chief of the Polish army, and N. N. Novosiltsev was appointed commissioner in the Administrative Council of the Kingdom of Poland. They took control of the situation in the Kingdom of Poland: it was Konstantin, and not Zajoncek, who was the real governor of the emperor, and the functions of the imperial commissar were not provided for by the constitution at all. At first, this did not cause serious protests from the Poles, since Polish society sympathized with Alexander I.

In March 1818, the first Sejm of the Kingdom of Poland met. It was opened by Alexander I himself. Speaking to those present, the emperor hinted that the territory of the Kingdom could be expanded at the expense of Lithuanian and Belarusian lands. In general, the Sejm showed itself to be loyal, while in society, meanwhile, there was a growth in opposition sentiments: secret anti-government organizations arose, periodicals published articles with relevant content. In 1819, preliminary censorship was introduced on all printed publications. At the second Sejm, convened in 1820, the liberal opposition, led by the brothers Vincent and Bonaventura Nemojowski, clearly manifested itself. Since they were deputies from the Kalisz Voivodeship, the opposition liberals in the Sejm began to be called the “Kalisz Party” (“Kaliszans”). They insisted on respect for constitutional guarantees, protesting in particular against prior censorship. Under the influence of the Kaliszans, the Sejm rejected most of the draft government regulations. Alexander I ordered not to convene the Sejm - its meetings resumed only in 1825. During its preparation, an “additional article” appeared on the abolition of the publicity of Sejm meetings. Opposition leaders were not allowed to attend the meetings.

The suppression and persecution of open, albeit moderate, opposition in the Sejm led to an increase in the influence of the illegal opposition: new secret revolutionary organizations were created, especially among students and military personnel, including officers. These organizations were not numerous and influential and, moreover, did not interact with each other. Most of them were destroyed during the arrests of 1822-1823. The most famous student organization was the Society of Philomaths in Vilna, of which Adam Mickiewicz was a member. One of the secret organizations in the army, National Freemasonry, was headed by Major Walerian Lukasinski. In 1822 he was arrested and sentenced to nine years in prison. Both Lukasiński and the persecuted Philomaths acquired the aura of Polish national heroes and martyrs.

One of the main issues that worried Polish social and political circles concerned the expansion of the territory of the Kingdom of Poland to the east: both the Sejm and the illegal opposition sought to restore the former Polish borders at the expense of Lithuanian, Belarusian and Ukrainian lands. No progress in this direction was observed on the part of the Russian authorities, and this aggravated disappointment even in the conservative environment. A. Czartoryski, at that time the leader of one of the influential Polish conservative groups, resigned from his post as curator of the Vilna educational district as a sign of protest. Another reason for the dissatisfaction of conservatives was the decisions of the Sejm court in the case of leaders of the anti-government “Patriotic Society”. In 1828, Polish judges did not find the defendants guilty of treason and sentenced them to short-term imprisonment, but Nicholas I, considering this a challenge to himself, ordered the main defendant in the case, Severin Krzyzanowski, to be exiled to Siberia. The confrontation between the Poles and the imperial power reached its limit. The latter clearly sought to avoid conflict: in 1829, Nicholas I was crowned King of Poland in Warsaw.

The education system began to develop already in the first years of the Kingdom of Poland, including in rural areas, but it was soon affected by restrictions: secondary schools and the University of Warsaw, established in 1816, came under strict political control. Much has changed for the better in the economic sphere, especially after K. Drutsky-Lubecki, a staunch supporter of the union of Poland with Russia, became head of the Ministry of Finance in 1821. The Kingdom of Poland attracted artisans with favorable settlement conditions and tax exemptions. Under Drutski-Lubecki, the budget of the Kingdom of Poland was balanced, Lodz became a major textile center. For the Kingdom of Poland, Russia was a necessary, huge market.

"November" uprising

The beginning of the uprising, known in Polish historiography as the "November" uprising, was accelerated by the news that Nicholas I was going to send Polish troops to suppress the French Revolution. On November 29, armed rebels led by leaders of the Patriotic Society L. Nabeliak and S. Goszczynski attacked Belvedere, the residence of the viceroy of Grand Duke Constantine. At the same time, a group of members of a secret society in the school of custodians under the leadership of P. Vysotsky tried to seize the nearby Russian army barracks. The plan of action of the conspirators was poorly thought out, their forces were few, and their prospects were unclear. The attack on the Belvedere was not successful: Constantine managed to escape, and the Polish generals refused to support and lead the rebels. Despite this, the rebels, having enlisted the support of many Warsaw residents, captured the city by November 30. On December 4, a provisional government of the Kingdom of Poland was created, and the next day the popular general J. Chlopicki received dictatorial power in the Kingdom. He did not believe in the success of the uprising and hoped that Nicholas I would have mercy on the Poles. Drutsky-Lyubetsky went to negotiate with the emperor. Nicholas I refused any concessions to the Poles, demanding the rebels surrender. On January 17, Khlopicki resigned as dictator and was replaced by a conservative government led by A. Czartoryski. On January 25, the Sejm deposed Nicholas I from the Polish throne. Soon hostilities began. At the beginning of February 1831, Russian troops moved to suppress the uprising. At the end of the same month, the rebels managed to stop the enemy near Grochow and thereby thwarted his plan to capture Warsaw, although they themselves were forced to retreat. The rebels achieved some successes in Lithuania and Volyn. From the end of May the situation began to change: the rebels suffered one defeat after another and, after the battle of Ostroleka, retreated to Warsaw. The city was ready for defense, but conciliatory tendencies began to emerge in the rebel camp. The head of the rebel government, J. Krukovetsky, contrary to the wishes of the Sejm, was ready to enter into negotiations with the commander of the Russian troops, F. I. Paskevich, and for this he was removed from his post. On September 8, 1831, Paskevich's forces took Warsaw. As “punishment,” the Kingdom of Poland was deprived of its autonomy, and the Constitution of 1815 was abolished. Instead, in 1832 the Kingdom was granted the Organic Statute, which abolished the Sejm and sharply limited its independence. A state of emergency was introduced in the Kingdom, the Polish army was abolished, and now the Poles served in the Russian army. Thousands of representatives of the gentry from the eastern lands of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth were resettled to other provinces of the Russian Empire, landowners' estates were confiscated, and Polish scientific, cultural and educational organizations were liquidated. In administrative-territorial terms, voivodeships were replaced by provinces. Several thousand representatives of the Polish intellectual and political elite ended up in exile, primarily in France. Politically heterogeneous, the emigration, which later became known as the “Great”, was united by the idea of ​​​​the struggle for the liberation of Poland and hatched plans for a new uprising. The leader of one of the most influential emigrant centers was A. Czartoryski, a former comrade-in-arms of Alexander I.

Between two uprisings

Back in the 1820s, against the backdrop of agrarian reforms in Prussia, discussions on the agrarian issue revived in the Kingdom of Poland. Determined to improve farming methods, Polish landowners needed money. One of the sources of funds could be the transfer of peasants from corvee to chinsh, that is, to cash rent. After the uprising of 1830-1831, the process of cleansing began. At first it covered state estates and donations (lands granted to high-ranking officials), where it continued for about 20 years. In private farms, the process of regeneration was more difficult: the cash ransom was so high that many not very rich peasants, paying it, turned into “zagrodniks,” landless peasants. In 1846, only about 36% of peasant farms on private estates switched to chinsh. The situation of the peasants was difficult: landowners resorted to driving peasants off the land and raising taxes. This caused protests among the peasants: some complained to the authorities, others took radical measures, setting fire to the landowners' estates. This brought certain results: in 1833 the authorities banned forced hiring, and in 1840 they banned the imposition of corvee duties on landless peasants. In 1846, Emperor Nicholas I imposed a ban on the removal of peasants whose farms exceeded three morgues (1 morgue = 0.56 hectares).

Gradually, the market of the Kingdom of Poland developed, and the idea of ​​agrarian reform matured in society. Most of the supporters of the reform spoke out for the eradication, some advocated the liberation of the peasants. In 1858, adherents of the reforms united into the Agricultural Society, headed by A. Zamoyski. In 1861, the society adopted its version of the plan for the liberation of the peasants and sent it to the authorities. At the same time, serfdom was abolished in Russia. This change did not apply to the Kingdom of Poland, but it sharpened discussions on the agrarian issue. In April 1861, the Agricultural Society was dissolved. Having seized the initiative of the Polish public, the Russian government issued two decrees: in October 1861, on the abolition of corvée subject to the payment of a high ransom, and in June 1862, on the introduction of compulsory rites.

In general, the reforms of Alexander II gave impetus to the revival of the Polish liberation movement. Measures such as the abolition of martial law, amnesty for prisoners and exiles, and permission to create an Agricultural Society were considered insufficient by the Poles. In 1860-1861, a series of public protests swept across the country, which were stopped only by the resumption of martial law. At the same time, a split occurred in Polish society: the moderate wing, led by the leader of the Agricultural Society A. Zamoyski, hoped to peacefully achieve the restoration of the autonomy of the Kingdom of Poland. After negotiations with government officials, moderate circles managed to achieve the lifting of martial law. The radicals, in turn, did not rule out the possibility of an uprising. Since 1862, the civil administration of the Kingdom of Poland was headed by Marquis A. Wielopolski, formerly the Minister of Education and then the Minister of Internal Affairs. Through his efforts, the Polish language was returned to schools and government institutions, a Main School (future university) appeared in Warsaw, and taxes were unified. Wielopolski spoke out for the union of Poland with Russia, but believed that the autonomy of the Kingdom should be expanded. Wielopolski's position was condemned by both moderates ("whites") and radicals ("reds"). Among the latter there were many Republicans. At the end of 1861 - beginning of 1862, the “reds” formed a political organization led by the Central National Committee (CNC). Under his leadership, preparations for a new uprising began.

"January" uprising

The second Polish uprising, also known as the “January” Uprising, began after recruitment was carried out using pre-compiled lists of “politically unreliable” individuals. On January 22, 1863, the CNC proclaimed itself the Provisional National Government and issued a manifesto declaring the independence of Poland and the equal rights of all citizens. On the night of January 23, the self-proclaimed government published a decree that eliminated the duties of peasant land users without ransom and ordered the allocation of land (up to 1.6 hectares) to landless peasants. The nobility were guaranteed compensation.

In February 1863, the uprising was supported by the “white” camp, which previously had a negative attitude towards this scenario. Political emigration tried to gain support for the uprising from Great Britain and France, but they limited themselves to diplomatic notes with the wish that Russia would grant autonomy to the Kingdom of Poland. Alexander II, who considered the Polish events an internal affair of Russia, rejected the claims of the Western powers.

The uprising took place mostly within the Kingdom of Poland, but also covered part of the Ukrainian, Belarusian and Lithuanian lands. The disappointing situation of the rebels was aggravated by internal contradictions in their leadership: in October 1863, the National Government transferred full power to the former Russian officer R. Traugutt, making him the dictator of the uprising. In this capacity, Traugutt was able to achieve significant success: he introduced a unified organization of the rebel armed forces, insisted on the implementation of the decree on allocating land to peasants. The latter, however, did not help to attract the peasants to the uprising: the peasantry mainly took a wait-and-see position, and the basis of the rebel forces, as in 1830-1831, was the gentry. The fact that in March 1864 the Russian authorities abolished serfdom in the Kingdom of Poland also played a role. In April 1864, Traugutt was arrested, and by the fall of that year the last rebel detachments were defeated. Hundreds of participants in the uprising were executed, thousands were exiled to Siberia or to Russian provinces. Despite the defeat, the uprising of 1863-1864 had a decisive influence on national consolidation and the growth of self-awareness of the Poles.

Kingdom of Poland in 1863-1915

In the period from 1863 to 1915, martial law remained de facto in the Kingdom of Poland. The administrative autonomy of the Kingdom was gradually reduced to a minimum: the State and Administrative Councils, departmental commissions, and a separate budget were abolished. All local authorities became subordinate to the relevant departments in St. Petersburg. After the death of Count F. Berg in 1874, the post of governor was abolished. In official documentation, the term “Kingdom of Poland” was replaced by “Vistula region”. The Russian authorities set a course for the gradual merging of the Polish lands of the empire with the metropolis. Particularly harsh Russification was carried out in Russian Poland during the reign of Alexander III, when I. V. Gurko was the governor-general of the Kingdom of Poland. The University of Warsaw and then the secondary and primary schools were Russified, and Polish was taught as an optional subject. The Catholic Church was subordinate to the Catholic College in St. Petersburg, and the Greek Catholic, Uniate, Church actually ceased to exist.

At the same time, large-scale industry developed in the Kingdom of Poland: in 1864-1879, its growth rate was 2.5 times higher than Russian industry. The main industrial sector of Russian Poland was textiles. The main textile centers were Bialystok, Warsaw and, above all, Lodz. An important industry was metallurgy, concentrated mainly in the Dombrovsky basin. The level of urbanization increased: from 1870 to 1910, the population of Warsaw tripled, and Łódź eightfold.

After the defeat of the uprising of 1863-1864, Polish social and political life subsided for a long time. Revival in this area occurred only in the early 1890s, when socialist parties were created in all three parts of Poland. In Russian Poland these were the Polish Socialist Party (PPS) and the Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania (SDKPiL). In 1897, the National Democratic Party appeared in the Kingdom of Poland; its founders were members of the League of Peoples organization (National League), formed in exile. National democrats (endeks), unlike socialists, believed that the independence of Poland should come as a result of a revolution of a national rather than a social nature.

On the eve of the revolutionary events of 1905-1907 in Russia, the degree of protest sentiment in the Kingdom of Poland increased. The consequences of the global economic crisis of 1901-1903 were felt: in conditions of unemployment and lower wages, workers went on strike at enterprises. In the fall of 1904, the Poles actively protested against mobilization into the army. In January 1905, a general strike engulfed the industry and infrastructure of Russian Poland. Students from secondary and higher educational institutions joined the workers' protests, demanding education in Polish. The situation in Lodz was especially tense: in June 1905, demonstrators fought barricade battles against police and troops for several days. The situation reached its peak in October-November of the same year, but then began to decline, and in 1906-1907 political slogans were again replaced by economic ones. The revolution revealed political differences in society: in the fall of 1906, a split occurred in the teaching staff. The left wing of the party achieved the expulsion from the party of J. Pilsudski and his like-minded people, who decided to focus on terrorist methods of activity. The leftist PPS began to gradually move closer to the SDKPiL and declare the priority of the struggle for socialism, while the revolutionary faction of the PPS prioritized the independence of Poland. Piłsudski focused his efforts on training military personnel for the future struggle for the restoration of Polish statehood. The Endeks, led by R. Dmowski, meanwhile, actively participated in the elections to the State Duma and headed the national faction in it - the “Polish Kolo”. They sought to obtain concessions from the authorities on the Polish issue, first of all, granting autonomy to the Kingdom of Poland.

At the beginning of the First World War, Nicholas II promised, after victory, to unite the Kingdom of Poland with the Polish territories taken from Germany and Austria-Hungary, and to grant Poland autonomy within the Russian Empire. This position was supported by the Endeks, led by Dmovsky; The PPS, on the contrary, advocated for the defeat of Russia: J. Pilsudski led one of the Polish legions as part of the army of Austria-Hungary. In the summer of 1915, the entire territory of the Kingdom of Poland came under occupation by the armies of the Central Powers. On November 5, 1916, the puppet Kingdom of Poland was proclaimed on these lands. After the February Revolution of 1917, the new Russian authorities announced that they would promote the creation of a Polish state in all predominantly Polish lands.

It was annexed to Russia forever, with the exception of the Poznan region, Galicia and the city of Krakow. According to the exact meaning of the act of the Congress of Vienna, Poland was part of the indivisible structure of the Russian Empire, and the Russian sovereign was given the unlimited right to establish in the Polish regions such an order of things as he recognized as the most useful and most consistent with the benefits of his state. It was the will of the Russian sovereign Alexander I to subordinate the kingdom of Poland to the general laws of the empire, and no one would dare to contradict him; the only condition imposed on him by the Congress of Vienna, a precise and positive condition, was the inseparable union of the kingdom with the empire; the Poles, betrayed into the power of Russia by the lot of war, did not dare to think about any restrictions on their winner.

The borders of Poland according to the decisions of the Congress of Vienna in 1815: green indicates the Kingdom of Poland within Russia, blue indicates part of Napoleonic Duchy of Warsaw, which went to Prussia, red indicates Krakow (first a free city, then transferred to Austria)

Alexander I, on his own initiative, without any outside influence, in the hope of tying new Polish subjects to the Russian throne with bonds of eternal gratitude, granted them a special form of government, defined Founding Charter December 12, 1815. Let us list its main provisions of this Polish constitution.

Having confirmed by the Charter of 1815 the basic principle adopted by the Congress of Vienna, on the inextricable connection of the kingdom with the empire and concentrating in the person of the Emperor and the Tsar all the rights of sovereign power, Alexander I, through the articles of the Charter, created in Poland and called for participation in legislation a representative assembly of two chambers - the Senate and the Sejm . The Russian Emperor entrusted the management of the affairs of the Polish regions to the government council. Upper House of the Polish Assembly The Senate, composed of bishops, voivodes and castellans appointed by the sovereign for life, formed the upper house; the lower one was represented by the Sejm, which was supposed to be convened, in the name of the tsar, every two years, for one month, from deputies from the nobility and communities. Each new law only gained force when it was approved by a majority of votes in both Polish chambers and was approved by the sovereign; The chambers, in addition, are given the right to consider budgets on income and expenditure. The Government Council of Poland was composed, under the chairmanship of the royal governor, of five ministers appointed by the sovereign; they were the executors of his will, set the whole course of affairs in motion, introduced drafts of new laws for consideration by the chambers and were responsible in case of deviation from the charter. Having become part of Russia, Poland retained its separate army. The revenues of the Kingdom of Poland were provided exclusively for its benefit; The Russian government allowed the Polish nobility to elect marshals to intercede on their affairs before the royal throne. Municipal government was introduced in Polish cities; printing was declared free.

As proof of the purity of his intentions, Alexander I entrusted the management of the affairs of the Kingdom of Poland to such people who could not be suspected of indifference to the benefits of Poland. He appointed as his governor General Zayonchek, an ancient enemy of Russia, who had turned gray in battles for his homeland, a participant in the Kosciuszko uprising, who also served in Napoleon's army, but noble in soul and appreciating the generosity of the sovereign. The ministers were also elected from among the most zealous Poles. The benefits of Russia were protected by only two persons, the brother of Alexander I, Tsarevich Konstantin Pavlovich, and the actual Privy Councilor Novosiltsev: the Tsarevich commanded the Polish army; Novosiltsev had a voice in the government council, with the title of imperial commissar.

Upon the promulgation of the Founding Charter, the Poles who became part of Russia were beside themselves with delight and could not find words to express their boundless gratitude to the Russian sovereign, admitting in their souls that only his unparalleled generosity saved their national charters. They soon proved, however, that a constant sense of gratitude was not their virtue. Less than three years had passed before the same Poles dreamed that Alexander I was obliged to give them an even broader constitution and that, therefore, the power of the Constituent Charter was higher than his power. That is why, already at the first Sejm, which opened on March 5, 1818, daring claims arose: having permission to report to the sovereign about the needs and desires of Poland, which was part of the Russian Empire, the Sejm launched into inappropriate discussions about the rights of the monarch and the people, without any basis accused the tsar’s ministers and demanded various inappropriate laws.

The Russian sovereign expressed his displeasure and, at the opening of the second Sejm (1820), made it known that he firmly intended to protect the charter granted to him, but that the Poles must, for their part, strictly fulfill their duties, without going into useless speculation, and assist the government in well-intentioned his efforts to ensure order, silence and general prosperity. Contrary to these warnings, the Polish Sejm, headed by the Nemoevsky family, clearly entered into a quarrel with the Russian government, without any reason rejected various draft laws proposed by the ministers, including the criminal statute, and repeated the same demands that the first Sejm dared to make. The spirit of Poland's opposition to the Russian authorities was also revealed in the lack of taxes, which created a significant deficit in income.

Portrait of Alexander I. Artist F. Gerard, 1817

The angry sovereign announced that if the Kingdom of Poland is not able to satisfy its own needs, then it is necessary to arrange it differently, and that, previously ready to increase the granted benefits, he sees the need to abolish some articles of the Constituent Charter to ensure public silence. The most important abolition was the prohibition of public debate at the Polish Sejm, where vain orators inflamed the minds of the people with harmful idle talk. Moreover, measures have been taken against the abuse of freedom of printing. At the opening of the third Sejm in 1825, Alexander I said positively that he had not changed his intention to support the charter, but that the fate of the Kingdom of Poland would depend on the Poles themselves, on their devotion to the Russian throne and willingness to assist the government. The terrible meaning of these memorable words brought the Poles to their senses. The Sejm adopted all laws proposed by the ministers. Alexander expressed satisfaction with his activities.

Meanwhile, under the beneficent scepter of Alexander I, within ten years Poland had achieved such a degree of popular well-being that, without undoubted historical facts, it would be difficult to believe what a tutelary government could bring its subjects to. Let us not compare this time with the times of electoral rule, when the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, with its golden freedom, was only a victim of the unbridled autocracy of magnates, religious disputes, irreconcilable hostility of parties, bloody civil strife, the greed of the Jews, unsettled within, weak from the outside. Poland eked out a miserable existence even before joining Russia, under its supposed restorer Napoleon. The Duchy of Warsaw served Napoleon as a military depot, from where he took soldiers to replenish his legions that were dying in Austria, Spain and Russia. During the years of Bonaparte's wars, the Polish people groaned under the weight of taxes, forced extortions, and conscriptions; military executions devastated cities and villages; No one cared about the needs and misfortunes of society, much less about improving cities or establishing means of communication. No industry flourished; there was no trade or credit. Napoleon's invasion of Russia in 1812 completely ruined Poland: the flower of its population perished within the borders of our fatherland.

But after joining Russia under Alexander I, Poland was resurrected. In 1815, the Russian sovereign took under his power a country covered with sands and swamps, occasionally cultivated by the labors of farmers, with barely passable roads, with poor scattered huts, with cities resembling villages, where Jews nested or ragged gentry wandered, while rich magnates squandered millions in Paris and London, without thinking at all about their fatherland. Poor Poland under the Russian scepter turned into a well-organized, strong and prosperous state. The generous patronage of Alexander I revived all sectors of Polish industry: fields drained by canals were covered with luxurious fields; the villages lined up; the cities were decorated; excellent roads crossed Poland in all directions. Factories sprang up; Polish cloth and other products appeared in large quantities in Russia. The favorable tariff for Poland favored the sale of its works within the Russian Empire. Warsaw, hitherto an insignificant place in the commercial world, attracted the attention of Europe. Polish finances, depleted by Napoleon, were brought into a flourishing state by the care and generosity of Alexander I, who renounced all crown estates, turning them into state ones, and provided all the income of the Kingdom of Poland for his exclusive benefit. The Polish debt was secured; the credit was restored. A national Polish bank was established, which, having received huge capital from the generous Russian sovereign, contributed to the rapid development of all industries. Under the care of Tsarevich Konstantin Pavlovich, an excellent army was built; Polish arsenals were filled with such a huge amount of weapons that it later turned out to be sufficient to arm 100,000 people.

Under Russian rule, education spread very quickly in Poland. A university was established in Warsaw; departments of higher sciences were opened, hitherto unprecedented in Poland; experienced mentors were called from abroad. The best Polish students were sent to Berlin, Paris and London at the expense of the Russian government; gymnasiums and traffic schools were opened in Polish regional cities; boarding houses for raising girls and military schools arose. The laws granted to Poland by Alexander I and carefully guarded by him established order, justice, personal security, and inviolability of property. Abundance and contentment reigned everywhere. During the first ten years of Poland's stay within Russia, the population almost doubled, reaching four and a half million. The old saying Polska nierzadem stoi (Poland lives in disorder) has been forgotten.

The successor of Alexander I, Nicholas I, cared just as carefully and just as generously for the welfare of the Kingdom of Poland. Upon his very accession to the throne, having confirmed the Founding Charter, the new Russian sovereign sacredly observed the benefits granted by it, did not demand either treasury or troops from Poland, demanded only silence, strict execution of the laws and zeal for the throne. All she had to do was bless her lot, and pass on the feeling of lively gratitude to the monarchs of Russia to the most distant posterity. The Poles acted differently: they upset their benefactor, Emperor Alexander I, with ingratitude, and then they were already secretly preparing a rebellion against Russia. In 1830 they dared to raise arms against his successor.

The mass of the Polish people, all hardworking and industrial people, farmers, manufacturers, prudent landowners, were satisfied with their lot and did not want to secede from Russia. But there were also many dreamy people, so often encountered in Poland, with unrealistic hopes, cowardly in trouble, arrogant in happiness and ungrateful. These individuals served as the breeding ground for the Polish uprising of 1830-1831.

Based on materials from the book of the outstanding pre-revolutionary scientist N. G. Ustryalov “Russian history before 1855” (with some additions)

The Grand Duchy of Finland enjoyed unprecedented autonomy. Russians went there to work and sought permanent residence. Finnish language and culture flourished.

Accession

In 1807, Napoleon defeated the coalition of Prussia and Russia, or rather, defeated the Russian army led by the German Bennigsen. Peace negotiations began, during which Bonaparte met with Alexander I in Tilsit (now Sovetsk, Kaliningrad region).

Napoleon sought to make Russia an ally, and explicitly promised her both Finland and the Balkans. It was not possible to agree on a close alliance, but one of the main demands on Russia was to facilitate the naval blockade of England. For this, if necessary, a war with Sweden was implied, which provided the British with its ports.

In February 1808, the Russian army, led by the Ostsee resident Busgevden, entered Finland. The hostilities continued for a whole year under the awkward leadership of Russian generals of German origin. Tired of the war, the parties made peace on conditions that seemed obvious from the very beginning (it is not for nothing that in Swedish historiography the war is called Finnish) - Russia acquired Finland.

Grand Duchy of Finland: creation

Finland became part of the Russian Empire with the preservation of all possible rights and freedoms that existed before. Alexander I personally declared this: both at the very beginning of the war, and then at the Diet in Borgo (the Swedish name of the city of Porvoo, where the film “Behind the Matches” was filmed) even before the formal end of the war with Sweden.

Thus, the main Swedish code of laws - the General Code of the Kingdom of Sweden - has been preserved in Finland. The legislative body and supreme judicial body of Finland became the Government Council, independent from the St. Petersburg bureaucracy, and later the Imperial Finnish Senate, which held meetings in Swedish.

The main legislative body was formally the Sejm, but it began to operate actively only from the middle of the 19th century. Governors-general were extremely nominal until the end of the 19th century. Alexander I ruled the principality personally through a special committee, later transformed into a secretariat of state, headed by Finns. The capital was moved in 1812 from Turku (formerly Swedish Abo) to Helsingfors (Helsinki).

Simple Finnish peasant

Even before joining Russia, the peasants in Finland lived, in the words of Prince Vyazemsky, “quite fairly well,” better than the Russians, and even sold grain to Sweden. Thanks to the fact that the Grand Duchy of Finland did not pay anything to the treasury of the Russian Empire, the well-being of the people there, of course, improved significantly. A large stream of peasant walkers from nearby provinces went there: both Russians and Finns. Many sought to go to Finland for permanent residence. Peddlers were not liked in Finland; a village policeman could detain them without cause. There are eyewitness accounts that when the peddlers decided to run away, the policeman shouted: “Kill the damned Russians, nothing will happen to you!” The men also went to Finland to earn money: to factories, mines, deforestation, and were often hired for agricultural work. As Bubnovsky, a researcher of the Russian North, wrote, “The real breadbasket of Karelia and its gold mine is Finland.”

Old Finland and new Finland

This episode in the history of the Grand Duchy of Finland shows how different the structure of the annexed territory and the Russian lands bordering it were. In 1811, Alexander I annexed the so-called Old Finland - the Finnish province - lands conquered from Sweden in previous wars - to the new principality. But legal issues arose. There was no serfdom in Swedish legislation, peasants were tenants with broad rights to land, and imperial order had already reigned in the Finnish province - the lands belonged to Russian landowners.

Because of this, the inclusion of old Finland into the principality was accompanied by conflicts, so acute that the Diet even proposed in 1822 to abandon the idea. However, the laws of the principality were nevertheless introduced on the territory of the province. Peasants did not want to become free tenants in Finland. Riots even broke out in a number of volosts. Only by 1837, those peasants who did not sign the lease agreement were evicted from their former lands.

Fennomania

In 1826, Finnish was taught at the University of Helsingfors. During these same years, Finnish literature flourished. For several reactionary years after the European revolutions of 1848, the Finnish language was de jure banned, but the ban had almost no effect, and in 1860 it was lifted. With the cultural revival of the Finns, the national liberation movement is growing - for the creation of their own state.

Unlimited autonomy

There are a lot of examples that confirm this definition: an autonomous legal system and its own legislative assembly - the Sejm (which met once every five years, and since 1885 - every three years, and received the right of legislative initiative), as well as separate army legislation - they didn’t take recruits there, but the Finns had their own army.

Historians and legal scholars identify a number of other signs of Finnish sovereignty: separate citizenship, which the rest of the empire’s inhabitants could not obtain; restrictions on Russian property rights - real estate in the principality was extremely difficult to buy; separate religion (Orthodox could not teach history); own post office, customs, bank and financial system. At that time, such autonomy rights for an annexed territory were unprecedented.

Finns in the Emperor's Service

As for the opportunities for Finns in Russia, by the time they joined the Russian army there was already a Finnish regiment operating, which in 1811 became the Imperial Life Guards Guards Regiment, a very deserved one. It consisted, of course, of representatives of the so-called “Old Finland,” but new Finns could also build a career in the Empire. Suffice it to recall Mannerheim, who learned Russian for the sake of military education and made a brilliant career. There were many such Finnish soldiers. There were so many officers and non-commissioned officers in the personnel of the Finnish regiment that the latter were put into service like soldiers.

Restriction of autonomy and Russification: a failed attempt

This period is associated with the work of the Finnish Governor-General Nikolai Bobrikov. He submitted a note to Nicholas II on how to change the order in the too “sovereign” autonomy. The Tsar issued a manifesto in which he reminded the Finns that, in fact, they were part of the Russian Empire, and the fact that they retained internal laws “corresponding to the living conditions of the country” does not mean that they should not live according to general laws. Bobrikov began reforms with the introduction of general military service in Finland - so that Finns would serve outside the country, like all citizens, the Diet opposed. Then the emperor resolved the issue single-handedly, once again recalling that Finland was subordinate to the governor-general, who carried out the policy of the empire there. The Seimas called this state of affairs unconstitutional. Then the “Basic provisions on the drafting of laws” were published for the Grand Duchy of Finland, according to which the Sejm and other structures of the principality had only an advisory role in lawmaking. In 1900, the Russian language was introduced into office work, and public meetings were placed under the control of the governor-general. As a result, in 1904 Bobrikov was killed by the son of the Finnish senator Eigen Schauman. Thus ended the attempt to “take control” of the territory.

Grand Duchy of Finland at the beginning of the 20th century

Taking this opportunity, the Diet radically modernized the legal system of Finland - the four-estate system was replaced by a unicameral parliament. The electoral law passed in 1906 established universal suffrage and gave voting rights to women for the first time in Europe. Despite this democratization, the subjects of the empire and the Orthodox were deprived of their rights in Finland.

Stolypin tried to correct this arbitrariness by issuing a law that once again proclaimed that the Seimas had only an advisory voice on all issues, including internal ones. However, this law remained on paper. In 1913, laws were passed that made it possible to take money from the treasury of the Grand Duchy of Finland for defense needs, as well as on the equality of Russian citizens in Finland.

A hundred years after the conquest of Finland, all subjects of the empire were finally equal in rights on the territory of the principality, but this was the end of the policy of the “center” - then war and revolution. On December 6, 1917, Finland declared independence.

How Poles lived in the Russian Empire

Poland was part of the Russian Empire from 1815 to 1917. It was a turbulent and difficult period for the Polish people - a time of new opportunities and great disappointments.

Relations between Russia and Poland have always been difficult. First of all, this is a consequence of the proximity of the two states, which for many centuries has given rise to territorial disputes. It is quite natural that during major wars Russia always found itself drawn into the revision of the Polish-Russian borders. This radically influenced the social, cultural and economic conditions in the surrounding areas, as well as the way of life of the Poles.

"Prison of Nations"

The “national question” of the Russian Empire aroused different, sometimes polar, opinions. Thus, Soviet historical science called the empire nothing more than a “prison of nations,” and Western historians considered it a colonial power.

But from the Russian publicist Ivan Solonevich we find the opposite statement: “Not a single people in Russia was subjected to such treatment as Ireland was subjected to in the times of Cromwell and the times of Gladstone. With very few exceptions, all nationalities in the country were completely equal before the law."

Russia has always been a multi-ethnic state: its expansion gradually led to the fact that the already heterogeneous composition of Russian society began to be diluted by representatives of different nations. This also applied to the imperial elite, which was noticeably replenished with immigrants from European countries who came to Russia “to pursue happiness and rank.”

For example, an analysis of the lists of the “Rank” of the late 17th century shows that in the boyar corps there were 24.3% of people of Polish and Lithuanian origin. However, the overwhelming majority of “Russian foreigners” lost their national identity, dissolving into Russian society.

"Kingdom of Poland"

Having joined Russia following the Patriotic War of 1812, the “Kingdom of Poland” (since 1887 – “Vistula region”) had a dual position. On the one hand, after the division of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, although it was a completely new geopolitical entity, it still retained ethnocultural and religious connections with its predecessor.

On the other hand, national self-awareness grew here and the sprouts of statehood emerged, which could not but affect the relationship between the Poles and the central government.
After joining the Russian Empire, changes were undoubtedly expected in the “Kingdom of Poland”. There were changes, but they were not always perceived unambiguously. During Poland's entry into Russia, five emperors changed, and each had his own view of the westernmost Russian province.

If Alexander I was known as a “polonophile,” then Nicholas I built a much more sober and tough policy towards Poland. However, one cannot deny his desire, in the words of the emperor himself, “to be as good a Pole as a good Russian.”

Russian historiography generally has a positive assessment of the results of Poland’s century-long entry into the empire. Perhaps it was Russia’s balanced policy towards its western neighbor that helped create a unique situation in which Poland, although not an independent territory, retained its state and national identity for a hundred years.

Hopes and disappointments

One of the first measures introduced by the Russian government was the abolition of the “Napoleonic Code” and its replacement with the Polish Code, which, among other measures, allocated land to peasants and intended to improve the financial situation of the poor. The Polish Sejm passed the new bill, but refused to ban civil marriage, which provides freedom.

This clearly showed the Poles' orientation toward Western values. There was someone to take as an example. Thus, in the Grand Duchy of Finland, by the time the Kingdom of Poland became part of Russia, serfdom had been abolished. Enlightened and liberal Europe was closer to Poland than “peasant” Russia.

After the “Alexander freedoms” the time came for the “Nikolaev reaction”. In the Polish province, almost all office work is translated into Russian, or into French for those who did not speak Russian. Confiscated estates are distributed to persons of Russian origin, and all senior official positions are also filled by Russians.

Nicholas I, who visited Warsaw in 1835, senses a brewing protest in Polish society, and therefore forbids the deputation to express loyal feelings, “in order to protect them from lies.”
The tone of the emperor’s speech is striking in its uncompromisingness: “I need deeds, not words. If you persist in your dreams of national isolation, the independence of Poland and similar fantasies, you will bring upon yourself the greatest misfortune... I tell you that at the slightest disturbance I will order the city to be shot, I will turn Warsaw into ruins and, of course, I will not I’ll rebuild it.”

Polish revolt

Sooner or later, empires will be replaced by national-type states. This problem also affected the Polish province, where, in the wake of the growth of national consciousness, political movements that have no equal among other provinces of Russia are gaining strength.

The idea of ​​national isolation, right up to the restoration of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth within its former boundaries, embraced ever wider sections of the masses. The driving force behind the protest was the student body, which was supported by workers, soldiers, and various sections of Polish society. Later, some landowners and nobles joined the liberation movement.

The main demands made by the rebels were agrarian reforms, democratization of society and ultimately the independence of Poland.
But for the Russian state it was a dangerous challenge. The Russian government responded sharply and harshly to the Polish uprisings of 1830-1831 and 1863-1864. The suppression of the riots turned out to be bloody, but there was no excessive harshness, which Soviet historians wrote about. They preferred to send the rebels to remote Russian provinces.

The uprisings forced the government to take a number of countermeasures. In 1832, the Polish Sejm was liquidated and the Polish army was disbanded. In 1864, restrictions were introduced on the use of the Polish language and the movement of the male population. To a lesser extent, the results of the uprisings affected the local bureaucracy, although among the revolutionaries were the children of high-ranking officials. The period after 1864 was marked by an increase in “Russophobia” in Polish society.

From dissatisfaction to benefits

Poland, despite the restrictions and infringements of freedoms, received certain benefits from belonging to the empire. Thus, during the reigns of Alexander II and Alexander III, Poles began to be appointed to leadership positions more often. In some counties their number reached 80%. The Poles had no less opportunity for advancement in the civil service than the Russians.

Even more privileges were given to Polish aristocrats, who automatically received high ranks. Many of them oversaw the banking sector. Profitable positions in St. Petersburg and Moscow were available to the Polish nobility, and they also had the opportunity to open their own business.
It should be noted that in general the Polish province had more privileges than other regions of the empire. Thus, in 1907, at a meeting of the State Duma of the 3rd convocation, it was announced that in various Russian provinces taxation reaches 1.26%, and in the largest industrial centers of Poland - Warsaw and Lodz it does not exceed 1.04%.

It is interesting that the Privislinsky region received 1 ruble 14 kopecks back in the form of subsidies for every ruble donated to the state treasury. For comparison, the Central Black Earth Region received only 74 kopecks.
The government spent a lot on education in the Polish province - from 51 to 57 kopecks per person, and, for example, in Central Russia this amount did not exceed 10 kopecks. Thanks to this policy, from 1861 to 1897 the number of literate people in Poland increased 4 times, reaching 35%, although in the rest of Russia this figure fluctuated around 19%.

At the end of the 19th century, Russia embarked on the path of industrialization, supported by solid Western investments. Polish officials also received dividends from this, participating in railway transportation between Russia and Germany. As a result, a huge number of banks appeared in large Polish cities.

Tragic for Russia, 1917 ended the history of “Russian Poland”, giving the Poles the opportunity to establish their own statehood. What Nicholas II promised came true. Poland gained freedom, but the union with Russia so desired by the emperor did not work out.