Duchy of Warsaw
The Duchy of Warsaw (Polish: Księstwo Warszawskie; French: Duché de Varsovie; German: Herzogtum Warschau), also known as the Grand Duchy of Warsaw[1] and Napoleonic Poland,[2] was a French client state established by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1807, during the Napoleonic Wars. It initially comprised the ethnically Polish lands ceded to France by Prussia under the terms of the Treaties of Tilsit, and was augmented in 1809 with territory ceded by Austria in the Treaty of Schönbrunn. It was the first attempt to re-establish Poland as a sovereign state after the 18th-century partitions and covered the central and southeastern parts of present-day Poland.
For the medieval state, see Duchy of Warsaw (Middle Ages).
Duchy of Warsaw
Satellite state of the French Empire,
Personal union with the Kingdom of Saxony
- Polish
- French
- German
Unitary parliamentary semi-constitutional monarchy
9 June 1807
22 July 1807
19 April 1809
14 October 1809
24 June 1812
9 June 1815
The duchy was held in personal union by Napoleon's ally, Frederick Augustus I of Saxony, who became the duke of Warsaw and remained a legitimate candidate for the Polish throne. Following Napoleon's failed invasion of Russia, Napoleon seemingly abandoned the duchy, and it was left to be occupied by Prussian and Russian troops until 1815, when it was formally divided between the two countries at the Congress of Vienna. The east-central territory of the duchy acquired by the Russian Empire was subsequently transformed into a polity called Congress Poland, and Prussia formed the Grand Duchy of Posen in the west. The city of Kraków, Poland's cultural centre, was granted "free city" status until its incorporation into Austria in 1846.
Government and politics[edit]
Constitution[edit]
The Constitution of the Duchy of Warsaw could be considered liberal for its time. It provided for a bicameral Sejm consisting of a Senate and a Chamber of Deputies. A Council of Ministers functioned as the executive body of the duchy. Serfdom was partially abolished, as the serfs were granted personal freedom without gaining any economic liberties or privileges. All classes were to be equal before the law, although the nobility was still greatly favoured as members of the Sejm. While Roman Catholicism was the state religion, and religious tolerance was also guaranteed by the constitution.
Geography and demographics[edit]
According to the Treaties of Tilsit, the area of the duchy covered roughly the areas of the 2nd and 3rd Prussian partitions, with the exception of Danzig (Gdańsk), which became the Free City of Danzig under joint French and Saxon "protection", and of the district around Białystok, which became part of Russia. The Prussian territory was made up of territory from the former Prussian provinces of New East Prussia, Southern Prussia, New Silesia, and West Prussia. In addition, the new state was given the area along the Noteć river and the Land of Chełmno.
Altogether, the duchy had an initial area of around 104,000 km2 (40,000 sq mi), with a population of approximately 2,600,000. The bulk of its inhabitants were Poles.[13]
Following the annexation in 1809 of Austrian West Galicia and the district of Zamość (Zamoscer Kreis), the duchy's area increased significantly, to around 155,000 km2 (60,000 sq mi), and the population also substantially increased, to roughly 4,300,000.
According to the 1810 census, the duchy had a population of 4,334,000, of whom a clear majority were ethnic Poles. Jews constituted 7% of the inhabitants (perhaps an underestimation), Germans – 6%, Lithuanians and Ruthenians – 4%.[14]