I hope you mean exactly Poland and Russia, and not Poland as part of the USSR, so I'll tell you about the old days.

When was Poland part of the Russian Empire?

Formally, it ceased to be an independent state on June 7 or 8 (depending on the interpretation of the event) in 1815, after an agreement on the redistribution of Polish lands at the Congress of Vienna. As a result, the Principality of Warsaw became part of the Russian Empire and was renamed the Kingdom of Poland. Where it existed and the end of the First World War, after which the Russian Empire was able to forcibly hold part of the territories. This is what the Polish elite took advantage of by declaring independence in 1918.

How much did Poland (the Commonwealth, in those days) lose to the Russian Empire?

There are two factors to note here. Firstly, the Commonwealth began "democratization" in its state and gave too many liberties to the gentry. And since no one limited it (in our time, people do it in developed countries), they did what they wanted. And the state fell into decline, having lost economic and military strength. Yes, and human potential has fallen sharply, good managers have ceased to fall into the ruling structures. This is what happens when a negative selection of ethyl begins in a community/state.

Secondly, Peter carried out incredibly effective reforms in the Russian Empire. Which improved almost all elements of the state (except for the life of ordinary people). He reformed the army, turning it into one of the strongest at that time. Raised the economy by removing "nepotism and patronage" from the leadership. He even retrained the boyars to live in a new way, in a European way. Now there is still a saying "Peter opened a window to Europe." And then the Russian Empire continued to move along the given path of reformation (slowly, with a creak, but it moved.)

And then Napoleon appeared, and began to capture all of Europe. And in one of the campaigns he went to Russia, with his allies. Among which was the Polish nobility and the army. Napoleon lost, and they began to drive him back to Paris. Along the way, capturing everything you can. And after the capture of Paris, a new division of Europe took place, as a result of which

The Kingdom of Poland (Polish: Królestwo Polskie) is a territory in Europe that was in union with the Russian Empire from 1815 to 1915.



The part of Poland included in the Russian Empire did not have a single name. Until the 1860s, the name "Kingdom of Poland" was more commonly used in legislation, rarely "Poland". In the 1860s, these names began to be replaced by the phrases “provinces of the Kingdom of Poland” and “provinces of the Privislensky”. On March 5, 1870, by order of Alexander II, it was destined to call Russian Poland “provinces of the Kingdom of Poland”, however, in a number of articles of the Code of Laws of the Russian Empire, the name “Kingdom of Poland” was preserved. Since 1887, the phrases “provinces of the Privislinsky region”, “Privislinsky provinces” and “Privislinsky region” have become the most used, and in January 1897 Nicholas II gave an order by which the use of the names “Kingdom of Poland” and “province of the Kingdom of Poland” was limited cases of extreme necessity, although these names were never removed from the Code of Laws.
The Poles ironically called the Kingdom of Poland “Kongresówka” (Polish Kongresówka, from Królestwo Kongresowe).
The Kingdom of Poland occupied the central part of Poland: Warsaw, Lodz, Kalisz, Czestochowa, Lublin, Suwalki. The area is 127 thousand km².

Reign of Alexander I

Pursuing the retreating troops of Napoleon, the Russian army occupied almost the entire Grand Duchy of Warsaw at the end of February 1813. Krakow, Thorn, Czestochowa, Zamość and Modlin surrendered somewhat later. Thus, the state created by Napoleon actually found itself in the hands of Russia, but its fate still depended on the relationship of the powers. The state is going through hard times. Requisitions for the needs of the occupying army of 380,000 people exhausted him. Emperor Alexander I established a temporary supreme council to manage the affairs of the duchy, headed by Governor-General V. S. Lansky. The command of the army was entrusted to Field Marshal Barclay de Tolly. Polish affairs were concentrated in the hands of Count Arakcheev, which sufficiently determines the general nature of management.
Despite the promised amnesty and contrary to the wishes of the governor-general, citizens were arrested and deported only on the basis of a denunciation. At the beginning of 1814, Polish society was revived by the hope that its lot would improve. The emperor eased camping, reduced taxes, and allowed the formation of a corps from Polish soldiers under the command of General Dombrowski. The organization of the army was led by Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich. Later, the emperor formed a civil committee that proposed replacing the Napoleonic code with a new Polish code, allocating land to the peasants, and improving finances.
Meanwhile, at the Congress of Vienna, which was reshaping the map of Europe in a new way, the duchy gave rise to feuds that almost turned into a new war. Alexander I wanted to annex to his empire the entire Duchy of Warsaw and even other lands that were once part of the Commonwealth. Austria saw this as a danger to itself. On January 3, 1815, a secret alliance was concluded between Austria, England and France to counteract Russia and Prussia, who had become closer to each other. The Russian emperor made a compromise: he abandoned Krakow in favor of Austria, and from Thorn and Poznan in favor of Prussia. Most of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw was attached "for all eternity" to the Russian Empire under the name of the Kingdom of Poland (May 3, 1815), which received a constitutional device. The Polish constitution was promulgated on 20 June. At the same time, the inhabitants of the Kingdom of Poland were taken to the oath of allegiance to the Russian sovereign.
The constitution came into force in 1816. The emperor appointed General Zayonchek as viceroy, who was very helpful to the Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich. Count Novosiltsev became the Imperial Commissar.
In 1816, Warsaw University was established, higher schools were founded: military, polytechnical, forestry, mining, the Institute of Folk Teachers, the number of secondary and primary schools was increased. Two centers that were outside the Kingdom of Poland had a strong influence on intellectual life: the Vilna University and the Kremenets Lyceum. The greatest poet of Poland, Adam Mickiewicz, studied at Vilna University, and the historian Lelewel taught there. Enlightenment developed in spite of obstacles.

Minister of Education Stanisław Potocki, who ridiculed obscurantism in the allegorical novel Journey to Temnograd (Podróż do Ciemnogrodu in Polish), was forced to resign. Strict supervision was established over educational institutions, books and periodicals were subjected to severe censorship.
In 1817, the state peasants were freed from many medieval duties. In 1820, corvée began to be replaced by dues.
Between the emperor and the Kingdom of Poland created by him, there was at first complete harmony thanks to the liberal moods of the sovereign. With the intensification of reactionary currents, the aforementioned harmony was upset. In the country itself, some were ready to put up with what they had, while others dreamed of restoring the Polish state within its former boundaries. On March 5 (17), 1818, the emperor opened the Sejm in Warsaw with a significant speech:
“The former organization of the country enabled me to introduce the one I have granted you, setting in motion the liberal institutions. These latter have always been the subject of my concern, and I hope to spread, with God's help, their beneficent influence to all the countries that providence has given me to rule. »
The Sejm adopted all government bills except for the abolition of civil marriage, introduced in Poland by the Napoleonic Code. The emperor was satisfied, which he expressed in his concluding speech, arousing hope in the Poles for the realization of their patriotic dreams:
“Poles, I remain with my former intentions; they are familiar to you. »
The emperor hinted at his desire to extend the operation of the constitution of the Kingdom of Poland to the Russian-Lithuanian regions.

When, according to the constitution, the second Diet was convened in 1820, the emperor opened it again, but in his speech there were already warnings about the dangers of liberalism. Influenced by the opposition, the Sejm rejected the government bill on the grounds that it abolished the publicity of legal proceedings, abolished trial by jury, and violated the principle "no one will be arrested without a court decision."
The opposition angered Alexander, which he expressed in his closing speech, noting that the Poles themselves were hindering the restoration of their homeland. The emperor even wanted to cancel the constitution, but limited himself to threats. Contrary to the constitution, which established the convocation of diets every two years, the third diet was convened only in 1825. Previously, an additional article to the constitution was published, abolishing the publicity of the meetings of the Sejm, and the leader of the opposition, Vikenty Nemoyovsky, was arrested. To control the activities of the Sejm, special officials were appointed who were obliged to attend meetings. The projects proposed by the government were adopted by the Seimas. The emperor expressed his satisfaction.
Simultaneously with the legal opposition, there was also a secret, revolutionary one. A secret organization "National Patriotic Partnership" arose. In May 1822, the main leaders of the "Partnership" were arrested and subjected to severe punishments. Nevertheless, the "Partnership" continued its activities and even entered into relations with the Decembrists. The attempt of the latter to carry out a coup in Russia also revealed the activities of the Polish revolutionaries. According to the constitution, they were judged by the Sejm court, limited to mild punishments. Emperor Nicholas I expressed his displeasure at the verdict.

In economic and cultural terms, the Kingdom of Poland developed noticeably in 1815-1830. The exhaustion of forces disappeared thanks to a long peace and a number of remarkable figures - the finance ministers Matushevich and Prince Drutsky-Lubetsky and the well-known writer Staszic, who was in charge of industry. Progress was noted in all areas of economic life: in agriculture, industry and trade. The energetic Minister of Finance Lyubetsky put the finances in order with a series of measures, sometimes harsh, sometimes repressive. The deficit disappeared, the treasury accumulated a reserve of several tens of millions of zlotys, officials and the army began to receive their salaries on time. The country's population has grown to 4.5 million.
At the same time, members of secret societies spread democratic ideas. Voices were loudly heard in literature against serfdom, which harmed both the economy and public morality.

The reign of Nicholas I and the Polish uprising of 1830-31

In 1829, Nicholas I was solemnly crowned the Polish king in Warsaw and swore an oath of his obligation to fulfill the constitution, but left the petition filed to abolish the additional article to the constitution unanswered. The Sejm was convened only in 1830. The project to abolish civil marriage was again rejected almost unanimously, despite the clear will of the emperor. The opposition filed a number of petitions with the government: to loosen the restrictions of censorship, to abolish the supplementary article, to release the leader of the opposition from arrest. This course of action of the Sejm greatly angered the sovereign.
Kingdom of Poland in 1831
In 1830-1831 there was an uprising that brought about profound changes. A significant number of politically active Poles were expelled from the Kingdom of Poland and settled in the provinces of the Russian Empire. Extensive power, along with the title of Prince of Warsaw and the post of governor, was handed over to Count Paskevich. To help him, a provisional government was established, consisting of four departments: justice, finance, internal affairs and police, education and confessions. The powers of the provisional government ended with the promulgation of the Organic Statute (February 26, 1832), which abolished the coronation of emperors by Polish kings, a special Polish army and the Sejm, and declared the Kingdom of Poland an organic part of the Russian Empire. The retained administrative council presented the sovereign with candidates for spiritual and civil positions. The Council of State drew up the budget and dealt with disputes that arose between administrative and judicial instances, and held officials accountable for malfeasance. Three commissions were established - to manage: 1) internal affairs and educational affairs; 2) court; 3) finance. Instead of the Sejm, it was planned to establish an assembly of provincial officials with an advisory vote. Legislative power belonged undividedly to the Emperor.

The organic statute was not enforced. The assembly of provincial officials, as well as the gentry and commune assemblies, remained only in the project. The State Council was abolished (1841). Voivodeships were transformed into provinces (1837). The Russian language was introduced into the office work of the administrative council and the office of the governor, with permission to use French for those who did not speak Russian. The confiscated estates were granted to the Russians; the highest government positions in the region were filled by Russians. In 1832, the Polish currency złoty was replaced by the Russian ruble, and the Russian imperial system of measures was introduced to replace the metric one. Also this year, the Alexander Citadel in Warsaw was laid. The emperor came to inspect these fortresses, but visited Warsaw only in 1835. He did not allow the deputation from the townsfolk to express loyal feelings, noting that he wanted to protect them from lies:
“I need deeds, not words. If you persist in your dreams of national isolation, Polish independence, and similar fantasies, you will bring upon yourself the greatest misfortune. I have made a citadel here. I tell you that at the slightest disturbance I will order to shoot at the city, I will turn Warsaw into ruins and, of course, I will not rebuild it. »

The Warsaw Scientific Society was abolished, its library and museums were transferred to St. Petersburg. The Warsaw and Vilna universities and the Kremenets lyceum were closed. Instead of the university, it was allowed to open additional courses in pedagogy and jurisprudence at the gymnasium (1840), but they were soon closed. Teaching in secondary schools was conducted in Russian. The government also paid attention to the education of female youth as future mothers, on whom the upbringing of subsequent generations depends. For this purpose, the Alexandria Institute was established in Warsaw. Tuition fees in gymnasiums were increased and it was forbidden to accept children of non-noble or non-bureaucratic origin.

In 1833, the Warsaw Orthodox Bishopric was established, which in 1840 was transformed into an archbishopric. The Catholic clergy were subject to strict supervision: they were forbidden to convene local synods, organize jubilee festivities and found sobriety societies. In 1839, the property of the Polish Catholic Church was secularized, the local Greek Catholic Church, after a congress in Polotsk, dissolved itself and officially became subordinate to the Moscow Orthodox Patriarchate. After the abolition of Warsaw University, a Roman Catholic Theological Academy was established in Warsaw, which was under the control of the commission of internal affairs, which generally monitored the activities of the Catholic clergy. The government wanted to subordinate the spiritual affairs of the Catholic population in the Kingdom of Poland to the St. Petersburg Roman Catholic College, which was in charge of the spiritual affairs of Catholics in the rest of the empire, but due to the resistance of Rome, this was abandoned. The intellectual life of the country was in stagnation, sometimes broken only by revolutionary propaganda, the centers of which were concentrated among the Polish emigration, mainly in France.
In 1833, the French, German and Italian Carbonari decided to create revolutionary movements in their countries. Many Polish emigrants joined the Carbonari societies. It was decided to undertake a partisan raid into the Kingdom of Poland in order to raise an uprising here. The head of the raid was Józef Zalivski. The partisans penetrated with difficulty into the Kingdom of Poland in order to call the common people to an uprising, but the common people treated them indifferently. Pursued by the Cossacks, Zalivsky fled to Austria, where he was arrested and imprisoned for 20 years in a fortress. Other partisans fell into the hands of Russian soldiers. Some were hanged, others were shot or sent to hard labor. The failure of the Zalivski raid led Polish democrats to believe that revolutionary propaganda was needed.
The new "Society of the Polish People" tried to cover with its activities all the lands of the Commonwealth, sending envoys to Lithuania, Volhynia, Ukraine and the Kingdom of Poland. In May 1838, the chief emissary Konarsky was arrested near Vilna, which led to other arrests. Even several high school students were sent to hard labor. These harsh measures did not dampen the enthusiasm of the Polish revolutionaries. They were headed by the "Democratic Society", which professed not only democratic ideas, but also socialist ones. Under his influence, the priest Scehenny arranged a secret society among the peasants in the south of the Kingdom of Poland with the aim of founding a Polish peasant republic; betrayed by one of his own, he was arrested and sentenced to hang, but pardoned and exiled to hard labor. Many peasants - participants in the conspiracy had to follow him to Siberia (1844).
In 1846, the board decided that the country was already ready for an uprising. The movement that began in Galicia ended in the most deplorable way. Not only did the Ukrainian peasants not join the movement, but prompted by the Austrian officials, they carried out a terrible massacre among the Polish nobles. In the Kingdom of Poland, the nobleman Pantaleon Potocki with a small detachment captured the city of Sedlec (in February 1846), but was soon captured and hanged. The rebels were sent to Siberia.

Russia, Prussia and Austria took action against the Poles. With the consent of Russia and Prussia, Austria occupied the Free City of Krakow with its troops. In addition, the Russian and Austrian governments drew attention to the situation of the peasants who were under the rule of the Polish nobles. In June 1846, it was forbidden to arbitrarily remove peasants from the land, reduce their allotments, attach wastelands left after the peasant to estates. In November 1846, many of the duties that lay on the peasants were destroyed. At the same time, the government took measures aimed at closer integration of the Kingdom of Poland into the empire. In 1847, a new code of punishments was issued for him, which was an almost literal translation of the Russian Code of Punishments of 1845.
The revolution of 1848 greatly agitated the Poles: they raised uprisings in the Principality of Poznań and in Galicia. Mickiewicz formed the Polish Legion, which took part in the Italian revolutionary movement; Polish generals, officers and simple volunteers fought for the independence of Hungary. The secret society in the Kingdom of Poland abandoned its intentions after learning about the suppression of the revolution in Poznań. The conspiracy was uncovered (1850), the conspirators were subjected to corporal punishment and exile to hard labor. The government of Louis Napoleon expelled the leaders of the Polish Democratic Society from Paris. They were forced to retire to London, and their influence on Poland almost completely ceased.
The Crimean War revived the hopes of the patriots again. Calls for an uprising in Poland were unsuccessful. It was decided to form Polish legions in the theater of operations to fight against Russia. This plan was also promoted by the conservative Polish emigration, headed by Prince Adam Czartoryski. By the way, Mickiewicz went to Constantinople. The troubles of the Polish patriots ended in almost nothing. The Polish writer Mikhail Tchaikovsky, who converted to Mohammedanism (Sadyk Pasha), recruited, however, a detachment of the so-called Sultan's Cossacks, but it consisted of Armenians, Bulgarians, Gypsies and Turks, and besides, he did not take part in hostilities, because the war ended . A handful of Poles acted in the Caucasus against the Russian troops, helping the Circassians. Meanwhile, Emperor Nicholas I died, and about a year later, the governor of the Kingdom of Poland, Prince Paskevich.

The reign of Alexander II and subsequent reigns

In May 1856 Emperor Alexander II arrived in Warsaw and was greeted with great enthusiasm. In a speech delivered to the deputation of the inhabitants, the sovereign warned the Poles against dreams:
“Away with fantasies, gentlemen! (Point de reveries, messieurs!) Everything my father did is well done. My reign will be a further continuation of his reign. »
Soon, however, the former harsh regime was somewhat eased. The emperor allowed some of Mickiewicz's writings to be printed. Censorship stopped the persecution of the works of Slovak, Krasinski and Lelewel. Many political prisoners were released. Some emigrants have returned. In June 1857, it was allowed to open the Medico-Surgical Academy in Warsaw, and in November - to establish the Agricultural Society, which became important centers of intellectual life.
The political mood of the Poles was strongly influenced by the unification of Italy and the liberal reforms in Austria. Young people who read Herzen and Bakunin believed that Russia was on the eve of a revolution. Both moderates and radicals hoped for the help of Napoleon III, who wanted to see the idea of ​​nationality as the guiding international principle. The radicals began to organize manifestations on every glorious occasion from Polish history.
A grand demonstration took place on November 29, 1860, on the anniversary of the November Uprising of 1830. On February 27, 1861, the troops fired into the crowd and killed 5 people. The governor, Prince Gorchakov, agreed to satisfy the complaints, promised to remove the chief of police Trepov, and allowed the establishment of a committee to govern Warsaw.
Kingdom of Poland in 1861
The government agreed to a series of reforms in the spirit of autonomy. By decree of March 26, 1861, the State Council was restored, provincial, district and city councils were formed, it was decided to open higher educational institutions and transform secondary schools. Marquis Alexander Velepolsky, appointed assistant to the governor, annoyed the gentry by closing the Agricultural Society, which caused a grandiose demonstration (April 8, 1861), which resulted in about 200 dead. The revolutionary mood grew, and Wielopolsky began to energetically implement reforms: he abolished serfdom, replaced corvee with quitrent, equalized Jews in rights, increased the number of schools, improved the teaching system, and established a university in Warsaw.
On May 30, 1861, the governor, Prince Gorchakov, died; his successors did not sympathize with the activities of the marquis. On the anniversary of the death of Tadeusz Kosciuszko (November 15), the churches were filled with prayers, singing patriotic hymns. Governor-General Gerstenzweig promulgated the state of siege and moved troops into the temples. Blood spilled. The clergy considered this sacrilege and closed the churches.
Velopolsky resigned. The sovereign accepted her, ordering him to remain a member of the State Council. The emperor appointed his brother, Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich, as viceroy, giving him Velepopolsky as an assistant in civil affairs, and Baron Ramsay in military affairs. The Kingdom of Poland was granted full autonomy.
The radicals, or "Reds", however, did not stop their activities, and moved from demonstrations to terror. Attempts were made on the life of the Grand Duke. The moderates, or "whites", did not sympathize with the "reds", but they also disagreed with Velopolsky. He wanted to restore the constitution of 1815, while the "moderates" were thinking about uniting all the lands of the Commonwealth into one whole with a constitutional device. White set out to write an address to the highest name, but Velopolsky opposed. The leader of the Whites, Zamoyski, was ordered to emigrate. This finally repulsed the "whites" from Velopolsky. A revolutionary explosion was approaching, which Velopolsky decided to warn with a recruiting set. The calculation was bad.
The uprising broke out in January 1863, which lasted until the late autumn of 1864 and ended with the execution of the most active participants and the mass expulsions of the rebels. In March 1863, Count Berg was appointed commander-in-chief, who, after the departure of Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich on September 8, 1863, and the resignation of Velepolsky, became governor. The management of the police was entrusted to the former chief of police, General Trepov. At the beginning of January 1864, a committee for the affairs of the Kingdom of Poland was established in St. Petersburg, chaired by the sovereign himself.
By decree of February 19 (March 2), 1864, Polish peasants received ownership of the arable land they cultivated. The landowners received compensation from the treasury with the so-called liquidation papers according to the assessment of the alienated lands. At the same time, an all-estate commune was established.
The management of the affairs of the Catholic clergy is provided by the commission of internal affairs, the director of which is Prince Cherkassky. All church property was confiscated and almost all monasteries were closed. According to the statute of 1865, the Catholic Church in the Kingdom of Poland was divided into seven dioceses - Plock, Lublin, Sandomierz, Kielce, Augustow, Kuyavsko-Kalisz and Podlasie; in 1867 the Podlasie diocese was merged with Lublin. The clergy began to receive salaries from the treasury. Since 1871 it has been subordinate to the Department of Foreign Confessions of the Ministry of the Interior. In 1875, the union in the Kingdom of Poland was abolished and a new (Kholmskaya) Orthodox diocese was founded.
Kingdom of Poland in 1896
At the same time, changes were made in the civil administration. In 1866, a charter was issued on provincial and district administration: ten provinces (instead of five) and 84 districts. In 1867 the Council of State was abolished, and in 1868 the administrative council and government commissions (confessions and education, finance and internal affairs) were abolished. The cases were transferred to the corresponding all-imperial institutions in St. Petersburg. In the spirit of the complete merger of the Kingdom of Poland with the Russian Empire, transformations were also made in the field of education. In 1872, the all-imperial statute on gymnasiums of 1871 was extended to the Kingdom of Poland. An all-imperial judicial organization was also introduced, with an important exception: the region did not receive a jury trial. Since 1871, the publication of the Diary of the Laws of Ts. Polsky was suspended, because the general imperial rules for promulgating legislative decrees began to apply to the country. Mandatory use of the Russian language has been introduced in administration, legal proceedings and teaching. Attempts are being made to translate the Polish language into Cyrillic. After the death of Count Berg in 1874, Count Kotzebue received the post of chief of the region and commander-in-chief of the Warsaw military district, with the title of governor-general; then the region was ruled by Generals Albedinsky (1880-83), Gurko (1883-94), Count Shuvalov (1894-96), Prince Imeretinsky (1896-1900) and M. I. Chertkov (1900-05).

End of the Kingdom of Poland

In 1912, the Kholmsk province was separated from the provinces of the Kingdom of Poland, where a significant number of Ukrainians lived.
On August 14, 1914, Nicholas II promised, after winning the war, to unite the Kingdom of Poland with the Polish lands, which would be taken from Germany and Austria-Hungary, into an autonomous state within the Russian Empire.
The war created a situation in which Poles, Russian subjects, fought against Poles who served in the Austro-Hungarian and German armies. The pro-Russian National Democratic Party of Poland, headed by Roman Dmowski, considered Germany the main enemy of Poland, its supporters considered it necessary to unite all Polish lands under Russian control with obtaining the status of autonomy within the Russian Empire. The anti-Russian supporters of the Polish Socialist Party (PPS) believed that the path to Poland's independence lay through the defeat of Russia in the war. A few years before the outbreak of World War I, PPS leader Józef Piłsudski began military training for Polish youth in Austro-Hungarian Galicia. After the outbreak of the war, he formed the Polish legions as part of the Austro-Hungarian army.
During the offensive of the German and Austro-Hungarian armies in the spring and summer of 1915, the Kingdom of Poland was under German-Austrian occupation and, being divided between the German Empire and Austria-Hungary, ceased to exist.

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 an indivisible part of the Russian Empire, and the Russian sovereign was given an unlimited right to establish in the Polish regions such an order of things that he recognizes as the most useful and most consistent with the benefits of his state. It was in 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 have dared to contradict him; the only condition imposed on him by the Congress of Vienna, a definite and positive condition, was the indivisible union of the kingdom with the empire; the Poles, betrayed into the power of Russia by the fate of the war, did not even dare to think about any limitation of their winner.

The borders of Poland according to the decisions of the Congress of Vienna in 1815: the Kingdom of Poland as part of Russia is indicated in green, the part of the Napoleonic Duchy of Warsaw, ceded to Prussia, in blue, Krakow in red (at first a free city, then ceded 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 the bonds of eternal gratitude, gave them a special form of government, determined Constituent Charter December 12, 1815. We list its main provisions of this Polish constitution.

Having confirmed by the Charter of 1815 the main principle adopted by the Congress of Vienna, on the inseparable 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, by 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 administration of the affairs of the Polish regions to the government council. The Upper House of the Polish Assembly The Senate, composed of bishops, governors and castellans, appointed by the sovereign for life, formed the upper house; the lower one was represented by the diet, which is supposed to be convened, in the name of the king, every two years, for one month, from deputies from the nobility and communities. Each new law only then received force when it was approved by a majority of votes in both Polish chambers and was approved by the sovereign; chambers, moreover, 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, from five ministers appointed by the sovereign; they were the executors of his will, set the course of affairs in motion, introduced drafts of new laws for consideration by the chambers and answered 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 his benefit; The Russian government allowed the Polish nobility to elect marshals to intercede for their affairs before the royal throne. Municipal government was introduced in the cities of Poland; 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 being indifferent to the benefits of Poland. He appointed General Zaionchek as his viceroy, an old enemy of Russia, who turned gray in battles for his homeland, a participant in the Kosciuszka uprising, who also served in Napoleon's army, but noble in soul and appreciating the generosity of the sovereign. The ministers were also chosen from among the most zealous Poles. The benefits of Russia were guarded only by two persons, the brother of Alexander I, Tsarevich Konstantin Pavlovich, and the real secret adviser 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 Constituent 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, confessing in their hearts that only his unparalleled generosity saved their national charters. Soon, however, they proved that a constant feeling of gratitude was not their virtue. Three years had not passed before the same Poles dreamed that Alexander I was obliged to give them an even broader constitution and that, consequently, 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, bold 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 embarked on inappropriate discussions about the rights of the monarch and the people, without any reason accused the tsarist ministers and demanded different 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, for their part, must strictly fulfill their duties, without going into useless reasoning, and assist the government in well-intentioned his efforts to ensure order, peace and general prosperity. Contrary to these warnings, the Polish Sejm, headed by the surname of the Nemoevskys, clearly entered into a quarrel with the Russian government, rejected without any reason the various draft laws proposed by the ministers, including the criminal charter, and repeated the same demands that the first Sejm dared to make. The spirit of Poland's opposition to the Russian government was also revealed in the shortfall in taxes, which caused a significant deficit in revenues.

Portrait of Alexander I. Artist F. Gerard, 1817

The enraged sovereign announced that if the Kingdom of Poland was unable to satisfy its own needs, then it was necessary to arrange it differently, and that, previously ready to increase the benefits granted, he saw the need to cancel certain articles of the Constituent Charter in order to ensure public silence. The most important repeal was the prohibition of public debates 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 the freedom of the press. 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 Polish kingdom would depend on the Poles themselves, on their devotion to the Russian throne and their readiness to assist the government. The formidable meaning of these memorable words brought the Poles to their senses. The Seimas adopted all the laws proposed by the ministers. Alexander expressed satisfaction with his work.

Meanwhile, under the beneficent scepter of Alexander I, for ten years Poland has reached such a degree of national well-being that, without undoubted historical facts, it would be hard to believe what a patronage government can bring its subjects to. Let's not compare this time with the times of electoral government, when the Commonwealth, with its golden freedom, was only a victim of the unbridled autocracy of magnates, religious disputes, irreconcilable hostility of parties, bloody internecine strife, self-interest of the Jews, unsettled inside, weak outside. Poland eked out a miserable existence even before joining Russia, under the imaginary restorer of his Napoleon. The Duchy of Warsaw served Napoleon as a military depot, from where he took soldiers to replenish his legions, who 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 ravaged cities and villages; no one cared about the needs and calamities of the public, especially about the improvement of cities, about the arrangement of means of communication. No industry flourished; trade, there was no 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 resurrected. In 1815, the Russian sovereign took under his power a country covered with sands and swamps, occasionally cultivated by the labors of a farmer, with hardly passable roads, with poor scattered huts, with cities similar to villages, where Jews nested or ragged gentry wandered, while rich magnates squandered millions in Paris and London, not at all thinking 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 branches of Polish industry: fields drained by canals were covered with luxurious fields; villages lined up; the cities were decorated; excellent roads crossed Poland in all directions. Factories sprang up; Polish cloth and other products appeared in huge quantities in Russia. Favorable for Poland, the tariff favored the sale of her works within the Russian Empire. Warsaw, hitherto an insignificant place in the commercial world, attracted the attention of Europe. Polish finances, exhausted by Napoleon, were brought to 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; credit recovered. A national Polish bank was established, which, having received huge capital from the generous Russian sovereign, contributed to the rapid development of all branches of industry. Under the care of Tsarevich Konstantin Pavlovich, an excellent army was organized; the Polish arsenals were filled with such a huge amount of weapons that they 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 from abroad were called. The best Polish students were sent to Berlin, Paris and London at the expense of the Russian government; gymnasiums and training schools were opened in Polish regional cities; boarding houses for the education of girls and military schools arose. The laws bestowed on Poland by Alexander I and carefully guarded by him established order, justice, personal security, and the inviolability of property. Abundance and contentment reigned everywhere. During the first ten years of Poland being part of Russia, the population almost doubled, reaching four and a half million. The old saying Polska nierzadem stoi (Poland lives in disorder) was forgotten.

The successor of Alexander I, Nicholas I, took care of the well-being of the Kingdom of Poland just as carefully, just as generously. At the very accession to the throne, having confirmed the Constituent Charter, the new Russian sovereign faithfully observed the benefits bestowed by it, did not demand from Poland either the treasury or the army, he demanded only silence, exact execution of laws and zeal for the throne. It remained for her to bless her share, and to convey the feeling of the liveliest gratitude to the monarchs of Russia to the most distant offspring. The Poles acted differently: they upset their benefactor, Emperor Alexander I, with ingratitude, while already secretly preparing a rebellion against Russia. In 1830, they dared to raise arms against his successor.

The mass of the Polish people, all industrious and industrial people, farmers, manufacturers, prudent landlords, 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 unfulfilled hopes, cowardly in trouble, arrogant in happiness and ungrateful. These personalities served as a breeding ground for the Polish uprising of 1830-1831.

Based on the book of the outstanding pre-revolutionary scientist N. G. Ustryalov "Russian History until 1855" (with some additions)

The disappearance of Poland as a state

The drafted constitution of 1791 was called upon to implement the following transformations on the territory of the Commonwealth:

• establishment of centralized authority;
• curbing gentry anarchy;
• elimination of the pernicious principle of "liberum veto";
• mitigation of the social inequality of serfs.

However, the Polish magnates could not come to terms with the abolition of liberties in accordance with constitutional norms. The only way out of this situation for them was intervention by Russia. The formation of a confederation under the leadership of Marshal Pototsky, the search for help in St. Petersburg served as a pretext for the introduction of troops into Polish territory by Empress Catherine II. There was a second division of the Commonwealth between Russia and Prussia (whose troops were on Polish territory).

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

• the abolition of the reforms of the Four-Year Diet, including the constitution of 1791;
• turning the rest of Poland into a puppet state;
• the defeat of the mass popular uprising of 1794 under the leadership of Tadeusz Kosciuszko;
• the third partition of Poland in 1795 with the participation of Austria.

1807 was marked by the creation of the Duchy of Warsaw by Napoleon, 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 fact that Poland was part of Russia until 1917 brought the Polish people both great disappointments and new opportunities.

The period of "Alexander's freedoms"

After the defeat in the war with Russia, the territory of the Duchy of Warsaw, created by Napoleon, became Russian property. In 1815, the reign of Alexander I began, who inherited a poor country, devastated by military operations, without a single industry, with neglected trade, with devastated cities and villages, where the people suffered from unbearable taxes and extortions. Taking this country under guardianship, Alexander made it prosperous.

1. All branches of industry have resumed.
2. Cities were rebuilt, new villages appeared.
3. The drainage of swamps contributed to the emergence of fertile lands.
4. The construction of new roads made it possible to cross the country in various directions.
5. The emergence of new factories brought Polish cloth and other goods to Russia.
6. The Polish debt was secured, the credit was restored.
7. The establishment of a national Polish bank with capital received from the Russian sovereign contributed to the development of all branches of industry.
8. An excellent army was created with a sufficient arsenal of weapons
9. Education was gaining a fairly rapid pace of development, as evidenced by: the establishment of Warsaw University, the opening of departments of higher sciences, sending 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 educating girls in regional Polish cities.
10. The introduction of laws in Poland ensured order, inviolability of property and personal security.
11. The population doubled during the first ten years of being part of Russia.
12. The adoption of the Constituent Charter provided the Poles with a special form of government. In Poland, the Senate and the 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. A certain freedom was given to printing.

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 actions: the abolition of the constitution that Alexander bestowed on Poland, the abolition of the Polish Sejm and the approval of his proxies for leadership positions.

Polish uprisings

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

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

The Russian government takes certain decisions, primarily on imposing restrictions on the use of the Polish language, on the movement of males.

To eliminate unrest in the country in 1861, martial law was introduced. A recruiting recruitment 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 independence of the country. Over time, it will take a place in the Russian State Duma as the Polish Kolo faction, thereby designating itself as the leading political force in the struggle for a free, autonomous Poland.

Benefits of Belonging to an Empire

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

• Opportunity for advancement in public service.
• Supervision of the banking sector by Polish aristocrats.
• Get more government subsidies.
• Increasing the literacy rate 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 the major cities of the Kingdom of Poland.

The year 1917, significant for Russia, was the end of the history of "Russian Poland". He gave the Poles the opportunity to establish their own statehood, and the country to get freedom. However, the expectations of the Russian emperor about the reality of the union with Russia did not come true.

The Polish state ceased to exist in 1795, when it was divided between Austria, Prussia and Russia. Lithuania, Western Belarus, Western Volyn and the Duchy of Courland, which was a vassal of Poland, went to Russia.

In 1807, after the victory of France over Prussia on the part of Polish territory that belonged to her, Napoleon formed a new state - the Principality of Warsaw, to which in 1809 part of the Polish lands that were part of Austria was annexed. The Principality of Warsaw was a constitutional monarchy. The Prince of Warsaw, on the basis of a union with the Kingdom of Saxony, was the Saxon king, dependent on France. The Principality of Warsaw participated in the war of 1812-1814. on the side of Napoleonic France.

At the Congress of Vienna in 1815, Alexander I, who believed that Russia, as a victorious country, should receive new lands and secure its western borders, achieved the inclusion of most of the territory of the Principality of Warsaw into the Russian Empire. Austria. Prussia and Russia came to an agreement that the Principality of Warsaw would be transformed into the Kingdom of Poland, would receive a new constitution, according to which the Russian Emperor would become the Tsar of Poland, the head of the executive branch of the Polish state. Thus, the new Polish state was part of the Russian Empire on the basis of the union.

According to the Constitution of the Kingdom of Poland, the Russian emperor appointed his governor to it. The post of Secretary of State for the Affairs of the Kingdom of Poland was established. The legislature was the Sejm, elected by direct elections by all estates on the basis of a property qualification.

All participants in the war with Russia on the side of Napoleon received an amnesty and had the right to enter the service in the state apparatus and in the army of the Kingdom of Poland. The commander of the Polish army was appointed by the Russian emperor as the Tsar of Poland. Many subjects of the Russian emperor were dissatisfied with the fact that the Poles who participated in the war on the side of Napoleon and the defeated Poles received more rights than the winners.

Having become part of the Russian Empire, retaining the effect of its laws, administration, having a legislative body, Poland simultaneously received access to the Russian, and through Russia to the Asian market for its goods. In order to reduce anti-Russian sentiment among the Polish nobility and bourgeoisie, customs privileges were established for Polish goods. Many products of the Polish industry were subject to a customs duty of 3%, while Russian ones were 15%, despite the fact that "Russian manufacturers yelled against such an order." Kornilov A.A. Course of Russian history of the XIX century. M., 1993. S. 171

The economic development of Poland, the growth of the influence of the national bourgeoisie, intensified the desire for complete political independence and the restoration of the Polish sovereign state within the borders that existed before its first partition in 1772. In 1830, an uprising began in Poland, the main force of which was the army of the Kingdom of Poland. The Polish Sejm announced the deprivation of the Russian emperor of the Polish crown, thus breaking the union between Poland and the Russian Empire.

After the suppression of the uprising by Russian troops, Emperor Nicholas I in 1832 issued the "Organic Status", which canceled the Constitution of the Kingdom of Poland in 1815 and liquidated the Sejm, the Polish army. The Kingdom of Poland - this "internal abroad", as it was called in the Russian Empire, was liquidated. Instead, the Warsaw General Government is formed. Field Marshal I. F. Paskevich, who had commanded the Russian troops who suppressed the Polish uprising, was defiantly appointed as the governor of the new governor-general, and received the title of Prince of Warsaw.

Of the state institutions provided for by the Constitution of the Kingdom of Poland in 1815, only the Polish State Council continued to operate, which became a kind of information and advisory institution under the State Council of the Russian Empire. But in 1841, during the preparation of the new "Regulations on the State Council of the Russian Empire", it was abolished. Since 1857, the Warsaw governorship began to be divided administratively not into voivodeships, as before, but into provinces. Certain privileges for the local nobility and tax breaks for industry were preserved, which contributed to the further socio-economic development of the former Kingdom of Poland, incorporated into the Russian Empire.

So, in the first half of the XIX century. the territory of the Russian Empire increased by almost 20%. This was due not so much to economic goals as. for example, in the case of the British Empire, but military-political tasks, the desire to ensure the security of their borders. The policy of the Russian administration in the annexed territories proceeded from their military-strategic significance and was aimed at their socio-economic development, and not at using the resources of the new territories, for the development of the central provinces of Russia. See: Ananin B., Pravilova E. Imperial factor in the Russian economy // Russian Empire in a comparative perspective. M., 2004. S. 236-237.

In the conditions of the destruction of the Ottoman and Persian empires, some of the peoples they conquered voluntarily became part of the Russian Empire.

The management of the annexed, conquered peoples, their legal status in the empire was built taking into account their socio-economic, legal, religious and other characteristics and was diverse, although it tended to unify, apply the principles of administrative management and laws of the Russian Empire to them.