Napoleon, Polish Legions & the Polish National Anthem

SkyHistory has an intriguing article that names 10 great military generals from history. They introduce them as follows: “The course of human history has been changed time and time again by the strategic genius of a handful of exceptional military commanders. From a young Greek king who carved out an empire in just 12 years, to a formidable Russian commander who halted the Nazis at the gates of Moscow, we take a look at some of history’s greatest generals.”

Here’s their list:
1. Alexander the Great
2. Hannibal
3. Julius Caesar
4. Attila the Hun
5. Saladin
6. Genghis Khan
7. Frederick the Great
8. Napoleon Bonaparte
9. Erwin Rommel
10. Georgy Zhukov

Napoleon Bonaparte is of particular interest to us. Following the Partitions in 1795, Polish soldiers flocked to join Napoleon’s army as it fought its way across Europe. The French Revolution had overthrown the French monarchy a few years before, and now Revolutionary France’s enemies included the monarchies Prussia, the Austria-Hungarian Empire and Russia—the same three enemies that had partitioned Poland among themselves. Many Poles believed that aiding France to defeat those enemies would assist Poland in regaining its independence.

Those Polish soldiers became known as the “Polish Legions,” with Polish military ranks and Polish commanders under overall French command (not to be confused with the Polish Legions that fought in World War I). The best-known Polish commanders of the Napoleonic Polish Legions included Jan Henryk Dąbrowski, Karol Kniaziewicz and Józef Wybicki. Estimates of the number of soldiers in the Polish Legions vary from about 20,000 to about 30,000.

However, Polish general and leader Tadeusz Kościuszko, who had helped the Americans defeat the British during the American Revolution, was among those who felt that Napoleon would not substantially aid Poland, and he declined to join the Polish Legions.

Click here for a start to researching the Polish Legions during the Napoleonic era.

Poland’s national anthem dates from the Napoleonic period—”Poland Is Not Yet Lost,” also known as the “Dąbrowski’s Mazurka,” and the “Song of the Polish Legions in Italy.” Its lyrics were written by Józef Wybicki, and assert that so long as any Poles live, the country is not yet lost. This is the English translation of its opening stanzas:

Poland has not yet perished,
So long as we still live.
What the foreign force has taken from us,
We shall with sabre retrieve.

March, march, Dąbrowski,
From Italy to Poland.
Under your command
We shall rejoin the nation.

Click here for a brief article about Poland’s national anthem, including its lyrics in both Polish and English, and a couple of video performances.