Jan Henryk Dąbrowski has come down in the history of Poland as the organiser of Polish Legions in Italy during the Napoleonic Wars. He began his work in 1796, when he was summoned to France by Napoleon Bonaparte and given the task of creating Polish forces which would be part of the army of the newly created Republic of Lombardy. This was a year after the 3rd Partition of Poland between Russia, Prussia and Austria. Poland disappeared from the map of Europe, but Polish military formations gave the country a chance to re-enter international affairs with support of France in the Polish independence efforts. Thus, the creation of a Polish army in Italy, at a time when the Italians refused to fight under the French banner, pleased both sides to this agreement.
Dąbrowski, who was born in Pierzchów as a son of a Saxon army officer, grew up and was educated in German Saxony. Nonetheless, he did not forsake his Polish roots and when the Four-Year Sejm announced a draft to the Polish army in 1791, this cavalryman educated in a Dresden military school was asked to reform the Polish cavalry. He was in Poland in 1794 when the Kościuszko Insurrection erupted. He took an active part in the uprising, defending Warsaw and leading an army corps in support of a rising in Greater Poland. His courage was commended by Tadeusz Kościuszko himself, the Supreme Commander of the National Armed Forces, who promoted him to the rank of general. Not only Kościuszko appreciated him; after the collapse of the uprising, he was offered commissions in the Russian and Prussian armies, but chose to fight for Poland.
After emigrating to France, he started the work of his life - the creation of the Polish Legions. They were to consist of Polish exiles. He scored a huge success by managing to preserve the traditional Polish uniforms, national insignia and the Polish officer corps. The only concessions he made with regard to the uniforms were the epaulettes, which bore the colours of Lombardy, and French tri-coloured bows. Dąbrowski's Manifesto addressed to Poles, and published in Italian, French and German periodicals, elicited a great response from the Polish émigré community and soon Milan, the capital of Lombardy, began to fill up with scores of volunteers, in spite of the penalties enforced by the partitioning powers. The volunteers included patriotic émigrés as well as Polish prisoners released from the Austrian army. Within a short time, the Polish general gathered seven thousand volunteers, whom he turned into a disciplined and brave army.
Polish soldiers fought at Napoleon's side from May 1797 until the beginning of 1803. Unfortunately, they did not reach Poland and did not liberate the country, as Dąbrowski had dreamed. Instead, they were mostly used to suppress local disturbances in Italy. Napoleon did, however, notice the growing dissatisfaction of his brave soldiers and their commanders. They were particularly disappointed by a peace treaty between France and Russia signed in Luneville, which dashed Polish hopes of Bonaparte freeing Poland. Instead, fearing rebellion, he decided to disperse the Legions. This meant the collapse of the Polish formation. A particularly harmful move was the decision to send six thousand men to Haiti in 1803 to crush a local rebellion. Only three hundred legionnaires returned.
After the Legions were disbanded, Dąbrowski stayed on in the service of Bonaparte. Once again he tried to create a Polish formation in 1806, which Napoleon wanted to use to recapture Greater Poland from Prussia. Polish volunteers again turned up, albeit with much less enthusiasm. Even Dąbrowski himself became disillusioned when he was prevented from fighting against the partitioning powers in the remaining Polish territories.
In 1807 the Duchy of Warsaw was established in the recaptured territories, but it was totally dependent on Bonaparte. Disappointed with the Corsican, Dąbrowski settled near Poznań where he had received an estate. Not for long, however. Already in 1809 he set out to fight Austria under the command of Prince Józef Poniatowski. After the Battle of Raszyn, the Polish army entered Galicia and on 15 July captured Cracow. In June 1812 Dąbrowski and his Polish army joined Napoleon on his Moscow expedition. But already by October the Franco-Russian war was over and the French forces, decimated by a severe winter, had to retreat. Their defeat was completed by a battle lost during the crossing of the River Berezina .
Jan Henryk Dąbrowski was not able to continue the fight any further. Awarded the Order of the White Eagle, he retired to his estate in Winnogóra near Poznań, where he died in 1818.
