Who was Józef Poniatowski?

A Polish prince and general (1763 to 1813), nephew of King Stanisław August, commander of the army of the Duchy of Warsaw and a Marshal of France.

Why is Zieleńce important?

Poniatowski's victory there on 18 June 1792 led King Stanisław August to create the order of Virtuti Militari.

When did Poniatowski become a Marshal of France?

On 16 October 1813, during the Battle of Leipzig; he is usually described as the only foreigner Napoleon raised to that rank.

How did Józef Poniatowski die?

He drowned in the Elster on 19 October 1813 while covering the French retreat after the Battle of Leipzig.

Where is Poniatowski buried?

In Wawel Cathedral in Kraków, since 1817.

Józef Poniatowski: Poland's Marshal of France

Prince Józef Poniatowski was the nephew of Poland's last king, a hero of the Commonwealth's last wars before its fall¹, and Napoleon's most loyal Polish commander. Made a Marshal of France on the battlefield of Leipzig, he died three days later in the waters of the Elster, and became a legend.

A prince in arms

Born in Vienna in 1763², Poniatowski began his career in the Austrian army before joining the Polish army of his uncle, King Stanisław August. In the war of 1792 against Russia he won the Battle of Zieleńce on 18 June³, a victory for which the king created the order of Virtuti Militari³, still Poland's highest military decoration.

Painting of Polish horsemen and officers on the field after the Battle of Zieleńce — After the Battle of Zieleńce, a painting by Wojciech Kossak from 1898 of the victory Poniatowski won in 1792. Public domain

Uprising and exile

In the Kościuszko Uprising of 1794 he commanded troops in the defence of Warsaw.⁴ After the final partition he lived for years as a private man in Warsaw, until Napoleon's victories in 1806 opened a new chance for Poland.

The Duchy of Warsaw

As minister of war and commander-in-chief of the Duchy of Warsaw, Poniatowski built a new Polish army. In 1809, when Austria invaded, he fought the Battle of Raszyn and then struck into Austrian Galicia⁵, enlarging the Duchy.

Painting of Polish troops in action at Raszyn in 1809 — The Battle of Raszyn by January Suchodolski (1860), with the village church and smoke of the fighting in the background. Public domain

Russia and Leipzig

In 1812 he led the Polish V Corps in the invasion of Russia⁴ and fought at Smolensk and Borodino. During the Battle of Leipzig in October 1813 Napoleon made him a Marshal of France, usually described as the only foreigner to receive that rank⁴ from the emperor. On 19 October, wounded and covering the French retreat, he tried to cross the swollen Elster on horseback and drowned.²

Painting of Poniatowski on a rearing horse at the edge of the river Elster — The Death of Prince Poniatowski, painted by Horace Vernet in 1816: the wounded marshal spurs his horse towards the Elster as enemy troops close in. Public domain

A national legend

Poniatowski was buried in Wawel Cathedral in 1817⁶, and Bertel Thorvaldsen's equestrian statue of him stands in Warsaw. His death in the Elster, with the words about the honour of the Poles traditionally attributed to him, made him one of the great romantic heroes of Polish history.

Sources and notes

Numbered notes in the text point to the works below.

Szymon Askenazy, Książę Józef Poniatowski 1763-1813 (Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy (wyd. 2; wyd. I 1905), 1978). ↩
Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Józef Antoni Poniatowski” ↩ a b
dzieje.pl (Muzeum Historii Polski / PAP), “230 lat temu ustanowiono Order Virtuti Militari, najwyższe polskie odznaczenie wojskowe” ↩ a b
Fondation Napoléon (napoleon.org), “PONIATOWSKI, Józef” ↩ a b c
Jarosław Czubaty (trans. Ursula Phillips), The Duchy of Warsaw, 1807-1815: A Napoleonic Outpost in Central Europe (Bloomsbury Academic, 2016). ↩
dzieje.pl (Muzeum Historii Polski / PAP), “19 października 1813 r. pod Lipskiem poległ książę Józef Poniatowski” ↩
Wikipedia, “Józef Poniatowski”
Wikipedia, “Józef Poniatowski”