The first 'Battle of Raszyn' was fought on
April 19,
1809 between armies of the
Austrian Empire and the
Duchy of Warsaw as a part of the
War of the Fifth Coalition in the
Napoleonic Wars. The Austrian army was defeated.
The Austrian
army under the
Archduke Ferdinand Karl Joseph of Austria-Este invaded the
Duchy of Warsaw in April,
1809. Polish troops under
Prince Józef Antoni Poniatowski withstood the Austrian attack on
Warsaw defeating them at
Radzymin and reconquered parts of former Poland including
Kraków and
Lwów by beating the Austrians at near the villages of Góra and
Grochów.
General Józef Antoni Poniatowski was presented grand-aigle de la
Légion d'Honneur, a saber of honour and a lancer's shako for this victory.
After the battle
After the Austrian army withdrew to the other side of the swamps, prince
Józef Poniatowski ordered his forces to withdraw towards
Warsaw. However, since the city fortifications were in a very bad shape and the
Saxon expeditionary force withdrew towards their homeland, Poniatowski decided to leave Warsaw undefended and withdraw to several fortresses located nearby (most notably to
Modlin Fortress and
Serock). The capital was seized with little opposition, but it was a
Pyrrhic victory since the Austrian commander diverted most of his forces there at the expense of other fronts. In the following weeks
Greater Poland was defended by the Corps of General
Henryk DÄ…browski and the
Polish cavalry seized
Lwów. Finally, Poniatowski left only a small force near Warsaw to prevent the Austrians from leaving it and moved the rest of his forces southwards, which led to capturing the city of Kraków.
On
October 14,
1809, the
Treaty of Schönbrunn was signed between
Austria and
France. According to it, the former state lost approximately 50 000 square kilometres of land inhabitated by over 1 900 000 people. The territories annexed by the
Duchy of Warsaw included the lands of
Zamość and Kraków as well as 50% of income of the
Wieliczka salt mines.
See also
★
Cyprian Godebski
External links
★
The Battle of Raszyn, 1809
References