Momentous European political and intellectual movements at the turn of the nineteenth century, among their other effects, will keep the "Polish Question" on the agenda of international issues needing resolution.

Most immediately, Napoleon Bonaparte has established a new empire in France in 1804 following that country's revolution.

Napoleon's attempts to build and expand his empire keep Europe at war for the next decade and bring him into conflict with the same East European powers that had beleaguered Poland in the last decades of the previous century.

An alliance of convenience is the natural result of this situation.

Volunteer Polish legions attach themselves to Bonaparte's armies, hoping that in return the emperor will allow an independent Poland to reappear out of his conquests.

Although Napoleon promises more than he ever intends to deliver to the Polish cause, in 1807 he creates a Duchy of Warsaw from Prussian territory that had been part of old Poland and is still inhabited by Poles.

Basically a French puppet, the duchy does enjoy some degree of self-government, and many Poles believe that further Napoleonic victories will bring restoration of the entire commonwealth.