Polish leader, general, minister of war and army chief, who becomes a Marshal of the French Empire
1763 CE
to 1813 CE
Prince Józef Antoni Poniatowski (May 7, 1763 – October 19, 1813) is a Polish leader, general, minister of war and army chief, who becomes a Marshal of the French Empire.
A nephew of King Stanisław II Augustus, his military career begins in 1780 in the Austrian army, where he attains the rank of a colonel.
In 1789, after leaving the Austrian service, he joins the Polish army.
Poniatowski, now in the rank of major general and commander of the Royal Guards, takes part in the Polish-Russian War of 1792, leading the crown forces in Ukraine, where he fighst a victorious battle of Zieleńce.
After the king's support for the infamous Targowica Confederation Poniatowski is forced to resign.
In 1794 he participates in the Kościuszko Uprising and is in charge of defending Warsaw, for which he is subsequently exiled.
In 1798 Poniatowski is permitted to return; however, he refuses the offer to serve in the Imperial Russian army commissioned to him by Tsar Alexander I.
In 1806, after the creation of the Duchy of Warsaw, Józef Poniatowski is appointed the minister of war.
In 1809 he commands a sixteen thousand-strong army during the Austro-Polish War and achieves tactical success over a larger and more experienced Austrian force in the battle of Raszyn.
This is followed by an advance into the territory of Galicia.
The conflict ends with a miraculous Polish victory that allows the Duchy to partially recover lands once lost in the Partitions of Poland.
A close aid to Napoleon Bonaparte, Poniatowski voluntarily takes part in the French invasion of Russia.
He is injured during the fighting for Moscow, which eventually forces his return to Warsaw, where he works on the reconstruction of the Polish Armed Forces intended to fight in Germany.
Covering the retreat of the French army after losing the "Battle of the Nations" at Leipzig (1813), Poniatowski is repeatedly wounded and drowns in the Elster river.
