Talk:Józef Wysocki (general)

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Jòzef Wysocki

Jòzef Wysocki A Polish military man and democratic emigré politician. Born in 1809 in Ukraine. In 1828, Wysocki was serving in the Congress Kingdom army. He took part in the November Rising and was a member of the Patriotic Society (PDS) and focused primarily on military courses organized by PDS in Paris and, together with Mieroslawski, developed plans of a future insurrection in Poland. In the 1846 rising he was appointed the military commander of western Galicia and the Free City of Cracow.

In March 1848, Wysocki was active in Poznan where he was directed by Mieroslawski to Cracow. He joined there the national committee and was in charge of forming the national guard. After Cracow had been bombarded by the Austrians, Wysocki left for Lviv. Together with Heltman, he worked out a plan for a popular rising headed by the Polish Democratic Society. In November 1848 he went to Hungary, as a representative of the Cracow national committee and Lviv's national council, to organize Polish military formations. Once in Hungary, he established contacts with Kossuth. On November 18, 1848, Wysocki was promoted to major and commander-in-chief of the Polish Legion in Hungary. He distinguished himself in the battles of Tapiobicske, Isaszeg, Vac, and Nagysarlo and proved to be a good middle-level leader, modest and popular among soldiers. As a democrat, he often was in conflict with Generals Bem and Dembinski.

On August 20, 1849, Wysocki with his legion crossed the Turkish border and was interned in Vidyn, Shumen, and Kutahia in present-day Bulgaria. September 1851 saw him again in France. In 1853, he established (together with Elzanowski and Mieroslawski) a democratic Polish circle, opposed to the Central Coordinating Committee (Centralization) of the Polish Democratic Society. During the Crimean War he went to Istanbul where he attempted, without success, to set up a Polish Legion. During 1860-1861, Wysocki was active in the formation and operation of the Polish military school in Piemont. In March 1863, he became the president of the Emigration Committee in Paris. He was busy buying armaments for the January rising and, in summer 1863, he actually fought as a commander of the rising's forces in Ruthenian and the Lublin district. Following the defeat at Radziwillow, he was interned in Austria and in 1865 returned to France to engage again in organizational and political activities. During the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-1871 he unsuccessfully tried to set up a Polish legion that would join French forces. Wysocki died in 1873.

His publications included: A Course on Military Art (1842); Military Formations of Infantry, Cavalry and Artillery (Paris 1845); Memoirs (Poznan 1850); From a Soldier's Memoirs Dziennik Literacki, Lvov 1862. Leszek Kuk

Bibliography Jez, T. T. (Z. Milkowski). Sylwety emigracyjne. Lviv 1904, 123-142.

Kozlowski, E. Legion Polski na Wegrzech. Warsaw 1983.

Lewak, A. Dzieje emigracji polskiej w Turcji (1831-1878). Warsaw, 1935.

Andrzej Szmyt General J�zef Wysocki : (1809 - 1873) ; w s�lu�zbie wolno�sci Polak�w i W�egr�w Olsztyn, Wydawn. Uniw. Warmi�nsko-Mazur, 2001

Tyrowicz, M. Towarzystwo Demokratyczne Polskie 1832-1863: Przywòdcy i kadry czlonkowskie. Przewodnik bibliograficzny. Warsaw, 1964. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 168.18.164.141 (talk) 18:30, 30 June 2014 (UTC)