Duchy of Warsaw

Duchy of Warsaw
Księstwo Warszawskie (Polish)
Duché de Varsovie (French)
Herzogtum Warschau (German)
1807–1815
Lesser coat of arms:
The Duchy of Warsaw in 1812
The Duchy of Warsaw in 1812
StatusSatellite state of the French Empire,
Personal union with the Kingdom of Saxony
CapitalWarsaw
Common languages
  • Polish
  • French
  • German
Religion
Roman Catholic
GovernmentUnitary parliamentary semi-constitutional monarchy
Duke 
• 1807–1815
Frederick Augustus I
Governor-general of the Duchy of Warsaw 
• 1807-1809
Louis-Nicolas Davout
Prime Minister 
• 1807
Stanisław Małachowski
• 1807–1808
Ludwik S. Gutakowski
• 1808–1809
Józef Poniatowski
• 1809–1815
Stanisław K. Potocki
LegislatureSejm
Senate
Chamber of Deputies
Historical eraNapoleonic Wars
9 June 1807
22 July 1807
19 April 1809
14 October 1809
24 June 1812
9 June 1815
CurrencyZłoty
Preceded by
Succeeded by
South Prussia
West Prussia
New East Prussia
Netze District
West Galicia
Congress Poland
Grand Duchy of Posen
West Prussia
Free City of Cracow
Today part ofPoland
Lithuania
Belarus¹
¹ Sopoćkinie area

The Duchy of Warsaw (Polish: Księstwo Warszawskie; French: Duché de Varsovie; German: Herzogtum Warschau), also known as the Grand Duchy of Warsaw[1] and Napoleonic Poland,[2] was a French client state established by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1807, during the Napoleonic Wars. It initially comprised the ethnically Polish lands ceded to France by Prussia under the terms of the Treaties of Tilsit, and was augmented in 1809 with territory ceded by Austria in the Treaty of Schönbrunn. It was the first attempt to re-establish Poland as a sovereign state after the 18th-century partitions and covered the central and southeastern parts of present-day Poland.

The duchy was held in personal union by Napoleon's ally, Frederick Augustus I of Saxony, who became the duke of Warsaw and remained a legitimate candidate for the Polish throne. Following Napoleon's failed invasion of Russia, Napoleon seemingly abandoned the duchy, and it was left to be occupied by Prussian and Russian troops until 1815, when it was formally divided between the two countries at the Congress of Vienna. The east-central territory of the duchy acquired by the Russian Empire was subsequently transformed into a polity called Congress Poland, and Prussia formed the Grand Duchy of Posen in the west. The city of Kraków, Poland's cultural centre, was granted "free city" status until its incorporation into Austria in 1846.

  1. ^ "A Guide to the United States' History of Recognition, Diplomatic, and Consular Relations, by Country, since 1776: Poland". US Department of state. Archived from the original on 2020-07-21. Retrieved 2022-02-23.
  2. ^ The Cambridge History of Poland. Cambridge University Press. 15 September 2016. ISBN 9781316620038.