Editing Tadeusz Kościuszko (section)

==Kościuszko Uprising==
{{Main|Kościuszko Uprising}}
[[File:Kosciuszko pod Raclawicami.jpg|thumb|Kościuszko and his peasant [[war scythe|scythemen]], from [[Jan Matejko|Matejko]]'s ''[[Battle of Racławice]]'']]

Learning that the Russian garrison had departed Kraków, Kościuszko entered the city on the night of 23 March 1794. The next morning, in [[Main Square, Kraków|the Main Square]], he announced an uprising.<ref name="Herbst434"/>  Kościuszko received the title of ''Naczelnik'' (commander-in-chief) of Polish–Lithuanian forces fighting against the Russian occupation.<ref>[[#Storozynski2011|Storozynski, 2011]], p. 252.</ref>

Kościuszko gathered an army of some 6,000, including 4,000 regular soldiers and 2,000 recruits, and marched on Warsaw.<ref name="Herbst434"/> The Russians succeeded in organizing an army to oppose him more quickly than he had expected. Still, he scored a [[Battle of Racławice|victory at Racławice]] on 4 April 1794, where he turned the tide by personally leading an infantry charge of peasant volunteers (''[[Scythemen|kosynierzy]]'', scythemen). Nonetheless, this Russian defeat was not strategically significant, and the Russian forces quickly forced Kościuszko to retreat toward Kraków. Near [[Połaniec]] he received reinforcements and met with other Uprising leaders (Kołłątaj, Potocki); at Połaniec he issued a major political declaration of the Uprising, the [[Proclamation of Połaniec]]. The declaration stated that serfs were entitled to civil rights and reduced their work obligations (corvée).<ref name="Herbst435">[[#Herbst|Herbst, 1969]], p. 435.</ref>  Meanwhile, the Russians set a [[Bounty (reward)|bounty]] for Kościuszko's capture, "dead or alive".<ref>[[#Storozynski2011|Storozynski, 2011]], p. 283.</ref>

{{multiple image| footer = The [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]] first issued [[Polish zloty|zloty]] banknotes in 1794 under the authority of Tadeusz Kościuszko. ''Above:'' 5-, 10- and 25-''złoty'' notes. | width = 70| image1 = POL-A1a-Bilet Skarbowy-5 Zlotych (1794 First Issue).jpg |alt1=5 Zlotych, first issue of 1794| image2 = POL-A2a-Bilet Skarbowy-10 Zlotych (1794 First Issue).jpg|alt2=10 Zlotych, first issue of 1794| image3 = POL-A3a-Bilet Skarbowy-25 Zlotych (1794 First Issue).jpg|alt3=25 Zlotych, first issue of 1794}}
By June, the Prussians had begun actively aiding the Russians, and on 6 June 1794, Kościuszko fought a defensive battle against a Prussian–Russian force at [[Battle of Szczekociny|Szczekociny]].<ref name="Herbst435"/> From late June, for several weeks, he [[Siege of Warsaw (1794)|defended Warsaw]], controlled by the insurgents. On 28 June, a mob of insurgents in Warsaw captured and hanged Bishop [[Ignacy Jakub Massalski|Ignacy Massalski]] and six others. Kościuszko issued a public reproach, writing, "What happened in Warsaw yesterday filled my heart with bitterness and sorrow", urging, successfully for no more lynchings in the area.<ref>[[#Storozynski2009|Storozynski, 2009]], pp. 195–96.</ref> 

By the morning of 6 September, the Prussian forces having been withdrawn to suppress an [[Greater Poland uprising (1794)|uprising underway in Greater Poland]], the siege of Warsaw was lifted. On 10 October, during a sortie against a new Russian attack, Kościuszko was wounded and captured at [[Battle of Maciejowice|Maciejowice]]. He was imprisoned by the Russians at [[Saint Petersburg]] in the [[Peter and Paul Fortress]].<ref name="Herbst436">[[#Herbst|Herbst, 1969]], pp. 435–36.</ref> Soon afterwards, the uprising ended with the [[Battle of Praga]], where, according to a contemporary Russian witness, the Russian troops massacred 20,000 Warsaw residents.<ref>[[#Storozynski2011|Storozynski, 2011]], p. 291.</ref> The subsequent [[Third Partition of Poland]] ended the existence of a sovereign Polish and Lithuanian state for the next 123 years.<ref>[[#Landau|Landau & Tomaszewski, 1985]], p. 27.</ref>