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29 November in military history: November Uprising, 1830

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Night painting of a Warsaw square under a sky lit red by fire: ranks of soldiers with fixed bayonets stand before the Arsenal building, an officer rides a white horse across the square, and armed townspeople fight in the foreground among fallen men and scattered sabers.
The Taking of the Arsenal on the night of 29 November 1830, painted by Marcin Zaleski in 1831. National Museum in Warsaw. Public domain. National Museum in Warsaw, via Wikimedia Commons.
Quick answer

On the evening of 29 November 1830 a conspiracy of Polish officer cadets in Warsaw rose against Russian rule in the Kingdom of Poland. Their attack on the Belweder palace failed to seize Grand Duke Constantine, but the people of Warsaw, helped by Polish soldiers, took the Arsenal, and the November Uprising began.1

The cadets' conspiracy

The secret society behind the rising was founded in 1828 at the Infantry Cadet School in Warsaw, led by Second Lieutenant Piotr Wysocki. The revolutions of 1830 in France and Belgium hastened the outbreak, and news that the Russian army was being mobilized persuaded the conspirators to act at once.2

The rising was set for six in the evening of 29 November, and the signal was to be a fire at a brewery in Warsaw's Solec district. The attack on the Belweder, the residence of Grand Duke Constantine, the Tsar's brother and commander of the army in Poland, failed to capture him. Six Polish generals who refused to join the rising were killed by the conspirators. The turning point was the capture of the Arsenal and its weapons by the people of Warsaw, with soldiers of the 4th Infantry Regiment.3

Ten months of war

The rising became a war that lasted until the autumn of 1831. Among its battles were the defense of Warsaw at Olszynka Grochowska on 25 February 1831 and the battle of Ostrołęka. In September 1831 the Russians stormed Warsaw, and the rising was over by October.4

The rising's slogan and its exiles are the subject of our article For your freedom and ours, and its commanders and heroes appear in our profiles of Józef Bem and Emilia Plater.

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Frequently asked questions

When did the November Uprising begin?

On the evening of 29 November 1830 in Warsaw, when a conspiracy of Polish officer cadets led by Piotr Wysocki rose against Russian rule.5

Why is it called the November Uprising?

Because it broke out in Warsaw on 29 November 1830, on the night of 29 to 30 November. In English it is also called the November Insurrection.6

How did the November Uprising end?

The Russians stormed Warsaw in September 1831, and by October the rising was over.7

Notes

A number in the text points to a note; each note names the works that paragraph draws on, listed in full under Sources.

  1. dzieje.pl, “W nocy z 29 na 30 listopada 1830 r. wybuchło Powstanie Listopadowe”; Encyclopaedia Britannica, “November Insurrection”; Zintegrowana Platforma Edukacyjna, “Przebieg powstania listopadowego”. ↩
  2. dzieje.pl, “W nocy z 29 na 30 listopada 1830 r. wybuchło Powstanie Listopadowe”; Zintegrowana Platforma Edukacyjna, “Przebieg powstania listopadowego”; Encyclopaedia Britannica, “November Insurrection”. ↩
  3. dzieje.pl, “W nocy z 29 na 30 listopada 1830 r. wybuchło Powstanie Listopadowe”; Zintegrowana Platforma Edukacyjna, “Przebieg powstania listopadowego”; Encyclopaedia Britannica, “November Insurrection”. ↩
  4. dzieje.pl, “W nocy z 29 na 30 listopada 1830 r. wybuchło Powstanie Listopadowe”; Encyclopaedia Britannica, “November Insurrection”; Zintegrowana Platforma Edukacyjna, “Przebieg powstania listopadowego”. ↩
  5. dzieje.pl, “W nocy z 29 na 30 listopada 1830 r. wybuchło Powstanie Listopadowe”; Encyclopaedia Britannica, “November Insurrection”; Zintegrowana Platforma Edukacyjna, “Przebieg powstania listopadowego”. ↩
  6. dzieje.pl, “W nocy z 29 na 30 listopada 1830 r. wybuchło Powstanie Listopadowe”; Encyclopaedia Britannica, “November Insurrection”. ↩
  7. Encyclopaedia Britannica, “November Insurrection”; Zintegrowana Platforma Edukacyjna, “Przebieg powstania listopadowego”. ↩

Sources

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