The Polish Contribution to the Baden Revolution 1848/49

Abstract

This essay examines the work of the Polish freedom fighters in the revolution in southwest German Baden in 1848/49 by identifying the personal connections between the uprisings in Baden and Poznań and identifying Prussia as a common enemy. In particular, the role of the Polish military officer Ludwik Mierosławski as general of the Baden troops is honoured. The goal is thus to determine the exact contribution of Polish fighters in the Baden Revolution and how they interacted with the Baden revolutionaries. Thus, the essay also sheds light on the help of Baden for the Polish fight for freedom in the form of so-called Polish associations. For this purpose, the essay presents the eyewitness accounts of the year 1849 from the perspective of Baden and Polish participants. Methodologically, the article extracts the specific events in Baden and Poznań from the general revolutionary history of the years 1848/49. Chronologically, the essay also looks back at prehistory up to 1815 and offers a look at the life of the revolutionaries after 1849. The events in Baden and Poznań are finally placed in a larger context, especially in the context of the European freedom movements, the international cooperation of the revolutionaries, and Polandʼs striving for independence.