Ludwik Mieroslawski

Born Jan. 17, 1814, in Nemours; died Nov. 22, 1878, in Paris. Polish politician.

Mierosławski fought in the Polish Uprising of 1830–31, and his book on the uprising, written in exile in France, made him famous as a military theorist. He became a member of the Centralizacja of the Polish Democratic Society in 1842. He was sent to Poznań in 1845 to organize a Polish uprising. Shortly before the date set for the uprising Mierosławski was captured by the Prussian authorities and condemned to death, but the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.

Released at the outbreak of the revolution in Germany in March 1848, Mierosławski commanded Polish national detachments in the Grand Duchy of Poznań from March to May 1848, but after the detachments were disarmed by the Prussians he was exiled to France. From December 1848 to April 1849 he commanded revolutionary forces in Sicily, and in June 1849 he led the rebel army in Baden and the Palatinate. While living in France in the 1850’s and 1860’s, Mierosławski established contact with the Bonapartists and tried to gain control of the growing revolutionary movement in Poland. He opposed a Russian-Polish revolutionary alliance, headed the right wing of the “reds,” and plotted against the Central National Committee. At the outbreak of the Polish Uprising of 1863–64, Mierosławski was proclaimed dictator. Arriving in the part of Poland under the control of the insurgents, he was defeated by tsarist forces in February 1863 and again went abroad. Thereafter he ceased to play a significant political role.