Polish Society Towards the Founding of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw in the Light of the French Resident’s Telegrams

Abstract

The paper focuses on the evaluation of the diplomatic correspondence conducted by Napoleonic residents in Warszawa. What is brought to our minds while reading it is, above all, the attitude of the society of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw towards France. The author of the letters consider the causes of the rising dislike towards the emperor's policy. The French diplomats noticed that the dislike towards their homeland and the ruler was caused mainly by political disappointment (the territorial limitation of the Duchy) and the enormous economic burdens, incommensurable with the economic opportunities of the country.

Despite the dislike of the contemporaries, the descendants, who had more bitter experience of the invaders, created the myth of Napoleon – the saviour of Poland. This myth certainly did not exist in the years 1807-1814, in the short period of the Duchy.