Tadeusz Kościuszko – hero of several nations – Cracow’s Main Square
Fact of the Polish figure „St. Adalbert”
Part of the „The patrons and guardians of the land” topic
Among the national heroes of Poland, few were as renowned as Tadeusz Kościuszko (1746-1817). Raised in the spirit of Enlightenment, Kościuszko joined American revolutionaries against the British Crown in 1776 as a military engineer – his most famous achievements were designing the rampart at Saratoga and the original fortifications of West Point, where Americans eventually located a military academy. Having returned to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, he fought in the defensive war against the Russian Empire in 1792. That struggle was lost, but two years later her became the leader of one final movement aimed to secure the independence of Poland-Lithuania as a supreme commander. On 24th March 1794, he declared the start of the uprising against the foreign influence, later named in his honor. His eventual defeat sealed the final partition of the Commonwealth, but for years to come, Tadeusz Kościuszko was memorized as a symbol of resistance against tyranny by several nations – not only Polish, but also Lithuanian, Belorussian or American – as well as numerous artists, including A. Mickiewicz, G. Byron or J. Verne.
