Great Emigration

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A Polish exile, a 19th century graphic

The Great Emigration (Polish: Wielka Emigracja) was an emigration of political elites from Poland from 1831–1870. Since the end of the 18th century, a major role in Polish political life was played by people who carried out their activities outside the country as émigrés. Their fate was a consequence of the Partitions of Poland, which completely divided the lands of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth between the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Habsburg Monarchy of Austria. Because of this emigration of political elites, much of the political and ideological activity of the Polish intelligentsia during the 18th and 19th centuries was done outside of the lands of partitioned Poland.

Polish emigrants in Belgium, a 19th century graphic

Most of the political émigrés were based in France. The most important wave of emigration came after the November Uprising of 1830–1831. These Poles later fought and provided valuable support during the 1846 and 1848 revolutions in Poland. Their resistance was not limited to Polish revolutionary activity, as they also participated in various lands during the Revolutions of 1848, including France, the small principalities of Germany and Italy, Austria, Hungary, and the Danubian principalities Wallachia and Moldavia, South Americans Argentina and Uruguay "Guerra Grande" and later, War of Crimea. Additional waves of émigrés came after the failures of the attempted 1848 revolution and the January Uprising of 1863–1864.

Notable Poles of the Great Emigration living in exile:

Prince Adam Jerzy Czartoryski, leader of the Polish Government-in-Exile in Paris with embassies in London and Istanbul.
Fryderyk Chopin
Adam Mickiewicz
Juliusz Słowacki
Cyprian Kamil Norwid
Zygmunt Krasiński
Joachim Lelewel
Maurycy Mochnacki
Joseph Conrad Korzeniowski
Guillaume Apollinaire Kostrowicki
Piotr Michałowski
Seweryn Goszczyński
Jozef Bohdan Zaleski

Some Poles emigrated not because of politics, but to pursue their life's goals. This was the case of Maria Curie-Skłodowska, who was unable to get accepted into any Polish universities (due to her gender and repercussions of the January Uprising), and so decided to apply to the French universities.