French Attitudes toward Poland in the Napoleonic Period

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The period 1806–1815 in Franco-Polish relations was marked by more French influence on Polish soil than ever before or since. Nonetheless, French attitudes toward Poland and the Poles during the Napoleonic period were molded not by personal experience but rather by stereotypes established earlier by a discourse created during the Enlightenment, positing Poland as Other. Despite the resulting negative view of Poles held by most French generals and statesmen, Napoleon was not captured by this treatment of Poland for he had need of the Poles and would not allow any construct to impede his path. Napoleon’s views were decided by events and the Poles—despite French apprehensions— and fulfilled Napoleon’s expectations. Napoleon looked to the Poles as a means to an end: the extension of French power and the Napoleonic Empire. Napoleon’s relationship with the Poles was thus based on an imperial discourse, based on the unequal status of French and Poles. French influence and power in Poland became a self-justifying argument for continuing control of Polish affairs.