Galician slaughter

The Galician Slaughter, also known as the Peasant Uprising of 1846 or the Szela uprising (German: Galizisches Gemetzel; Polish: Rzeź galicyjska or Rabacja galicyjska), was a two-month uprising of Galicianpeasants that led to the suppression of the szlachta uprising (Kraków Uprising) and the massacre of szlachta in Galicia in the Austrian partition in early 1846. The uprising, which lasted from February to March, primarily affected the lands around the town of Tarnów.

It was a revolt against serfdom, directed against manorial property and oppression (for example, the manorial prisons); Galician peasants killed about 1,000 noblemen and destroyed about 500 manors. The Austrian government used the uprising to decimate nationalist Polish nobles, who were organizing an uprising against Austria.

It was the largest peasant uprising on Polish lands in the 19th century. It has also been called "the last jacquerie or peasant uprising in European history."

In the semi-autonomous Free City of Kraków, patriotic Polish intellectuals and nobles (szlachta) had made plans for a general uprising in partitioned Poland, intending to reestablish an independent Poland. A similar uprising of nobility was planned in Poznań, but police quickly caught the ringleaders. The Kraków Uprising began on the night of February 20, and initially met with limited successes.

In the meantime, the recent poor harvests resulted in significant unrest among the local peasantry.

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Wikipedia