Wielkopolska Uprising (1848)
| Greater Poland uprising 1848 | |||||||
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| Part of the Revolutions of 1848 | |||||||
 Battle at Miłosław, 1868 painting by Juliusz Kossak. |
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| Belligerents | |||||||
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Ludwik Mierosławski | Friedrich August Peter von Colomb | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| initially 20,000. demobilized to 4,000–5,000 before the start of the Prussian attack. | initially 30,000, later reinforced to 40,000 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 640 killed | about 500 killed | ||||||
The Greater Poland uprising of 1848 or Poznań Uprising (Polish: powstanie wielkopolskie 1848 roku or powstanie poznańskie) was an unsuccessful military insurrection of Poles against Prussian forces, during the Spring of Nations period. While the main fighting was concentrated in the Greater Poland region, fights also occurred in other part of the Prussian Partition of Poland, and protests were held in Polish inhabited regions of Silesia.
While the Kingdom of Prussia already possessed a large Polish population in Upper Silesia, it gained additional Polish citizens during the partitions of Poland. From the beginnings of Prussian rule, Poles were subject to a series of measures aimed against them and their culture; the Polish language was replaced by German as the official language, and most administration was made German as well; the Prussian ruler Frederick the Great despised Poles and hoped to replace them with Germans. Poles were portrayed as 'backward Slavs' by Prussian officials who wanted to spread German language and culture. The land of Polish nobility was confiscated and given to German nobles.Frederick the Great settled around 300,000 colonists in the Eastern provinces of Prussia and aimed at a removal of the Polish nobility by increasing the German population and trying to reduce Polish owned land. Another colonization attempt aimed at Germanization was pursued by Prussia after 1832, and while Poles constituted 73% of population in 1815, they were reduced to 60% in 1848, at the same time the German presence grew from 25% to 30%. The Poles were freed from Prussians with the arrival of Napoleon, and started a successful uprising against the Prussian forces in 1806.
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