Napoleono reformos Lietuvoje

Abstract

On July 7, 1807 Napoleon and Czar Alexander I concluded a peace and alliance treaty in Tilsit. By this treaty the Warsaw Duchy was created including the Polish and Lithuanian lands in conquered Prussia. The principality was represented by a small part of Lithuania on the left side of Nemunas - Užnemunė (southwestern part of Lithuania). The new small state was politically and military closely linked with France. After Napoleon's war with Austria in 1809 Cracow and part of Galicia were annexed to it. In the Warsaw Duchy Napoleon abolished the inequality of estates, i.e., emancipated the peasants-serfs. Some time later the local administration announced that the land used by peasants was the property of landowners. After the fall of the Napoleon empire great arguments arose in the Vienna Congress (1814-1815) as to the fate of the Warsaw Duchy. After its "trimming" in favour of Prussia and Austria the remaining lands (including Warsaw) comprised a new small state - an autonomous Kingdom of Poland within the Russian empire. It also included Užnemunė. Napoleon's social reforms appeared to be more stead¬fast and some of them even irreversible. Alexander I had to conform with the new trends of social development and accept the changes made by Napoleon. In the new autonomous Kingdom of Poland (concomitantly in Užnemunė) the code of Napoleon and the emancipation of serfs remained in force. In this part of Lithuania the progress of life was more obvious. The gentry merged with the rich peasants thus creating the basis for a national intelligentsia. This region played an important role in the further development of Lithuania.