Date: 14 October 2024 Author: Szymon Polewka
General Józef Bem: Hero of Poles, Hungarians, and Turks
A staunch enemy of Tsarist Russia, a hero of three nations, Józef Bem became famous in history as a talented general and an astute strategist.
„…Iusiurandum, patri datum, usque
ad hanc diem ita servavi…”
Hannibal
In the November Uprising he commanded the Polish artillery, in the Hungarian Uprising he distinguished himself as commander-in-chief and at the end of his life he served as a marshal of the Turkish army in the service of the sultan. His biography perfectly reflects the spirit of Polish romanticism, which, despite his emigration, remained faithful to the Polish idea of independence until the end of his life.
Gen. Józef Zachariasz Bem, Source: Museum of the Tarnów Region
Loyal to his homeland with his heart
Józef Zachariasz Bem was born on 14th March 1794 in Tarnów as the son of a lawyer, a nobleman. His birth coincided with the agony and death of the First Polish Republic. In his early years, Bem’s family moved to a village near Kraków to manage a newly acquired rural estate. At the age of 15, Józef Bem joined the army of the Duchy of Warsaw, after which he was sent to the Elementary School of Artillery and Engineers in Warsaw. From 1811, he was a lieutenant of horse artillery. In 1812, he took part in the Napoleonic campaign against Russia. After Napoleon’s defeat in 1815, he returned to service in the puppet Kingdom of Poland, where he lectured at the Winter Artillery School, while conducting experiments on a new type of combat rocket, the so-called Congreve flares. These rockets were lighter, which made them more mobile, and could be used to both hit infantry and set buildings on fire. Bem’s actions resulted in the preparation of a report in French, Notes sur les fusees incendiares (Notes on incendiary rockets), and the creation of the first rocket artillery units in the Congress Poland army in 1823. From 1822, he came into conflict with the Russian military authorities, as a result of which he was imprisoned for some time and twice transferred to the so-called “reform”. Finally, Józef Bem was dismissed at the beginning of 1826, after which he left for Galicia, where he looked after the Potocki estate in Brodny. During this time, he selflessly supervised the reconstruction of the Ossolineum library building in Lviv, during which he became interested in the operation of steam engines. As a result of his studies on them, in 1829 he wrote the textbook On steam machines.
He returned to the Kingdom of Poland with the news of the outbreak of the November Uprising. In a letter to friends, he wrote, “I hasten to where my duty and feeling call.” In March 1831, he received the rank of major and command of the 4th battery of light horse artillery. In combat, he became famous for his bravado, courage and skillful use of horse artillery. His talent was particularly evident in the Battle of Iganie and while covering the retreat of Polish troops in the Battle of Ostrołęka. He was promoted successively to the ranks of colonel and brigadier general, and until the end he opposed the capitulation of the November Uprising. At the end of the uprising, he defended Warsaw on the Wola ramparts. In recognition of his achievements in combat, he was awarded the Golden Cross of Virtuti Militari.
General Józef Bem during the Battle of Sibin, Source: Łukasz Zalesiński, Bem, total soldier, Polska Zbrojna
For our freedom and yours
After the defeat of the uprising and his internment in Prussia, he emigrated to France, where he was one of the leading leaders of the Great Emigration. He co-founded the Polish Polytechnic Society in Paris, which created the foundations of the engineering elite for the future rebirth of the country. Bem himself deepened his knowledge at the École des Ponts et Chaussées in Paris. When the Spring of Nations swept over Europe in 1848, Józef Bem threw himself into the vortex of revolutionary struggle. In his diary, he wrote, “Poles are fighting not only for their own homeland, but also for the freedom of Europe.” In October 1848, he commanded the defense of revolutionary Vienna (Oktoberrevolution). After Vienna was captured by imperial troops, he escaped disguised as a coachman, along side roads to Pressburg (Bratislava), where he became directly involved in the Hungarian uprising. The leader of the Hungarian uprising, Lajos Kossuth, appointed Bem commander of the army in Transylvania. During his campaign in Transylvania, the Polish commander won over 30 victories, the most notable of which were successes in Banat, Wallachia and Bukovina. By March 1848, he managed to liberate Transylvania, for which he gained the status of a national hero among the Hungarians. Ultimately, the fate of the Hungarian uprising was sealed by the intervention, as part of the holy alliance, of Imperial Russia. In the last days of the uprising, Józef Bem was appointed commander-in-chief by Kossuth. Ultimately, Bem lost the decisive battle of Temeswar on August 9, 1849, which ended the uprising.
Józef Bem Monument in Budapest, Source: polonica.hu
Facing Mecca
Fleeing from Hungary, Józef Bem crossed the Danube on the border with the Ottoman Empire. Initially interned, he converted to Islam and, as Murad Pasha, counting on a Russian-Ottoman conflict, joined the Turkish army, receiving the rank of field marshal. Bem counted on fulfilling his eternal dream of establishing Polish legions abroad at the Sultan’s side. Due to diplomatic efforts by the Austrians and Russians, he was ordered to “honorary exile” to Aleppo in Syria. In Syria, he devoted himself to his engineering talent, developing a local center for iron ore and saltpeter mining, developing new machines and improvements, and making plans for regulating the Tigris and Euphrates. Józef Bem’s last heroic episode was the defense of Aleppo against Arab rebels in 1850. Shortly afterwards, he fell ill with fever (malaria). In the last moments of his life, according to his adjutant Józef Tabaczyński, he was supposed to have uttered “Poland, Poland! I will not save you anymore.”
Józef Bem Mausoleum in Strzelecki Park in Tarnów, Source: Monika321xc / Batko, Tarnów IKC.PL
Józef Bem died on December 10, 1850. He was buried according to Muslim thought. His body was wrapped in white cloth and laid facing Mecca in an old military cemetery located on the rocky mountain of Jebel el Isam (Turkish: Mountain of Great People). After Poland regained independence and was exhumed in 1929, Józef Bem’s ashes were transported to Poland, where they were laid to rest in a mausoleum in Tarnów. According to Islam, a Muslim cannot be buried on non-Islamic land, which is why he was not buried in any Polish cemetery. In his mausoleum, supported by six Corinthian columns, he lies high above the ground, just as his fantastic ideas and desire for Poland’s independence were floating.
References:
Dąbrowska Anna, Gen. Józef Bem – bohater trzech narodów, Polska Zbrojna, 14.03.2017, (accessed: 30.09.2024), https://web.archive.org/web/20210716144323/https://www.polska-zbrojna.pl/home/articleshow/22057?t=Gen-Jozef-Bem-bohater-trzech-narodow
Zalesiński Łukasz , Bem, żołnierz totalny, Polska Zbrojna, 17.03.2024, (accessed:: 30.09.2024), https://polska-zbrojna.pl/home/articleshow/41353?t=Bem-zolnierz-totalny
Chudzikowska Jadwiga, „Generał Bem”, Warszawa 1990
Kovacs Istvan, Józef Bem. Bohater wiecznych nadziei, Warszawa 2002
Norwid Cyprian Kamil, Bema Pamięci Żałobny Rapsod, [w] Drobne utwory poetyczne – Drobne utwory poetyczne/całość, Spółka Wydawnicza „Parnas Polski“: Warszawa, 1934, s. 190-192
Orłowski Bolesław , Bem Józef Zachariasz, [w] Józef Piłatowicz (red), Inżynierowie polscy w XIX i XX wieku, Polskie Towarzystwo Historii Techniki: Warszawa 2001, s. 21-24
https://web.archive.org/web/20140201174944/http://bc.pollub.pl/Content/240/T.7.pdf
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The „Dumni z Polski/Proud of Poland/Stolz auf Polen” project was funded by the National Institute of Freedom – Centre for Civil Society Development as part of the Government’s Youth Fund Programme 2022-2033.
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