Polish general
Dombrowski was born in Poland, near Krakow. He fought for the Saxon troops from 1770-1784, before taking up service in the Polish army in 1791. After the failed Kosciuszko uprising, of which he was a part of, Dombrowski sought refuge in France in 1795 and formed the Polish legions, with which he fought in the campaigns in the north of Italy, in the Cisalpine Republic and in Naples. He distinguished himself in Novi in 1799 and was named Major General in 1800. He continued to serve in Italy until he returned to Poland in 1806. There he set up a division in Poznan which fought in Danzig and in Friedland (1807).
From 1809, Dombrowski led a division in the Duchy of Warsaw, under the command of Prince Josef Poniatowski. In 1812, whilst he was taking part in the Russian campaign, he was forced to abandon Borisov to Russian troops far superior in number and was injured at the battle of Berezina. He fought at the battles of Möckern and Leipzig in 1813 and, following the death of Poniatowski in October 1813, became head of the 8th corps of the army. After Napoleon's fall in 1814, Dombrowski returned to Poland where Tsar Alexander I named him senator. He retired from official duties in 1816 and retired to his estates in Winna Gora (then in Prussian territory) where he died on 6 June, 1818, of pneumonia and gangrene.
Author: Jacques Garnier, trans. L.S.
Dictionnaire Napoléon, 1999, Fayard
Reproduced and translated with the authorisation of Editions Fayard. All rights reserved.