The uprising was organized by General Jan Henryk Dąbrowski to help advancing French forces under Napoleon in liberating Poland from Prussian occupation.
From the beginnings of Prussian rule Poles were subject to a series of measures aimed against them and their culture, notably the Polish language was abolished in favour of German.
[8] The War of the Fourth Coalition between Napoleonic France and the Kingdom of Prussia gave hope to the Polish inhabitants of Greater Poland of recovering their independence and ending oppressive Prussian rule.
This caused a great deal of trouble for Prussian commanders; for instance, between 1 November and 20 December, 3000 Polish troops (1/7th) deserted from the Toruń Corps.
In order to organize a diversion on the back of Prussians, Napoleon chose General Jan Henryk Dąbrowski, who was staying in Italy.
To realize this plan, Dąbrowski asked to have Polish officers from other Napoleonic units sent to him, and on his special request, Józef Wybicki was designated to become the future head of the civilian authorities.
Dąbrowski and Wybicki created Voivodship Commissions (Komisja wojewódzka) whose tasks were to take administrative control and keep the area quiet, preventing fights about social and economical issues.
In the same time, the Russian army under command of Bennigsen, invited by the Prussian King, captured Warsaw on 2 November and created a bridgehead on the left bank of the Vistula river.
Bennigsen evacuated the garrison on 27 November and burned the bridge, then he ordered to murder Polish citizens in the city right-bank district Praga (like 12 years earlier).
The French maneuver started on 23 December, when Le Grande Armée attacked the Russian rearguard which withdrew after a few hours.
The great merits of Dąbrowski and his popularity among soldiers weren't given much consideration, in the appointment of the Chief of the War Office in the Ruling Commission (szef Dyrekcji Wojny w Komisji Rządzącej).
Meanwhile, the units commanded by Amilkar Kosiński, which had been fighting against regular Prussian troops since December, won the battle of Koronowo and marched to Świecie, forcing the enemy to leave the town and securing this place of concentration for the newly created division.
Later on, Poniatowski ordered a part of the pospolite ruszenie that weakened the Poznań Division to disband, which were returned as reinforcements in February 1807.
After a reorganization, Poznań Division was composed of 6 battalions of infantry, 3 squadrons of cavalry and 2,000 pospolite ruszenie commanded by Gen. Michał Sokolnicki.
After 7 hours of battle, Poles captured Dirschau, but Gen. Dąbrowski was wounded, forcing him to leave his division for a while, and his son was badly injured as well.
The Pomeranian Campaign was ended by the capitulation of Königsberg on 15 June 1807, the later treaties of Tilsit and the recognition of the Duchy of Warsaw by the Kingdom of Prussia.
By the time of the uprising, the Prussian army, previously thought among the strongest of Europe, had been fought to almost the point of total liquidation.