[1][2] A nephew of the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania Stanisław II August (r. 1764–1795), Poniatowski began his military career in 1780 in the Austrian army, where he attained the rank of colonel.

Poniatowski, now in the rank of major general and commander of the Royal Guards, took part in the Polish–Russian War of 1792, leading the crown forces at the victorious Battle of Zieleńce.

He commanded a 16,000-strong army during the Austro-Polish War (April to October 1809) and achieved tactical success over a larger and more experienced Austrian force in the Battle of Raszyn.

Covering the retreat of the French army after Napoleon lost the "Battle of the Nations" at Leipzig (1813), Poniatowski was repeatedly wounded and drowned in the Elster river.

His father died when Józef was ten, Stanislaus Augustus then became his guardian and the two enjoyed a close personal relationship that lasted for the rest of their lives.

Laure Junot, Duchess of Abrantès, wife of Jean-Andoche Junot, described Poniatowski in his mid-twenties as having been: handsome, brave, enterprising, and determined, as he himself once assured me, to undertake everything for the liberation of unhappy Poland[4]Having chosen a military career, Poniatowski joined the Austrian imperial army, where he was commissioned lieutenant in 1780, in 1786/1788 promoted to colonel, and, when Austria declared war against the Ottoman Empire in 1788, he became an aide-de-camp to Emperor Joseph II.

In October 1789, together with Tadeusz Kościuszko and three others, Poniatowski received the rank of major-general, and was appointed commander of a division in Ukraine and devoted himself to rebuilding the small, and long-time neglected, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth's army.

In the fighting, badly outnumbered and outgunned by the enemy, obliged constantly to retreat, but disputing every point of vantage, he turned on the pursuer whenever the Russian pressed too closely, and won several notable victories.

At the Battle of Dubienka fought by Kościuszko and his soldiers on 18 July, the line of the Southern Bug River was defended for five days against fourfold odds.

There a courier from the capital informed the Commander in Chief that King Stanislaus had acceded to the pro-Russian Targowica Confederation and had pledged the adherence of the Polish Army to it as well.

[5] The army remained loyal to Prince Józef and he considered staging a coup d'état option that involved kidnapping the King, but after issuing contradictory orders, he finally decided not to do so.

Between 5 and 10 August, in a victorious and promising series of confrontations, he took the Góry Szwedzkie region from the Prussians and then lost it after a couple of weeks in a counterattack, for which, despite Kościuszko's warnings, he did not properly prepare.

During the course of the war and revolution the Prince felt alienated by the actions and influence of the radical wing led by Hugo Kołłątaj, while the military cooperation between him, Dąbrowski, and Józef Zajączek was not what it should have been, and worsened after Kościuszko's capture at Maciejowice.

He stayed in St. Petersburg for several months, and then, being on good terms with Tsar Paul and his court, returned to Poland, into his estates in Warsaw (Copper-Roof and Myślewicki palaces) and in Jabłonna.

His household was managed strictly by one Henriette de Vauban [pl], an older woman whom he brought from Vienna and who was apparently able to exert a great deal of influence over the Prince.

In 1802, beset by legal troubles stemming from Stanislaus' succession, Poniatowski made a trip to Berlin, where he stayed for months and established cordial personal relations with the Prussian royal family.

[5] All of this turned out to be a short-lived Polish provisional authority, because the quick succession of events on the European scene presented the Poles with new opportunities and forced upon them new choices.

On 14 January 1807, by the Emperor's decree, the Warsaw Governing Commission was created under Stanisław Małachowski, and within this structure Poniatowski became officially Director of the Department of War and set about organizing the Polish army.

The Duchy's army existed and operated under the most difficult circumstances and its success depended largely on the military and political skills of the chief commander.

Afterwards however decided not to defend Warsaw and withdrew with his units to the east bank of the Vistula River, to the fortified Praga suburb, which the Austrians attacked, but were defeated at Grochowo on 26 April.

An Austrian division then crossed the Vistula again trying to pursue the Poles, but was routed on 2 May at Góra Kalwaria in a daring attack led by General Michał Sokolnicki.

But Poniatowski in the meantime moved west of the Vistula and on 5 July, the day of the Battle of Wagram, began from Radom, his new southbound offensive aimed at Kraków.

In April 1811 Poniatowski went to Paris, where he represented the King of Saxony and Duke of Warsaw Frederick Augustus I at the baptism ceremonies of Napoleon's son.

Not only was the region warmer, Polish gentry from the Russian partition would join in, and possible Turkish action against Russia could be supported, which was the most advantageous theater for the upcoming war.

The Polish corps fought then the battles at Chirikovo on 29 September and Vinkovo on 18 October, where Poniatowski saved Murat from a complete defeat by Kutuzov's forces.

When many Polish leaders began to waver in their allegiance to the French Emperor, Poniatowski resisted this change of opinion and remained faithful to Napoleon,[5] even when Tsar Alexander I offered him amnesty and proposed future cooperation.

The corps fought major successful battles at Löbau on 9 September, and at Zedtlitz on 10 October, where General Pahlen attempted to stop their movement toward Leipzig, but was defeated in a cavalry charge led by Poniatowski.

[citation needed] As a reward for his services, on 16 October during the Battle of Leipzig, Poniatowski was made a Marshal of the Empire and entrusted with the duty of covering the French Army's retreat.

[15] He was an inspiration for Polish freedom fighters throughout a number of armed conflicts, but especially during the November Uprising of 1830, since many of its leaders had served under Poniatowski's command during the Napoleonic Wars.

A Japanese manga, Ten no Hate made - Porando hishi, was written by Riyoko Ikeda in 1991, commemorating the life of Józef Poniatowski.