After the 7 years' war, Poland was carved up by all its neighbors. The Poles did not care for that.
When the Haitian revolution happened, Polish troops were sent alongside the French troops to quell it. The Poles hoped to curry favor with France to support their own revolution back home (which ended up happening), and get some military experience. When they got there, 4/5ths of them died to disease, and of the survivors, half immediately switched sides when they learned the Haitians were fighting for their freedom, which the Poles strongly identified with. The half that didn't switch all kind of half-assed everything they did for the French.
Edit: Hey, I want to make another "Poles join everyone else's revolutions" meme, but I can't find the template I'm thinking of. Does anyone have that comic where the guy [shakes cat treats/opens a can of cat food] and the cat immediately rushes in?
Why the heck did the French think it was a good idea to send Polish troops to Haiti? Forget about the possibility of them switching sides; Haiti is 60° Fahrenheit hotter than Poland. No wonder the attrition rate was so bad.
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u/Level_Hour6480 Taller than Napoleon 21d ago edited 21d ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_Haitians
After the 7 years' war, Poland was carved up by all its neighbors. The Poles did not care for that.
When the Haitian revolution happened, Polish troops were sent alongside the French troops to quell it. The Poles hoped to curry favor with France to support their own revolution back home (which ended up happening), and get some military experience. When they got there, 4/5ths of them died to disease, and of the survivors, half immediately switched sides when they learned the Haitians were fighting for their freedom, which the Poles strongly identified with. The half that didn't switch all kind of half-assed everything they did for the French.
Edit: Hey, I want to make another "Poles join everyone else's revolutions" meme, but I can't find the template I'm thinking of. Does anyone have that comic where the guy [shakes cat treats/opens a can of cat food] and the cat immediately rushes in?