January Uprising breaks out

Background. The uprising was an insurrection against Russian imperial rule in the Congress Kingdom of Poland and adjacent lands. A confluence of factors made it inevitable in early 1863. The Russian Empire, weakened by the Crimean War, had adopted a more liberal internal policy, encouraging Poland's underground National Government to plan an organized strike for spring 1863.

Trigger. Aleksander Wielopolski, head of civil administration, attempted to derail the Polish national movement by bringing forward conscription of young Polish activists into the Imperial Russian Army for 20-year service to January. This decision sparked the uprising, the very outcome Wielopolski and his subordinates had wanted to avoid.

Spread. The uprising erupted in the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania on 1 February 1863. The Central National Committee had not planned an uprising before spring 1863, but Wielopolski's conscription move forced its hand to call the uprising prematurely on the night of 22–23 January 1863.

Early Conflict. On 2 February 1863, the first major military engagement of the uprising occurred between Lithuanian peasants armed mostly with scythes and a squadron of Russian hussars outside Čysta Būda, near Marijampolė. This clash marked the violent expansion of the conflict beyond the initial planning stages.