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BEM, JOSEF (1795–1850)

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Originally appearing in Volume V03, Page 713 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BEM, JOSEF (1795–1850) , See also:Polish soldier, was See also:born at See also:Tarnow in See also:Galicia, and was educated at the military school at See also:Warsaw, where he especially distinguished himself in See also:mathematics. Joining a Polish See also:artillery See also:regiment in the See also:French service, he took See also:part in the See also:Russian See also:campaign of 1812, and subsequently so brilliantly distinguished himself in the See also:defence of See also:Danzig (January–November 1813) that he won the See also:cross of the See also:Legion of See also:Honour. On returning to See also:Poland he was for a See also:time in the Russian service, but lost his See also:post, and his See also:liberty as well for some time, for his outspokenness. In 1825 he migrated to See also:Lemberg, where he taught the See also:physical sciences. He was about to write a See also:treatise on the See also:steam-See also:engine, when the Polish See also:War of See also:Independence summoned him back to Warsaw in See also:November 183o. It was his skill as an artillery officer which won for the Polish See also:general Skrynecki the See also:battle of Igany (See also:March 8, 1831), and he distin-guished himself at the indecisive battle of Ostrolenka (May 26). He took part in the desperate defence of Warsaw against See also:Prince Paskievich (See also:September 6–7,1831). Then Bem escaped to See also:Paris, where he supported himself by teaching mathematics. In 1833 he went to See also:Portugal to assist the liberal Dom Pedro against the reactionary Dom See also:Miguel, but abandoned the See also:idea when it was found that a Polish legion could not be formed. A wider See also:field for his activity presented itself in 1848. First he attempted to hold See also:Vienna against the imperial troops, and, after the See also:capitulation, hastened to See also:Pressburg to offer his services to See also:Kossuth, first defending himself, in a See also:long memorial, from the accusations of treachery to the Polish cause and of aristocratic tendencies which the more fanatical See also:section of the Polish emigrant Radicals repeatedly brought against him. He was entrusted with the defence of Transylvania at the end of 1848, and in 1849, as the general of the See also:Szeklers (q.v.), he performed miracles with his little See also:army, notably at the See also:bridge of Piski (See also:February 9), where, after fighting all See also:day, he drove back an immense force of pursuers.

After recovering Transylvania he was sent to drive the See also:

Austrian general Puchner out of the See also:Banat of See also:Temesvar. Bem defeated him at Orsova (May 16), but the Russian invasion recalled him to Transylvania. From the 12th to 22nd of See also:July he was fighting continually, but finally, on the 31st of July, his army was annihilated by overwhelming See also:numbers near See also:Segesvar (Schassburg), Bem only escaping by feigning See also:death. Yet he fought a fresh See also:action at See also:Gross-Scheueren on the 6th of See also:August, and contrived to bring off the fragments of his See also:host to Temesvar, to aid the hardly-pressed Dembinski. Bem was in command and was seriously wounded in the last pitched battle of the war, fought there on the 9th of August. On the collapse of the See also:rebellion he fled to See also:Turkey, adopted Mahommedanism, and under the name of See also:Murad See also:Pasha served as See also:governor of See also:Aleppo, at which See also:place, at the See also:risk of his See also:life, he saved the See also:Christian See also:population from being massacred by the Moslems. Here he died on the 6th of September 185o. The tiny, withered, sickly See also:body of Bem was animated by an heroic See also:temper. Few men have been so courageous, and his See also:influence was magnetic. Even the rough Szeklers, though they did not understand the See also:language of their " little See also:father," regarded him with superstitious reverence. A statue to his honour has been erected at Maros-Vasarhely, but he lives still more enduringly in the immortal verses of the patriot poet See also:Sandor See also:Petofi, who See also:fell in the fatal action of the 31st of July at Segesvar. As a soldier Bem was remarkable for his excellent handling of artillery and the rapidity of his See also:marches.

See Johann Czetz, Memoiren fiber Bems Feldzug (See also:

Hamburg, 185o) ; Kalman Deresenyi, General See also:Bern's See also:Winter Campaign in Transylvania, 1848–1849 (Hung.), (See also:Budapest, 1896). (R. N.

End of Article: BEM, JOSEF (1795–1850)

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