Przestępczość wojsk garnizonu krakowskiego na przełomie XVIII i XIX wieku

In 1796–1815 Cracow had a relatively large military garrison, composed at first (until 1809) by the Austrian, and later (until 1813) by the Polish army. The garrison was eventually (until 1815) made up of the Russian troops. The presence of the military units caused conflicts with the civilians mostly due to the assignment of living quarters, arbitrary seizure of apartments by the officers and due to drunkness. What was also reported were the robberies, batteries and, in single cases, the homicide. The largest incidence of offences as committed by the Austrian army was reported in 1809 during its war against the army of the Duchy of Warsaw while the largest number of offences commited by the Russian soldiers was observed at the time when they occupied the town (1814–1815). This shows that the scale of crime was bound with the current political situation and with the absence of supervision as exercised by the officers over the soldiers, the officers’ attitude toward the inhabitants of Cracow being, as a rule, hostile.