The purpose of the article was to analyze the reasons for the defeat of the January Uprising of 1863-1864. The author demonstrated why the illusions of its initiators in Paris and Warsaw had no chance of being supported in Ukraine due to ignorance or unwillingness to know the realities of the relationship between the Ukrainian peasantry and the Polish nobility. Rejecting the usual glorification of the next efforts of the Poles to win their freedom and independence, the author considered the prerequisites of the real situation and public mood, highlighting, in particular, the hatred of Ukrainians for extortionists and the unwillingness of the landed gentry to give up their privileges. The main conclusion of the article was the statement that the traditional attempt by the Poles to make 1863 the starting point of the "new Poland" was essentially untrue because the new Poland rather appeared only in 2022, when it, like Ukraine, felt threatened by Putin.
