Józef Dowbor-Muśnicki (Iosif Romanovich while in the Russian military; sometimes also Dowbór-Muśnicki; ; 25 October 1867 – 26 October 1937) was a Russian military officer and Polish general, serving with the Imperial Russian and then Polish armies. He was also the military commander of the Greater Poland Uprising. Early life Dowbor-Muśnicki was born in the Garbów (near Sandomierz) in an estate in the Radom Governorate of Congress Poland, the part of Poland that was then a part of the Russian Empire. His father was Roman Muśnicki, the owner of Garbów, descended from the Lithuanian Dowborów (Daubor) family (Przyjaciel coat of arms), who settled in Sandomierz during the 17th century. Józef was the younger brother of Konstanty, also a lieutenant general. Their mother was Antonina née Wierzbicki. His family traced its roots to medieval Polish nobility of evangelical reformed denomination. Dowbor received his basic education in the Nikolayevskiy Cadet Corps (Saint Petersburg). Service in the Russian Military (1867–1914) In 1884 he joined the Russian military and graduated from the 2nd Konstantinovskoye Military School (Saint Petersburg) in 1888. After serving in the Fanagorisky Grenadiers regiment, he studied at the General Staff Academy and graduated in 1902. He served in Manchuria during the Russo-Japanese War as a staff officer with the First Siberian Corps. On September 11, 1906, he was appointed a senior staff adjutant of the Irkutsk Military District and on March 2, 1908, a staff officer of the Xth Corps. On November 9, 1910 he became chief of staff of the 10th Infantry Division and on April 21, 1912 he was appointed to the same position with the 7th Infantry Division. World War I (1914–1917) At the beginning of World War I, Dowbor-Muśnicki was put in command of the 14th Siberian Infantry Regiment. On September 3, 1915, Dowbor-Muśnicki, by then a general, was assigned to the staff of the Russian 1st Army. On February 25, 1916 he was put in charge of the 123rd Infantry Division and on November 7, 1916 of the 38th Infantry Division. He was temporarily put in charge of the staff of the Russian 1st Army on January 17, 1917, 5 weeks before the February Revolution that overthrew Tsar Nicholas II. 1917 Revolution In the immediate aftermath of the February Revolution, Dowbor-Muśnicki continued his military career and was appointed commander of the XXXVIIIth Corps on April 28, 1917 and made Lieutenant General on May 5, 1917. In