The January Uprising was organised against Russia, which controlled a vast area of what used to be the Republic of Poland and Lithuania before the partitions of the 18th century. The national authorities of the "secret Polish state" formed during the period of the January Uprising came into being as a direct result of the actions of the patriotic movement which began in 1856 in the Russian occupied part of Poland and spread later to the Austrian and Prussian occupied parts of the country. The movement was created by self-organising of various social groups. It was divided into two camps, namely the Red and the White one, which established their own secret organisations. The Whites, founded in 1861, were led by the National Directorate. Landowners and intelligentsia prevailed in that camp, whereas the Reds called the National Organisation gathered mostly radical youth from the working class, intelligentsia, and students and pupils.

Their main goal was to regain independence through armed resistance combined with social reforms and especially distributing land to peasants. In 1861 the Reds set up the so-called City Committee, which became the Central National Committee in June 1862. One of its members was Jarosław Dąbrowski who was arrested in August of the same year. Subsequently, Dąbrowski became the leader of the Commune of Paris. The committee performed the functions of a Polish government as the only "legal" authority.

On January 15th, 1863 it took the decision to begin an uprising, changed its name into the Provisional National Government, issued a manifesto to the nation and chose Ludwik Mierosławski as its dictator. In March 1863 the Whites joined the uprising and in May a decree was issued in which the name of the government was changed into the National Government. Its seal featured three emblems: of the Crown (i.e. Poland), Lithuania and Ruthenia. A special role in the uprising was played by the central national authorities in Warsaw but the uprising also spread over Lithuania, Galicia (under Austrian occupation) and the Poznań province (under Prussian occupation). In all those places new committees and organs of the independent authorities were established.

In October 1863 Romuald Traugutt took over power but the uprising lasted only throughout winter. In February 1864 the last sizable Polish units were destroyed and in April Traugutt was arrested. He was then executed together with a group of other leaders in the Warsaw Citadel in August 1864. In December 1864 the last governor of Warsaw Aleksander Waszkowski was arrested and his arrest became the final act of the functioning of the independent state administration during the two and a half years of the uprising.

In all, 1229 battles and skirmishes were fought during the uprising by around two hundred thousand volunteers. As a direct result of the failure of the January Uprising the so-called Kingdom of Poland was deprived of its autonomy, schools were brought under Russian rule, estates of those who took part in the uprising were confiscated and mass deportations to Siberia took place. However, the uprising played an important role in the strengthening of national awareness and showed the administrative skills of its leaders whose decrees were observed by the majority of Polish society. During the uprising underground press was distributed, taxes were collected, communication links were established, and gendarmerie and counter-intelligence were formed. In comparison to other uprisings or revolutionary actions the January Uprising was of a unique character as it was supported by the activities of an independent state.

The January Uprising of 1863 experienced a show of solidarity throughout Europe, especially among the Balkan nations (many people volunteered to fight in Poland) but the expected foreign intervention and official help of other countries did not come. Despite the fact that the uprising failed, the underground state formed the identity of the next generations, which continued work aimed at preparing the structures of a future independent state formed fifty years later in 1918.