The Partitions of Poland or Partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth[1][2][3] took place in the second half of the 18th century and ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The partitions were carried out by the Russian Empire, Kingdom of Prussia, and Habsburg Austria dividing up the Commonwealth lands among themselves. Three partitions took place:
- The First Partition: August 5, 1772.
- The Second Partition: January 23, 1793 (in which Austria did not participate).
- The Third Partition: October 24, 1795. With this partition, the independent nation of Poland ceased to exist.
The partitions are also divided by the partitioner into the Austrian partition, Prussian partition and the Russian partition.
The term "Fourth Partition of Poland" may refer to any subsequent division of Polish lands or to the diaspora communities that played important political roles in the reestablishment of the Polish nation-state after 1918.
History
Prelude
During the reign of Władysław IV (1632-48), the liberum veto had evolved. This policy of parliamentary procedure was based on the assumption of the political equality of every "gentleman", with the corollary that unanimous consent was required for all measures. A single member of parliament's belief that a measure was injurious to his own constituency (usually simply his own estate), even after the act had already been approved, became sufficient to strike the act. It became increasingly difficult to get action taken. The liberum veto also provided openings for foreign diplomats to get their ways, through bribing nobles to exercise it. Thus, one could characterise Poland-Lithuania in its final period (mid-18th century), prior to the partitions as already not a completely sovereign state: it could be seen almost as a vassal,[4] or in modern terms, a Russian satellite state, with Russian tsars effectively choosing Polish kings. This applies particularly to the last Commonwealth King Stanisław August Poniatowski, who for some time had been a lover of Russian Empress Catherine the Great.
In 1730 the neighbours of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (Rzeczpospolita), namely Prussia, Austria and Russia, signed a secret agreement in order to maintain the status quo: specifically, to ensure that the Commonwealth laws would not change. Their alliance later became known in Poland as the "Alliance of the Three Black Eagles" (or Löwenwolde's Treaty), because all three states used a black eagle as a state symbol (in contrast to the white eagle, a symbol of Poland). The Commonwealth had been forced to rely on Russia for protection against the rising Kingdom of Prussia, while Prussia was demanding a slice of the northwest in order to unite its Western and Eastern portions, although this would leave the Commonwealth with a Baltic coast only in Latvia and Lithuania. The Commonwealth could never be liquidated unless its longtime ally, Austria, allowed it,[citation needed] and first Catherine had to use diplomacy to win Austria to her side.
The Commonwealth had remained neutral in the Seven Years' War, though sympathizing with the alliance of France, Austria, and Russia, and allowing Russian troops access to its western lands as bases against Prussia. Frederick II of Prussia retaliated by ordering enough Polish currency counterfeited to severely affect the Polish economy. Through the Polish nobles whom Russia controlled and the Russian Minister to Warsaw, ambassador and Prince Nicholas Repnin, Empress Catherine the Great forced a constitution on the Commonwealth at the so-called Repnin Sejm of 1767, named after ambassador Repnin, who de facto dictated the terms of that Sejm (and who ordered the capture and exile of some vocal opponents of his policies to Kaluga in Russian Empire.,[4][5][6] including bishop Józef Andrzej Załuski[7] and others). This new constitution undid the reforms made in 1764 under Stanisław II. The liberum veto and all the old abuses of the last one and a half centuries were guaranteed as unalterable parts of this new constitution (in the so-called cardinal laws[6][8]). Repnin also demanded religious freedom for the Protestant and Orthodox Christians, and the resulting reaction among some of Poland's Roman Catholics, as well as the deep resentment of Russian intervention in the Commonwealth's domestic affairs, led to the War of the Confederation of Bar from 1768-1772, where the Poles tried to expel Russian forces from Commonwealth territory.[4][6] The irregular and poorly commanded Polish forces had little chance in the face of the regular Russian army and suffered a major defeat. Adding to the chaos was a Ukrainian peasant rebellion, the Koliyivschyna, which erupted in 1768 and resulted in massacres of noblemen (szlachta), Jews, Uniates, and Catholic priests before it was put down by Polish and Russian troops.
In 1769 Austria annexed a small territory of Spisz and in 1770 - Nowy Sącz and Nowy Targ. These territories had been a bone of contention between Poland and Hungary, which was a part of the Austrian crown lands.
First Partition
In February, 1772, the agreement of partition was signed in Vienna. Early in August the Russian, Prussian and Austrian troops simultaneously entered the Commonwealth and occupied the provinces agreed upon among themselves. On August 5, 1772, the occupation manifesto was issued, much to the consternation of a country too exhausted by the endeavors of the Confederation of Bar to offer successful resistance;[9] nonetheless several battles and sieges took place, as Polish troops refused to lay down their arms (most notably, in Tyniec, Częstochowa and Kraków).
The partition treaty was ratified by its signatories on September 22, 1772. Frederick II of Prussia was elated with his success; Prussia took most of the Polish Royal Prussia that stood between its possessions in the Kingdom of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg, taking Ermland (Warmia), Royal Prussia without the city of Danzig (Gdańsk) (which in 1773 became a new province called West Prussia), northern areas of Greater Poland along the Noteć River (the Netze District), and parts of Kuyavia, (also the Prussian city of Thorn [Toruń]).[9] Despite token criticism of the partition from Austrian Empress Maria Theresa, Austrian statesman Wenzel Anton Graf Kaunitz was proud of wresting as large a share as he did, with the rich salt mines of Bochnia and Wieliczka. To Austria fell Zator and Auschwitz (Oświęcim), part of Little Poland embracing parts of the counties of Kraków and Sandomir and the whole of Galicia, less the City of Kraków. Catherine of Russia was also very satisfied. By this "diplomatic document" Russia came into possession of that section of Livonia that had remained in Commonwealth control, and of Belarus embracing the counties of Vitebsk, Polotsk and Mstislavl.[9]
By this partition the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth lost about 30% of its territory, with a population of four million people (1/3 of its population), of which a large portion had not been ethnically Polish.[9] By seizing northwestern Poland, Prussia instantly gained control over 80% of the Commonwealth's total foreign trade. Through levying enormous customs duties, Prussia accelerated the inevitable collapse of the Commonwealth.
After having occupied their respective territories, the three partitioning powers demanded that King Stanisław and the Sejm approve their action. When no help was forthcoming and the armies of the combined nations occupied Warsaw to compel by force of arms the calling of the assembly, no alternative could be chosen save passive submission to their will. The so-called Partition Sejm, with Russian military forces threatening the opposition, on September 18, 1773, signed the treaty of cession, renouncing all claims of the Commonwealth to the occupied territories.
Second Partition
By 1790, on the political front, the First Polish Republic had deteriorated into such a helpless condition that it was successfully forced into an unnatural and ultimately deadly alliance with its enemy, Prussia. The Polish-Prussian Pact of 1790 was signed. The conditions of the Pact were such that the succeeding and final two partitions of Poland were inevitable. The May Constitution of 1791 enfranchised the bourgeoisie, established the separation of the three branches of government, and eliminated the abuses of Repnin Sejm. Those reforms prompted aggressive actions on the part of its neighbours, wary of the potential renaissance of the Commonwealth. Arguing that Poland had fallen prey to the radical Jacobinism then at high tide in France, Russian forces invaded the Commonwealth in 1792.
In the War in Defense of the Constitution, pro-Russian conservative Polish magnates, the Confederation of Targowica, fought against Polish forces supporting the constitution, believing that Russians would help them restore the Golden Liberty. Abandoned by their Prussian allies, Polish pro-constitution forces, faced with Targowica units and the regular Russian army, were defeated. Prussia signed a treaty with Russia, agreeing that Polish reforms would be revoked and both countries would receive chunks of Commonwealth territory. In 1793, deputies to the Grodno Sejm, last Sejm of the Commonwealth, in the presence of the Russian forces, agreed to Russian territorial demands. In the 2nd partition, Russia and Prussia helped themselves to enough more land so that only one-third of the 1772 population remained in Poland. Prussia named its newly gained province South Prussia, with Posen (and later Warsaw) as the capital of the new province.
Targowica confederates, who did not expect another partition, and the king, Stanisław August Poniatowski, who joined them near the end, both lost much prestige and support. The reformers, on the other hand, were attracting increasing support, and in 1794 the Kościuszko Uprising begun.
Third Partition
Kosciuszko's ragtag insurgent armies won some initial successes, but they eventually fell before the superior forces of the Russian Empire. The partitioning powers, seeing the increasing unrest in the remaining Commonwealth, decided to solve the problem by erasing any independent Polish state from the map. On 24 October 1795 their representatives signed a treaty, dividing the remaining territories of the Commonwealth among their three countries.
The Russian part included 120,000 km² and 1.2 million people with Vilnius (Wilno), the Prussian part (new provinces of New East Prussia and New Silesia) 55,000 km² and 1 million people with Warsaw, and the Austrian 47,000 km² with 1.2 million and Lublin and Kraków.
Summary
Division of the Commonwealth territory[10] Partition To Austria To Prussia To Russia Total annexed Total remainingArea % Area % Area % Area % Area %
1772 81,900 km2 (31,600 sq mi) 11.17% 36,300 km2 (14,000 sq mi) 4.94% 93,000 km2 (36,000 sq mi) 12.68% 211,200 km2 (81,500 sq mi) 28.79% 522,300 km2 (201,700 sq mi) 71.20%
1793 — — 57,100 km2 (22,000 sq mi) 7.78% 250,200 km2 (96,600 sq mi) 34.11% 307,300 km2 (118,600 sq mi) 41.89% 215,000 km2 (83,000 sq mi) 29.31%
1795 47,000 km2 (18,000 sq mi) 6.40% 48,000 km2 (19,000 sq mi) 6.55% 120,000 km2 (46,000 sq mi) 16.36% 215,000 km2 (83,000 sq mi) 29.31% — —
Total 128,900 km2 (49,800 sq mi) 17.57% 141,400 km2 (54,600 sq mi) 19.27% 463,200 km2 (178,800 sq mi) 66.16% 733,500 km2 (283,200 sq mi) 100% — —
Aftermath
