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Poland Destruction of Poland-Lithuania
Passage of the constitution alarmed nobles who would
lose
considerable stature under the new order. In autocratic
states
such as Russia, the democratic ideals of the constitution
also
threatened the existing order, and the prospect of Polish
recovery threatened to end domination of Polish affairs by
its
neighbors. In 1792 domestic and foreign reactionaries
combined to
end the democratization process. Polish conservative
factions
formed the Confederation of Targowica and appealed for
Russian
assistance in restoring the status quo. Catherine gladly
used
this opportunity; enlisting Prussian support, she invaded
Poland
under the pretext of defending Poland's ancient liberties.
The
irresolute Stanislaw August capitulated, defecting to the
Targowica faction. Arguing that Poland had fallen prey to
the radical
Jacobinism (see Glossary)
then at high tide in France,
Russia and Prussia abrogated the Constitution of May 3,
carried out a second partition of Poland in 1793, and placed the
remainder of the country under occupation by Russian
troops.
The second partition was far more injurious than the
first
(see
fig. 6). Russia received a vast area of eastern
Poland,
extending southward from its gains in the first partition
nearly
to the Black Sea. To the west, Prussia received an area
known as
South Prussia, nearly twice the size of its
first-partition gains
along the Baltic, as well as the port of Gdansk (then
renamed
Danzig). Thus, Poland's neighbors reduced the commonwealth
to a
rump state and plainly signaled their designs to abolish
it
altogether at their convenience.
In a gesture of defiance, a general Polish revolt broke
out
in 1794 under the leadership of Tadeusz Kosciuszko, a
military
officer who had rendered notable service in the American
Revolution. Kosciuszko's ragtag insurgent armies won some
initial
successes, but they eventually fell before the superior
forces of
Russian General Alexander Suvorov. In the wake of the
insurrection of 1794, Russia, Prussia, and Austria carried
out
the third and final partition of Poland-Lithuania in 1795,
erasing the Commonwealth of Two Nations from the map and
pledging
never to let it return
(see
fig. 7).
Much of Europe condemned the dismemberment as an
international crime without historical parallel. Amid the
distractions of the French Revolution and its attendant
wars,
however, no state actively opposed the annexations. In the
long
term, the dissolution of Poland-Lithuania upset the
traditional
European balance of power, dramatically magnifying the
influence
of Russia and paving the way for the Germany that would
emerge in
the nineteenth century with Prussia at its core. For the
Poles,
the third partition began a period of continuous foreign
rule
that would endure well over a century.
Data as of October 1992
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