Partitions of Poland (1772-1795): A Country Erased from the Map

The Partitions of Poland were three divisions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth carried out by Russia, Prussia and Austria in 1772, 1793 and 1795. At the start of the process the Commonwealth was one of the largest states in Europe; by the end it had vanished entirely, and its lands remained under foreign rule until 1918. The partitions shaped the history of central and eastern Europe and became a defining memory of Polish national identity.

Background: a weakened Commonwealth

The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was formed by the Union of Lublin in 1569, joining the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. At its height it stretched from the Baltic almost to the Black Sea, and in the 1770s it still covered over 700,000 square kilometres with a population of roughly 12–14 million.

Its political system, sometimes called the “Noble Democracy”, gave great power to the szlachta, the nobility, who made up roughly 6–10 per cent of the population. Kings were elected, and in the Sejm, the parliament, any single deputy could block legislation and dissolve the session by using the liberum veto. Taxes were low and the standing army was very small compared with those of its neighbours.

From the late 17th century, wars such as the Swedish invasion known as the Deluge and the Great Northern War had devastated the country. Russia increasingly treated the Commonwealth as a protectorate, stationing troops there and bribing deputies. In 1764 Catherine II of Russia secured the election of her former lover, Stanisław August Poniatowski, as king.

Stanisław August hoped to strengthen the state, but Russia insisted on keeping the old system and on equal rights for Orthodox and Protestant nobles. Under heavy Russian pressure, a Sejm in 1767–1768, known as the Repnin Sejm after the Russian ambassador, confirmed these demands and the Commonwealth’s “cardinal laws”.

In 1768 Catholic nobles opposed to Russian control formed the Confederation of Bar and began a four-year war against Russian troops and the king. The conflict helped trigger the Russo-Turkish War of 1768–1774, and Russia’s victories against the Ottomans alarmed Austria. Frederick II of Prussia proposed a solution that would satisfy all three powers at Poland’s expense.

The First Partition, 1772

By treaties signed in St Petersburg on 5 August 1772, the three powers each took a slice of the Commonwealth. Russia gained the lands of Polish Livonia and the eastern part of present-day Belarus up to the Dvina and Dnieper rivers. Prussia took Royal Prussia, except the cities of Danzig (Gdańsk) and Thorn (Toruń), linking Brandenburg with East Prussia. Austria seized Galicia in the south, with the city of Lwów (now Lviv) and the rich salt mines near Kraków.

Altogether the Commonwealth lost about 30 per cent of its territory and roughly a third of its population, some 4 million people. Frederick is often quoted as remarking that Maria Theresa, who had moral doubts about the partition, wept but still took her share; the line is attributed to him and reflects how the scheme was seen at the time.

The partition had to be approved by the Polish Sejm. When it met in 1773, the deputy Tadeusz Rejtan famously lay across the doorway to stop his colleagues leaving to sign, a scene later painted by Jan Matejko. The Sejm nonetheless ratified the treaties under the pressure of foreign troops.

Reform and the Second Partition, 1793

The shock of 1772 led to a period of reform. A Commission of National Education, set up in 1773, is often described as the first ministry of education in Europe. In 1788 the Four-Year Sejm, or Great Sejm, began meeting while Russia was distracted by wars with the Ottoman Empire and Sweden.

On 3 May 1791 the Sejm adopted a new constitution, the Constitution of 3 May. It abolished the liberum veto, made the monarchy hereditary, strengthened the government and gave some rights to townspeople. It is often called Europe’s first modern written constitution and the world’s second after the United States Constitution.

Catherine II saw the constitution as a threat to Russian influence. In 1792 a group of conservative magnates formed the Confederation of Targowica and invited Russian intervention. Russian troops invaded, and despite some Polish successes, including the Battle of Zieleńce, the king joined the Targowica side and the war ended within months.

Prussia, which had signed an alliance with Poland in 1790, abandoned it. By a convention of 23 January 1793, Russia and Prussia divided another large part of the Commonwealth. Russia took about 250,000 square kilometres of central Belarus and of Ukraine west of the Dnieper. Prussia gained Danzig, Thorn and Greater Poland, including Poznań. Austria took no part. A Sejm meeting at Grodno, surrounded by Russian troops, approved the treaties in silence.

The Kościuszko Uprising and the Third Partition, 1795

In March 1794 Tadeusz Kościuszko, a veteran of the American War of Independence, launched a national uprising in Kraków. His force, including peasants armed with scythes, won at Racławice on 4 April, and Warsaw and Vilnius rose against their Russian garrisons. The Kościuszko Uprising was eventually crushed. Kościuszko was wounded and captured at Maciejowice in October, and on 4 November Russian troops under Alexander Suvorov stormed Praga, the suburb of Warsaw, killing thousands of soldiers and civilians.

The three powers then divided what remained. Russia took the lands east of the Bug and Neman rivers, including the rest of Lithuania; Prussia took Warsaw and Mazovia; Austria took Kraków and the region between the Pilica, Vistula and Bug. Agreements between the powers were concluded in 1795, and King Stanisław August abdicated on 25 November 1795. In 1797 the three courts agreed that the name of the Kingdom of Poland should be abolished for ever.

By the numbers

Areas are approximate and vary between sources. In total Russia gained roughly 60 per cent of the Commonwealth’s former territory.

Key people

Catherine II (1729–1796), Empress of Russia, who came to power in the coup of 1762, was the dominant figure in all three partitions.

Frederick II (1712–1786) of Prussia promoted the First Partition, which joined his kingdom’s two halves. His successor Frederick William II took part in the second and third.

Maria Theresa (1717–1780) and her son and co-ruler Joseph II (1741–1790) represented Austria in 1772.

Stanisław August Poniatowski (1732–1798), the last king, tried to reform the state and was forced to preside over its destruction.

Tadeusz Kościuszko (1746–1817) led the final armed attempt to save the Commonwealth.

Consequences

For the partitioning powers the gains were considerable. Prussia finally joined its scattered territories into a single block and later acquired Warsaw itself. Austria gained Galicia, one of its most populous provinces. Russia moved its border hundreds of kilometres west and became a direct neighbour of Prussia and Austria in the heart of Europe.

The new rulers governed their Polish lands in very different ways. Prussia introduced its own administration and, especially later in the 19th century, policies of Germanisation. Austria at first ruled Galicia centrally but granted it broad autonomy from the 1860s, allowing Polish schools and universities to flourish in Kraków and Lwów. Russian rule varied over time but became harsh after each failed uprising.

The partitions also affected millions of people who were not Polish. The lands of the former Commonwealth were home to Lithuanians, Belarusians, Ukrainians, Germans and the largest Jewish community in the world. Most Jews of the former Commonwealth came under Russian rule, where from the 1790s they were largely confined to the western provinces later known as the Pale of Settlement.

Legacy

For 123 years there was no Polish state, apart from Napoleon’s Duchy of Warsaw (1807–1815) and the Russian-controlled Kingdom of Poland created at the Congress of Vienna in 1815. Poles rose repeatedly against their rulers, notably in the November Uprising of 1830–1831 and the January Uprising of 1863–1864.

The memory of the partitions shaped Polish national culture. The national anthem, Dąbrowski’s Mazurka, written in 1797 for Polish legions in Italy, begins with the words “Poland has not yet perished”. Language, the Catholic Church and Romantic literature became ways of preserving a nation without a state. Poland finally regained its independence in November 1918.

Timeline

• 1764, September: Stanisław August Poniatowski is elected king with Russian backing.
• 1768, February: The Confederation of Bar is formed against Russian domination.
• 1772, 5 August: Russia, Prussia and Austria sign the First Partition treaties.
• 1791, 3 May: The Great Sejm adopts the Constitution of 3 May.
• 1792, May: Russian troops invade after the Confederation of Targowica.
• 1793, 23 January: Russia and Prussia agree the Second Partition.
• 1794, 24 March: Kościuszko proclaims a national uprising in Kraków.
• 1794, 4 November: Russian troops storm Praga, near Warsaw.
• 1795, 24 October: The three powers agree the final boundaries of the Third Partition.
• 1795, 25 November: Stanisław August abdicates.

Why it matters

The partitions showed how a large but weak state could be destroyed by stronger neighbours acting together in the name of order. They brought Russia deep into central Europe and created the “Polish question” that troubled European diplomacy throughout the 19th century and helped shape the settlement after the First World War.