Series – The Partitions of Poland Part One

Introduction

    The partition of a once powerful commonwealth in Eastern Europe occurred, not only due to external forces, but also due to the internal freedoms that were allowed within their democratic structure. The Poland-Lithuanian Commonwealth was thoroughly and completely removed from the map of Europe by 1792. During the three partitions of the Poland-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the balance of Central and Eastern Europe shifted to the partitioning powers of Austria, Prussia, and Russia. Poland would not exist again as a sovereign country for over one hundred twenty-five years.

Potential Causes for the Partitions of Poland

    To properly assess the reasoning for the partitions of Poland, analysis must be done on the situation within Poland, the countries surrounding Poland, and the wars that effected Poland in the eighteenth century. Each factor would have an impact on the causes of the partitions of Poland.

    The eighteenth century for Poland arrived with more warfare, which was a common occurrence in the previous century. The wars with the Ottoman Empire and the Cossacks had subsided, but the Great Northern War with Sweden and Russia would continue until 1721. During the Great Northern Wars, battles were fought within the borders of the Poland-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which caused political, economic, and military instability. The Great Northern War left a weakened Poland-Lithuanian Commonwealth to tend with the expanding empires of Prussia, Russia, and Austria. The Prussian Empire wanted to incorporate Royal Prussia into their empire, thus connecting Prussian Pomerania with (East) Prussia and gaining control of the seaport of Gdansk (Danzig). Also, the Russian Empire wanted to incorporate the lands of Western Ukraine and Belarus into their western border (Frost, 2000).

    During the Northern Wars, many political ramifications developed within the Poland-Lithuanian Commonwealth. One such political strategy that took hold in the commonwealth was the election of Friedrich-August, Elector of Saxony, as the King of the Poland-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The personal union of the Poland-Lithuanian and Saxony was a strategic attempt to counter the Prussian Empire’s territorial expansion. The election was favorable for the Russian Empire as well. At the onset of the Great Northern war in 1700, Friedrich-August signed a peace treaty between Saxony and Russia, not including the Poland-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and invaded Swedish Livonia. At the same time, the Lithuanian’s supported the Swedish Empire. The nobles within the Poland-Lithuanian Commonwealth became divided armed camps. The Poland-Lithuanian Commonwealth was in disarray, because of the war. On January 30, 1717, the Polish Senate (Sejm) ratified a bill that made the Poland-Lithuanian Commonwealth a protectorate of the Russian Empire (See Figure 1). The Poland-Lithuanian Commonwealth would continue to lose political power and land until the final partitions of Poland occurred in 1795 (Davies, 2005).

Source: Szczepańczyk & Halibutt, Wikimedia Commons, 2009.

    The King of the Poland-Lithuanian Commonwealth was reduced to almost a figurehead and the Polish Sejm collapsed, which divided the commonwealth into sections that were controlled by various nobles and magnates. The Poland-Lithuanian Commonwealth’s armed forces were reduced to a fraction of the numbers before the Great Northern Wars. The nobles and magnates controlled their local governments and militias. The various nobles and magnates created alliances with internal and external forces, which included Russia, Prussia, Austria, and France. The nobles and magnates developed their own political, economic, and military strategies. Since the Poland-Lithuanian Commonwealth was not unified the commonwealth was more susceptible to external forces. The end of the Saxon line of Kings in the Poland-Lithuanian Commonwealth occurred in 1763 and the end of the Russian Protectorate would follow soon after (Davies, 2005).

    In 1764, the Poland-Lithuanian Commonwealth elected its last king. King Stanislaw-August Poniatowski would rule the Poland-Lithuanian Commonwealth until it was dissolved in 1795 (Davies, 2005).

    The political system in the Poland-Lithuanian Commonwealth was as a noble democracy. The noble democracy was based on personal freedoms and liberties; of course the democracy was only for nobles, magnates, merchants, landowners, and others of importance. The King of Poland ruled with restraints and worked with the Sejm, which included the Senate and Chamber of Envoys, to pass laws, enact taxes, and vote on other political, military, or economic matters. An assembly of the Sejm would occur every other year and would last about six weeks. Special assemblies of the Sejm could happen at any time if warranted. The representatives of the Sejm had a veto power that was called the Golden Freedom. The Golden Freedom was created to protect the interest of any representative of the Sejm and could be used to disband an assembly of the Sejm. Near the end of the Poland-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the representatives of the Sejm manipulated their votes based on foreign input. The Golden Freedom that protected the rights of the people would become the means of destroying the Poland-Lithuanian Commonwealth (Davies, 2005).

    The empires surrounding the Poland-Lithuanian Commonwealth were watching as the commonwealth became weaker. Russia’s military presence inside the Poland-Lithuanian Commonwealth made the protectorate a little more than a puppet state. Though uprisings did occur, nothing mounted to remove the Russian occupiers. Russian political policy towards the Poland-Lithuanian Commonwealth was to continue manipulating the commonwealth’s internal politics to fit the Russian Empire’s needs. The Prussian Empire’s foreign policy towards the Poland-Lithuanian Commonwealth was more aggressive. The Prussian government planned to divide the commonwealth on three different occasions between 1656 and 1733. The Prussians were interested in annexing Royal Prussia to connect their provinces. Austria, on the other hand, forcibly annexed portions of lower Poland that would eventually become part of Austrian Galicia. The Austrian annexations caused a rift between Russian and Austrian relations (Davies, 2005).

To be continued on The Partitions of Poland Part Two…..