The three partitions of Poland.
The
Partitions of Poland or
Partitions of
the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth took place in the
second half of the 18th century and ended the existence of the
Polish–Lithuanian
Commonwealth.
The partition were carried out by Russia
, Prussia
, and Habsburg
Austria dividing up the Commonwealth lands among
themselves. Three partitions took place:
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 MP'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, or in modern terms, a Russia 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, 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., including bishop Józef Andrzej Załuski 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). Repnin also demanded
religious freedom for the
Protestant and
Orthodox Christians (those
demands were the official "cover" for the pro-dependence
"reforms"), 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. 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
.
[7240]
First Partition
The First Partition (1772).
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 endeavours of the Confederation of Bar to offer successful
resistance; 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 Kingdom of Prussia and 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]). Despite token criticism of the partition
from Austrian Empress Maria
Theresa, Austrian statesman Kaunitz of Austria 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
which had still remained in Commonwealth control, and of Belarus
embracing the counties of Vitebsk
, Polotsk
and Mstislavl
.
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). By seizing
northwestern Poland, Prussia instantly gained control over 80% of
the Commonwealth's total foreign trade. Through levying enormous
custom 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 occupying 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
After the Second Partition
(1793)
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. Once again Poland dared to reform
and improve itself without Russia's permission, and once again the
Empress was angered; 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 the 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 Poznań
(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 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 between 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.
Aftermath
"A map of the Kingdom of Poland and
the Grand Duchy of Lithuania including Samogitia and Curland
divided according to their dismemberments with the Kingdom of
Prussia" from 1799.
King of Poland, Stanisław August
Poniatowski, under Russian military escort left for Grodno
where he
abdicated on November 25, 1795; next he
left for Saint
Petersburg
, Russia, where he would spend his remaining
days. This act has ensured that Russia would be seen as the
most important of the partitioning powers.
As a result of Partitions, Poles were forced to seek a change of
status quo in Europe. Polish poets, politicians, noblemen, writers,
artists, many of whom were forced to emigrate (thus the term
Great Emigration) became the
revolutionaries of 19th century, as desire for freedom and liberty
became one of the defining parts of
Polish romanticism.
Polish
revolutionaries participated in uprisings in Prussia, Austrian Empire
and Imperial Russia
Dieter Dowe, Europe in 1848: revolution and
reform, Berghahn Books, 2001, ISBN 1571811648, Google Print, p.180
While it is often and quite justifiably remarked that there was
hardly a barricade or battlefield in Europe between 1830 and 1870
where no Poles were fighting, this is especially true for the
revolution of 1848/1849. Polish legions fought
alongside Napoleon and under the slogan of
For our freedom and
yours participated widely in the Spring of Nations (particularly Hungarian Revolution
).
Poland
would be briefly resurrected—if in a smaller frame—in 1807, when
Napoleon set up the Duchy of Warsaw
. After his defeat and the implementation of
the Congress of Vienna treaty in
1815, the Russian-dominated Congress Kingdom of Poland
was created in its place. After the Congress,
Russia gained a larger share of Poland (with Warsaw
) and, after
crushing an insurrection in 1831,
the Congress Kingdom's autonomy was abolished and Poles faced
confiscation of property, deportation, forced military service, and
the closure of their own universities. After the
rising of 1863,
Russification of Polish secondary schools was
imposed and the
literacy rate dropped
dramatically. In the Austrian portion, Poles fared better, and were
allowed representation in Parliament and to form their own
universities, and Kraków and Lemberg (Lwów/Lviv) became centers of
Polish culture and education. Meanwhile, Prussia
Germanized the
entire school system of its Polish subjects and had no more respect
for Polish culture and institutions than the Russian Empire.
In
1915 a client state
of the German
Empire
and Austria-Hungary
was proposed and accepted by the Central
Powers of World War I: the Regency Kingdom of
Poland. After the end of
World
War I, the
Central Powers'
surrender to the
Western
Allies, the chaos of the
Russian Revolution and the
Treaty of Versailles finally
allowed and helped the restoration of Poland's full independence
after 123 years.
"Fourth Partition"
The terminology describing the partitions of Poland can be somewhat
confusing, as the first three partitions are sometimes used to
refer to the three dates on which Poland was divided (1772, 1793,
and 1795) and sometimes to the three geographic divisions (the
German or Prussian partition, Austrian partition, and Russian
partition). The term "Fourth Partition" has also been used in both
a temporal and a spatial sense.
The term
"Fourth Partition of Poland" may refer to
any subsequent division of Polish lands, specifically:
If one accepts more than one of those events as partitions, fifth
and sixth partitions can be counted, but these terms are very
rare.
The term "Fourth Partition" was also used in the nineteenth and
twentieth centuries to refer to diaspora communities who maintained
a close interest in the project of regaining Polish independence.
Sometimes termed
Polonia, these expatriate
communities often contributed funding and military support to the
project of regaining the Polish nation-state. Diaspora politics
were deeply affected by developments in and around the homeland,
and vice versa, for many decades.
Historiography
As historian
Norman Davies stated,
because of the observance of the
balance of power
equilibrium, many contemporary observers accepted explanations
of the "enlightened apologists" of the partitioning state. 19th
century historians from countries that carried out the partitions,
such as 19th century Russian scholar
Sergey Solovyov, and their 20th century
followers, argued that partitions were justified, as the
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
had degenerated to the point of being partitioned because of the
counterproductive principle of
liberum
veto that made decision-making on divisive issues, such as
a wide-scale social reform, virtually impossible. Solovyov
specified the cultural, language and religious break between the
supreme and lowest layers of the society in the east regions of the
Commonwealth, where the Bielorussian and Ukrainian serf peasantry
was Orthodox. Russian authors emphasized the historical connections
between Belarus, Ukraine and Russia, as former parts of the
medieval old Russian state where dynasty of Rurikids reigned
(
Kievan Rus).
Russian historians
often stressed that Russia annexed primarily Ukrainian and
Belorussian provinces with Eastern Slavic inhabitants,, despite the
fact that many Ruthenians were no more
enthusiastic about Russia than about Poland, and ignoring facts
that ethnically Polish and Lithuanian territories were also annexed
on a large scale (including the annexation of undeniably Polish
capital of Warsaw). A
new justification for partitions arose with the
Russian Enlightenment, as Russian
writers such as
Gavrila Derzhavin,
Denis Fonvizin, and
Alexander Pushkin stressed degeneration of
Catholic Poland and the need to "civilize" it by its
neighbors.
Nonetheless other 19th century contemporaries were much more
skeptical; for example, British jurist Sir
Robert Phillimore discussed the partition
as a violation of
international
law; German jurist
Heinrich Bernhard Oppenheim
presented similar views. Other older historians who challenged such
justifications for the Partitions included French historian
Jules Michelet, British historian and
politician
Thomas Babington
Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay, and
Edmund Burke. Edmund Burke was alone in
criticizing the immorality of this act.
More recent studies claim that partitions happened when the
Commonwealth had been showing the beginning signs of a slow
recovery and see the last two partitions as an answer to
strengthening reforms in the Commonwealth and the potential threat
they represented to its neighbours.
Curio
Ottoman Empire as the only country in the world refused to accept
liquidation The Republic of Poland as a result of partition and its
diplomatic corps reserved the place for Ambassador of
lechistan
See also
Notes and references
External links
ceased to
exist.
into Austria; and
pursuant to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.
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