Partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Essay

The modern republics of Poland and Lithuania had been once been a single, strong earth known as the Polish-Lithuanian kingdom. This commonwealth was established in 1569. Although there were vernal(prenominal) tells in the commonwealth, none of them was as powerful as Poland. The nation was on the brink of success when the rest of Europe was ravaging in the known thirty years war between 1618 and 1648. The Commonwealth noblemen had no passion to get involved in these wars and they were able defend the unsophisticated against immaterial attacks from the Germans, Russians and the Ottoman Turks (TLK).However, the commonwealths supremacy and st major power did not destruction for long and there already were clear familys of decline by the mid(prenominal) 17th century. The main cause of the decline was wars that were fought within and outside the commonwealth. Thus, the faded state could not hold itself together after these wars which ultimately lead to its partition. The decl ine of Poland was basically evincible in the legislative body Sejm. The divergent systems of the fan tan grew ineffective and inefficient at a time when the deputies went verbal assert Liberum Veto which gave them excessive power over national resolutions.The countrys cosmos had decreased by big proportions as a case of wars. This made it practically impossible for the nation to succeed in its wars against another(prenominal) nations, though they were able to defeat the Ottomans at Vienna. This was the last success realise by the commonwealth military (Davies 24). The Szlachta (noblemen) also diminished in their ability to influence others and consequentially depreciated in military vigor. In a infinite of situations they became impotent and viewed veto as the only remaining legislative figure within the commonwealth (25). The Decline of the CommonwealthIn 1648, the warlike Cossacks, with the maintenance of Russia, upstaged a rebellion against Poland. Thus the Russians bega n to influence the affairs of the country. Later in 1655, the Commonwealth was involved in another war with Sweden, provoked by the policies of Commonwealth kings from the Swedish royal House of Vasa. The Swedes installed Stanislaw Leszczynski as king. However, they were defeated by the Russians in 1709 and this resulted in the reinstatement of Augustus on the throne (TLK). Augustus was at conflict with fantan and this lead to a civil war in 1717.The Russians responded by cut down the powers of the Sejm, who by now were at the centre of running Poland, came to the rescue of Augustus. This resulted in Poland being forced to cut down the size of her standing army. When Augustus died in 1733, Leszyski returned to the throne. This move was met with resistance from the Russians who forced him out and made Fredrick Augustus, a parole to Augustus, king instead. Another blow to the commonwealth was the Saxon rule that lasted for sixty years. It drove the nation to the edges of lawlessnes s, devastating it even more.A powerful adhesion between Russia, Prussia and Australia ensured that Polands legal system and maintain ace of ordain was paralyzed. The three nations formed the Alliance of the Three Black Eagles owing to the circumstance that all the three had eagles, black in color, on their coat-of-arms (Kjaergard 121). The Partitioning of the Commonwealth By the 18th century, the Commonwealth could not handle the many subjective problems that were plaguing it and this made the fragile nation more vulnerable to external influences. The governmental system was in shambles and this soon culminated to the schism of the commonwealth.The country was partitioned in three stages by the neighboring Russian, Prussian, and Austrian powers (TLK) . The first partition was in 1772, when the Commonwealth lost 733, 000 square kilometers of land together with about 4 million people. Russia took most of the land while a majority of the commonwealth went to Austria. The Sejm rat ified the partition agreement despite some(prenominal) resistance from the states deputies. After the first partition, there was a period of telling stability that saw to the development of a discontinue education domain in the country. There was a rise in the number of professionals in various fields.The king initialized a healing programme, which was executed by the grand Sejm. The Four Year or Great Sejm came up with a new geological formation (Domar 56). Liberum Veto was abolished under the impudently formed constitution, changing how the country was governed. people were guaranteed personal freedom and more liberty was enhanced. England, France and the United States hailed the newly formed constitution. On the other hand, this step was viewed as a holy terror by the rulers of Austria and Russia. This led to a wide instigation of large add up of magnate under the leadership of Branicki Ksawery, Potocki Szczesny and Rzewuski Seweryn.This was a betrayal of the commonwealt h thusly leading to the formation of the Targowica Confedaration in disrespect to the declarations of the newly formed constitution (Kjaergard 122) The second partition was as a result of Russian invation. The army from Russia decided to cross the borders and immediately war broke out. Joseph Poniatowski who was the Kings nephew together with Kosciuszko Tadeusz, a supporter of the American Independence War, erected a crimson resistance although all confidence was crushed after the Prussians joined the fighting. more people, who would otherwise have been citizens, ran away to other countries.In 1793, Prussia and Russia were obliged to sign the Second Partition Treaty. This led to about About This led to prop in of more than half of the entire nation with a population of about four million people. Later, there was a meeting at Grodno composed mainly of the Sejm which deliberated on the legal edged to make legal the process of partitioning of the country. After the partitioning, t here was widespread discontent within the world-wide population (Kostrowicka 34). The final partition in 1795 was the most devastating. A parcel out of Poles were evicted from their country. The King was seized and taken to prison in St.Petersburg. Other people were displace to the harsh cold deserts of Siberia and thousands more fled to other lands. Conclusion Although Polands history is one full of turmoil, a lot can be learnt from it. It is clear that good governance policies should be in place for a country to run smoothly. The heads of state should at the fore front providing the much needed leadership to citizens of their countries. If the Polish constitution had had good policies, and if the leaders were adapted enough, then maybe the history of the Poles would be much different and better than it is.