(Redirected from Partition of Poland)The 'Partitions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth' ( or ''Rozbiory Polski''; , , ) took place in the
18th century and ended the existence of the sovereign
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The
partition involved
Prussia,
Russia and
Habsburg Austria dividing up the Commonwealth lands among themselves. Three partitions took place:
★
August 5,
1772.
★
January 23,
1793.
★
October 24,
1795.
After the
Napoleonic Wars, when
Napoleon Bonaparte restored a Polish state in the form of the
Duchy of Warsaw, the three states that partitioned Poland decided to create out of the territories they annexed somewhat autonomous (at least in theory) regions, which were:
★
Grand Duchy of Posen
★
Republic of Kraków
★ Kingdom of Poland (better known as
Congress Poland)
In all cases assurances were made towards the recognition of the Polish language, respect for Polish culture and the rights of Poles. In all cases these promises were quickly broken and the regions annexed.
The term '"Fourth Partition of Poland"' may refer to any subsequent division of Polish lands, specifically:
★ after the
Napoleonic Era, the
1815 division of the
Duchy of Warsaw at the
Congress of Vienna;
★ the
1832 incorporation of the "
Congress Kingdom" into Russia, and the
1846 incorporation of the
Republic of Kraków into Austria; and
★ the
1939 division of Poland between
Germany and the
Soviet Union pursuant to the
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact[1].
History
Prelude
Before the partitions: The
Commonwealth at its greatest extent.
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
Russian
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 Commonwealth's neighbours, 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 only leave the Commonwealth with a
Baltic coast 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.
[2], including
bishop Józef Andrzej Załuski[4] 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''
[5][6]). 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 intolerant
Roman Catholic, as well as the deep resentment of Russian intervention in the Commonwealth's domestic affairs, led to the War of the
Confederation of Bar with Russia from 1768 to 1772.
The Poles tried to expel foreign forces in an uprising (the
Confederation of Bar,
1768–
1772), but the irregular and poorly commanded forces had litte chance in the face of the regular Russian army and suffered a 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.
First Partition
The First Partition (1772).
On
February 19,
1772, the agreement of partition was signed in
Vienna. A previous agreement between Prussia and Russia had been made in
St. Petersburg on
February 6,
1772. 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 further resistance. Frederick II wrote about the participation of the (catholic) empress Maria Theresa in the first division of Poland in a letter: "The Empress Catherine and I are simple robbers. I just would like to know how the empress calmed down her father confessor? She cried, when she took; the more she cried, the more she took!?"
The regiments of the Confederation, whose executive board had been forced to leave Austria after that country joined the Prusso-Russian alliance, did not lay down their arms. Every fortress in their command held out as long as possible. Famous was the defence of
Tyniec, which lasted until the end of March
1773, and also that of
Częstochowa commanded by
Pułaski.
Kraków fell on April 28th, captured by the Russian general
Suvorov who exiled the garrison to
Siberia. Neither France nor Britain, upon whom hopes had been based, helped in a sufficient measure or protested when the partition was executed. So came to an end the ill-organized attempt of the Commonwealth to repulse the foreign aggression. It had cost about a hundred thousand men and once more laid the country to waste, although it was the first demonstration of the reviving national consciousness.
The partition treaty was ratified by its signatories on
September 22,
1772.
Frederick II of Prussia was elated with his success, and took great care for the welfare of his new Polish subjects, importing large numbers of Catholic schoolteachers (especially Jesuits whose order was suppressed at about that time) and making it mandatory for Prussian crown princes to learn Polish;
Kaunitz of Austria was proud of wresting as large a share as he did, with the rich salt mines of
Bochnia and
Wieliczka; and
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 Polish hands, and of
Belarus embracing the counties of
Vitebsk,
Polotsk and
Mstislavl.
Prussia took 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 (including the city of
Thorn [Toruń]).
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. By this partition the
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth lost about 30% of its territory, amounting at that time to about 484,000 square miles, with a population of four million people. The largest share of the spoils, as far as population and revenue were concerned, went to Austria.
After having occupied their respective territories, the three partitioning powers demanded that King
Stanisław and the
Sejm approve their action. The King appealed to the nations of
Western Europe for help and tarried with the convocation of the Sejm. When no help was forthcoming and the armies of the combined nations occupied Warsaw to compel by force of arms the calling of the assembly, no alternative could be chosen save passive submission to their will. Those of the senators who advised against this step were arrested and exiled to Siberia by the representatives of
Catherine. The local land assemblies (
Sejmiks) refused to elect Deputies to the Sejm, and after great difficulties less than half of the regular number of representatives came to attend the session led by
Marshal of the Sejm,
Adam Poniński, the commander of the
Malta Order, a cynic and notorious gambler. In order to prevent the disruption of the Sejm and the defeat of the purpose of the invaders he undertook to turn the regular Sejm into a
Sejm of a Confederacy, where majority rule prevailed. In spite of the dramatic efforts of
Tadeusz Rejtan,
Samuel Korsak and
Stanisław Bohuszewicz to prevent it, the deed was accomplished with the aid of
Michał Radziwiłł and the Bishops
Andrzej MÅ‚odziejowski,
Ignacy Jakub Massalski, and
Antoni Kazimierz Ostrowski (
primate of Poland), who occupied high positions in the
Senate of Poland. The so-called
Partition Sejm elected a committee of thirty to deal with the various matters presented. On
September 18,
1773, the Committee formally signed the treaty of cession, renouncing all claims of the Commonwealth to the occupied territories. On the other hand, that very Sejm, which continued its deliberations until 1775, shaken by the first partition, passed several important reforms, among them the creation of the
Permanent Council and
Commission for National Education.
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 (EB.)
Second Partition
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 mortal 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 (EB.)
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.
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
Main articles: History of Poland (1795–1918)
Three partitions of Poland on one map
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
Wilno, the Prussian part 55,000 km² and 1 million people with Warsaw, and the Austrian 47,000km² with 1.2 million and
Lublin and Kraków.
Aftermath
Napoleon set up the
Duchy of Warsaw in a smaller area of Poland, but after his defeat and the implementation of the Congress of Vienna programme, things became even worse for Poles than before. Russia gained a larger share of Poland and, after crushing an insurrection in 1831, the
Congress Kingdom of Poland'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
literacy rate dropped dramatically. In the Austrian portion, Poles became the second nationality and were allowed representation in Parliament and to form their own universities, and Kraków and Lvov became centers of Polish education. Meanwhile, Prussia
Germanized the entire school system of its Polish subjects and had no more respect for Polish culture and institutions than Russia had. It would take the
World War I, with the
Central Powers losing to the
Western Allies, the chaos of the
Russian Revolution and the
Treaty of Versailles to restore Poland's independence after 123 years.
As a result of Partitions, Poles were forced to seek a change of status quo in Europe.
[7] 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.
[8][9] Polish revolutionaries participated in uprisings in
Prussia,
Austrian Empire and
Imperial Russia [10] Polish legions fought alongside
Napoleon [11][12] and under the slogan of ''
For our freedom and yours'' paricipated widely in the
Spring of Nations (particulary
Hungarian Revolution (1848))
[13].
"Fourth Partition"
The term '"Fourth Partition of Poland"' may refer to any subsequent division of Polish lands, specifically:
★ after the
Napoleonic Era, the
1815 division of the
Duchy of Warsaw at the
Congress of Vienna;
★ the
1832 incorporation of the "
Congress Kingdom" into
Russia, and the
1846 incorporation of the
Republic of Kraków into Austria; and
★ the
1939 division of Poland between
Nazi Germany and the
Soviet Union.
If one accepts more than one of those events as partitions, fifth and sixth partitions can be counted, but these terms are very rare.
Historiography
As historian
Norman Davies stated, because of the observance of the
balance of power equilibrium, many contemporary observers accepted partitioners explanations.
Some, particularly older historians from countries that carried out the partitions, such as 19th century Russian scholar
Sergey Solovyov[14] 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)
[15]. 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.
[16] Nonetheless other 19th century contemporaries were much more sceptical; for example, British jurist Sir
Robert Phillimore discussed the partition as a violation of
international law;
[17] German jurist
Heinrich Bernhard Oppenheim presented similar views.
[18] Other old 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.
[19] More recent studies claim that partitions happened when
Poland 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.
[20][21]
[22][23] See also
★
Administrative division of Polish territories after partitions
External links
★
The Partitioning Of Poland - historical forum
★ Krzysztof WroÅ„ski,
Rozbiory Polski w XVIII w. " ich uwarunkowania i skutki
★
An antique map of Poland before the Partitions
Notes and references
1. A Study of Crisis, Michael Brecher, , , University of Michigan Press, 1997, ISBN 0-472-10806-9
2. H. Wickham Steed, A Short History of Austria-Hungary and Poland, 1914, NCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA, INC. Retrieved on 3 August 2007.
3. Hamish M. Scott, ''The Emergence of the Eastern Powers, 1756-1775'',
Cambridge University Press, 2001, ISBN 052179269X, Gooble Print, p.181-182
4. Various, ''The Story of My Life'', Penguin Classics, 2001, ISBN 0140439153, Google Print, p.528
5. Richard Butterwick, ''Poland's Last King and English Culture: Stanisław August Poniatowski, 1732-1798'', Oxford University Press, 1998, ISBN 0198207018, Google Print, p.169
6. Hugh Seton-Watson, ''The Russian Empire, 1801-1917'', Oxford University Press, 1967, ISBN 0198221525, Google Print, p.44
7. Lonnie R. Johnson, ''Central Europe: Enemies, Neighbors, Friends'', Oxford University Press, 1996, ISBN 0195100719, Google Print, p.127-128
8. W. H. Zawadzki, ''A Man of Honour: Adam Czartoryski as a Statesman of Russia and Poland, 1795-1831'', Oxford University Press, 1993, ISBN 0198203039
Google Print, p.330
9. Stefan Auer, ''Liberal Nationalism in Central Europe'', Routledge, 2004, ISBN 0415314798, Google Print, p.60
10. 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.''
11. Jan Pachonski, Reuel K. Wilson. ''Poland's Caribbean Tragedy: A Study of Polish Legions in the Haitian War of Independence 1802-1803''. East European Monographs, 1986. ISBN 0-88033-093-7. review and notes on the book.
12. Elena I. Fedosova, ''Polish Projects of Napoleon Bonaparte'', The Journal of the International Napoleonic Society, 1/2/98
13. Gods, Heroes, & Legends
14. E.g., Sergey Solovyov's ''History of the Downfall of Poland'' (Moscow, 1863).
15. See Solovyov, inter alia.
16. Andrzej Nowak, ''The Russo-Polish Historical Confrontation'', The Sarmatian Review, January 1997, Volume XVII, Number 1,
17. Sir Robert Phillimore, ''Commentaries Upon International Law'', 1854
T. & J. W. Johnson, Google Print, p.819
18. Sharon Korman, ''The Right of Conquest: The Acquisition of Territory by Force in International Law and Practice'', Oxford University Press, 1996, ISBN 0198280076, Google Print, p.101
19. Norman Davies, ''Europe: A History'', Oxford University Press, 1996, ISBN 0198201710, Google Print, p.661
20. The Army of Grand Duchy of Warsaw
21. Hon. Carl L. Bucki, , University of Buffalo's History of Poland series, The Constitution of May 3, 1791
22. Paul W. Schroeder, ''The Transformation of European Politics 1763–1848'', Oxford University Press, 1996, ISBN 0-19-820654-2, Google print p.84
23. Geoffrey Russell, ''The Making of Modern Europe, 1648-1780'', Routledge, 2003, ISBN 0415301556, Google Print, p.548
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