Partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Essay

The modern republics of Po repose and Lithuania had been one time been a single, strong state known as the Polish-Lithuanian tribe. This terra firma was naturalized in 1569. Although in that location were separate states in the commonwealth, none of them was as mesomorphic as Poland. The nation was on the brink of success when the rest of atomic number 63 was ravaging in the famous thirty years state of warfare in the midst of 1618 and 1648. The Commonwealth noblemen had no desire to get involved in these wars and they were fit defend the country against external attacks from the Germans, Russians and the Ottoman Turks (TLK).However, the commonwealths subordination and stability did not last for long and in that location already were cash in ones chips signs of extraction by the mid 17th century. The main cause of the decline was wars that were fought within and awayside the commonwealth. Thus, the weakened state could not hold itself together after these wars which ultimately led to its partition. The decline of Poland was basically evincible in the legislative body Sejm. The divergent formations of the parliament grew ineffective and inefficient at a time when the deputies went verbal asserting Liberum Veto which gave them excessive power oer national resolutions.The countrys population had decreased by life-sized proportions as a result of wars. This made it practically impossible for the nation to succeed in its wars against other nations, though they were able to defeat the Ottomans at Vienna. This was the last success realized by the commonwealth armed forces (Davies 24). The Szlachta (noblemen) also diminished in their ability to learn others and consequentially depreciated in military vigor. In a myriad of situations they became impotent and viewed veto as the only if remaining legislative symbol within the commonwealth (25). The Decline of the CommonwealthIn 1648, the warlike Cossacks, with the support of Russia, upstaged a rebe llion against Poland. Thus the Russians began to influence the affairs of the country. Later in 1655, the Commonwealth was involved in some other war with Sweden, provoked by the policies of Commonwealth kings from the Swedish royal put forward 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 mess (TLK). Augustus was at conflict with parliament and this lead to a civil war in 1717.The Russians responded by reducing the powers of the Sejm, who by now were at the burden of running Poland, came to the rescue of Augustus. This resulted in Poland being forced to cut flock 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 son to Augustus, king instead. Another blow to the commonwealth was the Saxon rule that lasted for sixt y years. It drove the nation to the edges of lawlessness, devastating it even off to a greater extent than.A powerful alliance between Russia, Prussia and Australia ensured that Polands reasoned system and maintain ace of order was paralyzed. The three nations formed the Alliance of the third Black Eagles owing to the fact 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 internal problems that were plaguing it and this made the fragile nation to a greater extent vulnerable to external influences. The political system was in shambles and this concisely 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 approximately four million peop le. Russia took most of the land musical composition a majority of the population went to Austria. The Sejm ratified the partition agreement despite much resistance from the states deputies. After the first partition, there was a period of relative stability that saw to the development of a better education sector in the country. There was a try in the number of professionals in various fields.The king initialized a meliorate programme, which was executed by the cracking Sejm. The Four Year or Great Sejm came up with a new opus (Domar 56). Liberum Veto was abolished under the newly 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 timber was viewed as a threat by the rulers of Austria and Russia. This led to a long instigation of large numbers of magnate under the leadership of Branicki Ksawery, Potocki Szczesny and Rzewuski Seweryn.This was a betrayal of the commonwealth hence leading to the formation of the Targowica Confedaration in heedlessness to the declarations of the newly formed constitution (Kjaergard 122) The second partition was as a result of Russian invation. The troops 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 vehement resistance although all confidence was depleted after the Prussians joined the fighting. Many 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 holding in of more than half of the ideal 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 processd to make legal the process of partitioning of the country. After the partitioning, there was general discontent within the general population (Kostrowicka 34). The final partition in 1795 was the most devastating. A lot of Poles were evicted from their country. The King was seized and taken to prison in St.Petersburg. Other people were sent 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 competent enough, then maybe the history of the Poles would be much different and better than it is.