Editing History of Poland (section)

====Saxon kings====

[[File:August der Starke.jpg|thumb|right|upright|[[Augustus II the Strong]], the first [[Electorate of Saxony|Saxon]] ruler of Poland. His death sparked the [[War of the Polish Succession]].]]

The royal election of 1697 brought a ruler of the [[Saxony|Saxon]] [[House of Wettin]] to the Polish throne: [[Augustus II the Strong]] (r. 1697–1733), who was able to assume the throne only by agreeing to convert to Roman Catholicism.  He was succeeded by his son [[Augustus III of Poland|Augustus III]] (r. 1734–1763).<ref name="playground I xxix"/>  The reigns of the Saxon kings (who were both simultaneously [[prince-elector]]s of [[Electorate of Saxony|Saxony]]) were disrupted by competing candidates for the throne and witnessed further disintegration of the Commonwealth.{{citation needed|date=January 2023}}

The [[Great Northern War]] of 1700–1721,<ref name="playground I xxix"/>  a period seen by the contemporaries as a temporary eclipse, may have been the fatal blow that brought down the Polish political system. [[Stanisław Leszczyński]] was installed as king in 1704 under Swedish protection, but lasted only a few years.<ref name="playground I 374–375">{{Harvnb|Davies|2005a|pp=374–375}}</ref> The [[Silent Sejm]] of 1717 marked the beginning of the Commonwealth's existence as a [[Tsardom of Russia|Russian]] protectorate:<ref name="playground I 375–377">{{Harvnb|Davies|2005a|pp=375–377}}</ref> the Tsardom would guarantee the reform-impeding [[Golden Liberty]] of the nobility from that time on in order to cement the Commonwealth's weak central authority and a state of perpetual political impotence. In a resounding break with traditions of religious tolerance, Protestants were executed during the [[Tumult of Thorn (Toruń)|Tumult of Thorn]] in 1724.<ref name="playground I 139–142">{{Harvnb|Davies|2005a|pp=139–142}}</ref> In 1732, [[Russian Empire|Russia]], [[Habsburg monarchy|Austria]] and [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussia]], Poland's three increasingly powerful and scheming neighbors, entered into the secret [[Treaty of the Three Black Eagles]] with the intention of controlling the future royal succession in the Commonwealth. The [[War of the Polish Succession]] was fought in 1733–1735<ref name="playground I xxix"/> to assist Leszczyński in assuming the throne of Poland for a second time. Amidst considerable foreign involvement, his efforts were unsuccessful. The [[Kingdom of Prussia]] became a strong regional power and succeeded in wresting the historically Polish province of [[Silesia]] from the [[Habsburg monarchy]] in the [[Silesian Wars]]; {{synthesis span|text=it thus constituted an ever-greater threat to Poland's security|date=January 2023}}.

The [[personal union]] between the Commonwealth and the [[Electorate of Saxony]] did give rise to the emergence of a reform movement in the Commonwealth and the beginnings of the [[Enlightenment in Poland|Polish Enlightenment]] culture, the major positive developments of this era. The first Polish public library was the [[Załuski Library]] in Warsaw, opened to the public in 1747.<ref name="playground I xxix"/><ref>{{Harvnb|Gierowski|1986a|pp=258–301}}.</ref>