Editing Partitions of Poland

{{Short description|18th-century forced partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth}}
{{About|the partitions starting in the late 18th century|the fragmentation of Poland from 1138 to the 13/14th century|Bolesław III Wrymouth}}
{{Redirect|Fourth Partition|the 2013 documentary film|Fourth Partition (film)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2023}}
{{Infobox
| above = Partitions of Poland
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| image = [[File:Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1772.PNG|280px]]
| caption = The [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]] in 1772
| header2 = {{Infobox|decat=yes|child=yes
| subheader = '''Partitions'''
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| image = [[File:Rzeczpospolita Rozbiory 3.png|280px]]
| caption = The three partitions of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth: the [[Russian Partition]] (brown), the [[Austrian Partition]] (green), and the [[Prussian Partition]] (blue)
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The '''Partitions of Poland'''{{efn|Although the full name of the partitioned state was the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]], while referring to the partitions, virtually all sources use the term Partitions of Poland, not Partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, as Poland is the common short name for the state in question. The term Partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth is effectively not used in literature on this subject.}} were three [[partition (politics)|partitions]] of the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]] that took place between 1772 and 1795, toward the end of the 18th century. They ended the existence of the state, resulting in the elimination of sovereign [[Poland]] and [[Lithuania]] for 123 years. The partitions were conducted by the [[Habsburg monarchy]], the [[Kingdom of Prussia]], and the [[Russian Empire]], which divided up the Commonwealth lands among themselves progressively in the process of territorial seizures and annexations.<ref name="Brit" /><ref>{{cite book |first1=Robert |last1=Bideleux |first2=Ian |last2=Jeffries |title=A History of Eastern Europe: Crisis and Change |publisher=Routledge |year=1998 |page=156}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first1=Judy |last1=Batt |first2=Kataryna |last2=Wolczuk |title=Region, State and Identity in Central and Eastern Europe |publisher=Routledge |year=2002 |page=153}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Nancy |last=Sinkoff |title=Out of the Shtetl: Making Jews Modern in the Polish Borderlands |publisher=Society of Biblical Literature |year=2004 |page=271}}</ref>

The [[First Partition of Poland|First Partition]] was decided on August 5, 1772, after the [[Bar Confederation]] lost the war with Russia. The [[Second Partition of Poland|Second Partition]] occurred in the aftermath of the [[Polish–Russian War of 1792]] and the [[Targowica Confederation]] when Russian and Prussian troops entered the Commonwealth and the partition treaty was signed during the [[Grodno Sejm]] on January 23, 1793 (without Austria). The [[Third Partition of Poland|Third Partition]] took place on October 24, 1795, in reaction to the unsuccessful Polish [[Kościuszko Uprising]] the previous year. With this partition, the Commonwealth [[Dissolution (politics)|ceased to exist]].<ref name="Brit" />

In English, the term "Partitions of Poland" is sometimes used geographically as [[toponymy]], to mean the three parts that the partitioning powers divided the Commonwealth into, namely:  the [[Austrian Partition]], the [[Prussian Partition]] and the [[Russian Partition]]. In Polish, there are two separate words for the two meanings. The consecutive acts of dividing and [[annexation]] of Poland are referred to as ''{{lang|pl|rozbiór}}'' (plural: ''{{lang|pl|rozbiory}}''), while the term ''{{lang|pl|zabór}}'' (plural: ''{{lang|pl|zabory}}'') refers to parts of the Commonwealth that were annexed in 1772–1795 and which became part of Imperial Russia, Prussia, or Austria. Following the [[Congress of Vienna]] in 1815, the borders of the three partitioned sectors were redrawn; the Austrians established [[Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria|Galicia]] in the Austrian partition, whereas the Russians gained [[Warsaw]] from Prussia and formed an autonomous [[polity]] known as [[Congress Poland]] in the Russian partition.

In Polish historiography, the term [[#Fourth Partition|"Fourth Partition of Poland"]] has also been used, in reference to any subsequent annexation of Polish lands by foreign invaders. Depending on source and historical period, this could mean the events of [[Congress of Vienna|1815]], or [[Organic Statute of the Kingdom of Poland|1832]] and [[Kraków uprising|1846]], or [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact|1939]]. The term "Fourth Partition" in a temporal sense can also mean the diaspora communities that played an important political role in re-establishing the Polish sovereign state after 1918.

== History ==
[[File:Allegory of the 1st partition of Poland crop.jpg|thumb|Allegory of the [[First Partition of Poland|first partition of Poland]], showing [[Catherine the Great]] of Russia (left), [[Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor|Joseph II of Austria]] (middle) and [[Frederick the Great]] of Prussia (right) quarrelling over their territorial seizures]]
[[File:Alegoria Umarlej Polski.jpg|thumb|[[Włodzimierz Tetmajer]], ''Allegory of Dead Poland'', St. Nicholas Cathedral, [[Kalisz]]]]

During the reign of [[Władysław IV Vasa|Władysław IV]] (1632–1648), the {{lang|la|[[liberum veto]]}} was developed, a policy of parliamentary procedure based on the assumption of the political equality of every "[[Szlachta|gentleman/Polish nobleman]]", with the corollary that unanimous consent was needed for all measures.<ref name="Brit" /> A single member of parliament's belief that a measure was injurious to his own constituency (usually simply his own estate), even after the act had been approved, became enough to strike the act. Thus it became increasingly difficult to undertake action. The {{lang|la|liberum veto}} also provided openings for foreign diplomats to get their ways, through bribing nobles to exercise it.<ref name="Brit" /> Thus, one could characterise Poland–Lithuania in its final period (mid-18th century) before the partitions as already in a state of disorder and not a completely sovereign state, and almost as a [[vassal state]],<ref name="Scott" /> with Polish kings effectively chosen in diplomatic maneuvers between the great powers Prussia, Austria, Russia, and France.<ref name="Corwin">{{cite book|last=Corwin |first=Edward Henry Lewinski |year=1917 |title=The political History of Poland |publisher=Polish Book Importing Company |location=New York |url=https://archive.org/details/politicalhistor00corwgoog/page/n306 |pages=286&ndash;288 |oclc=626738}}</ref> 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 neighbors of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth ({{lang|pl|[[Rzeczpospolita]]}}), namely Prussia, Austria and Russia, signed a secret agreement to maintain the {{lang|la|status quo}}: specifically, to ensure that the Commonwealth laws would not change. Their alliance later became known in Poland as the "[[Treaty of the Three Black Eagles|Alliance of the Three Black Eagles]]" (or ''{{lang|de|Löwenwolde}}'s Treaty''), because all three states used a black eagle as a state symbol (in contrast to the [[coat of arms of Poland|white eagle]], a symbol of Poland). The Commonwealth had been forced to rely on Russia for protection against the rising [[Kingdom of Prussia]], which demanded a slice of the northwest in order to unite its Western and Eastern portions; this would leave the Commonwealth with a [[Baltic Sea|Baltic]] coast only in [[Latvia]] and [[Lithuania]].<ref name="Brit" /> Catherine had to use diplomacy to win Austria to her side.

The Commonwealth had remained neutral in the [[Seven Years' War]] (1756–1763), yet it sympathized with the alliance of France, [[Habsburg monarchy|Austria]], and Russia, and allowed Russian troops access to its western lands as bases against Prussia. [[Frederick the Great|Frederick II]] retaliated by ordering enough Polish currency counterfeited to severely affect the Polish economy. Through the [[szlachta|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 effectively dictated the terms of that Sejm (and ordered the capture and exile to [[Kaluga]] of some vocal opponents of his policies,<ref name="Scott">{{cite book |first=Hamish M. |last=Scott |title=The Emergence of the Eastern Powers, 1756–1775 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |year=2001 |isbn=0-521-79269-X |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lc8EMD0JYUAC&dq=Repnin+Poland&pg=PA182 |pages=181–182}}</ref><ref name="Steed,">{{cite book |first=H. Wickham |last=Steed |url=http://historicaltextarchive.com/books.php?op=viewbook&bookid=2&cid=26 |title=A Short History of Austria-Hungary and Poland |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070924183148/http://www.historicaltextarchive.com/books.php?op=viewbook&bookid=2&cid=26 |archive-date=2007-09-24 |year=1914 |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. |access-date=3 August 2007}}</ref><ref name="Seton-Watson" /> including bishop [[Józef Andrzej Załuski]]<ref name="Cas">{{cite book |title=The Story of My Life |publisher=Penguin Classics |year=2001 |isbn=0-14-043915-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-0F8CRLDPv4C&dq=1773+Siberia+Sejm&pg=PA528 |page=528}}</ref> and others). This new constitution undid the reforms made in 1764 under [[Stanisław August Poniatowski|Stanisław II]]. The {{lang|la|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]]''<ref name="Seton-Watson">{{cite book |author-link=Hugh Seton-Watson |first=Hugh |last=Seton-Watson |title=The Russian Empire, 1801–1917 |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1967 |isbn=0-19-822152-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=40KbWNve4XkC&q=repnin+polish+1768&pg=PA44 |page=44}}</ref><ref name="RB">{{Cite book |first=Richard |last=Butterwick |title=Poland-Lithuania's Last King and English Culture: Stanisław August Poniatowski, 1732–1798 |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1998 |isbn=0-19-820701-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ySzrq3JwjBEC&q=Repnin+Poland&pg=PA169 |page=169}}</ref>). Repnin also demanded the Russian protection of the rights of peasants in private estates of Polish and Lithuanian noblemen, religious freedom for the Protestant and [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox Christians]] and the political freedoms for Protestants, Orthodox Christians and [[Eastern Catholics]] (Uniates), including their right to occupy all state positions, including a royal one. The next king could be a member of the Russian ruling dynasty now. The Sejm approved this. Resulting reaction among some of Poland's Roman Catholics, as well as the deep resentment of Russian intervention in the Commonwealth's domestic affairs including the exile to Russia of the top Roman Catholic bishops, the members of the Polish Senate, led to the War of the [[Bar Confederation|Confederation of Bar]] of 1768–1772, formed in [[Bar, Ukraine|Bar]], where the Poles tried to expel Russian forces from Commonwealth territory.<ref name="Scott" /><ref name="Seton-Watson" /> 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 [[Ukraine|Ukrainian]] [[Cossacks|Cossack]] and peasant rebellion in the east ([[Koliyivshchyna]]), which erupted in 1768 and resulted in massacres of [[szlachta|Polish noblemen]] ({{lang|pl|szlachta}}), Jews, [[Eastern Catholic Churches|Uniates]], ethnic minorities and Catholic priests, before it was put down by Russian and governmental Polish troops. This uprising led to the intervention of the Ottoman Empire, supported by Roman Catholic France and Austria. Bar confederation and France promised [[Podolia]] and [[Volhynia]] and the protectorate over the Commonwealth to the [[Ottoman Empire]] for armed support.

In 1769, the [[Habsburg monarchy]] annexed a small territory of [[Spiš|Spisz]] and in 1770 it annexed [[Nowy Sącz]] and [[Nowy Targ]]. These territories had been a bone of contention between Poland and [[Kingdom of Hungary|Hungary]], which was a part of the Monarchy. Nevertheless, the Ottoman Empire, the Bar confederation and its French and European volunteers were defeated by Russian forces and Polish governmental ones with the aid of Great Britain. As Russia moved into the Crimea and the Danubian Principalities (which the Habsburg monarchy long coveted), King Frederick II of Prussia and Maria Theresa were worried that the defeat of the Ottoman Empire would severely upset the balance of power in Eastern Europe. Frederick II began to construct the partition to rebalance the power in Eastern Europe.

=== First Partition ===
{{Main|First Partition of Poland}}
[[File:Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth 1773-1789.PNG|thumb|right|upright=1.4|The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth after the First Partition, as a protectorate of the Russian Empire (1773–1789)]]

In February 1772, the agreement of partition was signed in [[Vienna]]. Early in August, Russian, Prussian and Austrian troops occupied the provinces agreed upon among themselves. However, fighting continued as Bar confederation troops and French volunteers refused to lay down their arms (most notably, in [[Tyniec]], [[Częstochowa]] and [[Kraków]]). On August 5, 1772, the occupation manifesto was issued, to the dismay of the weak and exhausted Polish state;<ref name="Brit">{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/466910/Partitions-of-Poland |title=Partitions of Poland |year=2008 |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] Online |access-date=8 June 2011}}</ref> 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 [[Royal Prussia]] (except [[Gdańsk]]) that stood between its possessions in [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussia]] and the [[Margraviate of Brandenburg]], as well as Ermland ([[Warmia]]), northern areas of [[Greater Poland]] along the [[Noteć]] River (the [[Netze District]]), and parts of [[Kujawy|Kuyavia]] (but not the city of [[Toruń]]).<ref name="Brit" />

Despite token criticism of the partition from Empress [[Maria Theresa]], Austrian statesman [[Wenzel Anton, Prince of Kaunitz-Rietberg]], was proud of wresting as large a share as he did, with the rich salt mines of [[Bochnia]] and [[Wieliczka]]. To Austria fell [[Zator, Lesser Poland Voivodeship|Zator]] and Auschwitz ([[Oświęcim]]), part of [[Lesser Poland]] embracing parts of the counties of [[Kraków]] and [[Sandomierz|Sandomir]] and the whole of [[Galicia (Eastern Europe)|Galicia]], less the city of [[Kraków]].

Empress [[Catherine II of Russia]] was also satisfied despite the loss of Galicia to the Habsburg monarchy. By this "diplomatic document" Russia gained [[Inflanty Voivodeship|Polish Livonia]], and lands in eastern [[Belarus]] embracing the counties of [[Vitebsk]], [[Polotsk]] and [[Mstsislaw|Mstislavl]].<ref name="Brit" />

[[File:Jan_Matejko_-_Upadek_Polski_(Reytan).jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|''[[Rejtan (painting)|Rejtan at Sejm 1773]]'', oil on canvas by Jan Matejko, 1866, {{convert|282|x|487|cm|0|abbr=on}}, [[Royal Castle, Warsaw|Royal Castle in Warsaw]]]]
By this partition, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth lost about 30% of its territory and half of its population<ref name="Brit" /> (four million people), of which a large portion had not been ethnically Polish. By seizing northwestern Poland, Prussia instantly gained control over 80% of the Commonwealth's total foreign trade. Through levying enormous customs duties, Prussia accelerated the collapse of the Commonwealth.<ref>{{cite book|last=von Guttner|first=Darius|title=The French Revolution|year=2015|publisher=Nelson Cengage|pages=139}}</ref>

After having occupied their respective territories, the three partitioning powers demanded that King [[Stanisław August Poniatowski|Stanisław]] and the [[Sejm]] approve their action. 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, the only alternative was 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.

In 1772, [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau]] was invited to present recommendations for a new constitution for the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]], resulting in the ''[[Considerations on the Government of Poland]]'' (1782), which was to be his last major political work.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last = Gourevitch |editor-first = Victor |title = Rousseau: 'The Social Contract' and Other Later Political Writings |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=kcvseZCgQKMC |year = 1997 |publisher = Cambridge University Press |page = ix |isbn = 978-0-521-42446-2 |access-date = 8 February 2017 |archive-date = 16 February 2017 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170216213853/https://books.google.com/books?id=kcvseZCgQKMC |url-status = live }}</ref>

=== Second Partition ===
{{Main|Second Partition of Poland}}
[[File:Rzeczpospolita Rozbiory 2.png|thumb|upright=1.4|right|The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth after the Second Partition (1793)]]
[[File:Medal commemorating the reunification of Western Rus, reverse.jpeg|right|thumb|1793 Russian campaign medal]]
By 1790, the Commonwealth had been weakened to such a degree that it was forced into an unnatural and terminal alliance with its enemy, Prussia. The [[Polish–Prussian alliance|Polish–Prussian Pact]] of 1790 was signed. The conditions of the Pact contributed to the subsequent final two partitions of Poland–Lithuania.

The [[Constitution of May 3, 1791|May Constitution of 1791]] enfranchised the bourgeoisie, established the separation of the three branches of government, and eliminated the abuses of the [[Repnin Sejm]]. Those reforms prompted aggressive actions on the part of its neighbours, wary of the potential renaissance of the Commonwealth. Arguing that Poland had fallen prey to the radical [[Jacobin (politics)|Jacobinism]] then at high tide in France, Russian forces invaded the Commonwealth in 1792.

In the [[Polish–Russian War of 1792|War in Defense of the Constitution]], pro-Russian conservative Polish [[magnate]]s, the [[Targowica Confederation|Confederation of Targowica]], fought against 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 Second Partition, Russia and Prussia helped themselves to enough 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]] began.

=== Third Partition ===
{{Main|Third Partition of Poland}}
Kosciuszko's ragtag insurgent armies won some initial successes, but they eventually fell before the superior forces of the 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 October 24, 1795, their representatives signed a treaty, dividing the remaining territories of the Commonwealth between their three countries. One of Russia's chief foreign policy authors, [[Alexander Bezborodko]], advised [[Catherine the Great|Catherine II]] on the Second and Third Partitions of Poland.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Alexander Bezborodko |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alexander-Bezborodko |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia Britannica|date=April 17, 2024 }}</ref>

The Russian part included {{convert|120000|km2|0|abbr=on}} and 1.2&nbsp;million people with [[Vilnius]], the Prussian part (new provinces of [[New East Prussia]] and [[New Silesia]]) {{convert|55000|km2|0|abbr=on}} and 1&nbsp;million people with Warsaw, and the Austrian {{convert|47000|km2|0|abbr=on}} with 1.2&nbsp;million and [[Lublin]] and Kraków.

== Aftermath ==
The [[King of Poland]], [[Stanisław August Poniatowski]], under Russian military escort left for [[Grodno]] where he [[abdication|abdicated]] on November 25, 1795; next he left for [[Saint Petersburg]], Russia, where he would spend his remaining days. This act ensured that Russia would be seen as the most important of the partitioning powers.

With regard to population, in the First Partition, Poland lost over four to five million citizens (about a third of its population of 14&nbsp;million before the partitions).<ref name="LukowskiZawadzki2001-96">{{cite book |author1=Jerzy Lukowski |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NpMxTvBuWHYC&pg=PA96 |title=A Concise History of Poland: Jerzy Lukowski and Hubert Zawadzki |author2=W. H. Zawadzki |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-521-55917-1 |pages=96–98 |access-date=8 January 2013}}</ref> Only about 4&nbsp;million people remained in Poland after the Second Partition which makes for a loss of another third of its original population, about a half of the remaining population.<ref name="lz">{{cite book |author1=Jerzy Lukowski |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NpMxTvBuWHYC&pg=PA103 |title=A Concise History of Poland: Jerzy Lukowski and Hubert Zawadzki |author2=W. H. Zawadzki |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-521-55917-1 |pages=101–103 |access-date=8 January 2013}}</ref> By the Third Partition, Prussia ended up with about 23% of the Commonwealth's population, Austria with 32%, and Russia with 45%.<ref name="Wandycz2001">{{cite book |author=Piotr Stefan Wandycz |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E8H08OiOouoC&pg=PA133 |title=The Price of Freedom: A History of East Central Europe from the Middle Ages to the Present |publisher=Taylor & Francis Group |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-415-25490-8 |pages=133– |author-link=Piotr S. Wandycz |access-date=8 January 2013}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Cumulative division of the Commonwealth territory<ref>{{cite book |last=Davies |first=Norman |title=God's Playground. A History of Poland. The Origins to 1795 |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-19-925339-5 |edition=revised |volume=I |page=394}}</ref>
|-
! rowspan="2" | Partition
! colspan="2" | To Austria
! colspan="2" | To Prussia
! colspan="2" | To Russia
! colspan="2" | Total annexed
! colspan="2" | Total remaining
|-
! Area || % || Area  || % || Area  || % || Area  || % || Area  || %
|-
| bgcolor="#ffdddd" | 1772 || {{convert|81900|km2|abbr=on}} || 11.17% || {{convert|36300|km2|abbr=on}} || 4.95% || {{convert|93000|km2|abbr=on}} || 12.68% || {{convert|211200|km2|abbr=on}} || bgcolor="#ffdddd" | 28.79% || {{convert|522300|km2|abbr=on}} || 71.21%
|-
| bgcolor="#ddddff" | 1793 || — || — || {{convert|57100|km2|abbr=on}} ||7.78% || {{convert|250200|km2|abbr=on}} || 34.11% || {{convert|307300|km2|abbr=on}} || bgcolor="#ddddff" | 41.90% || {{convert|215000|km2|abbr=on}} || 29.31%
|-
| bgcolor="#dddddd" | 1795 || {{convert|47000|km2|abbr=on}} || 6.41% || {{convert|48000|km2|abbr=on}} || 6.54% || {{convert|120000|km2|abbr=on}} || 16.36% || {{convert|215000|km2|abbr=on}} || bgcolor="#dddddd" | 29.31% || {{center|'''None'''}} || {{center|0%}}
|-
| '''Total''' || {{convert|128900|km2|abbr=on}} || '''17.57%''' || {{convert|141400|km2|abbr=on}} || '''19.28%''' || {{convert|463200|km2|abbr=on}} || '''63.15%''' || {{convert|733500|km2|abbr=on}} || '''100%''' || ||
|}
(Wandycz also offers slightly different total annexed territory estimates, with 18% for Austria, 20% for Prussia and 62% for Russia.)<ref name="Wandycz2001" />[[File:Map of the partition of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from 1799.jpg|thumb|"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]]During the [[Napoleonic Wars]] and in their immediate aftermath the borders between partitioning powers shifted several times, changing the numbers seen in the preceding table. Ultimately, Russia ended up with most of the Polish core at the expense of Prussia and Austria. Following the [[Congress of Vienna]], Russia controlled 82% of the pre-1772 Commonwealth's territory (this includes its [[puppet state]] of [[Congress Poland]]), Austria 11%, and Prussia 7%.<ref>"Po przyłączeniu do obwodu białostockiego w 1807 roku do cesartwa i utworzeniu osiem lat później Królestwa Polskiego wnuk Katarzyny zjednoczył pod swoim berłem około 82% przedrozbiorowego terytorium Rzeczypospolitej (dla porównania – Austria 11%, Prusy 7%). "[in:] Basil Kerski, Andrzej Stanisław Kowalczyk. Realiści z wyobraźnią. [[Maria Curie-Skłodowska University|Uniwersytet Marii Curie-Skłodowskiej]]. 2007 page. 318 {{ISBN|978-83-227-2620-4}}</ref>

As a result of the Partitions, Poles were forced to seek a change of status quo in Europe.<ref name="LRJohnson">{{cite book |first=Lonnie R. |last=Johnson |title=Central Europe: Enemies, Neighbors, Friends |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1996 |isbn=0-19-510071-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780195100716 |url-access=registration |pages=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780195100716/page/127 127]–128}}</ref><ref name="Wandycz">{{cite book |author=Piotr Stefan Wandycz |author-link=Piotr S. Wandycz |title=The Price of Freedom: A History of East Central Europe from the Middle Ages to the Present |publisher=Routledge |year=2001 |isbn=0-415-25491-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E8H08OiOouoC&q=%22percent+of+the+population%22&pg=PA133 |page=133 }}</ref> Polish poets, politicians, noblemen, writers, artists, many of whom were forced to emigrate (thus the term [[Great Emigration]]), became the revolutionaries of the 19th century, as desire for freedom became one of the defining parts of [[Romanticism in Poland|Polish romanticism]].<ref name="WHZaw">{{cite book |first=W. H. |last=Zawadzki |title=A Man of Honour: Adam Czartoryski as a Statesman of Russia and Poland, 1795–1831 |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1993 |isbn=0-19-820303-9
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hwZASJRHjLIC&q=Polish+romantic+revolutionaries&pg=PA330 |page=330 }}</ref><ref name="StefanAuer">{{cite book |first=Stefan |last=Auer |title=Liberal Nationalism in Central Europe |publisher=Routledge |year=2004 |isbn=0-415-31479-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b2IRot3UaQ0C&q=Polish+romantic+revolutionaries&pg=RA2-PA60 |page=60 }}</ref> Polish revolutionaries participated in uprisings in [[Prussia]], the [[Austrian Empire]] and [[Russian Empire|Imperial Russia]].<ref name="DieterDowe">{{cite book |first=Dieter |last=Dowe |title=Europe in 1848: Revolution and Reform |publisher=Berghahn |year=2001 |isbn=1-57181-164-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B3qRFCn5CHoC&q=Polish+romantic+revolutionaries&pg=PA180 |page=180 |quote=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.}}</ref> [[Polish Legions (Napoleonic period)|Polish legions]] fought alongside [[Napoleon]]<ref name="Carrib">{{cite book |first1=Jan |last1=Pachonski |first2=Reuel K. |last2=Wilson |title=Poland's Caribbean Tragedy: A Study of Polish Legions in the Haitian War of Independence 1802–1803 |publisher=East European Monographs/Columbia University Press |year=1986 |isbn=0-88033-093-7}}</ref><ref name="NapSoc">{{cite journal |first=Elena I. |last=Fedosova |url=http://www.napoleon-series.org/ins/scholarship98/c_polish.html |title=Polish Projects of Napoleon Bonaparte |journal=Journal of the International Napoleonic Society |year=1998}}</ref> and, under the slogan of ''[[For our freedom and yours]]'', participated widely in the [[Revolutions of 1848|Spring of Nations]] (particularly the [[Hungarian Revolution of 1848]]).<ref name="DieterDowe" /><ref name="Fofay">[http://www.globalprovince.com/ghl.htm Gods, Heroes, & Legends]</ref>

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 Poland|Congress Kingdom of Poland]] was created in its place. After the Congress, Russia gained a larger share of Poland (with [[Warsaw]]) and, after crushing [[November Uprising|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 [[January Uprising|uprising of 1863]], [[Russification]] of Polish secondary schools was imposed and the literacy rate dropped dramatically. In the Austrian sector which now was called [[Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria|Galicia]], Poles fared better and were allowed to have representation in Parliament and to form their own universities, and Kraków with [[Lwów|Lemberg]] (Lwów/Lviv) became centers of Polish culture and education. Meanwhile, Prussia [[Germanisation of Poles during the Partitions|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 [[Kingdom of Poland (1916–18)|Regency Kingdom of Poland]]. After the end of World War I, the Central Powers' surrender to the [[Allies of World War I|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 ==
[[File:Territorial changes of Poland 1815.jpg|thumb|right|The partition of the Duchy of Warsaw according to the [[Congress of Vienna]]; division of Polish territories in 1815]]
[[File:Occupation of Poland 1939.png|thumb|right|The partition of Poland according to [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact|the German–Soviet Pact]]; division of Polish territories in 1939–1941]]
The term "Fourth Partition of Poland" may refer to any subsequent division of Polish lands, including:
* after the [[Napoleonic era]], the 1815 division of the [[Duchy of Warsaw]] at the [[Congress of Vienna]];
* the 1832 incorporation of the "[[Congress Poland|Congress Kingdom]]" into Russia, the 1846 incorporation of the [[Free City of Cracow|Republic of Kraków]] into Austria, and the 1848 incorporation of the [[Grand Duchy of Posen]] into Prussia; and
* the [[Occupation of Poland (1939–1945)|1939 division of Poland]] between [[Nazi Germany|Germany]] and the [[Soviet Union]] pursuant to the [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact]].<ref name="Brecher">{{cite book |first1=Michael |last1=Brecher |first2=Jonathan |last2=Wilkenfeld |title=A Study of Crisis |year=1997 |pages=255 |publisher=University of Michigan Press |isbn=0-472-10806-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GjY7aV_6FPwC&q=Zeligowski+state&pg=PA255 }}</ref>
If one accepts more than one of those events as partitions, fifth, sixth, and even seventh partitions can be counted, but these terms are very rare. (For example, [[Norman Davies]] in ''[[God's Playground]]'' refers to the 1807 creation of the [[Duchy of Warsaw]] as the fourth partition, the 1815 [[Congress of Vienna|Treaty of Vienna]] as the fifth, the 1918 [[Treaty of Brest-Litovsk]] as the sixth, and the 1939 [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact|division of Poland between Nazi Germany and the USSR]] as the seventh.)<ref>Norman Davies. ''God's Playground: A History of Poland: 1795 to the Present''. [[Oxford University Press]]. 2005. pp. 218, 225, 284, 321.</ref> However, in recent times, the 1815 division of the Duchy of Warsaw at the Congress of Vienna and the 1939 division of Poland have been sometimes called the fourth and fifth partitions, respectively.

The term "Fourth Partition" was also used in the 19th and 20th centuries to refer to diaspora communities who maintained a close interest in the project of regaining Polish independence.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Cygan |first=Mary |year=1998 |title=Inventing Polonia: Notions of Polish American Identity, 1870–1990 |journal=Prospects |volume=23 |pages=209–246|doi=10.1017/S0361233300006335 }}</ref> Sometimes termed [[Polish diaspora|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.<ref>{{cite book |last=Lopata |first=Helena Znaniecka |year=1994 |title=Polish Americans |publisher=Transaction }}</ref>

== Reasons, legality and justifications ==
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 power-hungry neighbours.<ref name="Wandycz" /><ref name="Davies:Europe" /><ref name="NowakSarmatia" /><ref name="Army_Duchy">[http://web2.airmail.net/napoleon/polish_army.html The Army of Grand Duchy of Warsaw] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051214183008/http://web2.airmail.net/napoleon/polish_army.html |date=2005-12-14 }}</ref><ref name="Buffalohist3May">{{cite web |first=Carl L. |last=Bucki |publisher=University of Buffalo |series=History of Poland |url=http://info-poland.buffalo.edu/classroom/constitution.html |title=The Constitution of May 3, 1791 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081205130036/http://info-poland.buffalo.edu/classroom/constitution.html |archive-date=December 5, 2008 }}</ref><ref name="Schroeder">{{cite book |first=Paul W. |last=Schroeder |author-link=Paul W. Schroeder |title=The Transformation of European Politics 1763–1848 |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1996 |isbn=0-19-820654-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BS2z3iGPCigC&dq=Poland+%22constitutional+monarchy%22&pg=PA84 |page=84}}</ref><ref name="GRussell">{{cite book |first=Geoffrey |last=Russell |title=The Making of Modern Europe, 1648–1780 |publisher=Routledge |year=2003 |isbn=0-415-30155-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uxi8h67Siy4C&dq=justifications+for+the+partitions+of+Poland&pg=RA1-PA548 |page=548}}</ref>

As historian [[Norman Davies]] stated, because the [[balance of power (international relations)|balance of power equilibrium]] was observed, many contemporary observers accepted explanations of the "enlightened apologists" of the partitioning state.<ref name="Dav283">{{cite book |first=Norman |last=Davies |title=God's Playground: A History of Poland in Two Volumes |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2005 |isbn=0-19-925339-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b912JnKpYTkC&q=the+coincidence+of+view&pg=RA1-PA283 |page=283}}</ref><ref name="Davies:Europe" /> 19th-century historians from countries that carried out the partitions, such as 19th-century Russian scholar [[Sergey Solovyov (historian)|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 the counterproductive principle of {{lang|la|[[liberum veto]]}} 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 [[Belarusians|Belarusian]] and [[Ukrainians|Ukrainian]] [[serfdom|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 [[Rurik dynasty|Rurikids]] reigned ([[Kievan Rus']]).<ref>E.g., [[Sergey Solovyov (historian)|Sergey Solovyov]]'s ''History of the Downfall of Poland'' (Moscow, 1863).</ref> Thus, [[Nikolay Karamzin]] wrote: "Let the foreigners denounce the partition of Poland: we took what was ours."<ref>N. M. Karamzin. {{lang|ru|italic=no|[http://rys-arhipelag.ucoz.ru/publ/6-1-0-133 "Записка о древней и новой России в ее политическом и гражданском отношениях"]}} [Notes on old and new Russia in its political and civil relations].{{fcn|date=November 2023}}</ref> Russian historians often stressed that Russia annexed primarily Ukrainian and Belarusian provinces with Eastern Slavic inhabitants,<ref>{{cite journal |first=Nicholas V. |last=Riasanovsky |title=Old Russia, the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe |journal=American Slavic and East European Review |volume=11 |issue=3 |year=1952 |pages=171–188|doi=10.2307/2491975 |jstor=2491975 }}</ref> although many [[Ruthenians]] were no more enthusiastic about Russia than about Poland, and ignoring ethnically Polish and Lithuanian territories also being annexed later. 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.<ref name="NowakSarmatia">{{cite journal |author-link=Andrzej Nowak (historian) |first=Andrzej |last=Nowak |url=http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~sarmatia/197/Nowak.html |title=The Russo-Polish Historical Confrontation |journal=[[Sarmatian Review]] |year=1997 |volume=XVII |issue=1}}</ref>

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]];<ref>{{cite book |first=Robert |last=Phillimore |author-link=Robert Phillimore |title=Commentaries Upon International Law |year=1854 |publisher=T. & J. W. Johnson |url=https://archive.org/details/commentariesupo05philgoog/page/n324 <!-- pg=319 quote=justification "partitions of Poland". --> |page=819}}</ref> German jurist [[Heinrich Bernhard Oppenheim]] presented similar views.<ref name="Oppen">{{cite book |first=Sharon |last=Korman |author-link=Sharon Korman |title=The Right of Conquest: The Acquisition of Territory by Force in International Law and Practice |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1996 |isbn=0-19-828007-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ueDO1dJyjrUC&dq=justification+%22partitions+of+Poland%22&pg=PA101 |page=101}}</ref> Other older historians who challenged such justifications for the Partitions included French historian [[Jules Michelet]], British historian and politician [[Thomas Babington Macaulay]], and [[Edmund Burke]], who criticized the immorality of the partitions.<ref name="Davies:Europe">{{cite book |first=Norman |last=Davies |author-link=Norman Davies |title=Europe: A History |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1996 |isbn=0-19-820171-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/europehistory00davi_0/page/842 <!-- quote="partitions of Poland". --> |page=661}}</ref><ref>[http://original.britannica.com/eb/article-28200/Poland Poland The First Partition]{{fcn|date=November 2023}}</ref> Nonetheless, most governments accepted the event as a [[fait acompli]]. The [[Ottoman Empire]] was either the only,<ref>{{cite book|first=Radosław Żurawski vel|last=Grajewski|date=2015|title=Poland. History, Culture and Society. Selected Readings|chapter=Poland in the Period of Partitions 1795–1914|isbn=978-8392310945 |location=[[Łódź]]|page=110|url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/944107388|editor=Eleonora Bielawska-Batorowicz|publisher=[[University of Łódź]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Paulina D.|last=Dominik|title=History Takes Place: Istanbul. Dynamics of Urban Change|chapter=From the Polish Times of Pera: Late Ottoman Istanbul through the Lens of Polish emigration|isbn=978-3868593686 |location=[[Berlin]]|page=94|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N1AXswEACAAJ|editor1-first=Ayşe |editor1-last=Öncü|editor2-first=Anna |editor2-last=Hofmann|publisher=Jovis |date=2016}}</ref> or one of only two countries in the world that refused to accept the partitions,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Prazmowska |first=Anita |title=Poland: A Modern History |publisher=I. B. Tauris |year=2010 |page=25}}</ref> (the other being the [[Afsharid dynasty|Persian Empire]]),<ref>{{Cite web |title=History of Polish-Iranian relations |url=https://tehran.mfa.gov.pl/en/bilateral_cooperation/history/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190122045901/https://tehran.mfa.gov.pl/en/bilateral_cooperation/history/ |archive-date=2019-01-22 |access-date=2019-11-12}}</ref> and reserved a place in its diplomatic corps for an Ambassador of [[Lehistan]] (Poland).

Several scholars focused on the economic motivations of the partitioning powers. [[Hajo Holborn]] noted that Prussia aimed to take control of the lucrative Baltic [[grain trade]] through [[Gdańsk]].<ref name="Holborn1982">{{cite book |first=Hajo |last=Holborn |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yeXYMV3CZ0IC&pg=PA256 |title=A History of Modern Germany: 1648–1840 |date=1 December 1982 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-00796-0 |page=256 |access-date=16 February 2012}}</ref> In the 18th century the Russian peasants were escaping from Russia to the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]] (where the [[Serfdom in Poland|once dire conditions]] had improved, [[Serfdom in Russia|unlike in Russia]]<ref name="Wagner">{{cite journal |last=Wagner |first=W. J. |date=1992 |title=May 3, 1791, and the Polish constitutional tradition |journal=The Polish Review |volume=36 |issue=4 |pages=383–395 |jstor=25778591}}</ref>) in significant enough numbers to become a major concern for the Russian Government sufficient to play a role in its decision to partition the Commonwealth (one of the reasons [[Catherine the Great|Catherine II]] gave for the [[partition of Poland]] was that thousands of peasants escaped from Russia to Poland to seek a better fate").<ref name=":03">{{Cite journal |last=Czajewski |first=Jerzy |date=October 2004 |title=Zbiegostwo ludności Rosji w granice Rzeczypospolitej |trans-title=Russian population exodus into the Rzeczpospolita |url=http://www.promemoria.pl/arch/2004_15/2004_15.html |url-status=dead |journal=Promemoria |issue=6/15 |issn=1509-9091 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050103164508/http://www.promemoria.pl/arch/2004_15/2004_15.html |archive-date=3 January 2005}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Kimla |first=Piotr |date=2011 |title=Przywary niewolników pańszczyźnianych w XVIII-wiecznej Rzeczypospolitej w relacji Huberta Vautrina |url=http://bazekon.icm.edu.pl/bazekon/element/bwmeta1.element.ekon-element-000171365797 |journal=Annales Universitatis Mariae Curie-Skłodowska. Sectio G. Ius |language=pl |volume=58 |issue=1 |pages=87–97 |issn=0458-4317}}</ref> Jerzy Czajewski and Piotr Kimla assert that in the 18th century until the partitions solved this problem, Russian armies increasingly raided territories of the Commonwealth, officially to recover the escapees, but in fact kidnapping many locals;<ref name=":03" /> Piotr Kimla noted that the Russian government spread international propaganda, mainly in France, which falsely exaggerated serfdom conditions in Poland, while ignoring worse conditions in Russia, as one of the justification for the partitions.<ref name=":0" />

== Legacy ==
{{lang|it|[[Il Canto degli Italiani]]}}, the Italian national anthem, contains a reference to the partition.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.quirinale.it/qrnw/statico/simboli/inno/inno.htm |title=L'Inno nazionale |publisher=Quirinale.it |access-date=2013-11-17}}</ref>

The ongoing partitions of Poland were a major topic of discourse in ''[[The Federalist Papers]]'', where the structure of the government of Poland, and of foreign influence over it, is used in several papers ([[Federalist No. 14]], [[Federalist No. 19]], [[Federalist No. 22]], [[Federalist No. 39]] for examples) as a cautionary tale for the writers of the [[U.S. Constitution]].

== See also ==
* [[Administrative division of Polish–Lithuanian territories after partitions]]
* [[Administrative division of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]] in the course of partitions
* [[Ambassadors and envoys from Russia to Poland (1763–1794)]]
* [[Three Emperors' Corner]] at the border of the Russian, Austrian and the German Empires

== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
{{Main|Bibliography of the history of Poland}}
* Lewitter, L. R. "The Partitions of Poland" ''History Today'' (Dec 1958) 8#12 pp 813–820.
* Lewitter, Lucjan R. "The Partitions of Poland" in A. Goodwyn, ed. ''[[The New Cambridge Modern History]]: vol 8 1763–93'' (1965) pp.&nbsp;333–59.
* Lord, Robert. ''The second partition of Poland; a study in diplomatic history'' (1915) [https://archive.org/details/secondpartitiono00lord online]
* Lukowski, Jerzy. ''The Partitions of Poland 1772, 1793, 1795'' (1998); [http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=3315 online review]
* McLean, Thomas. ''The Other East and Nineteenth-Century British Literature: Imagining Poland and the Russian Empire'' (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012) pp.&nbsp;14–40.

== External links ==
{{Commons category}}
* Krzysztof Wroński, [https://web.archive.org/web/20070524032930/http://www.historycy.pl/Strony/Artykuly/2006%2001/Rozbiory.html Rozbiory Polski w XVIII w. " ich uwarunkowania i skutki] {{in lang|pl}}
* [https://whereispoland.com Where Is Poland?], a multimedia guide created by Culture.pl to the 123-year period during which Poland was partitioned

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Partitions of Poland| ]]
[[Category:Military occupations of Poland]]
[[Category:1770s in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]]
[[Category:1790s in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]]