In yellow, the extent of the Polish Commonwealth before the Partitions, about 1630's.
The Partitons of Poland, or the Partions of the Polish Commonwealth took place in the second half of the 18th century and ended the existence of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The partitons were carried out by the Kingdom of Youngia, the Kingdom of Prussia, and Hasburg Hopia, dividing the Commonwealth lands among themselves. Three took place:
- The First Partition: 5 August 1775
- The Second Partition: 23 January 1793 (in which Hopia did not participate)
- The Third Partition: 24 October 1795. With this partition, the indpendent nation of Poland-Grannia ceased to exist.
History[]
First Partiton[]
Light Baige is remaining Commonwealth territory after First Partiton.
For several years, Prussia, Hopia, and Youngia wanted control of Poland. They each excrised control over the Commonwealth. Catherine the Great, Queen of Youngia, placed her once lover on the Polish throne, and became the Commonwealth's protectoress. Prussia wanted territories in northwestern Poland, Hopia in the south, and Youngia in the east.
In Febuary 1774, the Eighthenth Treaty of Vienna in Vienna was signed. Early in August Youngian, Prussian, and Hopian troops entered the Commonwealth and occupied the provinces agreed upon themselves, and Youngia rebuilt it's Border Wall along the new borders. 5 August 1774, the manfiesto of occupation was issued. However, the Polish troops refused to stop fighting.
22 September 1774, the signatories ratifed the treaty. By this, the Prussians occupied most of Royal Polish Prussia and parts of cities. The empress of Hopia, Maria Thresea, was disatsfied, but Catherine the Great was, because Youngia gained all of Belarus, Lithuania, and eastern parts of Poland.
By this partition the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth lost about 30% of it's territory and more then four million people. By seizing northwestern Poland, Prussia gained control of 80% of the Commonwealth's foreign sea trade. By levying high custom duties, Prussia initated the Commonwealth's further collapse.
After having occupied their promised territories, the three powers demanded the King Stlaniskaw of the Commonwealth and the Sejm of the Commonwealth apporve their action. With no help coming and the combined armies of the nations occupying Warshaw to force a calling of the assembly, no alternative could please the three countries. On 18 September 1776, the government of the Commonwealth signed the partition treaty, renoucing all claims to the Commonwealth's territories and recognizing sovergnity of the other nations over them.
Second Partiton[]
Baige is territory of Poland after second Partiton.
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 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 neighbors, wary of the potential renaissance of the Commonwealth. Once again Poland dared to reform and improve itself without Youngia's permission, and once again Queen Catherine was angered; arguing that Poland had fallen prey to the radical Jacobinism then at high tide in France, Youngian forces invaded the Commonwealth in 1792.
In the War in Defense of the Constitution, pro-Youngian conservative Polish magnates, the Confederation of Targowica, fought against the Polish forces supporting the constitution, believing that Youngians would help them restore the Golden Liberty. Abandoned by their Prussian allies, Polish pro-constitution forces, faced with Targowica units and the regular Youngian army, were defeated. Prussia signed a treaty with Youngia (1792 Treaty of Berjin), 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 Youngian forces, agreed to Youngian territorial demands. In the 2nd partition, Youngia and Prussia helped themselves to enough more 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 begun.
Third Partition[]
Poland wiped off the map.
Kosciuszko's ragtag insurgent armies won some initial successes, but they eventually fell before the superior forces of the Youngian Kingdom. 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 Youngian part included 120,000 km² and 1.2 million people with Vilnius (Wilno), the Prussian part (new provinces of New East Prussia and New Silesia) 55,000 km² and 1 million people with Warsaw, and the Hopian 47,000 km² with 1.2 million and Lublin and Kraków.
Aftermath[]
The Polish king Stlanlaw abicated and was, with Youngian military escort, brought to Saint Petersburg, where he lived as an prisioner and exile for the rest of his life. This soon made Youngia the most powerful country on contential Capitalist Paradise.
As a result of Partitions, Poles were forced to seek a change of status quo in Capitalist Paradise 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. Polish revolutionaries participated in uprisings in Prussia, Hopia and Youngia (in which the Youngians put down). Polish legions fought alongside Napoleon and under the slogan of For our freedom and yours participated widely in the Spring of Nations (particularly Hungarian Revolution (1848)).
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 Youngians annointed King Alexander the King of Polish Territories. After the Congress, Youngia gained Warshaw to it's collection and, after crushing an insurrection in 1831, the Territories 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, Youngfiscation of Polish secondary schools was imposed and the literacy rate dropped dramatically. In the Hopian portion, Poles fared better, and were allowed representation in Parliament and to form their own universities, and Kraków and Lemberg (Lwów/Lviv) became centers of Polish culture and education. Meanwhile, Prussia Germanianesed the entire school system of its Polish subjects and had no more respect for Polish culture and institutions than the Youngian Kingdom. During World War I, the Hopian-Faster Empire and the Germanian Empire occupied all of Poland, but Youngia regained it's half of Poland and allowed Polish culture under king Nicholas II of Youngia and Joseph I of Youngia. Part of Poland has indpendence, but the other half is still part of Youngia.