The Partitions of Poland
There was once a time when you could look at a map across Europe and Poland ceased to exist - a French playwright noted it was “virtually nowhere.”
The power dynamics we currently see on display in eastern Europe are nothing new to this section of the continent. Since the middle ages the struggle for influence and dominance between east and west has played out in that portion of the continent.
Unfortunately for Poland, they have found themselves in the middle of repeated turmoil time and time again. Stuck between the influence of its neighbors to the east and to the west, Poland’s story is one of an endless struggle for identity and more importantly, independence.
The Seeds to Partition
In the late 1700s, Poland found itself in the crosshairs of its neighbors - the Prussians, Austrians, and Russians. The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which had been formed over 200 years earlier in 1569, and which once laid rule to land stretching from the Baltic to the Black Sea, was coming undone. Its undoing presented opportunity for others.
In the early 1700s, Russian military forces found an opportunity to enter the country under Tsar Peter the Great. Upon arriving, they ousted the Monarch Augustus II leaving the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth as a vassal to the state of Russia. And it is here, Poland’s literal disappearance from the map begins.
The Kingdom of Prussia, under Frederick the Great, began engineering their first attempt at a land grab from the fading Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Intent to restore balance of power in central Europe, Frederick the Great drafted a proposal to seize territory from the Commonwealth.
In addition to expanding the Prussian Kingdom, it was a way in which Frederick the Great could address rising tension between Austria and Russia. In August of 1772, Frederick the Great of Prussia, Catherine the Great of Russia, and Joseph II of Austria agreed to what is now called the First Partition of Poland.
One Partition Down, Two More to Go
With this partition, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth lost nearly one-third of its territory and around four million people - nearly half of its population. Additionally, the land divide resulted in Prussia’s gain of nearly 80% of foreign trade belonging to the Commonwealth. Naturally, the significance of the economic impact further accelerated the collapse of the Commonwealth.
Weakened by the First Partition, Poland found itself needing to create an alliance with Prussia, a sworn enemy, as a means to try and survive. In entering into the Polish-Prussian Pact in 1790, the dominoes for the next and final two partitions were tipped.
Poles became divided. As a result, they found themselves fighting one another - some supporting pro-Russian conservatives and the others supporting the Polish Constitution. Amidst the internal struggle, Prussia would sign a treaty with Russia to wind down the conflict and revoke Polish reforms. By entering the treaty, both countries would receive even more Commonwealth territory.
The Second Partition of Poland would take place and Russia and Prussia took land that left Poland with just one-third of its population from 1772 still within its ‘new’ borders. Prussia’s newly gained province would feature the city Posen - today known as Warsaw.
A Polish Uprising Falls Short
Furious at the result of the Second Partition, a successful military leader and renowned Pole, Tadeusz Kosciusko took fellow supporters of Poland’s cause and emigrated to Leipzig. It was here they intended to plot an uprising against Russia and its growing rule over Poland.
Despite early successes, which fueled other uprisings and insurrections within the Commonwealth - or what was left of it - the Polish forces were simply in over their heads. They were far too weak to take on Russia, Prussia, and Austria - let alone all at once.
The attempted uprising resulted in the Third Partition of Poland. The remainder of Poland was dvidivid up, much of given to Russia, and Poland ceased to exist on any map. Despite eliminating Poland from the map, Russians longed to erase everything Polish altogether.
Abolishing the Memory of Poland
Within a couple of years of the Third Partition, the portioning powers entered into a secret agreement set on ‘abolishing everything which could revise the memory of the existence of the Kingdom of Poland.’
Having formally dissolved the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795, the victors were committed to erasing Poland’s name from history. In their agreement the “high contracting parties agreed and undertake never to include in their titles…the name or designation of the Kingdom of Poland, which shall remain suppressed as from the present and forever…”
The Long Wait for Independence
From 1795 to 1918, there would be three Polish uprisings intent on on overthrowing their occupiers and restoring their nation. Despite their best intentions, the restoration of the Polish state would to have to wait for external factors to help loosen the grip of its occupiers. That external factor would be significant - the Great War. Only at the end of World War I would Poland regain its independence.
History for the Hurried
January 10, 1776: The fifty page pamphlet Common Sense by Thomas Paine is published. It would sell over 500,000 copies and is referenced by authors of the Declaration of Independence as a key influencer.
January 11, 1964: Cigarettes are declared hazardous to health by the U.S. Surgeon General, the first such official government report.
January 12, 1932: After the death of her husband, Hattie W. Caraway, an Arkansan Democrat, is appointed to the U.S. Senate to fill her husband’s term. She later became the first woman elected to the Senate.