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Poland–Lithuania, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania [b] and also referred to as the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth [c] or the First Polish Republic, [d] [9] [10] was a federative real union [11] of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania between 1569 and 1795.
The history of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (1648–1764) covers a period in the history of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, from the time their joint state became the theater of wars and invasions fought on a great scale in the middle of the 17th century, to the time just before the election of Stanisław August ...
- Economic Transformations and Beginnings of Capitalist Development
- Social Evolution and Early Formation of A Modern Nation
- Intellectual Breakthrough and Flowering of The Arts
- First Reforms, Szlachta Uprising, First Partition of The Polish–Lithuanian State
- Great Sejm and Its Reforms
- Failed Efforts to Defend Reforms and Preserve Independence
- Further Reading
Revitalized economy, serfdom, agricultural rent and hired labor
Commencing primarily in the second half of the 18th century, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth experienced economic transformations, which culminated in the formation of a capitalist system a century later. The more advanced West European countries were a source of examples of economic progress and formulated the ideology of Enlightenment, which provided theoretical foundations for the Polish undertakings. Industrial development, population growth and frequent warfare in the West increased t...
Manufacturing industry and trade
The level of economic prosperity in the Commonwealth was largely determined by its agricultural production, but for the fundamental transformation that the country experienced in the second half of the 18th century, the changes taking place in the cities and within the industrial sphere were of crucial importance. At the outset manufacturing and craftswere underdeveloped in comparison with Prussia, Austria and Russia. The hurried efforts to close the half-century delay and industrialization g...
Changing population patterns during the partitions period; peasantry
Early social transformations of the multinational, nobility-dominated Commonwealth population were taking place during the period of the three partitions. To varying degrees they affected all the main strata of the society: peasants, burghers and nobility. The ethniccomposition of the Commonwealth was changing with the reduced territory. The population, estimated at no more than seven million at the end of the Great Northern War, acquired a few additional millions by the time of the First Par...
Burghers and nobles
As in many other European countries, the Enlightenment in the Polish-Lithuanian state was a period of great advancement of the burgher class, the upper ranks of which consisted of urban business and professional people, whose economic position was growing stronger and who sought corresponding expansion of political standing and influence. In the middle of the 18th century, the towns and their inhabitants were still in miserable shape, especially in Lithuania. In Poznań Voivodeship (western Po...
Commission of National Education, educational renewal and progress in science
The fundamental educational reform, aimed at broad segments of society, aspired to produce citizens that were enlightened and engaged in public matters, as well as prepared in practical subjects. It contributed greatly to both the changes in general mentality and intellectual achievement of the Polish Enlightenment, with the Commonwealth becoming one of the more active centers of the European culture again. With the existence of the Polish statehood increasingly threatened, education was seen...
Literature and the arts of the Enlightenment, Rococo and Classicism
The Polish literature of the Enlightenment had a primarily didactic character. The works of its main current were classicistic in form and rationalistic in social outlook. There were many sharp polemical exchanges, for which the satire form was frequently utilized. This genre was practiced by Franciszek Bohomolec and Adam Naruszewicz, and in its most highly developed form by Bishop Ignacy Krasicki. Krasicki, dubbed the "Prince of the Poets", wrote also the early Polish novels The Adventures o...
Familia reforms and election of Stanisław August Poniatowski; religious dissent controversy and Confederation of Radom
The final years of the reign of Augustus III accelerated the disintegration of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Corruption and anarchy sprang from the royal court circles and engulfed also the leading Czartoryski and Potocki factions. Hetman Jan Klemens Branicki, popular with regular szlachta, was among the leading oligarchs. Russia emerged form the Seven Years' Waras the main victorious power, and, aligned with Prussia, became decisively important in the affairs of the weak, subjected to...
Confederation of Bar, First Partition, Partition Sejm
The Repnin Sejm legislation meant the end of the attempted imposition of reforms by Familia, but brought no peace or stability, as Repnin's ruthless personal rule turned against him both the disappointed magnate oligarchs and the regular gentry, who felt that their "freedoms" were under attack. The Sejm was still in session when on 29 February 1768 the Bar Confederation was formed in Bar in Podolia, with the ostensible goals of preserving the privileges of the Catholic religion and of the szl...
Zamoyski Code, formation of the reform camp and reform proposals
The attempts to reform and save the disintegrating Commonwealth had thus far achieved a small measure of success, while the country had lost chunks of its territory. It became apparent that a more fundamental renewal would be possible only after the younger, more enlightened magnates and broader masses of middle nobility involved themselves and supported the reform processes and goals. It was an uphill struggle, as most magnates still actively opposed the King (a diverse but cooperating young...
Great Sejm and May 3, 1791 Constitution
Success of the reform program depended not only on sufficient domestic support, but also on favorable international configuration of forces in central-eastern Europe. Of crucial importance would be breaking-up of the Russo-Prussian alliance. The War of the Bavarian Succession (1778–1779) and the Austro-Prussian conflict there resulted in no improvements in the situation of the Commonwealth. The United States War of Independence then assumed an international dimension and preoccupied West Euro...
War with Russia, Targowica government, Second Partition
The adoption of the Constitution was met with a largely positive reaction in the Commonwealth and abroad. It enjoyed the support of a definite majority of the country's middle nobility and townspeople,[c] while many peasants took seriously the promised state protection and became more inclined to reject some of their abusive feudal obligations. Edmund Burke, Thomas Paine and Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès praised the statute, and the reform was supported by the Vienna court of Leopold II. Adamant in...
Butterwick, Richard. The Polish-Lithuanian Monarchy in European Context C. 1500-1795 (Palgrave 2001) onlineButterwick, Richard. Poland's Last King and English Culture: Stanislaw August Poniatowski, 1732-1798 (1998) onlineButterwick, Richard. The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, 1733-1795: Light and Flame. Yale University Press, 2021.Lord, Robert. The second partition of Poland; a study in diplomatic history (1915) onlineThe military of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth consisted of two separate armies [1] of the Kingdom of Poland's Crown Army and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania's Grand Ducal Lithuanian Army following the 1569 Union of Lublin, which joined to form the bi-conderate elective monarchy of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Late 17th century map of the provinces (voivodeships) of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Subdivisions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth evolved over for centuries of its existence from the signing of the Union of Lublin to the third partition.
The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, following the Union of Lublin, became a counterpoint to the absolute monarchies gaining power in Europe. Its quasi-democratic political system of Golden Liberty, albeit limited to nobility, was mostly unprecedented in the history of Europe.
The General Sejm (Polish: sejm walny, Latin: comitia generalia) [1] was the bicameral legislature of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. It was established by the Union of Lublin in 1569 following the merger of the legislatures of the two states, the Sejm of the Kingdom of Poland and the Seimas of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
