Subtitle:

Towards the first partition. Russia and Prussia versus the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the years 1768–1771

Publisher:

Instytut Historii PAN

Place of publishing:

Warszawa

Description:

Wydanie I. ; 518 pages ; 25 cm ; Bibliography (pages 502-510). Index ; The book was written as part of a grant no. 2018/29/B/HS3/01149 from the National Science Centre, Poland: Between St. Petersburg and Berlin. The Polish-Lituanian Commonwealth in the shadow of the Prusso-Russian relations in the years of the Confederacy of Bar and the First Partition. ; Summary in English.

Abstract:

The decision to partition the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was both a result and a manifestation of a crisis of the Russian policy as defined in the project of the “Northern System”. The partition itself was a breach with the fundamental principle of Russian foreign policy that the interests of the empire should take absolute precedence over those of the allies. At the same time – together with the victorious war of 1768–1774 – the partition decision meant the beginning of Russia’s turn towards the south of Europe. The partition shows that the annexation tendency, which for many years had been present in St Petersburg’s Polish policy, became dominant. One may only guess, as the sources we have do not reveal this directly, that Catherine II must have decided that a “remuneration” shared with Prussia (and Austria) at the expense of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth would be of benefit to her. She also must have thought that – in the long term – her empire’s super-power position and her own reign would not be harmed. The pacification of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, combined with both the temporary resolution of the crisis in Sweden and the victory over the Ottoman Porte, would strengthen Russia internationally, restore her domination in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and consolidate Catherine II’s position in the eyes of the pro-annexation elites of Russia. In 1768–1770, before the decision on the partition was made, Russian hegemony in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, being a crucial element of Russia’s position in Europe, was in a deep crisis. That crisis was perceived in St Petersburg as a collapse of Russia’s domination in the Commonwealth. [...]

Detailed Resource Type:

Book

Resource Identifier:

oai:rcin.org.pl:239050 ; 978-83-66911-38-3

Source:

IH PAN, call no. II.15893 ; IH PAN, call no. II.15892 Podr. ; click here to follow the link

Language:

pol

Language of abstract:

eng

Rights:

Creative Commons Attribution BY-ND 4.0 license

Terms of use:

Copyright-protected material. [CC BY-ND 4.0] May be used within the scope specified in Creative Commons Attribution BY-ND 4.0 license, full text available at: ; -

Digitizing institution:

Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences

Original in:

Library of the Institute of History PAS

Projects co-financed by:

National Science Center

Access:

Open