October 24, 1795... The Partitions of Poland were a series of three partitions that took place in the second half of the 18th century and ultimately ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, resulting in the elimination of sovereign Poland for 123 years. The partitions were conducted by the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia and Habsburg Austria, which divided up the Commonwealth lands among themselves progressively in the process of territorial seizures. The First Partition of Poland was decided on August 5, 1772. Two decades later, Russian and Prussian troops entered the Commonwealth again and the Second Partition was signed on January 23, 1793. Austria did not participate in the Second Partition. The Third Partition of Poland took place on October 24, 1795, in reaction to the unsuccessful Polish Kościuszko Uprising the previous year. With this partition, the Commonwealth ceased to exist. 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, 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 rozbiór (plural: rozbiory), while the term zabór (pl. zabory) means each part of the Commonwealth annexed in 1772–1795 becoming part of either Imperial Russia, Prussia or Austria. In Polish historiography, the term 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 1815, or 1832 and 1846, or 1939 (see below), bringing the total number of Polands names for the ceding of territory to neighboring empires up to seven. The term Fourth Partition in a temporal sense can also mean the diaspora communities that played important political role in reestablishing the Polish sovereign state after 1918. source, wikipedia
Posted on: Fri, 24 Oct 2014 07:13:45 +0000
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