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in medieval times Europe was a place
where many kingdoms and duties existed
in various forms along with other
administrative structures like empires
or princedoms or other forms the kingdom
of Poland existed along with the Duchy
of Lithuania at one point the two
entities unified the Commonwealth was
established by the union of Lublin of
1569 but the crown of Poland in the
crown of Lithuania had been in a
personal union since 1386 with the
marriage of the Polish Queen Hedwig and
Lithuania is Grand Duke yahwah formally
the crown of the kingdom of Poland and
the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a dual
state a true confederation of two
countries Poland and Lithuania which was
in fact ruled by a single monarch who
was both king of Poland and Grand Duke
of Lithuania at its greatest extent this
was one of the largest and most populous
countries of 16th to 17th century Europe
at its largest territorial extent in the
early 17th century the Commonwealth
covered almost 1 million kilometers of
land and on this land lived a
multi-ethnic population of around 11
million you wouldn't think it was so
much but at the time it was a pretty
large population it was still a powerful
country at the start of the 18th century
with at the end of the century it was
wiped from the map there was no Poland
nor Lithuania
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the Golden Age of the Commonwealth was
reached in the early 17th century they
had a powerful Parliament which was
dominated by Nobles the Commonwealth was
able to hold its own against Sweden thus
ardham of Russia and others even
launched successful expansionist
offensives against its neighbors in
several invasions during times of
trouble Commonwealth troops entered
Russia and managed to take Moscow it was
involved in other conflicts and the
Commonwealth power began to fade slowly
after a series of blows during the
following decades a major rebellion of
Ukrainian Cossacks in the southeastern
portion of the Commonwealth began in
1648 it resulted in a Ukrainian request
for protection by the Russian Tsar
Russian annexation of part of Ukraine
gradually supplanted Polish influence
the other blow to the Commonwealth was a
Swedish invasion in 1655 the most
important battle of that time for them
was in 1683 the Battle of Vienna marked
the final turning point in between the
forces of Christian Europe and the
Islamic Ottomans the economic breakdown
in the Commonwealth in the second half
of the 17th century has often been seen
as a result of the destruction of the
country caused by Wars the solutions
adopted resulted eventually in more
deterioration of productivity speaking
about paper industry agriculture and
others the economy of this country was
in trouble due to its principal reason
the Commonwealth was subjected to
constant warfare from 1648 to 1720 the
protracted role of the country as a
battlefield the quartering of troops and
armies combined with the policy of
exacting contributions and pillaging
during the great northern war greatly
deteriorated the economy of the country
internal warfare and looting by unpaid
Commonwealth troops added to the damage
the resource crisis was applied to all
parts of the society affecting the
villages cities and towns
industry and manufacturing suffered too
as the funds flowing into the state
treasury no stability no organization no
production not much money to invest
epidemic disease outbreaks and
population was reduced by a third to
seven million people the ordinary people
lost their economic base and the
powerful and rich class had become the
only people to be able to have a
significant economic and political
activity the weakness of central
government prevented an introduction of
a uniform statewide economic policy the
balance of trade remained negative the
urban classes had become marginalized
and lacked influence as even by the end
of the 18th century the population of
town residents constituted no more than
50% of the Commonwealth total it was a
true degradation of towns which led to
the national decline another reason for
this trouble and for what follows next
is actually them in their geographic
position we understood that at some
point you to some expensive Wars and due
to the devastation that followed some
bad things happen but we have to
consider more details than that first of
all their geographic position between
the German states in the West and Russia
in the east and between Sweden in the
north in Habsburg in the south where
there was a pretty big Ottoman influence
at some point so just by looking at this
position here we can understand it was a
very delicate one it is like you always
have to look behind you because there
could be a possible enemy and being in
the center of these great powers it was
not a good thing another aspect is their
dimensions of course by being a powerful
country for years they were prosperous
and hard to be conquered but at some
point they were too heavy and the
problem was that it was somehow sparsely
populated especially in the eastern
portion not to mention that this was a
multi-ethnic structure which started
between the Polish and the Lithuanians
but being populated by others - like
Germans Tatars Russians Ukrainians and
others the complexity of the Empire in
language and administration its
dimensions and its G
graphic position were the principal
reasons for the collapse but this was
just what could have happened at that
point and it did collapse due to what
came next the weakened state was
aggravated by the election of the king
and by the involvement of others in
Polish Affairs and it was clear that
this big country was in serious trouble
in the late 17th century and early 18th
centuries the Polish Lithuanian
Commonwealth had been reduced from the
status of a major European power to that
of a Russian Protectorate or vassal or
satellite state with the Russian Tsar
effectively choosing polish Lithuanian
monarchs during the free elections and
deciding the outcome of much of Poland's
internal politics all this created a
situation for other powers to take
advantage the first partition of Poland
took place in 1772 growth in the Russian
empires power threatening the Habsburgs
and the Kingdom of Prussia the
administration tried to create reforms
to establish a constitution and new laws
in order to create some stability in
this land but the much desired effect
didn't happen as it was planned this was
inspired by the French Revolution and in
theory there were some pre Republican
reforms Russia saw this as an
opportunity to intervene against the
weakened state
after this war other territories were
taken by Russia and Prussia in 1793
there were riots and the Polish people
turned against the occupying forces of
Prussia and Russia the big state was now
a small and very weak one this was again
a new opportunity for other powers to
take all of what was left
now as prey Poland became victim of an
aggression the Austrian Prussian and
Russian representatives met in 1795 to
dissolve the Polish Lithuanian
Commonwealth the three conquering powers
collaborated and they signed a treaty to
divide the land between them the year of
1795 was the end of this Commonwealth
and the end of Poland which was wiped
from the map as an independent state
until 1918 after the first world war
Russia Austria and Prussia forced the
last king Stanislas to abdicate the
throne and retire to saint-petersburg
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millions of Polish were now part of
other empires and kingdoms their state
was gone the country was ripped apart
all these reasons from the geographic
position to the poor leadership at some
point and to the Russian Prussians and
Austrian aggression led to a Europe
without Poland nor Lithuania for more
than a century in 1918 Poland reappeared
again on the map but their peace will
last just for 21 years in 1939 a new
partition of Poland made again by
Russians and Germans will wipe again
from the map the Polish state which
reappeared after the war this could be
interpreted as the fourth partition
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