"In 1791 the Poles attempted to reform their political system. The Polish Constitution of May was Europe's first modern codified national constitution and the world's second after the USA constitution. The changes in Poland were received with hostility by Russia and Prussia, while the situation in Europe was not encouraging for the Poles. The internal problems of France, the preoccupation of Britain with the American Revolution, gave the opportunity for Russia, Prussia and Austria to proceed with reference to Poland. In reply to Poniatowski's appeal after the first patrition of Poland, King George III of England wrote: "Good Brother...I fear, however misfortunes have reached the point where redress can be had from the hand of the Almighty alone, and I see no other intervention that can afford a remedy."
In 1794 General Kosciuszko, a veteran of the American Revolutionary War pronounced the general uprising and assumed the powers of the commander in chief of the entire Polish Army. The great difficulties with providing enough armament for the mobilised troops made Kosciuszko form units composed of pesants armoured with scythes called kosynierzy (see picture).
The Polish army was heavily outnumbered and defeated by the enemy. Between 1772 and 1795 the entire territory of the Kingdom of Poland was divided between Prussia, Austria and Russia (see maps below). The King was forced to abdicate and was taken to Russia. Many captured Poles were sent to Siberia but thousands more escaped to France, Germany and Italy. For next decades Prussia, Russia and Austria had much of their land forces tied up in Poland and could not field enough troops to suppress the French Revolution, which added to its success."
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