Augustus II the Strong (Wettin) (King 1697–1706, 1709–1733)
Augustus II the Strong, also known as Frederick Augustus I, Prince-Elector of Saxony, was an over-ambitious ruler. He defeated his biggest rival, François Louis, Prince of Conti, supported by France, and Sobieski's son, Jakub. To ensure his success for the crown of Poland he decided to convert to Roman Catholicism from Lutheranism. Augustus hoped to make the Polish throne hereditary within his family, and to use his resources as Elector of Saxony to impose some order on the chaotic Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. However, he was soon distracted from his internal reform projects by the possibility of external conquest. He involved the Commonwealth in the disastrous Great Northern War. His attempts at internal reforms and strengthening the royal power came to nothing, but his mistakes allowed Russian Empire to strengthen its influence over the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
August III Wettin (king 1733–1763)
Also Elector of Saxony (as Frederick Augustus II), August III, after his father's death inherited Saxony and was elected king of Poland with support of Russian and Austrian troops. August III was uninterested in the affairs of his Polish dominion, which he viewed mostly as a source of funds and resources for strengthening his power in Saxony. During his 30 year-reign, he spent less than 3 years in Poland. He delegated most of his powers and responsibilities to count Heinrich von Brühl. 30 years of August III disinterested reign festered the political anarchy and further weakened the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, while neighboring Prussia, Austria and Russia finalized plans for the partitions of Poland.
Stanisław August Poniatowski (King 1764–1795)
In 1764 Catherine dictated the election of her former favorite and lover, Stanisław August Poniatowski, as king of Poland-Lithuania. Confounding expectations that he would be an obedient servant of his mistress, Stanislaw August encouraged the modernization of his realm's ramshackle political system and achieved a temporary moratorium on use of the individual veto in the Sejm (1764–1766). This turnabout threatened to renew the strength of the monarchy and brought displeasure in the foreign capitals that preferred an inert, pliable Poland. Catherine, being among the most displeased by Poniatowski's independence, encouraged religious dissension in Poland-Lithuania's substantial Eastern Orthodox population, which earlier in the eighteenth century had lost the rights enjoyed during the Jagiellon Dynasty.
Under heavy Russian pressure, the Sejm introduced Orthodox and Protestant equality in 1767. Through the Polish nobles that Russia controlled and Russian Minister to Warsaw Prince Nikolai Repnin, Czarina Catherine the Great forced a constitution, which undid the reforms of 1764 under Stanislaw II, on Poland in 1767. The liberum veto and all the old abuses of the last 1 1/4 centuries were guaranteed as unalterable parts of this new constitution. Poland was compelled to sign Treaty of Guarantee with Russia, where Catharina was imposed as protector of Polish political system. After that Poland became de facto a Russian protectorate. The real power in Poland lay with the Russian ambassadors, and the Polish king became only an executor of their will. This action provoked a Catholic uprising by the Confederation of Bar, a league of Polish nobles that fought with Russian intervention until 1772 to revoke Catherine's mandate.
The defeat of the Confederation of Bar again left Poland exposed to the ambitions of its neighbors. Although Catherine initially opposed partition, Frederick the Great of Prussia profited from Austria's threatening military position to the southwest by pressing a long-standing proposal to carve territory from the commonwealth. Catherine, persuaded that Russia did not have the resources to continue its unilateral domination of Poland, agreed. In 1772 Russia, Prussia, and Austria forced terms of partition upon the helpless commonwealth under the pretext of restoring order in the anarchic conditions of the country.
The first partition in 1772 did not directly threaten the stability of Poland-Lithuania. Poland still retained extensive territory that included the Polish heartlands. In fact, the shock of the annexations made clear the dangers of decay in government institutions, creating a body of opinion favorable to reform along the lines of the European Enlightenment. King Stanislaw August supported the progressive elements in the government and promoted the ideas of foreign political figures such as Edmund Burke and George Washington. At the same time, Polish intellectuals discussed Enlightenment philosophers such as Montesquieu and Rousseau. During the period of Polish Enlightenment, the concept of democratic institutions for all classes was accepted in Polish society. Education reform included establishment of the first ministry of education in Europe (the Komisja Edukacji Narodowej). Taxation and the army underwent thorough reform, and government again was centralized in the Permanent Council. Landholders emancipated large numbers of peasants, although there was no official government decree. Polish cities, in decline for many decades, were revived by the influence of the Industrial Revolution, especially in mining and textiles.
Stanislaw August's process of renovation reached its climax on May 3, 1791, when, after three years of intense debate, the "Four Years' Sejm" produced what is claimed as Europe's first modern codified constitution. Conceived in the liberal spirit of the contemporaneous document in the United States, the constitution recast Poland-Lithuania as a hereditary monarchy and abolished many of the eccentricities and antiquated features of the old system. The new constitution abolished the individual veto in parliament; provided a separation of powers among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government; and established "people's sovereignty" (for the noble and bourgeois classes). Although never fully implemented, the Constitution of May 3rd gained an honored position in the Polish political heritage; tradition marks the anniversary of its passage as the country's most important civic holiday.
Passage of the constitution alarmed nobles who would lose considerable stature under the new order. In autocratic states such as Russia, the democratic ideals of the constitution also threatened the existing order, and the prospect of Polish recovery threatened to end domination of Polish affairs by its neighbors. In 1792, Polish factions formed the Confederation of Targowica and appealed for Russian assistance in restoring the status quo. Catherine was happy to use this opportunity; enlisting Prussian support, she invaded Poland under the pretext of defending Poland's ancient liberties. The irresolute Stanislaw August capitulated, defecting to the Targowica faction. Arguing that Poland had fallen prey to the radical Jacobinism then at high tide in France, Russia and Prussia abrogated the Constitution of May 3, 1791, carried out a second partition of Poland in 1793, and placed the remainder of the country under occupation by Russian troops.
The second partition was far more injurious than the first. Russia received a vast area of eastern Poland, extending southward from its gains in the first partition nearly to the Black Sea. To the west, Prussia received an area known as South Prussia, nearly twice the size of its first-partition gains along the Baltic, as well as the port of Gdańsk. Thus, Poland's neighbors reduced the commonwealth to a rump state and plainly signaled their designs to abolish it altogether at their convenience.
In a gesture of defiance, a general Polish revolt broke out in 1794 under the leadership of Tadeusz Kościuszko (Kościuszko Uprising), a military officer who had rendered notable service in the American Revolution. Kosciuszko's ragtag insurgent armies won some initial successes, but they eventually fell before the superior forces of Russian General Alexander Suvorov. In the wake of the insurrection of 1794, Russia, Prussia, and Austria carried out the third and final partition of Poland-Lithuania in 1795, erasing the Commonwealth of Two Nations from the map and pledging never to let it return.
Much of Europe condemned the dismemberment as an international crime without historical parallel. Amid the distractions of the French Revolution and its attendant wars, however, no state actively opposed the annexations. In the long term, the dissolution of Poland-Lithuania upset the traditional European balance of power, dramatically magnifying the influence of Russia and paving the way for the Germany that would emerge in the nineteenth century with Prussia at its core. For the Poles, the third partition began a period of continuous foreign rule that would endure well over a century.
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth - Discussion Thread
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Originally Posted by Woland
Maybe this links are bad?
Polish Style Infantry 1683. Axes were almost universal among the infantry. In 1683 the quality and uniformity of clothing was very poor, such that it embarrassed the King.
Polish Janissaries 
Hussar 
in Polish service. Lance, pistol, bow, and saber were the usual weapons.
Peasant and a friend.
The Turks had similar camps, keeping horses with the riders.
