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Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth

EuropeHeartland today: Poland, Lithuania, and Belarus

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A state joining the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania under one elected king and one parliament, the Sejm, from the Union of Lublin in 1569. Its nobles held wide rights, and a single deputy could stop a session with a veto. Russia, Prussia and Austria divided it in three partitions, the last in 1795.

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Key events

  1. The Sejm at Lublin joins Poland and Lithuania as one Commonwealth with one elected king and one parliament, while each keeps its own administration and army

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  2. Under the Henrician Articles, sworn first by the elected king Henry of Valois, every later king must swear to uphold the Commonwealth's basic political rules

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  3. From 1652 the liberum veto is used systematically: a single deputy can cancel every law a Sejm session has passed

    According to Encyclopedia.com, 60 percent of all Sejm sessions between 1582 and 1762 were dissolved this way.

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  4. King John III Sobieski and Charles of Lorraine lead the relief army that destroys the Ottoman camp outside Vienna on 12 September

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  5. – Russia, Prussia and Austria annex about a third of the Commonwealth's territory

    Dated 1772 to 1773: the three powers agreed the division in 1772, and the Sejm, with Russian troops threatening the opposition, signed the treaties of cession in September 1773. Tadeusz Rejtan protested in April 1773 as the Sejm was made to ratify. Encyclopedia.com says Poland lost 5 of its 14 million inhabitants.

  6. The Four-Year Sejm adopts the Constitution of 3 May, which ends the liberum veto and the election of kings
  7. After the Targowica confederation asks Russia to intervene against the 3 May Constitution, Russia and Prussia take more landDisputed

    Encyclopedia.com dates the treaty to 4 January 1793; Wikipedia dates the Russia-Prussia treaty to 23 January 1793, and the Grodno Sejm approved the claims later that year in the presence of Russian troops. Russia took eastern lands including Kyiv, Bracław and Podolia and parts of Lithuania; Prussia took Danzig, Thorn and Greater Poland.

  8. Russia, Prussia and Austria divide what remains of the Commonwealth, and the state endsDisputed

    Encyclopedia.com dates the treaty to 3 January 1795 and says King Stanisław August abdicated a month later. Wikipedia and Wikidata give 24 October 1795 for the treaty and the end of the state, and Wikipedia gives 25 November 1795 for the abdication.