1795–1806 · No Polish state
Poland Erased from the Map
The Third Partition abolishes the Commonwealth. For 123 years Poland does not exist as an independent state — it exists as a language, a church, a literature and a sequence of uprisings. In 1797 the Polish Legions in Italy sing the song that will become the national anthem.
Population
- about 14,000,000 (estimate, ±1,500,000) — All the lands of the former Commonwealth — those of 1772, including everything taken in the three partitions — split between three empires.
Rulers and leaders
- 1764–1795 Stanisław August Poniatowski — the last King of Poland monarch
- 1772–1796 Catherine II — Empress of Russia — partitioning power occupying power
- 1786–1797 Frederick William II — King of Prussia — partitioning power occupying power
- 1792–1835 Francis II — Holy Roman Emperor, from 1804 Emperor of Austria — partitioning power occupying power
- 1796–1801 Paul I — Emperor of Russia — partitioning power occupying power
- 1797–1840 Frederick William III — King of Prussia — partitioning power occupying power
- 1801–1814 Alexander I — Emperor of Russia — partitioning power occupying power
Events
- 1795The Third Partition 24 October, 25 November loss
The third partition abolishes the state entirely; two years later the St Petersburg convention binds the signatories never to use the name of the Kingdom of Poland in their titles again. 123 years of partition begin: no independent Polish state returns until 1918.
Wars, uprisings and longer processes
- 1797–1807The Polish Legions in Italy war
Jan Henryk Dąbrowski raises Polish legions in Lombardy at France’s side, and in their camp Dąbrowski’s Mazurka is written. They fight in Italy and on the Rhine, some die on Saint-Domingue, and their soldiers become the cadre of the Duchy of Warsaw’s army.
- 1806–1813The Duchy of Warsaw’s wars war
From the Greater Poland rising of 1806 Poles fight at Napoleon’s side. In 1809 the Duchy’s army holds at Raszyn and takes Galicia, and in 1812 close to a hundred thousand Poles march on Moscow. Defeat in Russia ends the Duchy; Poniatowski dies at Leipzig.
People of the age
- 1770–1861 Adam Jerzy Czartoryski — Russia’s foreign minister, then leader of the emigration from the Hôtel Lambert