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The Decline of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth 1791-1795
Liška, Jan ; Tumis, Stanislav (advisor) ; Květina, Jan (referee)
This thesis aims to analyze the events that led in the years 1791-1795 to the gradual decline of the Polish-Lithuanian state. The year 1791 was chosen as a starting point for the reason that it was during this year that the so-called Great Sejm adopted the Constitution of 3 May, considered a last attempt to reform the dysfunctional constitutional system that paralysed the political life of the Commonwealth, crippled its ability to defend itself and made it a marionette in the hands of powerful neighbours, especially Prussia and Russia. The thesis concentrates on the ambiguous role played in this period by the last king Stanisław II August. It also focuses on the opposition against the constitutional changes, associated in the so-called Targowica Confederation, the ensuing Russo-Polish War of 1792, the Second Partition of Poland, Kościuszko Uprising and the final Third Partition of 1795 - all these events are discussed in the wider context of European politics. The author makes use of sources and secondary literature in Polish, Russian, German, English and French.
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