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The Partitions of Poland〔〔 were a series of three partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that took place towards the end of the 18th century and ended the existence of the state, resulting in the elimination of the sovereign Crown of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania for 123 years. The partitions were conducted by the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia and Habsburg Austria, which divided up the Commonwealth lands among themselves progressively in the process of territorial seizures.〔 The First Partition of Poland was decided on August 5, 1772. Two decades later, Russian and Prussian troops entered the Commonwealth again and the Second Partition was signed on January 23, 1793. Austria did not participate in the Second Partition. The Third Partition of Poland took place on October 24, 1795, in reaction to the unsuccessful Polish Kościuszko Uprising the previous year. With this partition, the Commonwealth ceased to exist.〔 In English, the term "Partitions of Poland" is sometimes used geographically as toponymy, to mean the three parts that the partitioning powers divided the Commonwealth into, the Austrian Partition, the Prussian Partition and the Russian Partition. In Polish, there are two separate words for the two meanings. The consecutive acts of dividing and annexation of Poland are referred to as ''rozbiór'' (plural: ''rozbiory''), while the term ''zabór'' (pl. ''zabory'') means each part of the Commonwealth annexed in 1772–1795 becoming part of either Imperial Russia, Prussia or Austria. In Polish historiography, the term "Fourth Partition of Poland" has also been used, in reference to any subsequent annexation of Polish lands by foreign invaders. Depending on source and historical period, this could mean the events of 1815, or 1832 and 1846, or 1939 (see below), bringing the total number of Poland's names for the ceding of territory to neighboring empires up to seven. The term "Fourth Partition" in a temporal sense can also mean the diaspora communities that played important political role in reestablishing the Polish sovereign state after 1918. == History == The reign of Władysław IV (1632–48) saw the development of the ''liberum veto'': a policy of parliamentary procedure, based on the assumption of the political equality of every "gentleman", with the corollary that unanimous consent was needed for all measures.〔 A single member of parliament's belief that a measure was injurious to his own constituency (usually simply his own estate), even after the act had already been approved, became enough to strike the act. It became increasingly difficult to get action taken. The ''liberum veto'' also provided openings for foreign diplomats to get their ways, through bribing nobles to exercise it.〔 Thus, one could characterise Poland–Lithuania in its final period (mid-18th century) before the partitions as already in a state of disorder and not a completely sovereign state; almost as a vassal state,〔 or in modern terms, a Russian satellite state, with Russian tsars effectively choosing Polish kings. This applies particularly to the last Commonwealth King Stanisław August Poniatowski, who for some time had been a lover of Russian Empress Catherine the Great. In 1730 the neighbours of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (Rzeczpospolita), namely Prussia, Austria and Russia, signed a secret agreement to maintain the ''status quo'': specifically, to ensure that the Commonwealth laws would not change. Their alliance later became known in Poland as the "Alliance of the Three Black Eagles" (or ''Löwenwolde's Treaty''), because all three states used a black eagle as a state symbol (in contrast to the white eagle, a symbol of Poland). The Commonwealth had been forced to rely on Russia for protection against the rising Kingdom of Prussia, which demanded a slice of the northwest in order to unite its Western and Eastern portions; this would leave the Commonwealth with a Baltic coast only in Latvia and Lithuania.〔 The Commonwealth could never be liquidated unless its longtime ally, Austria, allowed it, so Catherine had to use diplomacy to win Austria to her side. The Commonwealth had remained neutral in the Seven Years' War (1756–1763), yet it sympathized with the alliance of France, Austria, and Russia, and allowed Russian troops access to its western lands as bases against Prussia. Frederick II retaliated by ordering enough Polish currency counterfeited to severely affect the Polish economy. Through the Polish nobles whom Russia controlled and the Russian Minister to Warsaw, ambassador and Prince Nicholas Repnin, Empress Catherine the Great forced a constitution on the Commonwealth at the so-called Repnin Sejm of 1767, named after ambassador Repnin, who effectively dictated the terms of that Sejm (and ordered the capture and exile to Kaluga of some vocal opponents of his policies,〔H. Wickham Steed, (A Short History of Austria-Hungary and Poland ), 1914, ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA, INC. Retrieved on 3 August 2007.〕〔 including bishop Józef Andrzej Załuski〔Various, ''The Story of My Life'', Penguin Classics, 2001, ISBN 0-14-043915-3, (Google Print, p. 528 )〕 and others). This new constitution undid the reforms made in 1764 under Stanisław II. The ''liberum veto'' and all the old abuses of the last one and a half centuries were guaranteed as unalterable parts of this new constitution (in the so-called ''cardinal laws''). Repnin also demanded religious freedom for the Protestant and Orthodox Christians, and the resulting reaction among some of Poland's Roman Catholics, as well as the deep resentment of Russian intervention in the Commonwealth's domestic affairs, led to the War of the Confederation of Bar of 1768–1772, where the Poles tried to expel Russian forces from Commonwealth territory.〔〔 The irregular and poorly commanded Polish forces had little chance in the face of the regular Russian army and suffered a major defeat. Adding to the chaos was a Ukrainian Cossack and peasant rebellion, the Koliyivschyna, which erupted in 1768 and resulted in massacres of noblemen (szlachta), Jews, Uniates, and Catholic priests, before it was put down by Polish and Russian troops. In 1769 Austria annexed a small territory of Spisz and in 1770 – Nowy Sącz and Nowy Targ. These territories had been a bone of contention between Poland and Hungary, which was a part of the Austrian crown lands. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Partitions of Poland」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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