The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, 1733-1795

A major new assessment of the vanished kingdom of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealthone which recognizes its achievements before its destruction Richard Butterwick tells the compelling story of the last decades of one of Europes largest and least understood polities: the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Drawing on the latest research, Butterwick vividly portrays the turbulence the Commonwealth experienced. Far from seeing it as a failed state, he shows the ways in which it overcame the stranglehold of Russia and briefly regained its sovereignty, the crowning success of which took place on 3 May 1791the passing of the first Constitution of modern Europe.