Thirty Years War this neutrality spared the country from the ravages of a political-religious conflict that devastated most of contemporary Europe. Its powerful parliament was dominated by nobles ( Pic. His death in 1572 was followed by a three-year interregnum during which adjustments were made to the constitutional system these adjustments significantly increased the power of the Polish nobility and established a truly elective monarchy.

This agreement was one of the signal achievements of Sigismund II Augustus, the last monarch of the Jagiellon dynasty. Several agreements between the two (the Union of Krakw and Vilna, the Union of Krewo, the Union of Wilno and Radom, the Union of Grodno, and the Union of Horodo ) were struck before the permanent 1569 Union of Lublin. Shortly before its demise, the Commonwealth adopted a massive reform effort and enacted the May 3 Constitution the first codified constitution in modern European history and the second in modern world history (after the United States Constitution ).

Its growing weakness led to its partitioning among its neighbors ( Austria, Prussia and Russia ) during the late 18th century. This idiosyncratic system was a precursor to modern concepts of democracy, 17 as of 1791 constitutional monarchy, 18 19 20 and federation.Īlthough the two component states of the Commonwealth were formally equal, Poland was the dominant partner in the union. These checks were enacted by a legislature ( sejm ) controlled by the nobility ( szlachta ). Its political system was characterized by strict checks upon monarchical power.

The First Partition in 1772 and the Second Partition in 1793 greatly reduced the states size and the Commonwealth was partitioned out of existence with the Third Partition in 1795. Polish and Latin were the two co-official languages. It was one of the largest 11 12 and most populous countries of 16th- to 17th-century Europe.Īt its largest territorial extent, in the early 17th century, the Commonwealth covered almost 1,000,000 square kilometres (400,000 sq mi) 13 14 and as of 1618 sustained a multi-ethnic population of almost 12 million. Empire Total War Poland By winsriregdi1970 Follow | Publicīy 1795, the PolishLithuanian Commonwealth had been completely erased from the map of Europe.

Empire total war poland