Was the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth put out of its anarchic misery at the end of the eighteenth century by its better governed neighbours Russia, Prussia and Austria? So they claimed, and so too have many Poles. In The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth 1733-1795: Light and Flame, published by Yale University Press in November 2020, Richard Butterwick argues that the Commonwealth was no failed state, but a political community built on the liberty of its citizens, which overcame profound crisis. After decades of dependency on Russia, it recovered its sovereignty in 1788. That made possible the Constitution of 3 May 1791, the centrepiece of a movement of reform and renewal which widened the nation beyond the nobility and prepared the Commonwealth for the challenges of the nineteenth century. Such was the threat of this 'orderly liberty' to the neighbouring monarchies that the Commonwealth was invaded, partitioned and annihilated. In Light and Flame, Richard Butterwick emphasizes the Commonwealth's potential which was illuminated by the Enlightenment before the immolation of 1792-95.
This event was recorded via Zoom for the SSEES Central Europe Seminar Series on Tuesday 26th January 2021.
