In the 18th century, Poland was partitioned out of existence by Russia, Prussia, and Austria. These countries took advantage of Poland’s weakness, caused by having an elected king, a parliament made disfunctional by the liberum veto (meaning that any single deputy could prevent passage of a measure), a hidebound nobility, and a multiethnic and multiconfessional population. In 1772, the first partition deprived Poland of one-third of its population. A period of reforms followed, culminating in Poland’s constitution of May 3, 1791, which was a model document of the Enlightenment, providing for a hereditary monarch, a two-chambered diet with middle-class representation, majority vote, and a cabinet responsible to the diet.

Fearful of a regenerated Poland, Russia and Prussia carried out a second partition in 1793. The Poles then waged a courageous rebellion, led by Tadeusz Kosciuszko (1746–1817), also a hero of the American Revolution, but they proved no match for the Prussians and Russians. Austria joined for the third partition in 1795, and Poland ceased to exist.

As a result of the post-Napoleonic settlement at the Congress of Vienna, the Kingdom of Poland was created, with Alexander I of Russia as its head. Although the tsar awarded the Poles a liberal constitution, Poles continued to chafe at Russian domination. Once revolutions broke out throughout Europe in 1830, the Poles rebelled against Russian domination, and an all-out war ensued. It took about a year for the Russians to put down the rebellion; after this was accomplished, Poland was made an integral part of the Russian Empire and administered brutally, with russification a dominant cultural and political policy. Another rebellion followed in 1863; it took a year and a half to suppress and was likewise followed by brutal measures. Poland finally had its independence restored during World War I, in 1917.