The Third Partition of Poland (1795), which ended the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, came after a period of increasing foreign intervention and internal reforms that sought to salvage the state's sovereignty. Prior to the third partition, the Second Partition of Poland (1793) had already drastically reduced the size of the Commonwealth, with Prussia and Russia annexing large territories. Despite the attempts to reform and strengthen the Commonwealth, including the adoption of the May 3, 1791 Constitution, the conservative nobility's betrayal and Prussia’s abandonment left the country vulnerable.
In response to these partitions, Tadeusz Kościuszko led the Kościuszko Uprising (1794), an armed rebellion aiming to resist foreign occupation and restore Poland-Lithuania's independence. The uprising gained some early victories but was eventually crushed by the combined forces of Russia and Prussia. This defeat led to the Third Partition, in which Lithuania and the remainder of the Commonwealth were divided between Russia, Prussia, and the Habsburg Monarchy, ending the Commonwealth's existence as a sovereign state.
For Lithuania, the result of the third partition was the complete annexation of its territory by Russia. After the partition, Lithuania became part of the Russian Empire, with its political structures dismantled and absorbed into the imperial administration. The Lithuanian nobility, much like their Polish counterparts, lost their influence, and the territory underwent Russification efforts, which would have lasting impacts on its national identity until its eventual liberation in the 20th century.
Aftermath of the Third Partition of the Commonwealth, with the disappearance of sovereign Poland and Lithuania. © Halibutt
This marked the beginning of over a century of Russian rule in Lithuania, where the Lithuanian people faced significant cultural suppression, including bans on the use of the Lithuanian language in public life. Despite this, Lithuanian national identity and aspirations for independence persisted, contributing to later efforts to re-establish sovereignty in the 19th and 20th centuries.