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Targowica Confederation
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The Targowica Confederation was a konfederacja of Polish and Lithuanian magnates agreed upon on 27 April 1792 in Saint Petersburg with the backing of Empress Catherine II of Russia. The confederation opposed the Polish Constitution of May 3, 1791, which had been adopted by the Great Sejm, especially the provisions limiting the privileges of the nobility.
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Encyclopedia
The Targowica Confederation was a konfederacja of Polish and Lithuanian magnates agreed upon on 27 April 1792 in Saint Petersburg with the backing of Empress Catherine II of Russia. The confederation opposed the Polish Constitution of May 3, 1791, which had been adopted by the Great Sejm, especially the provisions limiting the privileges of the nobility. Text of founding act of confederation was written by Russian general Vasili Stepanovich Popov, chief of office of prince Grigori Alexandrovich Potemkin. May 14, 1792 it was announced in a small town Targowica in Ukraine by members of republican plot. Following this May 18 two Russian armies entered in Poland, starting new war without war proclamation.
The forces of the Targowica Confederation defeated the forces loyal to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Sejm and King Stanislaw August Poniatowski in the War in Defense of the Constitution. Their victory precipitated the Second Partition of Poland and set the stage for the Third Partition and the final dissolution of the Commonwealth in 1795. This outcome came as a surprise to most of the Confederates, who had wished only to restore the status quo ante and had expected that the overthrow of the May 3rd Constitution would achieve that end.
The nickname "targowiczanin", describing the supporter of this confederation, became a negative political epithet in Poland, akin to "foolish traitor", still used up to the modern day.
Leading members
- Stanislaw Szczesny Potocki: Marshal (head) of the Confederation. Sentenced to death, but never apprehended. Instead, on September 29, 1794, his portrait was hanged (see illustration). In 1795 he was rewarded by Catherine the Great with the Russian Order of Alexander Nevsky and the rank of general en chef.
Other magnate members:
Quotes
- From the Establishing Act of the Targowica Condeferation:
"The desires of Her Highness Empress of Russia [Catherine the Great], ally of Rzeczpospolita [the Commonwealth], are and were no other than by using her armies to return to Rzeczpospolita and Poles the freedoms, and especially security and happiness to all citizens"
"Each true Pole, not blinded by the Prussian and royalist cabal, is convinced, that our Fatherland can only be saved by Russia, otherwise our nation will be enslaved".
- After Stanislaw Poniatowski's abdication and the destruction of the Commonwealth, he said:
"About past Poland and Poles [I don't want to talk anymore]. Gone is this country, and this name, as many others have perished in the world's history. I am now a Russian forever."
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