Partitions of Poland 1772 1793 1795 (paperback)

The Partitions of Poland were the major political and diplomatic upheaval of their time in Eastern Europe, and one of the most drastic redrawings of any European frontiers before 1919. And yet they have been strangely neglected in modern historiography. The appearance of this major study (the first comprehensive survey of the topic in English since 1915), which is able to do proper justice to the Polish dimension, is therefore a significant event.

• explores the causes, course and consequences of a crucially important, if embarrassing, episode in the history of early modern Europe, and in so doing makes his own valuable contribution to the diplomatic history of the eighteenth century
• illuminates the motives and attitudes of the outstanding rulers who carved Poland up and helped themselves to her ancestral lands: Frederick the Great of Prussia, Catherine the Great of Russia, and Maria Theresa and Joseph II of Austria
• places the Partitions in their full international context, though his central concern throughout remains Poland and the Poles
• provides a richly rewarding introduction to the too-little-known domestic history of eighteenth-century's second largest state

"Lukowski has written a book valuable to specialists, helpful to students, and required reading for anyone writing a textbook on 18th century Europe." English historical review, 1999