000			01705 a2200241 4500
001			1138009121
005			20250317100406.0
008			250312042014GB eng
020			_a9781138009127
037			_bTaylor & Francis _cGBP 45.99 _fBB
040			_a01
041			_aeng
072	7		_aNH _2thema
072	7		_aHB _2bic
072	7		_aHIS000000 _2bisac
072	7		_a943.802 _2bisac
100	1		_aJerzy Tadeusz Lukavski
245	1	0	_aLibertys Folly:Polish Lithuan
250			_a1
260			_aOxford _bRoutledge _c20140717
300			_a352 p
520			_bIn the closing years of the 18th century, the old Polish state paid the price of over 100 years of ungovernability in political extinction. Between 1772 and 1795 an area of Eastern Europe larger than France was divided among Russia, Prussia and Austria. At the very time that monarchial absolutism seemed to be collapsing in Western Europe, the dismemberment of the Polish "noble democracy" affirmed absolutism's triumph in the East. Bringing together Polish scholarship previously inaccessible to English-speaking readers, the author examines the economy, the society and the institutional structure of early modern Poland and analyzes her loss of national sovereignty in the light of Poland's lack of political centralization and dynastic strength. Not only does this book illuminate a much neglected area of European history, and assist those trying to make sense of Poland's heritage, it also provides much comparative material for students of early modern history in general. Furthermore no reader could fail to be struck by the parallels in the problematic relationship between Poland and Russia in the 18th century and today.
999			_c1756 _d1756