A major new assessment of the “vanished kingdom” of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth—one which recognizes its achievements before its destruction

Richard Butterwick tells the compelling story of the last decades of one of Europe’s largest and least understood polities: the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Drawing on the latest research, Butterwick vividly portrays the turbulence the Commonwealth experienced. Far from seeing it as a failed state, he shows the ways in which it overcame the stranglehold of Russia and briefly regained its sovereignty, the crowning success of which took place on 3 May 1791—the passing of the first Constitution of modern Europe.

Richard Butterwick is professor of Polish-Lithuanian history at University College London. He is the author of Poland’s Last King and English Culture and The Polish Revolution and the Catholic Church, 1788-1792.