The First Partition of Poland or First Partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth took place in 1772 as the first of three partitions that ended the existence of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth by 1795.
In the First Partition of Poland, Austria was given 2.7 million people, versus 1.3 million for Russia, and almost 1 million for Prussia.
At that point Habsburg Austria started to consider waging a war against Russia.France, friendly towards both Russia and Austria, suggested a series of territorial adjustments, in which Austria would be compensated by parts of Prussian Silesia, and Prussia in turn would receive Polish Ermland (Warmia) and parts of the Polish fief, Duchy of Courland and Semigallia—already under Baltic German hegemony. Many fortresses in their command held out as long as possible; Wawel Castle in Kraków fell only at the end of April;Tyniec fortress held until the end of July 1772; Częstochowa, commanded by Kazimierz Pułaski, held until late August.In the end, the Bar Confederation was defeated, with its members either fleeing abroad or being deported to Siberia by the Russians.The partition treaty was ratified by its signatories on September 22, 1772.It was a major success for Frederick II of Prussia:Prussia's share might have been the smallest, but it was also significantly developed and strategically important.Prussia took most of Polish Royal Prussia, including Ermland, allowing Frederick to link East Prussia and Brandenburg. Growth in the Russian Empire's power, threatening the Kingdom of Prussia and the Habsburg Monarchy, was the primary motive behind this first partition. According to Jerzy Surdykowski Frederick the Great soon introduced German colonists on territories he conquered and engaged in Germanization of Polish territoriesFrederick II settled 26,000 Germans in Polish Pomerania which influenced the ethnic situation in the region that at the time had around 300,000 inhabitants, and enforced GermanizationAccording to Christopher Clark in certain areas annexed by Prussia like Notec and Royal Prussia 54 percent of the population 75 percent of the urban populace were German-speaking Protestants.In the next century this was used by nationalistic German historians to justify the partition, but it was irrelevant to contemporary calculations; Frederick, dismissive of German culture, was instead pursuing an imperialist policy, acting on the security interests of his state. To Austria fell Zator and Auschwitz (Oświęcim), part of Little Poland embracing parts of the counties of Kraków and Sandomierz (with the rich salt mines of Bochnia and Wieliczka), and the whole of Galicia, less the city of Kraków.Russia received the largest, but least-important area economically, in the northeast. The partition treaty was ratified by the three signatories in September, 1772 and the First Partition of Poland became a reality. After Henry informed him of the proposal, Frederick suggested a partition of the Polish borderlands by Austria, Prussia, and Russia, with the largest share going to the party most weakened by the recent changes in balance of power, Austria. Frederick's brother, Prince Henry, spent the winter of 1770–71 as a representative of the Prussian court at Saint Petersburg. By this "diplomatic document" Russia came into possession of the commonwealth territories east of the line formed roughly by the Dvina, Drut, and Dnieper Rivers—that section of Livonia which had still remained in commonwealth control, and of Belarus embracing the counties of Vitebsk, Polotsk and Mstislavl.Russia gained 92,000 square kilometers (36,000 sq mi) and 1,300,000 people, and reorganized its newly acquired lands into Pskov Governorate (which also included two provinces of Novgorod Governorate) and Mogilev Governorate.Zakhar Chernyshyov was appointed the Governor General of the new territories on May 28, 1772.By the first partition the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth lost about 211,000 square kilometers (81,000 sq mi) (30% of its territory, amounting at that time to about 733,000 square kilometers (283,000 sq mi)), with a population of over four to five million people (about a third of its population of fourteen million before the partitions).