About the Author

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.

Reviews

“This astonishing and brilliant revival of independence and creative energy is the subject of Richard Butterwick’s book . . . [which] goes into the details not only of high politics but of people and processes. . . . Butterwick makes a vivid narrative.”—Neal Ascherson, London Review of Books

“A brilliantly constructed and complete synthesis. . . . Different threads combine, interweave and result from one another, giving a rich picture of the reality of the time. . . . Probably the first historical synthesis of this epoch in which the author has followed so closely the political situation in this part of Europe, and at the same time shown that, without this knowledge, it is impossible to understand the internal political activities of a state deprived of sovereignty.”—Anna Grześkowiak-Krwawicz, Polish History Museum

“Butterwick offers a very valuable and impressively comprehensive account of the important final decades in the history of the Commonwealth.”—Larry Wolff, Slavonic and East European Review

“Butterwick is a good narrator, but he manages to transcend mere storytelling. It is no small feat that he explains the complexities of the Commonwealth and its constituent parts, the changing social and economic landscape as well as the complicated confessional issues without ever being dry.”—Orsolya Szakály, European Review of History

“A captivating history of the last decades of one of the largest and yet most unknown state structures in Europe. . . . [Butterwick] is able brilliantly to refute the common notion that the history of the Polish-Lithuanian state in the eighteenth century can only be reduced to its decay.”—Ruth Leiserowitz, Historische Zeitschrift

“Richard Butterwick . . . has handled this task perfectly. We have a new, conceptual book revealing to readers the complex history of the Polish-Lithuanian state, or more precisely its final stage, lit up not just by the bright aura of the Age of Enlightenment, but also ablaze with ideas of freedom, equality, democracy and constitutionalism just before the state was extinguished. . . . It is also an excellent guide helping readers understand the underlying reasons for geopolitical processes in the context of Russia’s intervention in the sovereign Ukrainian state.”—Ramunė Šmigelskytė-Stukienė, Lithuanian Historical Studies

“Brilliant. . . . This is an archivally-rich book that successfully captures the developing destruction of a still-vibrant polity. An important work indeed not only for those interested in Polish history but also in the Enlightenment as practice.”—Jeremy Black, The Critic

“One of the many virtues of Butterwick’s book is that . . . on the basis of deep and up-to-date research, the work will facilitate the teaching of eighteenth-century Poland-Lithuania to Anglophone students. . . . It is written with verve and color. . . . An outstanding achievement.”—Robert Frost FBA, The Middle Ground Journal

“[An] indispensable resource for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the eighteenth-century Commonwealth and Europe as a whole.”—Tomasz Grusiecki, Renaissance and Reformation

Winner of the Polish Historical Society’s Pro Historia Polonorum prize

First distinction in the competition of the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the best foreign-language book promoting the history of Poland

Winner of the 2021 Oskar Halecki Polish History Award, sponsored by the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America

“Masterly. Butterwick’s authoritative and notably well-written account is a major contribution to Polish and European history. As a study of the high politics of the last six decades of Poland-Lithuania’s independent existence, it would be difficult to better.”—Hamish Scott, FBA, Jesus College, University of Oxford

“Both scholarly and entertaining, this enthralling account of the decline and fall of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is a major contribution to the history of Europe in the eighteenth century.”—Tim Blanning, author of The Pursuit of Glory: Europe 1648–1815

“Butterwick has succeeded admirably. . . . This compelling history weaves political, ecclesiastical, and international affairs together, demonstrating how the principles of Enlightenment shaped a reforming state and society as they faced the Partitions.”—Frank E. Sysyn, University of Alberta