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Description

Scarce map of Poland, published by Von Reilly.

The map was published during the period when Stanislaw II was attempting to reform Poland and implement a set of modern laws in tune with the Enlightenment.

The Great Sejm convened by Stanislaw II August in 1788 successfully adopted the 3 May Constitution, the first set of modern supreme national laws in Europe. However, this document, accused by detractors of harboring revolutionary sympathies, generated strong opposition from Poland's nobles and conservatives as well as from Catherine II of Russia, who, determined to prevent the rebirth of a strong Poland, set about planning the final dismemberment of the Polish-Lithuanian state. Russia was aided in achieving its goal when the Targowica Confederation, an organization of Polish nobles, appealed to the Empress for help. In May 1792 Russian forces crossed the Commonwealth's frontier, thus beginning the Polish-Russian War.