Chapter 6, pgs. 185-212 Summary

The destiny of Poland changed under King Jan Sobieski. Poland would have a strong king that would not be elected or dominated by foreigners and would have a Seym with properly elected members. The time is now in the 1750s.

In 1762,Catherine the Great became Empress of Russia. Poniatowski had dreams of marrying Catherine but was rebuffed. In August, he became Stanislaw August, King of Poland. Catherine then waited for Poland to fall apart so she could pick up the pieces that she wanted. Russia, Prussia and Austria did not like Poland's plan for a hereditary monarchy. They wanted to divide the nation, but Russia wanted a weak Poland to form a buffer between the three countries. Their plans were for the partition of Poland. Each of these three has some powerful Polish family in their service. They find...