| Summary: | 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.
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