Authors

Discussion

In this presentation, I aim to reconstruct the personal strategies employed by the Russian Empress Catherine II toward the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (1762-1795). These strategies sought to establish indirect sovereignty over the Commonwealth and influence its domestic and international politics. Catherine assumed she could achieve this through personal alliances and social networks with members of the Polish nobility, such as Ksawery Branicki, Karl von Nassau-Ziegen, August Deboli, and the Polish King Stanisław Poniatowski. Her approach aligns with the modern idea that sovereignty does not always entail direct territorial control but can also mean exerting influence over another state’s policies and actions. However, she ultimately experienced the failure of her strategy, which resulted in the Partitions of the Commonwealth. In my paper, I will explore the “disruption” between the strategies she employed, and the reality faced by the Commonwealth as it struggled against aggression from neighboring countries. To examine this, I will turn to ego-documents that help reconstruct her personal relationships with the Polish nobility.