Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

State · 1572–1793 CE · at its largest around 1612 CE

A federal state of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania created by the Union of Lublin in 1569, with an elected monarchy and powerful nobility, which was partitioned by its neighbours.

On its lands while it lasted

Königsberg (1255–1945 CE): Capital of Duchy of Prussia (1526–1618), Brandenburg-Prussia (1619–1701).
Kraków (c. 1572 CE): Capital of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (1572–1596), Free City of Krakow (1815–1845).
Zamość (1580 CE): Chancellor Jan Zamoyski founded this planned Renaissance town in 1580, designed by the Italian architect Bernardo Morando. Its old town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Warsaw (c. 1596 CE): Capital of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (1596–1793), Duchy of Warsaw (1809–1815), Second Polish Republic (1919–1939), and 1 more.
Khmelnytsky Uprising (1648–1657 CE): Cossack revolt led by Bohdan Khmelnytsky against the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in Ukraine. It created a Cossack Hetmanate that allied with Russia in 1654; many Jewish communities were massacred.
Battle of Vienna (1683 CE): In September 1683 a relief army under King John III Sobieski of Poland defeated the Ottomans besieging Vienna. It began the Habsburg reconquest of Hungary.
Battle of Poltava (1709 CE): Peter the Great's Russian army crushed Charles XII's Swedish army at Poltava in Ukraine in 1709, ending Sweden's status as a great power.
Immanuel Kant (1724 CE – 1804 CE): Prussian philosopher who spent his whole life in Königsberg. His critical philosophy on knowledge, ethics and aesthetics made him a central figure of the Enlightenment.
Hasidic Judaism (c. 1740 CE): A Jewish spiritual revival movement that arose in Podolia around the Baal Shem Tov, who settled in Medzhybizh about 1740. It spread across eastern European Jewry.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 CE – 1791 CE): Prolific composer from Salzburg who worked in Vienna from 1781. His operas, symphonies and concertos are central to the Classical style.
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 CE – 1827 CE): Composer born in Bonn who worked in Vienna from 1792. Despite growing deafness he wrote works bridging the Classical and Romantic eras.
Partitions of Poland (1772–1795 CE): In three partitions in 1772, 1793 and 1795, Russia, Prussia and Austria divided the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth among themselves, ending its independent existence for 123 years.
Constitution of 3 May 1791 (1791 CE): Adopted by the Great Sejm in Warsaw, this was Europe's first modern codified national constitution. It was overturned after Russia intervened in 1792.