Partitions of Poland - "Fourth Partition"

"Fourth Partition"

The terminology describing the partitions of Poland can be somewhat confusing, as the first three partitions are sometimes used to refer to the three dates on which Poland was divided (1772, 1793, and 1795) and sometimes to the three geographic divisions (the German or Prussian partition, Austrian partition, and Russian partition). The term "Fourth Partition" has also been used in both a temporal and a spatial sense.

The term "Fourth Partition of Poland" may refer to any subsequent division of Polish lands, specifically:

• after the Napoleonic Era, the 1815 division of the Duchy of Warsaw at the Congress of Vienna;
• the 1832 incorporation of the "Congress Kingdom" into Russia, and the 1846 incorporation of the Republic of Kraków into Austria; and
• the 1939 division of Poland between Germany and the Soviet Union pursuant to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.

If one accepts more than one of those events as partitions, fifth and sixth partitions can be counted, but these terms are very rare.

The term "Fourth Partition" was also used in the 19th and 20th centuries to refer to diaspora communities who maintained a close interest in the project of regaining Polish independence. Sometimes termed Polonia, these expatriate communities often contributed funding and military support to the project of regaining the Polish nation-state. Diaspora politics were deeply affected by developments in and around the homeland, and vice versa, for many decades.