ABSTRACT

The Commonwealth combined three branches of government: the royal, the aristocratic, and the noble. It was a mixed system—a noble monarchical republic. At its origin lay the very same ancient Slavic institution that used to function in the Intermarium prior to the Mongols. Afterward, however, the Commonwealth grew too exhausted to continue as an independent player on the international scene. It became unable to defend its own territory, including the Intermarium. Throughout the eighteenth century, the Commonwealth slowly slipped into an informal state of vassalage to the Russian Empire and its Prussian and Austrian allies. Under the Commonwealth, some customary rights of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania were added into the mix of the Polish medieval privileges. The Commonwealth was a multiethnic state assembled on a voluntary basis. It encompassed Poles, Ruthenians, Lithuanians, Armenians, Jews, Tartars, Germans, Dutch, Scots, Swedes, Italians, French, and others joined together by common culture and institutions.