ABSTRACT
The first country whose affairs claimed the attention of Germany after the close of the Silesian Wars was its unhappy neighbour on the East, Poland. Meanwhile the troubles of Poland culminated in conflicts between the adherents of the Greek Church and of the Catholic religion. The situation called forth from Kaunitz a characteristically ingenious plan for the recovery of Silesia. An alliance was to be formed between Austria, Prussia and Turkey to save Poland and check the Russian advance. Poland was powerless to resist, and in September 1773 bribery coupled with threats of violence wrung from the reluctant Diet its consent to the scheme. The Partition of Poland is an action which it is much easier to condemn in the strongest terms than to extenuate in the least. Meanwhile one result of Austria and Russia agreeing upon joint action in Poland had been to avert all danger of a collision between them on the Danube.
