A major new assessment of the “vanished kingdom” of the Polish—Lithuanian Commonwealth—one which recognizes its achievements before its destruction Richard Butterwick tells the compelling story of the last decades of one of Europe’s largest and least understood polities: the Polish—Lithuanian Commonwealth. Drawing on the latest research, Butterwick vividly portrays the turbulence the Commonwealth experienced. Far from seeing it as a failed state, he shows the ways in which it overcame the stranglehold of Russia and briefly regained its sovereignty, the crowning success of which took place on 3 May 1791—the passing of the first Constitution of modern Europe.