Bar Confederation The Bar Confederation ( ; 1768 – 1772 ) was an association of Polish nobles ( szlachta ) formed at the fortress of Bar in Podolia in 1768 to defend the internal and external independence of the Polish – Lithuanian Commonwealth against Russian influence and against King Stanisław August Poniatowski and Polish reformers who were attempting to limit the power of the Commonwealth ' s magnates ( wealthy szlachta ) . The founders of the Bar Confederation included the magnates Adam Krasiński , Bishop of Kamenets , Kazimierz Pułaski and Michał Krasiński . Its creation led to a civil war and contributed to the First Partition of the Polish – Lithuanian Commonwealth . Some historians consider the Bar Confederation the first Polish uprising . Background . International situation . Around middle of the 18th century the balance of power in Europe shifted , with Russian victories against the Ottomans in the Russo - Turkish War ( 1768 – 1774 ) strengthening Russia and endangering Habsburg interests in that region ( particularly in Moldavia and Wallachia ) . At that point Habsburg Austria started to consider waging a war against Russia . France , friendly towards both Russia and Austria , suggested a series of territorial adjustments , in which Austria would be compensated by parts of Prussian Silesia , and Prussia in turn would receive Polish Ermland ( Warmia ) and parts of the Polish fief , Duchy of Courland and Semigallia — already under Baltic German hegemony . King Frederick II of Prussia had no intention of giving up Silesia gained recently in the Silesian Wars ; he was , however , also interested in finding a peaceful solution — his alliance with Russia would draw him into a potential war with Austria , and the Seven Years ' War had left Prussia ' s treasury and army weakened . He was also interested in protecting the weakening Ottoman Empire , which could be advantageously utilized in the event of a Prussian war either with Russia or Austria . Frederick ' s brother , Prince Henry , spent the winter of 1770 – 71 as a representative of the Prussian court at Saint Petersburg . As Austria had annexed 13 towns in the Hungarian Szepes region in 1769 ( violating the Treaty of Lubowla ) , Catherine II of Russia and her advisor General Ivan Chernyshyov suggested to Henry that Prussia claim some Polish land , such as Ermland . After Henry informed him of the proposal , Frederick suggested a partition of the Polish borderlands by Austria , Prussia , and Russia , with the largest share going to the party most weakened by the recent changes in balance of power , Austria . Thus Frederick attempted to encourage Russia to direct its expansion towards weak and non - functional Poland instead of the Ottomans . Although for a few decades ( since the times of the Silent Sejm ) Russia had seen weak Poland as its own protectorate , Poland had also been devastated by a civil war in which the forces of the Bar Confederation attempted to disrupt Russian control over Poland . The recent Koliyivschyna peasant and Cossack uprising in Ukraine also weakened Polish position . Further , the Russian - supported Polish king , Stanisław August Poniatowski , was seen as both weak and too independent - minded ; eventually the Russian court decided that the usefulness of Poland as a protectorate had diminished . The three powers officially justified their actions as a compensation for dealing with troublesome neighbor and restoring order to Polish anarchy ( the Bar Confederation provided a convenient excuse ) ; in fact all three were interested in territorial gains . After Russia occupied the Danubian Principalities , Henry convinced Frederick and Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria that the balance of power would be maintained by a tripartite division of the Polish – Lithuanian Commonwealth instead of Russia taking land from the Ottomans . Under pressure from Prussia , which for a long time wanted to annex the northern Polish province of Royal Prussia , the three powers agreed on the First Partition of Poland . This was in light of the possible Austrian - Ottoman alliance with only token objections from Austria , which would have instead preferred to receive more Ottoman territories in the Balkans , a region which for a long time had been coveted by the Habsburgs . The Russians also withdrew from Moldavia away from the Austrian border . In the Commonwealth . In the late 17th century and early 18th century the Polish – Lithuanian Commonwealth had declined from the status of a major European power to that of a Russian protectorate ( or vassal or satellite state ) , with the Russian tsar effectively choosing Polish – Lithuanian monarchs during the " free " elections and deciding the direction of much of Poland ' s internal politics , for example during the Repnin Sejm ( 1767 - 1768 ) , named after the Russian ambassador who unofficially presided over the proceedings . In 1767 - 1768 , Russian forces forced the Polish parliament ( Sejm ) to pass resolutions they demanded . Many of the conservative nobility felt anger at that foreign interference , at the perceived weakness of the presiding government under king Stanisław August Poniatowski ( reigned 1764 - 1795 ) , and at the provisions , particularly the ones that empowered non - Catholics , and at other reforms which they saw as threatening the Golden Freedoms of the Polish nobility . In response to that , and particularly after Russian troops arrested and exiled several vocal opponents ( namely bishop of Kiev Józef Andrzej Załuski , bishop of Cracow Kajetan Sołtyk , and Field Crown Hetman Wacław Rzewuski with his son Seweryn ) , Polish magnates Adam Krasiński , Bishop of Kamenets , Kazimierz Pułaski and Michał Krasiński and their allies decided to form a " confederatio " - a legal military association opposing the government in accordance with Polish constitutional traditions . The articles of the confederation were signed on 29 February 1768 at the fortress of Bar in Podolia . Some of the instigators of the confederation included Adam Stanisław Krasiński , Michał Hieronim Krasiński , Kajetan Sołtyk , Wacław Rzewuski , Michał Jan Pac , Jerzy August Mniszech , Joachim Potocki and Teodor Wessel . Priest Marek Jandołowicz was a notable religious leader , and Michał Wielhorski the Confederation ' s political ideologue . Civil war and foreign intervention . The confederation , encouraged and aided by France , declared a war on Russia . Its irregular forces , formed from volunteers , magnate miltias and deserters from the royal army , soon clashed with the Russian troops and units loyal to the Polish crown . Confederation forces under Ignacy Malczewski , Michał Jan Pac and Prince Karol Radziwiłł roamed the land in every direction , won several engagements with the Russians , and at last , utterly ignoring the King , sent envoys on their own account to the principal European powers . King Stanisław August Poniatowski was at first inclined to mediate between the Confederates and Russia , the latter represented by the Russian envoy to Warsaw , Prince Nikolai Repnin ; but finding this impossible , he sent a force against them under Grand Hetman Franciszek Ksawery Branicki and two generals against the confederates . This marked the Ukrainian campaign , which lasted from April till June 1768 , and was ended with the capture of Bar on 20 June . Confederation forces retreated to Moldavia . There was also a pro - Confederation force in Lesser Poland , that operated from June till August , that ended with the royal forces securing Kraków on 22 August , followed by a period of conflict in Belarus ( August – October ) , that ended with the surrender of Nesvizh on 26 October . However , the simultaneous outbreak of the Koliyivschyna in Ukraine ( May 1768 – June 1769 ) kept the Confederation alive . The Confederates appealed for help from abroad and contributed to bringing about war between Russia and the Ottoman Empire ( the Russo - Turkish War , 1768 - 1774 that began in September ) . The retreat of some Russian forces needed on the Ottoman front bolstered the confederates , who reappeared in force in Lesser Poland and Great Poland by 1769 . In 1770 the Council of Bar Confederation transferred from its original seat in Silesia to Hungary , whence it conducted diplomatic negotiations with France , Austria and Turkey with a view to forming a league against Russia . The council proclaimed the king dethroned on 22 October 1770 . The court of Versailles sent Charles François Dumouriez to act as an aid to the Confederates , and he helped them to organize their forces . So serious did the situation become that King Frederick II of Prussia advised Tsarina Catherine II of Russia to come to terms with the Confederates . The Confederates also began to operate in Lithuania , although after early successes that direction too met with failures , with defeats at Białymstok on 16 July and Orzechowo on 13 September of 1769 . Early 1770 saw the defeats of confederates in Greater Poland , after the battle of Dobra ( 20 January ) and Błonie ( 12 February ) , which forced them into a mostly defensive , passive stance . In the meantime , taking advantage of the confusion in Poland , already by 1769 — 71 , both Austria and Prussia had taken over some border territories of the Commonwealth , with Austria taking Szepes County in 1769 - 1770 and Prussia incorporating Lauenburg and Bütow . On 19 February 1772 , the agreement of partition was signed in Vienna . A previous agreement between Prussia and Russia had been made in Saint Petersburg on 6 February 1772 . Early in August Russian , Prussian and Austrian troops simultaneously entered the Commonwealth and occupied the provinces agreed upon among themselves . On 5 August , the three parties signed the treaty on their respective territorial gains on the Commonwealth ' s expense . An attempt of Bar Confederates ( including Casimir Pulaski ) to kidnap king Poniatowski on 3 November 1771 led the Hapsburgs to withdraw their support from the confederates , expelling them from their territories . It also gave the three courts another pretext to showcase the " Polish anarchy " and the need for its neighbors to step in and " save " the country and its citizens . The king thereupon reverted to the Russian faction , and for this act targeting their king , the Confederation lost much of the support it had in Europe . Nevertheless its army , thoroughly reorganized by Dumouriez , maintained the fight . 1771 brought further defeats , with the defeat at Lanckorona on 21 May and Stałowicze at 23 October . The final battle of this war was the siege of Jasna Góra , which fell on 13 August 1772 . The regiments of the Bar Confederation , whose executive board had been forced to leave Austria ( which previously supported them ) after that country joined the Prusso - Russian alliance , did not lay down their arms . Many fortresses in their command held out as long as possible ; Wawel Castle in Kraków fell only at on 28 April ; Tyniec fortress held until 13 July 1772 ; Częstochowa , commanded by Kazimierz Pułaski , held until 18 August . Overall , around 100 , 000 nobles fought 500 engagements between 1768 and 1772 . Perhaps the last stronghold of the confederates was in the monastery in Zagórz , which fell only on 28 November 1772 . In the end , the Bar Confederation was defeated , with its members either fleeing abroad or being deported to Siberia by the Russians . Bar Confederates taken as prisoners by the Russians , together with their families , formed the first major group of Poles exiled to Siberia . It is estimated that about 5 , 000 former confederates were sent there . Russians organized 3 concentration camp s in Polish – Lithuanian Commonwealth for Polish captives , where these concentrated persons have been waiting for their deportation there . Legacy . Until the times of the Bar Confederation , confederates , especially operating with the aid of outside forces , were seen as unpatriotic antagonists . But in 1770 , during the times that the Russian Army marched through the theoretically independent Commonwealth , and foreign powers forced the Sejm to agree to the First Partition of Poland , the confederates started to create an image of Polish exiled soldiers , the last of those who remained true to their Motherland , an image that would in the next two centuries lead to the creation of Polish Legions and other forces in exile . The Confederation has generated varying assessments from the historians . While none deny its patriotic desire to rid the Commonwealth from the outside ( primarily Russian ) influence , some such as Jacek Jędruch , criticize it for its regressive stand on the civil rights issues , primarily with regards to the religious tolerance ( Jędruch writes of " religious bigotry " , " narrowly Catholic " stand ) and assert it contributed to the First Partition while others such as Bohdan Urbankowski applaud it as the first serious national military effort trying to restore Polish independence . The Bar Confederation has been described as the first Polish uprising , and the last mass movement of szlachta .