Catherine of Russia is also very satisfied by this "diplomatic document", as Russia now comes into possession of that section of Livonia which had still remained in Commonwealth control, and of Belarus, which embraces the counties of Vitebsk, Polotsk and Mstislavl.

Long-smoldering opposition to the Hasidim from Orthodox rabbis called Mitnaggedim (Opponents) reaches a climax in 1772 when Elijah ben Solomon, the gaon (spiritual leader) of Vilna, excommunicates the Hasidim for their practical repudiation of traditional Judaism, for pantheistic tendencies, for the adoption of esoteric Kabbalistic teachings, and for excessive veneration of the tzaddiqim.

Elimelech of Lizhensk had, in fact, established Hasidic dynasties by claiming that charismatic qualities were transmitted by heredity from a father to his son.

The movement continues unabated despite such opposition.

Both the ascending Russian Empire and pre-revolutionary France aspire  to have Sweden as a client state.

Parliamentarians and others with influence are susceptible to taking bribes that they did their best to increase.

The integrity and the credibility of the political system wanes, and in 1772 the young and charismatic king Gustav III staged a coup d'état, abolished parliamentarism and reinstated royal power in Sweden—more or less with the support of the parliament.

A new Constitution is read to the estates and unanimously accepted by them.

The diet is then dissolved, and Gustav begins his rule as an enlightened despot.

Gustav III's coup d'état thus ends Sweden's Age of Liberty, the half-century long experiment with a parliamentary system and increasing civil rights in the period from Charles XII's death in 1718.

Many alchemists, such as Cornelius Drebbel, the Dutch inventor who in 1608 had suggested production of oxygen by heating saltpeter, had noted the existence and properties of oxygen before Scheele, investigating the air in 1772, demonstrates that air is a mixture of two gases.

He calls one of these “fire air” because it supports combustion, and the other “foul air”, because it is left after the fire air has been used up.

Scheele obtains the “fire air” by heating potassium nitrate, mercury dioxide, and many other substances.

The territory of the Kingdom of Poland includes all of present Lithuania and Belarus and half of contemporary Ukraine.

Catholics of Polish ethnic background represent most of the inhabitants of he western and central regions of the Kingdom.

Roman Catholic Poles and Lithuanians live in its northwestern section, which is today Lithuania.

Eastern Catholics of Ruthenian (which is now Belarussian and Ukrainian) background and a small but important Catholic Polish minority inhabit the eastern regions.

Jews (about ten percent of the whole population) who live mostly in shtetls, i.e., small towns, also inhabit all parts of the Polish Kingdom.

Other ethnic groups, such as Germans, Armenians, Tartars, Scots, Dutchmen, etc., are represented.

Russia in the Seven Years War had been first on Austria’s side, then on Prussia’s, but the main loser in this contest is Poland, which Russia, Prussia and Austria partition in 1772: it is to be the first of three such partitions.

Russia is to annex most of Poland’s eastern regions, Austria is to take the Polish Southwest, and Prussia is to take the Northwest.

The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth loses about thirty percent of its territory by this partition, together with a population of four million people (one-third of its population).

Prussia, by seizing northwestern Poland, instantly gains control over eighty percent of the Commonwealth's total foreign trade and, through the levy of enormous custom duties, accelerates the Commonwealth's inevitable collapse.

The partition treaty is ratified by its signatories on September 22, 1772.

Frederick II of Prussia is elated with his success; Prussia takes most of the Polish Royal Prussia that stands between its possessions in the Kingdom of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg, taking Ermland (Warmia), Royal Prussia without the city of Danzig (Gdańsk) (which in 1773 is to become a new province called West Prussia), northern areas of Greater Poland along the Noteć River (the Netze District), and parts of Kuyavia, (also the Prussian city of Thorn [Toruń]).

To Austria falls Zator and Auschwitz (Oświęcim), part of Little Poland embracing parts of the counties of Kraków and Sandomir and the whole of Galicia, less the City of Kraków.

Austrian diplomat Wenzel Anton, Prince of Kaunitz-Rietberg, is proud of wresting as large a share as he has, with the rich salt mines of Bochnia and Wieliczka, despite token criticism of the partition from Austrian Empress Maria Theresa.

 

The agreement of partition had been signed in Vienna in February 1772.

The Russian, Prussian and Austrian troops had simultaneously entered the Commonwealth early in August and occupied the provinces agreed upon among themselves.

The occupation manifesto had been issued on August 5, 1772, much to the consternation of a country too exhausted by the endeavors of the Confederation of Bar to offer successful resistance.

Several battles and sieges have taken place place nonetheless, as Polish troops refused to lay down their arms (most notably, in Tyniec, Kraków, and Częstochowa).

Jacob Frank's imprisonment in Częstochowa has lasted thirteen years, yet it has only increased his influence with the sect by surrounding him with the aura of martyrdom.

Many Frankists have established themselves near Częstochowa, and kept up constant communication with their "holy master"

Frank has inspired his followers through mystical speeches and epistles, in which he states that salvation can be gained only through the "religion of Edom," or dat ("law"), a mixture of Christian and Sabbateanism

Frank is released, after the first partition of Poland, by the Russian general Aleksandr Bibikov, who had occupied Częstochowa in August 1772.

The empire of Ahmad Shah Durrani, who has extended Afghan control from Mashhad in the west to Kashmir and Delhi in the east, from the Amu Darya (Oxus) River in the north to the Arabian Sea in the south, is the second greatest Muslim empire in the second half of the 18th century, surpassed in size only by the Ottoman.

He dies in 1772 and is succeeded by his son, Timur Shah, who receives only nominal homage from the tribal chieftains.