There is strife between the Polish nobility and the king, Stanislaus August Poniatowski.

The king, a former favorite of the Russian Empress, is dependent on Russian military backing.

An association of Polish nobles (szlachta) form the Bar Confederation at the fortress of Bar in Podolia in 1768 to defend the internal and external independence of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth against aggression by the Russian Empire and against the King and Polish reformers who are attempting to limit the power of the Commonwealth's magnates.

The founders of the Bar Confederation include the magnates Adam Krasiński, the Bishop of Kamenets, Casimir Pułaski, and Michał Krasiński. (Some historians consider the Bar Confederation the first Polish uprising.)