The growth of power in the Russian Empire threatened the Kingdom of Prussia and the Habsburg monarchy and was the primary motive behind the First Partition.

Frederick the Great, King in Prussia, engineered the partition to prevent Austria, which was envious of Russian successes against the Ottoman Empire, from going to war.

[2][3] The First Partition occurred after 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 the region (particularly in Moldavia and Wallachia).

[4] King Frederick II of Prussia had no intention of giving up Silesia, having recently gained it in the Silesian Wars, but was also interested in finding a peaceful solution.

Like France, he was interested in protecting the weakening Ottoman Empire, which could be advantageously used in the event of a Prussian war either against Russia or Austria.

As Austria had annexed the 13 Polish-held towns in the Hungarian Szepes region in 1769 in violation of the Treaty of Lubowla, Catherine II of Russia and her advisor General Ivan Chernyshyov suggested to Henry that Prussia claim some land currently held by Poland, such as Ermland.

[4] The Austrian statesman Wenzel Anton Graf Kaunitz made a counter-proposal for Prussia to take lands held by Poland in return for relinquishing Glatz and parts of Silesia to Austria, but his plan was rejected by Frederick.

[6] The three powers officially justified their actions as compensation for dealing with a troublesome neighbour and restoring order to Polish anarchy, and the Bar Confederation provided a convenient excuse although all three were interested in territorial gains.

[8] That was in light of the possible Austrian-Ottoman alliance[8] with only token objections from Austria[6] although it would have preferred to receive more Ottoman territories in the Balkans, a region that had long been coveted by the Habsburgs.

An attempt of the Bar Confederacy to kidnap King Stanisław on 3 November 1771 gave the three courts another pretext to showcase the "Polish anarchy" and the need for its neighbours to step in and "save" the country and its citizens.

[8] In early August, Russian, Prussian and Austrian troops simultaneously entered the Commonwealth and occupied the provinces that had been agreed upon among themselves.

Frederick was dismissive of German culture; he pursued an imperialist policy, acting on the security interests of his state with dynastic rather than national identity.

[6] By the "diplomatic document", Russia came into possession of the commonwealth territories east of the line formed roughly by the Dvina, Drut, and Dnieper rivers, the section of Livonia that had remained in Commonwealth control after the 1629 Truce of Altmark (i.e. Inflanty Voivodeship, excluding the former western exclaves around Piltene/Piltyń, which had been transferred to Courland in 1717), and of Belarus embracing the counties of Vitebsk, Polotsk and Mstislavl.

[4][24] After they had occupied their respective territories, the three partitioning powers demanded that King Stanisław August Poniatowski and the Sejm approve their action.

[4][8] When no help was forthcoming and the armies of the combined nations occupied Warsaw, the capital, to compel by force of arms the calling of the assembly, no alternative could be chosen but passive submission to their will.

The senators who advised against that step were threatened by the Russians, represented by the ambassador, Otto von Stackelberg, who declared that in the face of refusal, the whole of Warsaw would be destroyed by them.

[8] In spite of the efforts of individuals like Tadeusz Rejtan, Samuel Korsak [pl], and Stanisław Bohuszewicz [pl] to prevent it, the deed was accomplished with the aid of Poniński, Radziwiłł, and the bishops Andrzej Młodziejowski, Ignacy Jakub Massalski, and Antoni Kazimierz Ostrowski (primate of Poland), who occupied high positions in the Senate of Poland.

In 1772, Jean-Jacques Rousseau was invited to present recommendations for a new constitution for the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, resulting in the Considerations on the Government of Poland (1782), which was to be his last major political work.