[2] The First Partition of Poland in 1772 included the annexation of the formerly Polish Prussia by Frederick II who quickly implanted over 57,000 German families there in order to solidify his new acquisitions.

[3] In the first partition, Frederick sought to exploit and develop Poland economically as part of his wider aim of enriching Prussia.

[6] By 1752, he had prepared the ground for the partition of Poland–Lithuania, aiming to achieve his goal of building a territorial bridge between Pomerania, Brandenburg, and his East Prussian provinces.

[7] The new territories would also provide an increased tax base, additional populations for the Prussian military, and serve as a surrogate for the other overseas colonies of the other great powers.

[8] Frederick did not justify his conquests on an ethnic basis; he pursued an imperialist policy focused on the security interests of his state.

[9] However, Frederick did use propaganda to justify the partition and his economic exploitation of Poland, portraying the acquired provinces as underdeveloped and in need of improvement by Prussian rule; these claims were sometimes accepted by subsequent German historiography and can still be found in modern works.

[11] After a prolonged visit to West Prussia in 1773, Frederick informed Voltaire of his findings and accomplishments: "I have abolished serfdom, reformed the savage laws, opened a canal which joins up all the main rivers; I have rebuilt those villages razed to the ground after the plague in 1709.

[8] He also aimed to expel the Polish nobles—who were viewed as wasteful, lazy, and negligent[18]—from their land by taxing them at a rate higher than other regions of Prussia,[8] which increased their financial burden and reduced their power.

[8] Frederick undertook the exploitation of Polish territory under the pretext of an enlightened civilizing mission that emphasized the supposed cultural superiority of Prussian ways.

[23] He saw the outlying regions of Prussia as barbaric and uncivilized,[24] He expressed anti-Polish sentiments when describing the inhabitants, such as calling them "slovenly Polish trash".

[25] He also compared the Polish peasants unfavorably with the Iroquois,[11] and named three of his new Prussian settlements after colonial areas of North America: Florida, Philadelphia and Saratoga.

The subsequent third partitioning of 1795 marked the Prussian annexation of Podlasie region, with the remainder of Masovia, and the capital city of Warsaw (handed over to the Russians twenty years later by Frederick III).

[2][34] In 1902, after unveiling a statue of Frederick in Posen, Wilhelm offered a speech where he denied German interferences with Polish religion and tradition.