The second partition occurred in the aftermath of the Polish–Russian War of 1792 and the Targowica Confederation of 1792, and was approved by its territorial beneficiaries, the Russian Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia.

[4][5] The Empress Catherine II was angered; arguing that Poland had fallen prey to the radical Jacobinism then at high tide in France, Russian forces invaded the Commonwealth in 1792.

Frederick demanded from Catherine that for his country's abandoning Poland as a close ally, for Prussian participation in the War of the First Coalition against revolutionary France, because Russia had encouraged Prussian participation, and because Prussia had recently suffered a major defeat at the Battle of Valmy, Prussia should be compensated – preferably with parts of the Polish territory.

[4][5] On 23 January 1793, Prussia signed a treaty with Russia, agreeing that Polish reforms would be revoked and both countries would receive broad swaths of Commonwealth territory.

[5][15] What was left of the Commonwealth was a small buffer state with a puppet king, and Russian garrisons keeping an eye on the reduced army.

[9][16][17] Targowica confederates, who did not expect another partition, and the king, Stanisław August Poniatowski, who joined them near the end, both lost much prestige and support.

The defeat of the Uprising in November that year resulted in the final Third Partition of Poland, ending the existence of the Commonwealth.