The Austrian partition: as a result of the first partition of Poland in 1772 Austria acquired territories situated to the south of Cracow, eastern Little Poland with Lviv, Zamosc and Belz Lands, as well as the region of Podolia as far as the Zbruch River.

After the third partition of Poland in 1795, Austria gained the Lands of Cracow, Sandomierz, Lublin and Chelm along with the southern part of Podlasie region. In 1809, during the Napoleon’s war with Austria, prince JozefPoniatowski used the military forces and took over the Lublin region and incorporated it into the Duchy of Warsaw. In 1815, after the Congress of Vienna, the Russian protectorate over all territories of the Duchy of Warsaw was established, Austria gained the region of Podolia, Galicia and Cieszyn Silesia. Cracow was proclaimed the Free City (also known as the Republic of Cracow) remaining under the control of the three occupants.

After the Cracow Uprising of 1846, it was annexed by the Habsburg Monarchy. The Austrian partition covered the area of 80,000 km2. After 1865, the importance of those territories for Poland have increased, since Galicia gained autonomy (separate Diet of Galicia in Lviv, Polish governor and officials, and the right for Polish deputies to enter the Austrian parliament) as a result of the reforms in the Habsburg Empire. Until the World War I, the period of the Austrian occupation was characterised by a tremendous development of Polish culture and science, social movements as well as political parties.