in 1793, Catherine, Joseph of Austria, and Frederick's nephew --
Frederick William II -- took advantage of the turmoil in France to confiscate
more Polish lands, in what was called the Second Partition of Poland. In
1794 a national uprising by the Poles was crushed by the Russians, and,
in 1795, Russia, Austria and Brandenburg-Prussia participated in what was
to be known as the Third Partition of Poland. Brandenburg-Prussia took Warsaw,
the Habsburgs took Krakow and expanded northward along the banks of the Bug River,
and Catherine took Courland, Brest-Litovsk and what was left of Poland.
Catherine was opposed to educating common people, believing that if the
uneducated were educated they would stop obeying.