The place and role of the geopolitical ambitions of neighboring countries on the state policy of the Polish Commonwealth, which led to its division in the second half of the 18th century is studied on the basis of a comprehensive analysis of diverse sources. The factors that led to the state sovereignty loss of an independent country, which affected the situation of ordinary people, are revealed. It has been proved that the targeted external influence from the side of the neighboring countries has played a key role in the process of distribution of the territory of the Polish Commonwealth and the withdrawal of its territories into other countries.

It is noted that the geopolitical ambitions of the neighboring states, namely the transition to a fundamentally new system of socio-political, social and economic relations in the conditions of profound changes in the geopolitical picture of the world, crisis processes and instability of the internal situation, encourage other countries to actualize the problem of ensuring their own security of society, state and personality. In this aspect, the state of the Polish Commonwealth is analyzed as the state, which by the end of the 18th century was one of the largest states in Europe.

It is found out that the reasons for the division of the Polish Commonwealth were internal – connected with the activities of the elite of the Polish people, and external ones, concerning the actions of the member-states themselves. Several groups of reasons for the Polish Commonwealth division are singled out, namely: a) the crisis of Polish statehood; b) the development of a pan-European foreign policy situation in which the most powerful and most influential states of Europe have faced; c) the aggressive, invasive policy of Russia, Austria and Prussia; d) Russian fear before the ideas spreading of the French Revolution to its territory. At the same time, instability and devastation within the country were first of all caused by the intentional external influence of neighboring countries, among which the policy of the Russian Empire is the most distinctly marked.

Key words: the Polish Commonwealth, empire, division of Poland, interests of states, factors.

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