History of the British Isles was the period of Queen Victoria's rule between 1837 and 1901 which signified the height of the British Industrial Revolution and the apex of the British Empire. Scholars debate whether the Victorian period—as defined by a variety of sensibilities and political concerns that have come to be associated with the Victorians—actually begins with the passage of the Reform Act 1832. The era was preceded by the Regency era and succeeded by the Edwardian period. Victoria became queen in 1837 at age 18. Her long reign saw Britain reach the zenith of its economic and political power, with the introduction of
History of Poland in the Early Modern era (1569–1795) by all three partitioning powers, and in 1795 the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth ceased to exist. The death of Sigismund II Augustus in 1572 ended the nearly two centuries of the rule of the Jagiellon dynasty in Poland. It was followed by a three-year interregnum period, during which the Polish nobility ("szlachta") was searching for ways to continue the governance process and elect a new monarch. Lower "szlachta" was now included in the selection process and adjustments were made to the constitutional system. The power of the monarch was further circumscribed in favor of the expanding noble class, which sought to ensure