Poland has a long and colorful royal history. Since the 9th Century Poland was ruled by dukes, high dukes and kings at various times. Sometimes hereditary the Polish monarchy was more often elective, the throne often passing back and forth between competing forces. From 1386 to 1572 the Jagiellon dynasty provided the Kings of Poland and Grand Dukes of Lithuania. After that the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth came into being and was, for a time, a major force in central Europe at one point even threatening to dominate Russia. In 1795 it all ended with the partition of Poland between Prussia, Austria and Russia. During World War I the Germans and Austrians set up a Kingdom of Poland under a regency but after their defeat a new republican Poland was established.