The Suicide of Poland: The Confederation of Bar and the First Partition
Skirmish between lordly confederates and Russian troops. Hood. Vaclav Pavlischak
The Polish confederates had up to a dozen independent leaders at once, intriguing against each other, robbing each other. General Dumouriez noted: “Amazing luxury, insane expenses, long lunches, games and dancing - these are their activities!”
The problem of dissidents and the Repninsky Sejm
On October 5, 1763, Polish King Augustus III died. Under military and diplomatic pressure from Russia and Prussia, Stanislav Poniatowski became the first candidate for the throne. His opponents, the magnates Radziwill and Branicki, were defeated and fled Poland (How the lords destroyed the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth).
In August 1764, the electoral diet passed quietly. Count Poniatowski was unanimously elected king under the name Stanisław II August Poniatowski. Thus, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth came under the control of Russia and Prussia.
The reason for constant interference in the affairs of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth were Polish dissidents. Empress Catherine II and King Frederick II took Protestants and Orthodox Christians in Poland under their protection. They were supported in this matter by England, Sweden and Denmark. In fact, this was one of the first cases of using the “human rights” technique in stories. In the XX–XXI centuries. this technique will be actively used by the United States to interfere in the internal affairs of the USSR-Russia and other states.
Russian ambassador Nikolai Repnin demanded equal rights for Orthodox Christians and was refused. At first, Repnin tried to influence the Polish authorities using a purely local method - to create a dissident confederation. However, it turned out that there were almost no Orthodox gentry in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Polish authorities took care of this - almost the entire Russian elite over the previous centuries was converted to Catholicism and Polished.
As a result, the Orthodox confederation, established on March 20, 1767 in Slutsk, was headed by the Calvinist Major General J. Grabovsky. At the same time, a Protestant coalition was created in Thorn, led by Marshal Heinrich von Goltz.
On September 23, 1767, an extraordinary Sejm began work in Warsaw (it was called the “Repninsky Sejm”), which was supposed to at least partially equalize the rights of Catholics and dissidents. Repnin won over King Stanislav Poniatowski to his side. Russian troops were drawn to Warsaw.
However, the situation was difficult. Influential persons sharply opposed the equalization of rights, especially religious fanatics - the Krakow Bishop Soltyk, the Swedish Bishop Załuski and the Krakow voivode Rzhewuski. They were supported by a representative of Pope Benedict XIII, who urged them not to give in to Russia’s demands.
Repnin decided to act tough - all three fanatics were arrested and deported to Kaluga. Russian troops were brought into the estates of other oppositionists. As a result, on February 27, 1768, the Russian-Polish treaty and two separate acts on the rights of dissidents and the Russian guarantee of the Polish constitution were approved by the Sejm.
Orthodox and Protestants received freedom of conscience and worship, got rid of the jurisdiction of Catholic courts, and received partial equalization in civil rights. Catholicism still remained the state religion. In particular, converting from Catholicism to another religion was considered a criminal offense.
The persecution of Orthodox Christians continued. Local authorities could not, and did not want, to change the century-old guidelines aimed at combating Orthodoxy. Thus, the abbot and ruler of the entire church organization in Right Bank Ukraine, Melchizedek (in the world Znachko-Yavorsky) was repeatedly subjected to torture and bullying. Melchizedek visited St. Petersburg and, having secured the support of the Russian Empress, went to Ambassador Repnin, giving him documents listing the fanaticism that the Poles committed.
Under pressure from Repnin and on the basis of documentary evidence of violence, the Polish king demanded that the Uniate metropolitan be given an order to stop the violence and punish the criminals. The Polish lords who owned Western Russian lands received the same demands. Also, King Stanisław Poniatowski confirmed all the documents that his predecessors gave in favor of the Orthodox Church.
Prince Nikolai Vasilyevich Repnin (1734–1801) - Russian diplomat and military leader of the Catherine era, field marshal general (1796). As ambassador to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (1764–1768), he made a significant contribution to the destruction of the Polish-Lithuanian statehood.
Polish terror
The royal decrees had the opposite effect; they only stirred up a hornet's nest. The Polish nobility was not going to give up its centuries-old principles directed against Russians and Orthodoxy. A wave of new brutal persecution began.
Polish statehood was in a stage of complete disintegration (like today's Ukraine), and the royal power was powerless to break the freemen of the gentry, which relied on the Catholic and Uniate clergy. The dissolved gentry openly mocked the royal instructions. Some nobles promised to cut off the head of the king himself, because he “gave privileges to schismatics.”
The gentry and the Polish clergy responded to the gradual equalization of rights for non-Catholics with repression. Priests who fell away from the union were deprived of their positions, corporal punishment was imposed, disobedient villages were subject to huge fines, forced to build missionary houses and support Uniate missionaries. Melchizedek himself was captured, beaten, taken to Volhynia and walled up in a stone prison, where he almost died.
Polish troops were brought into Western Russian lands and carried out terror. The plunder of villages began (extortions for the maintenance of troops), the “rebels,” that is, those who refused the union, were demonstrably punished. The “instigators” were chopped down and burned.
Orthodox churches were stormed, monks and priests were killed or shackled in iron, sent to Radomysl, where they were again beaten to death (600–800 blows each), thrown into stinking pits, and tortured in hard work. Ordinary residents were also mocked: they were beaten to death, their mouths were torn off, their arms and legs were twisted, etc.
The gentry and the Uniate clergy literally competed in inventing torture and humiliation. The gentry brought entire villages to mortal horror - the Poles announced a death sentence to entire villages (communities), the day and hour of execution were set, or the execution was announced without a deadline. People fled en masse to forests, mountains, wastelands, or actually prepared for death, said goodbye, confessed, put on clean shirts, etc.
Casimir Puławski near Częstochowa. Hood. Juliusz Kossak. K. Pulawski (1745–1779) - one of the leaders and marshals of the Bar Confederation, general of the Continental Army during the War of American Independence. Considered the "Father of the American Cavalry"
Rokosh
The Polish magnates did not limit themselves to the most brutal pacification of the Orthodox population, they decided to start a rokosh (Polish rokosz, literally - riot, mutiny, official uprising against the king), to cancel the decisions of the Repninsky Sejm. At the beginning of 1768, dissatisfied gentlemen gathered a confederation in Podolia in the city of Bar. They opposed the decisions of the Diet and the king himself, declaring themselves defenders of all the ancient rights and privileges that the Roman Catholic gentry possessed.
The Bar Confederation began military operations against Russian troops and the private armies of magnates who remained loyal to the king. At first, the king tried to negotiate with the Confederates, but after they declared “kinglessness,” he asked for help from Empress Catherine Alekseevna.
The tsarist government sent significant forces to suppress the uprising. Russian troops and forces loyal to the king occupied Berdichev, Bar, Lviv and Krakow in the summer of 1768.
Józef Pulawski (1704–1769) – Polish statesman and military leader, organizer and marshal of the Bar Confederation (1768).
Koliivshchyna
At the same time, a peasant uprising began in Western Russian lands. They were supported by the Zaporozhye Cossacks. The reason for the uprising was a forged decree of the Russian Empress Catherine II (the so-called “golden charter”), which ordered the extermination of the Confederates, which was often read to illiterate peasants as “Poles, Uniates and Jews.”
Polish terror caused a response wave of violence - the rebels slaughtered Poles and Jews. Centuries of mutual hatred bore their terrible fruits. Poles, Jews and dogs were hung on trees with the inscription: “Polye, Jew, dog – the faith is the same.” The rebels were led by the Cossacks Ivan Gonta and Maxim Zaliznyak (Zheleznyak).
The uprising was called Koliivshchyna. The name probably comes from the Russian word “koliy” or “koley” (“to stab”, “to slaughter”) - a specialist in the slaughter of pigs. In addition, peasant rebels were usually armed with stakes, often with a piercing blade mounted on them. weapons - horns, scythes, etc.
Juliusz Kossak. Haidamaks camp
A particularly bloody massacre occurred in Uman, where, as the most fortified place, lords and Jews flocked when the first rumors about the uprising appeared. The lords agreed to surrender Uman without a fight on the condition of preserving the lives of the gentry, Catholics and Poles in general, and the inviolability of their property.
There was no such condition regarding the Jews and their property; they were surrendered. Jews in Western Russian lands were hated no less than the Poles, since Jewish moneylenders enslaved entire villages, sucking all the juice out of them. Also, Jews were often Polish managers, and all the anger of the people was directed at them for all the injustices. The rebels burst into the city and began to slaughter the Jews, but then went into a rage and killed the gentry as well. According to Polish data, up to 20 thousand people died. Perhaps these data are exaggerated.
The uprising helped the Russian troops, distracting the forces of the Bar Confederation. Many Confederates and wealthy people fled to Ottoman territory. However, the uprising was not in the interests of St. Petersburg, where they did not want to support the peasant and Cossack freemen. In Russia, the preconditions for a large-scale peasant war have also matured (Russian riot).
Therefore, Russian troops had to solve the problem of eliminating the uprising. The uprising was suppressed by cunning. General Mikhail Krechetnikov invited the Cossacks to storm Mogilev. Zheleznyak, Gonta and other atamans were called to a meeting and arrested.
The original leader of the Koliivshchyna (c. 1740 - after 1769) Maxim Zheleznyak
After the arrest of the leaders, the uprising was quickly suppressed. Zheleznyak, as a subject of Russia, and his comrades were imprisoned in the Kiev-Pechersk fortress, and then exiled to Eastern Siberia. There was no death penalty in the Russian Empire; it was imposed only in exceptional cases by a verdict of a military court.
According to one version, Zheleznyak was able to escape and took part in the peasant war under the leadership of Pugachev. The Russian authorities were merciful to the ordinary participants in the uprising; all ordinary Haidamaks were sent home.
Gonta was extradited to the Poles and was sentenced to a special, terrible execution, which was to last for two weeks and was accompanied by terrible torture (the first 10 days were to gradually remove skin from him, etc.). However, on the third day of torture, Crown Hetman Xavier Branitsky could not stand the bloody spectacle and ordered to cut off the Cossack head.
One of the curious consequences of the uprising in Western Russian lands and the civil war in Poland was the Russian-Turkish War of 1768–1774. There were many contradictions between Russia and Turkey, but a completely unexpected incident became the reason for the war.
One of the Cossack detachments (Haydamaks) under the command of centurion Shilo captured the village of Balta on the Turkish-Polish border. Shilo massacred all the local Poles and Jews and went home. Muslims and Jews from the neighboring Turkish village of Galta burst into Balta and began to massacre Orthodox Christians in retaliation. Upon learning of this, Shilo returned and attacked Galta. After two days of clashes, the Cossacks and Turks came to an understanding and even made peace and agreed to return the loot.
This could have become an ordinary border incident, but in Constantinople at that time they wanted to start a war with the aim of revenge for previous defeats and inflated the problem. The Ottomans decided that the Russian army would be tied up in Poland.
The Turkish government declared the Haidamaks to be regular Russian troops and demanded that St. Petersburg withdraw its troops from Podolia, where battles with the Confederates were taking place. The Russian ambassador Obreskov was insulted and arrested. As a result, the Porte used this case as a pretext for war with Russia. Another Russian-Turkish confrontation has begun.
"Uman centurion Ivan Gonta." Painting by S. I. Vasilkovsky.
Confederates and external sponsors
Suffering defeat, the Bar Confederation turned to France and Turkey for support. But Turkey was defeated in the war, and France was unable to provide significant support due to its distance from the theater of operations. This confrontation clearly demonstrated the decomposition of the Polish national character. The Poles no longer relied on their own strength, but wanted to defeat Russia with external support. In this war they hoped for help from France, Turkey and Austria.
After the destruction of Polish statehood, the Poles will hope for help from France by supporting Napoleon. During the Crimean War and the uprising of 1863 - to the aid of England and France. During the Russian Civil War and the Soviet-Polish War - to the Entente. Currently they are counting on NATO, Britain and the USA. Like, the West will help. The problem is that this help ultimately turns into the destruction of the “junior partner.” Now Ukraine has taken the same path. Self-destruction.
The situation in Poland itself was difficult. The king and his supporters, on the one hand, fought the Confederates, on the other hand, they put a spoke in the wheels of the Russian troops, fearing that they would enter Poland and remain, occupying the most important cities and fortresses. In addition, Russia had to fight with Turkey, which weakened its forces in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The best troops and commanders fought against the Ottomans.
Therefore, the suppression of the uprising of the Bar Confederation was delayed. Many Polish magnates and lords, formally loyal to the king, took a wait-and-see attitude, awaiting the outcome of the Russian-Turkish War. And many royal advisers demanded that the crown army fighting against the Confederates be disbanded and not support Russia.
The civil war in Poland was intensifying. Russian troops were able to control only large cities and fortresses. The lords, who were a dashing people even in peacetime, openly engaged in robbery. There was no single command over the Confederate detachments. Polish leaders quarreled among themselves. The organizer and marshal of the Bar Confederation, Jozef Pulawski, fled to Moldova. He was slandered by the Turks Joachim Potocki and Adam Krasinski, who blamed him for their failures. Pulawski died in the Khotyn dungeon (officially from illness, but apparently he was killed).
Puławski's sons, Frantisek and Kazimir, were defeated by the Russian army under the command of Alexander Suvorov in the Battle of Lomazi in September 1769. Frantiszek Puławski died in battle, covering his older brother Casimir with his body. Casimir fled to Austria and continued the fight. After the defeat of the Confederates, he fled to Turkey and then to France, from there he went to America and fought on the side of the Americans in the American Revolutionary War. Became the "Father of the American Cavalry."
It is necessary to note the anti-Russian role of Austria in this war.
Austria gave refuge to the Confederates on its territory. Their headquarters were first located in Teschen in Silesia, then in Presov in Hungary. The uprising was led by Michal Pac and Prince Carol Stanislaw Radziwill. Although the Viennese court gave the opportunity to use its territory as a base, it still did not dare to openly oppose Russia. At this time, the Austrians needed Russia to counterbalance Turkey. In addition, the Austrians were the first to take advantage of Poland's weakness and began the occupation of Polish lands.
France, which was removed from Russia, acted more openly and brazenly. It must be said that some French quite well assessed the degree of decay of the Polish “elite”. So, in 1768, the first minister of France, the Duke of Choiseul, sent Captain Toles with a significant amount of money to the rebels. When the French officer got to know the Confederates better, he decided that nothing could be done for Poland and that it was not worth spending money and effort on the Poles.
In 1770, Choiseul sent General Dumouriez. However, he made a similar assessment: “Amazing luxury, insane expenses, long lunches, games and dancing - these are their activities!” The Confederates had up to a dozen independent leaders at once, intriguing against each other. Sometimes they even fought among themselves. Dumouriez attempted to improve the Confederate military organization, but had little success.
Arthur Grotger. Prayer of the bar confederates before the battle of Lanckorona
Defeat of the Bar Confederation
The Confederates were no match for the regular troops. They plundered the estates of the king's supporters and completely devastated ordinary peasants. At the same time, corruption and theft flourished at the top. Instead of training soldiers, the officers spent all their free time in feasts and gambling. For the time being, the Confederates were saved only by the fact that the Russian command did not have enough forces to carry out large-scale operations to clear large areas by encircling them and thoroughly checking them.
Dumouriez proved himself to be a good strategist and drew up a plan for the “liberation” of Poland. By the beginning of 1771, he had assembled an army of almost 60. Marshal of Wielkopolska Zaremba and Marshal of Visegrad Tsalinski with a 10-strong corps were to advance in the Warsaw direction. Casimir Puławski was supposed to operate in Podolia. The Great Hetman of Lithuania Oginsky was supposed to advance towards Smolensk. The French general himself, with 20 thousand infantry and 8 thousand cavalry, planned to capture Krakow and from there go to Sandomierz. Then develop an attack on Warsaw or Podolia, depending on the success of other units.
This plan would have had a chance of success if Dumouriez had been led not by the Poles, but by the French, and if the enemy of the gentry had been not Suvorov, but some Western European general. Dumouriez was able to capture Krakow with a surprise attack and clear the Krakow district.
Suvorov with 1,6 thousand soldiers was sent against him; along the way, about 2 thousand more people joined the detachment. On May 10, 1771, Suvorov attacked the Confederates at Landskrona. As Suvorov himself noted, “the Polish troops did not understand their leader,” the French general’s excessive cunning only confused the Poles, and they lost the battle. Dumouriez, outraged by the stupidity of the Poles, left for France.
Pulawski tried to capture the important fortress of Zamosc, but failed. On May 22, Suvorov defeated Pulawski. At this time, the Lithuanian hetman Oginsky decided to take the side of the confederation and moved towards Pinsk. Suvorov immediately moved forward to meet him. The Russian commander launched a surprise attack on the Poles in the early morning of September 12. The hetman had not yet fully woken up when his detachment was completely defeated. Several hundred were killed, about 300–400 were captured. The Polish campaign became a stellar one for Suvorov.
France sent a new “coordinator” - Baron de Viomesnil. Several dozen French officers and non-commissioned officers arrived with him. Viomesnil decided to change tactics and instead of large-scale offensives, move on to individual actions that were supposed to inspire the Polish nation to large-scale resistance. First they tried to kidnap King Poniatowski, but the action failed. Then, in January 1772, a Confederate detachment was able to capture Krakow Castle in a surprise raid. However, in April the garrison capitulated.
The kidnapping of Polish King Stanislaus Augustus on November 3, 1771 by Confederates
In the spring, the strategic position of the Confederates deteriorated sharply due to the entry of Prussian and Austrian troops into Poland. Pan Zaremba, who was active in Greater Poland, was forced out of this region by the Prussians and disbanded his army. The Russian corps of Lieutenant General Elmpt entered the eastern regions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
In May-June, Austrian corps under the command of Field Marshal M. I. Esterhazy and Major General R. Alton entered the Polish lands. They captured Landskrona and pushed the Russian troops of Major General M.F. Kamensky who were in Lesser Poland away from Tyniec. On July 2, the Tynets garrison capitulated to the corps of Major General Alton. On June 24, Austrian units camped near Lvov. They occupied the city on September 15, after the Russians abandoned it.
On August 7, the Czestochowa Fortress capitulated to the detachment of Major General P. M. Golitsyn. On November 29, 1772, the last stronghold of the Confederates, the Carmelite monastery in Zagórze (Podkarpackie Voivodeship), fell. The Bar Confederation was defeated.
Delivery of Krakow Castle. French officers give A.V. Suvorov swords. Author: I. D. Schubert
First section
The civil war and the collapse of Polish statehood became the reason for the division of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. While Russian and royal troops were chasing the Confederates, the Austrians, without any announcement, captured two villages with rich salt mines. The lands were declared “returned” on the grounds that they were ceded to Poland from Hungary in 1402.
Back in 1769, Prussia proposed to Russia a plan for the division of Poland. However, Catherine II Alekseevna did not want to hear about it then. In the period from 1768 to 1770, St. Petersburg did not plan to seize the lands of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, although Russian troops controlled vast Polish territories. Then the Prussians began to act independently and, under the pretext of protecting their possessions from the pestilence that was raging in southern Poland, occupied the border areas.
Understanding that Poland would simply be seized without Russian participation, Petersburg decided that the division of the Commonwealth was inevitable. In addition, Russia was connected by war with Turkey and could not conflict with Austria and Prussia over Poland. At the end of 1770, Ekaterina Alekseevna made Prussia understand that the question was to be discussed. By this time, Prussia and Austria had already de facto seized part of the Polish lands.
After much negotiation, the issue was resolved positively. On February 6 (17), 1772, a secret agreement was concluded between Prussia and Russia in St. Petersburg. On July 25 (August 5), such an agreement was signed with Austria. Prussia received all of Pomerania, except Danzig and its district. Prussia also received Warmia, Royal Prussia, the districts and voivodeships of Pomerania, Malbor (Marienburg) and Chelmin (Kulm) without Toruń, as well as some areas in Greater Poland.
In total, Prussia received 36 thousand square meters. km, where 580 thousand inhabitants lived. Prussia captured the most developed northwestern lands of Poland. As a result, the Prussians ended up with up to 80% of Poland's foreign trade turnover. Prussia introduced huge customs duties, which accelerated the final collapse of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Austria received: Zator and Auschwitz, part of Lesser Poland, which included the southern part of the Krakow and Sandomierz voivodeships, as well as parts of the Bielskie voivodeship and all of Galicia (Chervonnaya Rus). Krakow itself remained with Poland. In total, 83 thousand square meters were annexed to Austria. km and 2 million 600 thousand people.
Russia received: part of Lithuania (Principality of Lithuania), including Livonia and the Duchy of Zadvina, and part of the modern territory of Belarus up to the Dvina, Druta and Dnieper, including the areas of Vitebsk, Polotsk and Mstislavl. In total, 92 thousand square meters were annexed to Russia. km with a population of 1 million 300 thousand people.
Actually, Russia did not seize lands inhabited by ethnic Poles. Russian lands were returned.
“Reitan. The Decline of Poland” is a painting by Polish painter Jan Matejko. The painting depicts the events of the Divide Sejm in April 1773, during which Tadeusz Reitan tried to disrupt the meeting and thus prevent the division of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In order not to let the deputies out of the meeting room, Reitan lay down before leaving with the words: “Kill me, don’t kill the Fatherland!”
The agreement was kept secret until September 1772. In August-September, Russian, Prussian and Austrian troops simultaneously entered the territory of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and occupied areas that had been distributed in advance. The suddenness of the action, as well as the inequality of forces and the complete demoralization of the Polish “elite” led to the fact that the partition took place without war. The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was preserved as a state.
In April 1773, it was possible to convene an emergency diet, which met until September 1773. The allied states forced the Polish Sejm to approve three separate treaties, which secured the division of part of the territories of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
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