330 years ago, on May 16, 1686, the "Eternal Peace" between Russia and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was signed in Moscow. The world has summed up the results of the Russian-Polish war of 1654-1667, which went over the Western Russian lands (modern Ukraine and Belarus). The Andrusov armistice ended the 13-year war. Eternal Peace confirmed the territorial changes made under the Andrusov Treaty. Smolensk forever retreated to Moscow, the Left-Bank Ukraine remained a part of Russia, the Right-Bank Ukraine remained a part of the Commonwealth. Poland abandoned Kiev forever, receiving compensation of 146 thousand rubles for this. The Commonwealth also refused a protectorate over the Zaporozhye Sich. Russia broke off relations with the Ottoman Empire and had to start a war with the Crimean Khanate.
Poland was an old enemy of the Russian state, but during this period the Porta became a stronger threat to it. Warsaw made repeated attempts to conclude an alliance with Russia against the Ottoman Empire. Moscow was also interested in creating an anti-Turkish union. War 1676-1681 with Turkey strengthened Moscow's desire to create such an alliance. However, repeated negotiations on this issue have not achieved results. One of the most important reasons for this was the resistance of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth to the Russian demand to finally abandon Kiev and some other territories. With the resumption of the war with the Port in 1683, Poland, in alliance with which Austria and Venice were, developed a stormy diplomatic activity with the aim of attracting Russia to the anti-Turkish league. As a result, Russia entered the anti-Turkish alliance, which led to the beginning of the Russian-Turkish war of 1686-1700.
Thus, the Russian state finally secured a part of the Western Russian lands and canceled preliminary agreements with the Ottoman Empire and the Crimean Khanate, joining the anti-Turkish Holy League, and also pledged to organize a military campaign against the Crimean Khanate. This was the beginning of the Russian-Turkish war of 1686-1700, the campaigns of Vasily Golitsyn to the Crimea and Peter to Azov. In addition, the conclusion of the "Eternal Peace" became the basis of the Russian-Polish alliance in the Northern War of 1700-1721.
Background
The traditional enemy of the Russian state in the West for several centuries was Poland (Rzeczpospolita is a state union of Poland and Lithuania). Rzeczpospolita during the crisis of Russia captured the vast western and southern Russian regions. In addition, the Russian state and Poland fought hard for leadership in Eastern Europe. The most important task for Moscow was to restore the unity of the Russian lands and the divided Russian people. Even during the reign of the Rurikovichs, Russia returned part of the previously lost territories. However, the Troubles at the beginning of the 17th century. led to new territorial losses. As a result of the Deulinsky armistice of 1618, the Russian state lost the captured from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania at the very beginning of the 16th century. Chernigov, Smolensk and other lands. An attempt to win them back in the Smolensk war of 1632-1634. did not lead to success. The situation was aggravated by the anti-Russian policy of Warsaw. The Russian Orthodox population of the Rzecz Pospolita was subjected to ethnic, cultural and religious discrimination by the Polish and polonized gentry. The bulk of Russians in the Commonwealth were practically in the position of slaves.
In 1648 g.in the West Russian regions, an uprising began, which grew into a national liberation war. It was headed by Bogdan Khmelnytsky. The rebels, which consisted mainly of Cossacks, as well as petty bourgeois and peasants, won a number of serious victories over the Polish army. However, without the intervention of Moscow, the rebels were doomed, since the Rzeczpospolita had a huge military potential. In 1653 Khmelnitsky turned to Russia with a request for help in the war with Poland. On October 1, 1653, the Zemsky Sobor decided to satisfy Khmelnitsky's request and declared war on the Commonwealth. In January 1654, the famous Rada took place in Pereyaslav, at which the Zaporozhye Cossacks unanimously spoke out in favor of joining the Russian kingdom. Khmelnitsky, in front of the Russian embassy, took an oath of allegiance to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich.
The war began successfully for Russia. It was supposed to solve a long standing national problem - the unification of all Russian lands around Moscow and the restoration of the Russian state within its former borders. By the end of 1655, all of Western Russia, except Lvov, was under the control of Russian troops and the hostilities were transferred directly to the ethnic territory of Poland and Lithuania. In addition, in the summer of 1655, Sweden entered the war, whose troops captured Warsaw and Krakow. Rzeczpospolita found itself on the brink of a complete military and political catastrophe. However, Moscow is making a strategic mistake. In the wake of the dizziness of success, the Moscow government decided to return the lands that the Swedes had seized from us during the Time of Troubles. Moscow and Warsaw signed the Vilna truce. Earlier, on May 17, 1656, the Russian Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich declared war on Sweden.
Initially, Russian troops achieved some success in the fight against the Swedes. But in the future, the war was fought with varying degrees of success. In addition, the war with Poland resumed and Khmelnitsky died in 1657. The partially polished Cossack foreman immediately began to pursue a "flexible" policy, betraying the interests of the masses. Hetman Ivan Vyhovsky turned to the side of the Poles and Russia faced a whole enemy coalition - the Commonwealth, Vyhovsky's Cossacks, Crimean Tatars. Soon Vyhovsky was dismissed, and his place was taken by the son of Khmelnitsky, Yuri, who first sided with Moscow, and then took an oath of allegiance to the Polish king. This led to a split and struggle among the Cossacks. Some were guided by Poland or even Turkey, others - by Moscow, and still others - fought for themselves, creating bandit formations. As a result, Western Russia became the field of a bloody battle that completely devastated a significant part of Little Russia. In 1661, the Kardis Peace Treaty was concluded with Sweden, which established the boundaries stipulated by the Stolbovski Peace Treaty of 1617. That is, the war with Sweden only dispersed the forces of Russia and was in vain.
In the future, the war with Poland went on with varying success. Russia yielded a number of positions in Belarus and Little Russia. On the southern front, the Poles were supported by traitorous Cossacks and the Crimean horde. In the years 1663-1664. a large campaign of the Polish army, led by King Jan-Kazimir, in conjunction with the detachments of the Crimean Tatars and right-bank Cossacks, took place on the Left-Bank Little Russia. According to the strategic plan of Warsaw, the main blow was inflicted by the Polish army, which, together with the Cossacks of the right-bank hetman Pavel Teteri and the Crimean Tatars, seizing the eastern lands of Little Russia, was to attack Moscow. An auxiliary blow was delivered by the Lithuanian army of Mikhail Pats. The boy was supposed to take Smolensk and unite with the king in the Bryansk region. However, the campaign, which began successfully, failed. Jan-Casimir suffered a heavy defeat.
In Russia itself, problems began - the economic crisis, the Copper Riot, the Bashkir uprising. In Poland, the situation was no better. Rzeczpospolita was devastated by wars with Russia and Sweden, raids by Tatars and various gangs. The material and human resources of the two great powers were exhausted. As a result, at the end of the war, the forces were mainly sufficient only for small skirmishes and local battles both in the northern and southern theaters of military operations. They did not matter much, except for the defeat of the Poles from the Russian-Cossack-Kalmyk troops in the battle of Korsun and in the battle of Belaya Tserkovya. Porta and the Crimean Khanate took advantage of the exhaustion of both sides. Right-bank hetman Petro Doroshenko rebelled against Warsaw and declared himself a vassal of the Turkish Sultan, which led to the beginning of the Polish-Cossack-Turkish war of 1666-1671.
The bloodless Poland lost to the Ottomans and signed the Buchach Peace Treaty, according to which the Poles renounced the Podolsk and Bratslav Voivodeships, and the southern part of the Kiev Voivodeship went to the right-bank Cossacks of Hetman Doroshenko, who was a vassal of the Port. Moreover, militarily weakened Poland was obliged to pay tribute to Turkey. The offended and proud Polish elite did not accept this world. In 1672, a new Polish-Turkish war began (1672-1676). Poland was defeated again. However, the Zhuravensky treaty of 1676 somewhat softened the conditions of the previous, Buchach peace, canceling the requirement for the Rzecz Pospolita to pay an annual tribute to the Ottoman Empire. The Commonwealth was inferior to the Ottomans in Podolia. Right-bank Ukraine-Little Russia, with the exception of Belotserkovsky and Pavolochsky districts, passed under the rule of the Turkish vassal - Hetman Petro Doroshenko, thus becoming an Ottoman protectorate. As a result, the Porta became a more dangerous enemy for Poland than Russia.
Thus, the depletion of resources for the conduct of further hostilities, as well as the general threat from the Crimean Khanate and Turkey, forced the Rzeczpospolita and Russia to negotiate peace, which began in 1666 and ended with the signing of the Andrusov armistice in January 1667. Smolensk passed to the Russian state, as well as the lands that had previously passed to the Commonwealth during the Time of Troubles, including Dorogobuzh, Belaya, Nevel, Krasny, Velizh, Severskaya land with Chernigov and Starodub. Poland recognized for Russia the right to the Left Bank Little Russia. According to the agreement, Kiev temporarily passed to Moscow for two years (Russia, however, managed to keep Kiev for itself). The Zaporizhzhya Sich passed under the joint control of Russia and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. As a result, Moscow was able to recapture only part of the original Russian lands, which was a consequence of the managerial and strategic mistakes of the Russian government, in particular, the war with Sweden was a mistake, which sprayed the forces of the Russian army.
Towards Eternal Peace
At the turn of the XVII-XVIII centuries. two old adversaries - Russia and Poland, faced the need to coordinate actions in the face of the strengthening of two powerful enemies - Turkey and Sweden in the Black Sea region and the Baltic states. At the same time, both Russia and Poland had long-standing strategic interests in the Black Sea region and the Baltic states. However, for success in these strategic areas, it was necessary to combine efforts and carry out internal modernization, primarily of the armed forces and state administration, in order to successfully resist such powerful enemies as the Ottoman Empire and Sweden. The situation was aggravated by the crisis phenomena in the internal structure and internal politics of the Commonwealth and Russia. It is worth noting that the Polish elite was never able to get out of this crisis, which ended with the complete degradation of the state system and the divisions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (the Polish state was liquidated). Russia, on the other hand, was able to create a new project, which led to the emergence of the Russian Empire, which eventually solved the main tasks in the Baltic and Black Sea regions.
Already the first Romanovs began to look more and more at the West, to adopt the achievements of military affairs, science, as well as elements of culture. Princess Sophia continued this line. After the death of the childless Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich, the Miloslavskys boyars, led by Sophia, organized the Streletsky revolt. As a result, on September 15, 1682, Tsarevna Sophia, daughter of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, became regent under the young brothers Ivan and Peter. The brothers' power almost immediately became nominal. Ivan Alekseevich was sickly from childhood and incapable of managing the state. Peter was small, and Natalya and her son moved to Preobrazhenskoye in order to protect themselves from a possible blow.
Tsarevna Sophia in historical popular science and fiction is often presented in the form of a kind of woman. However, this is a clear slander. She came to power at the age of 25, and the portraits convey to us the image of a somewhat plump, but pretty woman. And the future Tsar Peter described Sophia as a person who "could be considered both bodily and mentally perfect, if not for her boundless ambition and insatiable thirst for power."
Sophia had several favorites. Prince Vasily Vasilyevich Golitsyn stood out among them. He received under the command of the Ambassadorial, Razryadny, Reitarsky and Inozemny orders, concentrating in his hands enormous power, control over foreign policy and the armed forces. Received the title of "Royal big press and state great ambassadorial affairs, savings, close boyar and governor of Novgorod" (in fact, the head of government). The leadership of the Kazan order was received by V. V. Golitsyn's cousin, B. A. Golitsyn. The Streletsky order was headed by Fyodor Shaklovity. A native of the Bryansk boyar children, who owed his rise only to Sophia, was infinitely devoted to her (perhaps, like Vasily Golitsyn, was her lover). Sylvester Medvedev was elevated, becoming the empress's adviser on religious issues (with the patriarch Sophia was in cold relations). Shaklovity was the "loyal dog" of the tsarina, but practically all state administration was entrusted to Vasily Golitsyn.
Golitsyn was a Westerner of that time. The prince admired France, was a real Francophile. The Moscow nobility of that time began to imitate the Western nobility in every possible way: the fashion for Polish outfits remained in vogue, perfume became fashionable, a craze for coats of arms began, it was considered the highest chic to purchase a foreign carriage, etc. Golitsyn was the first among such noble Westerners. Noble people and wealthy townspeople, following the example of Golitsyn, began to build houses and palaces of the Western type. The Jesuits were admitted to Russia, Chancellor Golitsyn often held closed meetings with them. In Russia, Catholic services were allowed - the first Catholic church was opened in the German Sloboda. Golitsyn began to send young people to study in Poland, mainly to the Krakow Jagiellonian University. There they taught not the technical or military disciplines necessary for the development of the Russian state, but Latin, theology and jurisprudence. Such personnel could be useful in transforming Russia according to Western standards.
Golitsyn was most actively noted in foreign policy, since in domestic policy the conservative wing was too strong, and the tsarina was holding back the prince's reformist ardor. Golitsyn actively negotiated with Western countries. And during this period, almost the main business of Europe was the war with the Ottoman Empire. In 1684, the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, King of the Czech Republic and Hungary, Leopold I, sent diplomats to Moscow who began to appeal to the “brotherhood of Christian princes and invited the Russian state to join the Holy League. This union consisted of the Holy Roman Empire, the Venetian Republic and the Commonwealth and opposed the Porte. Moscow received a similar proposal from Warsaw.
However, the war with a strong Turkey then did not meet the national interests of Russia. Poland was our traditional enemy and still owned vast Western Russian territories. Austria was not a country for which our soldiers should have shed their blood. Only in 1681 was the Bakhchisarai Peace Treaty concluded with Istanbul, which established peace for a 20-year period. The Ottomans recognized the Left Bank Ukraine, Zaporozhye and Kiev for the Russian state. Moscow has significantly strengthened its position in the south. The Turkish sultan and the Crimean khan pledged not to help the enemies of the Russians. The Crimean horde pledged to stop raiding Russian lands. In addition, the Porta did not take advantage of the series of unrest in Russia, the struggle for power in Moscow. It was more profitable for Russia at that time not to get involved in a direct battle with the Porte, but to wait for its weakening. There was more than enough land for development. It was better to focus on the return of the original Russian territories in the west, taking advantage of the weakening of Poland. In addition, Western "partners" traditionally wanted to use the Russians as cannon fodder in the fight against Turkey and get all the benefits from this confrontation.
Golitsyn, on the other hand, gladly accepted the opportunity to enter into an alliance with the "progressive Western powers." The Western powers turned to him, invited him to be friends. Therefore, the Moscow government put forward only one condition for joining the Holy Alliance, so that Poland would sign the "eternal peace". True, the Polish lords indignantly rejected this condition - they did not want to forever abandon Smolensk, Kiev, Novgorod-Seversky, Chernigov, Left-Bank Ukraine-Little Russia. As a result, Warsaw itself pushed Russia away from the Holy League. Negotiations continued throughout 1685. In addition, there were also opponents of this alliance in Russia itself. Many boyars, who feared a long war of attrition, opposed participation in the war with the Porta. The hetman of the Zaporozhye Troops, Ivan Samoilovich, was against the alliance with Poland. Little Russia has lived for only a few years without the annual raids of the Crimean Tatars. The Hetman pointed to the treachery of the Poles. In his opinion, Moscow had to intercede for the Russian, Orthodox Christians who were subjected to oppression in the Polish regions, to recapture from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth the Russian ancestral lands - Podolia, Volhynia, Podlasie, Podgirya and all Chervona Rus. Patriarch of Moscow Joachim was also against the war with Porte. At that time, an important religious and political issue for Ukraine-Little Russia was being resolved - Gideon was elected Metropolitan of Kiev, he was approved by Joachim, now the consent of the Patriarch of Constantinople was required. This important event for the church could be disrupted in the event of a quarrel with the Porta. However, all the arguments of Samoilovich, Joachim and other opponents of the alliance with the Poles, the Pope and the Austrians were swept aside.
True, the Poles continued to persist, refusing to "eternal peace" with Russia. During this time, however, things went badly for the Holy League. Turkey quickly recovered from defeats, carried out mobilizations, attracted troops from Asian and African regions. The Turks temporarily took Cetinje, the seat of the Montenegrin bishop. Turkish troops defeated the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Polish troops suffered a retreat, the Turks threatened Lvov. This made Warsaw agree with the need for an alliance with Moscow. In addition, the situation in Austria became more complicated. The French king Louis XIV decided to take advantage of the fact that Leopold I got bogged down in the war with Turkey and developed a stormy activity. Leopold, in response, forges an alliance with William of Orange and begins negotiations with other sovereigns to create an anti-French coalition. For the Holy Roman Empire, there is a threat of war on two fronts. Austria, in order to compensate for the weakening of the front in the Balkans, stepped up diplomatic efforts towards the Russian state. Austria is also increasing pressure on the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania Jan III Sobieski. Pope, Jesuits and Venetians worked in the same direction. As a result, Warsaw was squeezed by joint efforts.
Prince Vasily Golitsyn
Eternal Peace
At the beginning of 1686, a huge Polish embassy arrived in Moscow, almost a thousand people, headed by the Poznan governor Krzysztof Gzhimultovsky and the Lithuanian chancellor Marcian Oginsky. Russia was represented in the negotiations by Prince V. V. Golitsyn. The Poles initially again began to insist on their rights to Kiev and Zaporozhye. But in the end they lost.
An agreement with the Commonwealth was achieved only in May. On May 16, 1686, the Eternal Peace was signed. Under its terms, Poland renounced its claims to the Left-Bank Ukraine, Smolensk and Chernigov-Severskaya land with Chernigov and Starodub, Kiev, Zaporozhye. The Poles received compensation of 146 thousand rubles for Kiev. Northern Kiev region, Volhynia and Galicia remained in the Rzecz Pospolita. Southern Kiev region and Bratslav region with a number of cities (Kanev, Rzhishchev, Trakhtemyrov, Cherkassy, Chigirin, etc.), that is, lands severely devastated during the war years, was to become a neutral territory between the Commonwealth and the Russian Kingdom. Russia broke off treaties with the Ottoman Empire and the Crimean Khanate, entered into an alliance with Poland and Austria. Moscow pledged, through its diplomats, to facilitate entry into the Holy League - England, France, Spain, Holland, Denmark and Brandenburg. Russia pledged to organize campaigns against the Crimea.
Eternal Peace was promoted in Moscow as Russia's greatest diplomatic victory. Prince Golitsyn, who concluded this agreement, was showered with favors, received 3 thousand peasant households. On the one hand, there were successes. Poland recognized a number of its territories for Russia. There was an opportunity to strengthen the position in the Black Sea region, and in the future in the Baltic States, relying on the support of Poland. In addition, the contract was beneficial to Sophia personally. He helped establish her status as a sovereign queen. During the hype about "eternal peace", Sophia appropriated the title of "All great and other Russian autocrat". And a successful war could further strengthen the position of Sophia and her group.
On the other hand, the Moscow government allowed itself to be drawn into someone else's game. Russia did not need a war with Turkey and the Crimean Khanate at that time. Western "partners" used Russia. Russia had to start a war with a strong enemy, and even pay a lot of money to Warsaw for its own lands. Although the Poles at that time did not have the strength to fight with Russia. In the future, the Commonwealth will only degrade. Russia could calmly look at the wars of the Western powers with Turkey and prepare for the return of the rest of the original Russian lands in the west.
Having signed the "Eternal Peace" with the Commonwealth in 1686, Russia started a war with the Port and the Crimean Khanate. However, the Crimean campaigns of 1687 and 1689. did not lead to success. Russia has only wasted resources. It was not possible to secure the southern borders and expand the ownership. The Western "partners" have benefited from the fruitless attempts of the Russian army to break through to Crimea. The Crimean campaigns made it possible for some time to divert significant forces of the Turks and Crimean Tatars, which was beneficial to Russia's European allies.
Russian copy of the treaty between Russia and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth on the "Eternal Peace"
