Endless dispute. Russian-Polish relations in the 17th century

If the Poles want to remain a great people, they need military-economic integration with the Russians

A frenzied crowd, as if electrified by demonic energy, faces distorted with anger. No, this is not the Middle East with the eternal confrontation between Israelis and Arabs, nor Egypt blazing with the fire of street clashes and not drowning in the maelstrom civil wars– “thank you” to American “democracy” – Iraq and Libya. This is the center of Eastern Europe and outwardly respectable Warsaw. And the genie of hatred that has broken out is aimed at Russia, which once liberated Poland from fascism. And sometimes it seems that our Slavic brothers are diligently trying to forget about it.

However, the penultimate sentence will cause malicious comments: how, how, who liberated... Only five years earlier, the Red Army plunged a knife into the back of the heroically - without irony - Polish Army that fought the Wehrmacht. And in 1944, she allegedly deliberately did not provide assistance to the anti-Hitler uprising in Warsaw; finally, the liberators did not want to leave the country after the end of the war, essentially occupying it, destroying the underground Home Army.

Yes, I don’t argue, that happened. It is also difficult to disagree with the fact that the centuries-old pages of Russian-Polish relations, darkened with blood, are perhaps the most bitter in the two Slavic peoples. Fraternal. There's no getting around this either.

And what’s amazing: the Poles also had a difficult time with Germany, to put it mildly, but they don’t burn trash cans near the fence of its embassy. And they don’t feel the same hatred for the Germans as they do for us - at least they don’t express it in such wild forms as they did on November 11 of last year in front of the Russian embassy. Why? Let's try to figure it out.

Where did the hostility come from?

The origins of the antipathy of some Poles towards the Russians can be found in two specific dates: July 15, 1410 and June 28, 1569.

The first of them is associated with the victory of the Polish-Lithuanian troops with the direct help of Russian regiments and Tatar detachments over the army Teutonic Order. The second went down in history with the Union of Lublin, which laid the foundation for the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth - the united Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Why these two dates? Because Grunwald gave impetus to the birth of the imperial idea among the Polish knighthood (gentry), and the Union of Lublin formalized it, one might say, legally. And with the birth of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the gentry felt themselves to be a great, in Hegel’s language, a historical people, however, the philosopher himself did not classify the Poles, as well as the Slavs in general, as such. But this is true, by the way.

Thus, the formation of Polish imperial consciousness began with the Grunwald victory. What did this mean? In the so-called ideology of Sarmatism. Its founder was the outstanding Polish chronicler and diplomat Jan Dlogusz, who lived in the 15th century. His younger compatriot, Maciej Miechowski, consolidated this idea, or rather, the mythology in the treatise “On Two Sarmatias”.

On its pages, he affirmed the flattering pride of the gentry, the origin of the Poles from the Sarmatians, who roamed in the 6th–4th centuries BC. e. in the Black Sea steppes. Moreover, from the point of view of the gentry, they were the only truly Polish people, descendants of the Sarmatians; the local peasantry was perceived as nothing other than cattle and had nothing to do with the once powerful tribes. So... Slavic commoners...

Before us is a bizarre interweaving in the minds of the gentry of a sense of their own superiority over the same “Asian-Russians” and at the same time an internal feeling of inferiority - otherwise how to explain the distancing from their own Slavic origin? It is interesting that in external forms the ideology formulated by Mekhovsky, which dominated among the gentry in the 16th-17th centuries, found expression in the Sarmatian armor of the winged hussars - once the best and most beautifully equipped cavalry in the world.

To be fair, I note that such a sense of self was characteristic not only of our Western Slavic brothers, but also of the Russian elite - how can one not recall Ivan the Terrible’s statement about the origin of the Rurikids from the Roman Augustus Caesar, which he set out in a letter to the Swedish king Johan III.

So, imagining themselves to be the descendants of the Sarmatians, the gentry took upon themselves the historical mission of bringing civilization to the barbarian peoples, that is, the Russians. The descendants, as the Poles believed, of the “wild” and “ignorant” Scythians. On top of that, in the eyes of the gentry, the Russians were schismatics - schismatics who had once broken away from Catholic Church. Let me remind you that the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth saw itself as an outpost of Catholicism in Eastern Europe. That is, in relation to the “Muscovites”, the gentry felt a sense of both ethnic and religious superiority, which they tried to prove through an expansionist foreign policy, expressed in the desire to conquer the original Russian lands - the siege of Pskov by the Polish king Stefan Batory in 1581-1582. And that was just the beginning. During the Time of Troubles, the Polish king Sigismund III Vasa wished to annex Russia, which was plunging into chaos, into the possessions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

It is noteworthy that at the same time he laid claim to the Swedish throne, a little later the nobles took part in the Thirty Years' War, and the Polish magnates fought with the Turks and Austrians for dominance in Moldova. Before us is an example of an active expansionist policy characteristic of any empire, and a demonstration at the level of military-political will of imperial consciousness.

After the Time of Troubles, throughout the 17th century, Russia and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth crossed swords more than once: first, the Smolensk War of 1632–1634, and then the Russian-Polish War of 1654–1667. Moreover, given that the gentry saw us as wild Asians, the methods of fighting the “Scythians” were also often appropriate. Suffice it to recall the plunder of Orthodox monasteries and churches by Poles and Lithuanians during the Time of Troubles, and the scorched earth tactics used by Prince Jeremiah Vishnevetsky against Russian villages during the Smolensk War.

In general, Polish expansionism failed, but did not affect the mental attitudes of the gentry. But even then, in the first half of the 17th century, our Western Slavic brothers showed a trait that ultimately led to the collapse of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the tragic pages of Polish history, namely the incommensurability of the country’s military potential with its geopolitical claims.

Territorially large on a European scale, throughout its history the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth remained essentially a fragmented state with weak royal power and the arbitrariness of the gentry. The magnates who lived in Ukraine, the same Vishnevetskys, were actually independent rulers who had their own armed forces. And at the end of the 18th century, this led to the collapse of the country and its subsequent division between the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia and the Habsburg Monarchy.

And most importantly, the loss of independence led to the moral humiliation of the gentry. How - “wild Russian barbarians” rule over “civilized European-Sarmatian Poland”. This hurt the pride of the Polish elite. After all, the imperial consciousness became her flesh and blood. But no empire can be subordinate to anyone. Perish - yes, as the Roman Empire fell under the blows of the Ottoman Turks in 1453. But never be dependent on anyone.

As an example, I will give an episode from Russian history, namely standing on the Ugra River in 1480. By that time Golden Horde practically disintegrated, but the energetic Khan Akhmat managed to reunite under his rule a significant part of the once powerful state. Akhmat demanded that Muscovite Rus' resume payment of tribute, backing up his arguments with a military campaign. Ivan III came out to meet the Tatars, but on the Ugra he began to hesitate and was ready to admit dependence on Sarai. However, by that time the Russian elite already felt like the heir of the Romans, which was expressed in the ideology of “Moscow – New Jerusalem” and a little later – “Moscow – Third Rome”.

Imperial mentality

As I have already noted, any imperial idea is born first in the mind, and only then finds its embodiment in state building. And it was the “Message to the Ugra” of the Rostov Archbishop John Rylo that changed the mood of Ivan III. In this document, the khan is conceived not as the legitimate ruler of Rus' - the tsar, as it was before, but as a wicked atheist. In turn, Vassian for the first time called Ivan III Tsar.

So Russia became a kingdom at the level of the mental attitudes of the ruling elite, and only then, in 1547, the formal proclamation of the monarchy took place. The same thing happened in Poland: first Grunwald, then the Union of Lublin.

But when discussing the imperial mentality of the Polish elite, one should not forget the bitter truth - the Europeans themselves, who lived west of the Oder, did not and do not consider either the Poles or the Slavs to be their own. Let us remember the story of the election of Henry Valois, the future French monarch Henry III, to the Polish throne in 1574. Less than a year had passed before the king fled from his subjects at the first opportunity. There were, of course, many reasons, but not the least of them was the mental incompatibility of the Poles and the French: for Henry, the Poles of the same faith turned out to be strangers.

A similar situation has developed in Russia: I mean unsuccessful attempts Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich to marry his daughter Irina to the Danish Prince Voldemar, the son of King Christian IV.

Perhaps the Polish elite itself in the 19th century was aware of a certain mental incompatibility with the West, but it did not intend to part with its imperial identity. But its vectors were shifted to the side pagan roots Polish culture, but no longer Sarmatian, but Slavic, and with a sharply negative attitude towards Catholicism. The origins of such views were the outstanding Polish scientist early XIX century 3orian Dolenga Khodakovsky.

But in general Substantial part The Polish intellectual elite felt and still feels itself to be part of European Christian culture. For example, the outstanding Polish essayist Czeslaw Milosz in the mid-50s of the last century published a book with the expressive title “Native Europe”.

Actually, in the above lines the answer to the question about the reasons for the calmer attitude of the Poles towards the Germans than towards the Russians. The first ones for the “descendants” of the Sarmatians are their own, native Europeans. Russians are strangers. Moreover, the “despicable Muscovites” became the masters of Poland for more than a century. This humiliated the gentry and made them hate Russians and at the same time experience a feeling of inferiority towards them, as the famous Polish journalist Jerzy Urban wrote: “The contemptuous attitude of Poles towards Russians stems from the Polish inferiority complex.”

Nevertheless, the imperial idea in the minds of the gentry was never eradicated, because throughout the 19th century the Poles sought not only to gain independence, but also to restore the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth within the previous borders in which it existed in the 17th century. I mean the foreign policy of the Kingdom of Poland formed in 1812 - the very faithful ally Napoleon, as well as anti-Russian uprisings in the Kingdom of Poland in 1830–1831 and 1863. Let me emphasize once again that these uprisings are not just a struggle for independence, but an attempt to restore the empire - the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, including the non-Polish population.

An interesting detail: it was precisely being dependent on Napoleonic France and being part of the Russian Empire that the gentry under Alexander I managed to create a regular, well-trained and, most importantly, disciplined army, which the independent Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth could not boast of with its Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (militia), troops of magnates and etc.

Path of Conquest

Finally, in 1918, the age-old dream of the Poles came true - their homeland gained freedom. But the country’s leaders did not start organizing internal life on their land, shocked by the First World War, but... embarked on the path of conquest, wanting to revive the empire - the second Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from “sea to sea.” What did the Poles want? A lot. Namely, to annex Lithuania, Latvia, Belarus, Ukraine to the Dnieper.

The attitude towards the recent masters of Poland, the Russians, has also not changed: “savage barbarians”, unworthy of leniency. This is me about prisoners of war of the Red Army who ended up in Polish concentration camps after the unsuccessful campaign of the troops of the Bolshevik punisher Tukhachevsky against Warsaw. By the way, if the Reds had been led by a truly intelligent military leader, and not an upstart amateur, the history of independent Poland would have ended before it even began. However, Tukhachevsky’s incompetent command allowed the Poles, with the help of French generals, to defeat and capture part of the Belarusian and Ukrainian lands. To be fair, I note that neither the Belarusians nor the Ukrainians, who became Polish citizens, particularly protested, especially when they learned about the creation of collective farms in the USSR. I will add that in 1920 the Poles occupied part of Lithuania with Vilnius.

Considered by the Western powers to be nothing more than a cordon sanitaire on the path of Bolshevism to Europe, Warsaw sought to put its imperial ambitions into practice in the interwar period. Suffice it to recall the occupation of the Cieszyn region, which was part of Czechoslovakia, by the Poles in 1938 and the ultimatum presented to Lithuania demanding the restoration of diplomatic relations broken off in 1920. What's wrong with restoring diplomatic relations? Nothing, except that their conditions should have been de jure recognition of Poland’s occupation of Vilnius. If the Lithuanians are intractable, Warsaw promised to use military force. Well, it’s logical in its own way - any empire is created with iron and blood and does not particularly take into account the sovereignty of weaker countries.

Another example of the imperial consciousness of the Polish elite. On the eve of World War II, Hitler made territorial claims to Czechoslovakia and made certain proposals to Poland, which in the early 30s he called “the last barrier to civilization in the East” - namely, proposals, not claims. The reaction of both countries is known.

In 1938, Prague meekly accepted the terms of the Munich Treaty and allowed the country to be occupied without firing a shot. Although the superiority of the Czechoslovak army over the Wehrmacht was unconditionally recognized by the German generals. Warsaw refused any compromises with the Germans on the issue of the so-called Danzig Corridor and the Free City of Danzig. And as I already noted, Hitler’s initial demands to his eastern neighbor were very moderate: to include Danzig, the majority of whose population was already German, into Germany, to give the Third Reich the right to build an extraterritorial railway and highways that would connect Germany proper with East Prussia. In addition, knowing about the hatred of the Polish ruling elite towards the Soviet Union, Berlin invited Poland to join the Anti-Comintern Pact directed against the USSR.

Warsaw refused on all counts for a very simple reason: the Polish leadership understood perfectly well that in Berlin they were destined for the role of junior partners. And this contradicted the Polish imperial consciousness. And the Poles were not afraid of the Germans. They reasoned something like this: “Possible aggression from Germany? No problem: Berlin is a hundred kilometers away. We’ll get there if anything happens.” And this was not empty boasting, for the imperial policy of the leadership of the second Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was supported by fairly successful military construction.

It is a myth that the Poles had a technically weak army. By 1939, the Polish Army was armed with 7TR medium tanks - one of the best in Europe, superior in tactical and technical characteristics to Wehrmacht combat vehicles. The Polish Air Force had the latest P-37 Losi bombers for its time.

Such a quick victory of the Nazis in September 1939 is explained by the superiority of German military thought over Polish, and over Franco-English and, finally, over Soviet. Suffice it to recall the battles of 1941 - the first half of 1942.

The Second World War once again confirmed that the Poles are strangers to Europe. This is evidenced by their losses in the war and the inhumane regime established by the Reich in the conquered Slavic countries, which was very different from that which existed, say, in Denmark, Norway or France. At one time, Hitler directly stated: “Any manifestation of tolerance towards the Poles is inappropriate. Otherwise, we will again have to face the same phenomena that are already known to history and that have always occurred after the partitions of Poland. The Poles survived because they could not help but take the Russians seriously as their overlords... It is necessary, first of all, to ensure that there are no cases of copulation between Germans and Poles, because otherwise fresh German blood will constantly flow into the veins of the Polish ruling layer... ."

Against the background of these inhumane statements of the Fuhrer, attention is drawn to his maxim regarding the Poles’ non-perception of the Russians as their overlords. It's hard to disagree with this.

The fate of post-war Poland was not easy. On the one hand, it did not have freedom in the field of foreign policy, being dependent on the Kremlin, on the other, it achieved certain successes in socio-economic terms without copying the Soviet model of socialism. There were no repressions against the Church in Poland, and Cardinal Karol Wojtyla long years became Roman Pontiff John Paul II. Finally, with the help of the USSR, the Poles created a combat-ready army equipped with Soviet equipment. This is the undoubted merit of Marshal Konstantin Rokossovsky, who was the Minister of Defense of the People's Republic of Poland from 1949 to 1955.

The role of cannon fodder

With the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact, as is known, Poland hastened to join NATO, where it was expected with open arms, because the United States and its Western allies urgently needed cannon fodder for the Gulf War in 1991 and for the conquest of Iraq in 2003, and fighters were also needed for the occupation army in Afghanistan. Well-trained Polish soldiers were the best fit here and died heroically on the inhospitable banks of the Tigris and Euphrates and in the harsh mountains of Afghanistan, so far from Poland. However, with accession to NATO, the level of combat training of Polish military personnel cannot be called corresponding to the standards of the North Atlantic Alliance due to lack of funding.

As is known, Warsaw actively supports the desire of pro-Western political circles in Ukraine to “drag” it into the European Union. However, it is obvious to any sane person that neither Poland nor Ukraine will ever become full members of the European community. I do not mean the declarative statements of certain politicians, but rather the mental attitudes of Western society. Because for him, the countries of the former socialist camp, including Poland, are nothing more than a source of raw materials and cheap work force, as well as cannon fodder in modern and future wars.

Poland can avoid such a humiliating position only through military-economic integration with Russia, forgetting old grievances. There is no other way for her. If the Poles, of course, want to remain a great people.

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The history of Poland is closely connected with the history of Russia. Peaceful periods in relations between the two countries were interspersed with frequent armed conflicts.

In the XVI-XVII centuries. Russia and Poland fought numerous wars among themselves. The Livonian War (1558-1583) was fought by Muscovite Russia against Livonian Order, Polish-Lithuanian state, Sweden and Denmark for hegemony in the Baltic states. In addition to Livonia, the Russian Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible hoped to conquer the East Slavic lands that were part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The unification of Lithuania and Poland during the war became important for Russian-Polish relations. single state- Rzeczpospolita (Union of Lublin 1569). The confrontation between Russia and Lithuania gave way to the confrontation between Russia and Poland. King Stefan Batory inflicted a number of defeats on the Russian army and was stopped only under the walls of Pskov. According to Yam Zapolsky's (1582) peace treaty with Poland, Russia renounced its conquests in Lithuania and lost access to the Baltic.

During the Time of Troubles, the Poles invaded Russia three times. The first time was under the pretext of providing assistance to the supposedly legitimate Tsar Dmitry - False Dmitry I. In 1610, the Moscow government, the so-called Seven Boyars, itself called the Polish prince Vladislav IV to the Russian throne and allowed Polish troops into the city. IN 1612 g. The Poles were expelled from Moscow by the people's militia under the command of Minin and Pozharsky. In 1617, Prince Vladislav made a campaign against Moscow. After an unsuccessful assault, he entered into negotiations and signed the Deulin Truce. The Smolensk, Chernigov and Seversk lands were given to the Poles.

In June 1632, after the Deulin truce, Russia tried to recapture Smolensk from Poland, but was defeated (Smolensk War, 1632-1634). The Poles failed to build on their success; the borders remained unchanged. However, for the Russian government the most important condition was the official renunciation of the Polish king Wladyslaw IV of his claims to the Russian throne.

New Russian-Polish war ( 1654-1667 ) began after the acceptance of the hetmanate of Bohdan Khmelnytsky into Russia under the Pereyaslav agreements. According to the peace Treaty of Andrusovo, the Smolensk and Chernigov lands and Left Bank Ukraine were transferred to Russia, and Zaporozhye was declared under a joint Russian-Polish protectorate. Kyiv was declared a temporary possession of Russia, but according to the “Eternal Peace” on May 16, 1686 it finally passed to it.

Ukrainian and Belarusian lands became a “bone of contention” for Poland and Russia until the middle of the 20th century.

The cessation of the Russian-Polish wars was facilitated by the threat to both states from Turkey and its vassal Crimean Khanate.

In the Northern War against Sweden 1700-1721 Poland was an ally of Russia.

In the 2nd half of the 18th century. The Polish-Lithuanian gentry, torn apart by internal contradictions, was in a state of deep crisis and decline, which made it possible for Prussia and Russia to interfere in its affairs. Russia took part in the War of the Polish Succession of 1733-1735.

Sections of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1772-1795 between Russia, Prussia and Austria took place without major wars, because the state, weakened due to internal turmoil, could no longer offer serious resistance to its more powerful neighbors.

As a result of the three sections of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the redistribution at the Congress of Vienna 1814-1815 Most of the Duchy of Warsaw was transferred to tsarist Russia (the Kingdom of Poland was formed). Polish national liberation uprisings of 1794 (led by Tadeusz Kościuszko), 1830-1831, 1846, 1848, 1863-1864. were depressed.

In 1918Soviet government annulled all agreements of the tsarist government on the division of the country.

After Germany's defeat in World War I, Poland became independent state. Its leadership made plans to restore the borders of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1772. The Soviet government, on the contrary, intended to establish control over the entire territory of the former Russian Empire, making it, as it was officially declared, a springboard for the world revolution.

Soviet-Polish War 1920 began successfully for Russia, Tukhachevsky’s troops stood near Warsaw, but then a defeat followed. According to various estimates, from 80 to 165 thousand Red Army soldiers were captured. Polish researchers consider the death of 16 thousand of them to be documented. Russian and Soviet historians put the figure at 80 thousand. According to the Riga Peace Treaty of 1921, Poland received Western Ukraine and Western Belarus.

August 231939 The Non-Aggression Pact, better known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, was concluded between the USSR and Germany. Attached to the treaty was a secret additional protocol that defined the delimitation of the Soviet and German spheres of influence in Eastern Europe. On August 28, an explanation was signed to the “secret additional protocol”, which delimited the spheres of influence “in the event of territorial and political reorganization of the regions that are part of the Polish State.” The zone of influence of the USSR included the territory of Poland east of the line of the Pissa, Narev, Bug, Vistula, and San rivers. This line roughly corresponded to the so-called "Curzon Line", which was supposed to establish the eastern border of Poland after the First World War.

On September 1, 1939, with an attack on Poland, Nazi Germany unleashed the Second world war. Having defeated the Polish army within a few weeks, it occupied most countries. September 17, 1939 In accordance with the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the Red Army crossed the eastern border of Poland.

Soviet troops captured 240 thousand Polish troops. More than 14 thousand officers of the Polish army were interned in the fall of 1939 on the territory of the USSR. In 1943, two years after the occupation of the western regions of the USSR by German troops, reports appeared that NKVD officers had shot Polish officers in the Katyn Forest, located 14 kilometers west of Smolensk.

In May 1945 The territory of Poland was completely liberated by units of the Red Army and the Polish Army. More than 600 thousand Soviet soldiers and officers died in the battles for the liberation of Poland.

By the decisions of the Berlin (Potsdam) Conference of 1945, its western lands were returned to Poland, and the Oder-Neisse border was established. After the war, the construction of a socialist society under the leadership of the Polish United Workers' Party (PUWP) was proclaimed in Poland. In the restoration and development of the national economy great help rendered Soviet Union. In 1945-1993. the Soviet Northern Group of Forces was stationed in Poland; in 1955-1991 Poland was a member of the Warsaw Pact Organization.
By the manifesto of the Polish Committee of National Liberation of July 22, 1944, Poland was proclaimed the Polish Republic. From July 22, 1952 to December 29, 1989 - Polish People's Republic. Since December 29, 1989 - Republic of Poland.

Diplomatic relations between the RSFSR and Poland were established in 1921, between the USSR and Poland - from January 5, 1945, the legal successor is the Russian Federation.

May 22, 1992 The Treaty on Friendly and Good-Neighbourly Relations was signed between Russia and Poland.
The legal foundation of relations is formed by an array of documents concluded between former USSR and Poland, as well as over 40 interstate and intergovernmental treaties and agreements signed over the past 18 years.

During 2000-2005 political ties between Russia and Poland were maintained quite intensively. There were 10 meetings between the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin and the President of the Republic of Poland Alexander Kwasniewski. There were regular contacts between heads of government and foreign ministers through the parliamentary line. There was a bilateral Committee on the Strategy of Russian-Polish Cooperation, and regular meetings of the Russia-Poland Public Dialogue Forum were held.

After 2005 the intensity and level of political contacts have decreased significantly. This was influenced by the confrontational line of the Polish leadership, expressed in maintaining a socio-political atmosphere unfriendly towards our country.

Formed in November 2007 The new government of Poland, headed by Donald Tusk, declares an interest in normalizing Russian-Polish relations and a readiness for open dialogue in order to find solutions to the accumulated problems in bilateral relations.

August 6, 2010 The inauguration of the elected President of Poland Bronislaw Komorowski took place. In his solemn speech, Komorowski stated that he would support the ongoing process of rapprochement with Russia: “I will contribute to the ongoing process of rapprochement and Polish-Russian reconciliation. This is an important challenge facing both Poland and Russia.”

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History of Russian-Polish relations in the 17th–19th centuries

3.4 Partitions of Poland

The Russian-Turkish war gave matters a wider course. The idea of ​​dividing Poland had been floating around in diplomatic circles since the 17th century. Under the grandfather and father of Frederick II, Peter I was offered the division of Poland three times. The war between Russia and Turkey gave Frederick II the desired opportunity. According to his plan, Austria, hostile to both of them, was involved in the alliance between Russia and Prussia, for diplomatic assistance to Russia in the war with Turkey, and all three powers received land compensation not from Turkey, but from Poland, which gave the reason for the war. Three years of negotiations! In 1772 (July 25), an agreement followed between the three powers - shareholders. Russia has made poor use of its rights in both Turkey and Poland. The French minister maliciously warned the Russian commissioner that Russia would eventually regret the strengthening of Prussia, to which it had contributed so much. In Russia, Panin was also blamed for the excessive strengthening of Prussia, and he himself admitted that he had gone further than he wanted, and Grigory Orlov considered the treaty on the division of Poland, which so strengthened Prussia and Austria, a crime deserving death penalty. Be that as it may, a rare factor in European history will remain the case when the Slavic - Russian state during a reign with a national direction, he helped the German electorate, with its scattered territory, turn into a great power, a continuous wide strip stretching across the ruins of the Slavic state from the Elbe to the Neman. Thanks to Frederick, the victories of 1770 brought Russia more glory than benefit. Catherine emerged from the first Turkish war and from the first partition of Poland with independent Tatars, with Belarus and with great moral defeat, having raised and not justified so many hopes in Poland, in Western Russia, in Moldavia and Wallachia, in Montenegro, in Morea.

Western Rus' had to be reunited; Instead, Poland was divided by the St. Petersburg Conventions of the 1770-90s, the territory of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was divided (three sections - 1772, 1793, 1795) between Prussia, Austria and Russia. In 1807, Napoleon I created the Duchy of Warsaw from part of the Polish lands. The Congress of Vienna in 1814-1815 redistributed Poland: the Kingdom of Poland was formed from most of the Duchy of Warsaw (transferred to Russia). . Russia annexed not only Western Rus', but also Lithuania and Courland, but not all of Western Rus', losing Galicia into German hands. With the fall of Poland, the clashes between the three powers were not eased by any international buffer. Moreover, “our regiment has left” - one Slavic state became less; it became part of two German states; this is a major loss for the Slavs; Russia did not appropriate anything originally Polish; it only took away its ancient lands and part of Lithuania, which had once attached them to Poland. Finally, the destruction of the Polish state did not save us from the struggle with the Polish people: 70 years have not passed since the third partition of Poland, and Russia has already fought three times with the Poles (1812, 1831, 1863). Perhaps, in order to avoid hostility with the people, their state should have been preserved.

Biography of P. Sagaidachny

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Particularly difficult was the political and socio-economic situation of the Ukrainian lands, which in the 20s-30s were part of Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia (approximately 7 million Ukrainians). The largest number of Ukrainians (5 million...

In our history countries XVII century is a very significant milestone, since at this time many events took place that influenced the entire subsequent development of the state. Russian foreign policy was especially important in the 17th century, since at that time it was very difficult to fight off numerous enemies, while at the same time maintaining strength for domestic work.

Firstly, it was urgent to return all the lands that were lost as a result of the Troubles. Secondly, the country’s rulers were faced with the task of annexing back all those territories that were once part of Kievan Rus. Of course, they were largely guided not only by the ideas of reuniting once divided peoples, but also by the desire to increase the share of arable land and the number of taxpayers. Simply put, Russian foreign policy in the 17th century was aimed at restoring the country's integrity. The Troubles had an extremely difficult impact on the country: the treasury was empty, many peasants became so impoverished that it was simply impossible to collect taxes from them. Obtaining new lands that were not plundered by the Poles would not only restore Russia's political prestige, but also replenish its treasury. In general, this was the main foreign policy of Russia in the 17th century.

At the beginning of the 16th century. At the Dnieper rapids, a free Cossack republic emerged - the Zaporozhye Sich. There was no feudal dependence in Zaporozhye. The Cossacks had their own self-government, an elected hetman and a “kosh chieftain”.

The Polish government is trying to take control of the Ukrainian Cossacks and recruit them into service. From the 16th century Cossack uprisings against the Poles begin. Strengthening religious, national and social oppression leads to the outbreak of a liberation war.

In 1648 it was headed by Bogdan Khmelnytsky. He expels the Polish garrison from the Sich, is elected hetman and appeals to the Cossacks for an uprising. Having concluded a military alliance with the Crimean Tatars, Khmelnitsky inflicted defeats on the Poles at Zheltye Vody, Korsun and Pilyavtsy.

In August 1649, the Cossack-Tatar army won a victory near Zborov. A peace treaty was concluded, according to which Poland recognized the autonomy of Right-Bank Ukraine.

In 1650, Polish troops began a new campaign against Khmelnytsky and in 1651, as a result of the betrayal of the Crimean Khan Islam-Girey (who withdrew his troops from the battlefield), they managed to win a victory near Berestechko. The Poles restored their power over Ukraine, limiting the number of Cossacks to 20 thousand.

B. Khmelnitsky, realizing the impossibility of confronting Poland alone, repeatedly raised the question of the reunification of Ukraine with Russia before Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. On October 1, 1653, the Zemsky Sobor decided to accept Ukraine into Russian citizenship. The royal ambassadors went to Hetman Khmelnitsky. On January 8, 1654, the Pereyaslav Rada decided to accept citizenship and took the oath of allegiance to the Tsar, confirming its consent to Ukraine’s entry into Russia.

This caused the war of 1654-1667. between the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Russia. The war was protracted and ended with the Truce of Andrusovo in 1667. The Smolensk region, Left Bank Ukraine and Kyiv went to Russia. In 1686, an “eternal peace” was concluded with Poland, which consolidated the terms of the Attdrus truce. Belarus remained part of Poland.

The reunification of Ukraine and Russia economically, politically and militarily strengthened Russian state, preventing the destruction of Ukraine as a result of Polish or Turkish intervention.

At the same time, Russia was at war with Sweden. In 1661, according to the Treaty of Kardis, Russia was forced to return its lands in Livonia to Sweden, and found itself without access to the sea.

In 1677, a war began with Turkey over Ukraine. Turkish troops planned to capture Kyiv and the entire Left Bank Ukraine. But, faced with the heroic resistance of the Russian-Ukrainian army during the defense of the Chigerin fortress, the exhausted Turks signed an agreement in Bakhchisarai (1681) on a truce for 20 years. Türkiye recognized Russia's left bank and Kyiv. The lands between the Dnieper and Kiev remained neutral.

The beginning of the war with Poland. The war was caused by a positive solution to the issue of reunification of Ukraine with Russia at Zemsky Sobor in October 1653. It was announced on October 23, 1653, began the following May, 1654, and lasted a total of 13 years (1654-1667).

The war began very successfully for the Russian army. Already in the campaign of 1654, 33 cities were taken, including Nevel (June), Polotsk (July), Smolensk (September), Vitebsk (November), Gomel, etc. By the end of 1654, Russian troops occupied a large territory in the upper reaches of the Dnieper and Western Dvina.

In the campaign of 1655, the successes were consolidated. Almost all of Belarus was cleared of Polish-Lithuanian troops. Minsk (July), Vilna (the tsar made a ceremonial entry into the city on July 30), Kovno (August), Grodno (August), and others were occupied. The troops approached Lvov. The Polish king John II Casimir fled to Silesia and was ready to give up the throne.

The defeat of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was used by the Swedish king Charles X Gustav. He invaded Poland and captured a significant part of its territory, including Warsaw (September 1655), Poznan, Krakow. Poland already by the autumn of 1655 began to seek peace with the Russian government. Alexey Mikhailovich returned victorious in November 1655 to Moscow.

Negotiations with the Polish government dragged on until the fall of 1656, when the Vilna Agreement was signed on October 24. The parties agreed that all controversial issues between the two states remain open, and they begin joint actions against Sweden.

On May 17, 1656 (even before the signing of the Vilna Agreement), Russia declared war on Sweden, and on July 15, the tsar, at the head of the army, set out on a campaign to Livonia.

Russian-Swedish War 1656-1658 The blow was made in three directions: to Riga, to Dorpat and to Karelia (Izhora land). From the very first weeks, great successes of the Russian army were determined. Nyenschantz (at the mouth of the Neva), Noteburg (at the source of the Neva), Dinaburg (the middle reaches of the Western Dvina, July 31), Dorpat (Yuryev, October 12), Marienburg (the center of Livonia), Kokenhausen (Kokies, August 14) and etc. At the end of August, Russian troops besieged Riga, but were unable to capture it due to the lack of a fleet (the siege was lifted in October 1656). After occupying Dorpat (October 12), the tsar retreated to Polotsk and here he waited for the formalization of the truce concluded with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth on October 24, 1656 (Vilna Agreement).

Further successes were prevented by unstable relations with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Poland did not want to give up Ukrainian and Belarusian lands.

The Russian government faced an acute question about the direction of foreign policy. A.L. Ordin-Nashchokin continued to consider access to the Baltic Sea a priority task (for this he was even ready to abandon Ukraine). But they didn’t agree with him.

The complicated situation in Ukraine also prevented the continuation of the war with Sweden. On July 27, 1657, Bohdan Khmelnytsky died. The new hetman Ivan Evstafievich Vygovsky (1657-1659) in September 1658 concluded an agreement with Poland on the renunciation of Russian citizenship (Treaty of Gadyach).

The Truce of Valiesar was signed with Sweden in 1658 (in the village of Valiesar near Narva) for three years. According to the terms of this document, the territory occupied by Russian troops remains with Russia.

Two and a half years later, on June 21, 1661, the Russian-Swedish Peace of Kardis was signed on the terms of restoring pre-war borders (that is, the return of all acquisitions in Livonia to Sweden). The reason for such a difficult and unprofitable peace was the difficult domestic and foreign political situation, in which by the beginning of the 60s. turned out to be Russia.

Continuation of the war with Poland. Military operations with Poland were resumed in October 1658. During the first winter campaign of 1658-1659. The Polish-Lithuanian army was completely defeated near Vilna. In August 1659, the Russian army defeated the army of Hetman Ivan Vygovsky. The Pereyaslav Articles of 1659 again confirmed the agreement with Russia of March 1654. Vygovsky himself was forced to resign as hetman. The son of Bohdan Khmelnitsky, Yuri Khmelnytsky, was proclaimed hetman.

But the international situation was not in Russia's favor. In the spring of 1660, Poland concluded a peace treaty with Sweden (Treaty of Oliva). Yuri Khmelnitsky came under the influence of a pro-Polish Cossack elder; as a result, the Slobodishchensky Treaty was adopted (1660), which again tore Ukraine away from Russia and again subordinated it to Poland. At the same time, Russian troops began to suffer defeats (in particular, near Chudnov in 1660, the Russian army of governor Sheremetev surrendered).

Poland at the end of 1663 resumed military operations against Russia. Their pretext was the refusal of the Polish king John Casimir to recognize Alexei Mikhailovich as the legal heir to the Russian throne. However, the difficult situations that developed at this time in Poland and Russia lead to the fact that military actions acquire a positional character, and the war itself takes a protracted form. As a result, both sides are looking for ways to reach a truce. Long and difficult negotiations began (1664-1667), which ended with the signing of the Truce of Andrusovo in August 1667 (in the village of Andrusovo near Smolensk).

The truce was concluded for 13 and a half years (until June 1680) on the following conditions: the Smolensk region, Seversk land (with Chernigov), Left Bank Ukraine and Kyiv (the latter for only two years); the border between the two states is established along the Dnieper; both sides declare mutual (joint) actions against Turkish aggression.

Thus, the most important result of the long Russian-Polish war was the official recognition of the division of Ukraine into two parts and the transfer of its Left Bank to Russia. In general, the results of the war determined Russia's dominant position in Eastern Europe. This war practically marked the beginning of the political decline of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which ended 128 years later with its collapse.

« Eternal Peace" with Poland. After the end of the Russian-Turkish war of 1677-1681. hostilities resumed between Poland and Turkey (1781-1683). By 1683, the Poles regained Right Bank Ukraine. But Polish-Turkish relations were very unstable, and the Polish government sought to strengthen the alliance with Russia. As a result, Russia's relations with Poland are increasingly strengthened.

Even during the Russian-Turkish war of 1677-1681. An agreement was concluded with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (in 1678) to extend the Truce of Andrusovo for another 13 years (its term expired in mid-1680). In addition, Poland handed over Kyiv to Russia. As compensation for it, Russia ceded to Poland the cities of Nevel, Sebezh, Velizh with counties and paid 300 thousand rubles.

In 1684, ambassadorial negotiations began on concluding peace between Russia and Poland, which were very difficult. Only in May 1686 the so-called “Eternal Peace” (Moscow Peace Treaty) was signed in Moscow. Its conditions: Poland finally renounces Kyiv; Zaporozhye is declared a possession of Russia; Russia enters into an alliance against Turkey (Austria, Venice, Poland). This leads to the Crimean campaigns of 1687 and 1689.

Development of Siberia in the 17th century.

The 17th century was a time of rapid expansion of Russia's borders to the east due to the development of Siberia. The advance into Siberia began in the 16th century. from Ermak's campaign. In the 80-90s, the first cities were created: Tyumen (1586), Tobolsk (1587), Tara (1594), Surgut (1594), Narym (1596), Verkhotursk (1598), etc. As a result, by the beginning of the 17th century V. a significant part was mastered Western Siberia.

From the first years of the 17th century. advancement began to Eastern Siberia, and then to the Amur region. In 1604, Tomsk was founded in the upper reaches of the Ob River, in 1619 in the upper reaches of the Yenisei River - Yeniseisk, in 1628 - Krasnoyarsk. At the same time, the development of the circumpolar regions was underway: in 1600, the city of Mangazeya was founded on the Taz River, and in 1607, Turukhansk was founded on the Yenisei River.

In the 30-40s. The lake area was actively developed. Baikal: Bratsk fort (1630), Verkholensk (1642), Verkhneudinsk (1647), Verkhneangarsk (1647), Barguzin (1648), Irkutsk (1652). At the same time, detachments of servicemen and industrialists (“eager people”) moved in a northeast direction. Russian settlements arose on the Lena River and its tributaries: Yakutsk (1632), Zhigansk (1632), Vilyuysk (1634), Olekminsk (1635).

This process especially intensified in the 30-40s of the 17th century. The initiators of the further development of Siberia were industrialists and fur hunters. Most of these people came from the Russian North. Following the first explorers, as the people who explored the Siberian expanses began to be called, detachments of servicemen followed in their footsteps, built fortifications (fortresses), and taxed the indigenous population with yasak. Subsequently, many of these forts became small cities, from which new explorers set off to the east, north and south of the vast Siberian region.

In the 17th century There are quite clear stages in the development of this previously unprecedented territory in terms of size. An important role in the promotion of the Russian population was played by powerful Siberian rivers: Ob, Yenisei, Lena. The development of the basins of these rivers with numerous tributaries made it possible to reach Eastern Siberia and the Amur region. In the history of the development of Siberia, the following five stages can be distinguished: 1) development of the Ob River basin in its middle and lower reaches (mostly completed in the first decade of the 17th century); 2) development of the Yenisei river basin (10-20s); 3) development of the basins of the Lena, Yana, Indigirka, Kolyma, Anadyr rivers, as well as the Baikal region, the lake region. Baikal (30-40s); 4) development of the Amur region (50-80s); 5) development of Kamchatka, the Kuril Islands and Alaska (since the 90s).

The development of Eastern Siberia proceeded in two streams, one of which was directed from the Yenisei to the Lena River and further to the northeast, reaching Kamchatka by the end of the century, and the other, the “southern” one, led to the development of the Baikal and Amur regions. In general terms, the process of development of Siberia was completed by the middle of the 17th century, and by the beginning of the next, Russian settlements already existed in the northwestern part of the American continent.

By the end of the 40s, Russian servicemen and industrialists reached the shores of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk (Okhotsk was founded in 1649) and reached Chukotka (the Anadyr fortress was built in the same 1649). From the middle of the 17th century. At the same time, first the survey began, and then the settlement of Kamchatka and Chukotka. In 1648-1650 S.I. Dezhnev made a famous voyage around Chukotka, during which a previously unknown strait was discovered connecting Asia with America, later called the Bering Strait. The first Russian settlements in North America (in Alaska) apparently date back to this time. At the end of the 17th century. The expedition of V.V. Atlasov (1697-1699) began the exploration of Kamchatka and the Kuril Islands.

In the middle of the century, Russian explorers walked along the northern rivers along the coast of the Northern Arctic Ocean: Yane river (Verkhoyansk was founded in 1638), Indigirka river (Zashiversk was founded in 1639), Kolyma river (Nizhnekolymsk was founded in 1644). Many isolated and underdeveloped indigenous peoples of Siberia fell into the sphere of influence of Russian culture and the development of productive forces.

In parallel with the movement to the northeast, there was an advance of “hunting people” to the southeast: in the Baikal region and the Amur region. In 1643-1646. An expedition led by V.D. Poyarkov explored the Amur. In 1649-1653. E.P. Khabarov’s expedition explored the Amur region, and a Russian agricultural population appeared here. The development of the Amur and penetration into Primorye were stopped by the Manchus and Chinese. After their destruction (1685) of Albazin, a Russian stronghold in Primorye, built in 1665, and the signing of the Treaty of Nerchinsk (1689), Russia until the middle of the 19th century. abandoned claims to the south of the Far East.

Siberian Tatars lived in the upper reaches of the Tobol, Ishim and Irtysh rivers, as well as the Ob and Tom rivers, on the left bank of the Tobol River there were Mansi (Voguls), and the lower reaches of the Ob River were occupied by the Khanty (Ostyaks). On the right bank of the Yenisei River (the basin of the Lower, Middle and Upper Tunguska rivers) the Evenks (Tungus) lived. The Lena River basin was occupied by the Yakuts, and the Yukaghirs (Oduls) lived along the Yana, Indigirka and Kolyma rivers. The Chukchi Peninsula (along the Anadyr River) was occupied by the Chukchi. The southern part of Eastern Siberia was inhabited by Buryats (Lake Baikal region), Daurs (left bank of the Amur River), etc. They all had different lifestyle, in general much more backward compared to European Russia.

It cannot be said that the indigenous peoples of Siberia were indifferent to the Russian settlement of their lands. The local population repeatedly rebelled against the feudal exploitation that Russian government colonization brought with it. In the period from 1590 to 1617 alone, researchers count at least 30 armed clashes between servicemen and the peoples of Western Siberia. At the same time, it should be noted that the Moscow government, in the event of controversial issues between the “Russian inhabitants” and local peoples, usually took the side of the latter.

Government (central) management of the newly annexed territories of Siberia was carried out initially through the Ambassadorial Prikaz, then (from 1599) the Siberian expanses came under the jurisdiction of the Prikaz of the Kazan Palace, within which (around 1614) a special department called the “Siberian Prikaz” was created. . In 1637, this department turned into an independent state institution - the Siberian Prikaz, which began to govern the region and carry out its further development and exploitation of natural resources. The Siberian Prikaz was the central state institution until the provincial reform of Peter I in 1708. In 1710, the Siberian Prikaz was replaced by the provincial chancellery.

Tobolsk becomes the administrative center of Siberia. The highest local government of all Siberia was initially in the hands of the Tobolsk governors. In 1629, Tomsk received equal rights with Tobolsk. Each district of the region had its own governor, who was its unlimited ruler. This made it possible for great abuses, which were very difficult to monitor in Moscow. How enormous the thefts and illegal operations were is shown by the government order of 1635 on the inspection of governors and their comrades (deputies and assistants) returning from service in Siberia: property should not exceed 500 rubles for the chief governor and 300 rubles for the junior; cash should be no more than 500 rubles for the chief governor and 300 for the junior; all surpluses were subject to confiscation.

The development of Siberia led to the fact that the country's territory increased several times. True, the grandiose Siberian expanses, very rich in natural resources, were very sparsely populated. By the 60s. XVII century the population of Siberia, according to the calculations of the researcher of Siberia P.A. Slovtsov, did not exceed 350 thousand people, of which there were about 70 thousand Russian residents (29%). By the end of the 17th century. Russian population Siberia increased to approximately 200 thousand people.

Siberia became a source of huge amounts of fur, and agriculture and trade developed in many of its places. At the same time, it was a very harsh region of Russia in terms of its climate, and its remoteness from the central regions of the country made economic development difficult and created great difficulties for the lives of the people inhabiting it. It is no coincidence that already in the 17th century. Siberia became a place of political exile.