Russo-Polish Wars of 1499–1667
The Russo-Polish Wars (1499–1667) were a series of military conflicts between the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania against the Tsardom of Russia. The wars originated from territorial disputes and the shifting balance of power in Eastern Europe, particularly influenced by the rise of a strong Muscovite state under Ivan the Great and his successors. The early phase of the conflict saw Muscovite invasions into Lithuania, leading to significant territorial losses for the Poles and Lithuanians, including the fall of key cities like Smolensk.
As the conflict evolved, the Union of Lublin in 1569 effectively created a unified Polish-Lithuanian state, allowing for a more coordinated military response against Russian incursions. Notable battles during this period, such as Kluszyno in 1610 and Smolensk in 1634, temporarily established Polish dominance in the region. However, internal strife and external pressures, including a Cossack rebellion and invasions by Sweden, eventually led to significant challenges for Poland.
The Truce of Andrusovo in 1667 marked a critical turning point, partitioning Ukraine between Poland and Russia and solidifying Russian influence in Eastern Europe. This peace agreement not only reflected Poland’s declining power but also set the stage for Russia's rise as a dominant regional force, fundamentally altering the political landscape and leading to Poland's eventual partitions in the 18th century. The wars had lasting repercussions, shaping the national identities and borders of Eastern Europe for generations.
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Russo-Polish Wars of 1499–1667
At issue: Predominance in the east of Europe
Date: 1499–1667
Location: Borderlands between Poland and Russia
Combatants: Poles, Russians vs. Cossacks, Tatars
Principal commanders:Polish, Stefan Batory (1533–1586); Cossack, Bohdan Khmelnytsky (1595–1657)
Principal battles: Orsza, Kłuszyno, Moscow, Smolensk, Beresteczko
Result: Polish, later Russian strategic initiative in the east
Background
In 1386, Poland and Lithuania united under the Jagiełłonian Dynasty, but the two states retained considerable independence. Over the next century, the threat from the Teutonic Knights along the Baltic was beaten back, but Poland was increasingly diverted to the Balkans and the Turkish threat while Lithuania was distracted eastward by the Tatars and, increasingly, by border clashes with Muscovy. By the end of the fifteenth century, Ivan the Great had thrown off Russian dependency on the Tatars and begun a series of border wars with the Lithuanians. In 1494, Ivan was able to win minor territorial gains from Lithuania, a historic first. Both militarily and psychologically, the Poles did not yet appreciate that the danger threatening Lithuania was also a menace to them.
Action
In 1500, Muscovy launched a major attack against Lithuania, reaching almost as far as the major cities of Smolensk in the north and Kiev in the south. Polish aid to their beset eastern partner was effectively prevented by the complex Jagiełłonian involvement in Hungary and Bohemia, which monopolized Polish attention. In 1512, the Russians launched a major invasion aimed at Smolensk, which fell in 1514, and negotiated an alliance with the Prussian Empire and the Crimean Tatars, which threatened Poland-Lithuania with calamity. However, in 1514, the huge victory over the Russians at Orsza under Konstanty Ostrogski shattered the incipient coalition, though it failed to regain Smolensk, a strategic loss. Over the next decades, the Poles gradually realized their vital interests were at stake in the east, and the Lithuanians acknowledged that alone, they were no match for the Russians. The crisis was epitomized by the Russian capture of Polock (1563), the greatest blow since the fall of Smolensk. This was the strategic prompt behind the Union of Lublin (1569), which solidified Poland-Lithuania and created, in effect, a single state.
Under the inspired leadership of Stefan Batory, the Polish-Lithuanian forces trounced the Russians in the Livonian War (1557–1582) and regained the military and political initiative in the east. In the early seventeenth century, Poland was locked in a long struggle with Sweden for control of the eastern Baltic. Hence, when the Russians allied with the Swedes in 1609, Poland moved against Russia. Stanisław Đawółkiewski, with but 4,000 men, mostly cavalry, won the major Battle of Kluszyno (1610), smashing 30,000 Russians under Dmitry Shuisky and capturing the czar. Polish troops took Moscow in 1610. The Poles retook Smolensk the next year and regained all the territory lost by Lithuania a century earlier. The armistice at Deulino (1618) confirmed Polish ascendancy in the east. Russian efforts to reverse Deulino were crushed in 1633–1634 when the Poles won the Battle of Smolensk, defeating Mikhail Shein. The 1634 Treaty of Połanowka confirmed Deulino and Polish ascendancy.
The Russians had an opportunity to regain the initiative in 1648. A massive Cossack rebellion under Bohdan Khmelnytsky spread through southeastern Poland. Though initially defeated in a number of minor encounters, the Poles finally crushed Khmelnytsky at the Battle of Beresteczko (1651). This drove Khmelnytsky to place Ukraine under the czar’s protection (Treaty of Perjasław, 1654), which resulted in a massive Russian invasion. Smolensk fell, and much of Lithuania was occupied. Another Russian force ravaged the Polish Ukraine. By 1655, however, Polish forces under Stanisław Lanckoroński regained the offensive. This rebound was aborted by the 1655 Swedish invasion followed by attacks from Transylvania, a catastrophe for Poland. Although the Swedes were defeated by 1660 (Treaty of Oliva) and the Transylvanians expelled, the Russian war dragged on for several more years. The Cossacks in due course abandoned their temporary Russian alliance and returned to the Polish fold (Union of Hadziacz, 1658), but Polish-Cossack relations had been irrevocably damaged. Moreover, the cumulative damage to Poland was too great to allow it to recover from the wars begun in 1648. Though 1667 ended the Russian war, a new war erupted with the Turks in 1672 that lasted, with interruptions, until 1699, at which time Poland was on the threshold of its woeful involvement in the Great Northern War (1700–1721). Hence, what Poland saw as the temporary Truce of Andrusovo in 1667, which divided Ukraine between Poland and Russia and left both Smolensk and Kiev on the Russian side, turned out to be permanent.
Aftermath
Andrusovo was a strategic disaster of historic consequence for Poland. The country never recovered the military initiative and was forced to confirm the terms at Grzymultowski in 1686. More important, the economic and demographic disaster was accompanied by the increasing paralysis of the political order that left the country virtually a wreck. For Russia, by contrast, the 1667 peace represented a complete reversal from the pattern of the previous century, in which Poland was the dominant force in the east. The year 1667 marked the beginning of the inexorable Russian conquest of the Ukraine, which eventually led to the annihilation of Poland and the emergence of Russia as a great European power. Hence, it was a turning point of historic and continental significance.
Bibliography
Brainard, Alfred P. “Polish-Lithuanian Cavalry in the Late Seventeenth Century.” Polish Review, 1991, 69–82.
Brown, Peter B. “Muscovy, Poland, and the Seventeenth Century Crisis.” Polish Review, 1982, 55–69.
Brzezinski, Richard. Polish Armies, 1569–1696. London: Osprey, 1987.