Исторические корни польско–русской конфронтации: Зарождение, 16 ВЕК – углубление, 17 ВЕК – непримиримость, 18 ВЕК = The Historical Roots of the Polish-Russian Confrontation: Its Origin (16th Century) – Its Deepening (17th Century) – Its Irreconcilability (18th Century)

Gebei, Sándor (2024) Исторические корни польско–русской конфронтации: Зарождение, 16 ВЕК – углубление, 17 ВЕК – непримиримость, 18 ВЕК = The Historical Roots of the Polish-Russian Confrontation: Its Origin (16th Century) – Its Deepening (17th Century) – Its Irreconcilability (18th Century). RUSSIANSTUDIES.HU, 6 (1). pp. 109-134. ISSN 2677-0660

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Abstract

The origins of the permanent Polish-Russian confrontation in the Livonian War (1558–1582) can be found in the events of that war. Although this conflict had ended initially with Russia's failure in the Baltics in 1582 and a Russo-Polish peace treaty, the Union of Lublin in 1569 sparked a series of wars for control over the Eastern European plain in the 17th and 18th centuries. At the beginning of the 17th century Rzeczpospolita (Res Publica Utriusque Nationis) was still able to use the crisis caused by the extinction of the Russian Rurik dynasty to its advantage (1598); even Moscow was temporarily under its control. From the second half of 17th century onwards, Rzeczpospolita went into a spectacular and rapid decline. The military defeats eroded the strength of former PolishLithuanian great power, allowing Russia’s western expansion to be completed. The peace of 1721, which closed the “Great Northern War”, not only marked the end of Rzeczpospolita’s status as a great power in Eastern Europe, but also brought domestic political life under the ever-increasing influence of Russia. The functioning of the sejms (parliaments) of 1717, 1733, 1764 and 1768 are testament to this, at a time when the issue of religious freedom overshadowed all other issues and problems. The dominance of the Russian tsars and tsaresses, as defender of the Orthodox religion, was ruthlessly enforced against the Poles who were adamantly for Catholicism and the nobles’ “Golden Freedom” (złota demokracja). Religious intolerance and the Nobles’ Democracy versus tsarist absolutism were irreconcilable factors of opposition and to the divisions of the Polish-Lithuanian state in the 18th century.

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