HIST362: Modern Revolutions

1. Factors commonly listed and why they do not explain the decline.

In most textbooks on European history, Poland's decline is usually attributed to the following factors: (a) the elective monarchy; (b) the breakdown of the parliamentary system due to the "Liberum Veto" (means: "I am free to veto,", or the right of any one deputy to veto resolutions, which led to the dissolution of the Seym, that is, the parliament); * (c) the "greed and selfishness of the Polish magnates (great landowners). Sometimes a fourth factor is added: [d] the miserable condition of most of the peasants.

*[Note: Polish national parliaments - made up of nobles and higher clergy as elsewhere in Europe - began meeting in 1463 and passed laws by unanimous consent. Unanimity was also enforced by the nobles in the medieval parliaments of Spain. The Tudor monarchs in England managed to secure the necessary votes in the House of Commons by offering various rewards, or threatening reprisals. because they had the funds to do so. Modern French and Spanish monarchs had enough wealth to rule without parliaments.

The basic assumptions underlying unanimous consent were: (i) the issue was so good, or so worthy, that it could not allow a dissenting group vote. (ii) each nobleman's vote was equal to another's, so a majority vote would discriminate against the minority. The rule of unanimity survives today in the requirement of a unanimous decision in murder trials in British and U.S. courts of law].

Of course, the factors listed above contributed to Poland's decline, but they do not address the roots of the problem.

To begin with the last factor (d), serfdom existed at this time all over E. Europe, but it did not weaken Prussia, Austria, and Russia, so it cannot be counted as a factor in the decline of Poland.

The first factor, (a) the Elective Monarchy, that is the election of Kings by all nobles assembled in a field outside Warsaw, was certainly disruptive. The first such election took place in 1572 after the death of last male of the Jagiellonian dynasty, when the nobles elected Henry Valois of France, who had to recognize the rights of the Polish nobles, that is: (a) recognize all existing noble rights; (b) agree to do nothing without the consent of the nobles in parliament, and (c) sanction religious toleration for Protestants in both Poland and in France. (Henry soon left to ascend the French throne). Royal elections were not always for individual candidates; thus the Vasa dynasty had three elected Polish kings between 1587 and 1672, while two rulers of Saxony, father and son, were elected Kings in 1697 and 1733.

Royal Election at Wola near Warsaw, 1572.

The second factor (b) the Liberum Veto was certainly disruptive, but Polish parliaments managed without it for almost 200 years, for it was first used in 1652. It should be noted that both at that time and later, the L.V. did not invalidate the laws passed before a deputy exercised his right to cast it. Deputies who opposed the measures passed, or could not get their bills passed, could also form "Confederations," which used majority rule. These confederations could be, and often were, armed groups of deputies who tried to get their ends by force. They were also disruptive, but not as disruptive as the 15^th and 17^th century civil wars in England.

The third factor, (c) the greed of the great magnates certainly existed.* They were greedy and selfish in looking after their own interests. However, this was true of great magnates in other countries. We should also bear in mind that modern national consciousness, and thus the primacy of what is good for the nation, did not develop until the 19^th century. Therefore, to blame the magnates for being greedy, and thus unpatriotic before the 19th century, is to use a standard of political behavior that was not prevalent anywhere at the time.

*[Portraits of Polish Magnates were included in the great exhibit of Polish art shown in the United States in 1999, some of which are reproduced in the album edited by K. Ostrowski et al: LAND OF THE WINGED HORSEMEN. ART IN POLAND , 1572-1764, Art Services International, Alexandria, VA., 1999,see: The Magnate Class, pp. 195-232)

So what were the real reasons for Poland's decline? In this author's view the two key factors were: (1) Insufficient crown revenues after 1572 (end of Jagiellon dynasty and beginning of a series of wars), and then the bankruptcy of the Polish crown due mainly to wars; (2) the rise of absolutist military powers to the East, West, North and South of Poland, which took advantage of Polish weakness. These two factors were intertwined.

(1) To begin with, we should note that even before the wars began, the revenues of the Polish crown were inadequate for its expenses, which was also the case in many other countries. The Polish crown owned royal lands from which it was supposed to draw most of its income. However, by 1600, many of them had come into the hands of the nobles by dint of long-term lease, or as rewards for service. Other basic sources of income were the tax on the "lan," a unit of arable land held to cover the cost of one soldier; the beer tax, and the chimney tax. However, the nobles were exempt from taxe. They provided military service, fighting themselves and equipping their men in what was called "the general movement". But this, in turn, was an unreliable military force because the nobles would leave  to look after their estates, whether the war was over or not.*  Thus, the crown came to rely on mercenary troops, and these were expensive. Their pay was almost always in arrears.

*[This was also the case in other countries. The first standing armie were established in the mid-17th century by Oliver Cromwell in England -but abolished after the restoration of the monarchy in 1660 - by Louis XIV in France, and by Frederick Wilhelm in Prussia.

The Polish crown was bankrupted by a series of wars beginning in the late 1500s, but especially after 1648. Before discussing these, however, let us view Polish crown finances in a broad European context.

As noted above, the 17th century Polish crown did not have adequate resources to fight wars, or even wield effective power, and the same was also true of many other countries. Here we should note that the English Civil War of 1640-49 broke out because parliament would not grant King Charles I money unless he granted their demands, which he refused to do. Of course, England had a great geographical advantage, the English Channel, which made foreign intervention very difficult if not impossible. After the Stuart restoration, English nobles got rid of the Catholic James II, brought over William of Orange and won control of the national purse strings in parliament in the "Glorious Revolution" of 1688. This began the decline of royal power in England. In English historiography, these nobles are not considered "selfish," although the main reason they made William of Orange King of England was because he was a Protestant and thus not likely to take back the old Catholic Church. lands confiscated during the Reformation and given by rulers over the years to the nobles of England. They feared that the Catholic James II would do just that.

In other countries, such as the France of Louis XIV ( who ruled personally 1660-1715); the Prussia of the Great Elector Friedrich Wilhelm ( ruled 1640-88 - Elector because he had the right to participate in the election of the Holy Roman Emperor) and his descendants; the rulers of the Austrian Habsburg Empire; the Spanish Habsburgs; and the Russian Tsars, the crown had enough funds to crush noble opposition in assemblies or parliaments. Louis XIV gave subsidies to the Prussian Elector, in order that the latter fight the Habsburgs, but Friedrich Wilhelm used the money to build up a standing army without the need to consult his nobles in parliament, so they lost power. The Spanish Habsburgs had gold reserves from their overseas Empire, which enabled them to expand and wield absolute power at home, as did the rulers of Portugal and its Empire. The Austrian Habsburgs borrowed money from bankers, and so did the Kings of Sweden, so both fought their European wars on credit. The Russian Tsars, who were also heads of the Orthodox Church, could give and confiscate noble property at will. They took care of military expenses mostly by conquering new lands. Louis XIV of France was not so fortunate after the first few years of his  personal rule. He impoverished the crown by his wars (1667-1714), which allowed the French nobles to raise demands for power sharing. This opposition, which, under the influence of the "Enlightenment" argued for the rights of man and citizen, came to a head in 1789, when the French crown was bankrupted by supporting the American War of Independence. As we know, the French Revolution of 1789-97 opened a new era of European and world history by overthrowing the old feudal order, though this was, in fact, on its last legs in most of western Europe.

Polish kings did not have gold, land, or wealthy bankers at their service. By the mid-1600s money, and thus power, had passed into the hands of the Magnates (Great Noble landowners) who used their patronage over the middle and lower nobles (gentry), to disrupt parliaments so as to prevent the passing of laws contrary to their interests. By the 18^th century, the Magnates , as well as the middle rank nobles  of Poland, could be compared in their ownership of land, slave labor, living style, manners, code of honor and political-economic-social beliefs, to southern plantation owners prior to the Civil War. By the last decade of the 1600s, some also accepted money for electing foreign kings.

Now let us look at the wars that Poland fought after the end of the Jagiellonian dynasty. They not only bankrupted the already ailing crown, but also witnessed the rise of hostile powers around her.

2. The Wars and the Rise of Great Powers hostile to Poland.

(i) The Wars with Russia.

King Stephen Batory (or Bathory, a Hungarian magnate from Transylvania, married to the Jagiellonian princess Anne), was elected King after Henry of Valois left Poland. Batory ruled in 1574-86. He was a great military leader who defeated Ivan IV, the Terrible of Russia in the war over Livonia, 1579-82, sometimes called the First Northern War. (Livonia approximates modern Latvia). However, Batory failed to establish a dynasty.

His successor was Sigismund III of the Catholic branch of the Swedish royal House of Vasa; he was the son of John III of Sweden and his wife Catherine Jagiellon. He was elected King of Poland in 1587 and ruled until his death in 1632. Sigismund III aimed to take the Swedish throne but the Swedes were Protestants, so war with Sweden ensued.  However, Swedish expansion into the southern Baltic lands made war inevitable anyway. (See Swedish Wars below). He also wanted to gain the Russian throne, so he took advantage of the chaos in Russia after Ivan IV had killed his only son and there was a struggle for the succession. Various "pretenders" claimed the Russian throne, each one claiming to be Ivan's son who had miraculously survived. Sigismund III supported two pretenders one after  the other, aiming to use them as puppets. His son, Wladyslaw IV (pron. Vwadeeslaf) was even offered the Russian throne by some Russian nobles in 1610, on condition he  accepted the Orthodox faith. But his father refused his consent. Polish troops occupied the Kremlin in Moscow for a short while in 1612, but had to leave in early November in face of a national uprising. Poland intervened in Russia again in 1617-18. These Polish military expeditions created great Russian resentment and left bitter memories in Russian minds. (However, intervention in other countries, when in a state of chaos or unrest, was not uncommon in Europe).

Here we should note that the Russian nobles elected Michael Romanov as Tsar in 1613, and the Romanov dynasty - though much watered down by foreign marriages - ruled Russia until the last Tsar, Nicholas II (ruled 1894-1917), abdicated the throne at the outset of the Russian Revolution in March 1917. (He and his family were murdered by the Bolsheviks in July 1918).

(ii) The Cossack Wars, Ukraine, and the rise of the Russian Empire.

the word cossack is derived from the Turkish word "qazaq" or freebooter.  Cossacks were originally runaway serfs from central Muscovy and later also from Polish estates in Ukraine. They formed military communities of free fighting men, the most famous of which was Zaporozhye on the Dnieper river. They raided Turkish-controlled Crimea for booty, and some were employed by Polish Kings to fight the Crimean Tatars. These Tatars were subjects of the Ottoman Empire and carried out frequent raids into Polish territory, so Polish king hired the Cossacks to contain them.

(from Orest Subtelny, UKRAINE. A History, Toronto, Buffalo, London, 1988).

For this purpose,  Polish Kings used "registered" cossacks who lived in towns or had landed estates. The  problem was that the Kings did not have enough money to employ all the Cossacks willing to serve, nor to give regular pay to the "registered" Cossacks in Polish service, nor recognize their titles to land  - so they were angry. Furthermore, those who had run way from Polish estates in Ukraine were Orthodox peasants; they hated Polish Catholic lords and their Jewish estate managers.

Cossack revolts against Poland began in 1591, but the great revolt came in 1648. It was led by the Cossack Hetman (Commander-in-Chief) Bohdan Khmelnitsky (1595-1657), who wanted to establish his own kingdom. Khmelnitsky  had suffered at the hands of a Polish neighbor and failed to obtain justice in Warsaw. He then decided to use the cossack masses for his own ends. The revolt began with a brutal "pogrom" (massacre) of Jews and Polish nobles in Kiev, though it is not clear whether Khmelnitsky ordered it, or whether he could not, or would not stop it. In any case, the cossacks defeated the Polish armies in two major battles and drove deep into Poland. Later, Khmelnitsky asked the Russian Tsar Alexis I for protection in 1654, thinking he could use the Russians to help him fight the Poles - but instead, he gave the Tsar a pretext to take over a large part of Ukraine.

The Polish nobles tried belatedly to conciliate the Cossacks, offering them autonomy in a union with Poland. After Khmelnitsky's death, Ivan Vykhovsky (b.?- 1664) who had fought on the Polish side, became Hetman. He signed the Union of Hadiach (pron. Khadzhyach) with Polish representatives on Sept.16, 1658.This would have given Ukraine the name of the Grand Duchy of Rus, and the same rights as Lithuania, creating a Polish-Lithuanian-Ukrainian Commonwealth. But the Orthdox-peasant Cossack masses hated the Catholic Polish lords, so they revolted against Vykhovsky who fled to Poland, and the Union was still born.

This Cossack revolt led to a Polish-Russian War over Ukraine in which the Poles lost left bank (Dnieper) or east Ukraine to Russia by the Treaty of Andrusovo, 1667. The Russian Tsar Alexis I had used Khmelnitsky's 1654 request for protection as a pretext to annex eastern Ukraine, while western Ukraine stayed with Poland. The division of Ukraine between Poland and Russia interrupted the natural development of Ukrainian statehood, and thus also language, literature.

(from Orest Subtelny, UKRAINE).

The Treaty of Andrusovo, 1667, signaled the emergence of Russia as the pre-eminent power in Eastern Europe, replacing Poland. Note that Poland had already been greatly weakened by the Swedish Wars, especially the war of 1655-60.

In the 19^th century, Ukranian national consciousness developed mostly in western Ukraine. It was inspired by an idealized view of Khmelnitsky and the Cossacks. Its leaders' aim was to create a large Ukrainian state to unite all Ukrainians.

Despite valiant efforts in 1918-20 and again in 1944-45, Ukraine did not become an independent state until after the collapse of the USSR in December 1991

(iii) The Swedish Wars.

The first of these wars broke out over Livonia in 1626. Sweden was now a strong Baltic power and was trying to extend its rule to the southern Baltic shores. At the same time, Sigismund III Vasa always hoped to gain the Swedish throne. After some Polish victories, an armistice was signed in 1629.

The Swedes broke the armistice when they invaded Poland in 1655. This began a war often called "The Deluge" by Polish historians because of the multiple evils it brought on the country. The Swedish advance was supported by the great Polish-Lithuanian magnate, Janusz Radziwill (1612-1655, pron. Yanoosh Raadzeeveel), who signed a treaty uniting Lithuania with Sweden. The Swedish invasion forced Polish King Jan II Kazimierz Vasa(John II Casimir,1609-1672, King 1648-68) to seek refuge in Silesia.

(from Norman Davies, God's Playground. A History of Poland. vol. I., The Origins to 1795, New York, 1982).

The Swedes marched all over Poland, devastating the country. This led the Polish gentry (lesser nobles), as well as some peasants, to fight the Swedes. The turning point of the war was the successful Polish defense of the fortified Pauline monastery of Jasna Góra (pron. Yasnah Goorah = Shining Mountain) at Czestochowa (pron. Chenstokhovah) in 1655. The Polish victory - due to a combination of good Polish defense and the exhaustion of Swedish armies - was attributed to the miracle-working picture of  Mary, the Mother of God and her child in the monastery church. King John Casimir proclaimed Mary "Queen of Poland," and Poles have prayed to her by that name ever since. The monastery is the chief religious shrine in Poland to this day.

(from A PANORAMA OF POLISH HISTORY, Warsaw, 1982).

As the Poles were fighting the Swedes, Friedrich Wilhelm, the Great Elector of Prussia, threatened them in the north. By the Treaty of Oliva (pron. Oleevah), May 3, 1660, which ended the Polish-Swedish-Brandenburg Prussian War, Poland gave up her claim to Livonia while Jan Kazimierz gave up his claim to the Swedish throne. Most important of all, Brandenburg Prussia acquired sovereignty over East Prussia. This region had been under Polish sovereignty since the last Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, Albrecht von Hohenzollern, had accepted the Lutheran faith and swore fealty to Poland in 1525. The Great Elector was also a Hohenzollern, though a distant relative.

The Treaty of Oliva marked the first step in Prussian expansion Eastward at Poland's expense. From now on, a narrow strip of land, Polish Pomerania, divided Brandenburg Prussia from East Prussia, and this led Prussian rulers to desire the union of the two Prussias at Poland's expense. Only a small part of E. Prussia, called "Royal Prussia" remained with Poland, as did the port city of Danzig/Gdansk, but its grain trade declined greatly due to the 17th c. wars.

Finally, religious toleration declined in Poland during the 17^th century wars. The Swedes and Prussians were Lutherans, the Russians and Cossacks were Orthodox. Therefore, Polishness came to be identified with Catholicism, while other religions were suspect.

The Swedish War of 1655-1660 devastated much of Poland, especially the towns. It was accompanied by a flare up of the Black Death. (which progressed West and cost many lives there). As a result of war damage, famine, and the plague, Poland-Lithuania is estimated to have lost between one third and half of its population, which was about 11,000,000 in 1650, before the war started.

The country recovered to some extent by 1700, but then came the Great Northern War, 1700-1721, in which Swedish and Russian armies devastated Poland again.

(iv) The Turkish Wars.

Polish wars with the Ottoman Turks lasted on and off for about two centuries. However, after the Battle of Mohacs, 1523, when the Hungarian armies led by Louis Jagiellon, then King of Bohemia and Hungary, were defeated by the Turks, most of the fighting was with the Crimean Tatars, subjects of the Ottoman Empire.

In 1674, a Polish noble,  Jan (pron. Yan) Sobieski (1629-1696), was elected as King Jan III, mostly because of his military victory over the Turks at Chocim (pron. Khotseem), in 1674. Nine years later, Sobieski marched with a Polish army to the relief of Vienna, besieged by the Turks, and Polish winged hussars played a major role in defeating the Turkish army there on 12 September 1683. Sobieski had hoped that one of his children would marry into the Habsburg family, but the Habsburgs were not interested. Though Sobieski had many children with his French wife Marie-Casimiere d'Arquien - whom he loved to distraction, and to whom he wrote wonderful love letters - he failed to establish a dynasty. One of his grand-daughters, Maria, married James II Stuart, "The Old Pretender. " Bonnie Prince Charlie who led the Scottish revolt of 1745, had a Polish mother and is said to have known the language.

Sobieski at Vienna. 1683.

3. The Saxon Kings, 1697-1763.

An important factor in the later decline of Poland were the Saxon Kings, the first of whom involved Poland in the Great Northern War, 1700-21.

The first King elected with foreign money was Duke Augustus, Elector of Saxony (Elector meant he had the right to vote in the election of the Holy Roman Emperor). He was elected  with money from the rulers of Austria, Prussia and Russia, to counter the French candidate, the Duke of Conti, who was elected by the majority of Polish nobles. The supporters of Augustus conducted another "election" and had him crowned in Cracow  (P.Krakow) as King of Poland, Augustus II in mid-September 1697. He ruled until his death in 1733, when he was succeeded by son, who ruled as Augustus III, with brief interruptions until his death in 1763.

Augustus II was nicknamed "Augustus the Strong" because of his great physical strength and his many illegitimate children (a portrait is in the Nelson Gallery, Kansas City, MO), but he was not equally strong in political-military judgment. He sided with Peter the Great of Russia (ruled 1682-1725),against Charles XII [12] of Sweden (ruled 1697-1718)   because he wanted to gain Livonia for his son. Thus, he embroiled Poland in another long war: the Great Northern War, when Poland was devastated again.

In 1704, Charles XII obtained the election of a Polish noble, Stanislaw Leszczynski ( pron. Leshchynskee, 1677-1766) as King of Poland to counter Augustus II. However, when Peter the Great defeated Charles XII at Poltava (Ukraine) on July 8 1709, Augustus II regained the Polish throne.

(fom Magocsi, A Historical Atlas of East Central Europe)

More wars in map below.

(from: Norman Davies, God's Playground. A History of Poland, vol. I).

Leszczynski reappeared again as King of Poland, this time elected by most Polish nobles and backed by France, in 1733-35, during the War of the Polish Succession (a war actually fought in the west between France and Austria). By this time, Leszczynski's daughter had married King Louis XV [15] of France (who ruled personally 1723-74). Louis XV wanted French influence  to counter Habsburg Austria in Poland. However, Leszczynski did not get any French military help, so he was forced to flee back to France, where he lived until his death as the Prince of Lorraine. He wrote political works attacking the Liberum Veto and advocating the abolition of serfdom.

II. Polish Reform Projects and their Failure.

There had been proposals to reform the Polish political system as far back as the 16^th century, especially those of Andrzej Frycz-Modrzewski (1503-1572, pron: Andzhey Frych-Modzhevskee). He advocated equal citizenship for all Poles, the democratization of the state and the church, and a centralized though not absolute monarchy. However. these ideas were greatly ahead of their time, not only in Poland but in all of Europe.

Concrete projects to refom the Polish state were proposed from the mid-1700s onward by members of the Czartoryski (pron. Chartoryskee) family of great magnates known as "The Family". They wanted to replace the Liberum Veto with majority rule in parliament and replace the Elective Monarchy with a hereditary crown, which they hoped would go to one of them.

At first, the Czartoryskis looked to the Austrian Habsburgs for support, mainly because of the Austrian rulers' dislike of the Saxon Electors, also their distrust of Russia and their enmity to Prussia. However, France was the enemy of Austria, so it opposed the Czartoryski projects by supporting a rival magnate family, the Potockis (pron. Pototskees). The Czartoryskis then looked to Russia, assuming her rulers would wish to have a strong Poland as an ally. However, the Russian rulers preferred to have a weak Poland which they could control.

Therefore, Catherine II the Great ( b. 1729 as a German princess, married Peter II, ruled 1762-1796) agreed with Frederick II the Great of Prussia (ruled 1740-1786) to support the candidacy of Stanislas Augustus Poniatowski ( pron. Ponyatofskee, Polish: Stanislaw August, 1732-1798) as King of Poland. He was elected King with Russian support in September 1764. He had been a lover of the young Catherine before she became Empress, and she assumed that he would be obedient to her. At the time of his election, Catherine and Frederick agreed to "guarantee the Polish Constitution,"which meant the ramshackle Polish political system. They agreed to do so, because they both wanted a weak Poland: Frederick aimed to seize part of western Poland, while Catherine wanted to control the country through the King.

However, Stanislas Augustus disappointed them both. He was a well educated man with enlightened ideas, who wanted to reform the Polish system of government. He helped establish government commissions for the Army and the Finances. These were really departments which worked by majority rule. Catherine II and Frederick II opposed these reforms. Russian troops surrounded the Polish Seym (Parliament) in 1768, which Catherine forced to confirm the Liberum Veto and the Elective Monarchy. Furthermore, the Seym was forced to accept non-Catholic deputies. This meant German Lutherans who were loyal to Prussia, as well as orthodox Ukrainian and Belorussian nobles who were loyal to Russia. Catherine was praised by some in western Europe for religious toleration, but this was a move to control the Poles in their parliament.

A group of Polish nobles and gentry rebelled against these measures. They formed the Confederation of Bar (a town then in  S.E. Poland, now in western Ukraine), to fight for the Catholic faith and Polish independence. Their war with Russia spilled over into Turkish territory and led to a Russo-Turkish War, which gave the Poles some breathing space.

---

Source: Anna M. Cienciala, https://acienciala.ku.edu/hist557/lect3-4.htm
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.