29. The war. #6. Still 1771
29. The war. #6. Still 1771
Austria. The year of 1770, with the Russian victories on the land and sea, was quite troublesome for the Austrian interests, as being seen by Joseph II, Maria Theresa and von Kaunitz.
The Russian troops had been presently occupying Moldavia and Walachia, the territories which the Hapsburgs would like to occupy themselves. Well, of course if they somehow managed to beat the Ottomans. And because this precondition was not realistic, the important task was not let Russia to get these regions and, as a compensation, to get some piece of the Ottoman territory, no matter how small and valueless. And, speaking of getting something, it would be desirable to get some valuable piece of the PLC.
Of course, all that had to be accomplished without going to war with Russia, just by a mere demonstration of what could pass for the Austrian military muscle, which would be meaningful if the Russians are fully engaged against the Ottomans and in the PLC . To implement this stratagem, in 1771 Austria signed military alliance with the Ottomans by which:
Prussia. After the 7YW Frederick became more restrained in his methods but not in his desires. He did not want participate in a war against the Ottoman Empire for which he was going to be “rewarded” with Warmia, about which he commented that “it is not worthy of an effort” but he wanted a much bigger piece of the Polish territory without going to any war. His desire was the Polish Prussia and he was “generously” agreeing to the exclusion of Danzig. Indeed, why bother if possession of the Vistula would give him control of the Polish trade? Warmia would be just an insignificant part of a deal.
After the years of the letters exchange and diplomatic dances leading nowhere, he decided to achieve his goal by sending to St. Petersburg a “heavy artillery”, his brother Prince Henry of Prussia. Besides his high position, Prince Henry had a high reputation as a talented military commander and quite intelligent person. He came to the Russian capital preparing himself to a charm offensive in what was going to be an uphill battle but, to his great surprise, he found that, except for the “Panin’s faction”, the Russian Cabinet and, most important, Catherine herself, are quite willing to listen and accept what would amount to the “reasonable proposals” regarding cutting off the pieces of the PLC territory. Panin kept blabbing but it became absolutely clear that his opinions on the subject will not be listened to: Catherine was clearly in charge and the decisions would be her own. Panin’s role would be limited to the technicalities.
The main issue was Austrian-Ottoman alliance and resulting Austrian attempts to blackmail Russian Empire, which are not going to be tolerated. If the King of Prussia uses his newly-found friendship with Emperor Joseph to convince him to stop meddling into the Russian-Ottoman affairs, then the Austrian concerns could be addressed in a mutually agreeable manner. The rest, namely the specifics of who is going to get what, at the Polish expense, are not going to be a problem if all interesting parties will behave rationally.
With these cheerful news Prince Henry left for Prussia.
Russia. Catherine never liked to make the rash decisions so it took her a while but by 1771 she came to a firm conclusion that continuation of the “Northern System” in its Polish part does not make any sense. Russian Empire had been spending a lot of money and engaging considerable number of troops to maintain its status of the protector of Polish territorial integrity and “constitution” getting in exchange only hatred. And not only from the confederates but also from King Stanislaw-August whom these confederates wanted to either assassinate or at least depose. Why bother with the people who were ready to promise a big chunk of their territory to the Ottoman Empire as a compensation for helping to remove the protection clause and had plans, with the Ottoman help to invade Russian territory and capture Smolensk and other cities on the Russian Western border? And why bother with supporting the king who reneged on all his promises and refused to do anything against these confederates? Even worse, it was reported that the landowners of the Southern voyevodships were encouraged by him not to provide supplies to the Russian 1st Army.
It was a good time to abandon the obviously wrong course and to take advantage of the emerging opportunities but this should not look like Catherine is caving to the Austrian and Prussian pressure. Austrian bluff with concentrating troops on the Moldavian and Wallachian borders must be called.
The order was sent to the Russian troops engaged against the confederates to stop their activities and march to the area of the Kiev, Wolynia, Podolia and Braclaw voyevodships. They would have to be completely cleansed of any sight of the confederates and their supporters and the occupation force must not let either Polish or Austrian troops into that territory. So far, these troops had been arranged into three independent corps units operating in various parts of the PLC. They were now forming a new army, approximately 35,000 strong under command of lieutenant-general Alexander Bibikov, promoted into full general. Taking into an account the size of a territory, he was going to get up to 5,000 reinforcements, mostly the troops held as the garrisons in the main Russian towns which become available after the regular police force was created.
The Bibikov’s army was expected to be adequate for preventing the Austrians from being adventurous beyond the “reasonable limits”. The areas occupied were not (as far as Prince Henry knew) within the Austrian definition of these limits and the most encouraging was a report that Emperor Joseph II ordered to make carriages for travel to his troops on a border: there was a good reason to assume that his personal presence and direct involvement will create enough of a mess to prevent any aggressive Austrian actions against the Russian troops.
However, because in the new situation the serious military activities were rather unlikely, some of the officers were permitted to join the 1st Army where, as a result of the diseases and active fighting, was a clear shortage in the experienced commanders. The highest in rank among them was major-general Alexander Suvorov who started campaign in the PLC as a colonel and was speedily promoted due to his obvious military talent and outstanding energy.
With Prussians acting as the intermediaries, the touchy issue of the Danubian Principalities was addressed. Catherine did not plan to annex them (or at least not the territories to the West of the Prut River), which removed the main Austrian fear. A condition that the Russian approval would be needed for appointing the rulers of Moldavia and Walachia was a little bit itchy but it was acceptable. However, there was one more aspect of the problem: during his operations in the region Rumyantsev was promising Russian protection to the locals to get their cooperation. Leaving them at the Ottomans mercy would be shameful but having the Russian-approved rulers would, supposedly, resolve that problem. Besides, the big numbers of the locals had been already moved to Bessarabia, an area between the Dniester and Prut abandoned by the Edisan Horde, which, upon its request, had been moving back to its old habitat on the Northern shore of the Sea of Azov.
The slices of the Polish pie had been defined. Each participant got his/her piece and even before the Polish government was informed about rearrangement of the PLC borders, the Austrian and Prussian troops entered its territory. Which immediately created a very interesting problem for the Hapsburgs: their dear ally, Louis XV, sent few French officers to train the confederate troops and it just happened that their main area of activities was in the Krakow voyewodship, part of which Joseph was planning to appropriate together with Galicia. Of course, the Austrians, being the Catholics and “civilized”, had been immeasurably better than the Russian schismatics and they were even encouraging the Bar confederates by providing them with a safe heaven, but they were adamantly against any action against Stanislaw-August personally and for Pulaski and his friends this was a big problem. Potentially, for the Prussians as well because their piece of the pie was close to the Yasna Gora, Pulaski’s base of the operations. The French also had been in a rather confusing situation but this was not Catherine’s problem.
As a gesture of a good will Catherine, declared that, due to the clearly expressed wish of the “Polish people”, she voluntarily eliminates the clause of the Russian protection adopted by the last Sejm. From now on the dear Poles are completely free to do whatever they want. Only ignorance of Japanese language prevented her from ending the declaration with “sayonara”.
“The Habsburgs now have a man, and she is a woman…”
Frederick II
“While other nations do battle, you lucky Austria, you wed.”
Maria Theresa
“I do not need your consent for doing good.”
“Let my epitaph be, "Here lies Joseph, who failed in everything he undertook."”
Joseph II
“That was very good of him.”
Wenzel Anton Prince Fürst von Kaunitz-Rietberg when told about the death of Joseph II
“Austria will never give up either its position or its rights in favor of any political system originating outside its borders.”
“Every state is sovereign in its own sphere.”
“In politics, it is necessary to combine the goal with the means and not to forget the means while pursuing the goal.”
“Nationalism is the megalomania of small nations.”
“Chaos is the result of weaknesses.”
Klemens von Metternich
“In that case nobody will get you!”
from as old tragedy
“I’m serving all my allies the Austrian style.”
from an old verse
Frederick II
“While other nations do battle, you lucky Austria, you wed.”
Maria Theresa
“I do not need your consent for doing good.”
“Let my epitaph be, "Here lies Joseph, who failed in everything he undertook."”
Joseph II
“That was very good of him.”
Wenzel Anton Prince Fürst von Kaunitz-Rietberg when told about the death of Joseph II
“Austria will never give up either its position or its rights in favor of any political system originating outside its borders.”
“Every state is sovereign in its own sphere.”
“In politics, it is necessary to combine the goal with the means and not to forget the means while pursuing the goal.”
“Nationalism is the megalomania of small nations.”
“Chaos is the result of weaknesses.”
Klemens von Metternich
“In that case nobody will get you!”
from as old tragedy
“I’m serving all my allies the Austrian style.”
from an old verse
Austria. The year of 1770, with the Russian victories on the land and sea, was quite troublesome for the Austrian interests, as being seen by Joseph II, Maria Theresa and von Kaunitz.
The Russian troops had been presently occupying Moldavia and Walachia, the territories which the Hapsburgs would like to occupy themselves. Well, of course if they somehow managed to beat the Ottomans. And because this precondition was not realistic, the important task was not let Russia to get these regions and, as a compensation, to get some piece of the Ottoman territory, no matter how small and valueless. And, speaking of getting something, it would be desirable to get some valuable piece of the PLC.
Of course, all that had to be accomplished without going to war with Russia, just by a mere demonstration of what could pass for the Austrian military muscle, which would be meaningful if the Russians are fully engaged against the Ottomans and in the PLC . To implement this stratagem, in 1771 Austria signed military alliance with the Ottomans by which:
- Austria paid the Ottomans subsidies;
- Austria promised unsubstantiated support to the Ottomans against Russia;
- Austria maintained increased military presence on its border with Moldavia and Wallachia;
- Austria got Bukovina District from the Ottomans (on the map above it is a small pimple on the left, to the east from Galicia and Transylvania. Its population was approximately 75,000, predominantly the Orthodox Christians, Ruthenians (Ukrainians) and Wallachians (Romanians) and overwhelmingly agricultural. Not a big acquisition but, OTOH, the services granted also did not amount for too much.
Prussia. After the 7YW Frederick became more restrained in his methods but not in his desires. He did not want participate in a war against the Ottoman Empire for which he was going to be “rewarded” with Warmia, about which he commented that “it is not worthy of an effort” but he wanted a much bigger piece of the Polish territory without going to any war. His desire was the Polish Prussia and he was “generously” agreeing to the exclusion of Danzig. Indeed, why bother if possession of the Vistula would give him control of the Polish trade? Warmia would be just an insignificant part of a deal.
After the years of the letters exchange and diplomatic dances leading nowhere, he decided to achieve his goal by sending to St. Petersburg a “heavy artillery”, his brother Prince Henry of Prussia. Besides his high position, Prince Henry had a high reputation as a talented military commander and quite intelligent person. He came to the Russian capital preparing himself to a charm offensive in what was going to be an uphill battle but, to his great surprise, he found that, except for the “Panin’s faction”, the Russian Cabinet and, most important, Catherine herself, are quite willing to listen and accept what would amount to the “reasonable proposals” regarding cutting off the pieces of the PLC territory. Panin kept blabbing but it became absolutely clear that his opinions on the subject will not be listened to: Catherine was clearly in charge and the decisions would be her own. Panin’s role would be limited to the technicalities.
The main issue was Austrian-Ottoman alliance and resulting Austrian attempts to blackmail Russian Empire, which are not going to be tolerated. If the King of Prussia uses his newly-found friendship with Emperor Joseph to convince him to stop meddling into the Russian-Ottoman affairs, then the Austrian concerns could be addressed in a mutually agreeable manner. The rest, namely the specifics of who is going to get what, at the Polish expense, are not going to be a problem if all interesting parties will behave rationally.
With these cheerful news Prince Henry left for Prussia.
Russia. Catherine never liked to make the rash decisions so it took her a while but by 1771 she came to a firm conclusion that continuation of the “Northern System” in its Polish part does not make any sense. Russian Empire had been spending a lot of money and engaging considerable number of troops to maintain its status of the protector of Polish territorial integrity and “constitution” getting in exchange only hatred. And not only from the confederates but also from King Stanislaw-August whom these confederates wanted to either assassinate or at least depose. Why bother with the people who were ready to promise a big chunk of their territory to the Ottoman Empire as a compensation for helping to remove the protection clause and had plans, with the Ottoman help to invade Russian territory and capture Smolensk and other cities on the Russian Western border? And why bother with supporting the king who reneged on all his promises and refused to do anything against these confederates? Even worse, it was reported that the landowners of the Southern voyevodships were encouraged by him not to provide supplies to the Russian 1st Army.
It was a good time to abandon the obviously wrong course and to take advantage of the emerging opportunities but this should not look like Catherine is caving to the Austrian and Prussian pressure. Austrian bluff with concentrating troops on the Moldavian and Wallachian borders must be called.
The order was sent to the Russian troops engaged against the confederates to stop their activities and march to the area of the Kiev, Wolynia, Podolia and Braclaw voyevodships. They would have to be completely cleansed of any sight of the confederates and their supporters and the occupation force must not let either Polish or Austrian troops into that territory. So far, these troops had been arranged into three independent corps units operating in various parts of the PLC. They were now forming a new army, approximately 35,000 strong under command of lieutenant-general Alexander Bibikov, promoted into full general. Taking into an account the size of a territory, he was going to get up to 5,000 reinforcements, mostly the troops held as the garrisons in the main Russian towns which become available after the regular police force was created.
The Bibikov’s army was expected to be adequate for preventing the Austrians from being adventurous beyond the “reasonable limits”. The areas occupied were not (as far as Prince Henry knew) within the Austrian definition of these limits and the most encouraging was a report that Emperor Joseph II ordered to make carriages for travel to his troops on a border: there was a good reason to assume that his personal presence and direct involvement will create enough of a mess to prevent any aggressive Austrian actions against the Russian troops.
However, because in the new situation the serious military activities were rather unlikely, some of the officers were permitted to join the 1st Army where, as a result of the diseases and active fighting, was a clear shortage in the experienced commanders. The highest in rank among them was major-general Alexander Suvorov who started campaign in the PLC as a colonel and was speedily promoted due to his obvious military talent and outstanding energy.
With Prussians acting as the intermediaries, the touchy issue of the Danubian Principalities was addressed. Catherine did not plan to annex them (or at least not the territories to the West of the Prut River), which removed the main Austrian fear. A condition that the Russian approval would be needed for appointing the rulers of Moldavia and Walachia was a little bit itchy but it was acceptable. However, there was one more aspect of the problem: during his operations in the region Rumyantsev was promising Russian protection to the locals to get their cooperation. Leaving them at the Ottomans mercy would be shameful but having the Russian-approved rulers would, supposedly, resolve that problem. Besides, the big numbers of the locals had been already moved to Bessarabia, an area between the Dniester and Prut abandoned by the Edisan Horde, which, upon its request, had been moving back to its old habitat on the Northern shore of the Sea of Azov.
The slices of the Polish pie had been defined. Each participant got his/her piece and even before the Polish government was informed about rearrangement of the PLC borders, the Austrian and Prussian troops entered its territory. Which immediately created a very interesting problem for the Hapsburgs: their dear ally, Louis XV, sent few French officers to train the confederate troops and it just happened that their main area of activities was in the Krakow voyewodship, part of which Joseph was planning to appropriate together with Galicia. Of course, the Austrians, being the Catholics and “civilized”, had been immeasurably better than the Russian schismatics and they were even encouraging the Bar confederates by providing them with a safe heaven, but they were adamantly against any action against Stanislaw-August personally and for Pulaski and his friends this was a big problem. Potentially, for the Prussians as well because their piece of the pie was close to the Yasna Gora, Pulaski’s base of the operations. The French also had been in a rather confusing situation but this was not Catherine’s problem.
As a gesture of a good will Catherine, declared that, due to the clearly expressed wish of the “Polish people”, she voluntarily eliminates the clause of the Russian protection adopted by the last Sejm. From now on the dear Poles are completely free to do whatever they want. Only ignorance of Japanese language prevented her from ending the declaration with “sayonara”.
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