Treaty of Offensive Alliance between Russia and Poland
Description of Terms
The three parties pledged an offensive alliance until the war
came to an end. The pope would be the protector of this
alliance and would observe agreements between the parties. As
long as the league existed, no signatory would deal separately
with the Turks.
The Holy Roman Emperor and Poland would attack by land
and Venice by sea. If one party found itself in great danger, the
other would rescue it. Everything gained by each party would be
theirs even though what had been gained might have belonged
to another alliance member previously. Other Christian princes
would be asked to join the alliance, especially the two tsars of
Muscovy. This alliance would not interfere with previous
treaties signed between the parties.
1.1038 Treaty of Offensive Alliance between
Russia and Poland
Alliance Members:Russia and Poland
Signed On:April 26, 1686, in the city of Moscow
Alliance Type:Defense Pact (Type I)
Source:Consolidated Treaty Series,vol. 17, p. 491.
SUMMARY
Russia and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth signed the Treaty of
Eternal Peace in Moscow in 1686. The terms of the agreement resolved
the issue of territorial holdings in present-day Ukraine, with Poland
holding the western bank of the Dnieper River and Russia maintaining
the eastern bank.
By signing on to the alliance, Russia also entered into the war of the
Holy League on the side of Venice, the Holy Roman Empire, and
Poland against the Ottoman Empire. The series of conflicts between
Russia and the Turks formed the Russo-Turkish War, lasting from
1686 to 1700. The allied efforts resulted in the Treaty of Karlowitz, in
which the Ottoman Empire ceded many of its European holdings to
the allied powers. After the war, Poland retrieved Podolia from the
Turks, and Russia via a later treaty signed in Constantinople was
allowed to keep territory annexed from the Turks near the Black Sea.
Immediately after Russia’s resolution of its conflict with Turkey, Russia
turned its attention to Sweden and the Great Northern War. Poland
and Russia remained allied except for the period when Charles XII of
Sweden installed Stanislaus as Polish king.
Description of Terms
The titles of tsars and the king of Poland should be solved so
there are no more problems on the subject. The Poles pledged
to give to the Muscovites the palatinates of Kiovie and
Smolensko and other minor places specified in the treaty. The
farmers of the transferred territories would be faithful to the
recipient crown, and rebels would not receive protection from
either side.
The tsars agreed to pay 1,500,000 rubles in two equal pay-
ments. The places along the Boriftene from Kiovie until the
river of Tazmin juts by Czecherin would remain as is. The
Catholics in the faubourgs of Kiovie and Smolensko would have
freedom of religion. The tsars promised to declare war on the
Turks, the Tartars of Crimea. If the Russians were attacked by
the Turks, the Poles would send an army and vice versa. The
tsars would advise the Turks of the alliance and declare war on
them if they did not return the usurped territories. The tsars
would engage themselves not to make peace with the unfaithful.
Russia pledged to send ambassadors to France, England, and
Denmark so that they might join the alliance against the
Ottoman Empire. If peace was settled with the Turks and a
member of the alliance would go to war again, the other mem-
bers would not have to declare.
Commerce would be reestablished. Debts would be honored.
Peace and good correspondence would be established on the
frontier. No secret assistance would be provided to enemies, and
no Russian would be admitted in the Polish army and vice
versa. Poland would not bring alcohol and tobacco into Russia.
A post system would be established between the tsars and the
king. The treaty was set to last to perpetuity, even after the
princes died.1.1039 Alliance among the Holy Roman
Empire, Spain, Sweden, and Bavaria
Alliance Members:Holy Roman Empire, Spain, Sweden, and Bavaria
Signed On:June 29, 1686, in the city of Augsburg (Germany)
Alliance Type:Defense Pact (Type I)
Source:Consolidated Treaty Series,vol. 18, p. 21.SUMMARY
The League of Augsburg was formed by Sweden, Spain, and various
German states of the Holy Roman Empire in 1686 at the behest of
Emperor Leopold II as a means of checking French expansion into
what was then Germany, principally the Palatinate. Three years later,
the alliance added England and the Dutch Republic, additions
driven mostly by William III’s hostility toward France following the
Franco-Dutch War; the League thus evolved into a new agreement
known as the Grand Alliance.
Soon after the alliance’s formation in 1686, France took advantage of
Leopold’s absence in Europe to wage war against the Turks and invade
the Palatinate. The Nine Years War followed, with all the alliance
members fighting against the French. Hostilities ended with the Treaty
of Ryswick. The alliance was renewed in The Hague in 1701 during the
War of the Spanish Succession, which again pitted most of the original
members against France.
The alliance did not live on after the War of the Spanish Succession.
Spain had become an ally of France, Sweden was mired in war with
Russia, and Great Britain grew weary of financing wars.Description of Terms
The parties pledged a good and faithful correspondence among
all members. The parties affirmed that the treaty was for mutual
defense and aimed not to cause troubles but to preserve peace
and security. The alliance also guaranteed the Treaty of