[POTN] 3.3 - Truce of Andrusovo

The peace with Sweden in 1657, and the subsequent election of the pro-Polish Ivan Vyhovsky as the new Hetman provided the Commonwealth with much momentum. King Jan II Kazimierz, returning to his ruined capital of Warsaw, began planning counter-offensives to push the Russians back in Lithuania and Ukraine. After his election, Vyhovsky began negotiating with the King's representative, seeking to achieve Cossack autonomy under Polish rule, which he deemed a better alternative than a Cossack state under Russian rule.

Vyhovsky, with his assistant Yuri Nemyrych, soon drafted a proposal in 1658, for Cossack autonomy within the Commonwealth, and presented it to Warsaw's representatives. Following more negotiations, The Treaty of Hadiach was signed on 16th September, 1658, by representatives of both the Polish Crown and the Hetmanate. By the Treaty, the Cossacks would be elevated to be equal to Poland and Lithuania after the war, forming the Grand Principality of Rus', with the King of Poland as Grand Prince.

The Commonwealth shall henceforth become the Polish-Lithuanian-Ruthenian Commonwealth, with the Cossacks' territory stretching from Żytomierz to the eastern border with Russia, their capital set in Kijów. The Hetman of the Zaporizhian Host, elected for life, shall be the Governor of the Grand Principality, with the choice of every new Hetman to be confirmed by the King-Grand Prince.

Eastern Orthodox citizens shall also be given equal rights to that of Catholics, and they shall be allowed to hold governmental posts and seats in the Parliament. The Grand Principality shall not possess any rights in diplomacy, and shall not engage in relations with other nations independently.

Nonetheless, the Treaty was not received well by the Polish nobility when it arrived back in Warsaw later in the year. Many in the Sejm vehemently argued against the elevation of Ruthenia, believing that an Eastern Orthodox entity must never be risen to the same level as the two states in the Union of Lublin. King Jan II Kazimierz was largely forced by the Sejm to abandon the plan, but he still continued his military support for Vyhovsky's anti-Russian war. Meanwhile, allied with the Lithuanians, the Poles also managed to push back the Russians in occupied Lithuania, reaching Russian-occupied Vilnius in spring 1659.

Vyhovsky's forces also managed to secure a temporary alliance with the Khanate of Crimea against Russia. In mid-1659, the Crimean Tatars sent a large force to assist Vyhovsky's offensive against Russia, in order to outnumber the Russians in their counter-offensive. On 29th June, 1659, a massive battle broke out at Konotop. The Crimeans and Cossacks, along with supporting armies sent by the King in Warsaw, managed to massively outnumbered the Russians. The battle ended in a huge victory for Vyhovsky and his allies, and the Russians, now with their two best-equipped armies destroyed by the Swedes in Narva in 1656, and the Cossacks in Konotop in 1659, no longer had any capability to achieve a massive victory against the Commonwealth

Russians generals, stunned by the massive defeat, began their attempts to negotiate with the Poles without any pre-conditions. Tsar Alexei in Moscow also began taking a more passive approach to the war, and the Poles were able to retake much territory both by the Dnieper and in Lithuania. The reluctance of Warsaw to fulfill the Treaty of Hadiach, however, proved to be a major obstacle in any peace negotiations. The Crimean Tatars also refused to continue sending large armies to aid the Cossacks after a feud in late 1659, and the war entered a largely stalemate phase.

A pro-Russian revolt among the Cossack ranks, led by Yuri Khmelnytsky, son of the late Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky, shook the Cossack morale in early 1660. While Khmelnytsky failed to remove Vyhovsky from office entirely, his supporters, back by Russia, began sabotaging Vyhovsky's forces, who they accuse of "selling the Hetmanate to Poland". Many Cossack nobles, originally supporting Vyhovsky, had also become hesitant with Warsaw's delay of ratifying the Treaty of Hadiach. Some saw Warsaw's position as trying to postpone giving the Orthodox populace any power of their own, believing that Russia was their only true ally.

While Vyhovsky was continued to be supported by Warsaw and regarded as the legitimate Hetman, he was unable to regain control over all the Cossack territories. Pro-Russian forces occupied a large portion of left-bank Ukraine with Khmelnytsky's forces, and Vyhovsky was unable to cross the Dnieper to launch an attack. However, the Poles were making steady progress in Lithuania. In September 1660, the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius was recaptured from Russian hands, and the Poles were also able to push the Russians back in the Mińsk area.

By 1661, the opinion among the Muscovite nobles had already taken a significant turn. Many advisors of the Tsar were in favour of peace, as the Russians could no longer muster any offensive capability. While Russia could withstand a war of attrition with the Poles for a certain period of time, it could very well leave Russia vulnerable against attacks by Sweden or the Turks, and it was in September 1661 that the Tsar ordered for peace negotiations to begin.

Meanwhile, the King had also sent representatives to begin renewed negotiations with Vyhovsky in 1661. While the previous treaty was deemed unacceptable by the Polish nobles in the Sejm, the King was willing to negotiate a new treaty with Vyhovsky, ensuring Cossack autonomy while not formally introducing the Cossacks as an equal into the Commonwealth. A final plan was agreed in August 1661, with the details of Cossack autonomy largely left unchanged as in the Treaty of Hadiach in 1658. Yet, the Cossack territories are to form the Principality of Ruthenia instead, which shall remain under the Polish Crown, and thus preserving the two-state nature of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

The plan, after much debate, was eventually ratified by the Sejm in October 1661, paving the way to peace with Russia. Still, in the peace negotiations, Cossack officials were banned from participating directly, instead only allowed to watch as the negotiations between the Poles and the Russians. The Russians had no plans to continue fighting for the sake of Yuri Khmelnytsky, and were willing to abandon him at any time given enough incentives to. The Tsar merely wished to take little territories in order to brand the eight-year war as a victory, while the Poles, crippled by the Swedish invasion from 1655 to 1657, were more in need of cash than anything.

The Truce of Andrusovo was eventually signed on 9th February, 1662, by representatives of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Tsardom of Russia, detailing the following:

1) A truce of ten years was agreed between the Commonwealth and the Tsardom. Both states shall make adequate preparations in the following years, in order to negotiate an everlasting peace upon expiration of this Truce.

2) The Tsar of Russia shall declare his neutrality in the affairs concerning the Cossacks. The Cossack territories are recognised by the Tsar as rightful territories of the Commonwealth, and the Tsar shall consider the Cossacks' internal feud internal affairs of the Commonwealth.

3) The Commonwealth shall cede the sovereignty of the Voivodeship of Smoleńsk to Russia as a goodwill gesture. Russia shall protect the Catholic populace of the region, granting them the same rights as their Orthodox counterparts.

4) In return, Russia shall pay the Commonwealth a compensating totalling one million rubles, to be handed out across the coming ten years. The Poles shall be allowed to maintain a battalion in the city of Smoleńsk before the compensation is paid in full.

5) Russia shall recognise Ivan Vyhovsky as the sole rightful and legitimate Hetman of the Zaporizhian Host, serving under the Polish Crown. The Commonwealth, the Tsardom, and the Hetmanate shall form a defensive alliance in the event of Turkish aggression.

After the truce, the remaining Russian forces left the Commonwealth's territory in the next two months. Yet, true to their notorious brutality, the Russians continued their looting and destruction even on their way out, damaging the Commonwealth even further. The Commonwealth, while emerging from the decade-long war largely intact in territories, suffered an unprecedented disaster from the brutality of the Swedes and the Russians. The vast majority of the Polish national wealth had been looted by the Swedes, and an entire generation in Swedish-occupied territories was decimated by Prince Karl's deadly tactics. Thousands of hectares of land across the Commonwealth was burnt by the Swedes and the Russians, leaving the Commonwealth in a long-lasting economic, demographic, food, and housing crisis.

Truce of Andrusovo (1662)