The Bar Confederation (Polish: Konfederacja barska; 1768–1772) was an association of Polish nobles (szlachta) formed at the fortress of Bar in Podolia (now Ukraine), in 1768 to defend the internal and external independence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth against Russian political influence and against King Stanislaus II Augustus with Polish reformers, who were attempting to limit the power of the Commonwealth's wealthy magnates.
The founders of the Bar Confederation included the magnates Adam Stanisław Krasiński, the bishop of Kamieniec, Karol Stanisław Radziwiłł, Casimir Pulaski, his father and brothers and Michał Hieronim Krasiński. Its creation led to a civil war and contributed to the First Partition of Poland. Maurice Benyovszky was the best known European Bar Confederation volunteer, supported by Roman Catholic France and Austria. Some historians consider the Bar Confederation the first Polish uprising.
At the end of the Seven Years' War (1756–1763), Russia, first allied with Austria and France, had decided to support Prussia, allowing a victory of the Prussians (allied with Great Britain) over the Austrians (allied with France).
On 11 April 1764, a new treaty was signed between Frederick II of Prussia and Catherine II of Russia, choosing Stanislaus Poniatowski (ex-lover of Catherine II) as the future king of Poland after Augustus III's death (October 1763).
Neither France nor Austria were able to challenge this candidate and Stanislaus was elected in October 1764.
Following the deposition of the Swedish client king Stanislaus I, early 18th-century Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth had declined from the status of a major European power to that of a Russian satellite state, with the Russian tsar effectively choosing Polish–Lithuanian monarchs during the "free" elections and deciding the direction of much of Poland–Lithuania's internal politics, for example during the Repnin Sejm (1767–1768), named after the Russian ambassador who unofficially presided over the proceedings.
During this session, the Polish–Lithuanian parliament was forced to pass resolutions demanded by the Russians. Many of the conservative nobility felt anger at that foreign interference, at the perceived weakness of the government under king Stanislaus Augustus, and at the provisions, particularly the ones that empowered non-Catholics, and at other reforms which they saw as threatening the szlachta's Golden Liberty.
The protectorate of Russia over Poland–Lithuania became official with the Traktat wieczystej przyjaźni pomiędzy Rosją a Rzecząpospolitą (lit. 'Treaty of perpetual friendship between Russia and the Commonwealth') which the Repnin Sejm accepted without debate on 27 February 1768.
Creation of the Bar Confederation (29 February 1768)
In response to that, and particularly after Russian troops arrested and exiled several vocal opponents (namely bishop of Kyiv Józef Andrzej Załuski, bishop of Cracow Kajetan Sołtyk, and Field Crown Hetman Wacław Rzewuski with his son Seweryn), a group of Polish magnates decided to form a confederatio – a military association opposing the government in accordance with Polish constitutional traditions. The articles of the confederation were signed on 29 February 1768 at the fortress of Bar in Podolia.
The instigators of the confederation included Adam Krasiński, Bishop of Kamieniec, his brother Michał Hieronim Krasiński, Casimir Pulaski, Kajetan Sołtyk, Wacław Rzewuski, Michał Jan Pac, Jozef Miaczinsky, Jerzy August Mniszech, Joachim Potocki and Teodor Wessel. Father Jandołowicz was a notable religious leader, and Michał Wielhorski the Confederation's political ideologue.
Civil war and foreign interventions
The confederation, encouraged and aided by Roman Catholic France and Austria, declared war on Russia. Its irregular forces, formed from volunteers, magnate militias and deserters from the royal army, soon clashed with the Russian troops and units loyal to the Polish crown. Confederation forces under Michał Jan Pac and Prince Karol Stanisław Radziwiłł roamed the land in every direction, won several engagements with the Russians, and at last, utterly ignoring the King, sent envoys on their own account to the principal European powers, i.e. Ottoman Empire, the major ally of Bar confederation, France and Austria.
King Stanislaus Augustus was at first inclined to mediate between the Confederates and Russia, the latter represented by the Russian envoy to Warsaw, Prince Nikolai Repnin; but finding this impossible, he sent a force against them under Grand Hetman Franciszek Ksawery Branicki and two generals against the confederates. This marked the Ukrainian campaign, which lasted from April till June 1768, and was ended with the capture of Bar on 20 June. Confederation forces retreated to Moldavia. There was also a pro-Confederation force in Lesser Poland, that operated from June till August, that ended with the royal forces securing Kraków on 22 August, followed by a period of conflict in Belarus (August–October), that ended with the surrender of Nesvizh on 26 October.
The simultaneous outbreak of the Koliivshchyna in Ukraine (May 1768 – June 1769) made major confederation forces retreat to Ottoman Empire beforehand and kept the Confederation alive.
The Confederates appealed for help from abroad and contributed to bringing about war between Russia and the Ottoman Empire (the Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774) that began in September).
The retreat of some Russian forces needed on the Ottoman front bolstered the confederates, who reappeared in force in Lesser and Greater Polands by 1769. In 1770 the Council of Bar Confederation transferred from its original seat in Austrian part of Silesia to Hungary, whence it conducted diplomatic negotiations with France, Austria and Turkey with a view to forming a stable league against Russia. The council proclaimed the king dethroned on 22 October 1770. The court of Versailles sent Charles François Dumouriez to act as an aid to the Confederates, and he helped them organise their forces. He fortified several fortresses around Kraków (Tyniec, Lanckorona, Częstochowa) and formed a Confederate infantry detachment to protect the warehouses in Podolia.
The Confederates began operating in Lithuania, although after early successes that direction too met with failures, with defeats at Białystok on 16 July and Orzechowo on 13 September 1769. Early 1770 saw the defeats of confederates in Greater Poland, after the battle of Dobra (20 January) and Błonie (12 February), which forced them into a mostly defensive, passive stance.