PINYL #16: 'The Fight For Poland's Soul'
Added 2020-08-10 05:01:00 +0000 UTC[PATRONS]
In this episode, we examine the years 1718-1719, as the Treaty of Vienna group, consisting of George of Hanover, the Holy Roman Emperor and the Elector of Saxony, moved to cement their alliance against the Russians. Peter, it seemed, was alone against this bloc, and the war against Sweden seemed to fade into the background. But all was not lost for the Tsar. A campaign of unprecedented scope and scale was now aimed at Poland. It was not military, but moral. If Augustus, the Elector of Saxony, could get the Commonwealth on side, and if he could persuade the Sejm of January 1720 to confirm the Treaty of Vienna, then Russia would be in deep trouble.
If, on the other hand, the Poles were persuaded to distance themselves from the Treaty of Vienna, then Russia would enjoy a large buffer at the centre of its disputes with the Germans. As all involved puled in their allies, the conflict against Russia threatened to widen. Sweden, so it was said, was on the shortlist of allies that George of Hanover wished to recruit. The fact that Sweden had so recently been the bugbear of Europe no longer seemed to matter, because now, that spot had been taken by Peter's Russia. All now epended upon Poland - would they join the alliance against Russia, or would they remain aloof, thereby letting the Tsar away with it? Nothing was guaranteed, and it was all to play for, as the 1710s came to an end...
