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Bar Confederation in Crimea

The Bar Confederation in Crimea (Bar Confederates in the Crimean Khanate) — military-political process of interaction between defeated Polish szlachta and the Crimean Khanate and Ottoman Empire in 1768–1772 during military confrontation with the russian empire.

Overview

In 1768, in the Podolian town of Bar, an uprising of conservative szlachta (the Bar Confederation) broke out, directed against the pro-russian King Stanisław Poniatowski and russian imperial interference in the internal affairs of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (specifically concerning religious rescripts equalizing rights of Orthodox and Catholics).

After the suppression of the confederation by russian troops, the defeated szlachta was forced to retreat southward — into the domain of the Crimean Khanate and Ottoman Empire. Despite long historical enmity, delegations of Confederates managed to convince the Ottoman Empire and Crimean Khanate to conclude a military-political alliance against their common enemy — the russian empire. Among the Confederates who ended up within the Crimean Khanate was the well-known adventurer Maurice Benyovszky.

Key Details / Subtopics

  • Prerequisites and outbreak of uprising (1768): creation of the Bar Confederation in response to russian pressure and the reformist pro-russian policy of Stanisław Poniatowski.
  • Diplomacy and alliance with Crimean Khanate and Ottoman Empire: retreat of Confederates southward and negotiations with the Khan and Ottoman officials; involvement of Crimean Khanate in the russo-Turkish War (1768–1774).
  • Presence of Bar Confederates in Crimea: participation in military actions, regrouping, and formation of detachments on southern borders and within the Khanate's domains (specifically activities of Maurice Benyovszky).
  • Consequences and Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca: suppression of uprising, defeat of the Ottoman-Crimean alliance in the war with russia, leading to the signing of Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca (1774), undermining of Crimean Khanate independence, and First Partition of Poland (1772).
  • Both Bar and Madagascar — article by Valeriy Verkhovskyi (Krymska Svitlytsia, 2018, No. 40) on the connection of the Bar Confederation with the Crimean Khanate.
  • Maurice Benyovszky — hussar and participant of the Bar Confederation who ended up in the domains of the Crimean Khanate.
  • Stanisław Poniatowski — King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth against whom the Bar Confederation uprising was directed.
  • King and Khan — fates of Stanisław Poniatowski and Khan Şahin Giray under conditions of russian imperial expansion.