In 1686, Russia and Poland entered into the Eternal Peace. He put an end to the numerous and lengthy wars of neighboring countries for influence in the border regions. The agreement secured the strengthening of Russia and the return to it of part of Ukraine and Smolensk.
Shaky world
In 1654-1667 years. Russia and the Commonwealth were in a state of exhausting war. Powers argued over the frontier lands claimed by each of the countries. The eternal peace with Poland in 1686 became an agreement confirming the results of this conflict. In fact, he duplicated the provisions of a document signed in the village of Andrusovo in 1667. If the first treaty was only a temporary 13-year truce (which was fixed in one of the clauses), then the Eternal Peace with Poland in 1686 secured the reconciliation of the two countries and their political rapprochement.
According to the agreements reached, Russia received Novgorod-Seversky, Smolensk, Left-Bank Ukraine and Kiev (located on the right bank of the Dnieper). For Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, at one time it was a real historical triumph. He returned the lands that were once part of a single Old Russian state. They were annexed to Lithuania when the Eastern Slavic principalities were fragmented and not consolidated. At the end of the XIV century. the rulers of Vilnius entered into a union with Poland, after which Moscow, and then Russia, received powerful force at its western borders.
Reunion with Ukraine
Particularly important was the fact that the Eternal World with Poland in 1686 returned Smolensk to Russia. This city was first conquered from Lithuania by Vasily III, and then again lost in the era of the Time of Troubles. With the restoration of stability in Russia, the Romanovs appeared on the Moscow throne. The second tsar from this dynasty - Alexei Mikhailovich - now restored historical justice, and with his daughter Sofya it was fixed.
In the second half of the XVII century, Polish Ukraine began to shake the uprisings of local nationalists, gravitating to Moscow. Hetman Bogdan Khmelnitsky became their leader. Many years of struggle ended only when the Eternal Peace was concluded with Poland. 1686 was a festive date for Ukrainians. Their conflict with the Poles matured on the basis of confessional (some were Orthodox, while others were Catholics) and linguistic differences.
Section of Cossack lands
Nevertheless, Poland retained the Right-Bank Ukraine. The section only widened the gap between the two parts of the country, the border between which became the Dnieper. The consolidation of the new political state of affairs in the region was facilitated by the Eternal Peace with Poland (1686). The result of lengthy negotiations was that the Zaporizhzhya Sich became a buffer between the two powers. This was an important region in which the free Cossacks lived. Atamans and their armies were a reliable defense against the Ottoman Empire, which strengthened its influence in the Black Sea region.
Turkey became the very force that contributed to the rapprochement of Poland with Russia and the conclusion of their mutual peace treaty. In 1672, when the negotiations in Andrusovo had already ended, and it was still unclear how the situation would develop, the Muslims captured Kamenetz-Podolsky, which before that belonged to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. After that, the Turks began to systematically attack the Cossack lands, which were in the zone of interests of Russia. It became clear that it was time for the two Christian countries to smooth over their own contradictions and join forces in the fight against the Ottoman threat.
Turkish threat
The Turks continued to fight with all of Europe. In 1683, they even tried to besiege Vienna - the capital of Austria and the powerful Habsburg dynasty. A general coalition against Istanbul began to take shape. The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which was in the most vulnerable position, did not want to recognize the results of the last war with Russia, after which the Romanovs returned Smolensk and other important Russian lands.
But in the new conditions, when the southern Polish cities suffered from raids by Turks and Tatars, the monarchy decided to reconsider their attitude to agreements with Moscow. The central government, sensing the approach to the denouement, even convened the last Zemsky Sobor in the country's history. At its meeting, the conditions of the Eternal Peace with Poland in 1686 were to be discussed.
Contract signing
The final stage of negotiations with the Poles came during the regency of Tsarina Sophia, the eldest daughter of Alexei Mikhailovich. She put at the head of the Ambassadorial order her favorite, Prince Golitsyn. He, in direct contact with the sent foreign delegates, insisted that Russia would join the anti-Turkish union only if the Commonwealth finally confirmed the terms of the former Andrus Treaty.
These proposals were accepted. The royal ambassadors decided not to bargain in conditions when their country was on the verge of ruin due to the war with the Turks. So the Eternal Peace was agreed with Poland (1686). Where is this document important for Russian history signed? He was imprisoned in Moscow on May 6. According to the agreements, Russia joined the alliance of European countries that fought with the Ottoman Empire. In 1687 and 1689, the famous Crimean campaigns took place , headed by the same Prince Golitsyn.