February 3rd, 1703: The Royal Castle, Warsaw
The frozen winter air blew through the stone halls of the castle. Great baroque drapes turned and tossed, buffeted by the wind. The screeching and whistling of the wind as it squeezed through crevices and cracks sounded like nothing so much as an avenging spirit. A lone figure, clothed in the finery of a royal servant, hurried down the corridor, buffeted by the wind, and struggled to force shut the window. Eventually, he was successful.
Down the hallway, and through a door, the assembled szlachta breathed a noticeable sigh of relief. The infernal cry of the elements rendered all their wealth and power useless in its face; however, in the realm of man, they were supreme. They, and the rest of the Sejm they dominated, had assembled to elect a king. August was not dead – far from it, he still terrorized them in the night – but all agreed he had forfeited his right to rule. They were not so unanimous in who should succeed him.
Many magnates won great glory and standing for themselves in the Warsaw Rokosz. Almost as many died in the Warsaw Rokosz. Magnate families spearheaded by widows and minorities still had influence, even if it was reduced, but no chance at a royal title. The only two families with the resources and influence to stand a snowball’s chance were the Sapiehas and the Czartoryskis.
Kazimierz Czartoryski’s family was incredibly influential. La Familia, as they were known, had infiltrated the highest reaches of government and power. He had also gained great renown for his actions in leading the Warsaw Rokosz. The Swedish Chancellor Gyldenstolpe sent him what funds could be spared from the war effort: Sweden much preferred an ally they had already worked with to a complete unkown.
Aleksander Sapieha could draw on the support of his family, and gained a great boon from the treason of his traditional familial enemies. However, he was not much loved, if respected. Friedrich Wilhelm, in an attempt to destabilize the kingdom, supported him – not in any hope of success, but to stoke tensions within the Commonwealth.
Prussian money, however, only swayed so many. Kazimierz won convincingly on the first vote. He was crowned Kazimierz IV, in remembrance of Kazimierz the Great, on February 4th, 1703. There was much rejoicing.
The Coronation of Kazimierz IV by Jacques-Louis David
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February 10th, 1703: The Royal Castle, Warsaw
Kazimierz IV, the King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and ostensibly its most powerful individual, ran his hands through his hair. Then he rested his head in his left hand, and stared at the useless Sejm in front of him.
The Sejm had not supported his proposals. He had proposed a policy of toleration with the rebels in the east. A small, catholic polonized plurality could not, in the long run, keep control of a large latvin orthodox and uniate population. But the magnates, in their arrogance, did not see that. They thought it was possible.
Kazimierz thought back a mere half hour:
“The Sejm has decided that the King shall lead an army to suppress the unlawful Vitebsk Confederation.” proclaimed Aleksander Sapieha, his eyes daring Kazimierz to object.
“So be it.” Kazimierz replied, “However, the current funding, the current army size, they are not enough. The King’s estates have been wrung dry. I request a small tax increase to fund the expedition.” The tension in the room was palpable.
“We fought to rid ourselves of one tax increase. We shall not have another.”
Now the Sejm finished deliberating on what to do with the lands of those who had sided with August. Some 80% of the assembled szlachta agreed that the lands should be confiscated – but to who? The most popular proposal was that the lands default to those next in the line of succession of each family, but there were others. One proposal was that the lands default to the office of the king. Another was that they be divided up amongst the most powerful magnates. No on proposal garnered the requisite three quarters majority to pass.
Kazimierz could only stare and wish for more power as the Sejm agreed to sort the matter out later.
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March 8th, 1703: Narva
Lewenhaupt watched one of the largest armies he had ever seen march out of the city gates. It was a well-oiled, supremely drilled, military machine. Even ants could not march in better formation; it did the Swedish Lion proud. 20,000 infantry, 15,000 horse, 100 cannons, and provisions sufficient to last months. Their aim was to subjugate Grozny Novgorod, and force the Tsardom of Russia out of the war before the Saxon training combined with sheer Russian numbers proved overwhelming.
Lewenhaupt remembered the last Swedish general to invade Russia from Narva. Rehnksiold had died gloriously, with much pain to the Russians. Lewenhaupt intended to avenge his defeat.
“Tonight, we ride”
The Swedish Rider by Theodore Gericault
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March 29th, 1703: Grozny Novgorod
Boris Sheremetov ducked as a cannonball soared through his chambers. “Damn Swedes.”
He went back to studying his map. A gigantic – there was no other word for it – Swedish army surrounded his city. He had a grand total of 15,000 Russian troops, and 10,000 Saxon. The Swedes outnumbered him; there was no chance for a victory in battle. The Alliance forces had only barely managed to withdraw into the city before the Swedish forces, and send a letter to Tsar Peter. They had to hope Peter arrived before death did.
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April 23rd, 1703: Minsk
Kazimieriz felt a pit in his stomach, fill one minute and empty the next, as he surveyed the Royal Crown Army. Or, more accurately, he surveyed the bruised remnants of the Royal Crown Army. A scarce 5,000 cavalry, armed with old, decrepit, weapons, stood before him: 500 hussars, 1,500 pancerni, 500 jazda lekka, and 3,000 dragoons. Individually, each towered above a Cossack in qualitative terms, but they would not be fighting on anything like equal numbers.
If only he had money. If only he had more men. If only the Sejm would have accepted the Vitebsk Konfederocja as it was…
The army departed, Kazimierz at the head.
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May 19th, 1703: On the outskirts of Shklov
“Ride! Ride!”
Kazimierz leaned down in his saddle. This was not working. This was not working at all. The Royal Crown Army had attacked what appeared to be a defenseless encampment. Then the Cossack infantry had refused to break even in the face of a hussar charge. A veritable swarm of mounted Cossacks had appeared over the horizon. The Royal Crown Army had fled, outnumbered and outgunned.
Now they were riding for their lives, to reach the safety of Minsk. Cossacks continuously took potshots at Kazimierz’s soldiers; they died by the minute. However, if the Crown Army were to turn and fight it would be annihilated. Kazimierz crouched lower in his saddle, and urged his horse even faster.
Cossacks Charging into Battle by Franz Roubaud
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June 11th, 1703: Minsk
The people were celebrating in the streets. Barrels of beer, of wine, were opened and enjoyed. Revelers were everywhere, engaged in merrymaking; even the army joined in. The last Cossack, the last soldier of the Vitebsk Konfederocja, had left. The Cossack army was not meant to lay siege to a fortified city, and suffered from a lack of centralized leadership. They had melted away. Kazimierz, however, was not as relieved as everyone else; he had gotten a lucky break and he knew it. He ordered an emergency session of the Sejm to be convened at once.
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July 4th, 1703: Grozny Novgorod
Peter had marched his 40,000 men over hill and under glen, at a breakneck pace – leaving important affairs unattended back home to do so. Now, at last, he had arrived. If Lewenhaupt sized Grozny Novgorod, then Russia’s position would be untenable. The Russians needed a victory, and, by God, Peter intended to deliver one. Still, even with the training August’s Saxon generals had given his troops, Peter felt they had no hope of standing up to Swedish troops in combat. Menshikov proposed a siege.
Peter modified that idea to his wishes. The Russian army marched in a great encircling arm south of Grozny Novgorod, and appeared to its west, directly on Lewenhaupt’s supply lines. Peter expected Lewenhaupt to sue for peace, as he had no chance of resupply. The Russian army sent a delegation to the Swedish lines. The delegate were returned with nothing, not even the clothes on their backs; the Swedish army set up siege lines in both directions.
“Begin a siege” Peter said to Menshikov “And tell Lewenhaupt this, he will not be a Caeser to my Vercingetorix.”
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August 2nd, 1703: Grozny Novgorod
The Swedish army was desperately low on supplies. As loath as he was to admit it, Lewenhaupt’s strategy of a bidirectional siege, grounded in classical theory, simply was not working. They had to break out.
The Swedes packed up their cannons, their tents, and readied their boots. As the sun dawned on the day of August 3rd, the Russian commanders in the outside lines warned their troops of a possible Swedish attack. But its ferocity surprised even them.
The Swedes charged at the Russian lines. Not at the point where they were most heavily defended, to the northwest of the city, but to the relatively weak forces to the southwest. The Swedish cavalry spearheaded the charge. They should not have been able to cross an open plain in full view of the enemy’s cannon without suffering heavy casualties. But their steeds were swift, their enemies surprised. Once the cavalry collided with the Russian lines, it was absolute carnage.
The Swedish infantry followed behind the cavalry, cleaning up whatever Russian forces were lucky enough to survive the charge. The infantry then formed a corridor in which the cannon could escape. Peter ordered his infantry in, but the Swedish attacked first. Ga Pa tactics once again carried the day. By the time Lewenhaupt withdrew completely from the battle, with all of his cannon intact, 19,000 Russians were dead for the price of 7,000 Swedes. Peter chose not to pursue; Lewenhaupt temporarily retreated in search of supplies.
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October 13th, 1703: The Royal Castle, Warsaw
The magnates were gathered in the halls of the king once again. This time, however, they were rustling. They did not stop moving not once, their hands were always on their swords, and they eyed the shadows as if they were expecting a ghost. The Vitebsk Konfederocja was more powerful than they could have imagined. An Orthodox, peasant, uprising had strode in their nightmares since they were old enough to dream.
“…if the king had merely executed his duty as a general properly, none of this would have happened.” Aleksander Sapieha, of course.
“Bloody hell, what did you expect – a miracle?” Teofila Ludwika Zaslawska. She at least was a steadfast ally of the king. “An army of 5,000 can do nothing”
“What do you want, taxes?”
“At the very least. A compulsion to serve wouldn’t hurt either.”
“This is madness. We will absolutely not stand for anything of the sort. The king got into this mess, and he can get out of it.” The two opposing sides were not eying each other anymore; instead, they were glaring.
Before things could get out of hand, Kazimierz signaled Jan Dobrogost Krasinski, a minor and elder nobleman, to bring his proposal to the floor.
“Gentlemen of the Sejm, may I have your attention? Good, we shall not lose our heads quite yet. Ha ha ha.” Kazimierz wondered if this had really been a good idea. Krasinski continued “Now it is to my understanding that the king needs more revenue for the army, while you gentlemen cannot pay it. There is a solution. The lands in Lithuania, unclaimed since the flight of the traitors, are free for the taking. If they were to become Crown Land, all of our problems would be solved. No taxes, and a bigger army. “
“You expect us to give the king more power?”
“It’s that or the Cossacks”
The members of the Sejm collectively looked at each other, and voted assent. Aleksander Sapieha was heard saying that the king was too powerful, that the next election would collapse the house of cards.