Page "Bar Confederation" Paragraph 7

King Stanisław August Poniatowski 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 Baron the 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.

However, the simultaneous outbreak of the Koliyivschyna in Ukraine ( May 1768 – June 1769 ) 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 begun in September ).

The retreat of some Russian forces needed on the Ottoman front boolstered the confederates, who reappered in force in Lesser Poland and Great Poland by 1769.

In 1770 the Council of Bar Confederation transferred from its original seat in Silesia to Hungary, whence it conducted diplomatic negotiations with France, Austria and Turkey with a view to forming a league against Russia.

Council proclaimed the king dethroned 22 October 1770.

The court of Versailles sent Charles François Dumouriez to act as an aid to the Confederates, and he helped them to organize their forces.

So serious did the situation become that King Frederick II of Prussia advised Tsarina Catherine II of Russia to come to terms with the Confederates.

The Confederates also begun to operate in Lithuania, although after early successes that direction too met with failures, with defeats at Białymstok on 16 July and Orzechowo on 13 September of 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.