Excerpts from an RFE/RL interview
350 years ago, on October 20, 1655 the town of Kedainiai (located in today's Lithuania) witnessed the conclusion of the union agreement creating a federation of two European states - Sweden and the Grand Duchy of Litva. On Litva's side, the agreement was signed by 1172 representatives of Grand Duchy's nobility - more than ever participated in the election of a Polish King.
What followed was a 2-year long interruption of the existing Litva's federation with Poland.
A correspondent of Radio Liberty interviewed the historian Andrej Kotljarchuk, who is now preparing in Sweden a book on this interesting event.
For Litva's nobility the main reason for promoting the union with Sweden was the inability of the Polish king Kazimier to adequately defend Litva's territories against incursions by Moscow and the Ukrainian Cossacks.
They explained that the Grand Duchy's Statute allows them to break the union with Poland and enter a union of equals with Sweden.
However, at that time a considerable part of Belarusian lands was occupied by Moscow and the Ukrainian Cossack state. So, for practical purposes, only some Belarusian regions joined Sweden: the district of Braslau and the Duchy of Slucak with towns Slucak and Kapyl.
Mr. Kotljarchuk: "Actually, thanks to the new Union, Litva saved itself as a state. Otherwise it would have disappeared already in the middle of the 17th century, like the Ukrainian Cossack state. The impact of the union agreement was significant; it radically changed the distribution of powers in the East Baltic region. Polish historians describe the new union in negative terms, calling it an act of treason, and insignificant event."
Actually the rest of Europe understood its significance. Soon the translated text of the Kedainiai agreement appeared in print in Amsterdam, Paris, Hamburg and London. Italian newspapers wrote: "We understand the reason for Litva joining Sweden. In contrast to Poland, it is inhabited by many Protestants: Lutherans, Calvinists, Aryans."
Mr. Kotljarchuk points out that the factor of religion played a significant role in the 17th century events. The principal initiator of the union was the Calvinist Yanush Radzivill and other Protestants. Although they constituted a minority of the Grand Duchy's nobility, it was a very influential minority. Its members were educated in best universities of The Netherlands and Germany. Moreover , the Protestant nobility was numerically second after the Catholics. The new union agreement guaranteed equal rights to the Roman Catholic, Uniate (Greek Catholic) and Orthodox churches.
Mr. Kotljarchuk: "Radzivill's idea was to build a Protestant political state, between Orthodox Moscow and Roman Catholic Poland."
According to Mr. Kotljarchuk the failure of the union with Sweden was caused by both internal and external factors. Internally, various groups within the Grand Duchy were oriented toward various foreign powers - beginning with Moscow and ending with Transylvania. The pro-Polish orientation eventually prevailed.
" The external cause for union's failure was a result of strategic mistakes of the Swedish leadership. It distributed its activities equally to Poland and The Grand Duchy. One Swedish army was sent to Litva , and another to Poland On the whole, however, Swedish interests in Poland received priority, even though Swedes could not expect any support from the Polish society. As a result they were defeated in both places," said Mr. Kotljarchuk.
He further stressed that the union with Litva gave Sweden control over the entire Baltic coast, thus making the Baltic sea an "internal Swedish lake." However, in his opinion, the Kedainiai union was also advantageous to the Grand Duchy.
"First of all, a part of Belarus was spared a war. Secondly, the idea was to make Belarus a part of a dynamic Swedish empire. We know, for instance, that in the history of neighboring Latvia the relatively short period of Swedish rule ( 1622 -1704) is remembered as the 'good Swedish time.'"
In today's Latvia the Swedish government implemented a land reform, founded a university, established a system of popular education, published the Bible in Latvian, and helped the development of literature in the Latvian language. By stressing the education of teachers and Protestant clergy, it created the first Latvian national elite in Latvia's history. This effectively stopped the germanization of the Latvian ethnos and built a foundation for a successful Latvian patriotic movement.
"Belarus was not that lucky at the time, since Sweden was defeated in that particular war. However, if the dreams of the contemporary Protestant elite were realized, today's Belarus would resemble a Northern European Protestant nation, considering the mentality and culture of its people. In any case, the Protestants of the Grand Duchy of Litva contributed much more to Belarus' culture than is admitted by contemporary Belarusian historians."
This article appeared in
Belarusian Review, Vol. 17, No. 4
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27 december 2005
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