Treaty of Narva

The Treaty of Narva was concluded on 19 August (O.S.) / 30 August 1704 during the Great Northern War. The faction of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth loyal to Augustus the Strong joined the anti-Swedish alliance between the Saxon electorate and the Tsardom of Russia.

Background
At the onset of the Great Northern War, Augustus the Strong was king of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania and Elector of Saxony. In 1699, he allied with the Russian tsar Peter the Great in the Treaty of Preobrazhenskoye and with Frederik IV of Denmark-Norway in the Treaty of Dresden. These alliances provided the basis for a combined attack on the Swedish Empire that followed in 1700. Yet, already in 1700 Denmark was forced to withdraw and Russia suffered a decisive defeat. In the following years, Charles XII of Sweden pursued Augustus through Poland-Lithuania, imposing on him a series of defeats, while Russia was able to recover and advance in the Baltic provinces. The Lithuanian magnates abandoned Augustus in April 1702 and allied with Sweden.

In July 1704, Swedish advances and the resulting internal quarrels in Poland-Lithuania caused the dethronement of Augustus the Strong and election of Stanisław Leszczyński, the candidate promoted by the Charles XII of Sweden, as Polish king. Yet Augustus the Strong still enjoyed support in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, in particular by the Sandomierz Confederation and about 75% of the Polish army. In the name of the commonwealth, Augustus and his supporters declared war on Sweden, and joined the anti-Swedish coalition at Narva.

Terms
The treaty was negotiated for Poland by Thomas Dzialynski (Dzialin), a commander of the Saxo-Polish forces participating in the preceding Russian siege and storm of Narva. The treaty was signed by Peter the Great of Russia, Augustus the Strong, and Polish-Lithuanian magnates.

The alliance was both defensive and offensive. The treaty ruled that Poland and Russia were to continue the war and sign no treaties without mutual consent. Peter the Great was to grant August the Strong 200,000 rubles annual subsidies, maintain 12,000 troops, return Semen Paliy's conquests in Ukraine and Russian conquests in Livonia.

Consequences
Peter the Great had thus ensured that the Polish-Lithuanian theater of the war would continue to bind Swedish forces. Most notably, enforcements for Charles XII's Russian campaign were cut off in the Battle of Koniecpol. To pay the agreed on subsidies, a monetary tax was raised from the peasantry.

For Augustus, the treaty was favourable, as his position had deteriorated due to his numerous defeats by Swedish armies. Peter the Great, in pursuit of the treaty, ordered Ivan Mazepa to expel Paliy (Paley) from the commonwealth's cossack territories, which he eventually did - this had been Dzialinsky's irrefutable condition during the negotiations. However, Russian "helpful occupation" of Livonia would not result in the anticipated hand-over, but instead in integration into the Russian Empire.

The faction of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth loyal to Stanisław Leszczyński, organized in the Warsaw Confederation, instead concluded an alliance with the Swedish Empire in the Treaty of Warsaw in November 1705.