Stosunki Augusta II z Rosją w latach 1730-początek 1733 w świetle relacji saskiego posła w Moskwie i Petersburgu Jeana le Forta

The Relations of Augustus II and Russia in 1730–early 1733 in the Light of an Account by Jean Le Fort, the Saxon Legate in Moscow and St. PetersburgThe author presents how in the wake of the reign of the underage Peter II, barren from the viewpoint of Polish-Russian relations, Augustus II started to seek allies at the Russian court the moment Anna Ivanovna ascended the throne of the tsars was mounted. Upon the basis of the diplomatic correspondence of the Saxon legate in St. Petersburg – Jean Le Fort – U. Kosińska demonstrates that originally Dresden placed its hopes in the so-called Old Russian faction. After the latter’s fall it sought possibilities for gaining influence upon the tsarina via the intermediary of her favourite, Ernst Johann Biron. The danger of closer Russian-Prussian and Russian-Austrian relations was rapidly noticed. Saxon proposals aimed, on the one hand, at splitting the emergent alliance of the three black eagles, and, on the other hand, at obtaining for the Wettin dynasty a Russian promise to support succession to the Polish throne. The price, which Augustus II was already then willing to pay was Courland, offered to Biron. Quite possibly, the talks held in 1732, despite their ultimate fiasco, exerted a certain impact upon the fact that after the death of Augustus II Russia relatively easily resigned from the candidature of Prince Emmanuel of Portugal to the Polish throne, mentioned in the Löwenwolde treaty, and rather swiftly supported Saxon endeavours focused on winning the Polish crown.