Na odsiecz Gdańskowi. Kampania zimowo-wiosenna dywizji Jana Tarły do bitwy pod Wyszecinem 20 kwietnia 1734 roku
To the Relief of Gdańsk: The Winter-Spring Campaign of Jan Tarło's Division and the Battle of Wyszecin (20 April 1734)

Summary/Abstract: Previous research on the Polish theatre of the War of the Polish Succession (1733–1736) has rightly focused on broad analyses of military operations conducted in individual regions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, such as Pomerania, Lesser Poland, Lithuania, and Ukraine. A natural consequence of this approach has been the relative lack of detailed studies devoted to individual campaigns or battles. The present article constitutes the first comprehensive study of a specific battle fought during this conflict. The Battle of Wyszecin is of particular importance also due to its strategic significance for the entire struggle for the Polish throne. It was not only the largest field battle fought on Polish soil during the years 1733–1736, but it also marked the end of the first phase of the war, namely the Polish attempt to relieve the besieged city of Gdańsk. The aim of this study is not only to reconstruct the course of the battle itself, but also to draw preliminary conclusions regarding the condition of Polish military art following its decline during the Great Northern War. The research is based primarily on a substantial corpus of correspondence written by Jan Tarło, preserved in the Kyiv archives, as well as on original Russian accounts, which proved invaluable for the reconstruction of events. These sources made it possible to reconstruct three major engagements of the campaign: Nadarzyn, Świecie, and Wyszecin. This reconstruction not only enriches our understanding of military operations during the War of the Polish Succession, but also allows for broader conclusions concerning the state and practice of Polish military art in that period.

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