Lietuvos istorijos institutas

The article discusses a watercolour painting from a private collection authored by Wojciech Iwaszkiewicz, artillery ober-bombardier of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In the background of the urban landscape are objects that allow easy identification of the capital of Lithuania: partly ruined Upper Castle and the Bekesh Hill. Other objects and figures are identifiable by the inscriptions on the other side of the painting. Particularly interesting is the first plan of the drawing, which depicts the Tatar Gates and a few wooden houses standing near them. This is the only known view of the Tatar Gates of the Vilnius defensive wall. The buildings also depict a number of city dwellers, most of them being military personnel of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (artillery officer, cannoneer, ober-feurwerker, etc., as well as the author of the painting himself ), thus the picture is also interesting as a source of research into different military uniforms. Inscriptions by the Upper Castle and Bekesh Hill reflect legends and stories, popular among Vilnians at the end of the eighteenth century. In the former case, one tower of the castle is named as the temple of the pagan god Lelum Polelum Swistum po Swistum. Yet above the Bekesh Hill is written a legend about the reckless death of this cadet on the way down while riding a horse. Through historical sources we were able to determine that W. Iwaszkiewicz enlisted into the army of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania as a cannoneer in the spring of 1790, soon was raised to the rank of the bombardier and in the spring of 1791 to the ober-bombardier, yet in the summer of 1793 he was raised to the rank of stykjunker. The painting in analysis is related to a particular event: attempts to reform and strengthen the Lithuanian artillery at the end of the eighteenth century and the amassing of the military in Vilnius. In spite of somewhat primitive style of the painting, it’s a very interesting and valuable document of urban iconography.

The article reviews development of the military of one part in the Commonwealth of Both Nations, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, from the viewpoint of estate based structure, calling and professionalism. It reveals that, just like in the other armies of the eighteenth century, in Lithuania most of the estate structure could be found in cavalry, especially in the National Cavalry Brigades, and the least – in artillery and engineering corps. Estates did not carry only the negative meaning if the general level of education and skills among nobility was higher than the indicators in other estates. However, because of the generally low level of education before the reforms of the Commission of National Education, military units with estate based privileges (e. g. National Cavalry Brigades) were noted for a low level of professionalism and showed themselves poorly in the course of 1792 war with Russia and the uprising battles of 1794. At the same time, front guard regiments, made-up of Tartars and less privileged individuals, demonstrated much higher standards because estate exclusivity was accompanied by experience and military traditions carried over from the Seven-Year War. The highest standards of professionalism were maintained in the Lithuanian artillery and engineering corps. The progress was notable during the Four-Year Sejm, especially in the winter of 1791–1792. Infantry units were able to harmonize privileges of the estate structure with professional requirements and could be considered as matching the military of other countries in peace time. There was no place for calling in the army of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania prior to 1788 drive for expanding the military, and only during the war of 1792 attention was given to the skills of people, holding offices. During uprising of Tadeusz Kościuszko many gifted soldiers came to the fore, and even civilians with leadership gifts who led both improvised rebel units and large military units, thus opening pages of the noble tradition of uprisings in the nineteenth century, where calling and professionalism gradually pushed out the relics of estate-based military.