The Deluge (Polish history)
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{{Infobox Military Conflict |conflict=The Deluge |image=Image:Rzeczpospolita Potop.png |caption=The occupation of the Republic by Sweden, Muscovy, Brandenburg and Chmielnicki's Cossacks. |date=1655 - 1660 |place=Poland, Lithuania, Denmark |result=Polish-Lithuanian victory |combatant1=Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and allies |combatant2=Sweden and allies |commander1=Jan Kazimierz of Poland |commander2=Charles X of Sweden |strength1= |strength2= |casualties1= |casualties2= }} Template:Campaignbox The Deluge The Deluge (Polish Potop) is a name commonly assigned in the history of Poland to a series of wars in the 17th century which left Poland in ruins. In a stricter sense Deluge refers only to the Swedish invasion and occupation of the country; in a wider sense it applies to the whole series of misfortunes started by the uprising of the Cossacks in 1648 and ending in either 1656, 1660 or even in 1667. Before The Deluge Poland was a Central European power. During the wars, however, Poland lost an estimated 1/3 of its population (relatively higher losses than during World War II), and its great power status.
Image:Sluby Jana Kazimierza.jpg The misfortunes were started in 1648 by Ruthenian feudal lord and Ukrainian Cossack leader Bohdan Khmelnytsky. Khmelnytsky told the people that the Poles had sold them as slaves "into the hands of the accursed Jews." With this as their battle cry, the Cossacks killed a large number of Jews during the years 1648–1649. The precise number of dead may never be known, but the decrease of the Jewish population during that period is estimated at 50,000 to 200,000, which also includes deaths from diseases and Tatar imprisonment. [1] Although the Cossacks were defeated in 1651 in the Battle of Beresteczko, their rebellion gave pretext to the Russians to invade and occupy the eastern half of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1655. The Swedes invaded and occupied the rest in the same year.
Princes Janusz Radziwiłł and Bogusław Radziwiłł began negotiations with the Swedish king Charles X Gustav of Sweden aimed at breaking the Commonwealth and the Polish-Lithuanian union. They signed a treaty according to which Radziwiłłs were to rule over two Duchies carved up from the lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, under Swedish vassalage.
Many Polish nobles (szlachta), as Deputy Chancellor of the Crown Hieronim Radziejowski and Grand Treasurer of the Crown Bogusław Leszczyński, thinking that Jan II Kazimierz was a weak King, or a Jesuit-King, or for other reasons, encouraged Charles Gustav to claim the Polish Crown.
Jan Kazimirerz had few friends among the Polish szlachta, as he openly sympathized with Austria and showed disregard and contempt for Polish culture: Sarmatism. (He joined the Jesuits in 1643 and received the title of Cardinal). So Charles Gustav, (his cousin), became the natural heir of the Polish-Lithuanian Throne.
Nevertheless, in December 1646 Jan Kazimierz returned to Poland and, in October 1647, resigned his position of Cardinal to stand in elections for the Polish throne.
But Poznan Voivod Krzysztof Opaliński surrendered Great Poland to Charles Gustav, and quickly, the others voievodies surrendered also. Almost the whole country did this. Nevertheless, several places still resisted. The most remarkable and symbolic was the Jasna Góra resistance. Led by The Grand Prior Augustyn Kordecki, the garrison of the most famous Sanctuary-Fortress of Poland defeated the enemies. Soon, the Tyszowce Confederation supported Jan Kazimierz, hidden in Silesia. Grand Hetman of Poland, (The Crown): Szczepan Czarniecki and Grand Hetman of Lithuania: Jan Paweł Sapieha started the counterattack in order to put away those loyal to Charles Gustav. In the end, Jan II Kazimierz was solemnly crowned at Lwów Cathedral in 1656 (Lwów Oath).
The Swedes were driven back in 1657 and the Russians were finally defeated in 1662. The struggle over Ukraine ended with the treaty of Andrusovo (13 January, 1667), with the help of Turkish intervention due to their claims in the Crimea. Forces from Prussia and Transylvania were also defeated, but Prussia gained a formal recognition of independence and ceased to be a Polish vassal.
The Deluge also stopped the era of Polish tolerance, since most of the invaders were non-Catholic, with expulsion of the Polish brethren as a clear sign of it. During the Deluge, many thousands of Polish Jews also fell victim to pogroms initiated by rebelling Cossacks.
With the Treaty of Hadiach in September 16, 1658, the Polish Crown designed to elevate the Cossacks and Ruthenians to the position equal to that of Poland and Lithuania in the Polish-Lithuanian Union and in fact transforming the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth into a Polish-Lithuanian-Ruthenian Commonwealth (Polish: Rzeczpospolita Trojga Narodów, "Commonwealth of Three Nations"). Supported by Cossack Ataman Ivan Vyhovsky and the starshyna this treaty could change the East-European History.
The Deluge is described in a fictionalized novel of Henryk Sienkiewicz under the same title.
Movie
The Deluge was also made into a movie in 1974, a classic historical movie created by the film director Jerzy Hoffman and starring Daniel Olbrychski as Andrzej Kmicic, a patriot who valiantly fought against the Swedish Invasion. the film was nominated for a Best Foreign Film Oscar in 1974.