The Deluge (Polish history)
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
Khmelnytskyi Uprising 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.
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", a reference to the Arenda system of renting out serfs to mostly Jewish businessmen for three years at a time. With this as their battle cry, the Cossacks murdered a large number of Jews during the years 1648鈥"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 Radziwi艂艂 and
Bogus艂aw Radziwi艂艂 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 Radziwi艂艂s 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 Bogus艂aw Leszczy艅ski, thinking that
John II Casimir of Poland was a weak King, or a Jesuit-King, or for other reasons, encouraged Charles Gustav to claim the Polish Crown.
John Casimir 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 John Casimir returned to Poland and, in October 1647, resigned his position of Cardinal to stand in elections for the Polish throne.
But
Pozna艅 Voivod Krzysztof Opali艅ski surrendered
Great Poland to Charles Gustav, and quickly, other areas surrendered also. Almost the whole country followed suit, but several places still resisted, the most remarkable and symbolic of which was the
Jasna G贸ra resistance. Led by The Grand Prior
Augustyn Kordecki, the garrison of the most famous Sanctuary-Fortress of Poland defeated its enemies. Soon, the
Tyszowce Confederation supported John Casimir, hidden in Silesia. Grand Hetman of Poland, (The Crown):
Szczepan Czarniecki and Grand Hetman of Lithuania:
Jan Pawe艂 Sapieha started the counterattack in order to put away those loyal to Charles Gustav. In the end, John II Casimir was solemnly crowned at
Lw贸w Cathedral in
1656 (
Lw贸w 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 on
September 16,
1658, the Polish Crown elevated the
Cossacks and
Ruthenians to a position equal to that of Poland and Lithuania in the Polish-Lithuanian Union, and in fact transformed the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth into a
Polish-Lithuanian-Ruthenian Commonwealth (Polish: Rzeczpospolita Trojga Narod贸w, "Commonwealth of Three Nations"). Supported by Cossack
Ataman Ivan Vyhovsky and the
starshyna, this
treaty changed East European history.
The Deluge is described in a novel by
Henryk Sienkiewicz under the same title.
The Deluge was also made into a
movie (
Potop) in 1974, a classic historical work created by film director
Jerzy Hoffman. It starred
Daniel Olbrychski as
Andrzej Kmicic, a patriot who valiantly fought against the Swedish invasion. The film was nominated for an
Oscar in 1974, but lost to the
Italian film
Amarcord.
*
John II Casimir of Poland*
Nobles' Democracy*
Northern Wars*
Treaty of Oliva*
Treaty of Hadiach*
List of historical novels*
