Zygmunt III Vasa

King of Poland-Lithuania and Sweden . In Poland he is called Sigismund III and in Sweden he is called Sigismund.

He was born on June 20, 1566, to Prince Johann of Sweden, who was imprisoned at Gripsholm Castle in Sweden at the time, and Katazina Jagiellonka, the daughter of Sigismund I, Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland . Isabella as sister[3] , Anna was there. At the time, his parents were imprisoned in Gripsholm Castle under the orders of Erik XIV , the King of Sweden and Johann's half-brother . In October 1567, Sigismund's uncle, Duke Karl 's request to the king to release them was accepted, and he was able to be released with his family about a year after his birth. In January 1569, when Erik

When he was young, he learned Swedish from his father and Polish from his mother, so he was able to speak two languages, and he was also fluent in German , Italian and Latin . He also fell in love with Catholics with his mother's teachings, who were devout Catholics . He started his day with two Mass, and every day until he died, every day (Holy Moo -do) and <Book of Time>[4] He recited and joined the Jesuits .

Meanwhile, he had outstanding artistic talent. He was talented in painting and goldsmithing, could play the clavichord skillfully, and had extensive knowledge of architecture. Later, after becoming King of Poland and Lithuania, he collected paintings by Venetian and Flemish masters and created Poland's first gallery, and provided considerable support to the fields of sculpture, printmaking, woodcarving, goldsmithing, and amber processing. He made gold cups, castles, torches, candlesticks, lamps, and enjoyed making clocks, which he donated to his church and friends. Still, he was interested in alchemy, loved hunting , played soccer , and tended to his orchard and garden in his spare time.

After his mother Katagina died in 1583, his father John III remarried in 1585 to Gunilla Wielke, Katagina's maid and a member of the Lutheran Church . Duke Carl[5] Although he rebelled to the point of not attending his wedding, he continued to have a friendly relationship with his father. John, the only son of John III and Gunilla Bjelke, was appointed Duke of Östergötland and was mentioned several times as the successor to the Swedish throne.[6] He refused them all and lived leisurely in his estate.

On 30 June 1587, a year after the death of Stefan Báthory in 1586 , elections were called in the Wola constituency near Warsaw to elect a new king among the Polish and Lithuanian nobles. The 21-year-old Prince Sigismund of Sweden and Archduke Maximilian III of Austria were proposed as candidates for this election. Among Polish nobles, the Zborowski family, who were close to the Austrian Habsburg family, supported Maximilian III, but Polish Grand Marshal Jan Zamoiski supported Sigismund, fearing that the privileges of the nobles would be restricted if the Habsburg family, which was powerful in Europe, took over the Polish-Lithuanian throne. Anna Jagiellonka, co-queen of Stefan Báthory , actively supported her nephew Sigismund. The Lithuanian nobles gathered in a separate conference hall did not specifically support either side, but tried to recognize the side that handed over Livonia to Lithuania as king.

On August 19, 1587, the nobles, under the leadership of Polish Cardinal Stanisław Kankowski, crowned the Swedish Prince Sigismund as King Sigismund III of Poland and Lithuania. However, a few days later, on August 22, the Zborowski family elevated Maximilian III to the throne of Poland and Lithuania under the presiding authority of Jaków Voroniecki, the bishop-designate of Kiev. Here, the Lithuanian delegation declared in Warsaw on August 25 that they could not recognize either Sigismund III or Maximilian III unless Livonia was handed over to Lithuania. However, the majority of Polish nobles accepted Sigismund III, and Sigismund III's envoys, Erik Brahe and Erik Spare, pledged on the king's behalf to recognize the privileges of the nobles.

At the end of September 1587, a Swedish flotilla of more than 20 ships entered the waters of the Gulf of Gdansk . After getting off the ship, Sigismund III moved to Olivar on October 7 and signed a document formally acknowledging the privileges of the nobility in the presence of dozens of dignitaries. Later, Jan Dulski, treasurer of the Duchy of Prussia , proclaimed him king on behalf of the absent Crown Marshal Andrzej Opalinski. The next day, they returned to Gdansk, reboarded the ship, and departed for Krakow , the capital of Poland, on October 20 . He arrived in Krakow on 9 December, where he was welcomed by Bishop Wavzyniec Gosilecki of Kamieniec . He was crowned King of Poland-Lithuania on December 27 by Stanisław Karnowski, Archbishop of Gniezno, at Wawel Cathedral .

On November 24, 1587, Polish Grand Marshal Jan Zamoiski defeated 8,000 Austrian troops advancing on Krakow . Then, on January 24, 1588, he caught up with the retreating enemy and defeated them again near Bychina, captured Maximilian III, and imprisoned him in Krasnystav. On March 9, 1589, Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II signed the Treaty of Bytom-Węzin on behalf of Maximilian III, promising not to interfere in Poland's internal affairs in the future, and Maximilian III and his followers were released. Meanwhile, he quelled opposition from Lithuanian nobles by promising to consider allowing Lithuania to have Livonia.

Jan Zamoiski, the most powerful person who led Poland's national affairs and military as the Grand Marshal and Prime Minister of Poland, initially actively supported Sigismund III becoming King of Poland and even captured Maximilian III for him. In March 1589, he proposed a far-reaching reform of federal royal elections, which asserted that only members of the native Polish dynasty would be eligible to ascend to the Polish throne in the future, permanently ending the possibility of a member of the Habsburg family ascending to the Polish throne. I tried to rule it out. However, when Sigismund III showed sympathies with the Habsburg family and tried to establish a Catholic League to actively participate in the counter-reformation , Zamoiski had a serious conflict with Sigismund III from then on.

At the Seim convened in March 1590 , Zamoiski outlined the possibility of an Austrian conspiracy and the looming threat from the Ottoman Empire , arguing that the possibility of Maximilian III being a future candidate for the Polish throne should be ruled out. Accordingly, opposition forces, including Stanisław Karnowski, formed a coalition to oppose this decree. As a result of Sigismund III's efforts to resolve the situation, the decisions made in March were completely discarded at the Seim held again at the end of that year, and the Zborowski family, who had assisted Maximilian III and had been banned from entering the Seim, was reinstated.

In 1591, Protestant nobles, threatened by Sigismund III's close associates of Jesuit monks and high-ranking clergy, formed a coalition demanding compliance with the Warsaw Treaty of 1573, which guaranteed religious freedom. Zamoiski joined this faction and held the king accountable for riots against non-Catholics in Vilnius and Krakow. Sigismund III therefore accepted the demands of the Protestant factions to ensure their safety, but forbade any future unions that could destabilize the country. However, the ban had little effect, and meetings of Protestant figures continued the following year.

In 1592, Sigismund III completely reconciled with the Habsburgs by marrying Anna of Austria, daughter of Archduke Charles II of Austria, and pledged to form a Catholic alliance with Austria against the threat of Protestantism. Zamoiski, who was dissatisfied with Sigismund III's marriage to a Habsburg woman, married Mikołłzłzdowski and Stanisław Žukiewski on June 1 of that year.[7] Together with others, they formed an alliance in Jeşejów. At the same time , it caused a big stir by claiming that Sigismund III intended to succeed his father as King of Sweden and then pass the Polish-Lithuanian throne to Archduke Ernst of Austria . He presented as evidence a letter between Sigismund III and Archduke Ernst containing the royal signature.

On September 7, 1592, Sigismund III completely denied the charges brought against him in the Warsaw Seim, claiming that the letter was fabricated and the signature was forged. His aides believed that the palace secretary had forged his signature, so they imprisoned him in Gialdobo and tortured him, but the secretary denied it to the end and ended up doing nothing. Zamoisky accused the king of lying and trying to blame an innocent person and demanded that all foreign dignitaries, including mercenaries, be immediately kicked out of the palace, but the request was rejected . After a long discussion, the nobles gathered at Sejm decided that continued criticism of the king was useless and harmful to the stability of the country, and decided not to pursue any more charges against Sigismund III.

The situation thus calmed down, and Zamoiski made a public apology to the king, but the conflict between Sigismund III and Zamoiski continued. Sigismund III feared Zamoisky's great power, but it was impossible to remove him from office because federal law prohibited him from doing so. He then offered Zamojski the position of governor of Kraków, a position of higher authority, but Zamojski declined, sensing that it was a ploy to send him to a position of high honor but no real power. Although the relationship between the two was not good, neither of them wanted to start a civil war, so they did not mobilize the military to eliminate the other.

On November 17, 1592, his father John III died. Upon hearing this news, Sigismund III received permission from Sejm to ascend the throne as King of Sweden and headed to Sweden. The Swedish parliament initially feared that if he, a devout Catholic, ascended to the throne, he would seek to persecute the Lutheran Church, which had become the country's dominant religion. His ascension was accepted when he promised to ban participation in the education system and prevent the free raising of taxes to finance war. The coronation ceremony was held in Uppsala on February 19, 1594 . However, when the Pope 's envoy attended the royal procession at this time, the Swedes considered it an ominous omen.

After the coronation ceremony, Sigismund III appointed his uncle Karl, Duke of Södermanland, as regent and left Sweden immediately. He then, contrary to his promise, appointed Catholics as governors and made them accountable directly to himself rather than to the Swedish Parliament. In addition, he appointed Klaus Fleming as ståthållare (local governor) of Finland to keep Duke Karl in check, and gave instructions to refrain from persecuting Catholics in Finland. Eventually, when Eric Brahe, a Roman Catholic, was appointed governor of Stockholm , the capital of Sweden , the discontent of some Swedish nobles escalated to a dangerous level.

On August 4, 1594, Sigismund III issued a proclamation stating that the Swedish Parliament had no right to function without royal consent. However, after convening a parliament at Söderköping in the fall of 1595, Duke Karl declared that the parliament, mutually with the Privy Council, would be the head of government to rule Sweden. When Fleming actively supported Sigismund III and condemned Duke Karl's actions as treason, Karl incited the peasants in the Österbotten region to revolt against Fleming. Fleming lightly suppressed this rebellion, but in the process, he executed a large number of innocent people and subjected suspects to harsh torture, losing public support. Karl took advantage of this to incite anxiety among the Swedish nobility and people about Sigismund III and Catholic forces.

May 18, 1595, Tsardom of Russia and Teusina[8] Ingermanland and Kexholm, acquired in 1583 by treaty[9] However, Estonia 's sovereignty was finally confirmed up to Narva , with the Narva River as the border, and Sweden's territory in the Finnish direction up to Savolax was confirmed.

In 1597, Duke Charles, who had gathered followers, launched a large-scale rebellion. His forces quickly took control of most of Sweden, but Finland swore allegiance to Sigismund III and resisted. Duke Charles landed on the Finnish coast in September of that year and took Ovo from Eva Stenborg, the widow of the deceased Claus Fleming . However, he did not have enough troops or sufficient supplies to conquer all of Finland, so he withdrew to Stockholm in October, and Eva recaptured Ovo. Meanwhile, several high-ranking nobles who still followed Sigismund III were arrested and executed without trial.

When Sigismund III heard the news of Duke Karl's revolt in Krakow, he was furious. He secured a promise of cooperation from the Danish-Norwegian King Christian IV , and put pressure on the major Hanseatic port cities of Gdańsk , Lübeck , and Rostock to stop trading with Sweden. Here, Polish privateers began attacking Swedish ships in the Baltic Sea . He recruited 5,000 Polish troops in February 1598, and on July 23 of that year, he sailed from Gdansk with 80 transport ships, several warships, and Swedish nobles who had barely escaped Duke Karl's purge, and landed in Kalmar in August . They entered the country without much fighting.

Sigismund III continued his momentum and easily captured Stockholm, attracted the Swedish cavalry of Uppland to his side, and summoned new armies from Finland and Estonia. The troops led by Duke Karl were far greater in number than the army led by Sigismund III, but most of them were poorly trained militias, so their fighting power was weak. At the Battle of Stojjeborg on September 18, 1598, the Polish Winged Hussars inflicted heavy losses on the militia led by Duke Karl. However, as he no longer wanted to see the Swedes, whom he regarded as his people, dying mercilessly, he did not accept Jan Zamoiski's recommendation to pursue and annihilate the fleeing enemy troops. Thanks to this, Duke Karl, who had time to reorganize his battle lines, led 9,000 troops and approached Sigismund III, who was leading about 5,200 men.

On September 27, 1598, Sigismund III, who was stationed at Stojebro, immediately sortied out of the city when Duke Karl's army approached from the east. The two sides first met at the Stognebro Bridge on the Stang River, and Sigismund III's army emerged victorious. As Duke Karl retreated up a nearby hill, Sigismund III advanced up the hill to defeat them again. However, the Winged Hussars were not sent into battle as orders were not properly delivered, and Duke Karl took up his position on the hill and launched a counterattack against the enemy troops who were struggling to climb up, defeating them. Sigismund III quickly retreated to the other side of the river, and 2,000 of his soldiers followed him in retreat and were either killed or drowned in the river.

Sigismund III, who suffered enormous military losses in the Battle of Stojjebro, returned to Poland after signing an armistice that guaranteed his personal safety in exchange for his return to Poland, and members of the Swedish Privy Council surrendered to Duke Karl. Duke Karl then besieged Kalmar, the only city that continued to follow Sigismund III, and captured it on May 12, 1599. He thus became the ruler of all of Sweden and formalized the abdication of Sigismund III through the Swedish Parliament held in Stockholm on July 24, 1599. Eight nobles who had been arrested while fighting for Sigismund III were taken to Linköping and the following year. They were mass executed in misinformation. After claiming to be regent for the next five years , he offered to King Sigismund III that he would make his eldest son, Prince Vladislav, king of Sweden if he would accept that he be raised in the Protestant faith. When Sigismund III did not respond, he crowned himself as King Karl IX of Sweden on March 22, 1604.

Poland-Lithuania was troubled by constant raids by its own Cossacks on the Crimean Khanate , the Principality of Moldavia , and various territories of the Ottoman Empire . Finally, Padishah of the Ottoman Empire After Murat III threatened to invade unless the Cossacks were prevented from raiding his country and its vassal territories, the Warsaw Seim passed the Ukrainian Mandate Act in 1580, prohibiting all registered Cossacks from raiding surrounding areas, taking prisoners, or taking prisoners without government permission. Looting was prohibited, and anyone who violated this was immediately executed.

In 1591, Krzysztof Kosinski, a registered Cossack colonel in the Kiev oblast, had his lands in the villages of Lokitno and Oljanice confiscated by the Ostrogsky family, a large Lithuanian noble family. Enraged by this, he gathered the troops under his command, occupied Villa Cherkva Castle, and declared himself hetman of the Cossacks. As a result, many people from all over Ukraine participated in the revolt, and a revolt broke out in Volhynia as well. However, Sigismund III and Jan Zamoisky did not intervene, thinking it was just a power struggle within Ukraine. The revolt was suppressed on February 2, 1593, when Kosinski was defeated by the Lithuanian nobleman Konstantin Vasil Ostrogsky near the village of Piontek. Kosinski promised not to revolt again and to accept the rule of the Lithuanian nobles, but in 1594 he broke his promise and escaped to Zaporizh. He then gathered 2,000 troops and advanced to Cherkasy , but ultimately failed and lost his life.

In 1594, Severin Nalibaiko, the son of a fur trader murdered by the Lithuanian nobleman Marcin Kalinovsky, rebelled while serving as a cavalry commander under Konstantin Vasily Ostrogsky. He planned to recruit Polish peasants who were suffering from serfdom and then advance to Krakow to destroy and exterminate the nobility. According to one theory, Sigismund III received support from Ostrogsky in his attempt to block the ratification of the Treaty of Brest, which subordinated the Ruthenian Orthodox Church to the authority of the Pope . The rebels took control of modern-day central Ukraine and the southeastern part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, destroyed Sharograd, the property of Jan Zamoisky's family, and subsequently plundered the property of Hipasi Posiei and Cyril Terleki, supporters of the Treaty of Brest. After hearing this news, Seim, Poland decided to dispatch a punitive force this time. After two years of war, the combined Polish-Lithuanian forces defeated the Cossack rebels in the Battle of Ubny in 1596. He was handed over by his associates to Stanisław Žóławski and taken to Warsaw , where he was executed in 1597.

In 1595, Prince Bathory Sigmond of Erdei persuaded the Hungarian mercenary commander Razpan Istvan to his side and then revolted against Aaron Trianul, the acting ruler of the Ottoman Empire at the time. Stephen captured Aaron, transported him to the Duchy of Erdei, and declared himself the new governor and loyal vassal of Bathory Sigmond. Upon hearing this news, Mehmed III of the Ottoman Empire intervened as Aaron's protector and sovereign, established a new ruler in the Principality of Wallachia , abolished the Principality of Moldavia , and attempted to make Moldavia a direct territory. This enraged the Polish nobles, who wanted to make the Principality of Moldavia their territory in the future.

In the summer of 1595, after receiving nominal permission from the king, Jan Zamojski led a Polish army of 5,000 cavalry, 2,300 infantry, and several artillery pieces and marched into the Duchy of Moldavia, capturing Khotyn on August 27 and September. On the 3rd, Iasi, the capital of the Principality of Moldavia, was occupied. Afterwards, Zamoiski appointed Ieremia Movila, who had friendly tendencies toward Poland and Lithuania, as the Prince of Moldavia. Mehmet III, who was at war with Prince Mihai Viteazul of Wallachia, could not afford to wage war directly with Poland-Lithuania, so he had Khan Gazi II Girai of the Kram Khanate defeat the enemy on his behalf.

Gazi II Girai followed the orders of his lord and advanced into the Principality of Moldavia with about 25,000 troops. Jan Zamoiski, who initiated this, crossed the Prut River and on September 6, had him build a fortified camp protected on both sides of the river. The Tatars of the Crimean Khanate attacked this camp one after another, but there was no hope of breaking through, and when the khan's nephew was injured by an arrow, they lost their will to fight and retreated. The Crimean Khanate then withdrew under a peace treaty in which it recognized Mobilea as part of Moldavia and agreed to a permanent stationing of Polish troops in the principality.

In the spring of 1600, when Michael Viteazull, the Prince of Wallachia, drove out Ieremia Mobyla and seized Moldavia, Jan Zamoyski launched an expedition to reclaim Moldavia. Michael had just suffered a crushing defeat in the Battle of Miraslau against the Austrians who had invaded the Duchy of Erdei and lost Erdei, so he was unable to stop Zamoyski. On October 20 of that year, Zamoyski defeated Michael Viteazull in the Battle of Bukoff, expelled him from the country, and restored Ieremia Mobyla as the Prince of Moldavia.

In 1596, Sigismund III moved the capital of Poland from Krakow to Warsaw . Afterwards, Warsaw continued to expand during his reign and became the capital of the most powerful country in Central Europe. Władysław IV Vasa, who ascended the throne after him, ordered the Sigmund Column to be erected in Warsaw Square in 1644. This column was inspired by the Phocas Column that remained in Rome . It was 22m high, made in the Corinthian style, and decorated with a cross and a statue of a king holding a sword.

After being dethroned from the Swedish throne by his uncle, Sigismund III was preoccupied with regaining the Swedish throne. In order to persuade the great Polish nobles, who were extremely reluctant to help him reinstate as King of Sweden, he promised at the Seim held in 1599 that he would cede more privileges to the nobles and make Estonia, which was a Swedish territory, part of Poland-Lithuania. did. Accordingly, the nobles believed that by attacking Estonia, they would be able to further strengthen their control over the Baltic Sea and increase grain exports, and they willingly accepted it, believing that there was no reason for their country, which had 10 million people, to lose compared to the Swedes, who only had 1 million people.

Thus, the war between Poland and Sweden over Estonia broke out. In 1600, the Polish-Lithuanian army under Krzysztof Mykołaj Wiław launched an offensive and achieved several victories against the Swedish army. However, at the time, the Polish army had moved south in large numbers to drive out Prince Mihai Viteazul of Wallachia, so the troops deployed to Estonia were extremely limited. As a result, only 1/3 of the troops deployed by the Swedish army were pushed back, and not only Estonia but most of Livonia was lost to Sweden. Accordingly, Sejm decided to increase military spending and send troops from the southern front to the northern front.

In 1601, an army commanded by Lithuanian hetman Jan Karol Kodkiewicz and Polish Prime Minister Jan Zamoiski, recalled from Moldavia, clashed with the Swedish army that had crossed Livonia and entered Polish territory. On June 23, 1601, Zamoiski and Kodkiewicz led 3,000 infantry and 1,000 cavalry against 5,000 Swedish infantry and 4,000 cavalry at Cockenhausen. As a result, the Polish army, led by 1,000 Winged Hussars, achieved a great victory, killing 2,000 enemy soldiers. At that time, the casualties of the Polish cavalry were only 100 to 200.

Then, Jan Zamoiski launched an offensive to retake Livonia with 12,000 troops and 50 cannons. His army recaptured Vollmar on December 18, 1601, and Pelin on May 17, 1602. At the end of 1602, Swedish territory in Livonia was limited to Tallinn , Pernau , Haapsalu and Dorpat . However, Jan Zamoiski, who was now over 60 years old, became seriously ill and returned to Krakow, and Kodkiewicz effectively took command. In April 1603, he defeated the Swedish army under Arvid Eriksson Stolarm and captured Dorpat, and Biaoui Kamien.[10] In the battle, he defeated a Swedish force numbering 7,000 with 2,000 winged hussars. The Swedish army's casualties amounted to 3,000, while the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth's losses were only 50 killed and 100 wounded.

On 23 September 1604, Kodkiewicz defeated King Charles IX of Sweden, who had marched on Riga . However, while Sweden, determined to take revenge, sent reinforcements, the Sejm refused to provide additional financial support. As a result, while Charles IX raised an army of over 10,000 men, Kodkiewicz had only 3,600. In September 1605, the two armies met at Kirchholm . Although Charles IX commanded an army three times larger, he drew up his men in a grid formation of seven or eight ranks, wary of the devastating power of the Winged Hussars . Kodkiewicz, faced with an extremely cautious enemy, staged a feint retreat for four hours. Charles IX, who had been slow to move, thought that this was his chance for revenge after his forces defeated the enemy in several small-scale skirmishes and gave the order to pursue. However, only half an hour after the battle began, the Swedish army was completely defeated by the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth cavalry, including the Winged Hussars.

The Swedish army's losses in the Battle of Kirholm were enormous. As many as 8,000 casualties occurred, 500 were taken prisoner, and King Karl IX also barely escaped while being wounded. On the other hand, the losses of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Army were only 100 killed and 200 wounded. Kodkiewicz became a celebrity after the Battle of Kirholm, and was praised as a 'hero who punished heresy' by Catholic countries across Europe. However, Seim showed no sincerity in financing the war costs. This prevented him from launching a further offensive, and he remained in the area of ​​Latgale (to the east of present-day Latvia).

Then, in 1606, King Sigismund III was resentful of the king's uncooperation in the war, and proposed a reform plan that included levying a special tax, temporarily strengthening the king's authority, and strengthening the army in order to lead the war to victory. However, this agenda was met with severe opposition, and Seim was eventually disbanded without reaching any conclusion. Afterwards, great Polish nobles, including Mikołłzłzdowski, formed an alliance in Stenžica and expressed their intention to stand against Sigismund III, who was trying to introduce an absolute monarchy to Poland. Those who signed the resolution of this alliance amounted to 145 people, and their private army numbered 10,000 infantry, 600 cavalry, and 28 cannons. When the rebels invaded Kraków, Sigismund III entrusted Kodkiewicz and Stanisław Szukiewski to suppress them. The two generals marched with 9,100 infantry, 3,200 cavalry, and 24 cannons. On July 5, 1607, the royal army won a fierce battle against the rebels at the Battle of Guzów. The rebels continued their resistance, but in 1608, they surrendered when Sigismund III withdrew his plan to strengthen the throne and offered to pardon them.

Taking advantage of Poland-Lithuania being embroiled in civil war, the Swedish army under Joachim Fredrik von Mansfeld invaded Livonia again in 1608. They conquered Pernau and besieged Riga. Accordingly, Kodkiewicz marched again to Livonia, defeated the Swedish army in the Battle of the Gauja River in October of that year, and rescued Riga and recaptured Pernau in 1609. He later improvised a small fleet and attacked the Swedish navy at the Battle of Salis. Afterwards, the two countries fell into a stalemate with only small-scale battles, and a truce was officially signed after the death of Charles IX in 1611.

After the Rurik dynasty was cut off with the death of Tsar Fyodor I of Rus in 1598 , Tsardom of Rus was embroiled in a period of turmoil . As the famine continued during the reign of Boris Godunov , the new tsar who was not from the Rurik dynasty , False Dmitry I , who claimed to be the successor to the Rurik dynasty, rebelled with the support of several Polish nobles. After Boris Godunov died of a cerebral hemorrhage in April 1605, the new Tsar, Fyodor II, was defeated by the False Dmitry and allowed him to enter Moscow, where he was assassinated in June 1605. However, False Dmitry also failed to rule properly for a year, causing public discord, and was eventually killed in a rebellion by boyars led by Vasily Shuisky on May 17, 1606.

This seemed to be the end of the situation, but in 1607 the false Dmitry II appeared and threatened Moscow. Accordingly, Basil IV gave the name Korella (Корела) to King Karl IX of Sweden.[11] He requested support on the condition that he give up his army, and in February 1609, Karl IX dispatched reinforcements to drive out False Dmitry to Kaluga. King Sigismund III, who was keeping a close eye on this situation, convened a meeting and argued that the future Livonian War would be dangerous if Sweden was allowed to annex the Russian Tsardom like this, and insisted that his country should attack the Russian Tsardom before that, and approved it. succeeded in obtaining.

In September 1609, a Polish-Lithuanian army of 6,500 to 6,800 men led by Stanisław Žóžiewski crossed the border and advanced into Tsarist Rus, winning a major victory on July 4 at the Battle of Klusino, killing 5,000 enemy soldiers and losing only 400 against 35,000 allied troops of Tsarist Rus and Sweden. On the 29th, Smolensk was surrounded. Afterwards, Vasily IV was ousted by seven boyars, and the boyars declared that they would accept Prince Władysław, the eldest son of Sigismund III, as the new tsar, and allowed Zukievsky to enter Moscow . In June 1611, Smolensk fell after a two-year siege. The dethroned Basil IV was transported to Warsaw in a carriage and paid homage to Sigismund III and members of the Seim at the Warsaw Palace on October 29, 1611. He was later transported to Gostinin and died there.

However, Sigmund III suffered a defeat at this point. The conditions the boyars put forward when negotiating with Poland were "Władysław converts to the Russian Orthodox Church and then ascends to the throne," "does not interfere in Russia's internal affairs," and "does not impose Catholicism." Władysław showed a positive attitude toward conversion to Orthodoxy, but Sigismund III, who was a zealous Catholic, strongly opposed it and ordered the forcible conversion of Orthodoxy to Catholicism and the suppression of nobles and people who did not accept Catholicism. As a result, atrocities by the Polish army erupted in Moscow, and in 1611, Kuzma Minin and Dmitry Pozharsky led an uprising against the Polish occupation forces.

The Polish army suffered from enemies who cut off their supply routes and engaged in guerrilla warfare, making it difficult to secure food. Eventually, when 2,000 soldiers rioted in anger over not receiving their salaries, the Polish leadership could no longer hold out and withdrew to Smolensk. Afterwards, Sigismund III attempted to launch an expedition to reconquer Moscow, but had difficulty raising military funds due to the Sejm's non-cooperation. In 1618, he signed the Treaty of Deulino, which allowed the independence of Tsarist Russia in exchange for recognition of Smolensk rule. and ended the war.

On June 19, 1617, four Swedish naval ships led by King Gustav II Adolf of Sweden landed in Riga Bay, attacked the Dunamünde fortress in two days, and blockaded Riga. After reinforcements arrived in July of that year, the Swedish army continued its offensive and captured almost the entire Livonian coast, and on August 11, it laid siege to Pernau and fell after three days. Subsequently, Salakgriva fell on August 18, and the Swedish army took control of all of Livonia except Riga .

When this news arrived, a small army under Lithuanian hetman Krzysztof Radživiv was dispatched. Although his army was much inferior to the enemy, he took advantage of the enemy's scattered forces and defeated them individually, recapturing almost all the cities and fortresses except Pernau. Krzysztof informed Sigismund III of his achievements and requested that Livonia be formally annexed to Lithuania, but when Sigismund III did not accept it, he resigned. Afterwards, Jan Szycinski led the Livonian army in his place. In September 1618, a two-year truce was signed between Poland-Lithuania and Sweden. At this time, the Polish-Lithuanian side demanded the return of Pernau, but the Swedish side did not accept it, and both sides began preparing to conquer Livonia as soon as the ceasefire expired.

In 1619, King Sigismund III dispatched 10,000 Polish troops to the Duchy of Erdei and brutally massacred and plundered the residents.[12] Bethlen Gabor held a grudge against this, and his lord and Padishah of the Ottoman Empire He requested that Osman II take revenge against Poland and Lithuania.

Accordingly, Osman II dispatched 20,000 men led by Iskander Pasha in 1620 to invade the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Poland's Grand Marshal Stanisław Žóławski requested funding from the Sejm, but the Sejm refused as he did not want to start an all-out war with the Ottoman Empire. However, the secret council of the Senate provided some funding. He pooled his meager funds and led about 8,000 infantry and several hundred winged hussars to the Principality of Moldavia, which had been invaded by the Ottomans in September 1620, together with Field Marshal Stanisław Koniecpolski .

On September 10, 1620 , the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Ottoman army clashed at Ceczora, near Iasi . Zukiewski and Koniecpolski were desperately outnumbered and poorly trained, so they led soldiers with low morale and fought with all their might, but in the end, they were unable to withstand the numerical inferiority and both were killed. Encouraged by this, Osman II himself led a 120,000-strong army from Kostantinye and marched into Poland in the spring of 1621. As the situation worsened, King Sigismund III quickly sent Kodkiewicz to the southern border to stop the Ottoman army. Seim also realized the reality and provided significant military funds.

Kodkiewicz led about 20,000 troops across the Dniester River in September and then joined Prince Władysław's 10,000 men. He was also joined by 25,000 men led by Kojač commander Petro Konashevich. By consolidating the border forces, the number of troops of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth reached 63,000. In the subsequent Battle of Khotyn, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth successfully defeated the 120,000-strong Ottoman Army . However, in the process, Kodkiewicz, who was considered the best general of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, died of illness. On October 9, 1621, the two countries signed the Treaty of Khotin. Sigmund III decided to give up sovereignty over the Duchy of Moldavia, and the Ottoman Empire decided not to invade Poland.

On November 15, 1620, while attending mass at St. John's Cathedral in Warsaw, King Sigismund III was attacked by Michael Piekarski, a minor nobleman armed with a war axe. Piekarski pounced on the king as he was almost up the stairs, striking him first in the back, then in the cheek with the axe, and then attacking his arm. However, he was unable to deliver the fatal blow due to the obstruction of the court marshal Łkaž Opalinski and the royal guard, and Prince Władysław, who was following Sigismund III, wounded Michau on the head with a saber . King Sigismund III fell to the ground and lost consciousness, but thanks to medical staff who properly administered first aid, he barely recovered and was transported to the Royal Palace in Warsaw.

After the investigation of Mihau, he was mentally unstable and depressed, and after he assassinated Henri IV in 1610 , he decided to kill his name and spread his name. He was tortured at a public location on November 27, 1620, and was executed as a hull . His remains were then burned out, and the remaining ash was fired in the air.

In August 1621, the Swedish army took advantage of the Polish army's massive move south to prevent the invasion of the Ottoman Empire and made a surprise landing at Pernau with a large fleet of 148 ships. Gustav II Adolf disembarked with 14,700 infantry, 3,150 cavalry, and 375 cannons and marched toward Riga, beginning a siege on August 29 and successfully capturing it on September 25. After capturing the fortress of Dunamünde on October 2, they marched through wetlands and forests to avoid the Lithuanian cavalry, entered the Duchy of Courland, and captured Mitau. Afterwards, he attempted to storm the Kockenhausen fortress, but failed due to resistance from the garrison commander Alexander Gosiewski.

In early January 1622, the Swedish army attacked Volmar.[13] Several fortresses were captured. Meanwhile, Krzysztof Radzyvu, who had gathered about 3,000 troops, set out to recapture Mitau on January 7, but failed to capture the castle due to lack of artillery. Soon after, the main Swedish army arrived at Mitau, and although the two sides engaged in a long-term battle, it was not easy to determine victory or defeat. Then, on August 10, 1622, the two sides signed a one-year truce. This truce was later extended in 1623 until March 1625.

Sigismund III had no intention of ending the war like this. He planned to move all available troops north after the war with the Ottoman Empire ended. Several generals, including Krzysztof Radživłow and Krzysztof Zvaraski, disagreed. They wanted the king to renounce the Swedish throne in exchange for a permanent peace treaty with Sweden and acceptance of Livonia. Radzywiw argued that the Swedish army had become considerably stronger after Gustav II Adolf's military reforms, and that the Polish-Lithuanian army also needed to strengthen its infantry and artillery, so it was unreasonable to go to war with Sweden.

King Sigismund III ordered the construction of a fleet to expedition to Sweden, despite the opposition of his generals. Because the semi-independent city of Gdańsk refused to cooperate, the king decided to expand the port and shipyards at Putsk. Between 1624 and 1626, seven medium-sized ships of 200 to 400 tons were built in Putsk, and English mercenaries were hired as marines. The largest battleship of this new fleet was the galleon Crawl David, commanded by the English mercenary captain James Murray. When Gustav II Adolf heard of this move by Poland and Lithuania, he sent envoys to Tsarist Russia and the Ottoman Empire to propose a joint attack on Poland and Lithuania.

On June 27, 1625, Gustav II Adolf landed in Livonia with 20,000 troops. The main Swedish army, numbering 10,000 men, marched up the Daugava River, surrounded Kockenhausen, and captured it in 16 days. Dorpat was captured on August 27, followed by Mitau. In early September 1625, Swedish troops invaded the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and occupied Birzai on September 7. This severed the connection between the remaining Polish-Lithuanian garrison in Livonia and the garrison stationed in Lithuania. On September 27, the Swedish army attacked Bauske.[14] Additional fortresses were attacked.

In October 1625, Radivu launched a counterattack and captured several castles, and another army led by Lev Sapieha defeated the Swedish army attempting to capture Dunaburg . Afterwards, Rajviu concentrated his troops in Courland and then dispatched his detachments one after another to harass the Swedish troops in Livonia. Meanwhile, Sapieha camped near Wallhof, located midway between Bauske and Kockenhausen. Accordingly, Gustavus II Adolf believed that Rajviu and Sapieha would not cooperate properly since they were jealous of each other and were fiercely fighting for power, so he decided to focus his efforts on Sapieha's side. Rallying his forces on 13 January 1626, he advanced on Valkhów on 17 January and clashed with 2,000 men of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth under Sapieha. In this battle, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth suffered between 500 and 1,000 dead, captured, or seriously wounded, while the Swedish army suffered virtually no casualties. This battle was the first battle in which the Swedish army faced the Polish-Lithuanian army in the field and won a complete victory.

In May 1626, Gustav II Adolf marched into the Duchy of Prussia with his fleet. His army arrived at Philau in July.[15] After disembarking nearby, they quickly occupied coastal towns and cities without much fighting, and Protestants, who made up the majority of the Principality of Prussia, regarded the Protestant king as a liberator, believing that he had come to save them from Catholic oppression. However, Gdansk refused to surrender to Gustav II Adolf, and Gustav II besieged Gdansk. To save Gdansk, King Sigismund III dispatched the army he had assembled in just over two months and laid siege to Meve, a fortress near Gdansk occupied by the Swedish army. Upon hearing this news, Gustav II Adolf personally launched a counterattack to save Meve.

The two armies clashed three times near Mebe on September 22nd, September 29th, and October 1st. As a result, the Polish-Lithuanian army suffered more losses and was defeated, but the Swedish army also suffered significant losses and the blockade of Gdańsk was weakened. Afterwards, Sigismund III requested reinforcements from all over the country in order to somehow gather more of his army, but it did not achieve much results because the nobles were tired of the war with Sweden and did not cooperate properly. However, Gustav II Adolf was also seriously injured during the Siege of Dyrschau in the summer of 1627, which weakened the Swedish army's offensive.

On November 28, 1627, the Polish-Lithuanian fleet prepared for the invasion of Sweden by King Sigismund III defeated the Swedish fleet blockading Gdansk from the sea at the Battle of Oliva.[16] As a result, the Swedish naval blockade collapsed and the morale of the Swedish army collapsed. On June 25, 1629, the Polish-Lithuanian army under the command of Marshal Stanisław Koniecpolski of Poland and the combined forces of the Holy Roman Empire under Hans Georg von Arnim fought against the Swedish army under Gustav II Adolf in the Battle of Königfeld.[17] defeated in battle. In this battle, the Allied losses were 300, while the Swedish army lost 600 to 1,000 killed and 200 to 500 were taken prisoner. In particular, the Swedish cavalry suffered heavy losses, and 1,300 of the 5,500 war horses could no longer be deployed to the battlefield.

Afterwards, Gustavus II Adolf concentrated on defense, and Sigismund III, who did not want to continue the war any longer, decided to negotiate by accepting the mediation of Cardinal Richelieu , the real power of the Kingdom of France , instead of destroying the Swedish army . As a result, the Altmark Armistice was signed on September 26, 1629. According to this, Sweden secured control of Livonia, and Poland was granted control of West Prussia, Latgalle, and Dunaburg.

When his second wife, Constanta, died suddenly in July 1631, Sigismund III suffered mental shock and became extremely weak physically. In his later years, he suffered from gout and joint pain that forced him to lie in bed all day, and in his final years he suffered from severe depression . On April 1, 1632, sensing that his death was imminent, he convened a special council and obtained a promise to crown his eldest son, Władysław , as king. He then celebrated his last Mass on Easter Sunday, supported by his sons. Afterwards, lying motionless in bed, he died of a stroke on April 30, and his body was placed in the Wawel Cathedral in Krakow.

In conclusion, even though they had so many children, their direct descendants were cut off from the generation of grandchildren.

A cancer that came at the right time . It seems surprising that Poland-Lithuania enjoyed its heyday until 1648 despite this man's efforts . In his home country of Sweden, he had already experienced a serious conflict with the Swedes, who were mainly Lutheran, and it was not enough that he was kicked out of the throne. He continued to lose his senses and claimed the Swedish throne, causing extreme conflict with Sweden, and later the Great Flood resulted in Sweden's intervention in the biggest disaster. provided the cause. Still, at a time when the Swedish army was in disarray, the Polish army was able to completely rob the Swedish army of advancing into Polish Livonia and not lose any territory. However, even though there were several opportunities to counterattack, they were unable to advance even once due to conflicts with the Polish nobles. I couldn't do it. In the end, they suffered consecutive defeats against the Swedish army, which had undergone military reform under Gustav II Adolf , and suffered the humiliation of virtually losing Riga, a major trading port in Livonia and the Baltic Sea, and Poland-Lithuania was unable to defeat Sweden until the end of the Great Northern War .

Against the Russian Tsardom , the spade was much bigger. In fact, Poland-Lithuania could have really destroyed or annexed Tsarist Russia. This is because there were quite a few pro-Polish nobles in Russia, and anti-Polish Russians were also exhausted from the long civil war and famine . If Władysław, the son of Sigismund III, converted to the Russian Orthodox Church, the Russian people were willing to accept him as tsar, and Władysław himself thought positively, but Sigismund III refused and sprinkled ashes on the finished rice. In the end, only after paying great sacrifices did Poland sign the Treaty of Deulino with Russia and receive the cession of Smolensk and other areas. In a situation where it could have annexed Russia in the first place, it had to be satisfied with only ceding a few key border points, so it is not at all strange to hear the sound of cancer. And this war failed to inflict a decisive blow on Russia, and combined with the suppression of the Orthodox Church in the country, which will be described later, hostility toward Poland soared so much that Russia intervened on the side of the Cossacks in the later Great Flood.

On the other hand, religiously, in the process of conflict over the Swedish throne, he created conflict with the Protestant world, and at the same time, through the Brest Union, he forcibly converted his Orthodox residents to the Eastern Catholic Church, greatly agitating the residents of the eastern Ruthenia area of ​​his territory. There is no problem seeing this as the direct cause of the later Khmelnytsky uprising and the national disaster that followed .

The reason for such countless attempts was partly due to his own lack of ability, but the biggest problem was his excessive obsession with the Swedish throne. He was attached to the Swedish throne, which he had inherited from his father, and regarded the Polish-Lithuanian throne as an added bonus obtained through his mother. The interests of the Polish-Lithuanian nobles and the interests of the Swedish King Sigismund III did not coincide for the most part, and he was born and raised and most of the nobles were loyal to him.[18] It may have been natural that he had an attachment to Sweden.