For three centuries Poland-Lithuania, for a time one of the largest states in Europe, fought on every frontier in turn, against the Teutonic Order in the north, Sweden on the Baltic, Muscovy in the east and the Ottoman Empire in the south. These are the great wars that shaped it, each told through the battles and the commanders who fought them.
War with the Teutonic Order. The long struggle with the crusading Order in the north, decided at Grunwald in 14101, one of the largest battles of medieval Europe, where the Polish-Lithuanian union shattered the Order's army and began its long decline.
Wars with Sweden. From the hussar triumph at Kircholm in 16052 to the catastrophe of the Deluge in the 1650s3, decades of war with Sweden over the Baltic coast and the Polish crown itself.
Wars with Muscovy. The long struggle with Muscovy for the east, when the victory at Klushino in 1610 briefly carried a Polish-Lithuanian garrison into the Moscow Kremlin4.
Wars with the Ottomans and Tatars. The southern front against the Ottoman Empire and its Tatar allies, from the great stand at Chocim in 16215 to the relief of Vienna in 1683.
Four fronts at once
The Commonwealth's size and its position between rival powers meant it was rarely at peace. Its armies leaned on one of the most feared formations in Europe, the winged hussars, whose charge decided battles from Kircholm to Vienna. Its wars produced a line of remarkable commanders: Jan Karol Chodkiewicz, victor of Kircholm; Stanislaw Zolkiewski, who marched on Moscow; Stefan Czarniecki, who fought back the Swedish Deluge; and King Jan III Sobieski, who led a Polish and imperial coalition to break the siege of Vienna6.
See where each war was decided in the greatest battles in Polish history, or meet the men who led them in the greatest Polish commanders.