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 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. ^* 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 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 Poznań Voivod Krzysztof Opaliński 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 Góra 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 Paweł Sapieha started the counterattack in order to put away those loyal to Charles Gustav. In the end, John II Casimir 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 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 Narodów, "Commonwealth of Three Nations"). Supported by Cossack Ataman Ivan Vyhovsky and the starshyna, this treaty changed East European history.

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The Deluge is described in a fictionalized novel of 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.

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