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Jan Sobieski

Jan Sobieski (17 August 1629-17 June 1696) was King of Poland-Lithuania from 19 May 1674 to 17 June 1696, succeeding Michael I and preceding Augustus II.

Biography[]

Jan Sobieski was born in Olesko, Poland-Lithuania on 17 August 1629, the son of the Voivode of Ruthenia, Jakub Sobieski. He fought at the 1648 Siege of Zamosc, the 1649 Battle of Zboriv, and the 1652 Battle of Batih during the Khmelnytsky Uprising; his brother died in Tatar captivity after Batih. As a colonel, Sobieski fought with distinction at the 1651 Battle of Berestechko, and he learned the Tatar and Turkish languages and Ottoman military tactics while taking part in a diplomatic mission to Ottoman Turkey. In 1655, he fought at the Battle of Okhmativ. Following the Swedish invasion of Poland in 1655, Sobieski swore allegiance to Charles X Gustav of Sweden, but he abandoned the Swedes in March 1656, returning to the side of King John II Casimir Vasa and serving under Stefan Czarniecki and Jerzy Sebastian Lubomirski.

Jan Sobieski in 1668

Jan Sobieski in 1668

He commanded a Tatar cavalry regiment at the 1656 Battle of Warsaw, fought at the 1658 Siege of Torun, and negotiated a peace with the Cossacks in 1659. Shortly afterward, he fought against the Russian Empire. During the 1660s, he was elected a deputy to the Sejm, working on reforming the military. He reluctantly remained loyal to the King during Lubomirski's 1665-1666 rebellion. Sobieski was named Marshal of the Crown in 1665, and, in 1667, he defeated the Cossacks and Tatars at the Battle of Podhajce. He became Grand Hetman of the Crown in 1668, and thereby commander-in-chief of the Polish-Lithuanian army. He opposed King Michal Korybut Wisniowiecki, vetoing several sejms; his military victories against the Tatars in 1671 won him many allies at the Polish court, and he defeated the Ottomans at the 1673 Battle of Khotyn. The death of King Michal the day before the battle enabled Sobieski to be elected King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Sobieski inherited a country devastated by a half-century of continuous warfare, and he was forced to prioritize the war with the Ottomans to the south in 1674. In 1675, he defeated an Ottoman-Tatar offensive against Lviv, and he signed a peace with the Tatars in 1676, gaining Bila Tserkva and Pavoloch, while the Ottomans kept much of Podolia. Sobieski reorganized the Polish army into regiments, replaced the infantry's pikes with battleaxes, and had the Polish cavalry adopt hussar and dragoon formations. His plans to invade Prussia were shot down by the Sejm, however, and Sobieski's enemies planned to replace him as King with Duke Charles V of Lorraine.

In 1679, France allied with Prussia, costing Sobieski a close ally of his, and the Polish-French alliance collapsed in 1683 when Sobieski expelled the French ambassador for plotting against him. That same year, Sobieski formed an alliance with the Holy Roman Empire, hoping to defend Poland's southern borders. He assumed joint command of Polish and German troops who checked Kara Mustafa's northward advance at the decisive Battle of Vienna, leading a charge of the winged hussars and saving Christian Europe from Islamic Turkish invasion. However, Poland gained no lasting political or territorial rewards. Sobieski launched an inconclusive invasion of Moldavia in 1691, and he died of a sudden heart attack in Wilanow in 1696 at the age of 66.

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