Stefan Czarniecki (1599-16 February 1665) was a Polish nobleman and general who famously led a guerrilla campaign against the Swedish invaders during the Deluge of the 1650s, saving Poland-Lithuania from lasting conquest.
Biography[]
Stefan Czarniecki was born in Czarnca, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1599, the son of Krzysztof Czarniecki. He came from a family of lesser szlachta, and he embarked on a military career at an early age due to his family's relative poverty. He became a courtier to Prince Jan Casimir Vasa, a future King, and he fought with the Lisowczyks against the Ottomans at the Battle of Khotyn in 1621. He later served under Stanislaw Koniecpolski against the Tatars, Cossacks, and Swedes, and he joined the Habsburg forces during the Thirty Years' War to continue the fight against Sweden. He fought at the First Battle of Breitenfeld in 1631 before returning to Polish service in 1633, serving under King Wladyslaw IV Vasa during the Smolensk War with Muscovy. He acquired landholdings in Smolensk Voivodeship as a reward for his services, and he guarded the hostility-plagued southeastern border during the 1630s and 1640s. In 1644, he participated in the destruction of a Tatar army at the Battle of Ochmatow, and he was captured by Bohdan Khmelnytsky at the Battle of Zhovti Vody in 1648. Czarniecki was quickly ransomed and was once again captured at Kudak Fortress, but he was released in the autumn of 1649. Afterwards, he fought at the Battle of Berestechko and the Battle of Bila Tserkva in 1651, and he rejected compromise with the Commonwealth's enemies after witnessing the massacre of Polish prisoners after the Battle of Batoh.
Czarniecki in 1655
In 1653, he avenged the slain Polish captives by ransacking much of the Cossack Hetmanate, although attrition among his troops was high. He was recalled in 1655 and joined King John Casimir's war council. During King Charles X Gustav of Sweden's invasion of Poland in 1655, Czarniecki defended Krakow until he was forced to surrender to the Swedes. He was allowed to withdraw with his army, and he remained loyal to the Polish king even as most of the senators, hetmans, and soldiers temporarily joined the Swedes. Czarniecki turned to guerrilla warfare against ths Swedes, and, while he lost the Battle of Golab in 1656, he won the Battle of Warka later that year. He was then defeated at the Battle of Klecko and at Kscynia, but he was always able to retreat in good order and provoked a popular uprising in Greater Poland. His army was crushed at the Battle of Warsaw, but he returned to guerrilla warfare and defeated invading Transylvanians at the Battle of Magierow in 1657 before aiding the Danes against Sweden at the Battle of Kolding in 1658. After peace with Sweden was concluded, he transferred to the eastern front to battle the Russians, winning the Battle of Polonka, the Battle of Basia, and the Battle of Kuszliki in 1660. However, his popularity declined due to his appropriation of a large Russian ransom after Polonka, his support for King Jan Casimir's absolutism, and his failed siege of Hlukhiv. In 1664, he was made Voivode of Kyiv, and he was appointed Field Crown Hetman. He was mortally wounded at Lysianka and died of in February 1665 just six weeks after receiving Poland's highest military command.