Editing Poland (section)

=== Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth ===
{{Main|History of Poland in the Early Modern era (1569–1795)|Crown of the Kingdom of Poland|Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth}}
[[File:Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1619.PNG|thumb|upright=1.2|The [[Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth]] at its greatest extent in 1619. At that time it was the largest country in Europe]]

The [[Union of Lublin]] of 1569 established the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]], a unified federal state with an [[elective monarchy]] that was largely governed by the nobility.<ref name="Butterwick 2021">{{Cite book |last=Butterwick |first=Richard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g2cOEAAAQBAJ |title=The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, 1733–1795 |date=2021 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-25220-0 |pages=21, 14 |access-date=24 July 2023 |archive-date=4 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404210123/https://books.google.com/books?id=g2cOEAAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> The latter coincided with a period of prosperity. The Polish-dominated union thereafter became a leading power and a major cultural entity, exercising political control over parts of Central, [[Eastern Europe|Eastern]], [[Southeastern Europe|Southeastern]] and Northern Europe. The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth occupied approximately {{convert|1|e6km2|sqmi|abbr=unit}} [[Truce of Deulino|at its peak]] and was the largest state in Europe.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Parker |first=Geoffrey |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1GMlDwAAQBAJ |title=Global Crisis. War, Climate Change and Catastrophe in the Seventeenth Century |date=2017 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-21936-4 |location=New Haven |page=122 |access-date=24 July 2023 |archive-date=5 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405150949/https://books.google.com/books?id=1GMlDwAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Parker|2017|p=122}}</ref> Simultaneously, Poland imposed [[Polonisation]] policies in newly acquired territories which were met with resistance from ethnic and religious minorities.<ref name="Butterwick 2021" />

In 1573, [[Henry III of France|Henry de Valois of France]], the first elected king, approbated the [[Henrician Articles]] which obliged future monarchs to respect the rights of nobles.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Ward |first1=Adolphus |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nrJ4DwAAQBAJ |title=The Wars of Religion in Europe |last2=Hume |first2=Martin |date=2018 |publisher=Perennial Press |isbn=978-1-5312-6318-8 |location=Vachendorf |access-date=24 July 2023 |archive-date=9 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230709175950/https://books.google.com/books?id=nrJ4DwAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> When he left Poland to become [[List of French monarchs|King of France]], his successor, [[Stephen Báthory]], led a successful [[Livonian campaign of Stephen Báthory|campaign]] in the [[Livonian War]], granting Poland more [[Livonia|lands across the eastern shores]] of the Baltic Sea.<ref>{{Cite book |last=O'Connor |first=Kevin |url={{GBurl|id=OOdjCAAAQBAJ}} |title=The History of the Baltic States – 2nd Edition |date=2015 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-61069-916-7 |location=Westport |pages=37–38}}</ref> State affairs were then headed by [[Jan Zamoyski]], the [[Chancellor (Poland)|Crown Chancellor]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Halina Lerski |url={{GBurl|id=luRry4Y5NIYC|p=678}} |title=Historical Dictionary of Poland, 966–1945 |date=30 January 1996 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-0-313-03456-5 |page=678 |access-date=2 July 2012}}</ref> Stephen's successor, [[Sigismund III Vasa|Sigismund III]], defeated a rival [[House of Habsburg|Habsburg]] electoral candidate, [[Maximilian III, Archduke of Austria|Archduke Maximilian III]], in the [[War of the Polish Succession (1587–1588)]]. In 1592, Sigismund succeeded his father [[John III of Sweden|John Vasa]], in [[Kingdom of Sweden|Sweden]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Szujski |first=Józef |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JlAFSS-12xwC |title=Dzieła Józefa Szujskiego. Dzieje Polski |date=1894 |publisher=Szujski-Kluczycki |volume=3 |location=Kraków |pages=162–163 |language=Polish |oclc=717123162 |access-date=24 July 2023 |archive-date=4 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404210017/https://books.google.com/books?id=JlAFSS-12xwC |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[Polish-Swedish union]] endured until 1599, when he was [[War against Sigismund|deposed]] by the Swedes.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Peterson |first=Gary Dean |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FtFDthqmB2wC |title=Warrior Kings of Sweden. The Rise of an Empire in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries |date=2014 |publisher=McFarland, Incorporated, Publishers |isbn=978-1-4766-0411-4 |page=107 |access-date=24 July 2023 |archive-date=27 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230727002356/https://books.google.com/books?id=FtFDthqmB2wC |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:Daniel Schultz, Portret Jana III Sobieskiego, króla Polski.jpg|thumb|upright|left|King [[John III Sobieski]] defeated the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman Turks]] at the [[Battle of Vienna]] on 12 September 1683.]]

In 1609, Sigismund [[Polish–Muscovite War (1605–1618)|invaded]] [[Tsardom of Russia|Russia]] which was engulfed in a [[Time of Troubles|civil war]],<ref name="Dabrowski 2014" /> and a year later the Polish [[Polish hussars|winged hussar]] units under [[Stanisław Żółkiewski]] [[Polish–Lithuanian occupation of Moscow|occupied]] Moscow for two years after defeating the Russians at [[Battle of Klushino|Klushino]].<ref name="Dabrowski 2014" /> Sigismund also countered the [[Ottoman Empire]] in the southeast; at [[Battle of Khotyn (1621)|Khotyn]] in 1621 [[Jan Karol Chodkiewicz]] achieved a decisive victory against the Turks, which ushered the downfall of Sultan [[Osman II]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dyer |first=Thomas Henry |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kQZOAAAAcAAJ |title=The History of Modern Europe – From the Fall of Constantinople, in 1453, to the War in the Crimea, in 1857 |date=1861 |publisher=J. Murray |isbn=978-3-337-75029-9 |volume=2 |location=London |page=504 |access-date=24 July 2023 |archive-date=5 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405060718/https://books.google.com/books?id=kQZOAAAAcAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Dzięgielewski |first=Jan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qRAsAQAAMAAJ&q=Bitwa%2520pod%2520Chocimiem%252050%2520tysi%25C4%2599cy%25201621 |title=Encyklopedia historii Polski: A-M |date=1994 |publisher=Morex |isbn=978-83-902522-1-6 |location=Polska |page=101 |language=Polish |access-date=24 July 2023 |archive-date=24 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230724235956/https://books.google.com/books?id=qRAsAQAAMAAJ&q=Bitwa%2520pod%2520Chocimiem%252050%2520tysi%25C4%2599cy%25201621 |url-status=live }}</ref> Sigismund's long reign in Poland coincided with the [[Sigismund III Vasa#Legacy|Silver Age]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kizwalter |first=Tomasz |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p7JFAAAAIAAJ&q=srebrn%2520wiek%2520%2520z%25C5%2582oty%2520waz%25C3%25B3w |title=Kryzys Oświecenia a początki konserwatyzmu polskiego |date=1987 |publisher=Uniwersytet Warszawski |location=Warszawa (Warsaw) |page=21 |language=Polish |oclc=23942204 |access-date=24 July 2023 |archive-date=24 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230724235936/https://books.google.com/books?id=p7JFAAAAIAAJ&q=srebrn%2520wiek%2520%2520z%25C5%2582oty%2520waz%25C3%25B3w |url-status=live }}</ref> The liberal [[Władysław IV Vasa|Władysław IV]] effectively defended Poland's territorial possessions but after his death the vast Commonwealth began declining from internal disorder and constant warfare.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Scott |first=H. M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jb4DCgAAQBAJ |title=The Oxford Handbook of Early Modern European History, 1350–1750 |date=2015 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-102000-1 |volume=2 |location=Oxford |pages=409–413 |access-date=24 July 2023 |archive-date=6 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230406180731/https://books.google.com/books?id=Jb4DCgAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Czapliński |first=Władysław |title=Władysław IV i jego czasy |publisher=PW "Wiedza Poweszechna" |year=1976 |location=Warsaw |pages=170, 217–218 |language=pl |trans-title=Władysław IV and His Times |author-link=Władysław Czapliński}}</ref>

In 1648, the Polish hegemony over Ukraine sparked the [[Khmelnytsky Uprising]],<ref>{{Harvnb|Scott|2015|p=409}}</ref> followed by the decimating [[Deluge (history)|Swedish Deluge]] during the [[Second Northern War]],<ref name="Scott 2015">{{Harvnb|Scott|2015|pp=409–413}}</ref> and Prussia's [[Treaty of Bromberg|independence]] in 1657.<ref name="Scott 2015" /> In 1683, [[John III Sobieski]] re-established military prowess when he halted the advance of an [[Ottoman Army (15th-19th centuries)|Ottoman Army]] into Europe at the [[Battle of Vienna]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Scott|2015|p=411}}</ref> The [[House of Wettin|Saxon]] era, under [[Augustus II the Strong|Augustus II]] and [[Augustus III of Poland|Augustus III]], saw neighboring powers grow in strength at the expense of Poland. Both Saxon kings faced opposition from [[Stanisław Leszczyński]] during the [[Great Northern War]] (1700) and the [[War of the Polish Succession]] (1733).<ref>{{Harvnb|Scott|2015|pp=409–412, 666}}</ref>