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In this Gallery we present a photo coverage of the reenactment of the Battle of Warsaw (1656) which took place on July 19th, 2008 in Warsaw at Skaryszewski Park. Click any photo to see enlarged image and read the story of the Swedish Deluge and the details of the reenactment.
Prelude
Poland entered the 17th century as a regional power with a vast territory: as a result of the union between Poland and Lithuania (1569), the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth included not only today's Poland and Lithuania, but also the Belarus and Latvia, large parts of Ukraine and Estonia as well as Smolensk and Kaliningrad areas of present western Russia. It was ruled by kings elected by nobility and controlled by the Diet (Polish: Sejm). After the Cossacks rebellion on the eastern frontier (Khmielnitzki's uprising of 1648) and the Moscovite invasion in 1654, the allied forces of Sweden and Brandenburg invaded Poland from the north in 1655 and marched successfully south. On 18 July, 1656 the allied forces of some 19.000 men under command of King Charles X of Sweden and Elector Frederick William of Brandenburg arrived to Warsaw to be met by 36.000 soldiers under the command of King John II Casimir of Poland. After 3 days of battle, the Swedish-Brandenburg force gained short-term victory, yet they were forced to abandon Warsaw soon afterwards. The Swedes were finally defeated in 1660, and the war got a popular name: The Deluge (Polish: potop).
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