Jan Sobieski

From POLAND : Key to Europe, 1939 by Raymond Leslie Buell

Although Poland retreated in the west during the thirteenth century, it advanced in the east, beginning with the conquest of what is Eastern Galicia in 1340. Its greatest gain came with the union with Lithuania, a kingdom which in the fifteenth century extended from the Baltic to the Black Sea, covering at one time almost half of modern Russia. For several centuries Poland maintained a constant vigil in the east to resist the onslaughts of the cossacks, Tatars, and then the turks. In 1683 King John Sobieski rescued Vienna from the Turks — one of the high moments in Polish history. Poland served as a barrier resisting Russia's effort at expansion toward the west, and in 1610 actually occupied the Kremlin. In resisting the imperialism of Germany, Russia, Sweden, and Turkey, Poland believed it was fulfilling a mission of importance not only to itself but to the nationalities which it ruled.

New York * London : A. Knopf 1938, 1939, pages 32-33.

From The Decisive Battles of the Western World 1955 by J. F. C. Fuller

In these wars, Louis was not only aided by Charles II, but also by the Turks, who throughout this period were engaged in their final struggle with the Empire, which impeded the Emperor's intervention in strength in the west. Happily for Europe, during the thirty Years War the Ottoman empire was in one of its periodical states of anarchy, but in 1656, under Mahomet IV (1648-1687) order was restored. In 1663, war was declared on the Empire ; but the following year, on August 1, the Turks were routed by Montecuccoli, the Imperialist general, at the battle of St. Gothard. The next Turkish move was made against Poland, where, after several campaigns, on November 11, 1673, a great Turkish army under Ahmad Kiuprili was destroyed by John Sobieski at Khoczim. Ten years later, in order to cripple Leopold, Louis persuaded the Sultan again to march against the Empire. Louis's idea was that were Austria overthrown, Germany would be forced to appeal to him, when, as champion of the Cross, he would restore to France the imperial crown of Charlemagne. Mahomet fell in with Louis's suggestion and assembled an army, reputed to be 250,000 strong, under Kara Mustafa, which crossed the Drave and laid siege to Vienna. At once, Sobieski, now John III of Poland, and Charles of Lorraine, at the head of 70,000 Poles, Bavarians, Saxons, and Germans, marched to its relief, and on September 12, 1683, routed the Turks. Nevertheless the war continued ; the Turks suffered a crushing defeat at Har-Kány, near the field of Mohács, on August 12, 1687, and another at Zenta on the river Theiss, at the hands of Prince Eugene, on September 11, 1697. Two years later, on January 26, 1699, this crowning victory led to the Peace of Carlowitz, by which all Hungary and Transylvania were ceded to Austria, and Podolia and the Ukraine^[*] to Poland. Thus ended the Turkish peril, which had terrorized eastern Europe since the battle of Manziker : it was the final echo of the Crusades.

The rout of the Turks before Vienna in 1683 and the accession of James II (1685-1688) to the throne of England on February 16, 1685, placed Louis in a difficult position. The former meant the strengthening of Austria and the latter that, should James . . . be unable to retain his throne, the only alternative to him was William of Orange, who had married James's daughter Mary in 1677. Therefore, policy demanded that James's position should be stabilized ; but Louis played his cards so badly that the very thing he was most anxious to prevent occurred. Shortly after James's accession he withdrew all toleration from the French Huguenots by revoking the Edict of Nantes, and to make matters worse, James set out to emulate him by attempting by unconstitutional means to force the Catholic religion on his subjects. The result was the "Glorious Revolution" of 1688, by which James was compelled to fly the kingdom and to make way for his son-in-law and daughter, who became joint rulers of England in his stead. "Thus for the divine right of kings", writes Lord Acton, "was established the divine right of freeholders," government by one of two parties of gentry, the Whigs and the Tories, the one representing the great landowners, merchants and tradesmen, and the other the smaller landowners and country clergy. Power was thus finally transferred from the Crown to Parliament, the former became a constitutional monarchy ; freedom of the Press was established, and in 1694 Bank of Englad was founded, whereby the English banking system was instituted, which in years to come was to make money all-powerful.

London : Eyre & Spottiswoode 1955, Vol. II, pages 121-122.

    * This is somewhat problematic in that the term 'Ukraine' is relatively recent and might have been not yet in use during the times described by Fuller. For that reason it is hard to form an idea of what exact parts of what went to exactly whom. The lands in question were inhabited largely by the Ruthenians, a Slav group akin to the Poles but not necessarily to the 'Russian' — to whom the Ruthenian seems to have given name.

Anachronisms in the historic records abound, the 'honest error' is frequent ; but tampering with the facts may have been even more frequent (usually by the Muscovites, the 'Prussians', the communists ; and possibly by some Guelfians). For just those reasons this note cannot pretend to exact accuracy. Aleksander Brückner may be one reliable source ; some of his propositions have also been questioned and contested by some authors who also seem reliable on other counts. This may be just the area of the discourse on history worthy a thorough sorting out. .— (WPT 10 Dec 04).

Selected bibliographic, http://melvyl.cdlib.org

Author Fuller, J. F. C. (John Frederick Charles), 1878-1966. Title A military history of the Western World. Publisher New York : Minerva Press, 1967. Description 3 v. illus., maps. 24 cm. Note London ed. (Eyre & Spottiswoode) has title: The decisive battles of the Western World and their influence upon history. Note Bibliographical footnotes.

Author Fuller, J. F. C. (John Frederick Charles), 1878-1966. Title The decisive battles of the Western World, and their influence upon history. Publisher London : Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1954-1956. Description 3 v. : ill., maps. ; 23 cm. Note Bibliographical footnotes.

Title A Declaration, or, Letters patents of the election of this present King of Poland, John the Third, elected on the 22d of May last past, Anno Dom. 1674 [microform] : containing the reasons of this election, the great vertues and merits of the said sere elect, his eminent services in war, especially in his last great victory against the Turks and Tartars, whereof many particulars are here related, not published before / now faithfully translated from the Latin copy by John Milton. Publisher London : Printed for Brabazon Aylmer, 1674. Description 12 p. Series Early English books, 1641-1700 ;1422:3.

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Title Literae, de pace nuper Polonos inter & Turcas initia, a Ministro Brandenburgico in comitiis Warsaviensibus divulgata [microform] : una cum responsione ad illas a vero cive Polonico data. Publisher Freistadii : [s.n., 1677] Description 32 p. ; 23 cm. Series German baroque literature, Harold Jantz collection ;no. 3196, reel 588. Note Imprint fictitious. Together with a response condemning the peace ministry as fictitious. Language Latin
[ This had showed on search for Thomas Hobbes in the University of California catalog on 9 Dec 04. I have no idea why under 'hobbes' and one is necessarily sceptical on any material the authenticity of which has not been well attested. I do not know anything about this item at this 10 Dec 04. (WPT) ]