Calendar. July 30, 1656

Calendar. July 30, 1656 (369 years ago). The Swedish Deluge, the victory of the Swedish-Brandenburg troops in the Battle of Warsaw (July 28-30) became a breakthrough moment that opened the way to the construction of the power of Prussia. The clash was one of the largest and most dramatic episodes of the Polish-Swedish war. On one side the army of the Republic of Poland commanded by Jan II Kazimierz – about 36,000 regular soldiers, 10-13,000 of the common move and 2,000 allied Tatars. Her weakness was the insufficient infantry (about 4,000) and the few Hussar troops – only 950 horseback, as well as modest artillery, with 18 guns. Against them, Karol X Gustaw and Fryderyk Wilhelm, Brandenburg elector, issued 18-20,000 soldiers, including 12,500 experienced ponderial cavalry and dragonia, and 5 500-6 500 infantry, having 47 departments. On July 28, the Polish-Lithuanian army effectively replied the first frontal strikes to the fortifications near Prague. The next day, the Swedes and Brandenburgs performed the bias maneuver through the Białolecki Forest, which forced Jan Kazimierz to undo a part of the forces to the open plain. At that time, the Lithuanian hussars Alexander Hilary Połubiński went to charge, but without the support of the main forces she could not break the opponent’s line. On July 30, the allied troops made a final assault, breaking the defense and forcing the Polish king to retreat for the Vistula. Despite the defeat, the Polish army retained the combat capacity and soon managed to bounce the initiative, but the political tone of the defeat was huge. The triumph of Fryderyk Wilhelm near Warsaw significantly raised his position. Already in November 1656 he concluded a treaty in Labiau with Sweden, obtaining full sovereignty in the prince’s Prussia and breaking the feudal dependence from Poland. Subsequent treaties in Wehlau and Bydgoszcz in 1657 confirmed this state of affairs. The Warsaw Battle was the moment when the Brandenburg army for the first time fully showed its potential – a combination of infantry discipline, cavalry mobility and artillery effectiveness became the foundation of the future Prussian military power. #Bitwapodwarszawa1656 #potopszwiedzki #karolxgust #jankazimierz #fryderykilhelm #prusy #brandenburgia