REVIEW / RECOMMENDATION – WARSAW 1656. A BATTLE THAT EXPLAINS MORE THAN IT RESOLVES ⚔️📖 This time I would like to draw attention to a book that may not be new, but it is undoubtedly important and still necessary. This is the work “Warszawa 1656” by Mirosław Nagielski, published by Bellona. This is a publication of small volume, but with a high substantive weight, because it concerns one of the key episodes of the Swedish Deluge – the Battle of the Prague Fields, fought near Warsaw in 1656. This battle is extremely controversial in the opinion of historians. Some consider it unresolved, others as a defeat of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, others as a victory of the Swedish-Brandenburg coalition. And it is this ambiguity that makes it so cognitively important. It allows us to better understand the scale of the problems that the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was facing at that time – its political elites, the royal court and John Casimir himself 🇵🇱👑. The battle raises fundamental questions: whether the right place for the clash was chosen, whether it was necessary to attack earlier, whether to strive for a general battle at all, and finally – whether it was necessary to leave the capital after its end. The most important thing, however, is that these are questions that the reader must answer for himself. In my opinion, the Poles did not lose this battle, but the Swedes did not achieve a real victory either. It was a clash without an actual result and without strategic consequences determining the fate of the war. The Battle of Warsaw was the last major battle of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth during the Deluge. It brutally showed that in a war based on firepower, artillery and modern infantry, Poles were unable to compete effectively with the Swedes. Until the end of the conflict, aggressive actions dominated: subversive, guerrilla and siege warfare – effective, but forced by realities ⚔️. At the same time, it was a painful lesson. After 1656, the number of infantry regiments increased, and the military elites began to understand that without infantry and artillery it was impossible to function on a modern battlefield. It is also worth remembering three issues: fierce fighting for Warsaw just before the battle, the massacre of Prague carried out on the orders of Charles X Gustaf, including women and children 🔥, and systematic plunder as part of the Swedish war machine. It was also the moment of the birth of the Brandenburg myth and later Prussian militarism. The Brandenburgers made this battle the foundation of their own propaganda, conducting parallel military, diplomatic and information activities. On the third day of the battle, Polish troops withdrew in a disciplined manner, without panic or destruction. One effective attack by the hussars inflicted huge losses on the enemy’s army, and the re-occupation of abandoned Warsaw did not bring any real benefits to the Swedes. Nagielski’s book is a must-have for anyone who wants to understand the Swedish Deluge, the drama of the court’s decisions and the importance of John Casimir – a monarch of great stature who is too easily forgotten 📖⚔️.

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