This book describes and analyses the 'Swedish Deluge' (potop szwedski),
the devastating 1655-1660 series of wars fought between Sweden, the
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Brandenburg-Prussia, Muscovite Russia,
Transylvania, Cossack Ukraine, the Tatar Khanate of Crimea, and the Holy
Roman Empire during the reign of Swedish King Charles X Gustavus, an
experienced former general from the Thirty Years' War. By invading the
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, King Charles saw an opportunity to put
an end to the Polish King's claim to the Swedish throne and to gain
additional territories which would enable him to control the Baltic Sea
maritime trade. The book focuses on the Swedish-Commonwealth war, which
provoked the political and military collapse of the Commonwealth.
However, since this conflict cannot be disentangled from the
simultaneous wars between the Commonwealth and Muscovy, from 1654 to
1667, and between Sweden and Muscovy, from 1656 to 1661, they are
described as well. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian cossacks fought for freedom
from what they perceived as the oppression of the Commonwealth. Michael
Fredholm von Essen presents new research on a war previously seldom
described in English. Moreover, the book explains the continued
development of the Swedish Army after the Thirty Years' War. It also
provides full details on the dissimilar military systems of the
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Brandenburg-Prussia, Muscovite Russia,
Cossack Ukraine, Transylvania, the Crimean Tatar Khanate, and the
Imperial expeditionary forces engaged in the Swedish Deluge.
The wars of the Swedish Deluge were complex in origin and operations and
covered a huge territory, from the Arctic north to the shores of the
Black Sea. For this reason, the present work is divided into three
volumes. Volume 1 describes the armies of the countries at war during
the Deluge. Volume 2 will describe the wars in the east, during the
period 1655-1657. Volume 3, finally, will describe the Danish wars of
1657-1660 and the conclusion of the wars in the east.
