page_title: History of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (1569–1648)
section_title: Baltic area territorial and maritime access losses
hierarchical_section_title: History of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (1569–1648) / Baltic area territorial and maritime access losses
caption_attribution_description: Posnania (Poznań), ca. 1617, view from north
context_page_description: The history of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (1569–1648) covers a period in the history of Poland and Lithuania, before their joint state was subjected to devastating wars in the middle of the 17th century. The Union of Lublin of 1569 established the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, a more closely unified federal state, replacing the previously existing personal union of the two countries. The Union was largely run by the Polish and increasingly Polonized Lithuanian and Ruthenian nobility, through the system of the central parliament and local assemblies, but from 1573 led by elected kings. The formal rule of the proportionally more numerous than in other European countries nobility constituted a sophisticated early democratic system, in contrast to the absolute monarchies prevalent at that time in the rest of Europe.
  The Polish–Lithuanian Union had become an influential player in Europe and a vital cultural entity, spreading Western culture eastward. In the second half of the 16th and the first half of the 17th century, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was a huge state in central-eastern Europe, with an area approaching one million square kilometers.
context_section_description: More acute threat to the Polish–Lithuanian state came from Sweden. The balance of power in the north had shifted in Sweden's favor, as the Baltic neighbor was led by King Gustavus Adolphus, a highly able and aggressive military leader, who greatly improved the effectiveness of the Swedish armed forces, while also taking advantage of Protestant zealotry. The Commonwealth, exhausted by the wars with Russia and the Ottoman Empire and lacking allies, was poorly prepared to face this new challenge. Continuous diplomatic maneuvering by Sigismund III made the whole situation look to szlachta like another stage in the King's Swedish dynastic affairs; in reality the Swedish power resolved to take hold of the entire Polish-controlled Baltic coast, and thereby profit from the Commonwealth's maritime trade intermediary control, endangering its basis for independent existence.
  Gustavus Adolphus chose to attack Riga, the Grand Duchy's foremost trade center, in late August 1621, just as the Ottoman army was approaching Khotyn, tying-up the Polish forces there. The city, stormed several times, had to surrender a month later. Moving inland to the south the Swedes next entered Courland. With Riga the Commonwealth lost the most important Baltic seaport in the region and an entry to northern Livonia, the Daugava River crossing. The 1622 Truce of Mitawa gave Poland the possession of Courland and eastern Livonia, but the Swedes were to take over most of Livonia north of the Daugava. The Lithuanian forces were able to keep Dyneburg, but suffered a heavy defeat at the Battle of Wallhof.
  The losses impacted severely the trade and customs income of the Great Duchy of Lithuania. The Crown lands were to be also affected, as in July 1626 the Swedes took Pillau and forced Duke George William, Elector of Brandenburg and vassal of the Commonwealth in the attacked Ducal Prussia, to assume a neutrality stance. The Swedish advance resulted in the take-over of the Baltic coastline up to Puck. Danzig (Gdańsk), which had remained loyal to the Commonwealth, was subjected to a naval blockade.
  The Poles, completely surprised by the Swedish invasion, in September attempted a counter-offensive, but were defeated by Gustavus Adolphus at the Battle of Gniew. The forces required serious modernization. The Sejm passed high taxation for the defense, but collections lagged behind. The situation was partially saved by the City of Danzig, which hurriedly embarked on the construction of modern fortifications, and by Hetman Stanisław Koniecpolski. The accomplished commander of the eastern borderlands fighting quickly learned the maritime affairs and contemporary methods of European warfare. Koniecpolski promoted the necessary enlargement of the naval fleet, modernization of the army, and became a fitting counterbalance for the military abilities of Gustavus Adolphus.
  Koniecpolski led a spring 1627 military campaign, trying to keep the Swedish army in the Duchy of Prussia from moving toward Danzig, while also intending to block their reinforcements arriving from the Holy Roman Empire. Moving quickly the Hetman recovered Puck, and then destroyed at the Battle of Czarne (Hammerstein) the forces intended for Gustavus. The Swedes themselves Koniecpolski's forces kept near Tczew, shielding the access to Danzig and preventing Gustavus Adolphus from reaching his main objective. At the Battle of Oliva the Polish ships defeated a Swedish naval squadron.
  Danzig was saved, but the next year the strengthened in the Ducal Prussia Swedish army took Brodnica, and early in 1629 defeated the Polish units at Górzno. Gustavus Adolphus from his Baltic coast position laid an economic siege against the Commonwealth and ravaged what he had conquered. At this point allied forces under Albrecht von Wallenstein were brought in to help keep the Swedes in check. Forced by the combined Polish-Austrian action Gustavus had to withdraw from Kwidzyn to Malbork, in process being defeated and almost taken prisoner by Koniecpolski at the Battle of Trzciana.
  But in addition to being militarily exhausted, the C
caption: Poznań ca. 1617
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