page_title: History of Poland in the Early Modern era (1569–1795)
section_title: Commonwealth-Sweden-Muscovy Wars
hierarchical_section_title: History of Poland in the Early Modern era (1569–1795) / House of Vasa / Sigismund III Vasa (1587–1632) / Commonwealth-Sweden-Muscovy Wars
context_page_description: The early modern era of Polish history follows the late Middle Ages. Historians use the term early modern to refer to the period beginning in approximately 1500 AD and lasting until around 1800.
  The Nihil novi act adopted by the Polish diet in 1505 transferred legislative power from the king to the diet. This event marked the beginning of the period known as the "Nobles' Democracy" or "Nobles' Commonwealth". The state was ruled by the "free and equal" Polish nobility or szlachta, albeit in intense, and at times destabilizing, competition with the Jagiellon and then elective kings.
  The Union of Lublin of 1569 constituted the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, a more closely merged continuation of the already existing personal union of the Crown of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The beginning of the Commonwealth coincided with the period of Poland's greatest territorial expansion, power, civilizational advancement and prosperity. The Polish–Lithuanian state had become an influential player in Europe and a vital cultural entity, spreading Western culture eastward.
context_section_description: Sigismund desire to reclaim the Swedish throne drove him into prolonged military adventures waged against Sweden under Charles IX and later also Russia. In 1598, Sigismund tried to defeat Charles with a mixed army from Sweden and Poland, but was defeated in the Battle of Stångebro.
  As the Tsardom of Russia went through its "Time of Troubles," Poland failed to capitalize on the situation. Military campaigns undertaken brought Poland at times close to a conquest of Russia and the Baltic coast during the Time of Troubles and False Dimitris, but military burden imposed by the ongoing rivalry also along other frontiers (the Ottoman Empire and Sweden) prevented this from being accomplished. After prolonged war with Russia, Polish forces occupied Moscow in 1610. The office of tsar, then vacant in Russia, was offered to Sigismund's son, Władysław. Sigismund, however, opposed his son's accession as tsar, as he hoped to obtain the Russian throne for himself. Two years later the Poles were driven out of Moscow and Poland lost an opportunity for a Polish-Russian union.
  Poland escaped the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648), which ravaged everything to the west, especially Prussia. In 1618, the Elector of Brandenburg became hereditary ruler of the Duchy of Prussia on the Baltic coast. From then on, Poland's link to the Baltic Sea was bordered on both sides by two provinces of the same German state.
caption: Sermon of Skarga. Piotr Skarga (1536-1612) was a preacher and polemicist.
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