page_title: Military of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
section_title: Organization
hierarchical_section_title: Military of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth / Composition / Organization
caption_attribution_description: English: Banner of the Polish National Cavalry`s Squadron ca 1789-1794
context_page_description: The military of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth consisted of two administratively separate armies of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania following the 1569 Union of Lublin, which joined to form the bi-conderate elective monarchy of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Polish army was commanded by the Hetmans of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, commanding the armies of their respective country. The most unique formation of both armies was the heavy cavalry in the form of the Polish-Lithuanian winged hussars. The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Navy never played a major role in the military structure, and ceased to exist in the mid-17th century.
  Commonwealth forces were engaged in numerous conflicts in the south, the east and the north; as well as internal conflicts. For the first century or so, the Commonwealth military was usually successful, but became less so from around the mid-17th century. Plagued by insufficient funds, it found itself increasingly hard-pressed to defend the country, and inferior in numbers to the growing armies of the Commonwealth's neighbors.
context_section_description: By the time of the Commonwealth formation, there was little practical difference between the Polish and Lithuanian components but they were kept separate; the Lithuanian component formed about a fourth to a third of the Commonwealth army. The army of the Commonwealth was organized along several different models, with the primary division being that into two 'contingents' or 'enlistments' (or in Polish: autorament): national and foreign. The name applied to types of formation, regulations and the officer cadres; the majority of regular recruits for both came from within the Commonwealth, particularly from the 1630s onward. National units included the towarzysz cavalry (including the Winged hussars and lighter pancerni (Polish) and petyhorcy (Lithuanian) units) and some light cavalry units, with infantry being the distant second in reputation; whereas the foreign units were primarily centered around the infantry and artillery formations, with dragoons gaining prominence from the 1620s, and reiter cavalry soon afterward.
  The Polish–Lithuanian national contingent was organized in traditional formations dating back to the earlier medieval times, with chorągiew (banner) unit, commanded by a rotmistrz and composed of smaller poczet (lance) retinues, each composed of one towarzysz and a varying number of aides. The size of a chorągiew could vary from as little as 60 to as many as 300 men. Two or more choragwie (through rarely more than a dozen, and never more than about forty) formed a regiment (pułk) unit, a type of a unit similar to the medieval battle or modern division or corps. Its senior commander was known as pułkownik (colonel). The foreign contingent was organized into regiments, often numbering around 500-1,000, and divided into companies. King John III Sobieski made an attempt in the 1670s to replace the national-foreign contingent divisions with a single structure, dividing units into infantry, cavalry and dragoons, but it would take many decades before those reforms bore fruit.
caption: Banner of the Polish–Lithuanian cavalry's squadron.
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