After the Deluge: Poland-Lithuania and the Second Northern War, 1655-1660 (Cambridge Studies in Early Modern History)
Cambridge University Press, 3/18/1993
EAN 9780521420082, ISBN10: 0521420083
Hardcover, 235 pages, 23.6 x 15.8 x 2.3 cm
Language: English
The Swedish invasion of 1655, known to Poles ever since as the 'Swedish deluge', provoked the political and military collapse of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the second-largest state in Europe. Robert Frost examines the reasons for Poland's fall and the conduct of the war by the Polish government, and addresses the crucial question of why, despite widespread recognition of the shortcomings of the political system, subsequent attempts at reform failed. War has long been seen as crucial to the development of more effective systems of government in Europe during the seventeenth century, but studies usually concentrate on states which responded successfully to the challenges. Much can be learned from those that failed, and the paucity of English-language material on this important conflict means that After the Deluge will appeal to a broad audience among historians of Poland, Germany, Scandinavia, Russia, and early modern Europe in general.
1. Introduction
Poland-Lithuania in the mid-seventeenth century
2. The deluge
3. Recovery
July 1655–August 1656
4. The widening conflict
June-December 1656
5. Constructing a coalition
January - December 1657
6. The succession and the failure of the coalition
January - July 1658
7. Political reform
8. Towards a French candidature
1658–1660
9. Conclusion
the succession and the failure of reform.
'… a skilful account of a turning point in Polish Eastern European history …'. Archives