The term Deluge (Polish: Potop) denotes a series of mid-seventeenth century campaigns in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In a wider sense it applies to the period between the Khmelnytsky (Chmielnicki) Uprising of 1648 and the Truce of Andrusovo in 1667, thus comprising the Polish-Lithuanian theaters of the Russo-Polish and Second Northern Wars. In a stricter sense, the term refers to the Swedish invasion and occupation of the commonwealth as ...
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The term Deluge (Polish: Potop) denotes a series of mid-seventeenth century campaigns in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In a wider sense it applies to the period between the Khmelnytsky (Chmielnicki) Uprising of 1648 and the Truce of Andrusovo in 1667, thus comprising the Polish-Lithuanian theaters of the Russo-Polish and Second Northern Wars. In a stricter sense, the term refers to the Swedish invasion and occupation of the commonwealth as a theater of the Second Northern War only (1655–1660), this is also known as the Swedish Deluge (Lithuanian: Švedų tvanas, Polish: Potop Szwedzki).
During the wars the Commonwealth lost an estimated one-third of its population as well as its status as a great power.
In 1648, the Ruthenian feudal lord Bohdan Khmelnytsky (known in Polish as "Bohdan Chmielnicki") led a popular uprising of Dnieper Cossacks and Ukrainian peasants discontented with the rule of Polish magnates.
Although the rebellion, after much destruction, ended at the Battle of...
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