Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Republic of the Two Nations, or Republic of Both Nations (Polish: Rzeczpospolita Obojga Narodów, Lithuanian: ?e?pospolita or Abiej? taut? respublika, Belarusian: ??? ?????????? or ??? ?????????? ??????? ???????, Latin: Regnum Serenissima Poloniae) was a federal monarchy?republic formed by the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1569, lasting until 1795.

State organization and politics

:See also: Offices in Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

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Commonwealth military

Commonwealth armies were commanded by four hetmans. The armies comprised:

Related Topics:
Commonwealth armies - Hetman

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• Wojsko kwarciane: Regular units with wages paid from taxes (these units were later merged with the wojsko komputowe)
• Wojsko komputowe: Semi-regular units created for times of war (in 1652 these units were merged with the wojsko kwarciane into a new permanent army)
• Pospolite ruszenie: Szlachta levée en masse
• Piechota ?anowa and piechota wybraniecka: Units based on peasant recruits
• Registered Cossacks: Troops made up of Cossacks, used mainly as infantry, less often as cavalry (with tabors) were recruited until 1699
• Royal guard: A small unit whose primary purpose was to escort the monarch and members of his family
• Mercenaries: As with most other armies, hired to supplement regular units
• Private armies: In time of peace usually small regiments (few hundred men) were paid for and equipped by magnates or cities. However, in times of war, they were greatly augmented (to even a few thousand men) and paid by state

Some units of the Commonwealth used fairly unique tactics. These units included:

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• Hussars: heavy cavalry armed with lances; their charges were extremely effective until advances in firearms in the late 17th century substantially increased infantry firepower. Members were known as towarzysz husarski and were supported by pocztowy's.
• Pancerni: medium cavalry, armed with sabers or axes, bows, later pistols. Second important cavalry branch of the Polish army.
• Cossacks: general name for all Commonwealth units of light cavalry, even if they did not contain a single ethnic Cossack; fast and maneuverable like oriental cavalry units of Ottoman Empire vassals, but lacking the firepower of European cavalry such as the Swedish pistol-armed reiters.
• Tabor: military horse-drawn wagons, usually carrying army supplies. Their use for defensive formations was perfected by the Cossacks, and to a smaller extent by other Commonwealth units.

The Commonwealth Navy was small and played a relatively minor role in the history of the Commonwealth.

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Golden Liberty

The political doctrine of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was: our state is a republic under the presidency of the King. Chancellor Jan Zamoyski summed up this doctrine when he said that "Rex regnat et non gubernat" ("The King reigns but does not govern"). The Commonwealth had a parliament, the Sejm, as well as a Senat and an elected king. The king was obliged to respect citizens' rights specified in King Henry's Articles as well as in pacta conventa negotiated at the time of his election.

Related Topics:
Chancellor - Jan Zamoyski - Senat - King Henry's Articles - Pacta conventa

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The monarch's power was limited, in favor of a sizable noble class. Each new king had to subscribe to King Henry's Articles, which were the basis of Poland's political system (and included near-unprecedented guarantees of religious tolerance). Over time, King Henry's Articles were merged with the pacta conventa, specific pledges agreed to by the king-elect. From that point, the king was effectively a partner with the noble class and was constantly supervised by a group of senators.

Related Topics:
Religious tolerance - Senator

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The foundation of the Commonwealth, the unique "Golden Liberty" (Polish Zlota Wolno??, a term used from 1573), included:

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• free election of the king by all nobles wishing to participate;
• Sejm, the Commonwealth parliament which the king was required to hold every two years;
• pacta conventa (Latin), "agreed-to agreements" negotiated with the king-elect, including a bill of rights, binding on the king, derived from the earlier King Henry's Articles;
• rokosz (insurrection), the right of szlachta to form a legal rebellion against a king who violated their guaranteed freedoms;
• liberum veto (Latin), the right of an individual Sejm deputy to oppose a decision by the majority in a Sejm session; the voicing of such a "free veto" nullified all the legislation that had been passed at that session; during the crisis of the second half of the 17th century, Polish nobles could also use the liberum veto in provincial sejmiks;
• konfederacja (from the Latin confederatio), the right to form an organization to force through a common political aim.

The provinces of the Commonwealth enjoyed wide autonomy. Each voivodship had its own parliament (sejmik), which exercised serious political power, including choice of pose? (deputy) to the national Sejm and charging of the deputy with specific voting instructions. The Grand Duchy of Lithuania had its own army, treasury and other institutions.

Related Topics:
Autonomy - Voivodship - Pose? - Deputy - Grand Duchy of Lithuania

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The Golden Freedoms created a state that was unusual for its time. Perhaps the most similar political system existed in the city-state Republic of Venice, and it is interesting to note that both states were known as the Most Serene Republic. At a time when most European countries were headed toward centralization, absolute monarchy and religious and dynastic warfare, the Commonwealth experimented with decentralization, confederation and federation, democracy, religious tolerance and even pacifism. Since the Sejm usually vetoed a monarch's plans for war, this constitutes an interesting argument for the democratic peace theory.

Related Topics:
Political system - City-state - Republic of Venice - Most Serene Republic - Centralization - Absolute monarchy - Decentralization - Confederation - Federation - Religious tolerance - Pacifism - Democratic peace theory

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This unique system stemmed from the victories of the szlachta (noble) class over other social classes and over the political system of monarchy. In time, the szlachta accumulated enough privileges (such as those established by the Nihil novi Act of 1505) that no monarch could hope to break the szlachta's grip on power. The Commonwealth's political system is difficult to fit into a simple category, but it can be tentatively described as a mixture of:

Related Topics:
Noble - Class - Political system - Monarchy - Nihil novi - 1505

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• confederation and federation, with regard to the broad autonomy of its regions. It is however difficult to decisively call the Commonwealth either confederation of federation, as it had some qualities of both of them;
• oligarchy, as only the szlachta?around 10% of the population?had political rights;
• democracy, since all the szlachta were equal in rights and privileges, and the Sejm could veto the king on important matters, including legislation (the adoption of new laws), foreign affairs, declaration of war, and taxation (changes of existing taxes or the levying of new ones). Also, the 10% of Commonwealth population who enjoyed those political rights (the szlachta) was a substantially larger percentage than in any other European country; note that in 1831 in France only about 1% of the population had the right to vote, and in 1867 in the United Kingdom, only about 3%;
• elective monarchy, since the monarch, elected by the szlachta, was Head of State;
• constitutional monarchy, since the monarch was bound by pacta conventa and other laws, and szlachta could disobey any king's decrees they deemed illegal.

The political players

See also list of szlachta.

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The major players in the politics of the Commonwealth were:

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• monarchs, who struggled to expand their power and create an absolute monarchy.
• magnates, the wealthiest of the szlachta, who wanted to rule the country as a privileged oligarchy, and to dominate both the monarch and the poorer nobles.
• szlachta, who desired a strengthening of the Sejm and rule of the country as a democracy of the szlachta.

The magnates and the szlachta were far from united, with many factions supporting either the monarch or various of the magnates.

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Shortcomings of the Commonwealth

Once the Jagiellons had disappeared from the scene in 1572, the fragile equilibrium of the Commonwealth's government began to shake. Power increasingly slipped away from the central government to the nobility.

Related Topics:
Jagiellons - 1572

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In their periodic opportunities to fill the throne, the szlachta exhibited a preference for foreign candidates who would not found another strong dynasty. This policy often produced monarchs who were either totally ineffective or in constant debilitating conflict with the nobility. Furthermore, aside from notable exceptions such as the able Transylvanian Stefan Batory (1576?1586), the kings of foreign origin were inclined to subordinate the interests of the Commonwealth to those of their own country and ruling house. This was especially visible in the policies and actions of the first two elected kings from the Swedish House of Vasa, whose politics brought the Commonwealth into conflict with Sweden, culminating in the war known as The Deluge (1648), one of the events that mark the end of the Commonwealth's Golden Age and the beginning of the Commonwealth's decline.

Related Topics:
Dynasty - Transylvania - Stefan Batory - 1576 - 1586 - House of Vasa - Sweden - The Deluge - 1648

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The aftermath of the rokosz of Zebrzydowski (1606?7) marks the time when magnates significantly increased their power, and this szlachta democracy has transformed into magnate oligarchy. The Commonwealth's political system was vulnerable to outside interference, as Sejm deputies bribed by foreign powers might use their liberum veto to block attempts at reform. Such actions sapped the power of the Commonwealth and threw it into political paralysis and anarchy for over a century (from the mid-17th century to the end of the 18th century), while its neighbors stabilized their internal affairs and increased their military might.

Related Topics:
Rokosz of Zebrzydowski - 1606 - 7 - Deputies - Bribe - Liberum veto - Reform - Anarchy - 17th century - 18th century

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Late reforms

Eventually the Commonwealth did make a serious effort to reform its political system, adopting in 1791 the May 3rd Constitution, Europe's first codified national constitution and the world's second, after the United States Constitution that began functioning in 1789. The revolutionary Polish Constitution recast the erstwhile Polish?Lithuanian Commonwealth as a unitary state with a hereditary monarchy and abolished many of the deleterious features of the old system. The new constitution:

Related Topics:
1791 - May 3rd Constitution - United States Constitution - 1789 - Unitary state - Hereditary monarchy

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• abolished the liberum veto and the confederation;
• provided for a separation of powers among legislative, executive and judicial branches of government;
• established "popular sovereignty" and extended political rights to include not only the nobility but the bourgeoisie;
• increased the rights of the peasantry;
• preserved religious tolerance (but with a condemnation of apostasy from the Catholic faith).

These reforms came too late, however, as the Commonwealth was immediately invaded from all sides by its neighbors. The latter feared the revolutionary implications of the May 3rd Constitution's political reforms and the prospect of the Commonwealth regaining its position as a European empire. In the end the May 3rd Constitution was never fully implemented, and the Commonwealth entirely ceased to exist only four years after the Constitution's adoption.

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