JOHN III (Sosiesici), king of Poland: b. Olesko, Galicia, 2 June 1624; d. 17 June 1696. After receiving his education at home he trav eled in France, England, Italy and Germany with his brother, returning in 1648 on his father's death. John Casimir appointed him standard-bearer to the Crown, and he distin guished himself in the war against the Russians and Swedes, which terminated with the Peace of Oliva in 1660. In 1669 Michael Korihut was chosen king on the resignation of John Casimir against a party who preferred Sobieski. On the death of Michael he was chosen king, 21 May 1674. A new war with the Turks was con cluded after varying success by a peace, 27 Oct. 1676. The anarchy in which Poland was con stantly kept by the turbulence of its aristocracy was aggravated during the reign of Sobieski by intrigues ntrigues of his wife, and his own talent for administration was not equal to his capacity as a general. Besides internal troubles, European politics at this time occupied the attention of Sobieski, whose alliance was solicited both by Lous XIV and the emperor. He at length con
cluded (31 March 1683) an alliance with the latter against the Turks, who had allied them selves with the malcontents in Hungary and threatened a most formidable invasion of the empire. Uniting with the Austrian forces 9 September, at the head of a combined force of 83,000 men, he inflicted a decisive defeat on the Turks and compelled them to raise the siege of Vienna, 12 Sept 1683. He terminated the campaign with the capture of Gran (27 Octo ber), which had been in the possession of the Turks for nearly a century and a half. In 1686 he overran Moldavia and Wallachia, but failed to make a permanent conquest. Consult Tat ham, 'John Sobieski> (Oxford 1881) ' • Dupont, (Memoires pour servir l'histoire de Sobieski) (Warsaw 1885) ; and Rieder, 'Johann III, Konig von Pole& (Vienna 1883).