This war, which terminated by the peace of Oliva in 1660, was followed by hostilities against Muscovy, which lasted till 1667. By the peace of Andrashov in that year, Poland ceded Smolcusk and a great part of the Ukraine to the Czar. John Casimir abdicated the throne in 1668, and retired to France, where he died in 1672. Ile was personally bravo, and not without military talent. Ho had served with distinction in the Imperial armies during the Thirty Years' War. Besides the losses before enumerated, some important districts were also ceded during his reign to the elector of Brandenburg, whose independence of Poland was further recognised by the treaty of Velau, in 1657. The country was depopulated by constant war and pestilence, and emigration to adjoining countries, which was caused by the horrors of war and by religious persecution. In the election of a successor to John Casimir, the minor nobility, jealous of the overgrown influence of the magnates, united to place upon the throne Michael Prince Wisniowietzki, a young man who had no pretensions to this dignity. It was during his reign that the heroic John Sobieski rose, displaying great military skill, and performing prodigies of valour, in the service of his country.
On the death of Michael in 1673, Sobieski was elected king of Poland in his stead, notwithstanding the competition of numerous candidates. Almost immediately after his election to the throne the Turks invaded Poland with a large force, and Sobieski was obliged to shut himself up with a few thousand men in Lemberg, which was speedily invested. Taking advantage of a snowstorm which blew right into the face of the Turks, the king issuing out of the town with his small devoted band and a simultaneous cry of 'Christ for ever I', completely routed• the besiegers. A fresh Turkish army headed by the brave Praha of Damascus advanced to the Dniester, where John Sobieski, with 10,000 men, entrenched himself between two villages, and sus tained for 20 days the attacks of the enemy and a continued cannonade from a formidable artillery. At last (Oct. 14, 1676), the king left his entrenchments and drew up in order of battle against the Turks, who numbered between 200,000 and 300,000 men. The Turkish Pasha, notwithstanding the odds in his favour, knowing that a levy en Inane of the whole of Poland was at hand, offered the king an honourable peace, which was accepted.
A few years of external peace followed, during which unfortunate Poland was harassed by the obstinate conduct of her untractable nobles, who by their veto dissolved every diet that attempted to reform or remedy the evils and grievances of the state. But soon the noble
energies of John Sobieski were again called into action by the most terrible storm which had threatened Christendom since the days of Charles Martel. A most formidable Turkish army, commanded by the grand vizier Nara 5Itiatapha, after sweeping over Hungary invested Vienna, from which the emperor Leopold and his family had fled in July 1683. Without hesitation the Polish king, at the head of only 16,000 men, marched from Cracow to the Danube, where contingents from Lorraine and Germany joined him, raising his force to 70,000. On the morning of the 11th of September he reached the ridge of the Kalcmberewhich overlooks Vienna and gave him a view of the wide spread tents of the infidels. Next day rushing down he attacked the Turks, and after a hard contest obliged them to take refuge in their fortified entrenchments, which seemed too strong to be forced. After a respite of a few hours these too were assaulted. The Polish lancers cleared the ditch right into the Turkish camp; the infantry poured in at their heels, and the were driven in a confused mass to the vizier's tent, where a abort stand was made, and all was lost ; Kara fled with all the Turks that were left alive, and John Sobieski remained master of the whole camp, artillery,and baggage. Christendom was thus saved from the heel of the Turk. All Europe rang with accla mations, while Sobieski pursued the Turks into Hungary, and although defeated once at Paring, he checked not his career till be had swept the infidels across the Danube. Returning to Poland, he spent the remainder of his life in vain endeavours to regenerate his country by reforming abuses and the vicious system engrafted upon its constitu but in every attempt he made he was thwarted by the veto of the turbulent nobles. He died after a short illness on Corpus Christi, 1696, and with him the greatness of Poland may be said to have expired.
During the reigns of his nu CCOU10111Augustus IL of Saxony (1690-1733) and Augustus III. (1733-1763), the crown of Poland became subservient to the Russian court. This gave rise to two parties among the nobles. The majority headed by the Potockia and Radziville, wished to main tain all the privileges of their order, and were strongly attached to the Saxon dynasty, which was favourable to their opinions. This Saxon or court party was opposed by the Czartoryskis, who, perceiving that a liberty which warn destroying national independence was only an idle name, wished to establish a strong government as the only means of raising the country from its deplorable condition.