The Deluge
The battle of Warsaw in 1656 was part of what is known in Polish and Lithuanian history as the (Swedish) Deluge (in Polish: Potop [szwedzki]). Before the Deluge, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was one of the largest and most populous states in Europe covering the territories of today's Poland and Lithuania, but also the entire territory of Belarus and Latvia, large parts of Ukraine and Estonia as well as Smolensk and Kaliningrad areas of present-day western Russia.
Formed in 1569 as a union between Poland and Lithuania, the Commonwealth was so-called Nobles' Democracy with elected kings controlled by the Sejm (the Diet or parliament) consisting of nobility.
