Pope Augustus

In the eastern part of Europe, Russia had not yet risen. At this time, Russia's standing in the eyes of other countries was far from the terrifying impressions of "Gendarme of Europe," "Steamroller of Europe," "Warrior Nation," and "Grey Cattle" that it would later evoke.

The rise of Russia in later generations was accompanied by the fall of three crowns.

The Time of Troubles severely impacted Poland, followed by three partitions that led to its demise; the Great Northern War crippled Sweden; and over two hundred years of various Russo-Ottoman Wars caused the Ottoman Empire to decline.

Unfortunately, at present, Russia cannot defeat any of these three countries and is currently suffering an invasion from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Russia's overall diplomatic situation is generally not good.

When weak, it faces enemies everywhere; when strong, it accrues countless foes.

Of course, there are exceptions; diplomacy during the Great Northern War and the three partitions of Poland was very successful.

This is partly related to religion; as Orthodox orphans, while the Orthodox Church might offer many advantages in other areas, it is generally a burden in diplomacy.

More importantly, Russia's predatory nature is simply too ugly and terrifying, as evidenced by the Crimean War in 1853, where Britain and France joined forces to send an expeditionary force to help the Ottoman Empire resist Russia.

Currently, Russia's diplomatic situation is as dire as it gets: isolated, without aid, and repeatedly attacked by neighboring countries, it can only focus on expanding eastward into Siberia while constantly guarding against foreign invasions.

As for dreams, they likely exist, but they couldn't be as grand as those of later generations, and the government would first need to stabilize.

Towards Sweden, which is also in a difficult diplomatic situation, Russia might still believe there's an opportunity to stab it in the back, even while facing a common enemy.

Towards Poland, currently in its heyday, Russia probably doesn't have many ambitions.

Towards the Ottoman Empire, which has not yet declined and maintains an extremely vast territory, Russia cannot possibly entertain thoughts of a complete takeover.

The Crimean port is still a distant dream, so ambitions for Constantinople are naturally out of the question, excluding the fantasies of a few individuals.

The real world is not a game; there's no "war score" that allows you to annex whatever territory you desire once it's high enough.

As long as the Ottoman Empire still breathes, it's impossible for it to cede Constantinople.

Moreover, given the pace of most real wars, even a hundred years of fighting wouldn't yield enough score to annex Constantinople.

If not subdivided, and excluding puppet regimes and periods of foreign rule, from the Kievan Rus' in the 9th century until its overthrow by the February Revolution in 1917, over a thousand years of history saw Russia ruled primarily by only two dynasties: the Rurik Dynasty and the Romanov Dynasty.

And 1605 was precisely the Time of Troubles for dynastic succession, until 1613, when the nobles elected Mikhail I Romanov, a relative of Ivan IV, as the new Tsar, ushering in the Romanov Dynasty.

The Time of Troubles from 1605 to 1613 was one of the most turbulent periods in Russia's history since its founding, and also one of its weakest.

During this period, Poland twice supported false Tsars.

In 1605, False Dmitry I ascended to the throne, but was killed for his pro-Poland policies, which angered the Russian boyars.

The boyar Vasily Shuysky then ascended, styling himself Vasily IV.

In 1607, another False Dmitry appeared, again receiving Polish support.

In 1610, Polish troops occupied Moscow, and Shuysky was killed.

The Polish invaders were expelled in 1612 by an army assembled by Russian nobles, bringing an end to this turbulent period.

Speaking of Russia, one cannot help but mention Russia's first Tsar, Ivan IV.

Ivan IV had very famous nicknames: Ivan the Terrible, and Ivan the Formidable.

Internally, Ivan IV transformed the Grand Duchy of Moscow into Tsarist Russia and carried out deep and thorough reforms in many areas (it's not an exaggeration to call them top-down revolutions), with far-reaching influence.

Externally, he rapidly expanded territory, greatly strengthening Russia's national power and providing Russia with a fundamental base as a great power.

However, he accidentally killed his eldest son, indirectly leading to the extinction of the Rurik Dynasty, and this also influenced the Time of Troubles.

Therefore, Ivan IV was both the first Russian Tsar and the second to last monarch of the Rurik Dynasty.

Ivan IV was intelligent, wise, and capable; his actions were far-sighted, purposeful, and progressive, giving him a very special and important place in the founding history of Tsarist Russia.

On the other hand, growing up in an extremely complex environment of class struggle and internal power struggles within the ruling elite, he developed a strong will and a ruthless character from an early age, along with strong suspicion, excitability, cruelty, and severe suppression of the nobility.

Ivan IV was born in 1530; at his birth, lightning struck the Kremlin's spire in Moscow, instantly producing a huge fireball.

The people of Moscow were terrified at the sight.

He ascended to the throne at the age of three, with his mother temporarily acting as regent.

His uncles did not respect him and were very insolent in his presence, even openly insulting him.

His mother, Elena, fought with his uncles to protect Ivan's royal authority, but she was poisoned when he was eight years old.

Ivan IV became an orphan, and the great nobles grew even more unrestrained.

Later, with the help of his uncle, Ivan killed the nobles who had poisoned his mother and truly took control of power.

Due to growing up in a repressed and adverse environment, Ivan IV's personality became very eccentric; he often tortured small animals, and at the age of 13, he ordered the execution of a hereditary grand lord who opposed him.

In 1547, Ivan IV was crowned Tsar.

After he began his reign, he established the Council of the Chosen in 1549, compiled a new legal code, and reformed the central and local administration, law, finance, military, and religious affairs.

Ivan IV's government strove to consolidate autocratic rule and strengthen state centralization.

The basic content of his military reforms included improving the military command system, restricting the system of appointing officers based on lineage, establishing a standing army, reorganizing the service of Russian local troops, and adjusting border defense and garrison duties, laying the foundation for the Russian regular army.

Ivan IV's reforms, especially the military reforms, led Russia to become powerful.

In the winter of 1564, Ivan IV suddenly left Moscow and sent a message back: "Because I cannot tolerate the betrayals around me, I will no longer govern this country, but will follow the path guided by God."

His actions caused panic in Moscow.

After receiving the Metropolitan's promise that he had "the right to execute any traitor he wished to kill," he returned to Moscow.

In 1565, he implemented the unique "Oprichnina" system throughout the country, dividing it into ordinary territories and Oprichnina territories, which dealt a significant blow to the power of the nobility.

He broke all power restrictions of the feudal system on the Tsar, abolished the feudal system, established an autocratic Tsarist system, suppressed local separatist forces, unified Russia, and established central authority.

At the same time, he formed the Oprichniki, a special army absolutely loyal to the Tsar and cruelly tyrannical towards subjects.

Then, a series of massacres began, peaking during the Oprichnina period from 1565 to 1572.

The targets of the massacres were primarily feudal princes and great nobles who had the power to resist the Tsar.

Over 4,000 great nobles were killed in seven years.

While eliminating the great nobles, Ivan IV fostered the power of the lesser nobility and townspeople, eliminated the hidden dangers of local lordly separatism, and strengthened central authority.

This may have been a necessary step in Russia's historical development, although the methods employed were overly drastic.

However, some other actions can only be described as tyrannical.

His army plundered Novgorod, which had independent republican tendencies, and tens of thousands of people perished.

He carried out massacres during the annexation of the Kazan Khanate, with only nine ancient noble families surviving.

Metropolitan Philip of Moscow was strangled for condemning Ivan IV's cruel rule.

Ivan IV even once harmed his own son and heir, and finally, in a fit of rage in 1581, accidentally killed Tsarevich Ivan.

Ilya Repin's world-famous painting, "Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan on November 16, 1581," depicts this very event.

His massacres finally ended with irreparable guilt.

Ivan IV was very accomplished in territorial expansion; he successively annexed the Kazan Khanate, the Astrakhan Khanate, and the Sibir Khanate, and also defeated the Crimean Khanate, curbing the Ottomans.

Russia's territory expanded significantly eastward, and the Mongols ceased to be a threat from then on.

He personally participated in some of these battles, fighting bravely, and proposed strategies such as "continuous strikes against the enemy" and "aiming to annihilate the enemy's living forces in open battle."

Furthermore, he annexed the Great Nogai Horde and Bashkiria, bringing many North Caucasian peoples under Russian rule and making Russia a multi-ethnic state.

In 1558, he launched the Livonian War to gain access to the Baltic Sea, but he was unsuccessful.

Incredibly, such a Tsar, who had killed countless people, including six of his wives and his eldest son, was also a knowledgeable and talented scholar.

Ivan IV was the best orator in Moscow at the time.

He loved to read and was widely read, especially in history books.

He was skilled in writing, had a high command of the Russian language, and was an excellent linguist and writer in Russia at the time.

His surviving works are mainly political, but his mastery of phrasing and sharp satirical skills are evident on the page.

Ivan IV also had the highest cultural level among all Russian Grand Princes and Tsars, and he greatly valued the development of Russian culture, promoting printing.

After the death of Tsarevich Ivan, Ivan IV had no other heir besides his mentally challenged son, Fyodor.

Although Ivan's last wife bore him a son, Dmitry, many considered him illegitimate and therefore ineligible to be Tsarevich.

Ivan IV had no choice but to name Fyodor as Tsarevich.

After Fyodor died childless in 1598, his brother-in-law, Boris Godunov, secretly murdered Dmitry, who had a claim to the throne, and was elected Tsar, ending the Rurik Dynasty.

Godunov later fell out of favor with everyone and was defeated by the Polish-backed False Dmitry, dying of fear and grief.

In 1605, Godunov's son, Fyodor II, was killed after only 49 days on the throne, and False Dmitry ascended, marking the beginning of Russia's chaos.

The Ottomans were originally a small Turkic tribe, first residing in Central Asia, then migrating to Anatolia, and later gradually prospering.

After the Ottoman Empire destroyed the Byzantine Empire in 1453, it established Constantinople as its capital, renamed it Istanbul, and considered itself the successor of the Eastern Roman Empire.

A poem praises:

The crescent flag is vibrant red, the double-headed eagle's purple fades.

The Khan's new crown, his ambition bold, the Ghazi's sharp blade, iron ships unfold.

Across the Horn, land-ships they bore, with divine aid, the hidden door.

A hundred thousand troops press on Constantinople, the Sultan of Rome enters the town.

Thus, the Sultan, the monarch of the Ottoman Empire, inherited the culture and civilization of the Eastern Roman Empire, allowing for the integration of Eastern and Western civilizations.

In the 16th century, during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent, the Ottoman Empire reached its peak.

Its territory reached its highest point in the 17th century.

There were many ways in which the Ottomans differed from Western countries, two of which were particularly unique: the fratricide succession law and the Janissary Corps.

Fratricide Succession Law

Unlike the common primogeniture, the Ottoman succession law followed the principle of survival of the fittest and the strongest becoming king.

All of the Sultan's offspring had the right to succession, and they were allowed to compete in a manner similar to raising venomous insects, from which the most superior one was chosen to inherit the throne, while all the others were executed.

The Ottomans sent princes to various regions to serve as governors, which not only helped the empire assimilate newly annexed territories but also gradually discarded nomadic habits, learning from and utilizing the former framework of the Byzantine Empire in many aspects, which greatly benefited the long-term development of the empire.

Princes at their posts had their own armies, administrative bodies, and courts, forming self-contained small governments, allowing the princes to accumulate experience, strengthen their abilities, and cultivate their own influence, preparing for future competition for the throne and laying the foundation for later rule.

In such brutal competition, those who were not cold-blooded and ruthless would die by their own mercy; those who were not cunning and agile would die by their own foolishness; those who were not brave and fearless would die by their own cowardice; and those who could not balance interests would die at the hands of their own people.

In such an environment, the ultimate victor was bound to be a cunning, ruthless, yet unifying strongman who understood how to gather various interests.

The Ottoman Empire's long-standing dominance over Asia, Europe, and Africa, and its six-hundred-year reign, were all due to this brutal system.

The continuous succession of ten brilliant monarchs is unprecedented in world history.

The "fratricide law" was not initially a law, but a custom.

The earliest initiator was the fourth Sultan, Bayezid I. Upon ascending to the Sultanate, he immediately had his brother hanged to prevent him from plotting a coup.

To legitimize his act of killing his brother, he cited the Quran in his defense.

From Bayezid onwards, his successors followed suit.

In 1444, Muhammad II formally codified this customary law: "Any of my sons, whom Allah chooses as Sultan, it is appropriate for him to kill his brothers for the sake of a better world order." Later Sultans used this as a basis.

Among them, the ninth Sultan, Selim I, fathered over twenty sons.

However, in his view, these twenty-plus sons could all lead to the destruction of the empire in the future.

He once wrote a poem about it: "A carpet is enough for two Sufis to reside, but this world is too small for two kings."

After carefully observing his more than twenty imperial sons, he chose Suleiman I as his heir and ordered the execution of all imperial sons except Suleiman I, including infants who could not yet walk.

Of course, Suleiman I lived up to his father's expectations, earning the title "Suleiman the Magnificent" for his cultural and military achievements, becoming a revered and highly praised ruler even in the Christian world.

Suleiman's grandson, Murad III, had no other significant abilities, but his greatest achievement in life was fathering a triple-digit number of children.

Of course, only one of them could inherit the Sultanate. Muhammad III, who eventually ascended the throne, had 19 of his brothers, including many infants, and 15 pregnant concubines executed.

Perhaps unwilling to see such cruelty repeated with his own children, Muhammad III imprisoned his offspring, preventing them from contacting the outside world.

Thereafter, although the fratricide succession law was not formally abolished, it was no longer strictly enforced.

A law no longer observed is no different from being abolished.

In 1603, after the death of Muhammad III, only two children remained.

If one of them were killed, and an unforeseen event occurred, the Ottoman Empire would have no heir left.

Thus, Ahmed I, who succeeded him, merely kept his only brother, Mustafa, under strict imprisonment.

After Ahmed died, Mustafa indeed succeeded, but by then Mustafa was already a cripple, and was deposed after less than three months due to his inability to govern the country, and was imprisoned again.

Thereafter, similar stories unfolded repeatedly.

Because these princes were isolated from the outside world for a long time, they were ignorant.

They also constantly feared being killed again by their ruling brothers, and lived in long-term panic, with many Ottoman princes attempting suicide multiple times during their imprisonment.

Even the new Sultans who escaped imprisonment were physically and mentally weak, psychologically abnormal, and had no opportunity to learn due to long-term suppression, lacking any experience in governing the country or warfare.

They were unmotivated, indulged in excessive desires, and most could only resort to alcoholism, becoming incompetent and corrupt rulers.

From this perspective, for the country, it would have been better to directly eliminate this Waste option as before, and choose someone else if something went wrong.

An old system was abolished, but there was no good new system to replace it.

Many years later, the Ottoman Empire became the Sick Man of West Asia, which is not unrelated to this.

Janissary Corps

The Janissary Corps, also translated as the Janissaries, Ottoman New Army, Ottoman Imperial Guard, or Sultan's Bodyguards, was the collective term for the standing army and Sultan's guards of the Ottoman Empire.

It first appeared during the reign of Orhan I Bey.

It became a standing army during the reign of Murad I (1360–1389).

It was abolished in 1826, during the reign of Mahmud II.

Beginning in the 14th century, the Ottoman Empire selected some of the strongest male children from the Balkan Slavic families it conquered, converted them to Islam, taught them Turkish, and provided them with military training, forming a unit called the New Army.

It was the empire's first standing army, with members regularly evaluated and reviewed.

They were the most effective soldiers in the Ottoman Empire; initially, Greeks, Bulgarians, Albanians, Serbians, and Bosnians were primarily chosen.

If a soldier had talent, he could be promoted to governor, or even grand vizier.

Early Sultans almost habitually selected officials of all ranks, even viziers (prime ministers), from the Sultan's Bodyguards.

Statistics show that in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries, two-thirds of the Ottoman Empire's Grand Viziers came from these Christian slaves.

Such a promising future attracted the bodyguard soldiers to fight to the last moment, one after another.

Originally, the Sultan's Bodyguards were not hereditary; only those with exceptional ability and extraordinary achievements could join this elite unit.

Unlike the warriors of the East and the knights of the West, noble birth could not guarantee membership in the Imperial Guard through a hereditary system.

When European legions were commanded by nobles, a Turkish soldier's rank was entirely determined by his past merits.

In an era lacking professional mercenaries, the Ottoman legions possessed almost invincible combat power.

The New Army adhered to the Bektashi Order, a Sufi sect.

They were not allowed to marry, which was to maintain a strong sense of corps identity (24/7 supervision to cultivate discipline); only retired New Army members could marry.

However, this rule was relaxed during the reign of Suleiman I.

By the time of Selim II, it had almost become a custom, with positions passed down to sons and discipline deteriorating.

During the reign of Murad III (1574–1595), to celebrate the prince's circumcision, anyone could join the army, and from then on, combat effectiveness sharply declined.

The number of New Army soldiers was small in the early stages, only a few thousand, but it expanded to twenty to thirty thousand by the late reign of Suleiman I.

After Suleiman, as military discipline gradually deteriorated, their numbers continuously increased, and their combat effectiveness significantly declined.

The Janissary Corps effectively formed a political interest group and became a severe financial burden on the state.

Their combat effectiveness was greatly diminished, but their political influence was on the rise.

The Janissaries gradually became a cancerous growth in the Ottoman Empire, openly interfering in state affairs, obstructing national reforms, and even deposing and installing Sultans.

After the death of Suleiman the Magnificent, the Sultan's Bodyguards rebelled 7 times.

After their rebellion was suppressed in 1826, they quietly exited the stage of history.

If one pays attention to the timeline, issues with the succession system and the corruption of the Janissaries both began to emerge around this period, and military technology also started to fall behind Western nations at this time.

However, this does not mean that the Ottoman has already declined; on the contrary, the Ottoman is still very powerful.

If we simplify the Ottoman's development process into a downward-opening parabola, the Ottoman at this time was still in its upward phase, with the rate of ascent gradually slowing.

It would reach its peak in a few more decades before beginning its decline.

This is not difficult to understand; even if some areas experienced problems, with the vast size of the Ottoman Empire, it could not immediately become vulnerable.

The decline of great powers is often a long process, not to mention that during this period, wise rulers and capable officials would discover problems and be able to salvage the situation.

While not bringing back the dead, they could have a positive effect in the short term, always providing some extension of life.

The true decline of the Ottoman began at the earliest in the mid-17th century, and its reduction to a mere prey only occurred in the 18th century.

Even after the 18th century, the Russo-Ottoman wars occasionally knocked out the Russian Bear's teeth.

The ongoing "Long Ottoman War" is considered a turning point in Ottoman military affairs; the Ottomans first realized that military technology had fallen behind Western nations and suffered setbacks in the early stages because of this.

In 1593, driven by the hawkish veteran Gujia Sennapasha (Pasha: a high-ranking official in the Ottoman Empire's administrative system, usually a governor, general, or high official), and as a result of the power struggle among influential military politicians, the Ottoman Empire once again dispatched troops to Hungary, which was occupied by the Habsburg Dynasty.

Prior to this, Hungary was divided and occupied by the Habsburg Dynasty and the Ottoman Empire, with some areas forced to pay taxes to officials from both sides.

The struggle between the two sides had become normalized, and there was no lack of excuses for full-scale war.

This military action against Hungary plunged the three Ottoman vassal states north of the Danube into chaos, and the Ottoman Empire's forces were at a disadvantage on the front lines within Hungary.

In view of this, Transylvania sided with the Habsburg Dynasty, and the lords of Moldavia and Wallachia also turned their weapons against the Ottoman forces.

The Ottoman forces were stretched thin and overwhelmed, and the war became protracted.

During this period, Buda, a major stronghold twice dominated by the Ottoman, was also deeply besieged but did not fall.

In 1603, the war began to turn in favor of the Ottoman Empire.

The situations in Transylvania, Moldavia, and Wallachia all reversed.

Habsburg forces killed the Grand Prince of Wallachia, and an anti-Habsburg rebellion broke out in Transylvania.

On the Ottoman side, under the leadership of Grand Vizier Lala Mehmed Pasha, the defeat in Hungary was reversed.

If history were not rewritten, both sides would have reached peace negotiations in 1603.

The thirteen-year war had no absolute victor.

The Ottoman forces overcame crises multiple times and held onto their old territories.

However, it can also be said that the Empire's advantage in the first half of the 16th century was gone forever.

The Habsburg family failed to fully utilize its military technological advantage and did not, as always, maintain the complete trust of the local forces in Hungary and Transylvania.

The war had a profound impact on the Ottoman Empire.

The war lasted thirteen years, and the Ottoman Empire gradually escaped the passive situation of the first half of the war, with both sides ultimately returning to the pre-war status quo.

This "reversal from defeat to stalemate" was against a backdrop where, shortly after the war began, Austrian forces demonstrated the advantage of new technologies.

The Ottoman Empire "learned from the enemy" and also applied new technologies on the battlefield, thereby recovering from its passive situation.

In the latter half of the 16th century, the European "Military Revolution" primarily included three aspects:

First, the widespread adoption of Italian fortification techniques;

Second, the improvement of firearms and the increased use of infantry firearms;

Third, the improvement of tactics after offense became centered on firearms.

The Ottoman forces quickly reformed the Janissary corps, recruiting irregular infantry capable of using firearms from Anatolian rural areas.

Although they had not undergone long-term training, they were also sent to the front lines to fight.

Regarding the second aspect of the "Military Revolution," the Ottoman, realizing the gap, caught up rapidly.

In terms of military technology, the Ottoman Empire was basically synchronized with Europe on the first and third points.

However, the overall advantage that the Ottoman forces previously held had been lost, and it was now very difficult for the war to open up new territories for the Empire.

While the Ottoman Empire was embroiled in the long Ottoman War on its western front, its eastern front was also not peaceful.

The reform-minded Persian Empire Safavid Dynasty had already revitalized itself thanks to the fruits of its reforms.

In 1603, the Persian Empire Safavid Dynasty, which had completed large-scale military reforms, seized this opportune moment when the Ottoman was facing internal and external difficulties, and launched its long-awaited counterattack.

The goal was not only to retake the old capital, Greater Tabriz, but also to regain control of the Caucasus Mountains and the Two Rivers region.

This was to open up a direct link from the Indian Ocean to the Black Sea, and to expel Ottoman influence from East-West international trade.

On September 26, 1603, tens of thousands of Persian forces first launched an attack on the Nahavand Fortress, marking the beginning of the Ottoman's two-front war.

That was an Ottoman base located east of the Euphrates River, constantly threatening the Safavid capital, Isfahan.

Abbas's new artillery, guided by British instructors, successfully breached the fortress's outer wall.

The limited number of Ottoman Janissary infantry were quickly annihilated by the overwhelming assault of the Qizilbash forces, who were heavily equipped with new firearms.

Before the opponent could react, the Safavid forces quickly moved north.

On October 21, they besieged Greater Tabriz, which also lacked sufficient defenders.

Since the Ottomans had made no modifications to the medieval city walls, Persian artillery once again quickly demolished the city defenses in a very short time.

Citizens, who had long been dissatisfied with Ottoman rule, began to stage large-scale riots, beheading many Janissaries who could not retreat in time.

After Abbas entered the city with his army, he ordered his soldiers to impale the heads of the fallen Ottomans on spears and held a particularly bloody armed parade.

A month later, Abbas's army continued westward, besieging the Armenian city of Yerevan.

Another detached force marched directly north and occupied the mountain city of Tbilisi.

Several Georgian principalities located at the foot of the Caucasus Mountains all declared their secession from their tributary relationship with the Ottoman and once again became vassals of Persia.

Facing such a sudden blow, Ottoman Sultan Mehmed III also died suddenly.

The newly enthroned Ahmed I was merely a 13-year-old child, and power completely fell into the hands of the Janissaries.

In September 1605, nearly 100,000 Ottoman forces gathered and marched east to seek a decisive battle with the Safavid invaders.

According to previous encounters, Persian forces found it difficult to win field battles at the ten-thousand-man level.

Therefore, most Ottoman officers were confident in expelling the enemy.

However, this time, Persia made full use of its advantages and adopted very rational tactics, severely defeating the large Ottoman army.

And subsequently achieved successive victories, the entire war would continue intermittently until 1618, with the Ottoman Empire losing large areas of its control in the east.

It is a pity that the Safavid Dynasty was ultimately just a flash in the pan; its so-called golden age lasted only for the reign of one monarch, or even less.

When Abbas I died in 1629, the Empire began to decline, and its army also lost its former valor.

During the period when the Safavid Dynasty's offensive against the Ottoman was most successful, most Western nations were unable to launch an eastern campaign for various reasons, and rarely formed an effective pincer movement against the Ottoman.

Therefore, during this period, the time the Ottoman was exposed to the extremely dangerous two-front war was not long.

Poland and Lithuania, originally two separate countries, underwent a lengthy process to form a federation.

The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth began to take shape in 1386, when Jogaila, the Grand Duke of Lithuania, who had converted to Catholicism, married the Polish princess. This union not only made Lithuania the last European country to accept Christianity but also led to Lithuania gradually adopting Polish culture.

Over two hundred years, their cultures gradually merged, and various aspects became increasingly unified, with interests slowly reaching a balance. In 1569, through the Union of Lublin, the two countries merged into one, forming the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. (Hereafter referred to as the Commonwealth)

This was a landmark achievement for Sigismund II, the last king of the Jagiellonian dynasty. To maintain a constitutional monarchy, he also created an elective monarchy. He passed away in 1572, followed by a three-year interregnum. This transitional period led to constitutional reforms that enhanced the power of the nobility (Szlachta) and established a truly elective monarchy.

At this time, Sigismund III was on the throne. During his 45-year reign, which began in 1587, the Commonwealth was truly the second most powerful nation in Eastern Europe, surpassed only by the Ottoman Empire. The Commonwealth's hegemony was firmly established in Northeastern Europe, and it was also the third-largest country in the Christian world by population, after the Spanish Empire and France.

The Commonwealth also had three vassal states: Prussia, Courland, and Zaporozhian.

Prussia's becoming a vassal of the Commonwealth dates back to the Teutonic Knights.

From the 13th century, the Teutonic Knights launched an eastward crusade in the Prussian region that lasted nearly 200 years, establishing fortresses such as Toruń, Malbork, Chełmno, and Elbląg. For a long time, Poland and Lithuania were generally on the defensive and successively lost large tracts of territory.

In 1370, the Polish royal line died out, and in 1386, Hedwig, the daughter of the Polish king, married the Grand Duke of Lithuania, uniting Poland and Lithuania. Subsequently, they launched a series of attacks against the Teutonic Knights.

In the Battle of Grunwald on July 15, 1410, the Teutonic Knights were defeated by the combined forces of Poland and Lithuania and were forced to sign the First Peace of Toruń, ceding Gdańsk to Polish sovereignty in addition to paying a ransom of 6 million groschen.

In 1466, the Teutonic Knights were defeated again and were forced to cede West Prussia, including Gdańsk and Malbork, in the Second Peace of Toruń. The Teutonic Knights retained the remaining territory of Prussia but were forced to pledge allegiance to the Polish king, becoming a vassal state of Poland.

In 1512, Albert of Brandenburg was elected Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights. In 1525, he announced his conversion to Lutheranism, thereby severing ties with the Papal States, the nominal suzerain of the Order. He then declared the secularization of the Teutonic Knights, transforming it into the Duchy of Prussia, with Albert as its Duke, becoming a secular monarch subservient to the supreme authority of Poland.

It was not until Albert's son, Albert Frederick, died without an heir that the Duchy of Prussia was inherited by John Sigismund of the Electorate of Brandenburg, the husband of Albert Frederick's eldest daughter, establishing the Brandenburg-Prussia Duchy. After the Swedish-Polish War of 1660, Frederick William, the Great Elector of Brandenburg, revoked Poland's suzerainty over Prussia and established a centralized political system. The Prussia after that is the one most people are more familiar with.

The vassal state of Courland can be likened to a dowry for Lithuania. As early as 1562, during the Livonian War, the Livonian Order was forced to dissolve. On this basis, it was stipulated that southern Estonia and northern Latvia would be ceded to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The Latvian territory between the west bank of the Daugava River and the Baltic Sea became the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia. Courland became a vassal of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and after the Commonwealth's union, it was naturally brought along.

Zaporozhian is a branch of the Cossack. The Cossack are a group of nomadic communities living on the vast steppes of Eastern Europe, a regional group within the Russian and Ukrainian nations with a unique history and culture, historically renowned for their bravery in battle and excellent horsemanship.

Cossack refers both to the semi-independent Tatar tribes formed in the Dnieper region and to the nomads who fled from duchies like Poland, Lithuania, and Moscow to the Dnieper River and Don River regions, where they established autonomous communes.

Most Cossack groups are named after rivers, such as the Don Cossack, Ural Cossack, Volga Cossack, and Dnieper River Cossack. The Zaporozhian Cossack's main area of activity was west of the Dnieper River.

The Cossack have a long and complex history, with no direct connection between different ethnic groups. Historically, most of the Cossack successively pledged allegiance to the Russian Empire, making great contributions to the expansion of its territory, and were almost completely exploited for their remaining value.

After the Zaporozhian Cossack established their state, under pressure from the Commonwealth, they became its vassals. Later, during the Deluge, they broke free from the Commonwealth's control, enjoyed a few years of independence, and then turned to the embrace of the Russian Empire.

One of the most famous things about the Zaporozhian Cossack is Ivan Sirko's reply letter to Mehmed IV, in response to Mehmed IV's extremely arrogant letter of 'pacification.' This letter can be considered the strongest insulting reply in history, with its vulgar and malicious language being unprecedented and unparalleled.

Ilya Repin, Russia's greatest painter, probably 'read the letter and wanted to see the people behind it,' and thus created his famous painting 'Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks to Sultan Mehmed IV' based on this event.

Ilya Repin uses the scene of collective letter-writing to showcase the different postures, forms, personalities, and expressions of each character. It is a Zaporozhian character Spectrum with numerous figures, distinct features, and rich artistic interest. These images exude the bravery and fearlessness of the entire Zaporozhian people. Their eyes shine with the light of national self-strengthening and love for their homeland.

Of course, different positions lead to different views. From the Ottoman perspective: these are truly uncivilized barbarians. But no matter what, to curse someone so artfully is truly amazing.

Currently, the Commonwealth is simultaneously engaged in wars against Sweden and Russia. Sigismund III had a strong claim to the Swedish throne, or rather, he was originally the King of Sweden, reigning from 1592 to 1599. In Sweden, he was known as Sigismund, and during this period, the Commonwealth and Sweden were in a personal union.

Later, the Swedish throne was usurped by his uncle, Charles IX. Sigismund III attempted to reclaim the Swedish throne, but he was undermined by the Sejm. The Sejm believed this was the king's personal affair, unrelated to the Commonwealth, and refused to allocate funds. Sigismund III then went with a small force to contend for the throne and returned defeated in 1598.

Some believe that Sigismund III himself possessed strong abilities, and if he had successfully united with Sweden, he might even have been able to use Sweden's strength to rectify the Commonwealth's systemic flaws. Unfortunately, history has no 'if.'

After losing the Swedish throne, Sigismund III declared Swedish Estonia to be federal territory in 1600, which became the fuse for the war between Poland and Sweden over Livonia.

In 1600, Russia entered a period of political instability, and the Commonwealth proposed an alliance with Russia. After this failed, the Commonwealth took many other measures to encroach upon Russia, including military invasion, diplomatic actions, and dynastic intrigues. Although these actions gained much territory, many ultimate goals failed due to their excessive boldness, such as attempting to install a Catholic Polish royal family member as the Russian Tsar.

During Sigismund III's reign, he launched many effective foreign wars, marking the golden age of the Commonwealth. However, from another perspective, Sigismund III did not solve the fundamental institutional problems of the Commonwealth, but rather pursued excessive militarism, depleting the nation's strength and worsening relations with neighboring countries, to some extent accelerating the Commonwealth's decline. Due to the complex environment he was in, Sigismund III has always been a controversial figure.