WDF Xtra: Jan Sobieski Biography VI (Patreon)

"Soldiers, I am determined to make no change in my plans. The event will show it be well laid or not. As to what remains, I lay not restraint upon such as have not the courage to face a glorious death. Let them retire and die in flight by the sword of a Tartar or Cossack. For myself I shall remain here with those brave soldiers who love their country. This crowd of robbers makes no impression upon my mind. I know that God often gives the victory, in a just cause, to the small number. Nor do I doubt by that he will protect us against these infidel invaders."

These were the words of Jan Sobieski, Grand Hetman of the Crown as the Tartar menace once again ravaged the Commonwealth in October 1667, and he prepared his men, once more, to deal with it.

The Commonwealth was regularly the victim of the periodic raids launched by the Cossacks and Tartars (pictured is a Tartar warrior on horseback) once Bogdan Khmelnitsky's revolt succeeded in granting the Cossacks some limited independence under alternative foreign rulers. The drive of the Cossacks pulled in Russians, Swedes and eventually Ottomans as that people sought the best means by which they could exercise their freedoms.

In Sobieski's mind though, the combined forces of the Tartars and Cossacks, so often willing to band together in the name of a lucrative and devastating raid, represented a grave threat to his homeland, and they had to be stopped regardless of their fearsome reputation and apparent prowess. In Episode 6 of the Sobieski bio, out now, we examine how Sobieski managed to push his men forward onto victory, expelling the enemy and taking his first steps towards the legendary renown he would come to enjoy.

In this, his first true test as Hetman and military guarantor of the Commonwealth, Sobieski would fight for his home, his family and his God. Yet, although the cause was just, it remained to be seen whether this campaign or any other would ever truly dissuade the opportunistic enemies of their plans to pillage and plunder Sobieski's home. Was it simply the case that these enemies now smelt blood, and would stop at nothing to get their pound of flesh? If so, then what was to be said of the most fearsome enemy the Commonwealth had ever faced - the Ottomans, and the plans of their Sultan Mehmed IV? Let's find out!