John III Sobieski, (17 August 1629 - 17 June 1696) was one of the most notable monarchs of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, from 1674 until his death King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania. Sobieski’s 22-year-reign was marked by a period of the Commonwealth’s stabilisation, much needed after the turmoil of the Deluge and Chmielnicki’s Uprising. Popular among his subjects, he was also a brilliant military commander, most famous for the victory over the Turks in the 1683 Battle of Vienna. For his victories over the Ottoman Empire, he was …

Zaporizhian Sich or Zaporozhian Sech (Ukrainian: Запорізька Січ, Zaporiz’ka Sich) original Slavonic name “Zaporizhska Sich’” was the center of the Cossacks of Zaporizhzhia. The term has also been metonymically used as an informal reference to the whole Zaporizhzhia or to the Zaporozhian Host. Initially the Zaporizhian Sich was a fortified military camp, the foundation for which was laid out on the Isle of Khortytsia (Mala Khortytsia, Khortytsia Minor) in 1556 by D.I. Vyshnevetsky. But only in 1618 did Hetman Petro Konashevych Sahaidachny order his Cossacks to build the earthen perimeter …