Res Publica Utriusque Nationis:The Coat of Arms of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in Wawel Royal Castle, Kraków.
This coat of arms was the symbol of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, representing the union of the Crown of the Polish Kingdom and Grand Duchy of Lithuania. It combined their previously separate coats of arms: coat of arms of Poland, the White Eagle and coat of arms of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Knight/the Chase (Pogoń, Vytis, Pahonia).
The creation of the Commonwealth by the Union of Lublin in 1569 was one of the signal achievements of Sigismund II Augustus, last monarch of the Jagiellon dynasty.
The Commonwealth reached its Golden Age in the first half of the 17th century. Its powerful parliament was dominated by nobles who were reluctant to get involved in the Thirty Years’ War; this neutrality spared the country from the ravages of a political-religious conflict which devastated most of contemporary Europe. The Commonwealth was able to hold its own against Sweden, Russia, and vassals of the Ottoman Empire, and even launched successful expansionist offensives against its neighbors. During several invasions of Russia, Commonwealth troops managed to take Moscow and hold on to it from September 27, 1610 to November 4, 1612, until driven out after a siege.
Commonwealth power waned after a series of blows in the mid-17th century. The first blow was history’s greatest Cossack rebellion, which resulted in Cossacks asking for the protection of the Russian Tzar. The increase of Russian influence over the Ukraine gradually supplanted the Polish. The other blow to the Commonwealth was a Swedish invasion in 1655. Supported by troops of Transylvanian duke George II Rakoczy and Friedrich Wilhelm I, Elector of Brandenburg, The Deluge was the Swedish royal response to years of Commonwealth belligerence.
In the late 17th century, the weakened Commonwealth’s King John III Sobieski allied himself with Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor to deal crushing defeats to the Ottoman Empire. In 1683, the Battle of Vienna marked the final turning point in a 250-year struggle between the forces of Christian Europe and the Islamic Ottoman Empire. For its centuries-long stance against the Muslim advances, the Commonwealth would gain the name of Antemurale Christianitatis (bulwark of Christianity).
By the 18th century, destabilization of its political system brought Poland to the brink of anarchy. The Commonwealth was facing many internal problems and was vulnerable to foreign influences. In 1768 the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth became a protectorate of the Russian Empire. Control of Poland was central to Catherine the Great’s diplomatic and military strategies. Attempts at reform, such as the Four-Year Sejm’s May Constitution came too late. The country was partitioned in three stages by the neighboring Russian Empire, Kingdom of Prussia, and the Habsburg Monarchy. By 1795, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth had been completely erased from the map of Europe. Poland and Lithuania would not be re-established as independent countries until 1918.
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