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65-623: From 1562 the city hosted the Rawa Treasury for the Polish army . During an excavation in 1948, a hoard wealth deposit dating from 600 BC was found containing 4 underground rooms with barrels of gold and silver. A smaller treasure was found containing mainly bronze artefacts from the Trzciniec culture , dating from around 1700 BC. Rawa has a long and rich history. First mentioned in 1288, it received city rights in 1321. It used to be one of

130-524: A Jewish ghetto in Rawa Mazowiecka in March 1941. As Krzysztof Urbański informs in his monograph Zagłada Żydów w dystrykcie radomskim , the ghetto consisted of two parts: one area consisted of a district called Jewish, and the second part was located at Łowicka Street. The two zones spread across the eastern part of town from the bridge on Rawka river to the bridge on Rylka river near the hospital. At

195-559: A document passed by the Sejm). Wojsko komputowe numbered (in 1649) 26,000. Simultaneously, wojsko kwarciane was disbanded, and kwarta directed towards the newly created artillery forces. Brzezinski notes that wojsko kwarciane was dissolved in the aftermath of its defeat at the Battle of Batih in 1652. In 1659, in the aftermath of numerous wars , the reformed army numbered around 54,000-60,000; it would decline from that point onward, as

260-402: A dozen, and never more than about forty) formed a pułk , a type of a unit similar to the medieval battle or modern division or corps , which was led by the pułkownik . The foreign contingent was organized into regiments , often numbering around 500–1,000, and divided into companies . King John III Sobieski attempted in the 1670s to replace the national-foreign contingent divisions with

325-410: A large sum of tax money, kept at Rawa Castle for financing regular army units . Rawa Mazowiecka was first mentioned as a medieval gord , probably located on one of the local hills. In 1321, it received town charter, and in 1355-1370, a brick castle of Mazovian Dukes was built here. During the reign of Siemowit III, Duke of Masovia , Rawa was the capital of the whole Duchy of Masovia . In 1462, Rawa

390-512: A single structure, dividing units into infantry, cavalry and dragoons, but it would take many decades before those reforms bore fruit. After the Commonwealth's creation, several new military units were introduced. First among these were the registered Cossacks , formed in 1578. These were the troops made up of Cossacks , paid for their service and not subject to serfdom . Their numbers varied from about 500 to many times that number, with

455-545: A temporary increase in the size of the wojsko kwarciane . At its heyday, the Commonwealth comprised parts of the territories of present-day Poland , Lithuania , Ukraine , Belarus , Latvia , Estonia , and Russia . It was engaged in the struggles along most of its borders, with only the Western border with the Holy Roman Empire 's lands being relatively peaceful. In its first decades, major conflicts included

520-512: A threat to its trade . This led to the development of a privateer port in Puck . At the turn of the century, Poland-Lithuania was ruled by the House of Vasa , and was involved in a series of wars with Sweden . The Vasa kings attempted creating a proper fleet, and Władysław IV Vasa built a dedicated port for the royal navy at Władysławowo , but their attempts repeatedly failed, due to lack of funds in

585-718: Is Mazovia Rawa Mazowiecka  [ pl ] , which is also known as RKS Mazovia. It competes in the fourth league. Rawa Mazowiecka is twinned with: Military of the Polish%E2%80%93Lithuanian Commonwealth The military of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth consisted of two separate armies of the Kingdom of Poland 's Crown Army and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania 's Grand Ducal Lithuanian Army following

650-543: The Deluge . In 1657, before their retreat, Swedish soldiers blew up most of the complex; only the tower and fragments of walls remained. Soon afterwards, high ranking Swedish officer Pontus De La Gardie was temporarily imprisoned in the remains of the castle. After the destruction of 1657, the complex was not rebuilt, and by the early 18th century, it was a ruin. In 1789, the Sejm assigned money for its reconstruction, and assigned

715-823: The Gostyń County in German-annexed Greater Poland in December 1939 were deported to Rawa. During the AB-Aktion , Germans arrested 20 Poles in mid-June 1940, among whom was parish priest Wacław Zienkowski, who joined the Polish resistance movement , helped Polish prisoners of war escape from the local German POW camp, and rescued local Jews . He was murdered in August 1940 in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp . The Nazi Germans established

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780-752: The Lisowczyks of the early 17th century. Both the state and the magnates supported the construction and renovations of several fortifications (such as the Kamianets-Podilskyi Castle ). The Commonwealth's military was commanded by the king, under whom served four hetmans : two Grand Hetmans (the Grand Crown Hetman and Grand Lithuanian Hetman ) and two Field Hetmans (the Field Crown Hetman and Field Lithuanian Hetman ). The hetmans' office appeared in

845-898: The Livonian campaign of Stephen Báthory , the interventions in Moldavia , the Danzig rebellion , and the War against Sigismund . The early 17th century saw a number of the Polish–Swedish wars , the Polish–Ottoman Wars , and the Polish–Russian Wars ( Dymitriads , the Smolensk War ). The Commonwealth also suffered from many Cossacks uprisings , culminating in the devastating Chmielnicki Uprising of 1648. That period also saw some of

910-632: The Napoleonic Wars , Prussians left the town. It became part of the newly formed Duchy of Warsaw . Since 1815, following Napoleon's defeat, Rawa became part of the Russian-controlled Congress Poland . In 1822, a town hall was built together with tenement houses in the main town square, and in 1829-1830 a hospital was completed. Rawa quickly modernized, but this process was halted by the Tsarist repressions after

975-799: The Polish–Swedish War (1600–11) . It is not known how long the Swedish official was kept here. Another famous prisoner of the Rawa Castle was Wawrzyniec Gradowski, a sorcerer and courtier of King Stephen Bathory , who in 1578 tried to poison him. Gradowski was locked in the castle, and died there. Other notable landmarks include the Baroque churches of the Immaculate Conception and of the Assumption. The local football club

1040-878: The Russian Empire . In addition to the Cossack formations, another group that provided notable service to the state were the Lipka Tatars , who resided in Lithuania provided some light and medium cavalry units for the Lithuanian army. It is known that Persians and Georgians served in the Polish army. During Stephen Báthory 's reign in the late 16th century (1576–1586), a peasant-based levy formation, piechota wybranicka (lit. drafted or selected infantry, also known as piechota łanowa , lit. acreage infantry)

1105-654: The Third Geneva Convention of 1929, which established norms relating to the treatment of prisoners of war. According to some scholars (like Christian Gerlach ) Germany largely adhered to the Geneva Convention when it came to other nationalities of prisoners of war. It however disregarded it for the Soviet prisoners of war . Around 3 million of almost 6 million captured died, largely of starvation and disease, but also executions. Conditions in

1170-455: The Treaty of Zboriv setting the record at 40,477. The Cossacks' refusal to submit to serfdom, and the Commonwealth's nobility attempts to force them into it led to much political wrangling with regard to the Cossack register's size, which caused numerous Cossack uprisings , particularly in the 17th century. These weakened the state, and eventually led to the Cossack subjugation and destruction by

1235-626: The Treblinka extermination camp . Many town residents were shot during the ghetto liquidation action. German occupation ended in January 1945. As a result of World War II, 60% of all buildings were left in ruins. The picturesque Rawa Castle was built by King Casimir III the Great in order to oversee and protect the southern parts of Mazovia, according to the ancient Chronicle of Jan Długosz . Another chronicler, Jan of Czarnków claimed however that

1300-536: The powiat regions). The artillery formations, at first staffed by foreigners, were reformed in the 1630s, with a new tax levied to support them. This time also marked the introduction of the General of the Artillery rank into the Commonwealth armies. In the mid-17th century, the numbers of wojsko zaciężne and kwarciane proved insufficient, which led to the creation of wojsko komputowe (named after komput ,

1365-559: The 1569 Union of Lublin , which joined to form the bi-conderate elective monarchy of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth . The army of each country was commanded by their respective Hetmans . The most unique formation of both armies were the Winged hussars . The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Navy never played a major role and ceased to exist in the mid-17th century. Commonwealth forces were engaged in numerous conflicts in

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1430-439: The 1620s, and reiter cavalry soon afterward. The national contingent was organized in traditional formations dating back to the earlier Middle Ages , with chorągiew , commanded by a rotmistrz and composed of smaller poczet (lance) retinues, each composed of one towarzysz and a varying number of aides. The chorągiew's size varied from as little as 60 to as many as 300 men. Two or more choragwie (though rarely more than

1495-595: The 18th century, European powers (most frequently consisting of Russia , Sweden , Prussia , and Saxony ) fought several wars for the control of the territories of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, particularly during the Great Northern War . By the 18th century's end, internal conflicts involving foreign enemies, such as the War of the Bar Confederation , led to the dissolution and partitioning of

1560-530: The 18th century; the primary reason for this was a lack of sufficient funding. With the growing influence of foreign powers in the Commonwealth, the Russian-dominated Silent Sejm of 1717 declared that the size of the Commonwealth's military should be 24,200 (18,000 from Poland and 6,200 for Lithuania). Due to insufficient taxation, the military was often not paid properly, which led to a relatively small army size; in mid-18th century,

1625-537: The Castle was founded by Siemowit III, Duke of Masovia . It is not known when the construction began: probably it was in 1355. The castle was not completed until 1370, and by then, it served as the administrative center of the Duchy of Rawa, which was independent in 1455-62. On December 7, 1462, King Casimir IV visited the castle, announcing the incorporation of the Duchy of Rawa, and creation of Rawa Voivodeship. In 1507,

1690-665: The Chmielnicki Uprising, together with the Russo-Polish War and the Swedish Deluge , all taking place around the same period of the 1650s, crippled the country, resulting in a loss of most of Ukraine to Russia in the Treaty of Andrusovo in 1667. In 1683 the Commonwealth scored its last major victory that resounded on the European scene, the relief of Vienna by King John III Sobieski . During

1755-554: The Commonwealth had funds to field an army of around 24,000, whereas the Commonwealth's neighbors' armies were often up to 12 times larger: the Imperial Russian Army numbered 300,000; the Prussian Army and Imperial Austrian Army , 150,000, and a few decades later, the Commonwealth could field an army of about 16,000, with Prussian and Austrian armies rising to 200,000. The stated size of the Commonwealth army

1820-416: The Commonwealth was formed, there was little practical difference between the Polish and Lithuanian armed forces but they were kept separate; the Lithuanian army formed about a fourth to a third of the Commonwealth's military. The Commonwealth's military was divided into national and foreign contingents ( Polish : autorament ). The name applied to different unit types, regulations and the officer cadres;

1885-408: The Commonwealth's most talented military commanders: Stanisław Żółkiewski (1547-1620), Jan Karol Chodkiewicz (1560-1621), Stanisław Koniecpolski (1593-1646) and Stefan Czarniecki (1599-1665). The Commonwealth managed to survive these conflicts, and scored several major victories on all fronts, such as the Battle of Kircholm , the Battle of Klushino , and had captured Moscow in 1612. However,

1950-569: The Commonwealth. Despite having access to the Baltic Sea , neither Poland nor Lithuania had any significant navy throughout their histories. In the 16th century, as Poland and Lithuania became involved in conflicts in Livonia , Polish king Sigismund II Augustus supported the operations of privateers , but that met with opposition of the Poland's primary port, Gdańsk (Danzig), which saw them as

2015-473: The Polish commanders for the conflict (it differed from Western mercenary formations in that it was commanded by Polish officers, and dissolved after the conflict has ended). Several years before the Union of Lublin, the Polish obrona potoczna was reformed, as the Sejm (national parliament of Poland) legislated in 1562–1563 the creation of wojsko kwarciane (named after kwarta , the type of tax levied on

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2080-763: The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth among its neighbours. The final attempts at maintaining the Commonwealth's independence, including the political reforms of the Great Sejm , failed militarily, with the defeats in the Polish–Russian War of 1792 and the Kościuszko Uprising of 1794 ultimately ending in Poland-Lithuania's final partition and the final dissolution of the remains of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. When

2145-529: The Roman number marked individual Stalags in a military district. e.g. Sub-camps had a suffix "/Z" (for Zweiglager - sub-camp). The main camp had a suffix of "/H" (for Hauptlager - main camp). e.g. Some of these sub-camps were not the traditional POW camps with barbed wire fences and guard towers, but merely accommodation centers. The camps for Allied airmen were run by the Luftwaffe independently of

2210-591: The army to 15,000. This demand was one of the sparks of the Commonwealth's final war, the Kościuszko Uprising . German prisoner-of-war camps in World War II Nazi Germany operated around 1,000 prisoner-of-war camps ( German : Kriegsgefangenenlager ) during World War II (1939-1945). The most common types of camps were Oflags ("Officer camp") and Stalags ("Base camp" – for enlisted personnel POW camps), although other less common types existed as well. Germany signed

2275-431: The army were known for mutinying and forming confederations , occupying the Commonwealth's own lands until such a time that they were paid properly or pillaged enough to satisfy themselves. The trend reversed itself following the election of the last king of Poland, Stanisław II Augustus , in 1765 and the introduction of the new governing body, Permanent Council , in 1775. Its Military Department attempted to modernize

2340-492: The army, and increase its size (although even the target number of 30,000 was never achieved). A major military reform came with the passing of the Constitution of May 3, 1791 , which stated that the armies should have 100,000 men. (The exact number would be settled on only on 22 May 1792, at 25,654 cavalry and 72,910 infantry). A new conscription law was introduced, affecting all lands (royal, noble and Church-owned). With

2405-487: The camp have been described as bad, but (for POWs of Western Allies) improved as the war went on and Germans had to consider that they held significant amount of German POWs and could enact retribution. At the start of World War II, the German Army was divided into 17 military districts ( Wehrkreise ) , which were each assigned Roman numerals. The camps were numbered according to the military district. A letter behind

2470-429: The catastrophic Swedish invasion of Poland (1655–1660), when Rawa was captured by Swedes (September 8, 1655), who completely destroyed both town and castle (1657). Rawa never recovered from the destruction, and even though it continued to be the capital of Rawa Voivodeship, the town lost importance. In 1676, its population was only 100. In 1702, Swedish forces returned during the Great Northern War , once again destroying

2535-428: The complex burned in a fire, and two years ago, its reconstruction began. After ten years, the walls and the tower were strengthened. Since Rawa Castle was regarded as a modern fortress, in 1559 the so-called Rawa Treasure was placed here: the tax money needed to finance the regular army. Development of military technology made the complex obsolete by the mid-17th century. In September 1655, it was captured by Swedes during

2600-581: The country, and inferior in numbers to the growing armies of the Commonwealth's neighbors. Following the Commonwealth's end, the Commonwealth military traditions would be continued by Napoleonic Polish Legions and the Army of the Duchy of Warsaw . The Commonwealth was formed at the Union of Lublin of 1569 from the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The armies of those states differed from

2665-412: The country, impoverished by those wars, would not be able to support such a number. Another element of the Commonwealth's defence were the various private armies of the most powerful magnates . In peacetime, these consisted of typically small regiments with a few hundred men, but could number up to 10,000, including cavalry and artillery. In some instances the magnate contribution could surpass that of

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2730-581: The days of the Commonwealth numbered, the Constitution was never fully implemented in practice, although the new Military Commission saw the Army expanded to 65,000 before the Polish defeat in the War in Defense of the Constitution . After the Commonwealth was defeated in that war and the Constitution rescinded, the military total was reduced to about 36,000. In 1794 Russians demanded a further downsizing of

2795-542: The failed November Uprising of 1830. On February 4, 1863, Rawa was captured by Polish insurgents of the January Uprising . Another clash between Polish insurgents and Russian troops took place on December 10, 1863. The town was almost completely destroyed in 1915 during World War I . After the war, in 1918, it was reintegrated with Poland, as the country regained independence. During the joint German-Soviet invasion of Poland , which started World War II , Rawa

2860-470: The field. Grand Crown Hetman had the right to maintain his representatives in the Ottoman Empire , which allowed him to influence Poland–Ottoman relations and also laid groundwork for the first Polish intelligence services . The Hetman's deputy was known as regimentarz and could temporarily replace the hetman. The Commonwealth Navy was small and played a relatively minor role in the history of

2925-428: The late 15th century as a result of the wojsko zaciężne 's introduction, and a need for more professional army commanders than the king could usually provide. By the 1530s the hetman system evolved into that of regular offices that would exist in parallel both in Poland and Lithuania for the next three centuries. From 1581 it officially became a lifelong appointment. Hetmans had the right to carry out summary justice in

2990-477: The main Commonwealth army on the frontlines, although the magnates often preferred to spare their troops, as they were not compensated by the state for their contributions. The troops were paid for and equipped by the richest noble families, such as the Opaliński , Lubomirski , Potocki , Ossoliński , Zamoyski , Koniecpolski , Sieniawski , Żółkiewski , Sapieha , Chodkiewicz , Pac and Radziwiłł families. This

3055-421: The majority of regular recruits for both came from within the Commonwealth, particularly from the 1630s onward. National units included the Winged hussars and lighter Polish pancerni and Lithuanian petyhorcy with some light cavalry units, with infantry being the distant second in reputation; whereas the foreign units centered around infantry and artillery formations, with dragoons gaining prominence from

3120-419: The military. There was a small standing army, obrona potoczna ("continuous defense") about 1,500–3,000 strong, paid for by the king, and primarily stationed at the troubled south and eastern borders. It was supplemented by two formations mobilized in case of war: the pospolite ruszenie (Polish levée en masse  – feudal levy of mostly noble knights-landholders), and the wojsko zaciężne , recruited by

3185-477: The most important cities of both the Kingdom of Poland and Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth , a Polish royal city and a capital of Rawa Voivodeship , a unit of administrative division which existed from 1462 until 1793 within the larger Greater Poland Province of the Polish Crown . The starosta of Rawa was among most important personalities of early Poland, as he controlled the so-called “Rawa Treasury” -

3250-400: The organization common in western Europe, as according to Bardach, the mercenary formations (Polish: wojsko najemne ), common there, never gained popularity in Poland. Brzezinski, however, notes that foreign mercenaries did form a significant portion of the more elite infantry units, at least till the early 17th century. In the 15th century Poland, several other formations formed the core of

3315-503: The result of a starvation diet and occasional executions carried out in the castle. The murderous liquidation of the ghetto began on 27 October 1942. The day before the action, about four thousand Jews from Biała Rawska were brought to Rawa Mazowiecka and spent that night in the open air. In the morning, the Germans surrounded the ghetto. The Jews were forced to leave their homes, grouped together and then deported aboard Holocaust trains to

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3380-455: The royal estate in royal lands for the purpose of maintaining this formation). This formation was also paid for by the king, and in the peacetime, numbered about 3,500–4,000 men according to Bardach; Brzezinski gives the range of 3,000–5,000. It was composed mostly of the light cavalry units manned by nobility ( szlachta ) and commanded by hetmans . Often, in wartime, the Sejm would legislate

3445-430: The royal treasury (seeing little need for the fleet, the szlachta refused to raise taxes for its construction, and Gdańsk continuously opposed the idea of a royal fleet). Although Władysław bought 12 ships, they were sold between 1641 and 1643, marking the end of the Commonwealth Navy. Due to a lack of centralized logistical system, the Commonwealth's armies were encumbered by large baggage trains . To some degree, this

3510-433: The same time the area included the streets of Studzienna, Zatylna, Starościanska, Bóźnicza and Zamkowa Wola. In March 1942, the Germans killed the two Świderski brothers, members of the Polish resistance movement, who operated a secret Polish printing house in the town. By 1942, the number of Jewish prisoners in the Rawa ghetto grew to four thousand. Typhus epidemic broke out due to poor sanitary conditions. The Jews died as

3575-449: The south (against the Ottoman Empire ), the east (against the Tsardom of Muscovy and later, the Russian Empire ) and the north (the Kingdom of Sweden ); as well as internal conflicts (most notably, numerous Cossack uprisings ). For the first century or so, the Commonwealth military was usually successful, but became less so from around the mid-17th century. Plagued by insufficient funds, it found itself increasingly hard-pressed to defend

3640-485: The task to Starosta of Rawa, Feliks Lanckoroński. His efforts most likely failed, as by 1794 the castle was abandoned. Prussian authorities ordered its demolition, in order to gain building materials. As a result, only the tower remained, with fragments of walls. In 1601 Carl Gyllenhielm , the so-called royal bastard, was brought to Rawa. Gyllenhjelm was captured in Valmiera by Lithuanians of Krzysztof Mikołaj "the Thunderbolt" Radziwiłł and Poles of Jan Zamoyski , during

3705-415: The town. One of two main routes connecting Warsaw and Dresden ran through the town in the 18th century and Kings Augustus II the Strong and Augustus III of Poland often traveled that route. In 1766, most of Rawa burned in a fire, and on February 4, 1793, the town was seized by the Kingdom of Prussia during the Second Partition of Poland . In 1800, Rawa County was created, and in November 1806, during

3770-415: The type of tax applied). It required all lands, no matter whether owned by king, nobles or the Church, to provide peasant recruits, and applied a similar requirement to towns. Starting in 1613, the growing inefficiencies of the central government, as well as an increase in foreign threats, led to the creation of a local territorial defense force, known as żołnierz powiatowy (district's soldiers raised by

3835-492: Was also a small royal guard regiment, paid for directly by the king. In peacetime, the royal guard numbered around 1,200, but would often be expanded during war. The royal force included a hussar banner, reiter cavalry and infantry units, based upon the "foreign" model. Finally, there were also some irregular militia or mercenary troops which received no official pay but operated with the government's permission and were allowed to retain their loot ; most notable of these were

3900-489: Was formed. It was based on peasants from solely royal estates, who received a unit of land ( łan ) in exchange for their service. The formation numbered about 2,300 and after early disappointments was never seen as of much military value. It supplemented the Hajduk infantry, which saw service primarily around late 16th and 17th centuries. In 1655 a new infantry unit was created, the żołnierz dymowy (or żołnierz łanowy  – lit. chimney or łan soldier, named again after

3965-416: Was further exaggerated, as some money was lost due to corruption . The first half of the 18th century, following the 1717 Sejm, marks the nadir of the Commonwealth army, as it lacked funds and training, and was primarily used for ceremonial purposes. The only constructive reform of that time was the introduction of a stable (if grossly insufficient) budget for the military. Furthermore, the unpaid units of

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4030-417: Was incorporated into Poland, and named the capital of a voivodeship. The town prospered: wars of the 14th and 15th centuries did not affect Rawa. It was one of the largest cities of Mazovia. In 1613, a Jesuit church was built here, and by 1622, Jesuit collegium was completed. Among its students was Jan Chryzostom Pasek , nobleman and writer best remembered for his memoirs. The period of prosperity ended during

4095-407: Was invaded by Germany, and already on September 10, German troops carried out a massacre of 40 inhabitants (17 Poles and 23 Jews ) in the town. In mid-September 1939, the Germans established a prisoner-of-war camp for captured Polish soldiers in the town. Under German occupation , the town was administered as part of the Radom District of the General Government . Some of the Poles expelled from

4160-462: Was one of the reasons why the magnates played a major role in the Commonwealth's politics, and on occasion, engaged in bloody civil wars, e.g. such as the Lithuanian Civil War (1697–1702) , amongst themselves. Similarly, some cities occasional fielded city guard and militia . The most impressive town guard and accompanying fortifications belonged to the port of Gdańsk (Danzig), which boasted 12 infantry companies of 6,000 men total in 1646. There

4225-461: Was turned into an advantage with the development of the tabor  – military horse-drawn wagons , usually carrying army supplies. The wagon use for defensive formations was perfected by the Cossacks, and to a smaller extent used by other Commonwealth units. The Commonwealth armies relied on cavalry, which the nobility saw as much more respectable than the infantry. Despite the reforms of the 17th century, it lost much of its military significance in

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