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The Greatest Commanders in Polish History

Poland · 15 commanders · ~32 min read · Updated October 2026

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Painting of the Battle of Vienna in 1683: the Ottoman camp with tents and cavalry in the foreground, the besieged city and the Danube in the distance

Frans Geffels, 1683 to 1694, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

At a glance
RankCommanderLivedGreatest victoryRecord
1Jan III Sobieski1629 to 1696Vienna, 1683Khotyn, Vienna; routed at Párkány, 1683
2Władysław Jagiełłoabout 1362 to 1434Grunwald, 1410Grunwald won; Malbork held, 1410
3Józef Piłsudski1867 to 1935Warsaw, 1920Warsaw and the Niemen won; Kyiv lost, 1920
4Tadeusz Kościuszko1746 to 1817Racławice, 1794Racławice won; captured at Maciejowice, 1794
5Jan Henryk Dąbrowski1755 to 1818Tczew, 1807Beaten at the Trebbia, 1799; Tczew, 1807
6Józef Poniatowski1763 to 1813Zieleńce, 1792Zieleńce; Raszyn drawn, Galicia taken, 1809
7Władysław Anders1892 to 1970Monte Cassino, 1944Cassino, Ancona, Bologna; captured in 1939
8Józef Bem1794 to 1850Transylvania, 1849Saved the army at Ostrołęka, 1831; beaten at Temesvár, 1849
9Stanisław Żółkiewski1547 to 1620Klushino, 1610Won Klushino, Guzów; routed at Cecora, 1620
10Stephen Báthory1533 to 1586Polotsk and Velikiye Luki, 1579 to 1580Livonia regained; Pskov held out, 1581 to 1582
11Jan Zamoyski1542 to 1605Byczyna, 1588Won Byczyna, Cecora, Bucov; Pskov not taken
12Casimir Pulaski1745 to 1779Jasna Góra, 1770 to 1771Held Jasna Góra; Bar lost; killed at Savannah
13Jan Karol Chodkiewiczabout 1560 to 1621Kircholm, 1605Won Kircholm; Kremlin relief failed, 1612
14Stanisław Maczek1892 to 1994Falaise, 1944Falaise, Breda; lost campaigns of 1939 and 1940
15Stefan Czarniecki1599 to 1665Warka, 1656Warka, Połonka; lost at Gołąb and three more
Quick answer

Who was the greatest Polish commander?

King Jan III Sobieski is No. 1 in our ranking: he crushed the Ottomans at Khotyn in 1673 and led the relief of Vienna in 1683. Władysław Jagiełło, the victor of Grunwald, is second, followed by Józef Piłsudski, who saved the reborn state in 1920, and Tadeusz Kościuszko. The fifteen run from Grunwald in 1410 to Falaise in 1944.

Poland's armies were led by warrior kings and hetmans, by the generals of its uprisings and, after the partitions, by Poles who fought in other nations' wars, from Grunwald in 1410 to Monte Cassino and Falaise in 1944. This list ranks fifteen of those commanders by score, each judged on his whole career: recognition among Polish readers counts most, then battlefield record, consequence and legacy, then how well the record is documented. Kings count only for the battles they led in person; see how we chose and ranked them. The battles themselves are ranked in our guide to the greatest Polish battles.1

This page ranks the commanders. For the wars they fought, from the Piast kingdom to World War II, with every Polish battle on this site grouped by era, see our guide to the military history of Poland.

1 Jan III Sobieski, 1629 to 1696

Lived
1629 to 1696
Served
Grand hetman of the Crown from 1668; King of Poland from 1674
Greatest victory
Vienna, 12 September 1683
Record
Held Podhajce (1667); won Khotyn (1673) and Vienna (1683); routed at Párkány on 7 October 1683, won there two days later; Moldavian campaigns of 1686 and 1691 failed
Legacy
Vienna opened the war that won Hungary back from the Ottomans; his palace at Wilanów is a museum of his reign

Born at Olesko in 1629, Jan Sobieski learned war against Cossacks, Tatars and Swedes. In October 1667 he held a fortified camp at Podhajce with 3,000 men against a Tatar and Cossack invasion until the attackers came to terms, and in 1668 he became grand hetman of the Crown.2

In 1673 he marched on the Ottoman army of about 30,000 entrenched at Khotyn on the Dniester; on 10 and 11 November his troops stormed the camp, and by the Wilanów museum’s account only 4,000 Turks survived. In 1674 he was elected king. In 1683 Kara Mustafa besieged Vienna with about 120,000 men, by the City of Vienna’s figure. Sobieski took supreme command of the relief army, 65,000 strong by the city’s count and 69,000 by the museum’s, and in the late afternoon of 12 September, after a trial charge by the hussars, some 20,000 horsemen broke the besiegers. Myth vs fact: Vienna was not a Polish victory alone; the Poles were about a third of the army, and Austrians and Germans had fought since morning.3

On 7 October his army was routed at Párkány, and his Moldavian campaigns of 1686 and 1691 failed. The war Vienna opened won Hungary for Austria, while Poland, the historian Konrad Bobiatyński notes, regained only what it had lost in 1672.4

Why it ranks here: Sobieski is No. 1 on 48 points, three clear of Jagiełło. Vienna began the Ottoman retreat from Central Europe, so consequence 5; for most Polish readers he is the first name on such a list, so recognition and legacy 5, and both sides documented his wars, so certainty 5. Only Párkány and the failed Moldavian campaigns hold his battlefield record at 4.

Read the full story of Jan III Sobieski ›

Portrait of Jan III Sobieski in a red cloak and Roman-style armor
Jan III Sobieski in Roman costume, portrait attributed to Daniel Schultz (National Museum in Warsaw). Public domain

2 Władysław Jagiełło, about 1362 to 1434

Lived
Born about 1352 or about 1362 (historians differ); died 1434
Served
Grand duke of Lithuania; King of Poland from 1386, after the union of Krewo (1385)
Greatest victory
Grunwald, 15 July 1410
Record
Won Grunwald with Vytautas (1410); failed to take Malbork (siege lifted in September 1410); the Peace of Toruń (1411) returned only the Dobrzyń land
Legacy
15 July a state holiday from 1412; Grunwald is the best known Polish victory

Jogaila, grand duke of Lithuania, became King Władysław of Poland through the union of Krewo in 1385 and his marriage to Queen Jadwiga in 1386. His birth year is uncertain: about 1352 was long accepted, but some researchers now put it at about 1362.5

In the war with the Teutonic Order that began in 1409, he and his cousin Vytautas agreed to join their armies and march on Malbork to force the knights into a pitched battle. Recent research gives them 19,000 to 20,000 Poles and about 10,000 Lithuanians against some 15,000 for the Order. On 15 July 1410 he gave the orders, left Vytautas on the Lithuanian right wing and watched from a hillock, where he struck a charging enemy knight in the face with his own lance. Myth vs fact: the long wait before the battle was not fear or indecision; the army was strung out along its line of march and needed time to deploy. Grand Master Ulrich von Jungingen fell leading his last reserve, and by Michał Kopczyński’s estimate the Order lost about 8,000 dead, among them 203 of the 250 brothers in the battle. But Malbork held, the siege was lifted in September, and the Peace of Toruń in 1411 returned only the Dobrzyń land to Poland. As early as 1412, 15 July was made a state holiday.6

Why it ranks here: Grunwald is the best known Polish victory, so recognition and legacy 5. Vytautas led much of the fighting, Malbork held and the peace returned little, so battlefield record and consequence 4, and Jan Długosz wrote the main account some sixty years later, so certainty 4. On 45 he is second, one point ahead of Piłsudski and Kościuszko.7

Read about Jagiełło at Grunwald ›

3 Józef Piłsudski, 1867 to 1935

Lived
1867 to 1935
Served
Commander of the 1st Brigade of the Polish Legions in World War I; commander-in-chief of the Polish Army from 11 November 1918
Greatest victory
Warsaw, August 1920 (credit for the plan shared with Tadeusz Rozwadowski)
Record
Took Kyiv on 7 May 1920 and gave it up in June; won at Warsaw (August) and on the Niemen (September 1920)
Legacy
Saved the reborn state in 1920; seized power in the May Coup of 1926, in which hundreds died

Born in 1867 near Vilnius, Józef Piłsudski led the 1st Brigade of the Polish Legions in World War I and on 11 November 1918 was put in charge of the army of the reborn state.8

His offensive of April 1920 took Kyiv on 7 May, but on 5 June Budyonny’s cavalry broke the front and Kyiv was abandoned, a defeat in the words of the IPN historian Mirosław Szumiło. In August, in the Museum of Polish History’s account, the chief of the General Staff, Tadeusz Rozwadowski, with Colonel Tadeusz Piskor and Captain Bronisław Regulski, turned Piłsudski’s general concept into the operational plan: hold Warsaw’s approaches and strike from the Wieprz into the Soviet flank; the Józef Piłsudski Museum credits the plan to Piłsudski himself. Piłsudski led that counterstroke in person from 16 August, and within ten days the enemy was broken; Szumiło counts 66,000 Soviet prisoners. In September he won again on the Niemen, and an armistice followed on 12 October. Myth vs fact: “Miracle on the Vistula” was coined by Piłsudski’s sworn opponent Stanisław Stroński, and the historian Mariusz Wołos calls it almost pure propaganda.9

In May 1926 he led troops against the government: three days of fighting in Warsaw left about 350 dead by the IPN historian Włodzimierz Suleja’s count, 379 by the figure dzieje.pl gives, and opened years of increasingly authoritarian rule. In a 2008 CBOS survey 80 percent of Poles rated him positively.10

Why it ranks here: Warsaw saved the reborn state, so consequence 5, and every Polish reader knows him, so recognition 5 (2 in our worldwide era list). Credit for the plan is shared with Rozwadowski and Kyiv ended in retreat, so battlefield record 3, and the May Coup keeps legacy at 4. He ties Kościuszko on 44 and recognition and goes first on consequence.

Read the full story of Józef Piłsudski ›

4 Tadeusz Kościuszko, 1746 to 1817

Lived
1746 to 1817
Served
Colonel of engineers in the Continental Army from 1776; commander-in-chief of the Polish rising of 1794
Greatest victory
Racławice, 4 April 1794
Record
Laid out the Bemis Heights defenses at Saratoga (1777); won Racławice (1794); defeated, wounded and captured at Maciejowice (10 October 1794)
Legacy
Honored in Poland and the United States; buried in Wawel Cathedral (1818)

Tadeusz Kościuszko, born in 1746, was a trained military engineer, and in October 1776 the Continental Congress made him a colonel of engineers. In the autumn of 1777 he laid out the American defenses anchored on Bemis Heights, which gave Horatio Gates a strong position against John Burgoyne at Saratoga; the British surrender there brought France into the war.11

In March 1794 he proclaimed a national rising in Kraków’s Market Square. At Racławice on 4 April he had about 4,000 soldiers and almost 2,000 peasants armed with scythes against some 6,000 Russians, by Piotr Bejrowski’s count for the Museum of Polish History; the scythemen charged the guns, and the Russians fled, leaving about 1,000 dead and twelve cannon. The news set off a rising in Warsaw. But Prussia joined Russia, and on 10 October, attacking a Russian army twice his size at Maciejowice, he was beaten, wounded and taken prisoner; in 1795 the third partition erased the Commonwealth. Myth vs fact: he did not cry “Finis Poloniae” at Maciejowice; he protested against the phrase in a letter to the Count of Ségur in 1803, and it was most likely Prussian propaganda. He died in Switzerland in 1817, and in 1818 his body was laid in Wawel Cathedral.12

Why it ranks here: A national hero in Poland and the United States, he takes full marks for recognition and legacy. Racławice beat a single Russian corps and the rising ended with his capture at Maciejowice and the third partition, so battlefield record 3, while his share in American independence gives consequence 4. He ties Piłsudski on 44 and on recognition, and goes below him on consequence.

Read the full story of Tadeusz Kościuszko ›

Portrait of Tadeusz Kosciuszko in a dark coat with a white cravat
Tadeusz Kościuszko, portrait by Josef Grassi (National Museum in Kraków). Public domain

5 Jan Henryk Dąbrowski, 1755 to 1818

Lived
1755 to 1818
Served
Saxon army (1770 to 1784); general in the rising of 1794; commander of the Polish Legions in Italy from 1797; divisional general of the Duchy of Warsaw
Greatest victory
Tczew, taken in 1807 (no great battle of his own)
Record
Legions shattered at the Trebbia (June 1799); distinguished at Novi (1799); took Tczew (1807); beat the Austrians at Radzymin and Łęczyca (1809); badly wounded at the Berezina (1812)
Legacy
His name is sung in the national anthem, written for his Legions in 1797 and adopted in 1927

Jan Henryk Dąbrowski served in the Saxon army from 1770 to 1784 and joined the Polish army in 1791; in 1794 he was made a general for his part in the defense of Warsaw. After the third partition he turned to revolutionary France: on 9 January 1797 an agreement with the Lombard Republic created the Polish Legions in Italy, which within little more than a year counted more than 8,000 men, by the Polish education ministry’s count. In July 1797 Józef Wybicki wrote them the song of the march from Italy to Poland; in 1927 it became the national anthem.13

The Legions fought across northern Italy and helped take Rome, but in June 1799 Suvorov’s Russians all but destroyed Dąbrowski’s troops at the Trebbia as they covered the French retreat, and that year at Mantua the Polish part of the garrison was handed over to the Austrians. He distinguished himself at Novi. On 3 November 1806 he and Wybicki called Greater Poland to arms for Napoleon; in 1807 he took Tczew, in 1809 he beat the Austrians at Radzymin and Łęczyca, and on 26 November 1812 he was badly wounded defending a bridge on the Berezina. Myth vs fact: the anthem carries his name, but its author was Wybicki.14

Why it ranks here: Every Pole sings his name, so recognition and legacy 5. But he won no great battle of his own and the Legions were broken at the Trebbia, so battlefield record 3, and France used them for its own ends rather than for Poland’s return, so consequence 3. Dąbrowski, Poniatowski and Anders all have 42 points, recognition 5 and consequence 3, so the oldest of the three comes first.15

Read the full story of Jan Henryk Dąbrowski ›

6 Józef Poniatowski, 1763 to 1813

Lived
1763 to 1813
Served
Austrian army from 1780; general in the Polish army under his uncle; minister of war and commander-in-chief of the Duchy of Warsaw from 1807; Marshal of France in 1813
Greatest victory
Zieleńce, 18 June 1792
Record
Won Zieleńce (1792); drew at Raszyn and gave up Warsaw, then took Galicia and Kraków (1809); led the Polish V Corps at Smolensk and Borodino (1812); killed at Leipzig (1813)
Legacy
The first man who was not a king to be buried among the kings at Wawel (1817)

Józef Poniatowski, nephew of King Stanisław August, was born in Vienna in 1763 and began as an officer in the Austrian army. In the war of 1792 in defense of the Constitution of 3 May, he and Kościuszko routed an 11,000-strong Russian corps at Zieleńce on 18 June, the victory for which the king created the Virtuti Militari, but it did not decide the war.16

In 1807 he became minister of war and commander of the army of the Duchy of Warsaw. In April 1809 Archduke Ferdinand invaded with some 30,000 men, while Poniatowski had only 19,000 at hand. At Raszyn on 19 April the armies fought until nightfall without a decision, and he gave up Warsaw. He struck into Austrian Galicia, took Sandomierz, Zamość, Lwów and, in July, Kraków; the Peace of Schönbrunn added Kraków and Lublin to the Duchy. In 1812 he led the Polish V Corps at Smolensk and Borodino. At Leipzig in October 1813 Napoleon made him a Marshal of France, the only foreigner among the marshals, and on 19 October, wounded while covering the retreat, he drowned in the Elster. Myth vs fact: the famous words “God entrusted me with the honor of the Poles” are only attributed to him. In 1817 he became the first man who was not a monarch to be laid among the kings at Wawel.17

Why it ranks here: Zieleńce and the Galician campaign give him battlefield record 4, but neither Zieleńce nor Raszyn decided a war, so consequence 3; the marshal who died at Leipzig is known to every Pole, so recognition 5, and legacy 4. He shares 42 points, recognition and consequence with Dąbrowski and Anders, and stands between them by age.

Read the full story of Józef Poniatowski ›

7 Władysław Anders, 1892 to 1970

Lived
1892 to 1970
Served
Commander of the Polish Army in the USSR (1941 to 1942) and of the Polish II Corps; acting commander-in-chief in 1945
Greatest victory
Monte Cassino, 18 May 1944
Record
Fought the Germans and Soviets in 1939 until wounded and captured; took Monte Cassino (May 1944); freed Ancona (1944) and Bologna (21 April 1945)
Legacy
Buried among his soldiers at Monte Cassino; the song of the red poppies

Władysław Anders fought the Germans and then the Soviets in September 1939 until, wounded twice, he was captured near Lviv and held in Moscow’s Lubyanka. Released on 4 August 1941, he built an army from Poles freed from Soviet camps and exile, and in two evacuations in 1942 took more than 120,000 people out of the USSR, 78,500 of them soldiers and about 18,000 children, by the IPN’s count.18

Three Allied assaults on Monte Cassino failed between January and March 1944. In the fourth, his Polish II Corps attacked the monastery hill on 12 May and again on 17 May, and at 10:20 on 18 May a patrol of the 12th Podolian Uhlans took the ruins. It cost 923 killed, 2,931 wounded and 345 missing. Myth vs fact: the Poles did not storm a defended abbey at the end; on the night of 17 to 18 May the German paratroopers began to withdraw on Kesselring’s order. The corps went on to free Ancona and, on 21 April 1945, Bologna. In 1946 the communist government stripped him of his citizenship and rank; he died in London in 1970 and, at his wish, lies at Monte Cassino among his soldiers. The song of the red poppies keeps the battle in Polish memory.19

Why it ranks here: Every Polish reader knows him through Cassino, the army he led out of the USSR and the red poppies, so recognition 5. Cassino was the fourth Allied assault in a wider offensive and cost his corps dearly, so battlefield record 4 and consequence 3, with legacy 4. He shares 42 points, recognition and consequence with Dąbrowski and Poniatowski and is the youngest, so he comes last of the three.

Read the full story of Władysław Anders ›

Soldiers gathered among shattered walls of the abbey with a British flag raised above them
Polish and British soldiers in the ruins of the abbey on Monte Cassino at the end of the battle, May 1944. National Digital Archive, Poland. Public domain (Polish photograph published before 1994 without a copyright notice). National Digital Archives of Poland (NAC 24-442-1), 1944, via Wikimedia Commons.

8 Józef Bem, 1794 to 1850

Lived
1794 to 1850
Served
Artillery officer of the Duchy of Warsaw from 1810; general in the rising of 1830 to 1831; commander in Transylvania for Hungary (1848 to 1849); Ottoman general as Murad Pasha
Greatest victory
Transylvania, December 1848 to March 1849 (Nagyszeben taken on 11 March 1849)
Record
His horse artillery covered the beaten army at Ostrołęka (1831); cleared Transylvania (1849); beaten at Segesvár, Nagycsűr and Temesvár (July and August 1849)
Legacy
Bem apó, Father Bem, to Hungarians; remains brought from Aleppo to a mausoleum in Tarnów in 1929

Józef Bem, born in Tarnów in 1794, became a second lieutenant of artillery in the army of the Duchy of Warsaw in 1810. In the November Rising he made his name at Ostrołęka on 26 May 1831: with the Polish army beaten, his horse artillery battery galloped forward and stopped the Russians with grapeshot, and the army fell back toward Warsaw. Myth vs fact: Ostrołęka is remembered for that charge, but it was no victory; the city’s own account puts the Polish loss at 1,800 killed, 2,900 wounded and 1,400 prisoners.20

In October 1848 he led the defense of revolutionary Vienna, then went to Hungary, where Kossuth gave him command in Transylvania. From 20 December, with 10,000 men and sixteen guns, he won at Piski and on 11 March 1849 took Nagyszeben, driving out the Austrians and their Russian helpers. When Russia intervened in June, his 24,000 to 25,000 men faced 45,000 to 47,000 Russians and 9,000 to 11,000 Austrians; he was beaten at Segesvár and Nagycsűr, and then at Temesvár, the last major battle of the war. He died in Aleppo in December 1850 as Murad Pasha, and in 1929 his remains were brought to a mausoleum in Tarnów. Hungarians call him Bem apó, Father Bem.21

Why it ranks here: Hungary honors him as a national hero, so legacy 5. He won Transylvania against larger armies, but lost at Segesvár and Temesvár, and as for every commander here serious defeats in person cost one point: battlefield record 4 (Ostrołęka, where he led only artillery, does not count). Hungary lost its war, so consequence 3, and Polish readers know him less well than Kościuszko, so recognition 4. On 41, one behind Anders.

Read the full story of Józef Bem ›

9 Stanisław Żółkiewski, 1547 to 1620

Lived
1547, at Turynka near Lviv, to October 1620, killed in the retreat from Cecora22
Served
Field hetman of the Crown from 1588; later grand hetman and grand chancellor of the Crown23
Greatest victory
Klushino, 4 July 1610, against a Russian army and its foreign mercenaries24
Record
Won Guzów (1607) and Klushino (1610); let Tatar raiders get away at Orynin (1618); routed at Cecora (1620) and killed in the retreat25
Legacy
The Sejm named 2020 the Year of Hetman Żółkiewski; a model of civic virtue for his great-grandson Jan Sobieski26

Born in 1547 near Lviv into a noble family of middling wealth, Żółkiewski learned war under Jan Zamoyski. At Byczyna in 1588 he took an enemy banner and a wound that left him limping for life, and the king made him field hetman. He went on to fight on every frontier, against Muscovy, Sweden, the Cossacks, the Tatars and the Turks, and on 5 July 1607 broke the rebel nobles at Guzów.27

On 4 July 1610, after a night march through the forest, he struck the camp of Dmitry Shuisky and his foreign mercenaries at Klushino and broke them in repeated hussar charges. The numbers are disputed: the Sejm's resolution speaks of about 3,000 horse against more than 30,000, J. Rickard's figures give some 6,700 Poles by our sum, and Przemysław Gawron of the Wilanów museum weighs estimates of 2,700 to 7,000 Poles against 15,000 to 30,000 Russians. On 27 July the boyars deposed Tsar Vasily Shuisky and agreed with Żółkiewski to crown Prince Władysław; Sigismund III rejected the deal, and the garrison the hetman had put in the Kremlin surrendered in November 1612.28

In 1620 he led about 7,000 men into Moldavia, lost at Cecora on 19 September and retreated for over two weeks in a moving wagon camp, until it broke near the border and he died fighting; his head was sent to Istanbul.29

Why it ranks here: Klushino brought down a tsar and put a Polish garrison in the Kremlin, so record and consequence 4, though Cecora ended his career in a rout. Polish readers count him among the great hetmans, recognition and legacy 4, and with certainty 4 for Klushino's disputed numbers he stands alone on 40, one behind Bem.

Read the full story of Stanisław Żółkiewski ›

10 Stephen Báthory, 1533 to 1586

Lived
27 September 1533, at Somlyó in Transylvania, to 12 December 1586, at Grodno30
Served
Prince of Transylvania from 1571; King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 157631
Greatest victory
The war with Muscovy, 1579 to 1582: Polotsk taken in 1579, Velikiye Luki in 158032
Record
Took Polotsk (1579) and Velikiye Luki (1580); besieged Pskov from August 1581 without taking it; the war with Gdańsk (1577) ended in a compromise33
Legacy
Truce of Jam Zapolski (1582) won back Livonia and Polotsk; founder of the Vilnius Academy (1579); buried in Wawel Cathedral34

Born in Transylvania in 1533 and schooled at Padua, Báthory made his name as a commander against the Habsburgs in Hungary and became Prince of Transylvania in 1571. In December 1575 the nobles of the Commonwealth, with Jan Zamoyski at their head, hailed him king against Emperor Maximilian II; crowned in May 1576, he never learned Polish. His bloody first war, against Gdańsk, which refused to recognize him, ended in a settlement in 1577.35

Meanwhile Ivan the Terrible had overrun Livonia. Báthory built up his artillery, infantry and engineers, hired Hungarians, Germans and even Scots, and took the war onto Russian soil. In 1579 he retook Polotsk; in 1580 Velikiye Luki surrendered once its wooden walls were set on fire. In August 1581 he laid siege to Pskov, whose garrison J. Rickard puts at 7,000 streltsy, 2,000 horsemen and 10,000 local levies. The defenders repaired or sealed every breach, and the city never fell.36

Myth vs fact: Pskov is often remembered simply as his failure, but Rickard calls the siege a success all the same, because Ivan could not relieve the city; under that pressure, and with the Swedes taking Narva, the tsar gave up Livonia and Polotsk at Jam Zapolski in January 1582.37

Why it ranks here: His war drove Muscovy out of Livonia, so consequence 4, and Polish readers know him well as one of the great elected kings, recognition 4. Pskov, besieged under Zamoyski's direction, held out and Gdańsk ended in a settlement, so record 4, and he is remembered more as a king than as a commander, legacy 3. Three tie on 39 points and recognition; he and Zamoyski lead Pulaski on consequence, and he is the older.

Read the full story of Stephen Báthory ›

11 Jan Zamoyski, 1542 to 1605

Lived
19 March 1542, at Skokówka, to 3 June 1605, at Zamość38
Served
Grand chancellor of the Crown 1578 to 1605, grand hetman 1581 to 160539
Greatest victory
Byczyna, 24 January 1588: the Habsburg army routed and Archduke Maximilian taken prisoner40
Record
Won Byczyna (1588), Cecora against the Tatars (1595) and Bucov against Michael the Brave (1600); led the siege of Pskov for Báthory (1581 to 1582), which did not take the city41
Legacy
Founded the town of Zamość in 1580 and its academy, open from 1595 to 178442

Educated in Paris, Strasbourg and Padua, Zamoyski led the nobles who made Stephen Báthory king and became his closest adviser, grand chancellor from 1578 and grand hetman from 1581. He planned the Muscovite campaigns with the king and, the education ministry's history course notes, talked the Sejm into paying for them; the Lithuanian national encyclopedia says he directed the siege of Pskov, which ended without the city's fall.43

After Báthory died, the Zborowski faction elected Archduke Maximilian of Habsburg against Zamoyski's candidate, Sigismund Vasa. The archduke besieged Kraków and failed; on 24 January 1588 Zamoyski caught his army at Byczyna, struck it in the flank and routed it, and Maximilian himself was taken prisoner. Zamoyski then fought to keep Moldavia under hospodars friendly to Poland. In 1595 he beat the Tatars at Cecora, and in 1600 he restored Jeremy Movilă and on 20 October beat Michael the Brave, who had tried to unite the Romanian lands, at Bucov in Wallachia. In 1601 and 1602 he took Livonian strongholds from the Swedes.44

Myth vs fact: these campaigns have long been called the "Moldavian brawls" of the magnates; Ilona Czamańska shows from the king's own instructions that the expedition of 1600 was state policy, not a private venture of the chancellor. At home he built Zamość, a planned Renaissance town laid out by Bernardo Morando.45

Why it ranks here: Byczyna kept the Habsburgs off the Polish throne and Bucov held Moldavia, so consequence 4, but Pskov did not fall, record 4, and Poles remember him more as chancellor and founder of Zamość than as a soldier, legacy 3. He ties Báthory on 39 points, recognition 4 and consequence 4, and comes second as the younger.

Read the full story of Jan Zamoyski ›

Loosely painted oil sketch: Zamoyski in a red cloak on a dark horse faces the archduke on a gray horse before a gate, with soldiers laying down weapons and banners.
Jan Matejko's oil sketch for his painting Zamoyski at Byczyna (1884): the hetman receives the surrender of Archduke Maximilian (National Museum in Warsaw). Public domain

12 Casimir Pulaski, 1745 to 1779

Lived
6 March 1745 to 11 October 1779, two days after he was wounded at Savannah46
Served
Bar Confederation, 1768 to 1772; Continental Army, 1777 to 1779, brigadier general in command of the cavalry47
Greatest victory
Defense of Jasna Góra at Częstochowa, winter 1770 to 177148
Record
Held Jasna Góra against Ivan Drewicz (January 1771), but the confederation was lost; covered the retreat at Brandywine (1777); mortally wounded in the failed assault on Savannah (1779)49
Legacy
Honorary citizen of the United States since 2009; called the father of the American cavalry; Fort Pulaski and a monument in Savannah50

Kazimierz Pułaski was in his early twenties when his father Józef became marshal of the Bar Confederation of 1768, a nobles' rising against Russian control of the Commonwealth, and he became one of its colonels. In September 1770 he seized the fortified monastery of Jasna Góra at Częstochowa with about 2,500 men. Russian troops under Ivan Drewicz came for it in the winter; their general assault on the night of 9 to 10 January 1771 failed, and in mid-January they gave up the siege. But the confederation was beaten, he was blamed for the abduction of King Stanisław August in 1771, which he denied, and in 1773 a court sentenced him to death in his absence.51

In July 1777 he landed in America. At Brandywine he helped cover Washington's retreat, and on 15 September Congress made him brigadier general in command of the cavalry; in 1778 he raised a legion of horse and foot, which helped defend Charleston in 1779. On 9 October 1779, charging in the failed Franco-American assault on Savannah, he was struck by grapeshot, and he died two days later. Myth vs fact: the 2009 law that made him an honorary citizen says he saved Washington's life at Brandywine; the National Park Service says he covered the retreat.52

Why it ranks here: Poland and the United States both honor him, so legacy 5, but the confederation was crushed and his American service lasted just over two years, so record and consequence 3; Polish readers know him less well as a commander than Kościuszko, recognition 4. Of the three on 39 points he alone has consequence 3, so he follows Báthory and Zamoyski.

Read the full story of Casimir Pulaski ›

13 Jan Karol Chodkiewicz, about 1560 to 1621

Lived
1560 or 1561 in older works, 1570 or 1571 by Marian Chachaj's research, to 24 September 1621, in the camp at Khotyn53
Served
Commander in Livonia against Sweden and in the war with Muscovy; grand hetman of Lithuania54
Greatest victory
Kircholm, 27 September 1605, against King Charles IX of Sweden55
Record
Won Kircholm (1605); failed to relieve the Kremlin garrison, losing about 1,500 dead in two days (1612); held the camp at Khotyn against Osman II until his death (1621)56
Legacy
Kircholm, news of which spread across Europe, remains the model victory of the winged hussars57

Chodkiewicz commanded in Livonia, where the Commonwealth and Sweden had been at war since 1600. In September 1605 King Charles IX was besieging Riga, and Chodkiewicz marched to relieve it with about 3,600 men, 2,600 of them horse. The Museum of Polish History puts the Swedes at about 11,000, some three times his number.58

At Kircholm on 27 September the Swedes held a hill. Chodkiewicz feigned a retreat, drew them down, and his hussars broke the Swedish horse and cut up the infantry. Swedish dead are estimated at 8,000 to 9,000, about 70 percent of the army, against 100 to 200 Polish and Lithuanian losses, yet unpaid soldiers soon left him and the war went on. In September 1612 he failed to break through to the Polish garrison besieged in the Kremlin, losing about 1,500 dead in two days by Tomasz Bohun's count. In 1621, with Żółkiewski dead, he led the army that dug in at Khotyn against Sultan Osman II, and died in the camp on 24 September, before the last Ottoman assault failed.59

Even his birth year is in dispute: it is usually given as 1560 or 1561; Marian Chachaj, cited by Karol Żojdź, dates it to 1570 or 1571.60

Why it ranks here: Kircholm, won against at least three times his numbers, is known to almost every Polish reader, so recognition, record and legacy 4; it did not end the war and he failed to relieve the Kremlin, consequence 3, and the counts and even his birth year are disputed, certainty 4. He ties Maczek on 38 points, recognition and consequence, and goes first as the older.

Read the full story of Jan Karol Chodkiewicz ›

14 Stanisław Maczek, 1892 to 1994

Lived
31 March 1892, at Szczerzec near Lviv, to 11 December 1994, in Edinburgh61
Served
10th Cavalry Brigade in 1939, 10th Armoured Cavalry Brigade in France in 1940, 1st Armoured Division from 194262
Greatest victory
Falaise pocket: Chambois and Hill 262 at Mont Ormel, 19 to 21 August 194463
Record
Delaying fights in the lost campaign of 1939 and in France in 1940; closed the Falaise gap (1944), freed Breda (29 October 1944), occupied Wilhelmshaven after the German surrender (May 1945)64
Legacy
Virtuti Militari for Chambois and Breda; buried among his soldiers in Breda, where the Dutch still honor him65

Born near Lviv in 1892, Maczek studied philosophy and Polish philology, fought for Austria in World War I and then for Poland. In 1939 he led the 10th Cavalry Brigade, the first large motorized unit of the Polish army, in delaying fights against German armor before crossing into Hungary; in 1940 he fought in Champagne, and in Britain he built the 1st Armoured Division.66

In August 1944 the division was sent to close the pocket around two German armies near Falaise. Maczek's two battle groups took Chambois and Hill 262 at Mont Ormel, the ridge he called the Maczuga, the mace, and held it against Germans breaking out until Canadian troops relieved them on 21 August. The Poles took over 5,000 prisoners, though some German units got away; their own losses are given as 325 killed, 114 missing and about 1,000 wounded (dzieje.pl) or 446 killed, 1,501 wounded and 150 missing (the IPN). On 29 October his men freed Breda with little damage to the town, and in May 1945 they occupied Wilhelmshaven.67

Myth vs fact: he is often said, in Piotr Potomski's words, never to have lost a battle; but his brigade fought a retreat in 1939, and in France in 1940, his chief of staff recalled, they knew from the first day that the campaign was lost.68

Why it ranks here: Falaise and Breda give him record 4, Poles and Dutch keep his memory, legacy 4, and Normandy was won by many armies, consequence 3; recognition 4 and certainty 4, since sources disagree on the key numbers of Falaise, as in our Polish battles guide. He ties Chodkiewicz on 38, recognition and consequence, and is the younger.

Read the full story of Stanisław Maczek ›

15 Stefan Czarniecki, 1599 to 1665

Lived
Born at Czarnca in 1599 or as late as 1604 (the year is not known for certain); died 16 February 1665 at Sokołówka69
Served
Rose from the ranks; voivode of Ruthenia from 1657; field hetman of the Crown only weeks before his death70
Greatest victory
Warka, 7 April 1656, with Jerzy Sebastian Lubomirski, over the Margrave of Baden's Swedish relief force71
Record
Won Warka (1656), took Kolding in Denmark (1658) and, with Paweł Sapieha, won at Połonka (1660); lost to the Swedes at Gołąb, Kłecko, Kcynia and Chojnice72
Legacy
Named in the national anthem; his troops' cruelty to civilians recorded by Polish and Ukrainian historians73

One of ten sons of a modest noble, Czarniecki rose from the ranks: he fought the Cossack risings of the 1630s and was taken by the Cossacks after 1648. When Sweden invaded in 1655, the king made him co-commander of Kraków, which he held for about three weeks before marching out on honorable terms.74

He made his name in the raiding war that followed, wearing down Swedish detachments with fast cavalry and the help of the peasants; when the Swedes forced him to battle he usually lost, at Gołąb in February 1656 and at Kłecko, Kcynia and Chojnice. On 7 April 1656 he and Jerzy Sebastian Lubomirski, with 6,000 to 8,000 men, ran down a Swedish relief force of about 2,500 at Warka, by Polish Radio's figures. In 1658 he took Kolding in Denmark and ferried horsemen to the island of Als, the crossing sung in the anthem, and in 1660 he and Paweł Sapieha beat a Russian army almost twice their size at Połonka.75

His wars have a dark side. The historian Włodzimierz Dworzaczek wrote of violence, murders and looting by his troops in Greater Poland, aimed above all at Protestants, Germans and Jews, and the Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine records that in 1664 and 1665 he laid waste the Kyiv region and ordered the exhumation of Bohdan Khmelnytsky, and that his troops wiped out the people of Stavyshche.76

Why it ranks here: The anthem keeps his name before every Pole, recognition 4, but he lost most of his pitched battles with the Swedes, record 3, the Deluge was won by many hands, consequence 3, and his troops' cruelty to civilians keeps legacy at 4. Fifteenth on 36 points, one ahead of Sikorski.

Read the full story of Stefan Czarniecki ›

Full-length portrait of Stefan Czarniecki in red Polish dress
Stefan Czarniecki, full-length portrait by Brodero Matthisen, 1659. Public domain

How we chose and ranked these Polish commanders

We counted a commander as anyone who led an army of Poland, of the Polish and Lithuanian union and the Commonwealth, of a Polish uprising or of a Polish formation in person, from the first Piast kings to 1945, the same frame as our guide to the greatest Polish battles, where the battles themselves are ranked. Each commander is scored on his whole career, so Kościuszko's and Pulaski's American service and Bem's Hungarian campaign count here; our guide to For Your Freedom and Ours scores that service abroad on its own. Kings count only for the battles they commanded themselves, and Lithuanian commanders count when they led a Polish and Lithuanian army. The best of every nation are in the greatest military commanders and the greatest commanders by era.77

We considered 25 candidates and scored each one from 1 to 5 on five criteria. Recognition counts three times, because this page answers the question of who the greatest Polish commanders were; battlefield record, consequence and legacy count twice, and certainty once:

The list is ranked by total score, not by date. Ties go to the better known commander, then to the one whose victories changed more, then to the older one. The scores are our editorial judgment, made on the evidence in the sources below, and the table shows every one of them. It explains, for example, why Jan Karol Chodkiewicz, the victor of Kircholm, is only thirteenth: Kircholm is the model hussar victory, but it did not end the war with Sweden, and in 1612 he failed to relieve the Polish garrison in the Kremlin, so his victories changed less than Żółkiewski's at Kłuszyn or Batory's against Ivan the Terrible.78

The scores behind the ranking
RankNameRecognition
×3		Battlefield record
×2		Consequence
×2		Legacy
×2		Certainty
×1		Total
1Jan III Sobieski5455548
2Władysław Jagiełło5445445
3Józef Piłsudski5354544
4Tadeusz Kościuszko5345544
5Jan Henryk Dąbrowski5335542
6Józef Poniatowski5434542
7Władysław Anders5434542
8Józef Bem4435541
9Stanisław Żółkiewski4444440
10Stephen Báthory4443539
11Jan Zamoyski4443539
12Casimir Pulaski4335539
13Jan Karol Chodkiewicz4434438
14Stanisław Maczek4434438
15Stefan Czarniecki4334436

Close calls

Five commanders came close and did not make the fifteen:

Władysław Sikorski, 1881 to 1943. Every Polish reader knows Sikorski, but mainly as prime minister and commander-in-chief in exile from 1939 until his death in an air crash off Gibraltar on 4 July 1943. As a field commander he had one great battle: from 11 August 1920 he led the 5th Army north of Warsaw, and its counterstroke toward Nasielsk and Ciechanów tied down two Soviet armies. In a 2008 CBOS survey 69 percent of Poles rated him positively. He misses Czarniecki's fifteenth place by one point.79

Bolesław I the Brave, 966 or 967 to 1025. Poland's first crowned king fought Emperor Henry II for Lusatia and Milsko in wars that ended with the Peace of Bautzen on 30 January 1018, which confirmed what he held, and the same year his army sacked Kiev. He was crowned on 18 April 1025 and died that June. His wars rest largely on chronicles such as that of Gallus Anonymus, so certainty 2, and he finishes on 34 points.80

Vytautas the Great, 1350 to 1430. The Grand Duke of Lithuania led the Lithuanian wing at Grunwald in 1410, and his part there is told in Jagiełło's entry. On 12 August 1399 the army of the Golden Horde had crushed his Lithuanian and Ruthenian army on the Vorskla, a defeat that pushed him into a closer alliance with Poland. Polish readers know him mainly from Grunwald, so recognition 3, and he finishes on 33 points.81

Stanisław Koniecpolski, 1591 or about 1594 to 1646. As field hetman he routed a Tatar raid at Martynów on 20 June 1624 and freed its captives, and on 27 June 1629 (25 June in some accounts) beat the army of Gustavus Adolphus at Trzciana; as grand hetman he broke another great Tatar invasion at Ochmatów on 30 January 1644. Trzciana did not decide the war, which ended that September in the Truce of Altmark, and he is far less known than Żółkiewski or Chodkiewicz. He ties Vytautas on 33 and goes below him on consequence.82

Tadeusz Rozwadowski, 1866 to 1928. As chief of the General Staff in August 1920 he worked out the operational plan of the Battle of Warsaw with Colonel Tadeusz Piskor and Captain Bronisław Regulski, from Piłsudski's general concept in the Museum of Polish History's account (how large each man's share was is still debated), and issued Order No. 10,000, which added an attack from the north and brought the main blow from the Wieprz forward to 16 August; his biographer Mariusz Patelski says he signed almost all the key orders. So he shares Warsaw's consequence 5, but he won no battle in the field himself, and after defending the government in the May Coup of 1926 he was held for over a year without trial and died in October 1928, long forgotten: recognition and legacy 2, 30 points.83

Who commanded the armies of the Commonwealth?

Kings led them only on the campaigns they joined in person, as Báthory and Sobieski did; otherwise command lay with the hetmans. The Crown and Lithuania each had a grand hetman, who commanded its army, and a field hetman as his deputy, offices that lasted until 1794. Zamoyski, Żółkiewski and Sobieski were grand hetmans of the Crown, Chodkiewicz grand hetman of Lithuania.84

Test yourself with the Polish battles quiz, try to guess the commander from a few clues, or play today's Battle of the Day.

Notes

A number in the text points to a note; each note names the works that paragraph draws on, listed in full under Sources.

  1. dzieje.pl, “Bitwa pod Grunwaldem, czyli cztery godziny, które wstrząsnęły Europą”; dzieje.pl, “67. rocznica zdobycia Monte Cassino”; dzieje.pl, “80 lat temu 1 Dywizja Pancerna gen. Stanisława Maczka zakończyła zwycięskie walki pod Falaise”. ↩
  2. Museum of King Jan III’s Palace at Wilanów, “Jan III Sobieski of the Janina coat of arms”. ↩
  3. Museum of King Jan III’s Palace at Wilanów, “Jan III Sobieski of the Janina coat of arms”; Museum of King Jan III’s Palace at Wilanów, “Battle of Khotyn, 11 November 1673”; dzieje.pl, “350 lat temu wojska Rzeczypospolitej pokonały siły tureckie pod Chocimiem”; Wien Geschichte Wiki, “Zweite Türkenbelagerung (1683)”; Museum of King Jan III’s Palace at Wilanów, “Battle of Vienna”. ↩
  4. Museum of King Jan III’s Palace at Wilanów, “Jan III Sobieski of the Janina coat of arms”; dzieje.pl, “Dr Konrad Bobiatyński”. ↩
  5. Zintegrowana Platforma Edukacyjna, “Władysław Jagiełło na polskim tronie”; National Geographic Polska, “Władysław Jagiełło przeżył uderzenie pioruna. Ostatnia choroba zaczęła się od nocnej wyprawy do lasu”. ↩
  6. dzieje.pl, “Bitwa pod Grunwaldem, czyli cztery godziny, które wstrząsnęły Europą”; University of Lodz, “Grunwald Without Legends”. ↩
  7. De Re Militari, “The Battle of Tannenberg or Grunwald in 1410, according to Jan Dlugosz (trans. Michael J. Mikos)”. ↩
  8. Józef Piłsudski Museum in Sulejówek, “Józef Piłsudski 1867-1935”. ↩
  9. Institute of National Remembrance, “Bitwa warszawska 1920”; Museum of Polish History, “Początek Bitwy Warszawskiej”; Józef Piłsudski Museum in Sulejówek, “Józef Piłsudski 1867-1935”; dzieje.pl, “Bitwa nad Niemnem 1920”; Wszystko co Najważniejsze, “Skąd się wziął zwrot Cud nad Wisłą?”. ↩
  10. Józef Piłsudski Museum in Sulejówek, “Józef Piłsudski 1867-1935”; Institute of National Remembrance, “Przewrót majowy”; dzieje.pl, “100 lat temu zamach majowy podzielił Polskę, a wojskowych zmusił do wybierania między rządem a Piłsudskim”; CBOS Public Opinion Research Center, “Spojrzenie na miniony wiek w historii Polski”. ↩
  11. American Battlefield Trust, “Andrzej Tadeusz Bonawentura Kościuszko”; National Park Service, “The Life and Times of Thaddeus Kosciuszko”; National Park Service, “Tadeusz Kosciuszko”; American Battlefield Trust, “Saratoga”. ↩
  12. Museum of Polish History, “The Battle of Racławice”; dzieje.pl, “230 lat temu Polacy zwyciężyli pod Racławicami”; Zintegrowana Platforma Edukacyjna, “Powstanie kościuszkowskie. Ostatni akt obrony niepodległości”; National Park Service, “The Life and Times of Thaddeus Kosciuszko”; Zintegrowana Platforma Edukacyjna, “Rzeczypospolitej Obojga Narodów przestaje istnieć. III rozbiór Polski”; Porta Polonica, “Finis Poloniae 1831”; Polonia, “Thadée Kosciuszko (reprints his letter to the Count of Ségur, 12 November 1803)”. ↩
  13. Fondation Napoléon, “Dombrowski, Jan Henryk”; dzieje.pl, “Jan Henryk Dąbrowski (1755-1818)”; Zintegrowana Platforma Edukacyjna, “Legiony Polskie we Włoszech”; dzieje.pl, “Mazurek Dąbrowskiego”. ↩
  14. Zintegrowana Platforma Edukacyjna, “Legiony Polskie we Włoszech”; dzieje.pl, “Jan Henryk Dąbrowski (1755-1818)”; Fondation Napoléon, “Dombrowski, Jan Henryk”; dzieje.pl, “Mazurek Dąbrowskiego”. ↩
  15. Zintegrowana Platforma Edukacyjna, “Legiony Polskie we Włoszech”. ↩
  16. Fondation Napoléon, “PONIATOWSKI, Józef”; dzieje.pl, “230 lat temu ustanowiono Order Virtuti Militari, najwyższe polskie odznaczenie wojskowe”. ↩
  17. Fondation Napoléon, “PONIATOWSKI, Józef”; dzieje.pl, “215 lat temu wojska polskie stoczyły bitwę pod Raszynem”; Zintegrowana Platforma Edukacyjna, “Wojna w obronie Księstwa Warszawskiego”; dzieje.pl, “19 października 1813 r. pod Lipskiem poległ książę Józef Poniatowski”. ↩
  18. Institute of National Remembrance, “Władysław Albert Anders (1892-1970)”. ↩
  19. dzieje.pl, “67. rocznica zdobycia Monte Cassino”; Institute of National Remembrance, “Władysław Albert Anders (1892-1970)”; l’Adige, “25 aprile”; dzieje.pl, “Obchody rocznicy bitwy pod Monte Cassino w ambasadzie Francji”. ↩
  20. dzieje.pl, “Józef Bem. „Panienka” idzie na Moskwę”; Sybir Memorial Museum, “26.05.1831”; City of Ostrołęka, “Tracing the Ostrołęka Battle of 1831”. ↩
  21. dzieje.pl, “Józef Bem. „Panienka” idzie na Moskwę”; History of Transylvania, “Bem’s Campaign in Transylvania; Revolutionary Consolidation and Its Contradictions”; History of Transylvania, “Romanian and Hungarian Attempts at Reconciliation in the Final Days of the War of Independence”; dzieje.pl, “Muzeum Okręgowe w Tarnowie kupiło film z pogrzebu gen. Bema”; Index.hu, “Bem apó renegát lett?”. ↩
  22. dzieje.pl, “Sejm przyjął uchwałę ws. ustanowienia roku 2020 Rokiem Hetmana Stanisława Żółkiewskiego”; Museum of King Jan III's Palace at Wilanów, “Wyprawa cecorska (wrzesień-październik 1620)”. ↩
  23. Museum of Polish History, “Żółkiewski”; dzieje.pl, “Sejm przyjął uchwałę ws. ustanowienia roku 2020 Rokiem Hetmana Stanisława Żółkiewskiego”. ↩
  24. Museum of King Jan III's Palace at Wilanów, “Bitwa pod Kłuszynem 1610 r.”; HistoryOfWar.org, “Battle of Klushino, 4 July 1610”. ↩
  25. Museum of Polish History, “Żółkiewski”; Agnieszka Pawłowska-Kubik, Lituanistika; Museum of King Jan III's Palace at Wilanów, “Wyprawa cecorska (wrzesień-październik 1620)”. ↩
  26. dzieje.pl, “Sejm przyjął uchwałę ws. ustanowienia roku 2020 Rokiem Hetmana Stanisława Żółkiewskiego”; Museum of Polish History, “Żółkiewski”. ↩
  27. Museum of Polish History, “Żółkiewski”; dzieje.pl, “Sejm przyjął uchwałę ws. ustanowienia roku 2020 Rokiem Hetmana Stanisława Żółkiewskiego”; Agnieszka Pawłowska-Kubik, Lituanistika. ↩
  28. Museum of King Jan III's Palace at Wilanów, “Bitwa pod Kłuszynem 1610 r.”; HistoryOfWar.org, “Battle of Klushino, 4 July 1610”; dzieje.pl, “Sejm przyjął uchwałę ws. ustanowienia roku 2020 Rokiem Hetmana Stanisława Żółkiewskiego”; dzieje.pl, “406 lat temu skapitulowała polska załoga na Kremlu”. ↩
  29. Museum of King Jan III's Palace at Wilanów, “Wyprawa cecorska (wrzesień-październik 1620)”; Museum of Polish History, “Żółkiewski”. ↩
  30. dzieje.pl, “Stefan Batory”. ↩
  31. dzieje.pl, “Stefan Batory”. ↩
  32. Zintegrowana Platforma Edukacyjna, “Ruś wchodzi do gry. Wojny w czasach Stefana Batorego”; dzieje.pl, “Stefan Batory”. ↩
  33. Zintegrowana Platforma Edukacyjna, “Ruś wchodzi do gry. Wojny w czasach Stefana Batorego”; HistoryOfWar.org, “Siege of Pskov, August 1581-January 1582”; dzieje.pl, “Stefan Batory”. ↩
  34. dzieje.pl, “Stefan Batory”; Vilnius University, “Facts and History”; Zintegrowana Platforma Edukacyjna, “Ruś wchodzi do gry. Wojny w czasach Stefana Batorego”. ↩
  35. dzieje.pl, “Stefan Batory”. ↩
  36. Zintegrowana Platforma Edukacyjna, “Ruś wchodzi do gry. Wojny w czasach Stefana Batorego”; dzieje.pl, “Stefan Batory”; HistoryOfWar.org, “Siege of Pskov, August 1581-January 1582”. ↩
  37. HistoryOfWar.org, “Siege of Pskov, August 1581-January 1582”; Zintegrowana Platforma Edukacyjna, “Ruś wchodzi do gry. Wojny w czasach Stefana Batorego”; dzieje.pl, “Stefan Batory”. ↩
  38. Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija, “Jan Zamoyski”. ↩
  39. Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija, “Jan Zamoyski”. ↩
  40. Museum of Polish History, “Bitwa pod Byczyną”. ↩
  41. Museum of Polish History, “Bitwa pod Byczyną”; Museum of Polish History, “Żółkiewski”; Ilona Czamańska, “Czy naprawdę były to awantury? Interwencje polskie w Mołdawii w latach 1595-1616”; Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija, “Jan Zamoyski”; HistoryOfWar.org, “Siege of Pskov, August 1581-January 1582”. ↩
  42. Grant Map EU, “Historic Old Town in Zamość”; Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija, “Jan Zamoyski”. ↩
  43. Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija, “Jan Zamoyski”; dzieje.pl, “Stefan Batory”; Zintegrowana Platforma Edukacyjna, “Ruś wchodzi do gry. Wojny w czasach Stefana Batorego”; HistoryOfWar.org, “Siege of Pskov, August 1581-January 1582”. ↩
  44. Museum of Polish History, “Bitwa pod Byczyną”; Museum of Polish History, “Żółkiewski”; Ilona Czamańska, “Czy naprawdę były to awantury? Interwencje polskie w Mołdawii w latach 1595-1616”; Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija, “Jan Zamoyski”. ↩
  45. Ilona Czamańska, “Czy naprawdę były to awantury? Interwencje polskie w Mołdawii w latach 1595-1616”; Grant Map EU, “Historic Old Town in Zamość”. ↩
  46. Casimir Pulaski Museum in Warka, “Data urodzenia Kazimierza Pułaskiego”; National Park Service, “Casimir Pulaski”. ↩
  47. Casimir Pulaski Museum in Warka, “Kazimierz Pułaski”; National Park Service, “Casimir Pulaski”. ↩
  48. Casimir Pulaski Museum in Warka, “Kazimierz Pułaski”; Teologia Polityczna, “Kazimierz Pułaski”. ↩
  49. Casimir Pulaski Museum in Warka, “Kazimierz Pułaski”; Teologia Polityczna, “Kazimierz Pułaski”; National Park Service, “Casimir Pulaski”; New Georgia Encyclopedia, “Casimir Pulaski in Georgia”. ↩
  50. U.S. Government Publishing Office, “Public Law 111-94”; National Park Service, “Casimir Pulaski”. ↩
  51. Casimir Pulaski Museum in Warka, “Kazimierz Pułaski”; Teologia Polityczna, “Kazimierz Pułaski”. ↩
  52. Casimir Pulaski Museum in Warka, “Kazimierz Pułaski”; National Park Service, “Casimir Pulaski”; New Georgia Encyclopedia, “Casimir Pulaski in Georgia”; U.S. Government Publishing Office, “Public Law 111-94”. ↩
  53. Karol Żojdź, “Klientela hetmana wielkiego litewskiego Jana Karola Chodkiewicza i jej losy po śmierci patrona”; Museum of Polish History, “Bitwa pod Chocimiem”. ↩
  54. Museum of Polish History, “The great victory of the winged hussars. The Battle of Kirchholm (1605)”; Museum of Polish History, “Bitwa pod Chocimiem”. ↩
  55. Museum of Polish History, “The great victory of the winged hussars. The Battle of Kirchholm (1605)”; HistoryOfWar.org, “Battle of Kircholm, 27 September 1605”. ↩
  56. Museum of Polish History, “The great victory of the winged hussars. The Battle of Kirchholm (1605)”; dzieje.pl, “406 lat temu skapitulowała polska załoga na Kremlu”; Museum of Polish History, “Bitwa pod Chocimiem”. ↩
  57. Museum of Polish History, “The great victory of the winged hussars. The Battle of Kirchholm (1605)”. ↩
  58. Museum of Polish History, “The great victory of the winged hussars. The Battle of Kirchholm (1605)”; HistoryOfWar.org, “Battle of Kircholm, 27 September 1605”. ↩
  59. HistoryOfWar.org, “Battle of Kircholm, 27 September 1605”; Museum of Polish History, “The great victory of the winged hussars. The Battle of Kirchholm (1605)”; dzieje.pl, “406 lat temu skapitulowała polska załoga na Kremlu”; Museum of Polish History, “Bitwa pod Chocimiem”. ↩
  60. Karol Żojdź, “Klientela hetmana wielkiego litewskiego Jana Karola Chodkiewicza i jej losy po śmierci patrona”. ↩
  61. dzieje.pl, “25 lat temu zmarł gen. Stanisław Maczek, dowódca 1. Polskiej Dywizji Pancernej”; Institute of National Remembrance, “Generał broni Stanisław Maczek (1892-1994)”. ↩
  62. Institute of National Remembrance, “Generał broni Stanisław Maczek (1892-1994)”. ↩
  63. dzieje.pl, “80 lat temu 1 Dywizja Pancerna gen. Stanisława Maczka zakończyła zwycięskie walki pod Falaise”; Institute of National Remembrance, “Generał broni Stanisław Maczek (1892-1994)”. ↩
  64. dzieje.pl, “25 lat temu zmarł gen. Stanisław Maczek, dowódca 1. Polskiej Dywizji Pancernej”; Institute of National Remembrance, “Generał broni Stanisław Maczek (1892-1994)”. ↩
  65. Institute of National Remembrance, “Generał broni Stanisław Maczek (1892-1994)”; Institute of National Remembrance, “Stanisław Maczek (1892-1994)”. ↩
  66. dzieje.pl, “25 lat temu zmarł gen. Stanisław Maczek, dowódca 1. Polskiej Dywizji Pancernej”; Institute of National Remembrance, “Stanisław Maczek (1892-1994)”; Institute of National Remembrance, “Generał broni Stanisław Maczek (1892-1994)”. ↩
  67. dzieje.pl, “80 lat temu 1 Dywizja Pancerna gen. Stanisława Maczka zakończyła zwycięskie walki pod Falaise”; Legion Magazine, “The Cork In The Bottle”; Institute of National Remembrance, “Generał broni Stanisław Maczek (1892-1994)”; Institute of National Remembrance, “Stanisław Maczek (1892-1994)”. ↩
  68. dzieje.pl, “25 lat temu zmarł gen. Stanisław Maczek, dowódca 1. Polskiej Dywizji Pancernej”; Institute of National Remembrance, “Generał broni Stanisław Maczek (1892-1994)”. ↩
  69. dzieje.pl, “350 lat temu zmarł hetman Stefan Czarniecki”; Histmag.org, “Stefan Czarniecki (1599-1665)”. ↩
  70. dzieje.pl, “350 lat temu zmarł hetman Stefan Czarniecki”; Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine, “Czarniecki, Stefan”. ↩
  71. Polskie Radio 24, “Nie taki Szwed straszny, czyli bitwa pod Warką”; Histmag.org, “Stefan Czarniecki (1599-1665)”. ↩
  72. dzieje.pl, “350 lat temu zmarł hetman Stefan Czarniecki”; Polskie Radio 24, “Nie taki Szwed straszny, czyli bitwa pod Warką”. ↩
  73. dzieje.pl, “350 lat temu zmarł hetman Stefan Czarniecki”; Polskie Radio, “Jeden z dwóch Polaków uwiecznionych w słowach polskiego hymnu”; Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine, “Czarniecki, Stefan”. ↩
  74. dzieje.pl, “350 lat temu zmarł hetman Stefan Czarniecki”; Histmag.org, “Stefan Czarniecki (1599-1665)”. ↩
  75. dzieje.pl, “350 lat temu zmarł hetman Stefan Czarniecki”; Polskie Radio 24, “Nie taki Szwed straszny, czyli bitwa pod Warką”; Histmag.org, “Stefan Czarniecki (1599-1665)”. ↩
  76. Polskie Radio, “Jeden z dwóch Polaków uwiecznionych w słowach polskiego hymnu”; Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine, “Czarniecki, Stefan”; Histmag.org, “Stefan Czarniecki (1599-1665)”. ↩
  77. American Battlefield Trust, “Andrzej Tadeusz Bonawentura Kościuszko”; National Park Service, “Casimir Pulaski”; History of Transylvania, “Bem’s Campaign in Transylvania; Revolutionary Consolidation and Its Contradictions”. ↩
  78. HistoryOfWar.org, “Battle of Kircholm, 27 September 1605”; dzieje.pl, “406 lat temu skapitulowała polska załoga na Kremlu”. ↩
  79. dzieje.pl, “Władysław Sikorski”; CBOS Public Opinion Research Center, “Spojrzenie na miniony wiek w historii Polski”. ↩
  80. dzieje.pl, “Bolesław Chrobry”. ↩
  81. dzieje.pl, “1399”; Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine, “Vytautas the Great”. ↩
  82. HistoryOfWar.org, “Battle of Honigfelde, 27 June 1629”; Władysław Czapliński, “Koniecpolski h. Pobóg Stanisław”; Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine, “Koniecpolski, Stanisław”; dzieje.pl, “Bitwa pod Trzcianą”. ↩
  83. Museum of Polish History, “Początek Bitwy Warszawskiej”; Józef Piłsudski Museum in Sulejówek, “Józef Piłsudski 1867-1935”; Museum of Polish History, “Generał Tadeusz Jordan-Rozwadowski”; dzieje.pl, “Dr M. Patelski”. ↩
  84. dzieje.pl, “Wielcy Hetmani Rzeczpospolitej”; Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija, “Jan Zamoyski”; dzieje.pl, “Sejm przyjął uchwałę ws. ustanowienia roku 2020 Rokiem Hetmana Stanisława Żółkiewskiego”; Museum of King Jan III’s Palace at Wilanów, “Jan III Sobieski of the Janina coat of arms”; Museum of Polish History, “Bitwa pod Chocimiem”. ↩

Sources

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Frequently asked questions

Who was the greatest Polish commander?

In our ranking it is King Jan III Sobieski, with 48 of 50 points: he won at Khotyn in 1673 and led the relief of Vienna in 1683, which began the Ottoman retreat from Central Europe. Władysław Jagiełło, Józef Piłsudski and Tadeusz Kościuszko follow.

Who saved Vienna in 1683?

King Jan III Sobieski of Poland took supreme command of the Polish, imperial and German relief army, about a third of it Polish. On 12 September 1683, after the Austrians and Germans had fought since morning, about 20,000 horsemen led by the hussars broke the Ottoman besiegers in the late afternoon.

Who won the Battle of Warsaw in 1920, Piłsudski or Rozwadowski?

Both had a share, and how much each contributed is still debated. In the Museum of Polish History's account the counterstroke from the Wieprz was Piłsudski's general concept, which he led in person from 16 August 1920, and the operational plan was worked out by his chief of the General Staff, Tadeusz Rozwadowski, with Colonel Tadeusz Piskor and Captain Bronisław Regulski; Rozwadowski issued the key Order No. 10,000. The Józef Piłsudski Museum credits the plan to Piłsudski himself.

Were all these commanders Polish?

All led Polish armies, but not all were Poles by birth: Władysław Jagiełło was a Lithuanian grand duke, Jan Karol Chodkiewicz a Lithuanian hetman and Stephen Báthory a Hungarian prince of Transylvania. Several also fought for other nations: Kościuszko and Pulaski in America, Bem in Hungary.

Who commanded at Grunwald?

King Władysław Jagiełło held overall command of the Polish, Lithuanian and Ruthenian army in 1410, while his cousin Grand Duke Vytautas led the Lithuanian forces on the right wing.

Did Kościuszko cry “Finis Poloniae” at Maciejowice?

Probably not. The words were attributed to him after his defeat and capture at Maciejowice in 1794, but he denied saying them in a letter to the Count of Ségur in 1803, and the phrase was most likely Prussian propaganda.

Battle honors of your homeland

The turning points of history

Marathon, Gaugamela, Cannae, Constantinople, Waterloo, Stalingrad: the days the world changed course.

The Battle of Marathon, 490 BCThe Battle of Gaugamela, 331 BCThe Battle of Cannae, 216 BCThe Fall of Constantinople, 1453The Battle of Waterloo, 1815The Battle of Stalingrad, 1942-1943

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