1587-1588 War with Austria

In the next election there was a conflict between the rebellious Zborowski family and the powerful Chancellor Jan Zamojski. The Zborowski's attempted to take matters into their own hands and urged Archduke Maximillian to take the crown. In September 1587, together with an army, Maximillian entered Poland but was repulsed at Krakow by Zamojski. The following year in January the Chancellor, with 3,700 cavalry and 2,300 infantry, crushed the Austrian forces, of 2,600 cavalry, 2,900 infantry and 8 cannon, at Byczyna (24 January 1588) capturing the Archduke. He was not released until Austria abandoned all claims to the Polish throne.

It also kinda sucked because if the government wanted to imply some new law and a magnate didn't like it, he could just say 'I don't care. I have my army. Come and tell me to obey'. Things were pretty much about interests of the magnates.

I really wonder how the Austrian Archduke felt when he lost against a polish nobleman.
Would be something else to loose against a country, but a against 1 nobleman...

Not in XIV-XV century, at this time patriotism and obedience were still strong enough that the vast majority of magnates served the country.

Well, we're talking about a conflict which took place in 1587-1588.

most backwards in Europe the system collapsed completely.

What about The Constitution of May 3? Atleast something good came out of it in the end.

But then then the Russians/Austrians/Prussians had to ruin all the fun!!!

Which from their point of view was a logical, if malevolent move they had everything to gain from weak Poland or no Poland at all, especially Prussians.

Gotta admire that circumspection.

But then then the Russians/Austrians/Prussians had to ruin all the fun!!!

if I were Tsar of Russia I would ally myself with the Polish people

(although there was a veriaty of Jews and such so not sure

History could have turned out for the better if the Archduke had been elected

Most idiotic statement ever, Archduke was a weak and inefective ruler.

You should not take my teaching you a lesson over the Ukraine personally

Austria was the most powerful Germanic state at the time,

if Poland allied itself with Austria at the time as an equal partner

would have one foot in West European politics

and it would dominate central and eastern politics.

Too much German blood in their veins

3,700 cavalry and 2,300 infantry, crushed the Austrian forces, of 2,600 cavalry, 2,900 infantry and 8 cannon

I really wonder how the Austrian Archduke felt when he lost against a polish nobleman.

In 1587 Maximilian stood as a candidate for the throne of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, following the death of the previous king, Stefan Batory. A portion of the Polish nobility elected Maximilian king

His cause had considerable support in Poland, but fewer Poles flocked to his army than to that of his rival

Rudolf II of Austria (July 18, 1552 – January 20, 1612), Holy Roman Emperor as Rudolf II (1576–1612), King of Hungary and Croatia, as Rudolf (1572–1608), King of Bohemia as Rudolf II (1575-1608/1611) and Archduke of Austria as Rudolf V (1576–1608). He was a member of the House of Habsburg.

From 1593 to 1595 Maximilian served as regent for his young cousin, Ferdinand, Archduke of Inner Austria

To sum it up Poland didnt dominate the eastern and central politics, it dominated the entire european politics, its immidiate neighbours were completely out of their league in every department and powers that potentially could compete like France or Spain were dependent on polish grain, salt, shipbuilding materials, cattle, meat etc.

If something was too far for Poland to beat the living crap out of it could still be ambargoed into submission so treating Austria as an equal is completely unrealistic, it was not Polands equal and had absolutely nothing to offer Poland on any level

but the fact remains that it had little impact in western Europe.

Poland was not very well known in western Europe.

By allying itself with Austria, it could potentially allow Austria to take the brunt of any potential mistakes,

Furthermore in terms of cultural impact, Poland absorbed a lot from the west but even with a few notable philosophers it wasn't able to export much in the cultural realm.

Poland at the time had a series of very dangerous enemies, real or potential, Sweden, Turks, Moscow, Crimean Tartars, Austrian enemies were Turkey and France so polish soldiers would be used thousands of kilometers away from where they're needed.

I think that the French at worst would Give the Austrians a thrashing, but i doubt if they would be bothered marching all the way to Poland,

for the wars with the Turks, there wouldn't be much change there, Poland constantly fought the Turks regardless

it would have been different if they had been allies.

The point is however that Austria would just march polish armies into whatever battlefield in Italy or Germany while Poland would get overrun by everyone in the absence of its soldiers.

But would the Polish nobility agree to such an arrangement?

Previous experience suggests that they would be very hesitant.

And later on when the 7 years war would come about, instead of Poland being simply used as a battlefield for foreign armies

Poland could finally take East Prussia for itself. I doubt if Prussia would be able to resist an alliance of Poland, Austria and Russia.