The influence of maps and plans created in the 1620s in the Netherlands on the development of military concepts in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

Abstract

The article analyses the impact of maps and plans for military operations in the Netherlands in the 1620s on the modernisation and reform of the art of war in the Republic of Poland. The analysis showed that the source of tactical, operational and strategic knowledge were cartographic sources that reached the lands of the Republic. They were most often brought by people who left the Crown and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania to the West for education and work and then returned to their homeland. It was established that a typical magnate returning from the journey brought between a dozen and a few dozen or so engravings and his own drawings of the sieges and fortification plans. A common form was to provide maps for correspondence. Cartographic sources were supposed to help evaluate the military actions taken and allow the recipients to “keep an eye on” European conflicts. Thanks to the journey of Prince Wladyslaw Vasa around Europe in the years 1624–1625, a pattern of taking “military science” was formed not only in universities but also in military camps in the Netherlands.