In 1621, the city of Chocim in today’s western Ukraine witnessed a mighty battle between the Polish-Lithuanian Empire and an invading Ottoman army. Chocim is rightly remembered by Poland as a victory, although the conflict ended in a political draw. But this stalemate was fought by only about 50,000 men against three times as many Turks and Mongols. After the death of the Polish commander-in-chief, Jan Karol Chodkiewicz, it was Stanisław Lubomirski (1583–1649), not yet forty years old, who turned the tide in favor of Warsaw.
