The Thirty Years War was a war between the Protestant and Catholic states of the Holy Roman Empire. The Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth, being a majority Catholic country, threw it's support behind Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II. But Sigismund III wanted to go one step further. He wanted to outright participate in the war.
The PLC's intervention in the war would've taken the form of an invasion and, possibly, an occupation of Transylvania. At the time, Transylvania belonged to the Princes of the Protestant Houses of Bethlen and Rakcozy, who were allied to the Ottoman Empire, who supported the Protestants against the Hapsburgs.
The Sejm refused to support any intervention in the Thirty Years War. They refused to supply the PLC's military for the effort and they even refused to give subsidies to the then-ongoing war with Sweden. Sigismund III eventually realized that intervention in the Thirty Years War would only be extremely detrimental to the PLC's power and stability in the region.
But what if the Sejm was willing to back Sigismund III in invading Transylvania? How would this have impacted the Thirty Years War? How would this have impacted the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth?
The PLC's intervention in the war would've taken the form of an invasion and, possibly, an occupation of Transylvania. At the time, Transylvania belonged to the Princes of the Protestant Houses of Bethlen and Rakcozy, who were allied to the Ottoman Empire, who supported the Protestants against the Hapsburgs.
The Sejm refused to support any intervention in the Thirty Years War. They refused to supply the PLC's military for the effort and they even refused to give subsidies to the then-ongoing war with Sweden. Sigismund III eventually realized that intervention in the Thirty Years War would only be extremely detrimental to the PLC's power and stability in the region.
But what if the Sejm was willing to back Sigismund III in invading Transylvania? How would this have impacted the Thirty Years War? How would this have impacted the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth?