Armie Rzeczypospolitej Obojga Narodów a społeczeństwo szlacheckie w czasach saskich

ENThe silent Sejm resolution from 1717, has caused the cost of both Republic armies to amount to 8-8,3 min zl per year. It was an amount at least several times lower than the military budget of other European countries. In addition, after arranging matters related to the maintenance of soldiers as well as the onset of a long period of peace, additional permanent and emergency military spending for military purposes had become a matter conflict between the military and civilians. The Republic residents were not required to pay for the cost of maintaining the army directly, but almost 90% of the budget of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was intended for military spending. At the time the military wasn’t very visible throughout the Republic, as organizatiolnal rules and other resolutions have narrowed the army anywhere from 12 to 17 thousand soldiers during the period between the Great Northern War and the reign of August III. The count of both armies frequently fluctuated in the range of several hundred soldiers from year to year. After years of negative experiences, due to the Polish Succession War and Ukrainian uproars, some were led to believe that the Republic didn’t have enough soldiers. That led to many years of discussions over the state of the military and was never really resolved. Especially the noble society was bothered by doubt on whether to consider the military as an occupational group, or a “state” which due to the social structure, responsibility and achievement holds a special place in the society. Against the former was the legal offset of military influences towards everyday life and the collapse of military authority in the second half of the seventeenth century. In its favor was the ever changing social structure of both armies and the increased amount of nobles within its ranks. Due to the changing composition of soldiers it became a nearly noble profession. [...].