The Russian invasion of the Commonwealth in July 1654 was a great surprise for the Swedish government and Riksdag. A large army, compromising over forty thousand men, crossed the Russo-Polish border and laid siege to Smolensk. By August, the number of Russian soldiers in the Commonwealth had spiked to over seventy thousand. The Lithuanian part of the Commonwealth, headed by the Calvinist Hetman, Janusz Radziwiłł, tried to stage a resistance to the invading Russian forces. Non

Following the introduction of the new Norwegian orthography by Christian, the Copenhagen became very wary of a potential Norwegian uprising. In April 1653, King Frederik sent hundreds of Danish soldiers to Christiania in order to root out any opposition. Dozens of Norwegian intellectuals were detained for treason suspicions, and were sent back to Copenhagen for imprisonment. While Frederik did not execute any of them and most of them were released after a few months of impris

By the start of the year 1654, the situation in Poland had worsened to a point where a Russian invasion was deemed a concrete possibility by the Sejm. However, the King, limited by the Sejm, was unable to exercise much power, and no adequate preparations were made to counter the Russian threat. In Sweden, the Riksdag was also increasingly supportive of an invasion, aiming to force the Polish King to renounce his Swedish claims. Nonetheless, Gustav did not believe the Russians

Following the cossack uprising led by Khmelnytsky in 1648 against the Commonwealth, the turmoil in the eastern provinces of the Polish state dragged on. The government in Warsaw, now led by the new King, Jan II Kazimierz Waza, was unable to resume control over the entirety of the Commonwealth. Many nobles in Poland and Lithuania also did not fully commit to the King's cause, allying themselves with foreign powers for benefits. With the fragility of the Commonwealth, tension b

1915年1月初，德軍向法國展開新一輪攻勢，希望盡快取下巴黎，並將焦點轉向東線。但1月14日，法軍於巴黎郊外與德軍交戰，在傷亡數極高下勉強慘勝，德軍稍為後退。法國貝當將軍被委派負責巴黎防務，福煦將軍負責組織城外反攻，政府其餘要員則撤至盧昂以保安全。 1月末，德軍重新組織攻勢，試圖包圍巴黎，卻再次被法軍擊退。1月29日，德軍再次被擊退，巴黎市民戰意越發高漲，戰線看似陷入膠着。其實，東部俄軍已於羅茲城附近聚集，興登堡向柏林總司令部要求增援，但西線卻被視為更緊急之事務，難以抽調兵力至東部協防。 2月8日，柏林政府電報羅馬政府，要求其根據1882年三國聯盟條約提供協助。在未徵詢德皇下，總理直接向意大利承諾，戰勝後意大利將能吞併尼斯至薩伏伊等大片領土。意大利正等待此機會擴張領土，於2月11日宣稱法國不法侵佔薩伏伊家族合法領土，向法國宣戰。十數萬意軍越過國界，向尼斯方向推進。儘管意軍質素和戰鬥力均不及法軍，其參戰卻迫使法國調派人手應對，無法專注守衛巴黎。 摩納哥親王繼承人為法軍准將，離意法邊界不遠的摩納哥自然成為意軍首個目標。在法軍主力尚未到達情況下，意軍於