Free election, 1704
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In early 1700, King of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania and Elector of Saxony, Augustus II the Strong began the Great Northern War by attacking Swedish Livonia. Despite Russian support, Saxon army lost several battles, and soon afterwards, forces of the Swedish Empire controlled most of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In June 1703, Augustus II convened the Extraordinary Sejm in Lublin, where he faced widespread criticism. His opponent were led by Primate of Poland, Michał Radziejowski, and sons of late King Jan III Sobieski, Jakub and Konstanty.
Opponents of Augustus II formed the Warsaw Confederation, and on February 16, 1704 in Warsaw, they dethroned him. In April of the same year, young Voivode of Poznań, Stanisław Leszczyński, met with King Charles XII of Sweden in Lidzbark Warmiński. Swedish monarch, aware of Leszczynski’s influences in Greater Poland, declared that he should be new King of Poland - Lithuania. Leszczyński initially pledged that he would temporarily control the crown, to hand it over to James Louis Sobieski, but never kept his promise.
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