| • Science | • People | • Locations | • Timeline |
Although the plot is mostly fictitious, the book's characters include some real persons of the period. Sienkiewicz researched memoirs and chronicles in search of details of life in 17th-century Poland. The book was written with the purpose of upholding the patriotic spirit of the Polish nation during the partitions eraThe Partitions of Poland (more correctly the partitions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth) happened in the 18th century and ended the existence of a Polish sovereign state. They involved Prussia, Russia and Austria dividing up the Polish lands between. Thus it often favors epic plots and heroic scenes over historical accuracy. Also, Sienkiewicz had never been to UkraineUkraine Ukrayina in Ukrainian; in Russian) is a republic in eastern Europe which borders the Black Sea to the south, the Russian Federation to the east, Belarus to the north, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary to the west and Romania and Moldova to the west and and wrote large parts of his Trilogy in the USA. It is often pointed out that he modeled his Ukrainian steppeIn physical geography, steppe (from Russian , step is a plain without trees (apart from those near rivers and lakes); it is similar to a prairie, although a prairie is generally reckoned as being dominated by tall grasses, while short grasses are said to after the American prairieA prairie is an area of land of low topographic relief that principally supports grasses and herbs, with few trees, and is generally of a mesic (moderate or temperate) climate. Most of the Great Plains, most of the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Io, and the Cossacks after the American Indians.
The full text of the book (in Polish) is available here.