Why did The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Collapse?

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Why did Poland-Lithuania Collapse?
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♦Script & Research :
Skylar J. Gordon
Big Thank you to:
Николай Димитров, Tobias Tron, Mahmoud Shahin, Justin Bourke
♦Sources :
#History #Documentary

[@Knowledgia]

♦Try MyHeritage for 14 days and discover your past here: bit.ly/Knowledgia

[@nasershehu5209]

Viena, is not Vilnius. 😁

[@9and7]

Map is wrong

[@markgrear]

Zzz

[@Historian212]

Train your AI to pronounce names and other words correctly. Terrible.

[@boleczzz]

Every country would collapse if invaded by all its neighbours: Moscovia from east, Prussia from west, Austria-Hungary from south and Sweden from north

[@flowrsh]

lots of love to my polish brothers from lithuania

[@resiliencewithin]

how much ?

[@magellanicspaceclouds]

We could've had a powerful empire in Europe to this day if it wasn't for the partitions 🇵🇱❤️🇱🇹

[@trololololol1111]

Why? They're the shitehole of Europe.

[@ussrmapping9185]

#CCCPTRAITOR

[@MochiVR5]

❤ from Poland!🇵🇱🤝🇱🇹

[@woody_6666]

I think this country was responsible for keeping peace and balance between the east and the west of Europe. Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth - european peacekeeper of the past.

[@plrc4593]

Totally true. A stong state between Germany and Russia is needed to stabilized Europe. Alternatively a strong constelations of countries. The P-L Commonwealth stabilized Europe. Its demise led to two world wars.

[@woody_6666]

@@plrc4593 Plus 15 years of Napoleonic wars. Who controls Poland, either east or west, gains strategic advantage in Europe.

[@AdvancedGamer-]

@@woody_6666wrong

[@AdvancedGamer-]

@@plrc4593again what?

[@woody_6666]

@@AdvancedGamer- Why?

[@MalikF15]

To me the two biggest reasons what lead to the collapse 1) geography being surrounded by very powerful neighbors, and having no natural frontiers can really do damage. 2) the Librium Vito all it takes a single bribe to mess up an entire piece of legislation of much needed reform

[@ozyrysozi6186]

Liberum Veto was a huge danger in the system, but there were instances where veto wouldn't work that way, veto wasn't uniwersal to all political 'gatherings'. So majority often played some role and when you have such a huge group lile szlachta - there were people who had no land and were still in nobility or little wealth and worked for a magnate. So the nobility itselve was also a problem as sometime one magnat couldn't get what he needs, but if he has 20 other nobles under him and they are dependant on him - he can do much more. Also the other privilages given to szlachta created a lot of problems as it gave them much more than only Liberum Veto - king couldn't raise taxes without them, couldn't create bigger standing army without them, but nobility often had their own armies. They limited laws for 'middle class' living in the cities and of course could have huge chunks of land for themselves, paying little to the treasury. As for geography it for sure put PLC in difficult situations, Commonwealth fought wars pretty much with every neighbours, but most often with Ottomans, Russia and Sweden. So it plays big role there. But the system was not flawed only by Liberum Veto, of course that privilage played huge role though.

[@MalikF15]

@@ozyrysozi6186 that’s that’s a great point about the King not being able to exercise taxes sometimes you need a strong central authority to push through things through. It kind of feels like the commonwealth was a victim of its own lofty ideals

[@ozyrysozi6186]

@@MalikF15 It was as before Liberum Veto worked, it could be good as not often nobility even used their veto, they discussed some changes as veto just destroyed any law that was on the table, not only one when you veto. King at some point was just a figure, he had no power and also many kings at some point were weak rulers for PLC, like Wettins that cared more about Saxony (August II and Agusut III). When they were kings there was much more used vetos than before, also becouse they wanted absolute power rather than weak democracy.

[@plrc4593]

When the Commonwealth colapsed veto had been already dead for some 20 years. During king Poniatowski's reign veto became extinct, because they called so called Confederated Sejms where liberum veto was off.

[@WorshipinIdols]

The Librium Vito is the only reason the Commonwealth Failed.

[@p.s9407]

thank you for this video. Finally someone made a video on PLC and didn't just read some Wikipedia articles to source it. Thank you for calling It Poland-Lithuania and not just Poland for short. It's always sad that most people just forget the Lithuanian side of the history and of the commonwealth. The video made good observations of the structure of the state.

[@Konskrypt101]

Poland-Lithuania is represented in Empire: Total War and is a playable Faction in the Grand Campaign. 😉

[@raceris7309]

The more accurate name would be The Republic of both nations or Polish alternative - "Rzeczpospolita" (The Republic of nobility)

[@p.s9407]

@@raceris7309 ATR

[@youthoughtaboutit6946]

@@raceris7309which given the fact that it had a monarch, even a weak elected one, makes no sense.

[@damiang6644]

This state had been called Poland since at least the second half of the 17th century. In the Constitution of 3 May it is written about the Polish Commonwealth.

[@gorilladisco9108]

1:00 Lithuania used to be THAT big!?! Wow 😳

[@metanoian965]

Wow, indeed. One day some Vid creator historian will come up with an explanation that is close to common sense. Geopolitics of that land mass at that time, the multitude of Rus tribes, and weather over decades. - See Wikipedia @ Polish - Lithuanian Cavalry gone rogue = Lisowczyks

[@rokar9977]

They were bigger

[@Velnias8]

Lithuania was always pretty much as it is now, lands to the east were conquered slav colonies under Lithuanian rule

[@SteffenTimo-di4id]

I strongly recommend Schwerpunkt's videos on Polish-Lithuanian warfare on the subject

[@Magnus-m]

Thanks! I'll check it out!

[@tonyantonio8956]

Salute to polish-lithuanian Commonwealth, the protector of christendom.

[@AS91ist]

I would add that Cossacks wanted to ally with Russia to elevate their position. Very quickly they realised in how deep shit they got, but it was too late. All their freedoms were eliminated and they were treated as serves of Tsar. That's why current war in Ukraine is so iconic - after 400 years they do exaclty opposite and try to be together with Poland as they experienced themselves (Poles too) what it means to "not-have" PLC.

[@jvnardin8510]

Frist from Brazil, Good Bless The brave Poles and Lithuanians protected the West from the Mongols and resisted Marxism, brave warriors🇧🇷🇵🇱🇱🇹❤

[@tbando2253]

We don’t like u

[@RenanMendes-zd8hj]

KKKKKKKKKK vocês são burros para um caramba em mano

[@achourfreepalestine]

The mamluks also stopped the mongols Just saying not trying to start a war 😅

[@jvnardin8510]

@@achourfreepalestine Don't worry, I'm not a stupid history activist, thank you for reminding me of that, sometimes Asia is so overshadowed.

[@Ciech_mate]

Awesome comment, thank you ❤

[@whatscout78]

Poland is such a beautiful and historically rich country to visit. cannot recommend enough.

[@Kamil-kv6lv]

In the beginning of XVII century Commonwealth was at its peak and on a way to rule east, tried to set rules in Sweden and Russia. Battle of Khotyn was the start of collapse. Even as a great succes at that time it was too expensive and affected next events. Commonwealths decline in power combined with modernizations of Gustav changed the fate of east Europe, they became the strongest player on east. Cossack uprise with support from Russia, and swedish raids was a fatal blow to Commonwealth. Wars 1648-1667 on commonwealths lands much reduced its economy and population.

[@ozyrysozi6186]

And economy played a bit role after as many nobles were no without money or land - they worked for much wealthier families or sold their land to them and worked for them. This made a lot of nobility dependand on small minority of magnats - and when you can confederate sejm and get majority, you can accept things like partitions.

[@bifa5414]

At it's peak The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was 1.000.000 square meters and it was the biggest country in Europe (much more than the biggest country in Europe right now. It included today's Poland, Lithuania, Latwia, Belarus, over 80% of Ukraine, half of Estonia and a little bit of Russia. Poland and Lithuania were united in one form or another basically from 1386 till very recently. There was even a period when they had access to 3 different seas). First they were in union from 1386 (Union of Krewo) when Jadwiga (female king of Poland) married Jogaila (grand duke of Lithuania), after them the coutries always had one ruler. Then from 1569 (Union of Lublin) they truly became one country known as Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Then in 1795, as a result of the partitions, they disappeared from the maps for over 100 years. Officially they separeted in 1918 when after WW1 they came back as saparate countries. Then WW2 happened and they disappeared again, came back under Russian influence, they regained their full freedom from Russia only little over 30 years ago.

[@wisemankugelmemicus1701]

The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth collapsed because of the Swedish Deluge and the resulting land grabs and partitions thereof Look it up, 4 million people died....in the 1660s.

[@hentehoo27]

King: we have to save the Commonwealth by any means! Nobility: *bobr kurwa!*

[@ozyrysozi6186]

Deluge is for sure an event that played huge role in collapse of Commonwealth, but there were many other things that only made situation worse. PLC fought many wars with it's neighbours - Ottomans, Russia, then there are events like Cossacks uprising (pretty much civil war). Kings who were elected were weak rullers and of course whole system of privilages and Liberum Veto made it impossible to create any change and even if by some miracle you could - szlachta could pick up arms against the king and fight him (they could call confederacy like one in Targowica before second partition). So the problem was much more complicated, but for sure Swedish Deluge was one of great events, it ravaged the country, killed many and also many from the nobility much more poor or even without a land (and it is important factor, also if I remember correctly Sweden even though about partitioning PLC, but this was abandoned of course). Also what must be said - first two partitions were seen as legal before the law. Nobility and the king accepted the 'transfer of land'. Also first and second partition weren't immidietely after each other, trying to reform the PLC gave Prussia and Russia occasion to take even more as they used nobility to give themselves some legitimacy - Konfederacja Targowicka called Russia as it's protector and got them involved. So it was much more complicated than one event, PLC didn't collapse only becouse of the Deluge.

[@wisemankugelmemicus1701]

@@ozyrysozi6186 Not entirely, but need I remind you for how much happened in the Deluge, it was rather short. There was 3 (if I remember) seperate wars involving the Zaprozhian Host, a war with the Crimean Horde who were sponsored by the Ottomans, the Transylvanians and Prussians, and the Swedish and Russian invasions.

[@ozyrysozi6186]

@@wisemankugelmemicus1701 If I remeber correctly there was no united Prussia yet and Brandenburg (they switched sides at some point) with Denmark were PLC allies at some point, also Austria was more neutral, yet still didn't want Sweden to win and gave asylum for the king. Russia fought with PLC, but also saw Sweden as danger, so they 'helped', wanting to keep their influence over PLC. Of course that doesn't mean Russia helped PLC in the war. Also Crimean Khanat fought as our ally in the Deluge, funny enough. As I say - Deluge was very big event that nearly destroyed PLC, but it wasn't the only thing that created opportunity for full collapse of Commonwealth.

[@toja8824]

Similarly, Poland was separated from the oceans by the Danish straits, so Poland did not participate in the geographical discoveries of Europe, which is why it was poorer compared to other European powers. Russia also grew richer than Poland thanks to colonialism deep in Asia.

[@Redfoot138]

So relevant plug for the plug... Through MyHeritage, I found the immigration record of my great-grandfather from Lithuania to New York. He would later marry in America my great-grandmother-- who had immigrated from Poland. (23andMe showed me as being 21.1% Lithuanian and Polish)

[@AS91ist]

PLC in one person xD

[@courland-mapping]

Why is Vienna called Vilnius in 0:24 lmao

[@ukaszb9223]

because the videos was made by idiots who just don't care

[@aryankhan3619]

It is a latin word Vienna is german word

[@mati.60005]

@aryankhan3619 Wrong! Vilnius is a capital of Lithuania, Vienna is a capital of Austria, different places

[@KitteridgeStudios]

"Wien" is the German name.

[@Velociraptorius]

First thing I noticed on the map 😁

[@magellanicspaceclouds]

I'm pleasantly surprised by your pronunciations. They weren't as bad as in some other videos. Good effort!

[@TN51234]

07:35 THE WORST DEAL IN WORLD HISTORY

[@Magnus-m]

Visigoths might disagree with you 😂

[@user-bh5vi3vh7d]

Chmielnicki could talk with nobility/king in PLC he did not have that option with Tsar and Catherine the Great later ended Zaporozhian Cossacks.

[@Drag_mos]

agreed.

[@TN51234]

@@user-bh5vi3vh7dProblem is that Chmielnicki had personal problem with Polish nobility while cossacks fought for other reasons, cossacks were craving for war with ottomans while Polish nobility were convicing king to not go into war, cossacks were living out of war so they were pissed they wont get registered for a war so they rebelled.

[@user-bh5vi3vh7d]

My English is bad, my comment was to strenghten your opinion, because you had freedoms in commonwealth, forget that under the Tsar. Im aware of Chmielnicki personal issues and i also know that cossacks often times were making troubles for commonwealth with raids and breaking the peace that was made with Ottomans etc. But i also think that its more complicated that cossacks wanted war, they wanted recognition in PLC (registrer as you said) but i read it as a fight for power, nobility didin't want more ppl to participate in ruling. But yeah, when you have no options you would take even the worst one. You had rebbels inside Chmielnicki camp that didin't want to go under tsar and 1658 agreement of hadziacz PLC that recognizes the rights of cossacs and makes them 3rd leg of a state but it was all to late.@@TN51234

[@Bemen50]

The colour of Austria makes it look like a lake

[@leartiberius1098]

A question that has caused me more stress than I want to admit.

[@nicbahtin4774]

This is what happened when fail to pick up absolutism

[@jarosawszczuraszyk7602]

You made a big mistake. During reing of Jadwiga and Jagiełło, teutonic order was not in Polish borders. In XVI there was also semi autonomi duchy of prussia!

[@embreis2257]

3:27 or 4:28 quite misleading maps are used to show the borders of the PLC for the 14th and 16th century

[@jarosawszczuraszyk7602]

@@embreis2257 why misleading, when you could get them just right? It is not that hard... And wars between Teutonic order vs Poland and Lithuania was biggest in central europe! By just misleading map you change geopolitic of that region, which change your view on diffrent things!

[@Wokerr]

Dlaczego to było lenno Polski!

[@Wokerr]

Dlaczego to było lenno Polski zależne od Polski. Bardzo dobrze to ujął.

[@PlaceholderFutureChanges]

Finally the legends at Knowledgia tell the story of the fall of the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth, my favorite nation.

[@19MAD95]

The effects of the Cossack rebellion is still felt today.

[@gorkisimo]

Ukraine is still paying the toll for the actions of their's ancestors from 1560's 😶

[@Schwizinberg]

I smile every time when foreign channel touches polish history

[@resiliencewithin]

you describe the ad with more passion than your own content.

[@flawyerlawyertv7454]

Thanks. 🙌

[@chaosschnitzl7422]

Why is there two times Vilnus on the map, one time instead Vienna

[@drixcel2741]

yeah and it's spelled Vilnius not Vilnus. The person making the map should be more attentive, these aren't some insignificant details if it's a map you're making

[@mohammedsaysrashid3587]

It was an informative and wonderful historical coverage video about foundation, struggling for survival, and collapse of Lithuanian 🇱🇹 Polish 🇵🇱 commonwealth. Video clearly explained Polish Lithuanian elites' political talented weren't equivalent to neighbors assaults..

[@pannick6844]

Main factory was Poland's geographical location was a plain surrounded on all sides by enemies without any geographical barriers, so Poland was often forced to fight on few fronts

[@pannick6844]

There was also a factor that Poland was the only democracy in the region at that time and was surrounded by absolutist militaristic monarchies that were afraid of similar freedom movements as in Poland. Similar monarchies in Europe were only overthrown by the rise and independence of the USA and the French Revolution that's why many generals from Poland supported Napoleon and fought for US independence . Poland was also a Catholic country surrounded by Protestant countries and Orthodoxy in the east

[@serenitysessionz]

I was hoping for a more complete video. So much is missing here..

[@Ciech_mate]

I am grateful for a Poland Lithuania video I don't think it is very accurate. I am an SME

[@professor5594]

Awesome

[@stiklas6712]

Ačiū už istorijos priminimą ir platinimą ! Tikrų Lietuvių liko labai mažai. Dalis Žemaičių su Latviais o kitoj pusėj dalis Jotvingių palikuonių nuo Gardino ir Naugarduko surusėję Litwinai dabar tapo Baltarusais dėl Dnepro Rusios Minsko įtakos. Toks jau likimas LITHUANIA PROPRIA AUKŠTUPYS. NEMUNO AUKŠTAITIJA.

[@luki9XK2]

This video should be called "400 years speed run". Im disapointed

[@9and7]

Not a good video

[@baserv3849]

Just wanted to note that Warsaw was the capital of the PLC since 1596 so you placing new kings in Cracow is a bit inaccurate after that time

[@ozyrysozi6186]

If I remember correctly it was much more complicated. Warsaw was a kapitał and Sejm was gathered there, but there were many other important cities in PLC. Kraków was place where they coronated new king. But many kings choose different places as their 'capitals' as they could spent more time in different cities. But legally yes, Warsaw was PLC capital city.

[@toadsterer747]

Cracow was formally the capital until late 1700s

[@Deailon]

The maps for the later XVIIth Century are bizarrely wrong. King Władysław IV died in 1648 at the very start of the Chmielnicki Uprising, which made the Cossacks go from militant protest to open revolt. The relations between the late king and Cossacks were good and there was a chance for negotiations, but when there was no king much of the state was in turmoil and new possibilities emerged. During most of the Polish-Muscovite War and the Deluge (plus the Rakoczy attack), there was a new king: John II Casimir. He was not popular in military circles, but in the end, he won those wars. For a time Poland-Lithuania was almost completely lost, but there was no long-term occupation of the eastern part of the country (at least not up to Lviv and Vilnius!), as falsely shown on the maps. This is the farthest extent of Russian attacks combined, not an occupation zone, and most of the fights took place in what is modern Western Russia, Eastern Belarus and Eastern Ukraine. During the times of John II Casimir, there was a short-lived Commonwealth of the Three Nations (including the Ruthenian-Cossack state as a third part of the federation), which failed to properly form in the wartime conditions but won a major victory against Russians at Konotop in 1559 as such. You will find that Konotop is near Sumy in modern north-eastern Ukraine and was under Russian siege in 2022 - by 1559 the frontlines were already there.

[@gabbytay]

is vilnus in austria an error in the video?

[@saladmcjones7798]

I’m not alone in naming my Civ 6 custom religion “Jadwiga’s Milkers,” right?

[@XD-dq2iw]

1st of all pronunciation of LTU names was amazing, 2nd is it me or in Austria there is 2nd Vilnius ?

[@rajaallahudin]

Make videos on history of sindh plz ❤

[@pauladie4343]

There's not a second Vilnius near Bratislava - that's Vienna.

[@andrei1637]

Liberum Veto is a problem even today for the EU.

[@jarosawwieczorek3684]

Why did Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth collapes? Answer is simple - nobility democracy, i.e. de facto oligarchy; which was the cause of the unlimited power of the nobility and magnates with liberum veto and, unfortunately, the weak and symbolic power of the monarchy, which, in addition, was elected electively. To understand this better, it is enough to compare the times of splendor of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth during the Jagiellonian dynasty in the 15th and 16th centuries. and the period of its decline in the 17th and 18th centuries. when the nobility sejms chose elective kings. Unfortunately, this model of democracy also applies today. Thus if you want have strong state you should have stable power and strong leaders.

[@raducanueduard1337]

Hey man are you romanian? There were mostly romanian names in that myheritage promo

[@joerve]

why are there 2 Vilnus in the map at 10:03?

[@raymondg7565]

Vienna, Vilnus, I guess one city beginning with "V" is the same as another.

[@sirusjohnsepar4248]

Wonderful 😂❤thanks very informative Can dried BASIL IS AS good as fresh ???? I been using dried basail for years but lately learn that dried basail no goog at all please if possible in next video corct me. Good luck. Sirus London

[@gregorypilau3530]

Wow Lithuania 🇱🇹 was larger than Poland back than comprising current parts of Ukrainian, Belarus, Estonia, Latvia and Western Russia.

[@oloszolosz1818]

True but Lithuanians were a minority in their own country. The majority were Ruthenians (ancestors of today Belarussians and Ukrainians) which were liberated by Lithuania from Mongolian rule in 1200s and 1300s - before that Lithuanian borders were similiar to its contemporary borders.

[@gregorypilau3530]

@@oloszolosz1818 Oh okay. That's interesting.

[@erwinner8929]

5:59 after the union in Lublin, Poland controlled Ukraine, not Lithuania.

[@captainreza1]

Dates should be added to the video to help with tracking of the transitions and events. The current state doesn't reflect the span ...

[@canadaey4833]

nice video please keep going

[@tomislavpetrov1179]

Louis (Lajos, Ludwik, Ludovik) I the Great was Roman Catholic King of Hungary, Croatia, and Poland (17 November 1370 - 10 September 1382).

[@publicminx]

Ludwig (German)

[@tomislavpetrov1179]

@@publicminx Nope, his was Hungarian named Lajos, Ludwik is Polish for Lajos just as Ludovik is Croatian for Lajos, just like Louis is English and French for Lajos.

[@publicminx]

@@tomislavpetrov1179 and still: its 'Ludwig' in German

[@damiang6644]

"The doctrine of the balance of power supplied the pretext, for it had been happily discovered that that doctrine, originally invented to assure the existence of the weak states against the strong to combinations of the strong states to destroy the weak, providing the robbers divided the booty evenly among themselves. But while the dismemberments of Poland fitted in with the whole spirit and tendencies of the politics of that age, there was also something new in them. The First Partition was novel in that this was the first occasion when foreign Powers had dismembered a state without having first gone to war with it or without bloodshed among themselves. If this was taking a long step forward towards making the ' droit de convenance ' the sole law in international relations, the Second Partition went even further. In 1793 the partitioning Powers did not even trouble themselves, as they had done in 1772, to invoke some kind of historic titles, drawn from the archives, as at least a formal satisfaction to the public law of Europe. The only excuses which they proffered for their usurpations were: the necessity they were under of exercising a sort of sanitary police over their corner of the Continent to prevent the contagious spread of dangerous ideas - a plea the like of which Europe had not heard, at least since the time of the Wars of Religion ; and then their right to ' indemnify ' themselves for their beneficent exertions. If the brazen falseness and cynicism of this were fitted to shock even eighteenth century Europe, the violation by both the partitioning Powers of very recent promises and obligations to the Poles was also more open and shameless than at the time of the First Partition". Hence with right the Second Partition of Poland has always been held up as the supreme manifestation of the tendencies of the ' cabinet policy ' of the eighteenth century; the classic example of the moral degeneracy and rottenness of the old monarchical Europe. One cannot better sum up the moral aspects and not the least of the political consequences of the Partition than in the words of an old writer who declared: " It was the kings themselves who, on the eve of the insurrec- tion of peoples, taught them that no right existed for them except that of the strongest, and that when they invoked liberty, it was an ignoble sacrilege; they taught them that they were not to be believed even when they spoke of the public tranquillity the respect due to the hereditary power of princes; for these same monarchs who constituted themselves the defenders of monarchy in France, dismembered Poland while appealing to the mostv"' anarchical liberty! In short, there was only one law for them, only one principle, that of interest and the glory of their dynasties. The peoples have profited by the lesson." Lord Howard, American historian.

[@gregchavez1534]

I think there's some confusion about Louis I, King of Hungary-Poland, and Louis of Anjou, the son of French King John II and younger brother (so close!) to his father's successor Charles V. The confusion is understandable because both Louises I (Louis the Firsts? Not sure how the plural works here) were Capetian royals of the House Anjou. Nevertheless the king of Hungary-Poland who died in 1382 was not called Louis of Anjou; that honor, if it is one, went to the French Duke who died in 1384 during a failed bid to claim the throne of Naples. Now, it is important to note that *I am not an expert* .... _AT ALL_ However, when I googled "Louis of Anjou", there were no links on the horizon for the King, just the Duke and his French descendants. Took me a while to unravel everything. Medieval Europe was one sloppy joseph, boy howdy. FYI and thanks for putting this together.

[@jacekpliszka5326]

Check pronounciation of Khmelnytsky. Also one there are quite a few worrying parallels between the fall of Commonwealth and current Ukraine and the UE: 1. utilization of Liberum Veto to block the Commonwealth seems not unlike Russia-friendly Orban's actions to block EU policies - with bribery, political corruption and propaganda 2. Yanukovych Russian puppet seems similar to Sas kings and then, when one is removed and replaced by pro-western one - Russian invasion and annexation in phases - 2014 like 1st partition of Poland, 2022 like attempt at 2nd/3rd one

[@jacekpliszka5326]

To add to 2 - Sas got actually 10% votes in 1697 election - with bribed members of the parliament, practive that Russia still uses today

[@patrykjar3449]

You have 2 Vilnuses on the map. There should be Vienna in Austria

[@kurczeblade140]

Poland's problem in the war with the Cossacks was that the Cossacks were previously an important element of the army in Poland and served as infantry and they have good tactic fight in camp with firearms while Poland had world-class cavalry. When the Cossacks rebelled, they entered into an alliance with the Tatars and received support from the Tatars' cavalry and joined forces to fight with the Tartar cavalry. This tactic was a big surprise for the Polish leaders, which led to a series of defeats which finally ended with the victory at Berestechko where army of Cossacks were defeated unfortunately other powers noticed that Poland was bleeding heavily in this war and soon the war with Sweden etc. began.

[@jakubgrabec3008]

At the start of the video you put vilnus in the place of vienna

[@GediminasVaisvila]

Litus, Litava, Litau, Leiten emerged as a corporation for the land travels in 12-13 cen. in order to trade furs from the North. Most likely initiated by the Venice the same as Gold Horde took over silk trade in China.

[@1MuchButteR1]

Stop overexaggerating Lithuania was still a huge chunk of the commonwealth after 1569. Lithuania , Belarus , and Smolensk. 300,000 km².

[@marny3559]

Whatever you say, discount Latvian.

[@nathanbot5373]

They don’t want to accept the domination of BIG BALTIC BULLS like us. All I hear is copium

[@divine_wind296]

Seethe 😂

[@UnholyWrath3277]

Lithuanians was a significant minority in their own country lol

[@maxthetube8466]

Poland still dominated it since it had a massive population advantage

[@MarcusBrutusPL]

@3:28 The regaining of Pomerania and other lands taken by Teutonic Order took much longer time and was accomplished 80 years after the marriage. The map should not have changed with Jadwiga and Władysław still in central position. @4:12 Lublin was and still is located between Warsaw and Lwów (as the town was called than) / Lviv (as it is called now). Again: map is imprecise. @5:43 Century after the formation would be 1669 - so past the Cossack Wars, the Deluge ( both Muscovite and Swedish invasions). In reality the Commonwealth was already severely weakened and lost much territory. @6:00 What is this line??? Certainly it is not the line of division between Korona Królestwa Polskiego - Crown of Polish Kingdom (proper name of what Westerners call Kingdom of Poland) and Grand Duchy of Lithuania, even at the time of signing the Union of Lublin. Before the union, Sigismund Augustus Grand Duke of Lithuania, passed certain lands to Sigismund Augustus King of Poland (the same person in reality, but two legal persons): Podlasie / Podlachie, Wołyń/ Volhynia, Ziemię Kijowską, Kiev and Ziemię Bracławską / Braclav. The division line was in reality completely different! @6:24 Zaporizhzhia lies, as the name suggests "behind the porohs". Literally it means "land behind the Dnieper rapids". It started well over 200 km to the south of Kiev and stretched along the border with Ottoman Empire and Crimean Khanate (so called Dzikie Pola - Wild Fields). WHY is your map showing Kiev as part of it?!? @8:03 Khmelnitsky had no choice but to sign the Treaty of Pereyeslav as after years of secret negotiations with Muscovite Tsar while allied with Tatars, the secret came out in late 1653. Tatars who were mortal enemies of Muscovy, were outraged and broke the alliance with Cossacks. On their own Cossacks stood no chance against Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Another fact is that roughly half of Cossack starzhina (regiment leaders) refused to sign the Treaty of Pereyeslav, and the head of Kievan Orthodox church, Metropolitan Sylvester Kosiv protested against it not once, but twice before his sudden death in 1657. @8:40 WHY is the map not changing to state not only after mentioned Treaty of Oliva 1660 but also Truce of Andrusovo 1667??? Polish Lithuanian lost territory (most notalby Prussia became independant and left bank Ukraine was ceded to Muscovy which also kept Kiev against the term of the Truce) but Polock, Vitebsk, Msciclav or Braclaw (not to mention Vilnus, Minsk or Lviv) were still in Polish hands. I'll be blunt: this is RIDICULOUS travesty of actual history! BTW, the destruction of Polish ability to produce crops was just the one of problems. After Cossack, Tatar, Muscovite, Swedish, and Hungarian (Transsylvanian) military marches and occupation some regions of Poland lost 80% of population, Grand Duchy of Lithuania was in no better shape. Some estimates claim that Commonwealth lost 40% of population during those times (to war, famine that followed and migration), and over 50% of material wealth. The people who survived had to depend on support of the richest class - the magnates, and they did as they pleased, because the usual bulwark against their despotism - the middle class nobility was either dead or too poor and weak to oppose them. On the subject of religious tollerance: both Swedes and Muscivite Russians claimed to "come to protect" the Protestants and Orthodox Christians, respectively. A lot of non-catholic population actually colaborated with the occupants, althogh a lot did not. But the negative always is more memorable and so after the wars Catholics reacted to the negative picture. Regretable, but actually a common occurance in history. @10:04 So the map changes only for a new King ... Years after possession did in reality ... Plus WHY IS VIENNA NAMED "VILNUS"?!!!!? Fire whomever made maps for this video! Sobieski alliance with Austria was, in the end, his greatest mistake, from purely strategical point of view. Seeking alliance againt Ottomans preparing another invasion was prudent, coming to the aid of Vienna 1683 was correct decision, but maintaining the alliance was a mistake, especially since right after the Battle of Vienna Austrians stopped providing food for Sobieski's troops, and refused to allow the burial of Polish fallen in their cemeteries. Those were sufficeint reasons to break camp and return home, but Sobieski did continue the campaign (against initial Austrian voices, mind) in order to destroy Ottoman troops that did not present a threat to Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, but kept in check Austrian troops, protecting ottoman held fortress of Buda and city of Pest. He wanted to place his son on the Hungarian throne. Sobieski suffered heavy casualties from malnutrition and disease, but the rewards in form of occupying large parts of modern Hungary and Serbia were reaped by the Austrians few years later. Polish-Lithuanian military has not fully recovered from this war, even after reforms made almost a century later (from 1776 to the time or preparation and Signing the Constitution of 3rd May 1791).

[@laurynasl8286]

The problem was the geographical location, that's all. Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was pretty strong but it literally had enemies from all of the sides.

[@DonCappuccino1]

They were surrounded by great powers since the beginning and yet they managed to remain strong for 600+ years. So that's a shitty argument you got here. It's all about who rules the country and how effectively, geographical location is just a stupid excuse.

[@DonCappuccino1]

@@Whydot002 On the other hand, I do know how your brain works. It's simple and primitive just like your argument about rivers.

[@tymont6065]

Just realized that in the video Vienna is labeled as Vilnius lmao

[@adamsmith275]

...Prussia ... shows up at the end... BUT... what happened before?... From the beginning of the video through to at least half of it... there is an area around GDANSK... that is NOT part of POLAND... Who controlled that area?... Good video... We need more!...

[@IhaveBigFeet]

Before that area was also controlled by Prussia, but at that point Prussia was a Polish fief (vassal) so it was de facto controlled by Poland. When Prussia appears on the map is when Prussia became a vassal of Brandenburg (Berlin) and was no longer controlled by Poland.

[@onlyurbear]

the teutonic order

[@Macion-sm2ui]

This is a question that polish people debate for centuries

[@kev492001]

Good video, but Krakow was not the capital of the Commonwealth during many of the times you said, it was Warsaw.

[@ozyrysozi6186]

If I remember correctly Karków was still place of corronation and place of burrial for kings. Warsaw was legally PLC capital, but it was mostly becouse the Sejm was gathering there. A lot of rulers barely spend their time in Warsaw - picking their own place to rule from. So talking about capital can be tricky - legally true, but you can argue how it looked in reality.

[@halporter9]

Hard to believe that Poland began finally breaking up in 1775, though longer process, of course, with very deep social causes.

[@Anonymous-bc4dl]

Vienna becoming vilnus on the map makes me feel bad for austrian's once

[@jonathancurran5366]

How much of its rise was due to the Black Death not being that lethal there?

[@mohhie]

rise and fall as the black death was a major impulse to end serfdom in the western europe

[@Conorp77]

It was murdered.

[@elvispaaskynen5565]

This micht be completely dumm question, but for example in 3.30 if you look at the names of the citys in Europe, you can notice that in the west of Bratislava where I think should be Vienna, there reads "Vilnus". But then there also is a Vilnus in it's right place in Lithuania. Didn't know there was two Vilnuses back in the day lol.

[@eduardsarafimescu5984]

Please anderstand that: Romania is part of Ottoman Empire by 1711, not before

[@nathanbot5373]

Why is Vienna labeled as Vilnius lol

[@Filon2137Potocki]

Its our fault entirely this country had multiple chances to dodge it's tragic fate but everytime the greedy and selfish nobility rebelled against the kings that tried to change at least minor things in the system like electing the next king before the death of the previous one for him to inspect the election process and recommend a good candidate. If there would be a large united native entity in the area maybe this land could avoid the fate it met in the world wars

[@woody_6666]

As long as Poland-Lithuania existed there were no wars between the east and the west. After the partitions we saw Napoleonic wars, the Great War and II WW. Europe need a strong country in this part of Europe again.

[@ozyrysozi6186]

This comment is very troubling as at some point - French Revolution had to happen and it lead to 'Napoleonic Wars' - French Revolutions started as the PLC got closer to second partition. Great War (or WWI) was caused by many events like Franco-Prussian War, annexation of Bosnia into Austro-Hungary, wars and unification of Italy and also unification of Germany that nearly wrecked Balance of Europe (and it shook the balance really hard). WWI happened not becouse of partitions, but becouse of history and events before and it had to happen sooner or later. And WWII was caused becouse of WWI and the harsh treaties, revolutions, wars and conflicts that had to lead to WWII (yes, then Poland gaining independence played bigger part). Also - it is simplistic to talk about one country as some kind of 'stabiliser' of Europe. There were many bloody and important wars as PLC existed (sure it wasn't East vs West, but what does it mean excatly? WWI or WWII also weren't east vs west, Napoleonic in some way maybe, but still not east vs west). Wars, conflicts, many events are way more complicated than just existance of one 'strong country'.

[@maximkretsch7134]

There is more tjan just one issue with city names on those maps.

[@arturceberek555]

Poland's geography favors power or weakness. There is no place for a weak state in our place on earth. Let all the nations of good old Sarmatia understand this.

[@jacksonblaze423]

Come on. Everybody in the world is either Gordon or MacGregor.

[@moiboystv]

why are there 2 Vilnuses i think you meant Viena

[@holdfast453]

02:21 Even at its peak, the Polish - German border was still way east of where it moved after WW2

[@tylkoodraoksazpozyciakres]

So many mistakes here, I don t even have enough strenght to list them all, almost all maps and rulers portrayed on them were not correct, many other bigger mistakes. BUT as I said it s too much to point them all

[@aisforapple2494]

I've been trying to bring this up to my Lithuanian stepfather because he's extremely concerned about the Russia / Ukraine conflict - but he won't answer me if Lithuania was the "aggressor" or "tyrants" when they owned the majority of Ukraine.

[@GoDLiKeKakashi]

I can answer it for your. Neither. Lithuania's rule over Ukraine and Belarus was light and extremely tolerant. Slavic subjects can keep their faith and their way of life and the state even built hundreds of churches while the ruling elite were Pagans. Lithuanian nobility generally preferred to marry into local noble families to establish dynastic ties and ensure loyalty to Lithuania through diplomatic means. War was generally not the first response. King Gediminas built many Orthodox churches and was in frequent contact with the Patriarch of Constantinople about how his Orthodox subjects live and that the Patriarch of Rus should be in Kiev. The leaders of Lithuania had a practical approach to this and understood that you catch more flies with honey than shit. When Poland took over Ukraine, that's when you began to see Catholic encroachment and abuses of Orthodox people.

[@ianstradins]

You said short lived? Didnt span from. 2nd quarter/mid 1500s to 3 quarter 1700s? Ruffly 250 years. Thst doesnt seem short lived to me.

[@Giorgos-ee5kn]

They were surrounded by emerging great powers

[@gerwaltspodnovigradu5508]

While being able to fight toe to toe with them, biggest thing weakening it was pretty trash goverment idea

[@DonCappuccino1]

They were surrounded by great powers since the beginning and yet they managed to remain strong for 600+ years. So your argument about being surrounded is bullshit

[@ozyrysozi6186]

I would agree with others here - PLC fought with Ottomans, Russians, Swedes and often they could win, of course not every time. The problem was more about goverment as king couldn't raise taxes and created bigger standing army without nobility agreeing to it and they wouldn't agree. Nobility also had their private armies. So it was much bigger than warfare and neighbours, it was about no reforms while other countries developed and system created a way to partition PLC pretty much without a war. Also PLC army at some point was one of the best in Europe, especially cavalry, so it is much more complicated.

[@patrickjeffers7864]

The polish nobles didn't help themselves with anarchic veto power..also, their neighbors just got stronger, more centralized

[@lokysaiw425]

kodel apie siuos europai svarbius ivikius tyli HISTORI CHANEL, DISKAVERYM, ir taip toliau

[@roberturbanczyk204]

The colaps of Poland begins in 1620 after Sweden was able to tax Gdańsk and took Riga. It was long term proces with ups and downs

[@lerneanlion]

In the world where the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Ottoman Empire still existed, will the political climates of Eastern Europe and the Middle East be much better? I believed that to be the case.

[@TeutonicEmperor1198]

Would you like to be a Christian under Ottoman rule? Being a member of the class which payed the largest amount of taxes while being a second class citizen? And if you do something against the Ottomans they would enslave you ,your woman and children and sent all over the Islamic world? Being an average Christian under Ottoman rule was like living in hell

[@ussrmapping9185]

Is It just me, or is Vienna also labeled Vilnus

[@Silverwind87]

Because they didn't like each other, next question.

[@natheriver8910]

👏👏

[@Macion-sm2ui]

Quite good video, but have some smaller and bigger mistakes, as well as some important facts are missed. 1. 0:24 - there is some minor mistake - it wasn't the polish nobility which chose Jadwiga. During lifetime of Louis of Anjou polish and hungarian nobiles agreed that Mary will become king of Poland and Jadwiga - king of Hungary, That's why she married duke of Austria, and that's why Mary married elector of Brandenburg. After death of Louis his widow Elisabeth of Bosnia tried to change his will and place one of her daughter on both thrones - to achieve that she managed to get Mary crowned as king of Hungary. At the moment union with Hungary wasn't diserable for polish nobility, so after the negotiations Jadwiga was chosen for kingdom of Poland. 2. 4:50 - Such comparitions doesn't tell much about situation within commonwealth. Both Poland and Lithuania were more like administrative divisions within the commonwealth. Lithuanian and Ruthenian magnates (such families as Radziwiłł, Sapieha, Wiśniowiecki, Czartoryski, etc.) had strong impact on history of this state. Union was actually succesful and nobiles from whole state eventually shared common identity. The reason of modern division on seperate states of Poland and Lithuania is full democracy - nobility could consider themselves as one nation, but lower classes was very different from each other. 3. 5:50 - Border drawn in this moment is pre-union border. After union of Lublin Poland annexed Ruthenia and Grand Duchy of Lithuania was restricted only to modern day Lithuania and Belarus. 4. 6:18 - *Zaporizhya, and it is historical name, not modern one. Conflict between nobility and the cossaks was more complicated than stated in this video. Cossaks were good fighters but with very low discipline. Cossaks very often raided Ottoman Empire without considering consequenses. Such raids provoked some wars with Ottoman Empire. What is the most important fact is that many cossaks were peasants that escaped from work for their overlords. Commonwealth sanctioned existance of Cossaks by creating "Cossak register" - every cossak who was in register could legally fight in the name of Commonwealth. The most problematic issue was number of cossaks allowed to be written in the register. In the war time this number was increased, and after the war - decreased. Those cosasks, that was no longer in register were supposed to return to farm and became peasant, which many of them didn't want to do. Because of that there was many Cossak revolts begining in the end of XVI c. In 1638 whole Ukraine was pacificated and for long time there was peace, but tentions was still rising. This ultimatelly lead to Khmelnytsky uprising in 1648. Also spelling of the name "Khmelnytsky" is wrong in this video. 5. 7:16 Władysław IV died shortly after uprising was started and information about the uprising reached Warsaw after his death. As Commonwealth was elective monarchy this lead to the interregnum until new election, what only made situation worse. 6. 8:04 This wasn't stated clearly in this video, but Sweden and Russia fougth Poland independently. They also fought each other. The treaty of Oliwa was only between Poland and Sweden. War with Russia ended 6 years later. 7. 13:06 - As for some time Commonwealth was de facto russian puppet some nobiles rebelled against the king and russian influence creating Confederation of Bar. After defeat of the confederation Russia acknowledged that Commonwealth is too strong and it has to be weakend. Also Prussians wanted to connect their western and eastern lands. That was the reason of the first partition. As foreign influence within Commonwealth was so strong, ceasion of land was approved in parliament, as well as second and third partition. 8: 13:29 - The writing od the Constitution was a direct reason of II partition. Constitution get rid of Liberum Veto and finaly reformed the commonwealth. Reformed Commonwealth could be dangerous for Russia. After second partition Koścuszko rebelled against foreign influence in Poland and his defeat directly lead to the third partition.

[@mrb3nz]

tl;dr, the commonwealth never formed a standing, modern army and still relied on outdated, feudal structure, solidified by the empowered nobility

[@ozyrysozi6186]

Commonwealth had some sort of standing army and it often was pretty modern. Problem was that it was very small due to nobility voting against bigger taxes and creating bigger standing army loyal to the king - it was danger to nobility as king with army could use force against nobility. Most wealthy nobles often had their own private armies and they were often well organized.

[@jamesblackshaw132]

Cossacks strike again

[@worldwanderer91]

Is it time for Poland-Lithuania to come back again?

[@smerfdzikus2334]

No. Definitely not. Poland and Lithuania are two seperate states with different languages, ethnic groups, and culture. Also unifying them now wouldn't make much sense because they both are in NATO and EU structures. Don't forget that most of former Lithuania is now Belarus and Ukraine. As a Pole, I'd rather have my own, seperate nation state with 95%+ Polish people than create some artificial union with other country. It's not middle ages anymore.

[@GoDLiKeKakashi]

@@smerfdzikus2334 Today the relations between Poland and Lithuania are generally the best they've ever been. In part that's thanks to the war in Ukraine giving a common enemy to rally against. As you said both are in NATO and EU so there is no need for any such unions. As a Lithuanian in Poland, the positive change is something to be happy about at least.

[@Magnus-m]

It was not clear how the commonwealth recovered after the russian invasion of the cossack revolt. And Poland was briefly restored by Napoleon in the early XIX century

[@ozyrysozi6186]

I mean country didn't really recover fully after cossack revolts (which was pretty much civil war), wars with Russia, Sweden and Deluge. PLC grew weaker and no changes, reforms made it more and more visible untill Prussia, Russia and Austria decided to partition in 1772 Commonwealth and it was accepted by nobility, so in some sense it was legal. As for restoration, that is true as Napoleon gave new constitution for Duchy of Warsaw which was created mostly from III partitions of Prussia and Austria. But after Congress of Vienna there was also Kingdom of Poland (untill 1832) - created and under personal union with Russia. Also there was Free City of Karków, that was integrated into Austria in 1846. It was created in 1815, so it can be also picked as part of heritage. Prussia also created entity named Great Duch of Posen (or Poznań), untill fully integrating it into Prussia in 1848.

[@Magnus-m]

@@ozyrysozi6186 for what's it's shown PLC recovered pretty much all of its territories after the cossack revolt but the video don't mention how

[@ozyrysozi6186]

@@Magnus-m After Chmielnicki pretty much won the revolt with help of Russia, PLC lost quite a bit of land on the right side of Dniepr and Cossacks gained independence from PLC. Also - much earlier PLC lost territories like Smolensk, we fought with Sweden and Russia for Livonia (Inflanty) and lost pretty much all of it first to Sweden, then Sweden lost it to Russia. We also lost, then recovered, but then lost again to Ottomans near Podole (territories to the south, near Moldavia). Also East Prussia (Ducal Prussia) was for some time our vassal, then gained much more autonomy and at last they got into personal union with Brandenburg. And of course then partitiones made losses even bigger. So if we talking about territories then PLC lost a lot and never recovered it, even though there was a log of fighting for it, so Commonwealth never got back to it's biggest territory (also there was a time when PLC fought war with Russia and even occupied held Moscow, one of the kings from swedish dynasty, Władysław IV even got a proposition to become ruler of Russia, but his father - king of PLC didn't agree, also Władysław would have to change his faith to ortodoxy). And economicaly PLC never got back after Deluge, nobility got really shuffled and magnateria (richest from nobility) pretty much became oligarchy.

[@FastTquick]

“If your people live in the lands on the border of two often warring empires, you’re in for a bad time.” -History Matters (2021)

[@user-ve2jj1ik4b]

Ukraine looks soo nice on this map .

[@theawesomeman9821]

Here's another question? Why didn't Poland and Lithuania ever re-unify as a single country during the 20th Century?

[@damiang6644]

Because a Lithuanian nationalism had developed which saw Polish culture as a threat and Lithuanians did not want to be part of a common state.

[@theawesomeman9821]

@@damiang6644 thanks for answering

[@GoDLiKeKakashi]

The answer you got is not true. Polish nationalists only wanted to rebuild the Commonwealth as a Polish empire dominated by Poles. There was no interest in seeing the other nations as equals. This is why Poland was at war with Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine right after WW1. You don't make friends by declaring war. How can anyone want to unify with Poland right after escaping Russian domination just to be dominated by Poland instead.

[@GoDLiKeKakashi]

@@damiang6644 That's a lie and you know it.

[@damiang6644]

​@@GoDLiKeKakashi You have not written what is a lie, so it is hard for me to comment. What's more, I see intellectual dishonesty on your part, as you accuse me of lying, when there is a fundamental difference between writing an untruth and a lie. Before the third partition (1795), Lithuanians were Poles who spoke the Polish language, were influenced by Polish culture and considered themselves Poles. It was not until the Partitions that the process of disintegration of Polish identity began and Lithuanian nationalism developed, which cut itself off from Polishness, Polish culture and considered it a threat. For this reason, Lithuanians were not interested in a common state. As far as writing about Polish nationalists is concerned, please write who specifically, because as far as the restoration of the Polish-Lithuanian union is concerned, the concept of federation was put forward by Józef Piłsudski, who by no means wanted to create a Polish empire (he was not even a nationalist, but under great influence of socialism, moreover he came from Lithuania), because Lithuania and Ukraine were to be given autonomy. To say that Poland was at war with Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine without taking into account the context is frivolous, because what do we consider as Belarus or Ukraine? What was Ukraine? The Ukrainian People's Republic or the West Ukrainian People's Republic or the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic? Poland was in conflict with the West Ukrainian People's Republic, but a military alliance was signed with the Ukrainian People's Republic in 1920 against the Bolsheviks, so if you accuse me of lying, please be precise, because it is not the case that there was one Ukrainian state. As far as the war with Lithuania is concerned, due to the establishment of a Polish administration and the presence of Lithuanian activists on the Polish side advocating the creation of a common state formation and armed forces formed from the population of these areas, the conflict can be considered as a Lithuanian civil war. Moreover, Poland was the legal continuator of the Polish-Lithuanian state and had rights to Vilnius, which was inhabited by the vast majority of Polish population. Lithuania, on the other hand, did not refer to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. "You don't make friends by declaring war. And you do not sign a treaty with the Bolsheviks containing a secret clause allowing the Red Army to pass through Lithuanian territory. This clause was a blatant violation of Lithuania' s neutrality towards Poland.

[@TheVetein]

Am I the only one extremely skeptical about this "My heritage"?