Why did The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Collapse?

[@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.

[@StanisławŁapiński-n9d]

8:20 - after the Treaty of Oliva, PLC regained lost territory you show only at 10:03. PLC did not exist long with those small borders. Small innacuracy. 10:40 - Sweden never played any part in the partitions... 13:19 - you never mention the fact that it was actually Prussia's idea to partition PLC. It was Frederick the Great's idea which he took to Catherine of Russia. Austria was kind of "there for the ride". That's why they excluded them from the Second Partition.

[@desurff]

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.

[@UssrMapping123]

#CCCPTRAITOR

[@GucciDaMochi]

❤ from Poland!🇵🇱🤝🇱🇹

[@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.

[@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.

[@beynar3087]

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.

[@beynar3087]

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

[@AdvancedGamer-]

@@beynar3087wrong

[@AdvancedGamer-]

@@plrc4593again what?

[@beynar3087]

@@AdvancedGamer- Why?

[@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

[@fidenemini111]

@@metanoian965 When Rus lands fell under the control of Lithuania they were not tribes any more, they were principalities.

[@metanoian965]

@@fidenemini111 Yes. Weakened by an invasion of some type. [Now called Mongols by West clods]. This enabled Lithuanian dukes to extend their power South to Moldova. This was fast and mostly peaceful and beneficial for all. Uniting against their common enemy - Vatican supported Freemasonic Swiss Mercenary Crusaders, The Order of Mary = Teutonic Knights - and their West Euro psychopaths. Grand Dutchy was 10% Lithuanian in that very low and spread out population of Rus Slavs.

[@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

[@achour.falestine]

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

[@jvnardin8510]

@@achour.falestine 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 ❤

[@SteffenTimo-di4id]

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

[@Magnus-m]

Thanks! I'll check it out!

[@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.

[@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.

[@piotrmalewski8178]

Basically the outcome of Polish-Lithuanian policy to welcome anyone as long as there would help against common enemies.

[@6seogrow_your_business202]

Ni🎉🎉🎉

[@whatscout78]

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

[@kevinramirez2671]

I love to visit Galicia-Lodomeria, especially Galicia's Ukrainian capital of Lviv and Galicia's Polish cultural centre of Krakow. Also Ukrainian-Galician culture is popular in Rzeszow as well. From a Salvadorean American with love and support for Ukraine, its Galician oblasts, their veterans and refugees from Lviv and Ukraine, and their friendly ally Poland. 🇺🇸 🇸🇻 🇺🇸 🇸🇻 💜🩵❤🤍❤💙💛🇺🇦 🇵🇱 🇦🇹 🇺🇦

[@_inveterate]

@@kevinramirez2671there isn’t much truth in politics…

[@kevinramirez2671]

@@_inveterate I was just saying that I love and interested in visiting Galicia within Ukraine for cultural and educational reasons. Can you please explain it more in-depth specifically about what you said not much truth in politics?

[@boleczzz]

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

[@schwarzenegger_arnold]

First of all, Napoleon would tell you otherwise and secondly it wasn't Austria-Hungary but just Austria since Austria-Hungary was created in the year 1867.

[@piotrmalewski8178]

@@schwarzenegger_arnold 1. Napoleon lost. 2 The Republic was a decentralised, almost democratic country that officially declared it doesn't want to fight and hardly had any professional army. There was a tiny 'Quarter Army' that reach 4 thousand men at it's peak and couldn't handle a major invasion. The real defence of the Republic was based on noble leve, which can be described as 'volunteer knights', because even if a decision passed to call noble leve to arms, there was absolutely no mechanism to force nobles to fight if they didn't want to.

[@pedrofernandes8790]

@@piotrmalewski8178 Napoleon Didnt lose until his bold invasion of Russia... in the first 5 years Napoleon bring shame to Prussia, Russia and primarily Austria and both times on a coalition; The coalition after seeing what Russia did to avoid losing, they became retreating and scorching their own territory to prevent french forces pillage for food... only on 1815 in waterloo was a real conflict until then.

[@serggio88888]

​@@piotrmalewski8178 1. No 2. No

[@serggio88888]

​@@pedrofernandes8790 Yes

[@kurzemitemanamila]

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 😁

[@tkanieski]

5:50 "... short-lived Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth." Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania had been joined together for more than four hundred years. The Swedish invasion during the Deluge was far more devastating than the Russian invasion and extended as far South as Krakow, but only the Russian conquest is shown.

[@IgnasJ-nj6dx]

🇱🇹♥️LOVE FROM LITHUANIA ♥️🇱🇹

[@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.

[@piotrmalewski8178]

I would argue Chocim had no effect on the future. What did was the culture shift of the counter-reformation and enemies learning how the political system of the Republic actually worked. By the beginning of the century they were erratic and didn't know what to do, while at the end they knew exactly how it worked and whom to bribe.

[@TN51234]

07:35 THE WORST DEAL IN WORLD HISTORY

[@Magnus-m]

Visigoths might disagree with you 😂

[@Karonis-b3k]

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]

@@Karonis-b3kProblem 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.

[@Karonis-b3k]

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

[@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.

[@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 😶

[@magellanicspaceclouds]

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

[@tomekdarda]

Not really. It baffles me, how hard can it be for all those channels to just ask Google or Wikipedia how to pronounce some names, it's such a basic thing. Hearing "Lublin" pronounced as "Lablin" is a shame.

[@PlaceholderAccount-l]

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

[@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.

[@supernovel7514]

6:08 I love how chaotic those sword clashing sounds are

[@Bemen50]

The colour of Austria makes it look like a lake

[@pauladie4343]

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

[@Schwizinberg]

I smile every time when foreign channel touches polish history

[@Ciech_mate]

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

[@leartiberius1098]

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

[@serenitysessionz]

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

[@resiliencewithin]

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

[@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

[@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

[@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

[@piotrmalewski8178]

Because KZbinrs don't know what they're doing wand what sells is smart voiceover.

[@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.

[@marnoslv]

it works for all of eastern europe. Ukraine back then was also surrounded by enemies from all sides, like for example after the collapse of Kyivan Rus it was inherited by the Kingdom of Ruthenia with the new capital in Lviv. but the Kingdom of Ruthenia was surrounded by the mongols, lithuanians, poles and hungarians who had wars with it. and eventually the kingdom was divided between Lithuania and Poland. so, basically, the geography of the eastern europe is not the best

[@erwinner8929]

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

[@andrei1637]

Liberum Veto is a problem even today for the EU.

[@seanmcdonald5859]

"keep your friends close and your enemies closer and NEVER trust either"

[@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.

[@kevinramirez2671]

13:17 Since Austria (who got control of the Kingdom of Hungary) later created the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria thru the First Partition of Poland, how does Galicia's legacy affect Poland's and Ukraine's friendship as well as for the regions of Malopolskie, Podkarpackie, and the Ukrainian oblast of Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Ternopil. How does Krakow and Rzeszow reflect for its Ukrainian communities including today's Ukrainian refugees? How does Lviv reflect for its legacy of the Polish Kresy while many Galician Poles from Lviv help the Galician Ukrainians that lived in the western Galician oblasts of Ukraine in 2020 to now?

[@saladmcjones7798]

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

[@flawyerlawyertv7454]

Thanks. 🙌

[@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.

[@talusn9405]

And what if it was great when most of the battles were won by Poland and not Lithuania against Russia thanks to the merit of the Hussars and where is Lithuania now and where is Poland who is richer and who is bigger answer yourself

[@luki9XK2]

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

[@9and7]

Not a good video

[@MrDemikis]

on the map Vilnius is "located" in two places, the "alternative" one... near Bratislava 😛

[@beynar3087]

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'.

[@talusn9405]

@@ozyrysozi6186 Poland and Lithuania were Bufufer before the East and West

[@ozyrysozi6186]

@@talusn9405 PLC was a buffer between many countries for sure, as later separated Poland, Lithuania also were. But I was strongly fighting against important point - that untill PLC was partitioned fully there were no important wars between West and East - maybe there weren't excactly between East and West but we must look at what we mean by this. There were many very important wars for history that took place when PLC was present and they didn't have to be between East and West (Napoleonic Wars still started as primarly western conflict as we look at the players and it ended as very important for west). So was PLC a buffer? Yes, that's why partitions partly happened and why some perioids of politics were shaped towards PLC. Was it very important - in many ways as many countries are important in history in different perioids.Did important wars for Europe happen only after PLC partitions? No, there were many important aars during or before it existance and in some PLC played important or less important role as we look on players and times.

[@talusn9405]

@@ozyrysozi6186 And then you lie again... When the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth existed, there was almost no war between the West and Russia, only Poland, Lithuania and Russia after the Partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, there were the most important battles in Europe, see the Russian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, the Austrian Empire, also Prussia and France, these countries after the partition of Poland and Lithuania fought most wars on the Territory of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth!

[@ozyrysozi6186]

@@talusn9405 Guess we skip all the Northern Wars that were between Russia and Sweden with involvment of other countries? Involving PLC, for sure. Ottoman Empire expanded in Balkans way before fighting with Russia - and for sure later PLC was important player in stopping their expansion, but it wasn't the only player. Also, I pointed out that there were many important wars between west only or more global conflicts. Austria fought with Ottomans for the Hungarian territory, that's why it needed PLC as ally as it was countering Ottoman expansion. In terms of shaping Europe you look at Thirty Years War - mostly western conflict that expands into Norther Wars and Deluge in Poland; You look at Seven Years War (and hey, Russia got involved in there, but not PLC) - probably one first global conflict; Hundred Years War before that; War of succesion of Austria and Spain that were big wars in terms of shaping European powers that will later partition PLC; Maybe Eighty Years war at some degree as it was against Spanish hegemony and worked to strenghten position of France and England; Italian Wars for sure important, especially for getting influence and strenght of some countries. So it is important how you define West and East as the map looked way more different than today and you can call East only the Russia I guess, but if you look at history - Russia is created pretty lately and gains it's power becouse it expanded further East and gained upper hand with PLC, Ottomans and Sweden - three most important rivals (but it took those three to be at their lowest or maybe at lower position to win). So again - was PLC jmportant country? Yes, in some perioids more than others, but as many countries it played it's importance. Was the one country holding Europe? No, as it is impossible that the one country holds whole continent, after PLC is partitioned there are many more wars for sure, but they look a bit mkre different in terms of conflict - French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars you still have partitoner countries against France and Duchy of Warsaw which is created. Later there are conflicts between partitioners and they are also umportant conflicts. So I don't think I lied that much, just said it is more complciated than East vs West as you have to define it first and even when you define it - there were many important wars purely between western countries that shaped history of Europe (Thirty Years War can be seen as much more blody than First World War; and yes, there is limited PLC involvemnt in there, but extension into Norther Wars will be much more important).

[@holdfast453]

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

[@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

[@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.

[@inquerion8867]

Answers are never that simple. Political system was one of the many reasons of the collapse. Also, absolute power is not always beneficial. Look at the Russian Empire and it's collapse.

[@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.

[@nicbahtin4774]

This is what happened when fail to pick up absolutism

[@fidenemini111]

Yep, democracy is not very helpful when you live surrounded by predators.

[@XD-dq2iw]

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

[@gabbytay]

is vilnus in austria an error in the video?

[@SmokeDimi]

Because it got into a business of democracy.

[@mantaskatleris8261]

The REAL question is "why the word LITHUANIA is Collapsing from Poland-Lithuania" in every KZbin video???? It always starts with "Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth", and then it just becomes "Poland"... Like Lithuania was swollowed by the black hole.

[@_inveterate]

It was swallowed, lad, it was… And that’s ok.

[@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.

[@rajaallahudin]

Make videos on history of sindh plz ❤

[@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.

[@le__romantisme]

the teutonic order

[@Conorp77]

It was murdered.

[@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

[@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.

[@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

[@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

[@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.

[@jakubgrabec3008]

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

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.

[@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 ...

[@Nahletmecookbro]

So that why many said democracy can be cringe sometimes

[@ozyrysozi6186]

I mean - realisticaly it was democracy similar to Roman Republic or Athens. You can call it democracy, but in todays standard we would call it more like oligarchy. Even Cicero called democracy in Athens not true and said that roman model was perfect. So looking at elective monarchy and calling it democracy where still most of the people couldn't decide about anything is a bit simplistic.

[@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.

[@canadaey4833]

nice video please keep going

[@patrykjar3449]

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

[@eduardsarafimescu5984]

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

[@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.

[@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.

[@professor5594]

Awesome

[@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

[@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.

[@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

[@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.

[@svitlanasamko4160]

​@GoDLiKeKakashi as a Ukrainian, I fully agree with you! The Grand Dukedom of Lithuania in union with what was left of Kyiver Rus after mongol invasion had Rus and Lithuanian elits cross-marriaging and not much in conflict.

[@patrickjeffers7864]

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

[@fastcourse01]

I think this is what they mean when they say the powerful European powers. They are simply a higher level and higher intellect than the rest. You can't afford to be playing low level simple politics like taking bribes. They literally using Poland as a playground putting whoever they want. The problem is the Polish royals were simply low level. This a clear indication as to why the Germanics, Swedes and Russians are considered a distinction.

[@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

[@piotrmalewski8178]

Charles Bronson was a Polish-Lithuanian Tatar. Spoke Lithuanian, had typical Polish nobleman name (Buczyński), originated from Muslim Tatars yet was born in a Catholic family. What's interesting that being nobility, his ancestors had law-enforcement entitlement, and with the specific rules of the Republic, that had absolute superiority of the law over everyone and anyone (the rule of law), technically they could arrest or if necessary kill on the spot, anyone breaking the law, even the most powerful aristocrat, which strangely resonantes with his 'Death Wish' movies. The specific of the Republic was that not only did they have absolute power of law enforcement, but even the poorest nobleman who owned nothing but a horse and a saber, technically could be elected a king if only his fellow noblemen chose him to be one.

[@FredericoGoncalves-cz4cv]

Didnt know that Vilnius is so close to bratislava

[@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.

[@Macion-sm2ui]

This is a question that polish people debate for centuries

[@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.

[@Shadow-mm3cg]

I wonder what would've happened if Louis of Anjou united Poland and Hungary under one kingdom

[@chheinrich8486]

At least now with polands land army steadily increasing in size, Poland is back on its tracks to become a mayor player in the region😊

[@jvnardin8510]

☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️

[@Shenalan888]

10:40 --- Did anyone notice that theres also a Vilnus in Austria??? I bet thats not supposed to be there

[@tymont6065]

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

[@raducanueduard1337]

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

[@prk2543]

The political system of the Commonwealth was uinique. But unstable. It gave to big power to big families. But not enough power to the king to govern the country. But at the same time king had enough power to put the country to conflicts around the country. In fact - on the beginning of the free election electing every king wasn't a rule. Polish szlachta at first tried to elect a king which could start a new, stable dynasty in Poland. But they didn't accomplished that. The King Stefan Batory didn't have a son. The Vasa dynasty in Poland was ended on Jan Kazimierz. And the next years there were years of kings who cared more about their dynasties or their origin countries interests than a Commonwealth. Poland-Lithuanian was an interesting democratic expetiment. But that system didn't have a crucial thing build-in: a check and balance assumtion. Too many sides had the right and possibilities to mess up with Polish internal order and external politics. Too few mechanism existed to provide balance between all thise sides and provide the consistency an stability of the "government". And do you konw what is the most tragic? Today "western democracies" also doesn't have such a mechanisms. Maybe except for the US. But in Europe? Almost all countries have the flaws in their democratic sysyems, which can make thise countires unstable in future.

[@svitlanasamko4160]

The country to the east of commonwealth was called moscow kindgdom and grand tartaria in historic maps. Simply because all territory of Rus was part of the Poland- Lithuanian commonwealth! Only after moscovites taken over Ukrainian state of Bogdan Khmelnytsky, he renamed his kingdom of moscow to empire of russia. Thus, moscovites simply stolen the name "Rus".

[@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.

[@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.

[@birchheights6542]

Polish - Lithuanian Commonwealth collapsed because it had to . It was economically backwards country with feudalistic system and serfdom in 18th century. It didn’t have a strong monarch , didn’t have a navy . It was multiethnic country with Poles , Ukrainians , Belarusians , Lithuanians , Latvians , Jews , Germans which also did not contribute to the strength and stability of the country . It had to go.

[@ozyrysozi6186]

I will agree - at some point it had to fail as the weakness of Commonwealth was just too good not to use it. Only would argue with multicultural part with that at this point I would doubt that people on lands of modern Ukraine and Belarussia would call themselves that - there would be more Ruthenians there and nobles would identify themselves maybe as 'Poles', but it was just identity of whole group. Also not sure if there would be Latvians - maybe like Livionians, but here I might be talking crap. PLC had to reform at some point and it failed to, also failing to create strong country as nobles were only focusing on themselves, lacking a bigger picture. But also multiculturalism didn't have to be weakness as you had countries that indeed had to rule over many cultures and they managed to hold, very often it was by strong monarchy for sure (Austria is good example as they pretty much at that point had to deal with Hungarians and it was more complexed than PLC situation).

[@birchheights6542]

@@ozyrysozi6186 Austrian Empire most definitely was the weakest of recent European empires . They were useless during WW1 where because it waa so multi -ethnic , soldiers who were of so many ethnicities couldn’t understand their commanding officers who were mostly German and Hungarian speaking . Multi ethnic character of Polish- Lithuanian Commonwealth wasn’t a deciding component in its collapse , but in times of trouble enemies could exploit that, and ethnically diverse country is not as resilient as their more homogenous opponent .

[@ozyrysozi6186]

@@birchheights6542 That is true, I would never argue that Austro-Hungary was strong, it came to be as it was so weak. Two parts needed to be united as on their own they would be useless. In WWI Austro-Hungary had many huge problems, one of them was stuck in a past and weak command, army was also not up to date. You can exploit multiethnic empires or countries, especially at the time of XIX and XX century when nationalism was very strong and idea of a nation for ethnicity was popular - after WWI two interesting projects in Europe were created: Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia and they will both break as ethnic groups in them still wanted their countries (Yugoslavia is radical side as it's breaking led to wars in Balkans). Even if PLC lived longer, it would suffer the same problems as Austro-Hungary - nationalism would break it. But my point still stand that Austrian Empire lived much longer with their multiethnic empire - through Napoleonic Wars and some time after it was still a great power. With problems, but a great power that was playing huge role in Europe untill the wars with Sardinia Piemont and Brothers War with Prussia (unification of Germany came at a great cost for Austria). And in my opinion - Austro-Hungary could probably live a bit longer, but Franz Joseph and military staff (with Conrad von Hötzendorf on it's lead) pretty much signed fall of their empire.

[@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

[@nathanbot5373]

Why is Vienna labeled as Vilnius lol

[@toporkata5218]

Guess what … Prussia and Austrian - Hungarian Empier is gone … and guess who’s there now ⭐️🇵🇱⭐️ God bless Poland

[@djmacieg]

Unfortunately Prussia exists as Germany. This cancer country destroyed Europe 2 times and they are doing it 3rd time by using EU - muslim terror and eco taxes

[@halporter9]

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

[@kaz4184]

Video: ...disapproval of young Duke of Austria meanwhile Vilnus in Vienna:

[@maximkretsch7134]

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