History UsefulNotes / PolishLithuanianCommonwealth

* The Commonwealth tends to be a major power in ''VideoGame/EuropaUniversalis''. Poland forming a union over Lithuania tends to be a bad omen for its neighbors; Poland inheriting Lithuania after said union and forming the Commonwealth tends to be a waking nightmare for anyone nearby who's not on its good side.

Come 1648, the Khmelnitsky uprising set the steppe ablaze. [[PolishJews The Jews]], since [[AllJewsAreCheapskates their financial skills]] were held in high esteem by the nobility, got the worst of it regardless of whether they worked as someone's financiers or just made their living in towns and villages. Several battles and a couple of years later, things mostly settled down, and the nobility backed off issuing an offer to turn the Commonwealth of Both Nations into one of Three Nations, but by now, it was too late -- Ukraine had already gone to Russia for help. The tsars sure were fine with it.

Apart from [[PolishJews the Jews]] (in multiple flavours ranging from standard Orthodox through Hasidic -- who got their start here -- to Karaite), the Armenians were an influential community, dealing in Eastern and Persian trade and blademaking. Many Germans lived in towns, and Scotsmen were far from unknown. Religious minorities made of Dutchmen and others set up farming communities, notably in northern Poland. Tatars were allowed to settle (and remain Muslim) in exchange for loyalty in the Podlasie region, where they live to this day.

* ''rokosz'' ("insurrection") -- you know how [[AmericanGunPolitics American gun ownership lobby]] occasionally uses the argument that an armed populace constitutes a check on the government by an implied threat of an insurrection if it went totalitarian? Well, it's exactly a guaranteed right to do that;

The political system of the free-election era Commonwealth was sometimes known as "the Golden Liberty". The noble class (some 15% of the population according to TheOtherWiki) were the citizens in the full meaning of the word, furthered by the perception that the state is their "common wealth" -- in a word, a republic. With a king. This system was made of several elements:

* There is a Polish RPG ''Dzikie Pola'' set in the historical Commonwealth (with rules on magic provided for those who don't mind a share of HistoricalFantasy).

Other privileges obtained earlier included the right to due process and to be handled with respect before the verdict was passed, and similar developments now hailed as the basic rights of a citizen of a modern state. Of course, the catch was that only citizens counted. But if UsefulNotes/AntebellumAmerica or TheApartheidEra RSA could be roughly described as democracies, then, why would the Commonwealth be that much worse?

In the western world, the influence of the Commonwealth was rather low; Shakespeare's mention of "Polack War" in {{Literature/Hamlet}} seems to be there just to present Fortinbras as a bit of a GloryHound fighting wars in faraway places of no importance. It played a bigger role in French politics of the era, as the French constantly schemed for an anti-Habsburg alliance, but their success was ever limited. But on the other hand, the Commonwealth's political system served as an example or inspiration in several well-known treatises on politics (''De Optimo Senatore/The Accomplished Senator'' was a widely discussed early such one actually written by a Pole), and by offering a safe haven for dissidents, its religious tolerance indirectly helped the development of non-mainstream Protestantism.

That big blot on the map of [=XVth-XVIIIth=] Century Central Europe that you've never heard of.

This had a peculiar effect on Ukraine -- the name of which is quite akin to the Slavic word for "borderland". While intensively settled and developed by the business-minded magnates, it was also vast, and hardly easy to control for any side. People of all ways of life settled down in communities which came to be known as the {{Cossacks}}. They proved as much an asset to the Commonwealth, providing some real tough troops capable of pulling a viking reenactment on Constantinople, as they were a trouble. Tensions between the staunchly Orthodox, mostly Ruthenian Cossacks and the nobility of the Commonwealth finally led to an eruption: when a minor noble, Bohdan Khmelnitsky, [[TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive found his home razed and wife killed by a neighbour]] (and you thought borrowing tools and not returning them was bad?), he went to courts, where he was told, [[CommonNonsenseJury "you have your sabre"]]. He figured that, yes, [[StartOfDarkness he did]].

The Commonwealth is one of those complicated cases of historical countries that stubbornly refuse to fit into modern views of state and nationality. Until the Constitution of 3rd May, it was legally a union of two countries, Kingdom of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The nobility of the Grand Duchy became for the most part polonized, but the lower classes were too busy surviving to bother with that fashion, and later nation-builders had to start from the common folk to create anything not Polish; the nobles themselves preferred to identify as "the noble nation". Thus, Poles see Poland as the successor to all of the Commonwealth, in spite of differences between the two parts, not to mention Ukraine; in Polish culture, the Commonwealth is a popular literary setting with more than a dash of GloryDays sentiment. Lithuanians picture Lithuania as the successor to Grand Duchy, even though ethnic Lithuanians were actually a minority in a country mostly made of modern-day Belarus, and (due to assimilation) their upper classes were culturally Polish anyway. Ukrainians consider themselves descendants of the Ruthenian population of the region, the Rurikid principalities and those who formed the Cossack Host, even though the {{Cossacks}} themselves were at least as much [[{{Pirates}} an occupation]] as an ethnic group. Although Belarussians have a claim to Grand Duchy not worse than the Lithuanians, they had all of their upper classes assimilated, or killed off by Hitler and Stalin, so for the most part nobody was left to argue it's not just a swampy small part of Russia. All of the latter three, somewhat expectedly, also tend to see Poland as a sort of BigBrotherBully. The opinions on the Commonwealth can thus vary pretty widely between the historians of these four countries.

The [=XVIIIth=] Century was a time of decay -- although not to the nobles, who could be described as all too many cases of RichIdiotWithNoDayJob, except nobody was running around wearing bat ears on his cap. Political infighting caused several civil wars, while the Saxon kings (popular due to their hedonistic ruling style) led the country into the Great Northern War, with no gain at all and destruction compared to that of the Deluge. Meanwhile, [[RunningGag the tsars]] had their fun bribing nobles to veto the laws, and in some cases not even pretending they aren't enforcing their passing by force of arms. {{Prussia}} -- once a vassal of Poland, since the last grand master turned protestant and swore fealty to Polish king -- negotiated its way out of its vassal state during the [=1650s=], and [[FrederickTheGreat by the time of the Fredericks]] too had joined the party with counterfeiting the Polish money and an occasional kidnapping of a tall man for Frederick's regiment of giants. At least, by that time Turkey was already beaten down to not cause too many problems.

Come 1648, the Khmelnitsky uprising set the steppe ablaze. [[PolishJews The Jews]], since [[AllJewsAreCheapskates their financial skills]] were held in high esteem by the nobility, got the worst of it regardless of whether they worked as someone's financiers or just made their living in towns and villages. Several battles and a couple of years later, things mostly settled down, and the nobility backed off issuing an offer to turn the Commonwealth of Both Nations into one of Three Nations, but by now, it was too late -- Ukraine had already went to Russia for help. The tsars sure were fine with it.

Like we said, the Vasa kings styled themselves rulers of Sweden; the catch was, Swedes preferred to side with those of the Vasas whom they actually chose. The fact that Poland was an economic competitor of Sweden in the Baltic region didn't exactly endear themselves to it, either. So, the time around 1655 looked like a good idea to make a trip (later to be known as the Deluge). [[WeAreStrugglingTogether Several betrayals and mutinies]] on the Polish side later, the Swedes found themselves in control of a large part of Poland, with Lithuania none too willing to show up ([[AlternateCharacterInterpretation historians debate]] whether the Lithuanian magnates were choosing the lesser evil, or just [[OpportunisticBastard out for their own]] -- oh, and by the way, the Russians showed up too). After some rampagin' and pillagin', they [[TheSiege found themselves at the gates]] of Częstochowa, the location of [[HolyCity a really revered depiction of the Virgin Mary]]. Some time later, and some religious-nationalist fervor whipped up in the meantime, the Poles found enough guts to kick out the Swedes.

This had a peculiar effect on Ukraine -- the name of which is quite akin to the Slavic word for "borderland". While intensively settled and developed by the business-minded magnates, it was also vast, and hardly easy to control for any side. People of all ways of life settled down in communities which came to be known as the {{Cossacks}}. They proved as much an asset to the Commonwealth, providing some real tough troops capable of pulling a viking reenactment on Constantinople, as they were a trouble. Tensions between the staunchly Orthodox, mostly Ruthenian Cossacks and the nobility of the Commonwealth finally led to an eruption: when a minor noble, Bohdan Khmelnitsky, [[TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive found his home razed and wife killed by a neighbour]] (and you thought borrowing tools and not returning them was bad?), he went to courts, where he was told, [[CommonNonsenseJury "you have your sabre"]]. He figured that, yes, [[StartOfDarkness he does]].

* SienkiewiczTrilogy was filmed, so it counts here as well as under literature.

* SienkiewiczTrilogy, duh.
* ''[[Literature/SixteenThirtyTwo 1632]]'': ''Eastern Front'' addresses the Commonwealth and its politics.
* The main antagonists of NikolaiGogol's ''TarasBulba'', set in the 17th century Ukraine[=/=]Malorossiya.

The Commonwealth is one of those complicated cases of historical countries that stubbornly refuse to fit into modern views of state and nationality. Until the Constitution of 3rd May, it was legally a union of two countries, Kingdom of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The nobility of the Grand Duchy became for the most part polonized, but the lower classes were too busy surviving to bother with that fashion, and later nation-builders had to start from the common folk to create anything not Polish; the nobles themselves preferred to identify as "the noble nation". Thus, Poles see Poland as the successor to all of the Commonwealth, in spite of differences between the two parts, not to mention Ukraine. Lithuanians picture Lithuania as the successor to Grand Duchy, even though ethnic Lithuanians were actually a minority in a country mostly made of modern-day Belarus, and (due to assimilation) their upper classes were culturally Polish anyway. Ukrainians consider themselves descendants of the Ruthenian population of the region, the Rurikid principalities and those who formed the Cossack Host, even though the {{Cossacks}} themselves were at least as much [[{{Pirates}} an occupation]] as an ethnic group. Although Belarussians have a claim to Grand Duchy not worse than the Lithuanians, they had all of their upper classes assimilated, or killed off by Hitler and Stalin, so for the most part nobody was left to argue it's not just a swampy small part of Russia. All of the latter three, somewhat expectedly, also tend to see Poland as a sort of BigBrotherBully. The opinions on the Commonwealth can thus vary pretty widely between the historians of these four countries.

As for the countryside, it's a matter of debate. On one hand, being a walking tool unable to leave your village, having to work on your master's field, and being mediated in conflicts with your master by, wait for it, [[KangarooCourt your master]] sure was a shitty position. On the other, the historical data generally seems to imply that when it comes to disenfranchisement, it was a [[HappinessInSlavery relatively passable]] kind of it. As in, you could make a decent living even with the noble bumping in at the least convenient moments, and though you could not leave by law, your lord's neighbour would by no means rat you out if you left for his lands unlawfully. A worker is a worker, after all, who cares if some other guy whines he belongs to him, eh? (Kiss my sabre! What's he gonna do, call the police?!) That is not to say there weren't peasant uprisings (Khmelnitsky uprising notwithstanding, as its reasons included ethnic and religious divisions) -- they just were rather rare, and on a smaller scale than in the west of Europe. Several notable cases occurred in places where the peasants were allowed a bit more freedom to begin with -- and as such, less tolerant of noble hijinks.

* The main antagonists of NikolaiGogol's ''TarasBulba'', set in the 17th century Ukraine[=/=]Malorossiya.

A good moment to begin this story is in the second half of [=XIVth=] Century. Within a century after TheTeutonicKnights installed themselves in the Baltic Sea basin, it turned out their ambitions went much beyond fighting for Christianity. As Poland raised herself from political fragmentation, they grew to become the reborn kingdom's most dangerous threat. Meanwhile to the east, the pagan Lithuanians found themselves on the receiving side of the Knights' ambitions as well, and the two realms gravitated towards each other, despite being on less than amicable terms for most of their history. Ironically, it was the pagan Baltic peoples that the Knights were invited to protect from and conquer.

The last bright period of that century was the reign of Jan Sobieski, a hero of one of the Turkish wars. The calls for help from Austria led him to [[SiegeOfVienna defeat the Turks at the gates of Vienna]], which brought him everlasting fame and us the coffeehouses, but he could not capitalise on this victory in any meaningful way.

After a short reign of Henry de Valois (he ran back to his native France just in time to get shanked), the next election chose a king of the Transylvanian dynasty of {{Bathory}}, and he was as metal as it sounds like. In a series of successful wars, he beat back the Muscovite westward expansion. However, Muscovy was there, and it was waiting.

So, when the throne of Poland [[SheIsTheKing was inherited by young Jadwiga]], a suitable candidate for her husband was found in the Lithuanian duke Jogaila. The catch? He would be baptized as a Roman Catholic, and so would his realm. And so, in 1385, did Jogaila become Władysław Jagiełło (as the Poles twisted his name), king of Poland alongside Jadwiga, bringing the two countries into a personal union. Although she soon [[DeathInChildbirth died in childbirth]], he remained on the throne and proved quite a capable ruler. (For her troubles, Jadwiga would later become a Catholic saint. Probably counts as a fair trade, eh?) The decision was further vindicated in 1410, on fifteenth of July, when [[BigBadassBattleSequence the Knights were defeated in Battle of Grunwald]].

-->-- [[MindScrew the opening words of]][[Literature/PanTadeusz Polish national epic]]

So, when the throne of Poland [[SheIsTheKing was inherited by young Jadwiga]], a suitable candidate for her husband was found in the Lithuanian duke Jogaila. The catch? He would be baptized as a Roman Catholic, and so would his realm. And so, in 1385, did Jogaila become Władysław Jagiełło (as the Poles twisted his name), king of Poland alongside Jadwiga, bringing the two countries into a personal union. Although she soon died in childbirth, he remained on the throne and proved quite a capable ruler. (For her troubles, Jadwiga would later become a Catholic saint. Probably counts as a fair trade, eh?) The decision was further vindicated in 1410, on fifteenth of July, when [[BigBadassBattleSequence the Knights were defeated in Battle of Grunwald]].

Some more wars (namely the Thirteen Years', 1454-1466) with the Order returned Gdańsk (German name: Danzig) to Poland and further reduced the Knights to a small vassal state, which nonetheless would turn out a bit too important in the future.

The union entered an era of prosperity. The Renaissance caught on and the land developed materially and in culture. Trade grew, but with a twist on the typical expectations, the nobles got in the business, running business ventures growing grain and selling it to the western Europe. Lithuanian nobility, once a mix of pagan Lithuanians, Orthodox Christian Lithuanians, Orthodox Christian Ruthenians and perhaps some more, followed the example of their Polish counterparts while retaining their own identity. The documents were written in Polish for the Crown (as Poland came to be known) and in the Ruthenian language for the Grand Duchy. But a common spirit began to develop among the nobility of both states, the "Noble nation".

All along the while, the political influence of the nobles crystallised in the Sejm (the Assembly), gathering regularly to set laws. A series of privileges granted them the right to due process (''neminem captivatibus''), to have a say in matters involving them (''nihil novi''), and finally, as all nobles were equal (as a GrandfatherClause several Lithuanian families retained a right to style themselves dukes), that they would all have to agree on a law before it could be passed (''liberum veto''). That last idea proved less than stellar in the long run.

Come 1648, the Khmelnitsky uprising set the steppe ablaze. [[PolishJews The Jews]], since [[AllJewsAreCheapskates their financial skills]] were held in high esteem by the nobility, got the worst of it regardless of whether they worked as anyone's financiers or just made their living in towns and villages. Several battles and a couple of years later, things mostly settled down, and the nobility backed off issuing an offer to turn the Commonwealth of Both Nations into one of Three Nations, but by now, it was too late -- Ukraine had already went to Russia for help. The tsars sure were fine with it.

Like we said, the Vasa kings styled themselves rulers of Sweden; the catch was, Swedes preferred to side with those of the Vasas which they actually chose. The fact that Poland was an economic competitor of Sweden in the Baltic region didn't exactly endear themselves to it, either. So, the time around 1655 looked like a good idea to make a trip (later to be known as the Deluge). [[WeAreStrugglingTogether Several betrayals and mutinies]] on the Polish side later, the Swedes found themselves in control of a large part of Poland, with Lithuania none too willing to show up ([[AlternateCharacterInterpretation historians debate]] whether the Lithuanian magnates were choosing the lesser evil, or just [[OpportunisticBastard out for their own]] -- oh, and by the way, the Russians showed up too). After some rampagin' and pillagin', they [[TheSiege found themselves at the gates]] of Częstochowa, the location of [[HolyCity a really revered depiction of the Virgin Mary]]. Some time later, and some religious-nationalist fervor whipped up in the meantime, the Poles found enough guts to kick out the Swedes.

-->-- [[MindScrew the opening words of Polish national epic]]

The Commonwealth is one of those complicated cases of historical countries that stubbornly refuse to fit into modern views of state and nationality. Until the Constitution of 3rd May, it was legally a union of two countries, Kingdom of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The nobility of the Grand Duchy became for the most part Polonized, but the lower classes were too busy surviving to bother with that fashion, and later nation-builders had to start from the common folk to create anything not Polish; the nobles themselves preferred to identify as "the Noble nation". Thus, Poles see Poland as the successor to all of the Commonwealth, in spite of differences between the two parts, not to mention Ukraine. Lithuanians picture Lithuania as the successor to Grand Duchy, even though ethnic Lithuanians were actually a minority in a country mostly made of modern-day Belarus, and (due to assimilation) their upper classes were culturally Polish anyway. Ukrainians consider themselves descendants of the Ruthenian population of the region, the Rurikid principalities and those who formed the Cossack Host, even though the {{Cossacks}} themselves were at least as much [[{{Pirates}} an occupation]] as an ethnic group. Although Belarussians have a claim to Grand Duchy not worse than the Lithuanians, they had all of their upper classes assimilated, or killed off by Hitler and Stalin, so for the most part nobody was left to argue it's not just a swampy small part of Russia. All of the latter three, somewhat expectedly, also tend to see Poland as a sort of BigBrotherBully. The opinions on the Commonwealth can thus vary pretty widely between the historians of these four countries.

Heavy cavalry? Have them wear leopard skins and giant metal wings. An armour? A golden-plated scale armour, ridiculous and heavy, but looking just so ''Sarmatian''. Male fashion? BadassMustache or GTFO, gratuitous Turkish garments, and a crimson cape if you can afford it. A speech? Infuse it with so much GratuitousLatin there's hardly any Polish left, and don't forget to cry (the latter also works for any religious services). Political protest? Fall to the ground, block the door with your body, rip your shirt and shout you'll let no one pass. Funeral? Doesn't count if there's no fully-armed Hussar riding into the church in full gallop and breaking his lance against the coffin stand, and ritual demolition of the dead man's insignia of office. Dining? Alternating harsh fasting and lavish feasts. A party? [[StuffBlowingUp Blow up your castle]] and organize a sleigh ride in the middle of summer... with sugar in place of snow.

As for the countryside, it's a matter of debate. On one hand, being a walking tool unable to leave your village, having to work on your master's field, and being mediated in conflicts with your master by, wait for it, [[KangarooCourt your master]] sure was a shitty position. On the other, the historical data generally seems to imply that when it comes to disenfranchisement, it was a [[HappinessInSlavery relatively passable]] kind of it. As in, you could make a decent living even with the noble bumping in at the least convenient moments, and though you could not leave by law, your lord's neighbour would by no means rat you out if you left for his lands unlawfully. A worker is a worker, after all, who cares if some other guy whines he belongs to him, eh? (Kiss my sabre! What's he gonna do, call the police?!) That is not to say there weren't peasant uprisings (Khmelnitsky uprising notwithstanding, as its reasons included ethnic and religious divisions) -- they just were rather rare, and on a smaller scale than in the west of Europe. Several notable cases occurred in places, where the peasants were allowed a bit more freedom to begin with -- and as such, less tolerant of noble hijinks.

The [=XVIIIth=] Century was a time of decay -- although not to the nobles, who could be described as all too many cases of RichIdiotWithNoDayJob, except nobody was running around wearing bat ears on his cap. Political infighting caused several civil wars, while the Saxon kings (popular due to their hedonistic ruling style) led the country into the Great Northern War, with no gain at all and destruction compared to that of the Deluge. Meanwhile, [[RunningGag the tsars]] had their fun bribing nobles to veto the laws, and in some cases not even pretending they aren't enforcing their passing by force of arms. Prussia,formerly the realm of the Teutonic Knights whose last grand master turned protestant and declared himself independent duke (and whose descendants, king) the preceding century, which negotiated its way out of its vassal state during the [=1650s=], too had its fun with counterfeit Polish money and an occasional kidnapping of a tall man for Frederick's regiment of giants. At least, by that time Turkey was already beaten down to not cause too many problems.

The [=XVIIIth=] Century was a time of decay -- although not to the nobles, who could be described as all too many cases of RichIdiotWithNoDayJob, except nobody was running around wearing bat ears on his cap. Political infighting caused several civil wars, while the Saxon kings (popular due to their hedonistic ruling style) led the country into the Great Northern War, with no gain at all and destruction compared to that of the Deluge. Meanwhile, [[RunningGag the tsars]] had their fun bribing nobles to veto the laws, and in some cases not even pretending they aren't enforcing their passing by force of arms. Prussia, which negotiated its way out of its vassal state during the [=1650s=], too had its fun with counterfeit Polish money and an occasional kidnapping of a tall man for Frederick's regiment of giants. At least, by that time Turkey was already beaten down to not cause too many problems.

After a short reign of Henry de Valois (he ran back to his native France just in time to get shanked), the next election chose a king of the Transylvanian dynasty of {{Bathory}}, and he was as metal as it sounds like. In a series of successful wars, he beat back the Muscovite westward expansion. However, Muscovy was there. And it was waiting.

In time, the nobility developed a rather curious worldview, called "Sarmatism". Essentially it traced the nobles' descent from the ancient Sarmatians, known from Roman writings as a nomadic steppe people causing occasional troubles on their northeastern borders. According to those "Sarmatians", the ancient Sarmatians arrived in the lands of the Commonwealth in the antiquity and conquered the local peoples, becoming a ruling class from which the nobility descended. (This occasionally led to interesting developments, such as the nobles feeling more in common with BornInTheSaddle Muslim Tatars than their own peasants, because the Tatars were "more Sarmatian".) If this sounds ridiculous -- it's most likely because it is ridiculous, but interestingly enough, there's just enough eerie details that once you think of it, look as if the nobles might, just might, have been onto something. But, let's now consider what it meant in practice:

Towns were generally cosmopolitan; a Papal envoy was reportedly shocked no end when he arrived in town with a Catholic church, an Orthodox one, and a synagogue side-by-side and discovered the lord of the town [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotHeinous saw nothing wrong with it]]. Business continued, but lack of interest (on part of the nobles) and political power (on part of the cities) stifled their development. A successful burgher might end up ennobled or beaten down, but there wasn't much in the way of Anglo-style gentry. A notable exception was the city of [[IHaveManyNames Gdańsk/Gedania/Danzig/Dantzig/Dantzick]], highly independent due to its role as the node of grain trade, and even known to field its own army.

Apart from [[PolishJews the Jews]] (in multiple flavours ranging from standard Orthodox through Hasidic to Karaite), the Armenians were an influential community, dealing in Eastern and Persian trade and blademaking. Many Germans lived in towns, and Scotsmen were far from unknown. Religious minorities made of Dutchmen and others set up farming communities, notably in northern Poland. Tatars were allowed to settle (and remain Muslim) in exchange for loyalty in the Podlasie region, where they live to this day.

As for the countryside, it's a matter of debate. On one hand, being a walking tool unable to leave your village, having to work on your master's field, and being mediated in conflicts with your master by, wait for it, [[KangarooCourt your master]] sure was a shitty position. On the other, the historical data generally seems to imply that when it comes to disenfranchisement, it was a relatively passable kind of it. As in, you could make a decent living even with the noble bumping in at the least convenient moments, and though you could not leave by law, your lord's neighbour would by no means rat you out if you left for his lands unlawfully. A worker is a worker, after all, who cares if some other guy whines he belongs to him, eh? (Kiss my sabre! What's he gonna do, call the police?!)

Other privileges obtained earlier included the right to due process and to be handled with respect before the verdict was passed, and similar developments now hailed as the basic rights of a citizen of a modern state. Of course, the catch was that only citizens counted. But if AntebellumAmerica or TheApartheidEra RSA could be roughly described as democracies, then, why would the Commonwealth be that much worse?

If one wanted to concisely describe this kind of society, it would probably look this way: one part [[ThePaladin Christian knight]], one part [[AntebellumAmerica American plantation-owning Founding Father]], one part [[WackyFratboyHijinx rowdy fratboy]]. Stir, season, serve [[HotBlooded hot]].

Next in line were elected three kings of the Swedish dynasty of Vasa, or technically, a branch of the Vasas who were staunch Catholics and for this reason left the Protestant Sweden, the kings of which they styled themselves the entire time. In the early [=XVIIth=] Century, internal troubles and the SuccessionCrisis in Moscow led to what began as [[WarForFunAndProfit a Polish magnate's private war]] ended with a couple of years of Polish rule -- but, alas, what might have been the brightest moment in the history of the Commonwealth was wasted as king Sigismund didn't let his son become the Russian tsar. When the French agreed that "Paris is worth a Mass", he did not agree that Moscow is worth a superficial conversion to the Orthodox faith. Eventually, the Muscovians kicked out the Polish garrison, and stuff went only downhill for the Commonwealth.

The last bright period of that century was the reign of Jan Sobieski, a hero of one of the Turkish wars. The calls for help from Austria led him to [[SiegeOfVienna defeat the Turks at the gates of Vienna]], which brought him everlasting fame and us the coffehouses, but he could not capitalise on this victory in any meaningful way.

The [=XVIIIth=] Century was a time of decay -- although not to the nobles, who could be described as all too many cases of RichIdiotWithNoDayJob, except nobody was running around wearing bat ears on his cap. Political infighting caused several civil wars, while the Saxon kings (popular due to their hedonistic ruling style) led the country into the Great Northern War, with no gain at all and destruction compared to that of the Deluge. Meanwhile, [[RunningGag the tsars]] had their fun bribing nobles to veto the laws, and in some cases not even pretending they aren't enforcing their passing by force of arms. Prussia, which negotiated its way out of its vassal state during the [=1650s=], too had its fun with counterfeit Polish money and an occasional kidnapping of a tall man for Frederick's regiment of giants. Interestingly enough, by that time Turkey was already beaten down to not cause too many problems.

The Commonwealth is one of those complicated cases of historical countries that stubbornly refuse to fit into modern views of state and nationality. Until the Constitution of 3rd May, it was legally a union of two countries, Kingdom of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The nobility of the Grand Duchy became for the most part Polonized, but the lower classes were too busy surviving to bother with that fashion, and later nation-builders had to start from the common folk to create anything not Polish; the nobles themselves preferred to identify as "the Noble nation". Thus, Poles see Poland as the successor to all of the Commonwealth, in spite of differences between the two parts, not to mention Ukraine. Lithuanians picture Lithuania as the successor to Grand Duchy, even though ethnic Lithuanians were actually a minority in a country mostly made of modern-day Belarus, and (due to assimilation) their upper classes were culturally Polish anyway. Ukrainians consider themselves descendants of the Ruthenian population of the region, the Rurikid principalities and those who formed the Cossack Host, even though the Cossacks themselves were at least as much [[{{Pirates}} an occupation]] as an ethnic group. Although Belarussians have a claim to Grand Duchy not worse than the Lithuanians, they had all of their upper classes assimilated, or killed off by Hitler and Stalin, so for the most part nobody was left to argue it's not just a swampy small part of Russia. All of the latter three, somewhat expectedly, also tend to see Poland as a sort of BigBrotherBully. The opinions on the Commonwealth can thus vary pretty widely between the historians of these four countries.

--> Rex regnat sed non gubernat. (The king reigns but does not rule.)

In time, the nobility developed a rather curious worldview, called "Sarmatism". Essentially it traced the nobles' descent from the ancient Sarmatians, known from Roman writings as a nomadic steppe people causing occasional troubles on their northeastern borders. According to those "Sarmatians", the ancient Sarmatians arrived in the lands of the Commonwealth in the antiquity and conquered the local peoples, becoming a ruling class from which the nobility descended. (This occasionally led to interesting developments, such as the nobles feeling more in common with BornInTheSaddle Muslim Tatars than their own peasants, because the Tatars were "more Sarmatian".) If this sounds ridiculous -- it's most likely because it is ridiculous, but... Interestingly enough, there's just enough eerie details that once you think of it, look as if the nobles might, just might, have been onto something. But, what it meant in practice?

Heavy cavalry? Have them wear leopard skins and giant metal wings. An armour? A golden-plated scale armour, ridiculous and heavy, but looking just so ''Sarmatian''. Male fashion? BadassMustache or GTFO, gratuitous Turkish garments, and a crimson cape if you can afford it. A speech? Infuse it with so much GratuitousLatin there's hardly any Polish left, and don't forget to cry (the latter also works for any religious services). Political protest? Fall to the ground, block the door with your body, rip your shirt and shout you'll let no one pass. Funeral? Doesn't count if there's no fully-armed Hussar riding into the church in full gallop and breaking his lance against the coffin stand, and ritual demolition of the dead man's insignia of office. Dining? Alternating harsh fasting and lavish feasts. A party? [[StuffBlowingUp Blow up your castle]] and organize a sleigh ride in the middle of summer with sugar in place of snow]].

On the other hand, many a noble sent his sons to a Jesuit school, which granted a passable education and a good grasp of Latin. "Who only knows Latin can go across the whole Poland from one side to the other one just like he was at his own home", noted Creator/DanielDefoe in 1728. Nobles were also shrewd businessmen, even if some had been less than brilliant. As commemorated by a saying: "like Zabłocki on soap" -- Zabłocki was a nobleman who wanted to smuggle some soap by raft to Gdańsk... except it didn't occur to him soap really shouldn't be hidden ''under'' the raft. You know. In water. But apart from him, that grain trade did not spring up -- and be ran -- by itself.

Towns were generally cosmopolitan. Apart from [[PolishJews Jews]], the Armenians were an influential community, dealing in Eastern and Persian trade and blademaking. Many Germans lived in towns, and Scotsmen were far from unknown.

As for the countryside, it's a matter of debate. On one hand, being a walking tool unable to leave your village, having to work on your master's field, and being mediated in conflicts with your master by, wait for it, [[KangarooCourt your master]] sure was a shitty position. On the other, the historical data generally seems to imply that when it comes to disenfranchisement, it was a relatively passable kind of it. As in, you could make a decent living even with the noble bumping in at the least convenient moments, and though you could not leave by law, your lord's neighbour would by no means rat you out if you left for his lands unlawfully. A worker is a worker, after all, who cares if some other guy whines he belongs to him, eh? He can kiss my sabre if he wants. What's he gonna do, call the police?

* {{1632}}: ''Eastern Front'' addresses the Commonwealth and its politics.

Heavy cavalry? Have them wear leopard skins and giant metal wings. An armour? A golden-plated scale armour, ridiculous and heavy, but looking just so ''Sarmatian''. Male fashion? BadassMustache or GTFO, gratuitous Turkish garments, and a crimson cape if you can afford it. A speech? Infuse it with so much GratuitousLatin there's hardly any Polish left, and don't forget to cry (the latter also works for any religious services). Political protest? Fall to the ground, block the door with your body, rip your shirt and shout you'll let no one pass. Funeral? Doesn't count if there's no fully-armed Hussar riding into the church in full gallop and breaking his lance against the coffin stand, and ritual demolition of the dead man's insignia of office. Dining? Alternating harsh fasting and lavish feasts. A party? [[StuffBlowingUp Blow up your castle]] and organize a sleigh ride... [[CrazyAwesome in the middle of summer]]. [[BeyondTheImpossible With sugar in place of snow]].

This miserable time began to turn for the better after the election of Stanisław Poniatowski, CatherineTheGreat's former boy toy (no kidding), in 1764. While not the best of monarchs objectively, he was a man of the Enlightenment, and he supported the movement which was already getting underway. Again, the state was developing culturally and economically, importing know-how from abroad and establishing schools and cultural institutions, despite the fact that in 1772, Prussia, Austria and Russia figured they might as well take some juicier plots of land for themselves. Finally, the cultural unrest achieved its peak at the Great Sejm, and with the passing of the Constitution of the [=3rd=] May in 1791. Interestingly enough, the Constitution can be argued to mark the end of the Commonwealth -- it discarded the old system in favour of a unified state under a constitutional, non-elective monarchy. In any case, it was moot anyway, as in a couple of years the "three black eagles" decided they would carve up the country wholesale rather than see it get better, and in 1795 the country ceased to be.