What if Poland was a Superpower? 

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The Polish-Lithianian Commonwealth is probably one of the most interesting but ignored chapter in human history.

Kids today: "I wish I was born in 70's" When I was a kid: "I wish I was born in a multiverse where PLC becomes a superpower"

"the most frustrating thing is that early modern poland fulfiled all the metrics for a succesfull society" Yah, you have no idea how frustrating it was sitting in hisotry class as a kid in Poland and just hearing 'and then it got worse' every lesson.

This is the best pronounciation of Polish words by an American I've ever heard

To answer that question: If Poland was a superpower there would be freedom and prosperity everywhere + rivers of vodka. instead of McDonalds we would eat at PierogiBar. Russia wouldn’t exist Chernobyl would never happen, WW1 + WW2 would never happen and the Winged Hussars would parade in Constantinople. In 2020 we would start building large hydroponics in space.

Western Europe: killing each other because of the reformation. Poland: Yo that's cringe bro.

Lengyel magyar két jó barát 🇭🇺♥️🇵🇱 Respect from Hungary

Love Poland and Polish people. Poland is a true gem. Love from 🇨🇦

Up until 1653, Poland won every single war against Russia. This is entirely possible. The key is that Poland must defeat Russia during the time of Troubles (1598-1613) because after that the Romanov's take power and they were very competent and strong leaders.

So basically, what if Poland became Proland

In short: Poland CAN into space!

Even in our timeliness, I am proud to be 85% Polish. Land of Copernicus, Madame Curie, chess masters, pierogi, and one of the oldest universities on the face of the planet.

Poland is a Superpower. No other country could still be standing after all they have been through.

One note. Polish serfdom was per farm not per person (male). If a serf had to do 50 days of work for the master and he has four sons then then they could do this work in 10 days. If family had few healthy men (let say 13-50 years old) then the work for the master wasn't particularly troublesome. Whereas in Russia if there was 50 days of work for the master it meant that all men from the farm had to do 50 days each. Furthermore usually serfs had less responsibilities to the master than the law mandated, because if master mast too demanding the serf could easily escape do another master. Serfs started to rebel only when Russia occupied Poland and escaping from one master to another was straitened by Russian army. The main internal problem of Poland and later Commonwealth was that the throne was elective and this started as early as XII century. In the beginning the throne was elective inside of Piast dynasty and there was a lot of infighting. Jagiellons brought stability but throne stayed elective and it was the reason why free election (whole szlachta had right to vote, not only the court nobles) was born. We have also remember that Lithuanian throne was heritable, not elective, during Jagiellons reign and is the reason why Jagiellons often favour Lithuania over Poland and tried to prevent annexation of Lithuania by Poland. The only option for your theory to work that I see is in the modification of Act of Krėva (1386) where Jagiellon dynasty would become hereditary rulers of Poland in exchange for full unification of Poland and Lithuania (new state could have some other name, like Sarmatia :P or Commonwealth, the main issue is that Poland and Lithuania had the same fully hereditary monarchy and in the rulers interest would be to integrate this two entities instead of keeping them separate). Furthermore I thing that if Poland and Lithuania would be fully united in XIV century and the new state would be far stronger that just Poland with occasional support of Lithuania then the mayor focus would be Silesia, Czechia, Hungary and Moldova instead of Russia and Siberia.But still full destruction of Crimean Khanate would have to occur and at some point Poland or Russia would annex it. So uniting all territories of Poland, Lithuania, Kievan Rus, Teutonic Order, Livonian Order, Crimean Khanate, Silesia, Czechia, Hungary, Moldova, Wallachia and Pomerania just feel far more probable for me than going into SIberia. Maybe this state would be interested to extend it borders as far as Volga (quite good natural border) but everything further East would be left to some other Christian state that would be just in depended buffer zone (perhaps Principality of Great Perm?).

The saddest thing is, some of the processes you describe, like the colonisation of Eastern steps, were actually in motion but were stopped by disastrous wars.

Poland: is mentioned Also Poland: hippity hoppity your comment section is now my property

I think it’s also important to note how different the world wars would be. Poland was never, and probably never would be nearly as militaristic and imperial as Russia or Germany. It’s likely that a Great War would still happen, since there were many factors that contributed to it, but it would be tamer. Germany would be weaker than our timeline, and Poland would be a much more competent enemy than the Russian empire was. In the end though it doesn’t really matter. Similar war, similar outcome. The difference is the aftermath. In our timeline, Eastern Europe is on its own. There is no power in any shape to claim dominion over the region, like Austria and Russia were before the war. In this version, Poland wouldn’t collapse. Increased industrialization and greater representation in government removes many of the destabilizing factors that caused the collapse of the Russian empire. Poland would survive the war. Weakened, but easily recoverable. With the collapse of Germany, Austria and the Ottomans, they have complete control over Eastern Europe. Here’s where the differences really take off. Eastern Europe was basically left to its own devices after WWI. The western powers didn’t have much interest in the region and no one was left in the East. This lead to a lot of conflict and war, as well as the rise of Hitler and Stalin. With a strong Poland that doesn’t happen. The East is much calmer, as well as economically successful as Poland influences the nations in the region. Imagine the USSR, but democratic and economically successful. Oh yeah. And WWII doesn’t happen. Maybe Hitler still rises to power, but Germany wouldn’t be able to conquer the world. France and Britain tolerated appeasement because it was directed away from them. Poland doesn’t have that luxury. For Poland, Anschluss would be like Germany annexing the Netherlands. The Munich conference and subsequent occupation of Czechoslovakia would be like Germany invading Belgium. Poland makes it quite clear that they would not tolerate any such action, leaving Hitler’s threats empty words. Further East the Bolsheviks never rise to power, removing the other monster in Eastern Europe. There is no communist revolution, and Stalin never has an opportunity to rise to power. Hell, he might not even live in Poland. And that completely changes everything. Eastern Europe isn’t devastated by these two monsters. War, genocide and economic abuse doesn’t put the East decades behind Western Europe. Poland and its sphere might become an economic counterbalance to American dominance, but they wouldn’t be complete enemies in a Cold War. Overall, it’s a much brighter future. German and Russian culture of conquest and imperialism dominated Eastern Europe in the 18th-20th centuries, and in this alternate history those cultures are missing. Of course, shit could still hit the fan. Germany could end up beating a Poland that’s facing other crises. Nationalism and outside influence could weaken Poland’s sphere. A million things could end the Polish golden age. The only thing for sure is that Russia will never control Eastern Europe. That alone makes this world brighter than ours

I thought the Romans conquering the Americas was the best timeline you'd come up with. I was wrong. This is the best fucking timeline in the history of alt history timelines. I want to marry this timeline and have babies with it.

To think we could have had all this if only we had invested in eastern Poland.

Whatifalthist: Sweden nearly was able to make a global empire thanks to the weakened Poland. Nearly being the key word. Me: Why must you hurt me in this way

I'm simple Pole. I see strong Poland i click like

Last time I was this early, Mithraism could still have become the dominant european religion

Pre-partitions Poland is an extremely interesting topic.

My grand grand [...] father was the "Szlachcic" in does times. He was a colonel of the Crown Forces under the armored banner. In 1683 he became lieutenant colonel and commander of the infantry regiment of J. Gniński. He fought with the turks in vienna but not as the husar (Sadly) but as the armored cavalary. Im very proud of him. Im lucky that my family timeline preserved this long.

Poland: The hero we needed but not deserved

"If God is with us, then who is against us?" Motto of the PLC.

The problem was that most of the people in Poland didn't have a representation in Sejm (polish parliament) and the other problem was that polish szlachta didn't pay taxes, because of that PLC didn't have a well equipped army, but that wasn't the worse, the worse was of course the Liberum Veto act, which made Sejm unable to make any reforms of the state or even to impose greater taxes during wars

Don't do it, don't give me hope...

That feeling of approval you feel when someone remembers the good times in your country

Cossacs stopped to be polish allies because they wanted to fight, and on one point poland stopped fighting for a few years, the cossacs wanted to fight so they attacked te frontiers of polish neighbours in the east, wich made polish nobility and the king very upset, when the poles stopped paying them because of their fighting, cossacs decided to rebel againts polish rule, with bohdan chmielnicki as a leader and create their own country with help of the ottomans, at least thats what i learned in school, im from poland

I see thicc Poland, I watch video. That simple.

Last time i was this early, Poland-Lithuania still had Moscow under their control.

As a Hungarian, this world sounds like an amazing dream

Now this is a scenario I can get behind and I’m not even polish

If Poland was a superpower.. *God would be finally happy.*

People in this alternative history: what if Russia was a Superpower?

0:38 Respect Sir for posting this map, and not a widely accepted XVIII century one. Partitions did begun with Swedish-muscovite deluge, even though players changed

One of you’re best ‘WhatIfAltHist’ Absolutely phenomenal

**Korea furiously taking notes in the background**

So how many times do you want to partition Poland? Germany and Russia: YES

The rise and decline of Poland were both caused by the same thing - discovery of the Americas. In the early phase of colonization of the New World, Poland became very rich quickly by selling raw resources, mostly grain and timber, to the western powers which focused on trans-Atlantic expansion. Once the colonies in the Americas were properly established with their vast resources, the obsolete Polish economy spiralled down the drain, forcing the ruling classes to squeeze even more from their serfs to sustain the national defense (=the nobility). Most people ignore economical reasons of historical events, like changing prices of timber and grain. Not to mention fun fact that Poland used to be of the biggest producers of red dye (from local insects Polish cochineal), another industry that crashed thanks to discovering of cheaper alternative in Mexico. You can't fund an effective army without money. That didn't necessarily have to cause the complete collapse of PLC but they had to act quickly, which they couldn't thanks to the noble democracy and nearly constant wars with Ottomans and Russia, additionally complicated by Cossacks rebellions. A country at the frontier of civilisation couldn't afford the luxury of weakening its nobility which did all the fighting. When medieval French and German fought, the noble prisoners were exchanged for money and concessions. When PLC and Ottomans fought the prisoners were castrated and sold in slave markets in Constantinople. To survive, let alone become a superpower, PLC would have to solve Cossacks question, either by assimilating them or maybe by recognizing some form of their autonomy. Creating a separate, third member state of Ruthenia/Ukraine/Cossackistan with separate laws, could allow weakening the nobility of the safer, historical parts of Poland, and speed up its urbanisation and industrialisation. Maybe. Long term they also had to annex Prussia to solve the Gdansk corridor issue, which of course they couldn't know would lead to their doom in XVIIIc.

Bringing back The Commonwealth *Winged hussars intensifies*

The Mongols managed to conquer a huge empire n a short time, many times against all odds. This scenario isnt that crazy.

I think this is the earliest I've ever found a new video.

Can you do what if France had better demographics in the 19th century? While other european states tripled their populations from the end of the Napoleonic wars to the start of ww1 the French barely grew and only by 50% having especially little growth post Franco-Prussian war. What if Frances population growth matched Britain and Germany and it remained the dominant power in Europe or even had a bigger colonial empire in the Americas? (perhaps the conquest of Mexico would succeed with stronger French demographics)

What if my wife didn’t divorce me?

When Whatifalthist is more Native American than Elizabeth Warren 9:09

Wouldn’t it be more realistic for Siberia to become a vassal of Poland? Since Siberia kind of has to depend on Poland or China for trade. The Poles would have to conquer the Caucasus to actually get defensible borders as well. At least as vassal states.

Me as a Polish person watching this video and emphasizing every occurence of "WAS" and "HAD". Lol.

I'm actually creating an althistory of the Polish navy based on this concept, whether it be the successful annexation of Russia as the aftermath of the Polish-Muscovite War, or a PLC that stayed the size of its greatest extent. Basically, battleships.

I love your maps, they really show how much effort you put into your videos, and they are always interesting to look at

When i saw the thumbnail i said "oh god"

The Eastern Europe that could have been... Strong, developed, and most of all, united.

*Who doesn't respect and value his past, is not worth the honour of the present, and has no right to a future.* ~Józef Piłsudski Such an impressive and true statement. Unfortunately many of today's people does not celebrete and honour their history and that's bad.

Where's my "What if Empress Irene accepted Charlemagne's marriage proposal"?

As an American Polonophile from Chicago I approve of this video.

Next video’s title: What if people will start saying Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth or Poland-Lithuania instead of Poland.

Love Poland from México. 🇵🇱🇵🇱🇲🇽🇲🇽

WHEN THE WINGED HUSSARS ARRIVED!!!!!

One thing: "Szlachta" is just a Polish word for nobility. You don't need to say this word when you talk in English.

I find it odd that you do not imagine Poland attempting conquests against the HRE.

Kudos for managing to tie your ad into both the video's subject and current events.

Been wanting this video so much, thank you!

Greetings from Poland! Pozdrowienia z Polski Dziękujemy za wspanialy odcinek o naszym narodzie ojczystym!

3:05 uh, not sure if that map is correct, half of Lithuania seems to be depicted under Catholic for some reason. 6:20 I'm not sure if the tribal map is also accurate? Lithuania by the 16th century had been long a feudal power, since out tribes were united into a single country in the 13th century. Still an awesome video, it's really interesting to think how different the world would have been if the Commonwealth wouldn't have collapsed.

What if poland was a superpower? Me, a Europa universalis player: challenge accepted

you disregard the importance of trade, the main thing that held back russia from modernizing. basically the same thing applies to poland aswell. just getting rid of serfdom wont fix the lack of trade routes and connections to form a burgeoisie to counterbalance the nobles. it really is no historical accident that states in eastern europe never really developed a sufficiently large burgeoisie.

*The polish juggernaut cannot be stopped*

Man is it weird that im American, but I love Poland in everyway and would love to see Poland back to its former glory?

This is beyond underrated, it feels a bit at-home made, but that's not a bad thing, because the message and points are brought straight and strong. Good job

I've been waiting a looong time for this, my dear historian friend

Being Polish I have to remind you all that the Commonwealth was not just Poland. A lot of people were Polish, but a lot were Ruthenians and quite a few Lithuanians as well. it's a little like saying someone is a New Yorker instead of a citizen of the US.

The polish good ending :') that's so builtiful!

I looked at the title and thought "It was during the commonwealth with Lithuania in the late 1500s- early 1600s."

"What if Poland was a Superpower" That was a good one man!

I'm a simple hungarian I see Poland i click :D

*This... This puts a smile on my face*

Always appreciate your insights. I run a consultancy doing International business...fairly successfully. Thinking through these types of scenarios always gives one an advanced set of tools in the analytical toolbox over anyone else. History describes people and how they acted given certain motivations...but using it for insight will give one a competitive advantage in understanding business internationally. Encouragements in your successes.

What if Howard Dean hadn’t done “the dean scream” and would have won the 2004 election?

Jagiellonian dynasty atcualy was from lithuania

A nice surprise after the election results in Poland

Wouldn’t Germany unify sooner with the pressure of two superpowers on both sides? I can see a Germany under Austria being formed much earlier in this timeline.

I really love to see small RU-vidrs have sponsorship

Poland's cultural elite at the time of her decline were much like our celebrities today. Rich, influential, harp on about fairness and equity but have contracts that 'the staff' are not allowed to look them in the eyes, rules for us, not for them, stuff for them, not for us. And siding with the enemies of their nation

"Nobody will fight for our freedom" sad but true

Great video, still looking forward to the Suez Crisis one too.

Poland stronk timelines are a guilty pleasure to me.

This is the timeline in which i conquer the wfas map with poland

16:00 Poland: *is destined and has all the things needed to unite Europe* Also Poland: *fails because it's lazy*

Nice job bro keep it cause its very interesting

Fun fact: Poland conquered the Moscow two times in history

Just finished readind The Trilogy by Henryk Sienkiewicz, so I’m currently really into the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth! Best novels I’ve ever read and most interesting country that’s always forgotten

It was interesting to watch this video about my country. Especially that I can see that Liberum veto wasn't the actual cause of collapse, as many here in Poland believe.

I hope that the countries of the Intermarium region with Poland at the fore in the future will create a structure similar to the First Rzeczpospolita and will constitute a military counterbalance to Russia.

This is one of those channels that leaves you thinking "Dam, wish I'd thought of that first".

Everybody is saying poland, but nobody is saying poland-lithuania :(

Hey, I'm from Poland and this video was shown to me on the youtube homepage. Soon a large army of Polish viewers will come here and they will take over the comments sections.

finally a time line where Poland doesn't get sandwiched

this is the most blessed timeline possible