How Lithuanian was Poland Lithuania? (Short Animated Documentary)
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- čas přidán 30. 07. 2019
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How Lithuanian was the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth? Not very, frankly.
Sources:
‘How Firm was the Polish-Lithuanian Federation?’ by Joseph Jakstas
‘The Problem of Unity in the Polish-Lithuanian State’ by Oswald P. Backus
A Concise History of Poland by Jerzy Lukowski and Hubert Zawadski
A Concise History of the Baltic States by Andrejs Plakans
How Hungarian was Austria-Hungary?
How Norwegian was Denmark-Norway?
The Denmark-Norway one is interresting as it was clearly dominated by Denmark but they have comparable population, I can only really think of the cultural similarities as a reason it was kept togethor
After the political reforms of the 1860s, Hungary had enough autonomy to be considered a separate country in certain ways, albeit under the same political leadership and common policy.
Cossack Historian the Hungarian part of the empire had a lot of power actually it controled it’s own half of the empire such as Croatia and Slovakia and it can refuse demands from the Austrian government such as during ww1 when it refused to sell food to Austria and it can dissolve the union anytime such as after ww1 when it left the union and it had it own army so unlike the polish Lithuanian commonwealth Hungary was an equal to Austria And wanted to maintain the status quo and repeatedly shot down many attempts to federalize the empire.
@Chargingpath - well Hungary had a lot of control over its own half of the country and was close to independent, but had no power over Austria itself
or what about how portuguese was iberian union
As a Scottish person, I can really relate to Lithuania
Lithuania, Hungary and Scotland meet at a bar.
*Scotland:* "Hey, how did you guys become subservient to your bigger neighbor?"
*Lithuania:* "Oh, we feared we would be swallowed up by Russia so we had no choice but to agree to their terms. Hungary?"
*Hungary:* "They used the fact we were dismembered by the Ottomans and then reconquered those lands to themselves. How about you, Scotland?"
*Scotland:* "...We tried to set up a colony in Panama."
yarpen26 Hey look man it seemed like a good idea at the time
Also note that the first king of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was Lithuanian. Ring a bell?
@@PasserMontanus "What happens when the Commonwealth is yours... And then you lose it."
Same here, I’m welsg
One important thing to keep in mind, though, is that the Commonwealth was not a national state (or a union of two national states) as we understand that term today. The king did not care whether you spoke polish, lithuanian or german or whatever other local language, as long as you paid your taxes and did not cause trouble.
Polonisation of the lithuanian part was therefore not an official state policy.
It just happened because speaking polish was seen as a sign of upward social mobility since the polish (high) nobility had the richer fiefs at the outset of the union.
The german speaking nobility in Prussia and Courland never polonised that much, because those places were semi-autonomous in the first place and also quite wealthy, due to their access to the sea.
The commonalty did not polonise in most parts because this question of social status was a moot point for them anyway.
Spot on stuff re: social status. I hope most people realize as well that Latin was the language that was spreading at first rather than Polish, though it eventually followed.
That said, just have to note that exception that the Prussian Baltic areas did self-Polonize in at least one very specific way. After opposing it initially, the German speaking burghers and nobles participated in local sejmniks for local governance and sent representatives to the Sejm. Why? Because it was a means to exercise political clout, and they learned to wield it just like everyone else. Accordingly, Poland's relatively broad franchise parliamentary style of politics spread as an institution north just as it had spread east to Lithuania. In other words, the political culture assimilated via useful institutions. Source: The Oxford History of Poland-Lithuania, Vol 1 by Robert Frost.
@@zubstep I was only refering to the adoption of the language, not the political system.
But you are of course correct in that people adopted all those polish customs that gave them more influence and power.
Which is also the reason why the citizens of Danzig were very adamant about being loyal subjects of the polish king and NOT the teutonic order (or the dukes of Prussia after the order had been secularised). More self-determination and fewer taxes.
MOOT
"The king did not care whether you spoke polish, lithuanian or german or whatever other local language, as long as you paid your taxes and did not cause trouble."
They were more advanced as a country than Western Europe at the time
The commonwealth wasint called Polish lithuanian commonwealth, in Lithuanian its "Abiejų tautų respublika" which translates "two nation republic"and in polish its "Rzeczpospolita Obojga Narodów" which also translated "two nation republic, so its more made sence to call just "Commonwealth" or "two nation commonwealth" and not "Polish lithuanian commonwealth".
"Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth" is the established name in English though, so calling it something else would have made the video title confusing.
@@HeadsFullOfEyeballs Yeah they kind ruined the name, it should just be commonwealth because it was the ONLY commonwealth IN THE WORLD.
@@englishrival2020 Well kinda. The world Rzeczpospolita is an archaic word and is an literal translation of latin res publica just like commonwealth. Rzeczpospolita used to refer to every republic whether it was Roman Republic, Republic of Venice or PLC.
@@coloneltaynov7314 lol what? The official name of Poland is Rzeczpospolita Polska. It's not archaic at all. And you got it completely wrong - Rzeczpospolita refers only to Poland and every other republic is just "republika".
@@GreenRatel Only nowadays. As late as the early 20th century some people talked about the Rzplita Francuska, among others. The English name was changed probably because they didn't want to call a monarchy a republic, even if they do so in regards to Venice, which was officially a monarchy.
This video has inspired me to play EU4 as the Commonwealth
Good luck
Poland is OP after 1.27
My tip: if Austria rivals bohemia royal marry with the bohemians (dont ally them) and when they will have your dynasty on the throne claim it and declare war for easy personal union.
just came back from a byzantium attempt. rip me
I am a Pole and I always found playing Poland as boring... PU with Lithuania makes you so fucking OP that you would have to start a wor with the entire HRE to loose anything! It's broken. And then you get Winged Hussars to make it even more ridiculous xD
You should’ve mentioned the Jagiellonian dynasty, one of the main ruling families of Poland of Lithuanian origins, and the Radziwiłł family, one of if not the most powerful noble magnate families of the Commonwealth who were also originally Lithuanian (Radivillus), and, quite ironically, were some of the largest contributors to Polonization in the Grand Duchy.
It's Radvilos sis
Not Radvillus but Radvilos. But you are right. Thanks for pointing that out.
Radizwiłłs still exist, surprisingly.......
AnnoyinglySalty Yep. The wife of one of the Radziwill’s was on the reality show “The Real Housewives of NYC”.
@@anonimusmusic9095 Nice fake account and fake history, conflict-baiting putlerbot :) Does Dugin and the Kremlin at least pay you enough for all this spam so you could afford a VPN to be able to access proper internet like the rest of us?
1:26 "Polish being the largest group, followed by Ruthenians, Ukrainians..."
Should be "followed by Ruthenians". Those later developed into Belarussians and Ukrainians.
Yeah
Not exactly. Ukrainian cultural identity during the XVII century was already high enough to consider them a nation of their own.
@@buckplug2423 not true. There was no such word as Ukrainian even back then. Plus there didn't have their own identity because they were part of the ruthaian family. There were ruthaian dialects but not languages as you know it today. Belarusian and Ukrainian was only starting to separate.
@@buckplug2423 Well, it's arguable. If we consider linguistic split and eventual separation of Ukrainian and Belorussian languages it would be more like late XVIII century.
So, my point is there is no hard line
@@user-cn8vj5rs5c Fair point.
Lithuania is a beautiful country, i was there in 2014 and I was blown away by how friendly people were, within 10 minutes of getting on the bus outside Vilnius central station a man asked me "Where are you from"? (I had a suitcase), I told him Australia and that I was very excited to be in his country as I had been reading about the grand dukes since I was 12. He smiled and said "You have come such a long way, your country is so big and I must say WELCOME TO MY LITHUANIA!!!" It was so nice to feel so welcome. In Klaepedia I was talking to the tour guide who took us to Nida for the day, took us Amber hunting on the Curonian Spit (Baltic Sea side) and once it was established that I had a genuine interest in Lithuania, that I had read books and knew my history, I basically had her to myself for the whole day, everyone else on the tour was an after-thought, I had an amazing time and when a bag went around to do an additional collection at the end of the day I slipped a €50 in it for her. When I went to a national park and stayed in a hotel kind of thing, it was a homestay kind of thing, I was wearing my Ukraine hoodie and the host thtew her arms around me and went full out in Russian, I only speak a little bit of Ukranian, not Russian but I picked up that she called me "brother" and even when i broke the news that I was Australian, I was treated special for the 2 day stay, the national park was amazingly beautiful, kyaking around the streams and through the lakes was amazing, even being attacked by a white swan was AMAZING. When I left I got off at the old Polish/Lithuanian border and made a little promise to the universe that I would return one day. Lithuania holds a very special place in my heart and always will. Finland is another favourite of mine but Lithuania felt like a second home to me 😚
Dang, that’s awesome, makes me want to travel again. Thanks for sharing mate :)
im lithuanian and i'd say my country is alright but it's nice to hear that u liked visiting the country
Hello my frends forever !
@@prypiatshadow6371 has it changed for the better or worse?
@@ohnoitsthecatman738 50/50
"Getting carved up by your Russian and German speaking neighbours, POLISH"
I love this channels humour
Yes XD
Well, Lithuania was partitioned between Third Reich (Klaipeda region) and Soviet Union, too.
@@TheXander008 0. Kurwa
I mean... Gotta admit that's accurate af
@@TheXander008 You suck and you know it.
All i have to say is: WE NEED A JAGIELLON
pick a local noble instead
@@mulan-jinglesemusicas1513 Much better choice, quick PU with Bohemia afterwards
WE NEED A PIAST
As a Muscovy player:
All pay you as much as you want, just pick a local noble
@@The-Samuil If you allow me to PU you than I won't chose a Lithuanian.
I am one of those Polonized Lithuanians. Was sure all my life that I am pure Polish, then after DNA tests, realised that my ancestors were Lithuanian aristocrats polonized centuries ago. Still have 55% of Baltic blood though :)
If you're talking about the Baltic haplogroup, it's quite common in South-Western Russia as well, and even found in significant (>10%) proportions as far as Chelyabinsk. Everyone's mixed.
But if it's more than that, heritage doesn't have to come from centuries ago, it could easily come from less distant relatives who just went to Poland for education and/or opportunities, because Vilnius university was closed or something. I have even heard a story of a family getting completely Polonised during 1920s Vilnius region occupation. Lithuanian activists were actively persecuted, so one Lithuanian linguist decided that the best disguise was to move to Poland, pretend to be Polish and never tell your kids the truth...
The disguise worked, but the children of this anti-Polonization Lithuanian activist grew up Polish...
Yes the Piłsudski times - I wonder what was a better choice for Lithuanians being part of after WW1 Poland or one of Soviet Republics run by Leninists and then Stalin. Looks like neither one.
@@pliedtka yeah, neither option was ideal. The Soviets acknowledged the existence of Lithuanian identity, but actively tried to kill every educated and even remotely wealthy or influential figure remaining from pre-occupation times, whereas the Poles would have likely left the intellectual and layers intact as long as they cooperated, but seeked to eliminate all traces of Lithuanian national identity at any cost and replace it with the a Polish one...
But hey, at least of one of the two forces mentioned is mostly friendly these days.
@@pliedtka by the way, did you make a comment where you mentioned your doctor and then deleted it? It shows up in my notifications feed...
The whole "Vilnius was 2% lithuanian in 1897" is bs. It was written by the russian empire which was trying to russify lithuania. Lithuanian press was forbiden untill 1904 and in those statistic the poles arent the biggest majority too it was jews. Lithuanians lost Grodno, lida, breslav, ashmiana, suwalki and Vilnius which was populated by ethnic lithuanians before. And the whole polish-lithuanian war is misunderstood. Pilsudski didnt want vilnius because it was "polish". Both Pilsudski and Želigowski wanted to restore the "old lithuania" the multi-ethnic and multi-lingual lithuania. And they both came from polonised lithuanian nobility. While the ethnic lithuanians wanted a "new lithuanian nation" populated only by ethnic lithuanians because of the whole polonisation, russofication and slavification in the past and vilnius is a historical city of lithuania. Pilsudski wrote a letter in two languages to the people of Vilnius in lithuanian and polish. He even promised to return Vilnius to Lithuanians if they accepted their vision of Lithuania but they refused which is the whole reason why the polish puppet state the republic of central lithuania was made. My great grandmother was just a polish speaking lithuanian.
I love the new 3 minute format, keep up the great work!
Lithuanians see the Union with Poland as a curse but there was no other way.
It was either getting culturally integrated by Poland or bleeding ourselves out with Sweden or russia
union was a necessity for lithuania as russia was getting stonger and more agressive taking back "eternal russian land". unfortunately it brought poland into conflict with not only russia but also with sweden through livonia which caused the downfall of poland
Aš suprantu... Well, if it helpes anything, we didn't intend to do all that. At least not in concept. But hey, we got some good times kicking Russians and that counts! :D
Vienos kalbos niekada negana! ;)
In the end it didn't help much,sadly it just gave them some more time.
And still after polonization and especially after rusianization we stayed ethnic Lithuanians and we kept our language which is thousands years old
Curse? That is sad. No one forced Lithuanian elites to polonise themselves. And they had equal rights as polish nobility.
It is the longely awaited "The Early Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth" you promised?
I'm pretty sure that was scrapped alongside all the potential 10-minute videos.
But this term Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth wrong! This term is wrong because the term Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is a modern, nonsensical invention by 20th century historians that does not correspond to reality. This state was never called Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. NEVER! Used in international treaties and diplomacy, the state has been called the most serene ( most high) Rzeczpospolita Poland. Its residents simply referred it in the everyday language as Rzeczpospolita or Poland occasionally also the crown.
In addition the Commonwealth of Nations as the union of the former British colonies has the official title "Commonwealth". If one compare these Polish state of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries with this Commonwealth one can see how absurd the term Commonwealth is instead of Rzeczpospolita. The correct translation of Rzeczpospolita would actually be republic. But it would still be wrong to use the English term republic to refer to this Polish state, because the republic is actually defined today as the opposite of a monarchBut Poland was a matchless democratic noble republic at the time and therefore something vey special. So if there is no suitable translation for a term, then the proper noun from the original language is usually used. In this case it is the Polish proper name Rzeczpospolita.
By the way, I know that's done in English-speaking countries, that republik is mistranslated as Commonwealth. This is because English is a very chaotic language with many vague terms. Unfortunately, this is currently the lingua franca worldwide. Republic derived from Latin res publica for public affair is definitely not the same as common wealth. That's a fact. Public affair is not the same as common wealth! Therefore Commonwealth is the wrong translation for Rzeczpospolita! Just because many use a wrong translation does not mean that it becomes a correct translation. Republic derived from Latin res publica for public affair is definitely not the same as common wealth (Commonwealth.) That's a fact. Public affair is not the same as common wealth! Therefore Commonwealth is the wrong translation for Rzeczpospolita!
The term Rzeczpospolita seems difficult to pronounce for non-Poles. But that is not the case at all. With a little practice, anyone can pronounce the term correctly, even you. A little help: Rz is pronounced like the "isi" in vision. So virzon sounds like vision. Cz sounds like the "ch" in church. So Czurcz sounds like church. But if one just use "sh" instead of "rz", that sounds close to Polish. "Ch" can be used instead of "cz". So Shechpospolita would be written in English, which could be pronounced without problems. So there is no reason not to use this correct term Rzeczpospolita.
By the way, the Polish Empire could also be used as an alternative to Rzeczpospolita for this state if one wants to use a modern term. Because that was a Polish Empire and not a Polish Lithuanian Empire. Because the Poles completely dominated this state and were the rulers.
I'll explain that in detail in the next comment!
@@GreatPolishWingedHussars least nationalistic Pole
Thanks for telling that your country oppressed Lithuanians and Ruthenians.
@@akkiaddizone6889 Yup there are many of them, they want to erase Lithuania from it despite many of the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth kings and queens being Lithuanian.
He even said Vilnius and land near Latvia were Polish.
Note that many of the terms that you have used changed their meaning since then. In 16th-18th century, e.g. no one would think of the city of Lviv as being located in Ukraine because that name was used for lands east of Volhynia and Podolia. There was also no distinction between the Belarusian, Ukrainian and Russian languages - there were only Ruthenians who spoke various East Slavic dialects that formed the basis for the respective languages.
Lithuanian was also a term that changed its meaning and at that time it was used to refer to the Grand Duchy, e.g. to distinguish between places with identical names, e.g. Brest-Litovsk was known in Polish as Brześć Litewski to distinguish it from Brześć Kujawski, and the current Belarusian capital, Minsk, was known as Mińsk Litewski, so one's interlocutor can know that you mean a place further away from Warsaw than Mińsk Mazowiecki.
In 16th-18th century, there was no distinction between the Belarusian, Ukrainian and Russian languages? You're delusional. The spoken form of these languages had probably diverged way earlier; and written Old East Slav was no longer a thing by that time.
@@arthursimsa9005 difference were probably quite big already but people from that time seen all of those languages just as Ruthenian which was pretty vague term overall and nowadays would be quite well fit into eastern slavic languages family.
Yeah right ! The video didn't make clear enough how much the Poles dominated Lithuania. The Poles were the imperial ruling ethnic group of the empire, which also clearly shows the politicization of Lithuania. Because it was worthwhile to belong to the imperial ruling ethnic group of Poland, there was this polonization. In fact, this is also clearly shown by the real name of the state. The ruling Poles have also determined what the state should be called Polisch Rzeczpospolita! The Polish name was then adopted by the Lithuanians into the Liatuish languages as "Žečpospolita". By the way, Polish term for nobility ”szlachta” was also adopted into Lithuanian as ”šlėkta” like many other Polish words. As the video shows, the official languages were Polish and Latin. Everywhere the upper class spoke Polish. Before being taken over by Poland in 1385, the East Slavic language Ruthenian, as most common language, was used as the written language, not Lithuanian. Lithuanian was mostly used as a spoken language and not in writing, because the earliest surviving written Lithuanian text is a translation dating from about 1503-1525. The first book printed in the Lithuanian language was in 1547. The majority of the loanwords in Lithuanian were from Polish. This is also why Polish was able to spread so successfully in the Lithuanian. So the languages Lithuanian and Ruthenian were supplanted by Polish. Everywhere in the empire the upper class spoke Polish. Poles completely dominated the Lithuanians. Lithuania was voluntarily polonized. All relevant was Polish like also the Polish currency Polski Złoty. Złoty means golden in Polish. The capitals of the entire state were the Polish cities of Krakow and Warsaw.
Several times in history Poles have proposed Polish-Russian Union to Russian nobility. But that was always rejected by the Russian nobility becuas they were afraid of polonization, as was already happening with Lithuanian and Ruthenian nobility. Because in fact, the Ruthenian territories were also polonized although these areas originally belonged to the Lithuanian dominion, but through the Union of Krewo in 1385, these Ruthenian areas, like the entire Lithuanian dominions, came under Polish supremacy. Step by step these areas were polonized.
Polish dominance over Lithuania also illustrates that the Polish king automatically became the grand duke of Lithuania. That was by far not the only additional title of the Polish kings. For example, the Polish King Sigismund III Vasa had in addition to the Polish royal title, Grand Duke of Lithuania and Grand Duke of Finland, Prince of Rus, Prussia, Mazovia, Volhynia, Podolia, Podlaskie, Severia, Czernihów, Samogitia, Livonia, also Hereditary King of Sweden. Rus stands for Russia because the Poles ruled large areas of Russia at the time, and even Moscow was briefly occupied by Polish troops. Samogitia stands for the Baltic States, which the Polish king largely ruled. Hereditary king of Sweden and Grand Duke of Finland because the Polish king was also the king of Sweden for a short time. But he lost the power in Sweden and Finland. This list of titles makes it clear that Grand Duke of Lithuania was just one of the many titles of the Polish king. But the most important title was always King of Poland.
But he titles of Polish kings were not always identical so the titles of other Polish kings like Stephen Báthory, also make clear. Grand Duke of Lithuania and Prince of Rus, Prussia, Mazovia, Volhynia, Podolia, Podlaskie, Severia, Czernihów, Samogitia, Kiev, Volhynia, Podlaskie, Livonia and Transylvania. He ruled large areas in southern Europe up to the Black Sea with Moldova. In 1462 even Caffa in Crimea was a protectorate of Poland. But only a short time because the armies of Polish King Casimir IV were involved with the war against the Teutonic Order and therefore he couldn't defend Caffa against the Ottomans. Poland was in the 15. century the largest kingdom in Europe. So it is no exaggeration to call this state a Polish empire because the Polish kings ruled at least over 15 different peoples and also over 5 different religious groups because an empire is a multi-ethnic state with political and military dominion of a population who are culturally and ethnically distinct from the imperial ruled ethnicities and its culture. So by the imperial ruling population of Poles. This all shows the Polish dominance because in an empire reigns and dominates just one ethnic group. The Polish king was the head of all inhabitants of the empire.
In the end, the title Grand Duke of Lithuania was just one of many Polish king's titles. The title was particularly important only at the beginning of the Polish rule over Lithuania, when the Lithuanian nobility was not yet Polonized. At that time the Poles still had to pretend the Lithuanian nobility that this was not a takeover. The treaty of Krewo for personal union of Poland with Lithuania in 1385 was the decisive step in Poland's takeover of Lithuania. This union was declared indissoluble. This personal union meant that the Polish king should also be the ruler of Lithuania. In fact, the union treaty also contained the provision of the attaching of Lithuanian and Ruthenian lands to the Polish Crown. However, the various other treaties wich followed this treaty actually meant the takeover and Polonization of Lithuania too. A significant resolution was the adoption of Polish administrative divisions and offices like voivode and castellan by Lithuania. Even more important was that in total 47 selected Lithuanian nobles were adopted by Polish nobles heraldic families and granted Polish coats of arm. This symbolic gesture signified their desire to adopt Polish customs and integrate into Polish society. Because of this possibility of heraldic adoption, Poland had a much higher proportion of nobles than other European kingdoms. In Poland, the proportion of nobles in the total population was already 10-15% in the 16th century, in the rest of Europe it was 1%. Thus the Union of Krewo in 1385 signified the beginnings of the strengthened Polonization of Lithuania. Strengthened Polonization because the Polonization actually started before the Union of Krewo, because the Lithuania was Christianized from Poland. Priests, especially from Poland, Christianized Lithuania and priests had great influence at that time, so there was already a Polish influx in Lithuania before the Union of Krewo.
The revolutionary constitution Nihil Novi in 1505 passed by the Polish parliament applied to the entire Polish Empire as well as to Lithuania. Through this constitution, Poland became the Rzeczpospolita Nobles' Democracy! The state was no longer called the Kingdom of Poland, but the most serene (most high) Rzeczpospolita Poland. The constitution was the primary element of the democratic governance in the Polish kingdom which granted Parliament extensive powers. The Parliament (sejm) was a powerful political institution and the king could not pass most of laws without the approval of that body. Poland, along with England, was a leader in democratic development in Europe, that was, in the world! Warsaw was the primary location of the sejm. The Lithuanians have adopted the Polish word "sejm" as "seimas" for parliament from Polish! With this constitution, the Polish nobility, including the Polonized nobility in Lithuania and Ruthenia, actually had power in the state. Later the constitution was supplemented with the Henrycian Articles, which stipulated that the Polish king was elected by the nobility. The Articles incorporated the Warsaw Confederation provisions guaranteeing almost unprecedented religious freedom. It is worth to underline that according to the Articles, if the King were to transgress against the law or the privileges of the the nobility, the Articles authorized the the nobility to refuse the king’s orders and act against him. As mentioned above, the nobility made up up to 10-15% of the population in the Polish Empire, which meant that 10-15% of the population had democratic rights. This was revolutionary in comparison to other European nations ruled despotically by a single monarch, with the exception of the English.The final fusing was then in 1569 with the Union of Lublin. This union replaced the personal union with the real union of Poland and Lithuania. This union showed clearly how advanced the asimilation of Lithuania was. That was the last act of the polonization of Lithuania, in which it was only legally determined what had long been factual, that Poland had completely absorbed Lithuania. Poland was successful for centuries The Polish Empire, along with England, was a leader in democratic development in Europe, that was, in the world!
I explain why the term Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is wrong in detail in the next comment below!
So here I explain in detail the name of Poland, repeating some aspects from above. To call this state Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is wrong. This term is wrong because the term Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is a modern, nonsensical invention by 20th century historians that does not correspond to reality. This state was never called Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. NEVER! Used in international treaties and diplomacy, the state has been called the most serene ( most high) Rzeczpospolita Poland (Polish: Najjaśniejsza Rzeczpospolita Polska, Latin: Serenissima Res Publica Poloniae or also Rzeczpospolita of the Polish Kingdom or Rzeczpospolita of Poland. Its residents simply referred it in the everyday language as Rzeczpospolita or Poland occasionally also the crown.
In addition the Commonwealth of Nations as the union of the former British colonies has the official title "Commonwealth". If one compare these Polish state of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries with this Commonwealth one can see how absurd the term Commonwealth is instead of Rzeczpospolita. The correct translation of Rzeczpospolita would actually be republic. But it would still be wrong to use the English term republic to refer to this Polish state, because the republic is actually defined today as the opposite of a monarch. But Poland was a monarchical republic back then and therefore something special. If there is no suitable translation for a term, then the proper noun from the original language is usually used. In this case it is the Polish proper name Rzeczpospolita.
By the way, I know that's done in English-speaking countries, that republik is mistranslated as Commonwealth. This is because English is a very chaotic language with many vague terms. Unfortunately, this is currently the lingua franca worldwide. Republic derived from Latin res publica for public affair is definitely not the same as common wealth. That's a fact. Public affair is not the same as common wealth! Therefore Commonwealth is the wrong translation for Rzeczpospolita! Just because many use a wrong translation does not mean that it becomes a correct translation. Republic derived from Latin res publica for public affair is definitely not the same as common wealth (Commonwealth.) That's a fact. Public affair is not the same as common wealth! Therefore Commonwealth is the wrong translation for Rzeczpospolita!
Moreover, the term is being used incorrectly because the Polish term Rzeczpospolita has been mistranslated as Commonwealth. So the term Commonwealth is used because of an incorrect translation. For that reason alone, one should not use this term. In addition the Commonwealth of Nations as the union of the former British colonies has the official title "Commonwealth". If one compare these Polish state of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries with this Commonwealth one can see how absurd the term Commonwealth is instead of Rzeczpospolita. The term Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealt was not used at all in earlier times. It would be appropriate to speak of Rzeczpospolita because that was the traditional and official name of this state as a whole, including all duchies i.e. all areas dominated by the Polish Parliament and the Polish King. It is a combination of rzecz "thing, matter" and pospolita "common", a calque of the Latin res publica (res "thing" + publica "public, common"), so the republic, incorrectly translated as Commonwealth in English. By the way, in Poland, the word Rzeczpospolita is used exclusively in relation to the Republic of Poland, while other republic is referred to in Polish as "republika". Used in international treaties and diplomacy, the state has been called the most serene ( most high) Rzeczpospolita Poland (Polish: Najjaśniejsza Rzeczpospolita Polska, Latin: Serenissima Res Publica Poloniae or also Rzeczpospolita of the Polish Kingdom or Rzeczpospolita of Poland. Its residents simply referred it in the everyday language as Rzeczpospolita or Poland occasionally also the crown. But the state was never called Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. NEVER! The term Rzeczpospolita seems difficult to pronounce for non-Poles. But that is not the case at all. With a little practice, anyone can pronounce the term correctly, even you. A little help: Rz is pronounced like the "isi" in vision. So virzon sounds like vision. Cz sounds like the "ch" in church. So Czurcz sounds like church. But if one just use "sh" instead of "rz", that sounds close to Polish. "Ch" can be used instead of "cz". So Shechpospolita would be written in English, which could be pronounced without problems. So there is no reason not to use this correct term.
Another thing - while the nobles of all areas overwhelmingly spoke Polish (because that was the language of the elites), the common people did not. For instance, the nobles of the Ukrainian part of the commonwealth spoke Polish, but the peasants spoke Ukrainian. Same in Lithuania - the Lithuanian language was preserved by the peasants and other commoners.
But the idea that Belarussian, Russian and Ukrainian were all the same was inaccurate - it is more accurate to say that there was more of a continuum of language, the same way that there was once a continuum of language from Madrid to Paris, with the language changing slightly with every passing mile from one city to the other, but being quite different in Paris from Madrid.
But it is the case that the modern concept of Belarus was basically defined as that part of the eastern Slavs who ended up in the Lithuanian (as opposed to Polish) part of the commonwealth. The dividing line between old Lithuania and Old Poland is essentially today's dividing line between Belarus and Ukraine.
Interesting video. Never thought of it until I saw this video.
Great work!
Bring back 10 min. history!
Or just some longer episodes
absolutely, but i do still enjoy these
Yes please!
I prefer the shorter format
That would be helpful to fully explain how difficult it is to properly established just _who_ exactly could be seen as "Lithuanian" back then.
Can you do a video on how the Polish-Lithuania Commonwealth was formed?
Poland had a problem with Teutonic Order and Lithuania
Lithuania had a problem with Teutonic Order and Moscovy
Solution?
Why not kill two birds with one stone?
FUUUUSION! Boom - Commonwealth emerged.
@@TheXander008 except you forget Muscovian tzar Ivan the Terrible occupied 1/2 of Grand Duchy of Lithuania and they needed to get rid of him, so Lithuanians traded Ukraine and independence for Polish help.
So basically both poland and lithuania were surrounded by enemies from all sides which made them both good friend which made them marry and unite to stand against germans, tatars, russians and turks
Wasn’t also about inheritance as well? Weren’t the kings of Poland and Lithuania prior to the Union brothers, and after the King of Poland died in a crusade against the Ottomans. Their was a succession crisis as he had no immediate heir, so they nobles decided to name the king of Lithuania their new King. Which at least set the stones to the Commonwealth.
@@brandonlyon730 History of Unions between Lithuania is long.
First was in 1385 and the reason for that was desctibed by this dude above us. (Teutonic agression)
Thing that you mentioned is the dead of Władysław III king of Poland and Hungary in that time Jagiellonian dynasty ruled both in Poland and Lithuania. After his death his brother Casimir IV became king and renew the Union in 1447 but it wasn't Commonwealth yet.
Commonwealht was created in 1569 by the last Jaggielon king in defense against Russia who already seized half of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
I always marvel at the level of detail in every map in every video. He gets rigths exclaves and tricky shapes and everything.
The per se good video contains some mistakes. One of the most important mistakes is the use of the term Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. To use this term is wrong because this term is a modern, nonsensical invention by 20th century historians that does not correspond to reality. This state was never called Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. NEVER! Used in international treaties and diplomacy, the state has been called the most serene ( most high) Rzeczpospolita or also Rzeczpospolita of the Polish Kingdom or Rzeczpospolita of Poland. Its residents simply referred it in the everyday language as Rzeczpospolita or Poland occasionally also the crown. I explain why the term Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is wrong in detail in the next comment below! By the way, the Polish Empire could also be used as an alternative to Rzeczpospolita for this state if one wants to use a modern term. Because that was a Polish Empire and not a Polish Lithuanian Empire. Because the Poles completely dominated this state and were the rulers. The video didn't make clear enough how much the Poles dominated Lithuania. In fact, this is also clearly shown by the real name of the state. The ruling Poles have also determined what the state should be called Polisch Rzeczpospolita! The Polish name was then adopted by the Lithuanians into the Liatuish languages as "Žečpospolita". By the way, Polish term for nobility ”szlachta” was also adopted into Lithuanian as ”šlėkta” like many other Polish words. As the video shows, the official languages were Polish and Latin. Everywhere the upper class spoke Polish. When Lithuania was united with Poland in 1385, the East Slavic language Ruthenian, as most common language, was used as the written language, not Lithuanian. Lithuanian was mostly used as a spoken language and not in writing, because the earliest surviving written Lithuanian text is a translation dating from about 1503-1525. The first book printed in the Lithuanian language was in 1547. The majority of the loanwords in Lithuanian were from Polish. This is also why Polish was able to spread so successfully in the Lithuanian. So the languages Lithuanian and Ruthenian were supplanted by Polish. Everywhere in the empire the upper class spoke Polish. Poles completely dominated the Lithuanians. Lithuania was voluntarily polonized. All relevant was Polish like also the Polish currency Polski Złoty. Złoty means golden in Polish. The capitals of the entire state were the Polish cities of Krakow and Warsaw.
Several times in history Poles have proposed Polish-Russian Union to Russian nobility. But that was always rejected by the Russian nobility because many Russians were afraid of polonization, as was already happening with Lithuanian and Ruthenian nobility. Because in fact, the Ruthenian territories were also polonized although these areas originally belonged to the Lithuanian dominion, but through the Union of Krewo in 1385, these Ruthenian areas, like the entire Lithuanian dominions, came under Polish supremacy. Step by step these areas were polonized.
Polish dominance over Lithuania also illustrates the fact that with the coronation as Polish king, the Polish king automatically became the grand duke of Lithuania. And that was by far not the only additional title to the title of the Polish king. For example the Polish King Sigismund III Vasa totaled these titles in addition to the title of King of Poland. Grand Duke of Lithuania and Grand Duke of Finland, Prince of Rus, Prussia, Mazovia, Volhynia, Podolia, Podlaskie, Severia, Czernihów, Samogitia, Livonia, also Hereditary King of Sweden. Rus stands for Russia because the Polish king and parliament ruled large areas of Russia at the time, and even Moscow was briefly occupied by the Polish king's troops. Samogitia stands for the Baltic States, which the Polish king largely ruled. Hereditary king of Sweden and Grand Duke of Finland because the Polish king was also the official king of Sweden for a short time. But he lost power in Sweden and Finland. This list of titles makes it clear that Grand Duke of Lithuania was just one of the many titles of the Polish king. But the most important title was always King of Poland.
The official titles of other Polish kings, such as Stephen Báthory, also make this clear. But he titles of Polish kings were not always identical. What also clarifies Stephen Báthory's titles: Grand Duke of Lithuania and Prince of Rus, Prussia, Mazovia, Volhynia, Podolia, Podlaskie, Severia, Czernihów, Samogitia, Kiev, Volhynia, Podlaskie, Livonia, also Prince of Transylvania. He ruled large areas in southern Europe up to the Black Sea with Moldova. In 1462 even Caffa in Crimea was a protectorate of the Polish King. But only a short time because the armies of King Casimir IV were involved with the war against the Teutonic Order and therefore could not defend Caffa against the Ottomans. Poland was in the 15. century the largest kingdom in Europe. So it is no exaggeration to call this state a Polish empire because the Polish kings ruled at least over 15 different peoples and also over 5 different religious groups because an empire is a multi-ethnic state with political and military dominion of a population who are culturally and ethnically distinct from the imperial ruled ethnicities and its culture. By the way, the imperial ruling population were the Poles. This all shows the Polish dominance because in an empire reigns and dominates just one ethnic group. The Polish king was the head of all inhabitants of the empire.
In the end, the title Grand Duke of Lithuania was just one of many Polish king's titles. The title was particularly important only at the beginning of the Polish rule over Lithuania, when the Lithuanian nobility was not yet Polonized. At that time the Poles still had to pretend the Lithuanian nobility that this was not a takeover. The treaty of Krewo for personal union of Poland with Lithuania in 1385 was the decisive step in Poland's takeover of Lithuania. This union was declared indissoluble. This personal union meant that the Polish king should also be the ruler of Lithuania. In fact, the union treaty also contained the provision of the attaching of Lithuanian and Ruthenian lands to the Crown of Poland. However, the various other treaties which followed this treaty actually meant the takeover and Polonization of Lithuania too. A significant resolution was the adoption of Polish administrative divisions and offices like voivode and castellan by Lithuania. Even more important was that in total 47 selected Lithuanian nobles were adopted by Polish nobles heraldic families and granted Polish coats of arm. This symbolic gesture signified their desire to adopt Polish customs and integrate into Polish society. Because of this possibility of heraldic adoption, Poland had a much higher proportion of nobles than other European kingdoms. In Poland, the proportion of nobles in the total population was already 10-15% in the 16th century, in the rest of Europe it was 1%. Thus the Union of Krewo in 1385 signified the beginnings of the strengthened Polonization of Lithuania. Strengthened Polonization because the Polonization actually started before the Union of Krewo, because the Lithuania was Christianized from Poland. Priests, especially from Poland, Christianized Lithuania and priests had great influence at that time, so there was already a Polish influx in Lithuania before the Union of Krewo.
The revolutionary constitution Nihil Novi in 1505 passed by the Polish parliament applied to the entire Polish Empire as well as to Lithuania. Through this constitution, Poland became the Rzeczpospolita Nobles' Democracy! The state was no longer called the Kingdom of Poland, but the most serene (most high) Rzeczpospolita Poland. The constitution was the primary element of the democratic governance in the Polish kingdom which granted Parliament extensive powers. The Parliament (sejm) was a powerful political institution and the king could not pass most of laws without the approval of that body. Poland, along with England, was a leader in democratic development in Europe, that was, in the world! Warsaw was the primary location of the sejm. The Lithuanians have adopted the Polish word "sejm" as "seimas" for parliament from Polish! With this constitution, the Polish nobility, including the Polonized nobility in Lithuania and Ruthenia, actually had power in the state. Later the constitution was supplemented with the Henrycian Articles, which stipulated that the Polish king was elected by the nobility. The Articles incorporated the Warsaw Confederation provisions guaranteeing almost unprecedented religious freedom. It is worth to underline that according to the Articles, if the King were to transgress against the law or the privileges of the the nobility, the Articles authorized the the nobility to refuse the king’s orders and act against him. As mentioned above, the nobility made up up to 10-15% of the population in the Polish Empire, which meant that 10-15% of the population had democratic rights. This was revolutionary in comparison to other European nations ruled despotically by a single monarch, with the exception of the English.The final fusing was then in 1569 with the Union of Lublin. This union replaced the personal union with the real union of Poland and Lithuania. This union showed clearly how advanced the assimilation of Lithuania was. That was the last act of the Polonization of Lithuania, in which it was only legally determined what had long been factual, that Poland had completely absorbed Lithuania. Poland was successful for centuries The Polish Empire, along with England, was a leader in democratic development in Europe, that was, in the world!
In the next comment I will explain why it is wrong to call the Polish Empire the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth!
So here I explain why it is wrong to call the Polish Empire the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, repeating some aspects from above. To call this state Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is wrong. This term is wrong because the term Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is a modern, nonsensical invention by 20th century historians that does not correspond to reality. This state was never called Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. NEVER! Used in international treaties and diplomacy, the state has been called the most serene ( most high) Rzeczpospolita Poland (Polish: Najjaśniejsza Rzeczpospolita Polska, Latin: Serenissima Res Publica Poloniae or also Rzeczpospolita of the Polish Kingdom or Rzeczpospolita of Poland. Its residents simply referred it in the everyday language as Rzeczpospolita or Poland occasionally also the crown.
In addition the Commonwealth of Nations as the union of the former British colonies has the official title "Commonwealth". If one compare these Polish state of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries with this Commonwealth one can see how absurd the term Commonwealth is instead of Rzeczpospolita. The correct translation of Rzeczpospolita would actually be republic. But it would still be wrong to use the English term republic to refer to this Polish state, because the republic is actually defined today as the opposite of a monarch. But Poland was a monarchical republic back then and therefore something special. If there is no suitable translation for a term, then the proper noun from the original language is usually used. In this case it is the Polish proper name Rzeczpospolita.
By the way, I know that's done in English-speaking countries, that republik is mistranslated as Commonwealth. This is because English is a very chaotic language with many vague terms. Unfortunately, this is currently the lingua franca worldwide. Republic derived from Latin res publica for public affair is definitely not the same as common wealth. That's a fact. Public affair is not the same as common wealth! Therefore Commonwealth is the wrong translation for Rzeczpospolita! Just because many use a wrong translation does not mean that it becomes a correct translation. Republic derived from Latin res publica for public affair is definitely not the same as common wealth (Commonwealth.) That's a fact. Public affair is not the same as common wealth! Therefore Commonwealth is the wrong translation for Rzeczpospolita!
Moreover, the term is being used incorrectly because the Polish term Rzeczpospolita has been mistranslated as Commonwealth. So the term Commonwealth is used because of an incorrect translation. For that reason alone, one should not use this term. In addition the Commonwealth of Nations as the union of the former British colonies has the official title "Commonwealth". If one compare these Polish state of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries with
this Commonwealth one can see how absurd the term Commonwealth is instead of Rzeczpospolita. The term Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealt was not used at all in earlier times. It would be appropriate to speak of Rzeczpospolita because that was the traditional and official name of this state as a whole, including all duchies i.e. all areas dominated by the Polish Parliament and the Polish King. It is a combination of rzecz "thing, matter" and pospolita "common", a calque of the Latin res publica (res "thing" + publica "public, common"), so the republic, incorrectly translated as Commonwealth in English. By the way, in Poland, the word Rzeczpospolita is used exclusively in relation to the Republic of Poland, while other republic is referred to in Polish as "republika". Used in international treaties and diplomacy, the state has been called the most serene ( most high) Rzeczpospolita Poland (Polish: Najjaśniejsza Rzeczpospolita Polska, Latin: Serenissima Res Publica Poloniae or also Rzeczpospolita of the Polish Kingdom or Rzeczpospolita of Poland. Its residents simply referred it in the everyday language as Rzeczpospolita or Poland occasionally also the crown. But the state was never called Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. NEVER! The term Rzeczpospolita seems difficult to pronounce for non-Poles. But that is not the case at all. With a little practice, anyone can pronounce the term correctly, even you. A little help: Rz is pronounced like the "isi" in vision. So virzon sounds like vision. Cz sounds like the "ch" in church. So Czurcz sounds like church. But if one just use "sh" instead of "rz", that sounds close to Polish. "Ch" can be used instead of "cz". So Shechpospolita would be written in English, which could be pronounced without problems. So there is no reason not to use this correct term
I love you man these are all so comprehensive I find myself watching your videos to affirm my studies lol
How to trigger a lithuanian: call Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth just Poland :)
@tu tu fucking autocorrect...
That feel when Poland cucked over lithuania like 20 times and most ppl don't even know about it. I really mean it, like most Polish people haven't heard about Polish agression for Vilnus.
Yeah, we do learn about it in school. It was called "Żeligowsky's Revolt", is this what you meant?
@@SKYCROOSWILSON census made by russians in 1897 shows that Lithuanians were only 2% in the area
@@mateuszk6825 zazdroszczę u mnie w regionie 1 na 20 osób wie, że ta wojna się wogóle wydarzyła.
So if the Lithuanians were polonized, does that make Lithuania a polony?
I'll see myself out...
Polonialism...
Make sure not to touch Polonium while going out!
Polonium was named after "Poland", a small historical detail
@@seneca983 Polished version of colonialism
@@grzegorzkonieczny2682: Haha!
(Or maybe colonialism is a colored version of polonialism.)
England would be a Polony now then😂
I love your channel keep up the great stuff!!
He never stopped a single second. Good job bro
Every time you said "Winged Hussars" I understood it as "Winter Tsars". I was quite confused by the end as you mentioned them a lot and described them as world famous and I was like "who were these famed winter tsars, why have I not heard of them!?".
So, just your regular Russian Tsar then ?
Fuckin same
Haha, same 😁
Same here ... I looked for 'winter tsars' ...no wonder why I did not find anything 😂...thank you for enlightening me 👍.
There was one czar famous for something happening in winter areas
I love your videos, man. They’re short and sweet. No unnecessarily fluff, you just jump right in. You have no idea how thankful I am for a history channel that doesn’t run 10+ minutes each video just to get the extra ad dollar.
Fascinating! I love these short questions!
I did a Baltic tour in that year and visited all the countries touching the Baltic Sea. Without any hesitation I can say I loved all of those countries and peoples.
And thus modern Polish identity was in part shaped by Polonized Belarusians (Ruthenians from the Grand Duchy), who called themselves Lithuanians but understood being Lithuanian as a special kind of being Polish, like Kościuszko or Mickiewicz. That's why the Polish national epic "Pan Tadeusz" starts with the words "Oh Lithuania, my homeland!" and takes place in modern Belarus. I love our weird history. :)
Also, YEaH! History Matters made a video about Poland-Lithuania and it's just about one aspect of it, so more may come in the future!
This is actually much closer to the truth than the point of view presented in the video. Slavic peoples' history is too complicated for Anglo-Saxons to grasp:)
@@AndyRhye true
@@hanshoffmann2582 Same as the rest of peasants all across the world. Not really that special.
there was no belarus ever, today is soviet creation
Hans Hoffmann you see the thing is, Polish peasants were treated the same way by the nobility really, that’s why peasants didn’t like the monarchs.
Mate can you make a video on weird colonies. Kurland, Scotland etc...m
The Hospitaller Antilles!
@@SamAronow wow you just piqued my interest and I learned something new. Thank you
@@CDexie Happy to help!
Yeah Scotland was such a weird colony of England
Scotland =/= colony
Really good explanation - hard to find weak points, well done!
BUT...The good video contains some mistakes. One of the most important mistakes is the use of the term Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. To use this term is wrong because this term is a modern, nonsensical invention by 20th century historians that does not correspond to reality. This state was never called Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. NEVER! Used in international treaties and diplomacy, the state has been called the most serene ( most high) Rzeczpospolita or also Rzeczpospolita of the Polish Kingdom or Rzeczpospolita of Poland. Its residents simply referred it in the everyday language as Rzeczpospolita or Poland occasionally also the crown. I explain why the term Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is wrong in detail in the next comment below! By the way, the Polish Empire could also be used as an alternative to Rzeczpospolita for this state if one wants to use a modern term. Because that was a Polish Empire and not a Polish Lithuanian Empire. Because the Poles completely dominated this state and were the rulers. The video didn't make clear enough how much the Poles dominated Lithuania. In fact, this is also clearly shown by the real name of the state. The ruling Poles have also determined what the state should be called Polisch Rzeczpospolita! The Polish name was then adopted by the Lithuanians into the Liatuish languages as "Žečpospolita". By the way, Polish term for nobility ”szlachta” was also adopted into Lithuanian as ”šlėkta” like many other Polish words. As the video shows, the official languages were Polish and Latin. Everywhere the upper class spoke Polish. When Lithuania was united with Poland in 1385, the East Slavic language Ruthenian, as most common language, was used as the written language, not Lithuanian. Lithuanian was mostly used as a spoken language and not in writing, because the earliest surviving written Lithuanian text is a translation dating from about 1503-1525. The first book printed in the Lithuanian language was in 1547. The majority of the loanwords in Lithuanian were from Polish. This is also why Polish was able to spread so successfully in the Lithuanian. So the languages Lithuanian and Ruthenian were supplanted by Polish. Everywhere in the empire the upper class spoke Polish. Poles completely dominated the Lithuanians. Lithuania was voluntarily polonized. All relevant was Polish like also the Polish currency Polski Złoty. Złoty means golden in Polish. The capitals of the entire state were the Polish cities of Krakow and Warsaw.
Several times in history Poles have proposed Polish-Russian Union to Russian nobility. But that was always rejected by the Russian nobility because many Russians were afraid of polonization, as was already happening with Lithuanian and Ruthenian nobility. Because in fact, the Ruthenian territories were also polonized although these areas originally belonged to the Lithuanian dominion, but through the Union of Krewo in 1385, these Ruthenian areas, like the entire Lithuanian dominions, came under Polish supremacy. Step by step these areas were polonized.
Polish dominance over Lithuania also illustrates the fact that with the coronation as Polish king, the Polish king automatically became the grand duke of Lithuania. And that was by far not the only additional title to the title of the Polish king. For example the Polish King Sigismund III Vasa totaled these titles in addition to the title of King of Poland. Grand Duke of Lithuania and Grand Duke of Finland, Prince of Rus, Prussia, Mazovia, Volhynia, Podolia, Podlaskie, Severia, Czernihów, Samogitia, Livonia, also Hereditary King of Sweden. Rus stands for Russia because the Polish king and parliament ruled large areas of Russia at the time, and even Moscow was briefly occupied by the Polish king's troops. Samogitia stands for the Baltic States, which the Polish king largely ruled. Hereditary king of Sweden and Grand Duke of Finland because the Polish king was also the official king of Sweden for a short time. But he lost power in Sweden and Finland. This list of titles makes it clear that Grand Duke of Lithuania was just one of the many titles of the Polish king. But the most important title was always King of Poland.
The official titles of other Polish kings, such as Stephen Báthory, also make this clear. But he titles of Polish kings were not always identical. What also clarifies Stephen Báthory's titles: Grand Duke of Lithuania and Prince of Rus, Prussia, Mazovia, Volhynia, Podolia, Podlaskie, Severia, Czernihów, Samogitia, Kiev, Volhynia, Podlaskie, Livonia, also Prince of Transylvania. He ruled large areas in southern Europe up to the Black Sea with Moldova. In 1462 even Caffa in Crimea was a protectorate of the Polish King. But only a short time because the armies of King Casimir IV were involved with the war against the Teutonic Order and therefore could not defend Caffa against the Ottomans. Poland was in the 15. century the largest kingdom in Europe. So it is no exaggeration to call this state a Polish empire because the Polish kings ruled at least over 15 different peoples and also over 5 different religious groups because an empire is a multi-ethnic state with political and military dominion of a population who are culturally and ethnically distinct from the imperial ruled ethnicities and its culture. By the way, the imperial ruling population were the Poles. This all shows the Polish dominance because in an empire reigns and dominates just one ethnic group. The Polish king was the head of all inhabitants of the empire.
In the end, the title Grand Duke of Lithuania was just one of many Polish king's titles. The title was particularly important only at the beginning of the Polish rule over Lithuania, when the Lithuanian nobility was not yet Polonized. At that time the Poles still had to pretend the Lithuanian nobility that this was not a takeover. The treaty of Krewo for personal union of Poland with Lithuania in 1385 was the decisive step in Poland's takeover of Lithuania. This union was declared indissoluble. This personal union meant that the Polish king should also be the ruler of Lithuania. In fact, the union treaty also contained the provision of the attaching of Lithuanian and Ruthenian lands to the Crown of Poland. However, the various other treaties which followed this treaty actually meant the takeover and Polonization of Lithuania too. A significant resolution was the adoption of Polish administrative divisions and offices like voivode and castellan by Lithuania. Even more important was that in total 47 selected Lithuanian nobles were adopted by Polish nobles heraldic families and granted Polish coats of arm. This symbolic gesture signified their desire to adopt Polish customs and integrate into Polish society. Because of this possibility of heraldic adoption, Poland had a much higher proportion of nobles than other European kingdoms. In Poland, the proportion of nobles in the total population was already 10-15% in the 16th century, in the rest of Europe it was 1%. Thus the Union of Krewo in 1385 signified the beginnings of the strengthened Polonization of Lithuania. Strengthened Polonization because the Polonization actually started before the Union of Krewo, because the Lithuania was Christianized from Poland. Priests, especially from Poland, Christianized Lithuania and priests had great influence at that time, so there was already a Polish influx in Lithuania before the Union of Krewo.
The revolutionary constitution Nihil Novi in 1505 passed by the Polish parliament applied to the entire Polish Empire as well as to Lithuania. Through this constitution, Poland became the Rzeczpospolita Nobles' Democracy! The state was no longer called the Kingdom of Poland, but the most serene (most high) Rzeczpospolita Poland. The constitution was the primary element of the democratic governance in the Polish kingdom which granted Parliament extensive powers. The Parliament (sejm) was a powerful political institution and the king could not pass most of laws without the approval of that body. Poland, along with England, was a leader in democratic development in Europe, that was, in the world! Warsaw was the primary location of the sejm. The Lithuanians have adopted the Polish word "sejm" as "seimas" for parliament from Polish! With this constitution, the Polish nobility, including the Polonized nobility in Lithuania and Ruthenia, actually had power in the state. Later the constitution was supplemented with the Henrycian Articles, which stipulated that the Polish king was elected by the nobility. The Articles incorporated the Warsaw Confederation provisions guaranteeing almost unprecedented religious freedom. It is worth to underline that according to the Articles, if the King were to transgress against the law or the privileges of the the nobility, the Articles authorized the the nobility to refuse the king’s orders and act against him. As mentioned above, the nobility made up up to 10-15% of the population in the Polish Empire, which meant that 10-15% of the population had democratic rights. This was revolutionary in comparison to other European nations ruled despotically by a single monarch, with the exception of the English.The final fusing was then in 1569 with the Union of Lublin. This union replaced the personal union with the real union of Poland and Lithuania. This union showed clearly how advanced the assimilation of Lithuania was. That was the last act of the Polonization of Lithuania, in which it was only legally determined what had long been factual, that Poland had completely absorbed Lithuania. Poland was successful for centuries The Polish Empire, along with England, was a leader in democratic development in Europe, that was, in the world!
In the next comment I will explain why it is wrong to call the Polish Empire the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
So here I explain why it is wrong to call the Polish Empire the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, repeating some aspects from above. To call this state Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is wrong. This term is wrong because the term Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is a modern, nonsensical invention by 20th century historians that does not correspond to reality. This state was never called Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. NEVER! Used in international treaties and diplomacy, the state has been called the most serene ( most high) Rzeczpospolita Poland (Polish: Najjaśniejsza Rzeczpospolita Polska, Latin: Serenissima Res Publica Poloniae or also Rzeczpospolita of the Polish Kingdom or Rzeczpospolita of Poland. Its residents simply referred it in the everyday language as Rzeczpospolita or Poland occasionally also the crown.
In addition the Commonwealth of Nations as the union of the former British colonies has the official title "Commonwealth". If one compare these Polish state of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries with this Commonwealth one can see how absurd the term Commonwealth is instead of Rzeczpospolita. The correct translation of Rzeczpospolita would actually be republic. But it would still be wrong to use the English term republic to refer to this Polish state, because the republic is actually defined today as the opposite of a monarch. But Poland was a monarchical republic back then and therefore something special. If there is no suitable translation for a term, then the proper noun from the original language is usually used. In this case it is the Polish proper name Rzeczpospolita.
By the way, I know that's done in English-speaking countries, that republik is mistranslated as Commonwealth. This is because English is a very chaotic language with many vague terms. Unfortunately, this is currently the lingua franca worldwide. Republic derived from Latin res publica for public affair is definitely not the same as common wealth. That's a fact. Public affair is not the same as common wealth! Therefore Commonwealth is the wrong translation for Rzeczpospolita! Just because many use a wrong translation does not mean that it becomes a correct translation. Republic derived from Latin res publica for public affair is definitely not the same as common wealth (Commonwealth.) That's a fact. Public affair is not the same as common wealth! Therefore Commonwealth is the wrong translation for Rzeczpospolita!
Moreover, the term is being used incorrectly because the Polish term Rzeczpospolita has been mistranslated as Commonwealth. So the term Commonwealth is used because of an incorrect translation. For that reason alone, one should not use this term. In addition the Commonwealth of Nations as the union of the former British colonies has the official title "Commonwealth". If one compare these Polish state of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries with
this Commonwealth one can see how absurd the term Commonwealth is instead of Rzeczpospolita. The term Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealt was not used at all in earlier times. It would be appropriate to speak of Rzeczpospolita because that was the traditional and official name of this state as a whole, including all duchies i.e. all areas dominated by the Polish Parliament and the Polish King. It is a combination of rzecz "thing, matter" and pospolita "common", a calque of the Latin res publica (res "thing" + publica "public, common"), so the republic, incorrectly translated as Commonwealth in English. By the way, in Poland, the word Rzeczpospolita is used exclusively in relation to the Republic of Poland, while other republic is referred to in Polish as "republika". Used in international treaties and diplomacy, the state has been called the most serene ( most high) Rzeczpospolita Poland (Polish: Najjaśniejsza Rzeczpospolita Polska, Latin: Serenissima Res Publica Poloniae or also Rzeczpospolita of the Polish Kingdom or Rzeczpospolita of Poland. Its residents simply referred it in the everyday language as Rzeczpospolita or Poland occasionally also the crown. But the state was never called Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. NEVER! The term Rzeczpospolita seems difficult to pronounce for non-Poles. But that is not the case at all. With a little practice, anyone can pronounce the term correctly, even you. A little help: Rz is pronounced like the "isi" in vision. So virzon sounds like vision. Cz sounds like the "ch" in church. So Czurcz sounds like church. But if one just use "sh" instead of "rz", that sounds close to Polish. "Ch" can be used instead of "cz". So Shechpospolita would be written in English, which could be pronounced without problems. So there is no reason not to use this correct term.
Fantastic summary with good humour! Dobre!
Hey History Matters, love your content. Think you can do a video/small series on the Bosnian war? Would really love to learn more about it!
As a Pole I admire Lithuanian culture and language. Its so misterious and beautifull.
Read about their history before union. They were also really badass. Last nation to adopt Christianity. Successfully fighting off Teutonic and Livonian Orders for century or two. Made quite a empire, conquering ruthenian lands many time larger than their homeland.
Sure you do
Worship Giltine, acquire crusade.
@@mittag6326 it was more an effort of future belarusians than lithuanians. Also they didn't conquer any of ruthenian lands. They were either connected by marriage or voluntary join
The fact is that the Polish minority in Lithuania today is discriminated, disadvantaged and patronized by the Lithuanians. Today Lithuania would actually be obliged to set up bilingual (Polish Lithuanian) road signs in areas densely populated by poles. But Lithuania does not do that. In 2014 Šalčininkai district municipality administrative director Bolesław Daszkiewicz (Written in Polish) was fined about €12,500 for failure to execute a court ruling to remove Lithuanian-Polish street signs. Lucyna Kotłowska was fined ~€1700!
The Lithuanians forced the Poles to Lithuanize their surnames, i.e. the spelling of the Polish surnames was changed against the will of the citizens, despite the Polish-Lithuanian agreement of 1994 which was supposed to protect the rights of the Lithuanian and Polish minorities. For example, the name Kleczkowski has to be spelled Klečkovski in official documents.
These are just a few examples of many of the permanent discrimination against Poles in Lithuania! This has nothing to do with the crimes against Poles in the past. Becuase in 1918 in Wilno, today's Vilnius, the overwhelming majority of the population spoke Polish and only 4% of the inhabitants spoke Lithuanian. Unfortunately, the majority of the Polish population was expelled from the city and the area after 1945. Poles were also murdered during the expulsion. What is left is a Polish minority that is being discriminated against.
Just discovered your channel! Great videos, I'm subscribed :)
Very good videos. Very good context. As a lithuanian very glad that you created entire video about us.
@@tezja6775 exactly, Vilnius and not wILnO
The per se good video contains some mistakes. One of the most important mistakes is the use of the term Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. To use this term is wrong because this term is a modern, nonsensical invention by 20th century historians that does not correspond to reality. This state was never called Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. NEVER! Used in international treaties and diplomacy, the state has been called the most serene ( most high) Rzeczpospolita or also Rzeczpospolita of the Polish Kingdom or Rzeczpospolita of Poland. Its residents simply referred it in the everyday language as Rzeczpospolita or Poland occasionally also the crown. I explain why the term Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is wrong in detail in the next comment below! By the way, the Polish Empire could also be used as an alternative to Rzeczpospolita for this state if one wants to use a modern term. Because that was a Polish Empire and not a Polish Lithuanian Empire. Because the Poles completely dominated this state and were the rulers. The video didn't make clear enough how much the Poles dominated Lithuania. In fact, this is also clearly shown by the real name of the state. The ruling Poles have also determined what the state should be called Polisch Rzeczpospolita! The Polish name was then adopted by the Lithuanians into the Liatuish languages as "Žečpospolita". By the way, Polish term for nobility ”szlachta” was also adopted into Lithuanian as ”šlėkta” like many other Polish words. As the video shows, the official languages were Polish and Latin. Everywhere the upper class spoke Polish. When Lithuania was united with Poland in 1385, the East Slavic language Ruthenian, as most common language, was used as the written language, not Lithuanian. Lithuanian was mostly used as a spoken language and not in writing, because the earliest surviving written Lithuanian text is a translation dating from about 1503-1525. The first book printed in the Lithuanian language was in 1547. The majority of the loanwords in Lithuanian were from Polish. This is also why Polish was able to spread so successfully in the Lithuanian. So the languages Lithuanian and Ruthenian were supplanted by Polish. Everywhere in the empire the upper class spoke Polish. Poles completely dominated the Lithuanians. Lithuania was voluntarily polonized. All relevant was Polish like also the Polish currency Polski Złoty. Złoty means golden in Polish. The capitals of the entire state were the Polish cities of Krakow and Warsaw.
Several times in history Poles have proposed Polish-Russian Union to Russian nobility. But that was always rejected by the Russian nobility because many Russians were afraid of polonization, as was already happening with Lithuanian and Ruthenian nobility. Because in fact, the Ruthenian territories were also polonized although these areas originally belonged to the Lithuanian dominion, but through the Union of Krewo in 1385, these Ruthenian areas, like the entire Lithuanian dominions, came under Polish supremacy. Step by step these areas were polonized.
Polish dominance over Lithuania also illustrates the fact that with the coronation as Polish king, the Polish king automatically became the grand duke of Lithuania. And that was by far not the only additional title to the title of the Polish king. For example the Polish King Sigismund III Vasa totaled these titles in addition to the title of King of Poland. Grand Duke of Lithuania and Grand Duke of Finland, Prince of Rus, Prussia, Mazovia, Volhynia, Podolia, Podlaskie, Severia, Czernihów, Samogitia, Livonia, also Hereditary King of Sweden. Rus stands for Russia because the Polish king and parliament ruled large areas of Russia at the time, and even Moscow was briefly occupied by the Polish king's troops. Samogitia stands for the Baltic States, which the Polish king largely ruled. Hereditary king of Sweden and Grand Duke of Finland because the Polish king was also the official king of Sweden for a short time. But he lost power in Sweden and Finland. This list of titles makes it clear that Grand Duke of Lithuania was just one of the many titles of the Polish king. But the most important title was always King of Poland.
The official titles of other Polish kings, such as Stephen Báthory, also make this clear. But he titles of Polish kings were not always identical. What also clarifies Stephen Báthory's titles: Grand Duke of Lithuania and Prince of Rus, Prussia, Mazovia, Volhynia, Podolia, Podlaskie, Severia, Czernihów, Samogitia, Kiev, Volhynia, Podlaskie, Livonia, also Prince of Transylvania. He ruled large areas in southern Europe up to the Black Sea with Moldova. In 1462 even Caffa in Crimea was a protectorate of the Polish King. But only a short time because the armies of King Casimir IV were involved with the war against the Teutonic Order and therefore could not defend Caffa against the Ottomans. Poland was in the 15. century the largest kingdom in Europe. So it is no exaggeration to call this state a Polish empire because the Polish kings ruled at least over 15 different peoples and also over 5 different religious groups because an empire is a multi-ethnic state with political and military dominion of a population who are culturally and ethnically distinct from the imperial ruled ethnicities and its culture. By the way, the imperial ruling population were the Poles. This all shows the Polish dominance because in an empire reigns and dominates just one ethnic group. The Polish king was the head of all inhabitants of the empire.
In the end, the title Grand Duke of Lithuania was just one of many Polish king's titles. The title was particularly important only at the beginning of the Polish rule over Lithuania, when the Lithuanian nobility was not yet Polonized. At that time the Poles still had to pretend the Lithuanian nobility that this was not a takeover. The treaty of Krewo for personal union of Poland with Lithuania in 1385 was the decisive step in Poland's takeover of Lithuania. This union was declared indissoluble. This personal union meant that the Polish king should also be the ruler of Lithuania. In fact, the union treaty also contained the provision of the attaching of Lithuanian and Ruthenian lands to the Crown of Poland. However, the various other treaties which followed this treaty actually meant the takeover and Polonization of Lithuania too. A significant resolution was the adoption of Polish administrative divisions and offices like voivode and castellan by Lithuania. Even more important was that in total 47 selected Lithuanian nobles were adopted by Polish nobles heraldic families and granted Polish coats of arm. This symbolic gesture signified their desire to adopt Polish customs and integrate into Polish society. Because of this possibility of heraldic adoption, Poland had a much higher proportion of nobles than other European kingdoms. In Poland, the proportion of nobles in the total population was already 10-15% in the 16th century, in the rest of Europe it was 1%. Thus the Union of Krewo in 1385 signified the beginnings of the strengthened Polonization of Lithuania. Strengthened Polonization because the Polonization actually started before the Union of Krewo, because the Lithuania was Christianized from Poland. Priests, especially from Poland, Christianized Lithuania and priests had great influence at that time, so there was already a Polish influx in Lithuania before the Union of Krewo.
The revolutionary constitution Nihil Novi in 1505 passed by the Polish parliament applied to the entire Polish Empire as well as to Lithuania. Through this constitution, Poland became the Rzeczpospolita Nobles' Democracy! The state was no longer called the Kingdom of Poland, but the most serene (most high) Rzeczpospolita Poland. The constitution was the primary element of the democratic governance in the Polish kingdom which granted Parliament extensive powers. The Parliament (sejm) was a powerful political institution and the king could not pass most of laws without the approval of that body. Poland, along with England, was a leader in democratic development in Europe, that was, in the world! Warsaw was the primary location of the sejm. The Lithuanians have adopted the Polish word "sejm" as "seimas" for parliament from Polish! With this constitution, the Polish nobility, including the Polonized nobility in Lithuania and Ruthenia, actually had power in the state. Later the constitution was supplemented with the Henrycian Articles, which stipulated that the Polish king was elected by the nobility. The Articles incorporated the Warsaw Confederation provisions guaranteeing almost unprecedented religious freedom. It is worth to underline that according to the Articles, if the King were to transgress against the law or the privileges of the the nobility, the Articles authorized the the nobility to refuse the king’s orders and act against him. As mentioned above, the nobility made up up to 10-15% of the population in the Polish Empire, which meant that 10-15% of the population had democratic rights. This was revolutionary in comparison to other European nations ruled despotically by a single monarch, with the exception of the English.The final fusing was then in 1569 with the Union of Lublin. This union replaced the personal union with the real union of Poland and Lithuania. This union showed clearly how advanced the assimilation of Lithuania was. That was the last act of the Polonization of Lithuania, in which it was only legally determined what had long been factual, that Poland had completely absorbed Lithuania. Poland was successful for centuries The Polish Empire, along with England, was a leader in democratic development in Europe, that was, in the world!
In the next comment I will explain why it is wrong to call the Polish Empire the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth!
So here I explain why it is wrong to call the Polish Empire the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, repeating some aspects from above. To call this state Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is wrong. This term is wrong because the term Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is a modern, nonsensical invention by 20th century historians that does not correspond to reality. This state was never called Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. NEVER! Used in international treaties and diplomacy, the state has been called the most serene ( most high) Rzeczpospolita Poland (Polish: Najjaśniejsza Rzeczpospolita Polska, Latin: Serenissima Res Publica Poloniae or also Rzeczpospolita of the Polish Kingdom or Rzeczpospolita of Poland. Its residents simply referred it in the everyday language as Rzeczpospolita or Poland occasionally also the crown.
In addition the Commonwealth of Nations as the union of the former British colonies has the official title "Commonwealth". If one compare these Polish state of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries with this Commonwealth one can see how absurd the term Commonwealth is instead of Rzeczpospolita. The correct translation of Rzeczpospolita would actually be republic. But it would still be wrong to use the English term republic to refer to this Polish state, because the republic is actually defined today as the opposite of a monarch. But Poland was a monarchical republic back then and therefore something special. If there is no suitable translation for a term, then the proper noun from the original language is usually used. In this case it is the Polish proper name Rzeczpospolita.
By the way, I know that's done in English-speaking countries, that republik is mistranslated as Commonwealth. This is because English is a very chaotic language with many vague terms. Unfortunately, this is currently the lingua franca worldwide. Republic derived from Latin res publica for public affair is definitely not the same as common wealth. That's a fact. Public affair is not the same as common wealth! Therefore Commonwealth is the wrong translation for Rzeczpospolita! Just because many use a wrong translation does not mean that it becomes a correct translation. Republic derived from Latin res publica for public affair is definitely not the same as common wealth (Commonwealth.) That's a fact. Public affair is not the same as common wealth! Therefore Commonwealth is the wrong translation for Rzeczpospolita!
Moreover, the term is being used incorrectly because the Polish term Rzeczpospolita has been mistranslated as Commonwealth. So the term Commonwealth is used because of an incorrect translation. For that reason alone, one should not use this term. In addition the Commonwealth of Nations as the union of the former British colonies has the official title "Commonwealth". If one compare these Polish state of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries with
this Commonwealth one can see how absurd the term Commonwealth is instead of Rzeczpospolita. The term Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealt was not used at all in earlier times. It would be appropriate to speak of Rzeczpospolita because that was the traditional and official name of this state as a whole, including all duchies i.e. all areas dominated by the Polish Parliament and the Polish King. It is a combination of rzecz "thing, matter" and pospolita "common", a calque of the Latin res publica (res "thing" + publica "public, common"), so the republic, incorrectly translated as Commonwealth in English. By the way, in Poland, the word Rzeczpospolita is used exclusively in relation to the Republic of Poland, while other republic is referred to in Polish as "republika". Used in international treaties and diplomacy, the state has been called the most serene ( most high) Rzeczpospolita Poland (Polish: Najjaśniejsza Rzeczpospolita Polska, Latin: Serenissima Res Publica Poloniae or also Rzeczpospolita of the Polish Kingdom or Rzeczpospolita of Poland. Its residents simply referred it in the everyday language as Rzeczpospolita or Poland occasionally also the crown. But the state was never called Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. NEVER! The term Rzeczpospolita seems difficult to pronounce for non-Poles. But that is not the case at all. With a little practice, anyone can pronounce the term correctly, even you. A little help: Rz is pronounced like the "isi" in vision. So virzon sounds like vision. Cz sounds like the "ch" in church. So Czurcz sounds like church. But if one just use "sh" instead of "rz", that sounds close to Polish. "Ch" can be used instead of "cz". So Shechpospolita would be written in English, which could be pronounced without problems. So there is no reason not to use this correct term
Great video! You're a great inspiration for my new channel, so it's always great to see a new video from you! Great video once again! 😊😊
But the good video contains some mistakes. One of the most important mistakes is the use of the term Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. To use this term is wrong because this term is a modern, nonsensical invention by 20th century historians that does not correspond to reality. This state was never called Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. NEVER! Used in international treaties and diplomacy, the state has been called the most serene ( most high) Rzeczpospolita or also Rzeczpospolita of the Polish Kingdom or Rzeczpospolita of Poland. Its residents simply referred it in the everyday language as Rzeczpospolita or Poland occasionally also the crown. I explain why the term Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is wrong in detail in the next comment below!
By the way, the Polish Empire could also be used as an alternative to Rzeczpospolita for this state if one wants to use a modern term. Because that was a Polish Empire and not a Polish Lithuanian Empire. Because the Poles completely dominated this state and were the rulers.
The video didn't make clear enough how much the Poles dominated Lithuania.
In fact, this is also clearly shown by the real name of the state. The ruling Poles have also determined what the state should be called Polisch Rzeczpospolita! The Polish name was then adopted by the Lithuanians into the Liatuish languages as "Žečpospolita". By the way, Polish term for nobility ”szlachta” was also adopted into Lithuanian as ”šlėkta” like many other Polish words. As the video shows, the official languages were Polish and Latin. Everywhere the upper class spoke Polish. Before being taken over by Poland in 1385, the East Slavic language Ruthenian, as most common language, was used as the written language, not Lithuanian. Lithuanian was mostly used as a spoken language and not in writing, because the earliest surviving written Lithuanian text is a translation dating from about 1503-1525. The first book printed in the Lithuanian language was in 1547. The majority of the loanwords in Lithuanian were from Polish. This is also why Polish was able to spread so successfully in the Lithuanian. So the languages Lithuanian and Ruthenian were supplanted by Polish. Everywhere in the empire the upper class spoke Polish. Poles completely dominated the Lithuanians. Lithuania was voluntarily polonized. All relevant was Polish like also the Polish currency Polski Złoty. Złoty means golden in Polish. The capitals of the entire state were the Polish cities of Krakow and Warsaw.
Several times in history Poles have proposed Polish-Russian Union to Russian nobility. But that was always rejected by the Russian nobility becuas they were afraid of polonization, as was already happening with Lithuanian and Ruthenian nobility. Because in fact, the Ruthenian territories were also polonized although these areas originally belonged to the Lithuanian dominion, but through the Union of Krewo in 1385, these Ruthenian areas, like the entire Lithuanian dominions, came under Polish supremacy. Step by step these areas were polonized.
Polish dominance over Lithuania also illustrates that the Polish king automatically became the grand duke of Lithuania. That was by far not the only additional title of the Polish kings. For example, the Polish King Sigismund III Vasa had in addition to the Polish royal title, Grand Duke of Lithuania and Grand Duke of Finland, Prince of Rus, Prussia, Mazovia, Volhynia, Podolia, Podlaskie, Severia, Czernihów, Samogitia, Livonia, also Hereditary King of Sweden. Rus stands for Russia because the Poles ruled large areas of Russia at the time, and even Moscow was briefly occupied by Polish troops. Samogitia stands for the Baltic States, which the Polish king largely ruled. Hereditary king of Sweden and Grand Duke of Finland because the Polish king was also the king of Sweden for a short time. But he lost the power in Sweden and Finland. This list of titles makes it clear that Grand Duke of Lithuania was just one of the many titles of the Polish king. But the most important title was always King of Poland.
But he titles of Polish kings were not always identical so the titles of other Polish kings like Stephen Báthory, also make clear. Grand Duke of Lithuania and Prince of Rus, Prussia, Mazovia, Volhynia, Podolia, Podlaskie, Severia, Czernihów, Samogitia, Kiev, Volhynia, Podlaskie, Livonia and Transylvania. He ruled large areas in southern Europe up to the Black Sea with Moldova. In 1462 even Caffa in Crimea was a protectorate of Poland. But only a short time because the armies of Polish King Casimir IV were involved with the war against the Teutonic Order and therefore he couldn't defend Caffa against the Ottomans. Poland was in the 15. century the largest kingdom in Europe. So it is no exaggeration to call this state a Polish empire because the Polish kings ruled at least over 15 different peoples and also over 5 different religious groups because an empire is a multi-ethnic state with political and military dominion of a population who are culturally and ethnically distinct from the imperial ruled ethnicities and its culture. So by the imperial ruling population of Poles. This all shows the Polish dominance because in an empire reigns and dominates just one ethnic group. The Polish king was the head of all inhabitants of the empire.
In the end, the title Grand Duke of Lithuania was just one of many Polish king's titles. The title was particularly important only at the beginning of the Polish rule over Lithuania, when the Lithuanian nobility was not yet Polonized. At that time the Poles still had to pretend the Lithuanian nobility that this was not a takeover. The treaty of Krewo for personal union of Poland with Lithuania in 1385 was the decisive step in Poland's takeover of Lithuania. This union was declared indissoluble. This personal union meant that the Polish king should also be the ruler of Lithuania. In fact, the union treaty also contained the provision of the attaching of Lithuanian and Ruthenian lands to the Polish Crown. However, the various other treaties wich followed this treaty actually meant the takeover and Polonization of Lithuania too. A significant resolution was the adoption of Polish administrative divisions and offices like voivode and castellan by Lithuania. Even more important was that in total 47 selected Lithuanian nobles were adopted by Polish nobles heraldic families and granted Polish coats of arm. This symbolic gesture signified their desire to adopt Polish customs and integrate into Polish society. Because of this possibility of heraldic adoption, Poland had a much higher proportion of nobles than other European kingdoms. In Poland, the proportion of nobles in the total population was already 10-15% in the 16th century, in the rest of Europe it was 1%. Thus the Union of Krewo in 1385 signified the beginnings of the strengthened Polonization of Lithuania. Strengthened Polonization because the Polonization actually started before the Union of Krewo, because the Lithuania was Christianized from Poland. Priests, especially from Poland, Christianized Lithuania and priests had great influence at that time, so there was already a Polish influx in Lithuania before the Union of Krewo.
The revolutionary constitution Nihil Novi in 1505 passed by the Polish parliament applied to the entire Polish Empire as well as to Lithuania. Through this constitution, Poland became the Rzeczpospolita Nobles' Democracy! The state was no longer called the Kingdom of Poland, but the most serene (most high) Rzeczpospolita Poland. The constitution was the primary element of the democratic governance in the Polish kingdom which granted Parliament extensive powers. The Parliament (sejm) was a powerful political institution and the king could not pass most of laws without the approval of that body. Poland, along with England, was a leader in democratic development in Europe, that was, in the world! Warsaw was the primary location of the sejm. The Lithuanians have adopted the Polish word "sejm" as "seimas" for parliament from Polish! With this constitution, the Polish nobility, including the Polonized nobility in Lithuania and Ruthenia, actually had power in the state. Later the constitution was supplemented with the Henrycian Articles, which stipulated that the Polish king was elected by the nobility. The Articles incorporated the Warsaw Confederation provisions guaranteeing almost unprecedented religious freedom. It is worth to underline that according to the Articles, if the King were to transgress against the law or the privileges of the the nobility, the Articles authorized the the nobility to refuse the king’s orders and act against him. As mentioned above, the nobility made up up to 10-15% of the population in the Polish Empire, which meant that 10-15% of the population had democratic rights. This was revolutionary in comparison to other European nations ruled despotically by a single monarch, with the exception of the English.The final fusing was then in 1569 with the Union of Lublin. This union replaced the personal union with the real union of Poland and Lithuania. This union showed clearly how advanced the assimilation of Lithuania was. That was the last act of the polonization of Lithuania, in which it was only legally determined what had long been factual, that Poland had completely absorbed Lithuania. Poland was successful for centuries The Polish Empire, along with England, was a leader in democratic development in Europe, that was, in the world!
I explain why the term Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is wrong in detail in the next comment below!
So here I explain in detail the name of Poland, repeating some aspects from above. To call this state Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is wrong. This term is wrong because the term Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is a modern, nonsensical invention by 20th century historians that does not correspond to reality. This state was never called Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. NEVER! Used in international treaties and diplomacy, the state has been called the most serene ( most high) Rzeczpospolita Poland (Polish: Najjaśniejsza Rzeczpospolita Polska, Latin: Serenissima Res Publica Poloniae or also Rzeczpospolita of the Polish Kingdom or Rzeczpospolita of Poland. Its residents simply referred it in the everyday language as Rzeczpospolita or Poland occasionally also the crown.
In addition the Commonwealth of Nations as the union of the former British colonies has the official title "Commonwealth". If one compare these Polish state of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries with this Commonwealth one can see how absurd the term Commonwealth is instead of Rzeczpospolita. The correct translation of Rzeczpospolita would actually be republic. But it would still be wrong to use the English term republic to refer to this Polish state, because the republic is actually defined today as the opposite of a monarch. But Poland was a monarchical republic back then and therefore something special. If there is no suitable translation for a term, then the proper noun from the original language is usually used. In this case it is the Polish proper name Rzeczpospolita.
By the way, I know that's done in English-speaking countries, that republic is mistranslated as Commonwealth. This is because English is a very chaotic language with many vague terms. Unfortunately, this is currently the lingua franca worldwide. Republic derived from Latin res publica for public affair is definitely not the same as common wealth. That's a fact. Public affair is not the same as common wealth! Therefore Commonwealth is the wrong translation for Rzeczpospolita! Just because many use a wrong translation does not mean that it becomes a correct translation. Republic derived from Latin res publica for public affair is definitely not the same as common wealth (Commonwealth.) That's a fact. Public affair is not the same as common wealth! Therefore Commonwealth is the wrong translation for Rzeczpospolita!
Moreover, the term is being used incorrectly because the Polish term Rzeczpospolita has been mistranslated as Commonwealth. So the term Commonwealth is used because of an incorrect translation. For that reason alone, one should not use this term. In addition the Commonwealth of Nations as the union of the former British colonies has the official title "Commonwealth". If one compare these Polish state of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries with this Commonwealth one can see how absurd the term Commonwealth is instead of Rzeczpospolita. The term Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealt was not used at all in earlier times. It would be appropriate to speak of Rzeczpospolita because that was the traditional and official name of this state as a whole, including all duchies i.e. all areas dominated by the Polish Parliament and the Polish King. It is a combination of rzecz "thing, matter" and pospolita "common", a calque of the Latin res publica (res "thing" + publica "public, common"), so the republic, incorrectly translated as Commonwealth in English. By the way, in Poland, the word Rzeczpospolita is used exclusively in relation to the Republic of Poland, while other republic is referred to in Polish as "republika". Used in international treaties and diplomacy, the state has been called the most serene ( most high) Rzeczpospolita Poland (Polish: Najjaśniejsza Rzeczpospolita Polska, Latin: Serenissima Res Publica Poloniae or also Rzeczpospolita of the Polish Kingdom or Rzeczpospolita of Poland. Its residents simply referred it in the everyday language as Rzeczpospolita or Poland occasionally also the crown. But the state was never called Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. NEVER! The term Rzeczpospolita seems difficult to pronounce for non-Poles. But that is not the case at all. With a little practice, anyone can pronounce the term correctly, even you. A little help: Rz is pronounced like the "isi" in vision. So virzon sounds like vision. Cz sounds like the "ch" in church. So Czurcz sounds like church. But if one just use "sh" instead of "rz", that sounds close to Polish. "Ch" can be used instead of "cz". So Shechpospolita would be written in English, which could be pronounced without problems. So there is no reason not to use this correct term.
Very nice selection of topics! Please keep up the research in these rather 'obscure' areas of history
The good video contains some mistakes. One of the most important mistakes is the use of the term Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. To use this term is wrong because this term is a modern, nonsensical invention by 20th century historians that does not correspond to reality. This state was never called Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. NEVER! Used in international treaties and diplomacy, the state has been called the most serene ( most high) Rzeczpospolita or also Rzeczpospolita of the Polish Kingdom or Rzeczpospolita of Poland. Its residents simply referred it in the everyday language as Rzeczpospolita or Poland occasionally also the crown. I explain why the term Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is wrong in detail in the next comment below!
By the way, the Polish Empire could also be used as an alternative to Rzeczpospolita for this state if one wants to use a modern term. Because that was a Polish Empire and not a Polish Lithuanian Empire. Because the Poles completely dominated this state and were the rulers. The video didn't make clear enough how much the Poles dominated Lithuania. In fact, this is also clearly shown by the real name of the state. The ruling Poles have also determined what the state should be called Polisch Rzeczpospolita! The Polish name was then adopted by the Lithuanians into the Liatuish languages as "Žečpospolita". By the way, Polish term for nobility ”szlachta” was also adopted into Lithuanian as ”šlėkta” like many other Polish words. As the video shows, the official languages were Polish and Latin. Everywhere the upper class spoke Polish. When Lithuania was united with Poland in 1385, the East Slavic language Ruthenian, as most common language, was used as the written language, not Lithuanian. Lithuanian was mostly used as a spoken language and not in writing, because the earliest surviving written Lithuanian text is a translation dating from about 1503-1525. The first book printed in the Lithuanian language was in 1547. The majority of the loanwords in Lithuanian were from Polish. This is also why Polish was able to spread so successfully in the Lithuanian. So the languages Lithuanian and Ruthenian were supplanted by Polish. Everywhere in the empire the upper class spoke Polish. Poles completely dominated the Lithuanians. Lithuania was voluntarily polonized. All relevant was Polish like also the Polish currency Polski Złoty. Złoty means golden in Polish. The capitals of the entire state were the Polish cities of Krakow and Warsaw.
Several times in history Poles have proposed Polish-Russian Union to Russian nobility. But that was always rejected by the Russian nobility because many Russians were afraid of polonization, as was already happening with Lithuanian and Ruthenian nobility. Because in fact, the Ruthenian territories were also polonized although these areas originally belonged to the Lithuanian dominion, but through the Union of Krewo in 1385, these Ruthenian areas, like the entire Lithuanian dominions, came under Polish supremacy. Step by step these areas were polonized.
Polish dominance over Lithuania also illustrates the fact that with the coronation as Polish king, the Polish king automatically became the grand duke of Lithuania. And that was by far not the only additional title to the title of the Polish king. For example the Polish King Sigismund III Vasa totaled these titles in addition to the title of King of Poland. Grand Duke of Lithuania and Grand Duke of Finland, Prince of Rus, Prussia, Mazovia, Volhynia, Podolia, Podlaskie, Severia, Czernihów, Samogitia, Livonia, also Hereditary King of Sweden. Rus stands for Russia because the Polish king and parliament ruled large areas of Russia at the time, and even Moscow was briefly occupied by the Polish king's troops. Samogitia stands for the Baltic States, which the Polish king largely ruled. Hereditary king of Sweden and Grand Duke of Finland because the Polish king was also the official king of Sweden for a short time. But he lost power in Sweden and Finland. This list of titles makes it clear that Grand Duke of Lithuania was just one of the many titles of the Polish king. But the most important title was always King of Poland.
The official titles of other Polish kings, such as Stephen Báthory, also make this clear. But he titles of Polish kings were not always identical. What also clarifies Stephen Báthory's titles: Grand Duke of Lithuania and Prince of Rus, Prussia, Mazovia, Volhynia, Podolia, Podlaskie, Severia, Czernihów, Samogitia, Kiev, Volhynia, Podlaskie, Livonia, also Prince of Transylvania. He ruled large areas in southern Europe up to the Black Sea with Moldova. In 1462 even Caffa in Crimea was a protectorate of the Polish King. But only a short time because the armies of King Casimir IV were involved with the war against the Teutonic Order and therefore could not defend Caffa against the Ottomans. Poland was in the 15. century the largest kingdom in Europe. So it is no exaggeration to call this state a Polish empire because the Polish kings ruled at least over 15 different peoples and also over 5 different religious groups because an empire is a multi-ethnic state with political and military dominion of a population who are culturally and ethnically distinct from the imperial ruled ethnicities and its culture. By the way, the imperial ruling population were the Poles. This all shows the Polish dominance because in an empire reigns and dominates just one ethnic group. The Polish king was the head of all inhabitants of the empire.
In the end, the title Grand Duke of Lithuania was just one of many Polish king's titles. The title was particularly important only at the beginning of the Polish rule over Lithuania, when the Lithuanian nobility was not yet Polonized. At that time the Poles still had to pretend the Lithuanian nobility that this was not a takeover. The treaty of Krewo for personal union of Poland with Lithuania in 1385 was the decisive step in Poland's takeover of Lithuania. This union was declared indissoluble. This personal union meant that the Polish king should also be the ruler of Lithuania. In fact, the union treaty also contained the provision of the attaching of Lithuanian and Ruthenian lands to the Crown of Poland. However, the various other treaties which followed this treaty actually meant the takeover and Polonization of Lithuania too. A significant resolution was the adoption of Polish administrative divisions and offices like voivode and castellan by Lithuania. Even more important was that in total 47 selected Lithuanian nobles were adopted by Polish nobles heraldic families and granted Polish coats of arm. This symbolic gesture signified their desire to adopt Polish customs and integrate into Polish society. Because of this possibility of heraldic adoption, Poland had a much higher proportion of nobles than other European kingdoms. In Poland, the proportion of nobles in the total population was already 10-15% in the 16th century, in the rest of Europe it was 1%. Thus the Union of Krewo in 1385 signified the beginnings of the strengthened Polonization of Lithuania. Strengthened Polonization because the Polonization actually started before the Union of Krewo, because the Lithuania was Christianized from Poland. Priests, especially from Poland, Christianized Lithuania and priests had great influence at that time, so there was already a Polish influx in Lithuania before the Union of Krewo.
The revolutionary constitution Nihil Novi in 1505 passed by the Polish parliament applied to the entire Polish Empire as well as to Lithuania. Through this constitution, Poland became the Rzeczpospolita Nobles' Democracy! The state was no longer called the Kingdom of Poland, but the most serene (most high) Rzeczpospolita Poland. The constitution was the primary element of the democratic governance in the Polish kingdom which granted Parliament extensive powers. The Parliament (sejm) was a powerful political institution and the king could not pass most of laws without the approval of that body. Poland, along with England, was a leader in democratic development in Europe, that was, in the world! Warsaw was the primary location of the sejm. The Lithuanians have adopted the Polish word "sejm" as "seimas" for parliament from Polish! With this constitution, the Polish nobility, including the Polonized nobility in Lithuania and Ruthenia, actually had power in the state. Later the constitution was supplemented with the Henrycian Articles, which stipulated that the Polish king was elected by the nobility. The Articles incorporated the Warsaw Confederation provisions guaranteeing almost unprecedented religious freedom. It is worth to underline that according to the Articles, if the King were to transgress against the law or the privileges of the the nobility, the Articles authorized the the nobility to refuse the king’s orders and act against him. As mentioned above, the nobility made up up to 10-15% of the population in the Polish Empire, which meant that 10-15% of the population had democratic rights. This was revolutionary in comparison to other European nations ruled despotically by a single monarch, with the exception of the English.The final fusing was then in 1569 with the Union of Lublin. This union replaced the personal union with the real union of Poland and Lithuania. This union showed clearly how advanced the assimilation of Lithuania was. That was the last act of the Polonization of Lithuania, in which it was only legally determined what had long been factual, that Poland had completely absorbed Lithuania. Poland was successful for centuries The Polish Empire, along with England, was a leader in democratic development in Europe, that was, in the world!
So here I explain in detail the name of Poland, repeating some aspects from above. To call this state Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is wrong. This term is wrong because the term Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is a modern, nonsensical invention by 20th century historians that does not correspond to reality. This state was never called Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. NEVER! Used in international treaties and diplomacy, the state has been called the most serene ( most high) Rzeczpospolita Poland (Polish: Najjaśniejsza Rzeczpospolita Polska, Latin: Serenissima Res Publica Poloniae or also Rzeczpospolita of the Polish Kingdom or Rzeczpospolita of Poland. Its residents simply referred it in the everyday language as Rzeczpospolita or Poland occasionally also the crown.
In addition the Commonwealth of Nations as the union of the former British colonies has the official title "Commonwealth". If one compare these Polish state of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries with this Commonwealth one can see how absurd the term Commonwealth is instead of Rzeczpospolita. The correct translation of Rzeczpospolita would actually be republic. But it would still be wrong to use the English term republic to refer to this Polish state, because the republic is actually defined today as the opposite of a monarch. But Poland was a monarchical republic back then and therefore something special. If there is no suitable translation for a term, then the proper noun from the original language is usually used. In this case it is the Polish proper name Rzeczpospolita.
By the way, I know that's done in English-speaking countries, that republik is mistranslated as Commonwealth. This is because English is a very chaotic language with many vague terms. Unfortunately, this is currently the lingua franca worldwide. Republic derived from Latin res publica for public affair is definitely not the same as common wealth. That's a fact. Public affair is not the same as common wealth! Therefore Commonwealth is the wrong translation for Rzeczpospolita! Just because many use a wrong translation does not mean that it becomes a correct translation. Republic derived from Latin res publica for public affair is definitely not the same as common wealth (Commonwealth.) That's a fact. Public affair is not the same as common wealth! Therefore Commonwealth is the wrong translation for Rzeczpospolita!
Moreover, the term is being used incorrectly because the Polish term Rzeczpospolita has been mistranslated as Commonwealth. So the term Commonwealth is used because of an incorrect translation. For that reason alone, one should not use this term. In addition the Commonwealth of Nations as the union of the former British colonies has the official title "Commonwealth". If one compare these Polish state of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries with
this Commonwealth one can see how absurd the term Commonwealth is instead of Rzeczpospolita. The term Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealt was not used at all in earlier times. It would be appropriate to speak of Rzeczpospolita because that was the traditional and official name of this state as a whole, including all duchies i.e. all areas dominated by the Polish Parliament and the Polish King. It is a combination of rzecz "thing, matter" and pospolita "common", a calque of the Latin res publica (res "thing" + publica "public, common"), so the republic, incorrectly translated as Commonwealth in English. By the way, in Poland, the word Rzeczpospolita is used exclusively in relation to the Republic of Poland, while other republic is referred to in Polish as "republika". Used in international treaties and diplomacy, the state has been called the most serene ( most high) Rzeczpospolita Poland (Polish: Najjaśniejsza Rzeczpospolita Polska, Latin: Serenissima Res Publica Poloniae or also Rzeczpospolita of the Polish Kingdom or Rzeczpospolita of Poland. Its residents simply referred it in the everyday language as Rzeczpospolita or Poland occasionally also the crown. But the state was never called Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. NEVER! The term Rzeczpospolita seems difficult to pronounce for non-Poles. But that is not the case at all. With a little practice, anyone can pronounce the term correctly, even you. A little help: Rz is pronounced like the "isi" in vision. So virzon sounds like vision. Cz sounds like the "ch" in church. So Czurcz sounds like church. But if one just use "sh" instead of "rz", that sounds close to Polish. "Ch" can be used instead of "cz". So Shechpospolita would be written in English, which could be pronounced without problems. So there is no reason not to use this correct term.
It's worth adding that there were separate units and there were 4 hetmans (marshalls), 2 great and 2 little. 1 great and 1 little per a constituency. Also, arguably the most powerful family of the country were Radziwiłłowie, who were Lithuanian and even plotted against the union
But the Radziwiłł opponents of the union with Poland were the exception. Because most of them were supporters of the union with Poland, because they were actually Polonized Lithuanian nobility, just as the majority of the Lithuanian nobility was also Polonized. They were so Polonized that in 1547 Barbara Radziwiłł married the Polish King Sigismund II August, thus becoming Queen of Poland. The name was Polonized too! The Radziwiłłs' first names were also mostly Polish. Because of the Polonization of the Lithuanian nobility, Polish first names were common! Like Bishop Mikołaj Radziwiłł or Prince Karol Stanisław Radziwiłł. By the way, to use the term Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth as it is done in the video is wrong because this term is a modern, nonsensical invention by 20th century historians that does not correspond to reality. This state was never called Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. NEVER! Used in international treaties and diplomacy, the state has been called the most serene ( most high) Rzeczpospolita or also Rzeczpospolita of the Polish Kingdom or Rzeczpospolita of Poland. Its residents simply referred it in the everyday language as Rzeczpospolita or Poland occasionally also the crown. I explain why the term Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is wrong in detail in the next comment below! By the way, the Polish Empire could also be used as an alternative to Rzeczpospolita for this state if one wants to use a modern term. Because that was a Polish Empire and not a Polish Lithuanian Empire. Because the Poles completely dominated this state and were the rulers. The video didn't make clear enough how much the Poles dominated Lithuania. In fact, this is also clearly shown by the real name of the state. The ruling Poles have also determined what the state should be called Polisch Rzeczpospolita! The Polish name was then adopted by the Lithuanians into the Liatuish languages as "Žečpospolita". By the way, Polish term for nobility ”szlachta” was also adopted into Lithuanian as ”šlėkta” like many other Polish words. As the video shows, the official languages were Polish and Latin. Everywhere the upper class spoke Polish. When Lithuania was united with Poland in 1385, the East Slavic language Ruthenian, as most common language, was used as the written language, not Lithuanian. Lithuanian was mostly used as a spoken language and not in writing, because the earliest surviving written Lithuanian text is a translation dating from about 1503-1525. The first book printed in the Lithuanian language was in 1547. The majority of the loanwords in Lithuanian were from Polish. This is also why Polish was able to spread so successfully in the Lithuanian. So the languages Lithuanian and Ruthenian were supplanted by Polish. Everywhere in the empire the upper class spoke Polish. Poles completely dominated the Lithuanians. Lithuania was voluntarily polonized. All relevant was Polish like also the Polish currency Polski Złoty. Złoty means golden in Polish. The capitals of the entire state were the Polish cities of Krakow and Warsaw.
Polish dominance over Lithuania also illustrates the fact that with the coronation as Polish king, the Polish king automatically became the grand duke of Lithuania. And that was by far not the only additional title to the title of the Polish king. For example the Polish King Sigismund III Vasa totaled these titles in addition to the title of King of Poland. Grand Duke of Lithuania and Grand Duke of Finland, Prince of Rus, Prussia, Mazovia, Volhynia, Podolia, Podlaskie, Severia, Czernihów, Samogitia, Livonia, also Hereditary King of Sweden. Rus stands for Russia because the Polish king and parliament ruled large areas of Russia at the time, and even Moscow was briefly occupied by the Polish king's troops. Samogitia stands for the Baltic States, which the Polish king largely ruled. Hereditary king of Sweden and Grand Duke of Finland because the Polish king was also the official king of Sweden for a short time. But he lost power in Sweden and Finland. This list of titles makes it clear that Grand Duke of Lithuania was just one of the many titles of the Polish king. But the most important title was always King of Poland.
The official titles of other Polish kings, such as Stephen Báthory, also make this clear. But he titles of Polish kings were not always identical. What also clarifies Stephen Báthory's titles: Grand Duke of Lithuania and Prince of Rus, Prussia, Mazovia, Volhynia, Podolia, Podlaskie, Severia, Czernihów, Samogitia, Kiev, Volhynia, Podlaskie, Livonia, also Prince of Transylvania. He ruled large areas in southern Europe up to the Black Sea with Moldova. In 1462 even Caffa in Crimea was a protectorate of the Polish King. But only a short time because the armies of King Casimir IV were involved with the war against the Teutonic Order and therefore could not defend Caffa against the Ottomans. Poland was in the 15. century the largest kingdom in Europe. So it is no exaggeration to call this state a Polish empire because the Polish kings ruled at least over 15 different peoples and also over 5 different religious groups because an empire is a multi-ethnic state with political and military dominion of a population who are culturally and ethnically distinct from the imperial ruled ethnicities and its culture. By the way, the imperial ruling population were the Poles. This all shows the Polish dominance because in an empire reigns and dominates just one ethnic group. The Polish king was the head of all inhabitants of the empire.
In the end, the title Grand Duke of Lithuania was just one of many Polish king's titles. The title was particularly important only at the beginning of the Polish rule over Lithuania, when the Lithuanian nobility was not yet Polonized. At that time the Poles still had to pretend the Lithuanian nobility that this was not a takeover. The treaty of Krewo for personal union of Poland with Lithuania in 1385 was the decisive step in Poland's takeover of Lithuania. This union was declared indissoluble. This personal union meant that the Polish king should also be the ruler of Lithuania. In fact, the union treaty also contained the provision of the attaching of Lithuanian and Ruthenian lands to the Crown of Poland. However, the various other treaties which followed this treaty actually meant the takeover and Polonization of Lithuania too. A significant resolution was the adoption of Polish administrative divisions and offices like voivode and castellan by Lithuania. Even more important was that in total 47 selected Lithuanian nobles were adopted by Polish nobles heraldic families and granted Polish coats of arm. This symbolic gesture signified their desire to adopt Polish customs and integrate into Polish society. Because of this possibility of heraldic adoption, Poland had a much higher proportion of nobles than other European kingdoms. In Poland, the proportion of nobles in the total population was already 10-15% in the 16th century, in the rest of Europe it was 1%. Thus the Union of Krewo in 1385 signified the beginnings of the strengthened Polonization of Lithuania. Strengthened Polonization because the Polonization actually started before the Union of Krewo, because the Lithuania was Christianized from Poland. Priests, especially from Poland, Christianized Lithuania and priests had great influence at that time, so there was already a Polish influx in Lithuania before the Union of Krewo.
The revolutionary constitution Nihil Novi in 1505 passed by the Polish parliament applied to the entire Polish Empire as well as to Lithuania. Through this constitution, Poland became the Rzeczpospolita Nobles' Democracy! The state was no longer called the Kingdom of Poland, but the most serene (most high) Rzeczpospolita Poland. The constitution was the primary element of the democratic governance in the Polish kingdom which granted Parliament extensive powers. The Parliament (sejm) was a powerful political institution and the king could not pass most of laws without the approval of that body. Poland, along with England, was a leader in democratic development in Europe, that was, in the world! Warsaw was the primary location of the sejm. The Lithuanians have adopted the Polish word "sejm" as "seimas" for parliament from Polish! With this constitution, the Polish nobility, including the Polonized nobility in Lithuania and Ruthenia, actually had power in the state. Later the constitution was supplemented with the Henrycian Articles, which stipulated that the Polish king was elected by the nobility. The Articles incorporated the Warsaw Confederation provisions guaranteeing almost unprecedented religious freedom. It is worth to underline that according to the Articles, if the King were to transgress against the law or the privileges of the the nobility, the Articles authorized the the nobility to refuse the king’s orders and act against him. As mentioned above, the nobility made up up to 10-15% of the population in the Polish Empire, which meant that 10-15% of the population had democratic rights. This was revolutionary in comparison to other European nations ruled despotically by a single monarch, with the exception of the English.The final fusing was then in 1569 with the Union of Lublin. This union replaced the personal union with the real union of Poland and Lithuania. This union showed clearly how advanced the assimilation of Lithuania was. That was the last act of the Polonization of Lithuania, in which it was only legally determined what had long been factual, that Poland had completely absorbed Lithuania. Poland was successful for centuries The Polish Empire, along with England, was a leader in democratic development in Europe, that was, in the world!
In the next comment I will explain why it is wrong to call the Polish Empire the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth!
So here I explain why it is wrong to call the Polish Empire the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, repeating some aspects from above. To call this state Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is wrong. This term is wrong because the term Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is a modern, nonsensical invention by 20th century historians that does not correspond to reality. This state was never called Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. NEVER! Used in international treaties and diplomacy, the state has been called the most serene ( most high) Rzeczpospolita Poland (Polish: Najjaśniejsza Rzeczpospolita Polska, Latin: Serenissima Res Publica Poloniae or also Rzeczpospolita of the Polish Kingdom or Rzeczpospolita of Poland. Its residents simply referred it in the everyday language as Rzeczpospolita or Poland occasionally also the crown.
In addition the Commonwealth of Nations as the union of the former British colonies has the official title "Commonwealth". If one compare these Polish state of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries with this Commonwealth one can see how absurd the term Commonwealth is instead of Rzeczpospolita. The correct translation of Rzeczpospolita would actually be republic. But it would still be wrong to use the English term republic to refer to this Polish state, because the republic is actually defined today as the opposite of a monarch. But Poland was a monarchical republic back then and therefore something special. If there is no suitable translation for a term, then the proper noun from the original language is usually used. In this case it is the Polish proper name Rzeczpospolita.
By the way, I know that's done in English-speaking countries, that republik is mistranslated as Commonwealth. This is because English is a very chaotic language with many vague terms. Unfortunately, this is currently the lingua franca worldwide. Republic derived from Latin res publica for public affair is definitely not the same as common wealth. That's a fact. Public affair is not the same as common wealth! Therefore Commonwealth is the wrong translation for Rzeczpospolita! Just because many use a wrong translation does not mean that it becomes a correct translation. Republic derived from Latin res publica for public affair is definitely not the same as common wealth (Commonwealth.) That's a fact. Public affair is not the same as common wealth! Therefore Commonwealth is the wrong translation for Rzeczpospolita!
Moreover, the term is being used incorrectly because the Polish term Rzeczpospolita has been mistranslated as Commonwealth. So the term Commonwealth is used because of an incorrect translation. For that reason alone, one should not use this term. In addition the Commonwealth of Nations as the union of the former British colonies has the official title "Commonwealth". If one compare these Polish state of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries with
this Commonwealth one can see how absurd the term Commonwealth is instead of Rzeczpospolita. The term Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealt was not used at all in earlier times. It would be appropriate to speak of Rzeczpospolita because that was the traditional and official name of this state as a whole, including all duchies i.e. all areas dominated by the Polish Parliament and the Polish King. It is a combination of rzecz "thing, matter" and pospolita "common", a calque of the Latin res publica (res "thing" + publica "public, common"), so the republic, incorrectly translated as Commonwealth in English. By the way, in Poland, the word Rzeczpospolita is used exclusively in relation to the Republic of Poland, while other republic is referred to in Polish as "republika". Used in international treaties and diplomacy, the state has been called the most serene ( most high) Rzeczpospolita Poland (Polish: Najjaśniejsza Rzeczpospolita Polska, Latin: Serenissima Res Publica Poloniae or also Rzeczpospolita of the Polish Kingdom or Rzeczpospolita of Poland. Its residents simply referred it in the everyday language as Rzeczpospolita or Poland occasionally also the crown. But the state was never called Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. NEVER!
You probably know Polish but I'll explain that for non-Poles.
The term Rzeczpospolita seems difficult to pronounce for non-Poles. But that is not the case at all. With a little practice, anyone can pronounce the term correctly, even you. A little help: Rz is pronounced like the "isi" in vision. So virzon sounds like vision. Cz sounds like the "ch" in church. So Czurcz sounds like church. But if one just use "sh" instead of "rz", that sounds close to Polish. "Ch" can be used instead of "cz". So Shechpospolita would be written in English, which could be pronounced without problems. So there is no reason not to use this correct term.
Yesss!!! Plz do more about Lithuania!!! ❤️
Actually leaving for Lithuania next Tuesday for a vacation. Awesome timing! :)
You mean Poland
@@nandinhocunha440 This is the second time when you call Lithuania Poland for an unknown reason. Lithuania is Lithuania and Poland is Poland.
@@raceris7309 he's trying to be funny, let him be.
@@vakaris41 I'm sad that five people didn't get the joke and I'm disappointed in him for not getting the joke
Some Lithuanians lost weir sens of humor in Poland :D
I loved this video and I hope you do more videos on Poland and the PLC
Love the video ❤️
Thanks for explaining this. 😮
I hate jadwiga, king of Poland.
Finally got pretty early and got notification thank YT
Raised in Poland, gone through polish education system, amazed that 3:50 video on YT puts more light on the subject! Well done 👏
great video, as allways
This video was very educational. I like it. :-)
0:26 CC says "to determine just how lift-away knee in the commonwealth was"
To be honest, you do really poor job at explaining the history of Eastern Europe. First of all, this union was preceded by almost 200 years personal union under the Lithuanian monarchs of the Jagiellon dynasty, Lithuanian and Polish cultures started slowly mixing back then, and those 200 years made the Union possible in the first place. Seceond, Poland and Lithuania meant to be equal, hence the name in Polish and Lithuanian is "Res Publica of Both Nations". Lithuania had its own Military, Tresury, Education System etc. The Polonisation of Lithuanians was not forced, and Ruthenian was an official language of The Grand Duchy because it was codyfied much earlier than Lithuanian and was used by most of the population, not because Poles forbided Lithuanians from using their own language. Lithuania was hugly overextended, with very small population, they needed a strong ally to survive.
Nail on head!!! ... A really sloppy video that almost deliberately causes hate and division with false assumptions overlaid with contemporary victim narrative... What an absolute wank of poor quality content!!!
Extremely well said. Also worth noting, by 1386 Jagiello could see the days of remaining pagan and acting as an in-between the Catholic west and Orthodox east were over. He'd have to choose. To go with Catholicism and Poland was in significant part motivated to preserve Lithuanian identity from being subsumed into Ruthenian / Rus, which was already their language at the Lithuanian court. This point ought to be obviously relevant to modern day people, yet is totally missed in such videos on Lithuania or Poland-Lithuania.
@@zubstep Good point, it is true and people, especially Lithuanians tend to overlook it.
Zanzub and Mr Kowalski- spot on. Westerners oversimplify everything and too often prove to be ignorants.
of you would complain about the 10 minute oversimplification on the complicated history of a country. really now
1:28 At the time of the Commonwealth existence there was no such nationality as Ukrainian, all eastern Slavs (beside Moscovites) who lived in the lands of the Principality of Kiev were considered Ruthenian, later Slavs living in Ukraine (Ukraine, can be loosely translated to the borderland) developed their own identity mostly because of growing cultural, religious and political differences between them and the mostly Polonised Belorussian Ruthenians. The shift happened mostly due the events like the Union of Brest, the decline of the grain cost that pushed the nobles to put more and more days of feudal service on mostly Ukrainian peasants, reduction of the Cossack Register, Tatar Raids, Cossack uprisings, etc. It was a slow proces and the Ukrainian identity was not jet crystallized until the XIXth century.
>developed their own identity
That isn't true. The 'ukrainisation' of Ukraine happened thanks to the early XIXth century academics from Volynj and Kyjiv, that tried to resurgitate the old Ukrainian literary tradition (that died out in the late 17th century due to masse polonisation of the PLC) and sought to establish some sort of autonomy for the Ukrainian lands within the Russian Empire, an effort they'd previously failed to pull thru when the PLC in 1720 denied such academics to publish their books in Old Ukrainian (also known as Westrusian literary language, Prosta mova, old Belarussian etc)
@@anonymousbloke1 That's the Ukrainian point of view that puts Ukraine as a synonym of Kievan Rus. Of course Ukraine emerged from the heritage of Kiev but those nations are not the same. In current understanding of the word Ukrainian identity as culture different from Ruthenian started to emerge in XIXth century.
Kev there is no different 'culture' and it has nothing to do with who of the two is the real successor to the Rusj (cause every eastern Slavic nation is)
What Ukraino-centric point of view are you even talking about?
@@anonymousbloke1 You see, Russia claims to be the true ancestor of Kiev, Ukraine does, as well as Belarus. That's the point, to some degree they all are, and none of them really is.
Early Rus was shaped in big part by Viking nordic cultures mixed with Slavic paganism and Orthodox Christianity. It all changed with the Mongol invasion. Ruthenian culture and language mixed with Lithuanian, Polish and even nomad culture. Out of those mixes slowly emerged new cultures. Belorussian in Lithuania, Russian in The Duchy of Moscow .In XVI century the Zaporozhyan Cossack culture started to take form of early Ukrainian nationalism, but there was a list of differences between it and the early Kievian state.The Lands west of Dniepr were under heavy western influence prime example being the greco-catholic church. The language used by Ruthenians and Ukrainians is different, they have different customs etc. Italians are the ancestors of Rome, but Rome is not synonymous with Italy.
@@pacthug4life don't know if yours are merely misconceptions or you truly believe that, but:
1) first and foremost, the Lithuanian language has had virtually no influence on the ruthenian language, vocabulary of which mostly comes from Polish or from German/Latin thru German etc.
2) mongols have had little influence over ruthenians in social structure or dressing manner or whatever, if you are referring to the Cossacks. Sure, initially Danylo Halycjkyj, a 13th Ruthenian knjaz, formed his troops as if they were mongols, but that quickly changed a century after the Lithuanian conquest of Rusj.
Cossacks on the other hand were mostly influenced by the sarmats and such, who'd lived there for centuries, and later on by tatars
3) the first ones to try and develop a sense for Ukrainian nationality were academics from Kyjiv and Volynj, not Cossacks (initially many of whom were Polish nobles)
4) last but not least, you have virtually NO IDEA who Ukrainians and Ruthenians are
4a. Ruthenian is a dialect of Ukrainian. Ruthenian, even in the westernmost regions of Slovakia or Serbia or whatever, is 90% intelligible to Ukrainian speakers; and the customs are those of Hutsuls so I dunno tf you're talking about
4b. Ukrainians are simply Ruthenians who'd assumed the 'Ukrainian' term to describe their nationality
Stable video 👍
still lithuanian family ruled first "commonwealth" until last male died
@Fat Earther grow up
@Fat Earther the duke of Lithuania married the king of Poland and formed the Polish-Lithuanian Union.
The "king" of Poland was a woman at the time. I think that at the time only a king, not a queen could rule the kingdom. So they just crowned her as king.
Jagiellon dynasty quickly polonise themselves.
Wasn’t she crowned “King” because of a loophole in polish law since Poland was dealing with a very bad secession crisis and the law never stated what gender the King had to be and a Queen can’t rule by themselves so she was given that title for the rest of her reign.
@@brandonlyon730 Yes Hedwig (Jadwiga in Polish) was king not queen.
What Is it Christmas
Idubbbz, Sam o Nella and theses guys upload
What do you mean by "Ruthenians and Ukrainians"? Ukrainians are Ruthenians. They started to call themselves Ukrainians only from the second half of the 19th century.
@Semper Fidelis I don’t know what are you talking about. This video is about the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth and its Ruthenians (Ukrainians + Belarusians). Not about Hungary and its Carpathian Ruthenians. Transcarpathia never was a part of the Polish-Lithuania although its Ruthenian inhabitants were settlers from Red Ruthenia (Podolia, Eastern Galicia, Volhynia and Lemkovyna).
@Semper Fidelis There was no independent state called Ukraine when the Crown of Poland existed. The province of the Crown with the name Ukraine was inhabited by the same Ruthenians as in Red Ruthenia. Nobody called themselves Ukrainians back then.
As for loyalty, only the Ruthenian nobility was loyal to the Crown. Eventually they converted to Catholicism and became Poles. But Ruthenian peasantry hated it. There was a Ruthenian insurgent movement (opryshoks) against the Polish feudal lords in Red Ruthenia from the 16th century to the early 19th century. Only after the Austrian authorities repealed the Polish "panszczyzna" in the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria in 1848, the uprisings ended.
@Semper Fidelis The Kingdom of Ruthenia (Galicia-Lodomeria) was partitioned between Poland, Lithuania and Hungary starting from 1349.
Galicia was incorporated into the Polish Crown in 1349 (till 1772). 423 years
Podolia was incorporated in 1430 (till 1772 and 1793). 342-363 years
Volhynia (Lodomeria) (except its western part which was incorporated in 1360s) and Podlachia were incorporated in 1569 (till 1795). 226 years
Even though Ruthenians were divided between the Polish Crown and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, they were still bound together. There were no real borders since the Union of Krewo (1385). And Lviv remained the center of cultural life for all Ruthenians in Poland and Lithuania. Even in 1517 Polish professor of Jagiellonian University Maciej Miechowita describing the Ruthenian lands from Peremyshl (Premysliensis), Kholm (Chelmensis) and Belz (Belzensis) in the west till the Don river (Tanais) in the east in his "Tractatus de duabus Sarmatis Europiana et Asiana", calls Lviv (Leopoliensis) the capital of Ruthenia (metropolis Russiae) and Kyiv (Kiow) the former capital of Ruthenia (quae olim metropolis Russiae fuit), but still the capital of the Ruthenian Orthodox Church in Poland and Lithuania.
Meletiy Smotrytsky, Ivan Vyshensky, Kostiantyn Vasyl Ostrozky, Lavrenty Zyzany, Pamwo Berynda, Zacharija Kopystensky and many others famous Ruthenians were equally close to both Lviv and Kyiv.
Kyiv-Mohyla Collegium/Academy was the leading center of higher education for all Ruthenians in the Commonwealth in 17th century.
@Semper Fidelis On May 10, 1848 Supreme Ruthenian Council (Holovna ruska rada) in Lviv published the Manifesto where it was clearly stated that the Galician Ruthenians are the part of the Great Ruthenian nation of 15 million people (total population of Ruthenians/Ukrainians in both Austria-Hungary and Russia in 1848) who speak the same language.
19th-century Austrian Galicia has become the historic Piedmont of the Ruthenian (Ukrainain) national revival since in the Russian Empire expressions of Ruthenian language and culture were persecuted. Russian authorities even closed the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in 1811. Many writers and poets were arrested and exiled. Some managed to escape to the Habsburg Empire.
In the second half of the 19th century there were only two political movements among Ruthenians of Austria-Hungary:
1) Moscophiles accepted the Russian imperial idea of the triune Russian nation: Great Russians (Muscovites) + Little Russians (Ruthenians) + White Russians (Belarusians or White Ruthenians) and dreamed of joining Red Ruthenia to the Russian empire.
2) Narodovtsi or Ukrainophiles considered Ruthenians of Galicia, Bukovyna, and Transcarpathia a part of one Great Ruthenian (Ukrainian) nation from the San to the Don river. But they were against the idea of joining to the Russian empire because of the Russian chauvinism.
Both Ruthenian political movements were in a severe confrontation with the Poles in Galicia. There were no any pro-Polish Ruthenian organizations at all. Ruthenians clearly remembered the polonisation, panszczyzna and the Polish chauvinism (Ty Polaku, stoj w szyszaku z orężem do boju! Ty, Rusinie, sk… synie, z widłami - do gnoju!).
As soon as the Habsburg empire collapsed and Galician Ruthenians proclaimed the independent West Ukrainian National Republic, Polish-Ruthenian conflict turned into the armed struggle. Poles called it the Ruthenian campaign (Kampania ruska). The funniest and the saddest thing was that the Galician Ruthenians waited for help in their fight against Poles from the Ukrainian National Republic, but Ukrainian National Republic waited for help in their fight against Russians from the West Ukrainian National Republic and the Second Polish Republic.
@Semper Fidelis As for the elections in the Second Polish Republic. Most Galician Ruthenians (Uniates) just boycotted the Polish elections 1922, because they considered their land occupied and the Polish government illegitimate. But even of those who took part in the elections, the majority voted for the minority interest parties (77% Galician Uniates and 66% Volhynian, Polesian and Belarusian Orthodox Christians).
In the Polish elections 1928 the minority interest parties were supported by 71% of Galician Uniates, by 21% of Volhynian, Polesian and Belarusian Orthodox Christians. Communists were supported by 12% Uniates and 44% Orthodox Christians).
There were no pro-Polish Galician Ruthenians in 1944, but Galician Poles. Many of them were just polonized Ruthenians (Polish speaking Catholics), but still Poles. And they were not "physically eliminated", but transferred to Poland in 1944-1946 according to the treaty of population exchange between USSR and Poland.
It was signed by the chairman of the Polish Committee of National Liberation Edward Osóbka-Morawski and the chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the Ukrainian SSR.
Under the terms of this treaty all Poles from the western part of the Ukrainian SSR should have been transferred to Poland and all Ukrainians (Ruthenians) from the eastern part of Poland to the Ukrainian SSR.
The population exchange has been officially ended on May 6, 1947. But the Poles hadn’t finished deportations on their side by this time. So they had started the new operation - the Operation Vistula. All the remaining Ruthenians had been forcibly resettled to the territories of pre-war Germany that became part of Poland after World War II. They were settled in small groups among a majority of Polish population in order to speed up the assimilation process.
By the way, the present-day Galicia still is the most patriotic part of Ukraine.
Great video man, just one thing tho
The last Jagiellonian king of Poland REALLY wanted to unite Poland and Lithuania into a single country, and during the unification council he incorporated these southern lands into Poland after some lithuanian nobles refused to unify.
It is unfair to look at it just from nationalities perspective because there were no national states at that time. There were just two subjects of Commonwealth: the Kingdom of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania
So? What is your point? The video still asks an interesting question.
What you claim is wrong! First! The good video contains some mistakes. One of the most important mistakes is the use of the term Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. To use this term is wrong because this term is a modern, nonsensical invention by 20th century historians that does not correspond to reality. This state was never called Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. NEVER! Used in international treaties and diplomacy, the state has been called the most serene ( most high) Rzeczpospolita or also Rzeczpospolita of the Polish Kingdom or Rzeczpospolita of Poland. Its residents simply referred it in the everyday language as Rzeczpospolita or Poland occasionally also the crown. I explain why the term Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is wrong in detail in the next comment below!
By the way, the Polish Empire could also be used as an alternative to Rzeczpospolita for this state if one wants to use a modern term. Because that was a Polish Empire and not a Polish Lithuanian Empire. Because the Poles completely dominated this state and were the rulers. The video didn't make clear enough how much the Poles dominated Lithuania. In fact, this is also clearly shown by the real name of the state. The ruling Poles have also determined what the state should be called Polisch Rzeczpospolita! The Polish name was then adopted by the Lithuanians into the Liatuish languages as "Žečpospolita". By the way, Polish term for nobility ”szlachta” was also adopted into Lithuanian as ”šlėkta” like many other Polish words. As the video shows, the official languages were Polish and Latin. Everywhere the upper class spoke Polish. Before being taken over by Poland in 1385, the East Slavic language Ruthenian, as most common language, was used as the written language, not Lithuanian. Lithuanian was mostly used as a spoken language and not in writing, because the earliest surviving written Lithuanian text is a translation dating from about 1503-1525. The first book printed in the Lithuanian language was in 1547. The majority of the loanwords in Lithuanian were from Polish. This is also why Polish was able to spread so successfully in the Lithuanian. So the languages Lithuanian and Ruthenian were supplanted by Polish. Everywhere in the empire the upper class spoke Polish. Poles completely dominated the Lithuanians. Lithuania was voluntarily polonized. All relevant was Polish like also the Polish currency Polski Złoty. Złoty means golden in Polish. The capitals of the entire state were the Polish cities of Krakow and Warsaw.
Several times in history Poles have proposed Polish-Russian Union to Russian nobility. But that was always rejected by the Russian nobility becuas they were afraid of polonization, as was already happening with Lithuanian and Ruthenian nobility. Because in fact, the Ruthenian territories were also polonized although these areas originally belonged to the Lithuanian dominion, but through the Union of Krewo in 1385, these Ruthenian areas, like the entire Lithuanian dominions, came under Polish supremacy. Step by step these areas were polonized.
Polish dominance over Lithuania also illustrates that the Polish king automatically became the grand duke of Lithuania. That was by far not the only additional title of the Polish kings. For example, the Polish King Sigismund III Vasa had in addition to the Polish royal title, Grand Duke of Lithuania and Grand Duke of Finland, Prince of Rus, Prussia, Mazovia, Volhynia, Podolia, Podlaskie, Severia, Czernihów, Samogitia, Livonia, also Hereditary King of Sweden. Rus stands for Russia because the Poles ruled large areas of Russia at the time, and even Moscow was briefly occupied by Polish troops. Samogitia stands for the Baltic States, which the Polish king largely ruled. Hereditary king of Sweden and Grand Duke of Finland because the Polish king was also the king of Sweden for a short time. But he lost the power in Sweden and Finland. This list of titles makes it clear that Grand Duke of Lithuania was just one of the many titles of the Polish king. But the most important title was always King of Poland.
But he titles of Polish kings were not always identical so the titles of other Polish kings like Stephen Báthory, also make clear. Grand Duke of Lithuania and Prince of Rus, Prussia, Mazovia, Volhynia, Podolia, Podlaskie, Severia, Czernihów, Samogitia, Kiev, Volhynia, Podlaskie, Livonia and Transylvania. He ruled large areas in southern Europe up to the Black Sea with Moldova. In 1462 even Caffa in Crimea was a protectorate of Poland. But only a short time because the armies of Polish King Casimir IV were involved with the war against the Teutonic Order and therefore he couldn't defend Caffa against the Ottomans. Poland was in the 15. century the largest kingdom in Europe. So it is no exaggeration to call this state a Polish empire because the Polish kings ruled at least over 15 different peoples and also over 5 different religious groups because an empire is a multi-ethnic state with political and military dominion of a population who are culturally and ethnically distinct from the imperial ruled ethnicities and its culture. So by the imperial ruling population of Poles. This all shows the Polish dominance because in an empire reigns and dominates just one ethnic group. The Polish king was the head of all inhabitants of the empire.
In the end, the title Grand Duke of Lithuania was just one of many Polish king's titles. The title was particularly important only at the beginning of the Polish rule over Lithuania, when the Lithuanian nobility was not yet Polonized. At that time the Poles still had to pretend the Lithuanian nobility that this was not a takeover. The treaty of Krewo for personal union of Poland with Lithuania in 1385 was the decisive step in Poland's takeover of Lithuania. This union was declared indissoluble. This personal union meant that the Polish king should also be the ruler of Lithuania. In fact, the union treaty also contained the provision of the attaching of Lithuanian and Ruthenian lands to the Polish Crown. However, the various other treaties wich followed this treaty actually meant the takeover and Polonization of Lithuania too. A significant resolution was the adoption of Polish administrative divisions and offices like voivode and castellan by Lithuania. Even more important was that in total 47 selected Lithuanian nobles were adopted by Polish nobles heraldic families and granted Polish coats of arm. This symbolic gesture signified their desire to adopt Polish customs and integrate into Polish society. Because of this possibility of heraldic adoption, Poland had a much higher proportion of nobles than other European kingdoms. In Poland, the proportion of nobles in the total population was already 10-15% in the 16th century, in the rest of Europe it was 1%. Thus the Union of Krewo in 1385 signified the beginnings of the strengthened Polonization of Lithuania. Strengthened Polonization because the Polonization actually started before the Union of Krewo, because the Lithuania was Christianized from Poland. Priests, especially from Poland, Christianized Lithuania and priests had great influence at that time, so there was already a Polish influx in Lithuania before the Union of Krewo.
The revolutionary constitution Nihil Novi in 1505 passed by the Polish parliament applied to the entire Polish Empire as well as to Lithuania. Through this constitution, Poland became the Rzeczpospolita Nobles' Democracy! The state was no longer called the Kingdom of Poland, but the most serene (most high) Rzeczpospolita Poland. The constitution was the primary element of the democratic governance in the Polish kingdom which granted Parliament extensive powers. The Parliament (sejm) was a powerful political institution and the king could not pass most of laws without the approval of that body. Poland, along with England, was a leader in democratic development in Europe, that was, in the world! Warsaw was the primary location of the sejm. The Lithuanians have adopted the Polish word "sejm" as "seimas" for parliament from Polish! With this constitution, the Polish nobility, including the Polonized nobility in Lithuania and Ruthenia, actually had power in the state. Later the constitution was supplemented with the Henrycian Articles, which stipulated that the Polish king was elected by the nobility. The Articles incorporated the Warsaw Confederation provisions guaranteeing almost unprecedented religious freedom. It is worth to underline that according to the Articles, if the King were to transgress against the law or the privileges of the the nobility, the Articles authorized the the nobility to refuse the king’s orders and act against him. As mentioned above, the nobility made up up to 10-15% of the population in the Polish Empire, which meant that 10-15% of the population had democratic rights. This was revolutionary in comparison to other European nations ruled despotically by a single monarch, with the exception of the English.The final fusing was then in 1569 with the Union of Lublin. This union replaced the personal union with the real union of Poland and Lithuania. This union showed clearly how advanced the asimilation of Lithuania was. That was the last act of the polonization of Lithuania, in which it was only legally determined what had long been factual, that Poland had completely absorbed Lithuania. Poland was successful for centuries The Polish Empire, along with England, was a leader in democratic development in Europe, that was, in the world!
I explain why the term Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is wrong in detail in the next comment below!
So here I explain in detail the name of Poland, repeating some aspects from above. To call this state Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is wrong. This term is wrong because the term Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is a modern, nonsensical invention by 20th century historians that does not correspond to reality. This state was never called Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. NEVER! Used in international treaties and diplomacy, the state has been called the most serene ( most high) Rzeczpospolita Poland (Polish: Najjaśniejsza Rzeczpospolita Polska, Latin: Serenissima Res Publica Poloniae or also Rzeczpospolita of the Polish Kingdom or Rzeczpospolita of Poland. Its residents simply referred it in the everyday language as Rzeczpospolita or Poland occasionally also the crown.
In addition the Commonwealth of Nations as the union of the former British colonies has the official title "Commonwealth". If one compare these Polish state of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries with this Commonwealth one can see how absurd the term Commonwealth is instead of Rzeczpospolita. The correct translation of Rzeczpospolita would actually be republic. But it would still be wrong to use the English term republic to refer to this Polish state, because the republic is actually defined today as the opposite of a monarch. But Poland was a monarchical republic back then and therefore something special. If there is no suitable translation for a term, then the proper noun from the original language is usually used. In this case it is the Polish proper name Rzeczpospolita.
By the way, I know that's done in English-speaking countries, that republik is mistranslated as Commonwealth. This is because English is a very chaotic language with many vague terms. Unfortunately, this is currently the lingua franca worldwide. Republic derived from Latin res publica for public affair is definitely not the same as common wealth. That's a fact. Public affair is not the same as common wealth! Therefore Commonwealth is the wrong translation for Rzeczpospolita! Just because many use a wrong translation does not mean that it becomes a correct translation. Republic derived from Latin res publica for public affair is definitely not the same as common wealth (Commonwealth.) That's a fact. Public affair is not the same as common wealth! Therefore Commonwealth is the wrong translation for Rzeczpospolita!
Moreover, the term is being used incorrectly because the Polish term Rzeczpospolita has been mistranslated as Commonwealth. So the term Commonwealth is used because of an incorrect translation. For that reason alone, one should not use this term. In addition the Commonwealth of Nations as the union of the former British colonies has the official title "Commonwealth". If one compare these Polish state of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries with
this Commonwealth one can see how absurd the term Commonwealth is instead of Rzeczpospolita. The term Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealt was not used at all in earlier times. It would be appropriate to speak of Rzeczpospolita because that was the traditional and official name of this state as a whole, including all duchies i.e. all areas dominated by the Polish Parliament and the Polish King. It is a combination of rzecz "thing, matter" and pospolita "common", a calque of the Latin res publica (res "thing" + publica "public, common"), so the republic, incorrectly translated as Commonwealth in English. By the way, in Poland, the word Rzeczpospolita is used exclusively in relation to the Republic of Poland, while other republic is referred to in Polish as "republika". Used in international treaties and diplomacy, the state has been called the most serene ( most high) Rzeczpospolita Poland (Polish: Najjaśniejsza Rzeczpospolita Polska, Latin: Serenissima Res Publica Poloniae or also Rzeczpospolita of the Polish Kingdom or Rzeczpospolita of Poland. Its residents simply referred it in the everyday language as Rzeczpospolita or Poland occasionally also the crown. But the state was never called Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. NEVER! The term Rzeczpospolita seems difficult to pronounce for non-Poles. But that is not the case at all. With a little practice, anyone can pronounce the term correctly, even you. A little help: Rz is pronounced like the "isi" in vision. So virzon sounds like vision. Cz sounds like the "ch" in church. So Czurcz sounds like church. But if one just use "sh" instead of "rz", that sounds close to Polish. "Ch" can be used instead of "cz". So Shechpospolita would be written in English, which could be pronounced without problems. So there is no reason not to use this correct term.
In fact, everything you say is historically incorrect. The Polish king had not only 2 ethnies as subjects but many ethnies, because the Polish empire ruled many peoples. Incidentally, the Poles were the imperial ruling ethnic group of the empire, which also clearly shows the politicization of Lithuania. Because it was worthwhile to belong to the imperial ruling ethnic group of Poland, there was this polonization. By the way. to use of the term Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is wrong. To use this term is wrong because this term is a modern, nonsensical invention by 20th century historians that does not correspond to reality. This state was never called Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. NEVER! Used in international treaties and diplomacy, the state has been called the most serene ( most high) Rzeczpospolita or also Rzeczpospolita of the Polish Kingdom or Rzeczpospolita of Poland. Its residents simply referred it in the everyday language as Rzeczpospolita or Poland occasionally also the crown. I explain why the term Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is wrong in detail in the next comment below! By the way, the Polish Empire could also be used as an alternative to Rzeczpospolita for this state if one wants to use a modern term. Because that was a Polish Empire and not a Polish Lithuanian Empire. Because the Poles completely dominated this state and were the rulers. The video didn't make clear enough how much the Poles dominated Lithuania.
@@GreatPolishWingedHussars no one cares, and you dont have to write a book across 3 months to explain that
A message to Lithuanians
Lithuanians seem to be in odds nowadays with Poles even though it's quite obvious that making lithuanian culture more polish-like wasn't part of some grand scheme. As the author mentioned, Poland had much higher population than Lithuania, as a result of that nobles migrated from 'overpopulated' Poland to Lithuania. Since they were Poles, their houses were polish, etc. Some Lithuanians wanted to work for such nobles, so they intentionally or not embraced their culture. Obviously, a son of a noble who have moved to Lithuania, will be to an extent Lithuanian. Commonwealth of Both Nations (as it's called in Polish) resulted in the culture merge rather than Polonisation. I assure you Lithuanians, here schools teach absolutely no enmity between us. We are taught to treat you as equals and to us it doesn't matter whether someone was polish or lithuanian. A proof of that is the fact that many authors call themselves Lithuanians, and yet we treat them as national heroes. A best example of this is Adam Mickiewicz who at the beginning of his famous book 'Sir Thaddeus' says: Oh Lithuania, homeland mine...and then proceeds to describe it. I myself had to learn to recite this from memory. Yes, education system here requires you to memorise a praise of Lithuania.
So don't inspire enmity between comrades in arms, who together fought in battles, many more of which are to come.
All this because of 1920 annexation of Vilnius.
yeah no worries mate, its all bullshit propoganda anywhay, mostly it was done by ussr to make sure peoples of the subject states dint cooperate. most of the emnity stems from ww2 and the whole vilnius mess, most forget Vilnius was ocupied at the time by soviets and we were being pushed out, if it wasnt for poles suceding in batle for Warsaw everyone wouldve been screwed. Now in modern day we eastern europeans need to stand together as neighbours not as foes against threats from east and west to make sure we can live a happy and prosperous life.
Wilna is belarusian city
@@dukeofthemapping1671 hah
@@learnprog5350 that "annexation" saved the citizens of the city. Don't forget what happened with the Lithuanian leaders and army when the Russians started their approach and withdraw from Lithuania after signing the pact between Russia and Lithuania on 12.07.1920. Your forces withdrew and left that city when Russians were leaving, that city was in majority populated with Poles. In 1920 the Red Army took the city twice, murdering quite a lot of Poles. After the Polish army entered the city they created the Republic of Central Lithuania and gave citizenship to EVERYONE that lived there for at least 5 years. Our leadership plans were to have one country with Lithuanians and Ruthenians.
This video is heavily based on today's perceptions of nationality, and thus misleading. Lithuanian didn't mean a Lithuanian-speaking person or an ethnic Lithuanian at the time. Lithuanian meant a person who is a citizen of the Grand Duchy. Ruthenians thought of themselves as Lithuanians and were part of the ruling elite.
Debating on ethnicity and language in the Commonwealth is so counterproductive. Many famous Commonwealth people were very mixed. Adam Mickiewicz was Polish, his family lived in modern day Belarus and he considered Lithuania to be his home. Same with Tadeusz Kosciuszko.
Moreover, the Grand Duchy had its own law that was supreme over the federal law of the Commonwealth, and the citizens of the Grand Duchy were active political participants in the Commonwealth. They believed the Commonwealth to be their fatherland, and there's that, and in fact Lithuanians were more supportive of late 18th century reforms than Poles themselves.
That said, Poland definitely was much more developed culturally and economically.
What you claim does not correspond to the historical reality, because the Poles ruled the Polish empire. That is why Lithuania was also Polonized. If the Poles hadn't been the rulers, there would have been no Polonization either, because then it wouldn't have been worth becoming a Pole. The video also didn't make clear enough how much the Poles dominated Lithuania. In fact, this is also clearly shown by the real name of the state. The ruling Poles have also determined what the state should be called Polisch Rzeczpospolita! The Polish name was then adopted by the Lithuanians into the Liatuish languages as "Žečpospolita". By the way, Polish term for nobility ”szlachta” was also adopted into Lithuanian as ”šlėkta” like many other Polish words. As the video shows, the official languages were Polish and Latin. Everywhere the upper class spoke Polish. When Lithuania was united with Poland in 1385, the East Slavic language Ruthenian, as most common language, was used as the written language, not Lithuanian. Lithuanian was mostly used as a spoken language and not in writing, because the earliest surviving written Lithuanian text is a translation dating from about 1503-1525. The first book printed in the Lithuanian language was in 1547. The majority of the loanwords in Lithuanian were from Polish. This is also why Polish was able to spread so successfully in the Lithuanian. So the languages Lithuanian and Ruthenian were supplanted by Polish. Everywhere in the empire the upper class spoke Polish. Poles completely dominated the Lithuanians. Lithuania was voluntarily polonized. All relevant was Polish like also the Polish currency Polski Złoty. Złoty means golden in Polish. The capitals of the entire state were the Polish cities of Krakow and Warsaw.
Several times in history Poles have proposed Polish-Russian Union to Russian nobility. But that was always rejected by the Russian nobility becuas many Russians were afraid of polonization, as was already happening with Lithuanian and Ruthenian nobility. Because in fact, the Ruthenian territories were also polonized although these areas originally belonged to the Lithuanian dominion, but through the Union of Krewo in 1385, these Ruthenian areas, like the entire Lithuanian dominions, came under Polish supremacy. Step by step these areas were polonized.
Polish dominance over Lithuania also illustrates the fact that with the coronation as Polish king, the Polish king automatically became the grand duke of Lithuania. And that was by far not the only additional title to the title of the Polish king. For example the Polish King Sigismund III Vasa totaled these titles in addition to the title of King of Poland. Grand Duke of Lithuania and Grand Duke of Finland, Prince of Rus, Prussia, Mazovia, Volhynia, Podolia, Podlaskie, Severia, Czernihów, Samogitia, Livonia, also Hereditary King of Sweden. Rus stands for Russia because the Polish king and parliament ruled large areas of Russia at the time, and even Moscow was briefly occupied by the Polish king's troops. Samogitia stands for the Baltic States, which the Polish king largely ruled. Hereditary king of Sweden and Grand Duke of Finland because the Polish king was also the official king of Sweden for a short time. But he lost power in sweden and Finland. This list of titles makes it clear that Grand Duke of Lithuania was just one of the many titles of the Polish king. But the most important title was always King of Poland.
The official titles of other Polish kings, such as Stephen Báthory, also make this clear. But he titles of Polish kings were not always identical. What also clarifies Stephen Báthory's titles: Grand Duke of Lithuania and Prince of Rus, Prussia, Mazovia, Volhynia, Podolia, Podlaskie, Severia, Czernihów, Samogitia, Kiev, Volhynia, Podlaskie, Livonia, also Prince of Transylvania. He ruled large areas in southern Europe up to the Black Sea with Moldova. In 1462 even Caffa in Crimea was a protectorate of the Polish King. But only a short time because the armies of King Casimir IV were involved with the war against the Teutonic Order and therefore could not defend Caffa against the Ottomans. Poland was in the 15. century the largest kingdom in Europe. So it is no exaggeration to call this state a Polish empire because the Polish kings ruled at least over 15 different peoples and also over 5 different religious groups because an empire is a multi-ethnic state with political and military dominion of a population who are culturally and ethnically distinct from the imperial ruled ethnicities and its culture. By the way, the imperial ruling population were the Poles. This all shows the Polish dominance because in an empire reigns and dominates just one ethnic group. The Polish king was the head of all inhabitants of the empire.
In the end, the title Grand Duke of Lithuania was just one of many Polish king's titles. The title was particularly important only at the beginning of the Polish rule over Lithuania, when the Lithuanian nobility was not yet Polonized. At that time the Poles still had to pretend the Lithuanian nobility that this was not a takeover. The treaty of Krewo for personal union of Poland with Lithuania in 1385 was the decisive step in Poland's takeover of Lithuania. This union was declared indissoluble. This personal union meant that the Polish king should also be the ruler of Lithuania. In fact, the union treaty also contained the provision of the attaching of Lithuanian and Ruthenian lands to the Crown of Poland. However, the various other treaties wich followed this treaty actually meant the takeover and Polonization of Lithuania too. A significant resolution was the adoption of Polish administrative divisions and offices like voivode and castellan by Lithuania. Even more important was that in total 47 selected Lithuanian nobles were adopted by Polish nobles heraldic families and granted Polish coats of arm. This symbolic gesture signified their desire to adopt Polish customs and integrate into Polish society. Because of this possibility of heraldic adoption, Poland had a much higher proportion of nobles than other European kingdoms. In Poland, the proportion of nobles in the total population was already 10-15% in the 16th century, in the rest of Europe it was 1%. Thus the Union of Krewo in 1385 signified the beginnings of the strengthened Polonization of Lithuania. Strengthened Polonization because the Polonization actually started before the Union of Krewo, because the Lithuania was Christianized from Poland. Priests, especially from Poland, Christianized Lithuania and priests had great influence at that time, so there was already a Polish influx in Lithuania before the Union of Krewo.
The revolutionary constitution Nihil Novi in 1505 passed by the Polish parliament applied to the entire Polish Empire as well as to Lithuania. Through this constitution, Poland became the Rzeczpospolita Nobles' Democracy! The state was no longer called the Kingdom of Poland, but the most serene (most high) Rzeczpospolita Poland. The constitution was the primary element of the democratic governance in the Polish kingdom which granted Parliament extensive powers. The Parliament (sejm) was a powerful political institution and the king could not pass most of laws without the approval of that body. Poland, along with England, was a leader in democratic development in Europe, that was, in the world! Warsaw was the primary location of the sejm. The Lithuanians have adopted the Polish word "sejm" as "seimas" for parliament from Polish! With this constitution, the Polish nobility, including the Polonized nobility in Lithuania and Ruthenia, actually had power in the state. Later the constitution was supplemented with the Henrycian Articles, which stipulated that the Polish king was elected by the nobility. The Articles incorporated the Warsaw Confederation provisions guaranteeing almost unprecedented religious freedom. It is worth to underline that according to the Articles, if the King were to transgress against the law or the privileges of the the nobility, the Articles authorized the the nobility to refuse the king’s orders and act against him. As mentioned above, the nobility made up up to 10-15% of the population in the Polish Empire, which meant that 10-15% of the population had democratic rights. This was revolutionary in comparison to other European nations ruled despotically by a single monarch, with the exception of the English.The final fusing was then in 1569 with the Union of Lublin. This union replaced the personal union with the real union of Poland and Lithuania. This union showed clearly how advanced the asimilation of Lithuania was. That was the last act of the polonization of Lithuania, in which it was only legally determined what had long been factual, that Poland had completely absorbed Lithuania. Poland was successful for centuries The Polish Empire, along with England, was a leader in democratic development in Europe, that was, in the world!
By the way, to use of the term Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is wrong because this term is a modern, nonsensical invention by 20th century historians that does not correspond to reality. This state was never called Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. NEVER! Used in international treaties and diplomacy, the state has been called the most serene ( most high) Rzeczpospolita or also Rzeczpospolita of the Polish Kingdom or Rzeczpospolita of Poland. Its residents simply referred it in the everyday language as Rzeczpospolita or Poland occasionally also the crown. I explain why the term Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is wrong in detail in the next comment below!
By the way, the Polish Empire could also be used as an alternative to Rzeczpospolita for this state if one wants to use a modern term. Because that was a Polish Empire and not a Polish Lithuanian Empire. Because the Poles completely dominated this state and were the rulers. The video didn't make clear enough how much the Poles dominated Lithuania. In fact, this is also clearly shown by the real name of the state. The ruling Poles have also determined what the state should be called Polisch Rzeczpospolita! The Polish name was then adopted by the Lithuanians into the Liatuish languages as "Žečpospolita". By the way, Polish term for nobility ”szlachta” was also adopted into Lithuanian as ”šlėkta” like many other Polish words. As the video shows, the official languages were Polish and Latin. Everywhere the upper class spoke Polish. When Lithuania was united with Poland in 1385, the East Slavic language Ruthenian, as most common language, was used as the written language, not Lithuanian. Lithuanian was mostly used as a spoken language and not in writing, because the earliest surviving written Lithuanian text is a translation dating from about 1503-1525. The first book printed in the Lithuanian language was in 1547. The majority of the loanwords in Lithuanian were from Polish. This is also why Polish was able to spread so successfully in the Lithuanian. So the languages Lithuanian and Ruthenian were supplanted by Polish. Everywhere in the empire the upper class spoke Polish. Poles completely dominated the Lithuanians. Lithuania was voluntarily polonized. All relevant was Polish like also the Polish currency Polski Złoty. Złoty means golden in Polish. The capitals of the entire state were the Polish cities of Krakow and Warsaw.
@@GreatPolishWingedHussars Nie posraj się
@@maksym1001 Oh someone from Vulgaristan who tries to cover up with vulgarity that he has no counterarguments! Pathetic behavior!
Debating Lithuanian nationality and calling Ruthenians Lithuanian works if you ignore everything before the commonwealth, and is also one of the reasons why the union fell
0:54 Yeah like many people don’t realize this and it saddens me
To be fair most of Lithuanias land they got out of a massive power vacuum by chance, also from what I’ve read here when your being invaded you are extremely willing to trade some land that isn’t very Lithuanian to get help
Well-, this is probably true but let's not forget that Lithuania also had an impact on Polish culture. One of the most important pieces of literature in polish language "Pan Tadeusz" starts with the sentence "Oh Lithuania!My fatherland!". Just worth mentioning fact.
It actually refers to Belarus not modern day Lithuania. By ,, Lithuania, my fatherland" he actually meant areas near Nowogródek in western Belarus. Belarus was part of Grand duchy of Lithuania. That is why polish people called both of these places Lithuania in XIX century
Litwo, ojczyzno moja.
Powiedział Polak o Białorusi.
@@kartykredytowe1642 was the poem writing in the modern day tho, no right
He wrote about territory around Nowogrodek wich was the capital of GDL before Gedimin founded Wilna
@@paranoidise6458 But its not about lithuanians but slavs. East slav not west slav like polskis.
0:15 Dang roasted Poland only 15 seconds into the video
Thank you!
Can you talk about how Muscovy almost became part of Poland-Lithuania (or maybe the other way around)?
*laughs in taking moscow*
@@mittens5789 actually, lithuaninan leader (can't remember his name exactly) was at the gates of Moscow for 3 times: in 1376, 1378, 1380. And muscovites were just sitting in Moscow and hoping for the best since it was not the centuries of empires and all these sieges but just a centuries of glory and honor.
@@vanad1um we can agree poland and lithuania were chads from 1000s to 1700s
@@mittens5789 it was just a fan fact that it was the last three times Moscow was actually besieged
The good video contains some mistakes. One of the most important mistakes is the use of the term Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth like you too. To use this term is wrong because this term is a modern, nonsensical invention by 20th century historians that does not correspond to reality. This state was never called Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. NEVER! Used in international treaties and diplomacy, the state has been called the most serene ( most high) Rzeczpospolita or also Rzeczpospolita of the Polish Kingdom or Rzeczpospolita of Poland. Its residents simply referred it in the everyday language as Rzeczpospolita or Poland occasionally also the crown. I explain why the term Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is wrong in detail in the next comment below!
By the way, the Polish Empire could also be used as an alternative to Rzeczpospolita for this state if one wants to use a modern term. Because that was a Polish Empire and not a Polish Lithuanian Empire. Because the Poles completely dominated this state and were the rulers. The video didn't make clear enough how much the Poles dominated Lithuania. In fact, this is also clearly shown by the real name of the state. The ruling Poles have also determined what the state should be called Polisch Rzeczpospolita! The Polish name was then adopted by the Lithuanians into the Liatuish languages as "Žečpospolita". By the way, Polish term for nobility ”szlachta” was also adopted into Lithuanian as ”šlėkta” like many other Polish words. As the video shows, the official languages were Polish and Latin. Everywhere the upper class spoke Polish. Before being taken over by Poland in 1385, the East Slavic language Ruthenian, as most common language, was used as the written language, not Lithuanian. Lithuanian was mostly used as a spoken language and not in writing, because the earliest surviving written Lithuanian text is a translation dating from about 1503-1525. The first book printed in the Lithuanian language was in 1547. The majority of the loanwords in Lithuanian were from Polish. This is also why Polish was able to spread so successfully in the Lithuanian. So the languages Lithuanian and Ruthenian were supplanted by Polish. Everywhere in the empire the upper class spoke Polish. Poles completely dominated the Lithuanians. Lithuania was voluntarily polonized. All relevant was Polish like also the Polish currency Polski Złoty. Złoty means golden in Polish. The capitals of the entire state were the Polish cities of Krakow and Warsaw.
Several times in history Poles have proposed Polish-Russian Union to Russian nobility. But that was always rejected by the Russian nobility becuas they were afraid of polonization, as was already happening with Lithuanian and Ruthenian nobility. Because in fact, the Ruthenian territories were also polonized although these areas originally belonged to the Lithuanian dominion, but through the Union of Krewo in 1385, these Ruthenian areas, like the entire Lithuanian dominions, came under Polish supremacy. Step by step these areas were polonized.
Polish dominance over Lithuania also illustrates that the Polish king automatically became the grand duke of Lithuania. That was by far not the only additional title of the Polish kings. For example, the Polish King Sigismund III Vasa had in addition to the Polish royal title, Grand Duke of Lithuania and Grand Duke of Finland, Prince of Rus, Prussia, Mazovia, Volhynia, Podolia, Podlaskie, Severia, Czernihów, Samogitia, Livonia, also Hereditary King of Sweden. Rus stands for Russia because the Poles ruled large areas of Russia at the time, and even Moscow was briefly occupied by Polish troops. Samogitia stands for the Baltic States, which the Polish king largely ruled. Hereditary king of Sweden and Grand Duke of Finland because the Polish king was also the king of Sweden for a short time. But he lost the power in Sweden and Finland. This list of titles makes it clear that Grand Duke of Lithuania was just one of the many titles of the Polish king. But the most important title was always King of Poland.
But he titles of Polish kings were not always identical so the titles of other Polish kings like Stephen Báthory, also make clear. Grand Duke of Lithuania and Prince of Rus, Prussia, Mazovia, Volhynia, Podolia, Podlaskie, Severia, Czernihów, Samogitia, Kiev, Volhynia, Podlaskie, Livonia and Transylvania. He ruled large areas in southern Europe up to the Black Sea with Moldova. In 1462 even Caffa in Crimea was a protectorate of Poland. But only a short time because the armies of Polish King Casimir IV were involved with the war against the Teutonic Order and therefore he couldn't defend Caffa against the Ottomans. Poland was in the 15. century the largest kingdom in Europe. So it is no exaggeration to call this state a Polish empire because the Polish kings ruled at least over 15 different peoples and also over 5 different religious groups because an empire is a multi-ethnic state with political and military dominion of a population who are culturally and ethnically distinct from the imperial ruled ethnicities and its culture. So by the imperial ruling population of Poles. This all shows the Polish dominance because in an empire reigns and dominates just one ethnic group. The Polish king was the head of all inhabitants of the empire.
In the end, the title Grand Duke of Lithuania was just one of many Polish king's titles. The title was particularly important only at the beginning of the Polish rule over Lithuania, when the Lithuanian nobility was not yet Polonized. At that time the Poles still had to pretend the Lithuanian nobility that this was not a takeover. The treaty of Krewo for personal union of Poland with Lithuania in 1385 was the decisive step in Poland's takeover of Lithuania. This union was declared indissoluble. This personal union meant that the Polish king should also be the ruler of Lithuania. In fact, the union treaty also contained the provision of the attaching of Lithuanian and Ruthenian lands to the Polish Crown. However, the various other treaties wich followed this treaty actually meant the takeover and Polonization of Lithuania too. A significant resolution was the adoption of Polish administrative divisions and offices like voivode and castellan by Lithuania. Even more important was that in total 47 selected Lithuanian nobles were adopted by Polish nobles heraldic families and granted Polish coats of arm. This symbolic gesture signified their desire to adopt Polish customs and integrate into Polish society. Because of this possibility of heraldic adoption, Poland had a much higher proportion of nobles than other European kingdoms. In Poland, the proportion of nobles in the total population was already 10-15% in the 16th century, in the rest of Europe it was 1%. Thus the Union of Krewo in 1385 signified the beginnings of the strengthened Polonization of Lithuania. Strengthened Polonization because the Polonization actually started before the Union of Krewo, because the Lithuania was Christianized from Poland. Priests, especially from Poland, Christianized Lithuania and priests had great influence at that time, so there was already a Polish influx in Lithuania before the Union of Krewo.
The revolutionary constitution Nihil Novi in 1505 passed by the Polish parliament applied to the entire Polish Empire as well as to Lithuania. Through this constitution, Poland became the Rzeczpospolita Nobles' Democracy! The state was no longer called the Kingdom of Poland, but the most serene (most high) Rzeczpospolita Poland. The constitution was the primary element of the democratic governance in the Polish kingdom which granted Parliament extensive powers. The Parliament (sejm) was a powerful political institution and the king could not pass most of laws without the approval of that body. Poland, along with England, was a leader in democratic development in Europe, that was, in the world! Warsaw was the primary location of the sejm. The Lithuanians have adopted the Polish word "sejm" as "seimas" for parliament from Polish! With this constitution, the Polish nobility, including the Polonized nobility in Lithuania and Ruthenia, actually had power in the state. Later the constitution was supplemented with the Henrycian Articles, which stipulated that the Polish king was elected by the nobility. The Articles incorporated the Warsaw Confederation provisions guaranteeing almost unprecedented religious freedom. It is worth to underline that according to the Articles, if the King were to transgress against the law or the privileges of the the nobility, the Articles authorized the the nobility to refuse the king’s orders and act against him. As mentioned above, the nobility made up up to 10-15% of the population in the Polish Empire, which meant that 10-15% of the population had democratic rights. This was revolutionary in comparison to other European nations ruled despotically by a single monarch, with the exception of the English.The final fusing was then in 1569 with the Union of Lublin. This union replaced the personal union with the real union of Poland and Lithuania. This union showed clearly how advanced the asimilation of Lithuania was. That was the last act of the polonization of Lithuania, in which it was only legally determined what had long been factual, that Poland had completely absorbed Lithuania. Poland was successful for centuries The Polish Empire, along with England, was a leader in democratic development in Europe, that was, in the world!
I explain why the term Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is wrong in detail in the next comment below!
I'm a Pole, but I never call that state in XVIIth Century a ,,Poland". I always say: ,,Commonwealth" (as it originally was called).
Us lithuanian call it ATR as if in Abeju tautu Respublika aka "Both (or Two) Nation Republic"
Rzeczpospolita
@@matushka__ The Commonwealth was in no way, shape or form a Republic.... A Republic is literally defined as a state which doesn't have a monarch.
@@Wasserkaktus it wasnt , just the name was that , Like for example the people republic of korea it aint a republic its communist but "republic'
@@matushka__ A Communist Entity is still a Republic: A Republic is defined as a State lacking a monarch.
Could you maybe make a video explaining how Kurland came to be and what it was?
I haven't read about it yet, but maybe it has an interesting history.
Curonians were into viking stuff, raiding sweden and denmark
Well, it's rather long story, so I will try to make it short.
The name Curonia/Kurland comes from medieval Baltic tribe of Curonians/Kurši. As already stated in previous comment, Curonians were excellent sea raiders, basically Baltic speaking Vikings. The whole history of interactions across the Baltic sea is interesting, with many raids, counterraids, Norse settlements on southern shore of Baltic, and Slavic/Baltic ones in Scandinavia... But it's a different story.
What's relevant to Curonia, was that all Baltic tribes there were conquered during Northern Crusades, by the knightly order known as Livonian Brothers. Their state was very complicated, with all bishoprics and all of that.. With the conquest, came the German settlement. Cities were mostly German, while countryside was full of Latvian peasants.
Anyway, Livonians merged with the Teutons later on. As Teutonic power became weaker and they became vassals of Poland, Livonian territories were to be given to Poland-Lithuania. But the Russian tsar Ivan the Terrible wanted a connection to the sea, so he invaded Livonia.
The war ensued. Poland-Lithuania, Denmark and Sweden fought against the Russians and the territory was divided amongst the victors. Most of Livonia was granted to Poland, while Curonia was to be a duchy-vassal of Poland, the first it's duke was the last Grand Master of Livonian Brothers, Gotthard Kettler. His descendants ruled there for centuries as vassals of PLC. They even managed to get colonies in Gambia and Trinidad.
Later on, all of Curland was annexed by Russia.
TLDR: It was a German ruled duchy in Latvia, which began as a crusading state, then was a vassal of Poland-Lithuania.
@@Vitalis94 Thank you.
Obscure yet greatly interesting
Somewhere between the Urals, the Urals! And the Baltic Sea! The Baltic Sea! There is a land of very, very very very, very beautiful beauty. It’s on the Amber Coast, the Amber Coast. A place where it rains. Where it rains! We don’t have any mountains. No mountains. Just two forests and plains. Welcome to Lithuania!
Well if it isn't my Supreme Leader
Kim you fat bastard! What are you doing here?
Ideal cycling country to me. Thanks, I love cycling.
well if it isnt muh kween
Lithuania? Actually a small country on the Baltic Sea!
Poland and Lithuania are good in my book. May full recovery from the damage done by communism come to life.
More like a history of being victims of imperialism. Communism requires that a state cannot exist, so authoritarian socialism is more accurate
Recovery by integrating into Germany.
@@steinistbaum2236 You mean integration into the German People's Caliphate? No thanks.
@@steinistbaum2236 i prefer to die painfuly
Jan Kowalski you Guys asked for the germans teutonics to clear the pagans Inside if your borders. Gusta j
Important thing to say is, we can't compare today's nationalities with cultures of this time as at this point in time they weren't too important. Contries were divided into social classes which often even though part of the same "culture" could use different languages and/or customs. During these times, even before forming the Commonwealth, Grand Dutchy of Lithuania weren't much Lithuanian either. Even though it originated from core Lithuania, it quickly became mostly Ruthenian lands, and so dominant customs and language in upper classes were Ruthenian, but still, locally, lower classes used local languages and customs like Lithuanian in core Lithuania and Ruthenian in Ruthenian lands. The same phenomenon happened later in Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, where because the polish upper classes were more convenient and attractive (so "polonisation" wasn't really imposed on anyone, it happened quite naturaly, as Commonwealth was quite tolerant in terms of religion and customs, polish upper classed were just more attractive which can even be seen in many russian nobles adapting commonwealth nobles' ways, even though they weren't even part of that nation) the commonwealth nobility started to adapt mostly polish upper class customs but again, Commonwealth nobles and old Polish nobles weren't the same, as both ruthenian and polish nobles kinda merged and created the sarmatian noble culture, Ruthenian influence can be seen in many namings og tiltles like Kniaź, for instance. The reason today people refer to Commonwealth as Poland and not Lithuania or Ukraine or Belarus is because of three things, first is that indeed, Kingdom of Poland was the dominant part of this nation due to the localisation of the capital and other things. Second is that the sarmatian nobles mostly used primary the polish language and in today's world, language is synonymous with nationality, which wasn't the case back then, someone colud be a Ruthenian Orthodox Kniaź and still use mainly polish and still consider themself a ruthenian down to the bone. And speaking or religion, during these times religion worked like nationality today, uniting different castes under a symbol and it made people heavily protective and tied to it, so it was much harder for a Ruthenian to abandon their faith than changing their main language and customs. Finally, the third reason is, modern polish nationality is derived directly from sarmatian noble culture, where modern lithuanian originated from the old, baltic oriented culture maintained mostly by the peasantry in core lithuanian region. Interesting thing is, that because of that, the most direct successor to the Grand Dutchy of Lithuania is Belarus, as their nationality (even though it's image is corrupted by communist and russian influence nowadays as the Russian state always wanted to forcibly russificate Belarus and Ukraine an delete all traces of their nationality) directly stems from Ruthenian orthodox nobility that was in charge of Lithuania at the time, Belarussians themself say that their nation is just a modern iteration of Grand Dutchy of Lithuania. Modern Ukrainian culture on the other hand is a bit more complicated, as it gone through many changes that began when Ukraine was transfered to Poland upon the creation of the Commonwealth. Very important part of history of all those nationalities was when Commonwealth got partitioned. During the first couple of uprisings, during the times when nationalities started to be the new dominant thing, the whole commonwealth stood up as one nation against the occupants, and even though religions and customs were different in different parts and different attachments to their lands, The Poles, Lithuanians, Belarusians and Ukrainians fought for united Polish-Lithuanian-Ruthenian Commonwealth. During this time, all those nationalities though different, still had ties to the main sarmatian noble origins. Those ties after many failed uprisings were cut by Russia as it was too dangerous and also they wanted to russify the Ukrainians and Belarusians. The way they did this was by spreading propaganda about an "Polish Empire" and "Polish masters ruling over poor Ruthenian people", which even Poles started to believe, therefore ruining any relations between different nationalities of the commonwealth and setting them on new, different paths. The last remnants of this unity was ruined after ww2, where new lithuanians (modern lithuanian nationality) assimilated most of old lithuanians (lithuanians who still cultivated their sarmatian roots), the last remnants later revolting with polish help and later joining Poland in Vilnius region who after the Soviet annexation of eastern poland were assimilated anyway as Vilnius was given to Lithuania. Belarusian and Ukrainian ties with poles ended after failure of establishing Belarus and Ukraine as nations at the end of Polish-Soviet Wars, so Red and Black Ruthenias were added to the Polish state while the rest was gobbled by the Soviets. This Unity could still be preserved by giving more autonomy to Belarusians and Ukrainians now living in Poland but the Government decided to assimilate them and forcibly polonise them, which ultimately destroyed the dream of ressurected commonwealth.
I'm too tired to find and post sources to all of it but for the unity during uprisings, the best way to see it is to read about January Uprising as it shows it the best
if anyone even reads this and want sourses for the things I said in this post just let me now and after a good night sleep I'll find it
Hey man you should do a video on Kosciuszko
Can you do a short documentary of Greek independence I genuinely would like to know more
A historical simplification that is actually fairly accurate to the actual history, Inconceivable!!
Is the ethnic composition based on historical censi, or on the population of specific areas? As while prussia was a german crusader state, only the urban population was german, while the rural population was predominantly baltic (prussen indigenous and lithuanians). My grandpa who was born and raised near Gumbinnen in the Rominther Heide e.g. just had his dna tested and it turned out he was pretty much 50% german and british and 50% baltic (with his mother's family being from Königsberg and his father's from the rural Rominther Heide). - though i am aware those tests aren't too accurate, i find it still interesting that he nevertheless has a huge amount of baltic heritage as a member of an old eastern prussian family.
very interesting. such a shame that prussia disappeared and that germanized prussians were forced to leave the home country. i would love to see prussia restored.
Many people don't know how many of aristocracy was bylerussians at Great Principaty of Lithuania. Bylerussia was last region taken by Mongols and first liberated by Lithuanian. Old aritocracy (survived after rurikid states) was introduced into aristocracy of Lithuania.
Well Commonwealth was Polish, White Russia and Lithuanian state.
You can make dirty comments, but Lithuania did not go anywhere. It was like an immovable object in the heart of war raging Eurasia for many centuries. Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth after 1569 did not make it disappear until 1791, when it still existed de jure
until 1795.
Lithuania is like an unmovable rock in this continent. Looks a bit like one. Always standing its ground.
Even the language itself resembles Proto-Indo-European more than any other IE language does.
@@RomasNordman Developed countries have access to condoms. See: "List of sovereign states and dependencies by total fertility rate" and look at what countries LTU is surrounded with(same fertility rate) on that list.
To think, the Commonwealth was only created when Duke of Lithuania married a Polish Princess to stop the Great Northern Crusade. He originally wants to marry a Russian princess and convert, but the Crusaders made it clear that converting to Orthodox wouldn't stop the war. So Polish Princess it was.
Then was only personal union created. Commonwealth was formally created about 200 years later, despite for a very long time Poland and Lithuania effectively acted like one organism.
You can see that this guy knows history when he constantly brings up topics which only real history nerds ask themseleves, or dont know that they will.
I love how Bee's spread the Polish language and culture from flower to flower
Lmao, underrated
It's like asking how Slovakian was Czechoslovakia.
Great video, but it compares Polish and Lithuanian factor of union, instead of comparing Lithuanian and Ruthenian shares in term "Lithuanian". In other words - there is a different between modern, ethnic meaning of Lithuanian and old, political meaning of Lithuanian. Due to the fact, that etnic Lithuanian captured a half of Ruthenia - ethnic Lithuanian were minority in Grand Duchy even before union with Poland.
Yes that's right! The two peoples (Belarusians and Lithuanians) called themselves also "Lithuanians" in their languages because of their state affiliation. The Ruthenians are the progenitors of the Ukrainians and Belarusians. By the way, the official and written language of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania before being taken over by Poland was not the Lithuanian language, which only became a written language in the 16th century, but Ruthenian, an early form of today's Belarusian and Ukrainian languages. By the way, everywhere the upper class spoke Polish. Before being taken over by Poland in 1385, the East Slavic language Ruthenian, as most common language, was used as the written language, not Lithuanian. Lithuanian was mostly used as a spoken language and not in writing, because the earliest surviving written Lithuanian text is a translation dating from about 1503-1525. The first book printed in the Lithuanian language was in 1547. The majority of the loanwords in Lithuanian were from Polish. This is also why Polish was able to spread so successfully in the Lithuanian. So Lithuanian and Ruthenian were supplanted by Polish. Everywhere in the empire the upper class spoke Polish. Poles completely dominated the Lithuanians. Lithuania was voluntarily polonized. All relevant was Polish like also the Polish currency Polski Złoty. Złoty means golden in Polish. The capitals of the entire state were the Polish cities of Krakow and Warsaw.
Several times in history Poles have proposed Polish-Russian Union to Russian nobility. But that was always rejected by the Russian nobility becuas they were afraid of polonization, as was already happening with Lithuanian and Ruthenian nobility. Because in fact, the Ruthenian territories were also polonized although these areas originally belonged to the Lithuanian dominion, but through the Union of Krewo in 1385, these Ruthenian areas, like the entire Lithuanian dominions, came under Polish supremacy. Step by step these areas were polonized.
Polish dominance over Lithuania also illustrates that the Polish king automatically became the grand duke of Lithuania. That was by far not the only additional title of the Polish kings. For example, the Polish King Sigismund III Vasa had in addition to the Polish royal title, Grand Duke of Lithuania and Grand Duke of Finland, Prince of Rus, Prussia, Mazovia, Volhynia, Podolia, Podlaskie, Severia, Czernihów, Samogitia, Livonia, also Hereditary King of Sweden. Rus stands for Russia because the Poles ruled large areas of Russia at the time, and even Moscow was briefly occupied by Polish troops. Samogitia stands for the Baltic States, which the Polish king largely ruled. Hereditary king of Sweden and Grand Duke of Finland because the Polish king was also the king of Sweden for a short time. But he lost the power in Sweden and Finland. This list of titles makes it clear that Grand Duke of Lithuania was just one of the many titles of the Polish king. But the most important title was always King of Poland.
But he titles of Polish kings were not always identical so the titles of other Polish kings like Stephen Báthory, also make clear. Grand Duke of Lithuania and Prince of Rus, Prussia, Mazovia, Volhynia, Podolia, Podlaskie, Severia, Czernihów, Samogitia, Kiev, Volhynia, Podlaskie, Livonia and Transylvania. He ruled large areas in southern Europe up to the Black Sea with Moldova. In 1462 even Caffa in Crimea was a protectorate of Poland. But only a short time because the armies of Polish King Casimir IV were involved with the war against the Teutonic Order and therefore he couldn't defend Caffa against the Ottomans. Poland was in the 15. century the largest kingdom in Europe. So it is no exaggeration to call this state a Polish empire because the Polish kings ruled at least over 15 different peoples and also over 5 different religious groups because an empire is a multi-ethnic state with political and military dominion of a population who are culturally and ethnically distinct from the imperial ruled ethnicities and its culture. So by the imperial ruling population of Poles. This all shows the Polish dominance because in an empire reigns and dominates just one ethnic group. The Polish king was the head of all inhabitants of the empire.
In the end, the title Grand Duke of Lithuania was just one of many Polish king's titles. The title was particularly important only at the beginning of the Polish rule over Lithuania, when the Lithuanian nobility was not yet Polonized. At that time the Poles still had to pretend the Lithuanian nobility that this was not a takeover. The treaty of Krewo for personal union of Poland with Lithuania in 1385 was the decisive step in Poland's takeover of Lithuania. This union was declared indissoluble. This personal union meant that the Polish king should also be the ruler of Lithuania. In fact, the union treaty also contained the provision of the attaching of Lithuanian and Ruthenian lands to the Polish Crown. However, the various other treaties wich followed this treaty actually meant the takeover and Polonization of Lithuania too. A significant resolution was the adoption of Polish administrative divisions and offices like voivode and castellan by Lithuania. Even more important was that in total 47 selected Lithuanian nobles were adopted by Polish nobles heraldic families and granted Polish coats of arm. This symbolic gesture signified their desire to adopt Polish customs and integrate into Polish society. Because of this possibility of heraldic adoption, Poland had a much higher proportion of nobles than other European kingdoms. In Poland, the proportion of nobles in the total population was already 10-15% in the 16th century, in the rest of Europe it was 1%. Thus the Union of Krewo in 1385 signified the beginnings of the strengthened Polonization of Lithuania. Strengthened Polonization because the Polonization actually started before the Union of Krewo, because the Lithuania was Christianized from Poland. Priests, especially from Poland, Christianized Lithuania and priests had great influence at that time, so there was already a Polish influx in Lithuania before the Union of Krewo.
The revolutionary constitution Nihil Novi in 1505 passed by the Polish parliament applied to the entire Polish Empire as well as to Lithuania. Through this constitution, Poland became the Rzeczpospolita Nobles' Democracy! The state was no longer called the Kingdom of Poland, but the most serene (most high) Rzeczpospolita Poland. The constitution was the primary element of the democratic governance in the Polish kingdom which granted Parliament extensive powers. The Parliament (sejm) was a powerful political institution and the king could not pass most of laws without the approval of that body. Poland, along with England, was a leader in democratic development in Europe, that was, in the world! Warsaw was the primary location of the sejm. The Lithuanians have adopted the Polish word "sejm" as "seimas" for parliament from Polish! With this constitution, the Polish nobility, including the Polonized nobility in Lithuania and Ruthenia, actually had power in the state. Later the constitution was supplemented with the Henrycian Articles, which stipulated that the Polish king was elected by the nobility. The Articles incorporated the Warsaw Confederation provisions guaranteeing almost unprecedented religious freedom. It is worth to underline that according to the Articles, if the King were to transgress against the law or the privileges of the the nobility, the Articles authorized the the nobility to refuse the king’s orders and act against him. As mentioned above, the nobility made up up to 10-15% of the population in the Polish Empire, which meant that 10-15% of the population had democratic rights. This was revolutionary in comparison to other European nations ruled despotically by a single monarch, with the exception of the English.The final fusing was then in 1569 with the Union of Lublin. This union replaced the personal union with the real union of Poland and Lithuania. This union showed clearly how advanced the asimilation of Lithuania was. That was the last act of the polonization of Lithuania, in which it was only legally determined what had long been factual, that Poland had completely absorbed Lithuania. Poland was successful for centuries The Polish Empire, along with England, was a leader in democratic development in Europe, that was, in the world!
By the way, the video contains some mistakes. One of the most important mistakes is the use of the term Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. But this term is a modern, nonsensical invention by 20th century historians that does not correspond to reality. This state was never called Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. NEVER! Used in international treaties and diplomacy, the state has been called the most serene ( most high) Rzeczpospolita or also Rzeczpospolita of the Polish Kingdom or Rzeczpospolita of Poland. In everyday language Rzeczpospolita or Poland occasionally also the crown. By the way, the Polish Empire could also be used as an alternative to Rzeczpospolita for this state if one wants to use a modern term. Because that was a Polish Empire and not a Polish Lithuanian Empire. Because the Poles completely dominated this state and were the rulers. The video didn't make clear enough how much the Poles dominated Lithuania. In fact, this is also clearly shown by the real name of the state. The ruling Poles have also determined what the state should be called Polisch Rzeczpospolita! The Polish name was then adopted by the Lithuanians into the Liatuish languages as "Žečpospolita". By the way, Polish term for nobility ”szlachta” was also adopted into Lithuanian as ”šlėkta” like many other Polish words.
I explain why the term Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is wrong in detail in the next comment below!
So here I explain in detail the name of Poland, repeating some aspects from above. To call this state Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is wrong. This term is wrong because the term Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is a modern, nonsensical invention by 20th century historians that does not correspond to reality. This state was never called Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. NEVER! Used in international treaties and diplomacy, the state has been called the most serene ( most high) Rzeczpospolita Poland (Polish: Najjaśniejsza Rzeczpospolita Polska, Latin: Serenissima Res Publica Poloniae or also Rzeczpospolita of the Polish Kingdom or Rzeczpospolita of Poland. Its residents simply referred it in the everyday language as Rzeczpospolita or Poland occasionally also the crown.
In addition the Commonwealth of Nations as the union of the former British colonies has the official title "Commonwealth". If one compare these Polish state of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries with this Commonwealth one can see how absurd the term Commonwealth is instead of Rzeczpospolita. The correct translation of Rzeczpospolita would actually be republic. But it would still be wrong to use the English term republic to refer to this Polish state, because the republic is actually defined today as the opposite of a monarch. But Poland was a monarchical republic back then and therefore something special. If there is no suitable translation for a term, then the proper noun from the original language is usually used. In this case it is the Polish proper name Rzeczpospolita.
By the way, I know that's done in English-speaking countries, that republik is mistranslated as Commonwealth. This is because English is a very chaotic language with many vague terms. Unfortunately, this is currently the lingua franca worldwide. Republic derived from Latin res publica for public affair is definitely not the same as common wealth. That's a fact. Public affair is not the same as common wealth! Therefore Commonwealth is the wrong translation for Rzeczpospolita! Just because many use a wrong translation does not mean that it becomes a correct translation. Republic derived from Latin res publica for public affair is definitely not the same as common wealth (Commonwealth.) That's a fact. Public affair is not the same as common wealth! Therefore Commonwealth is the wrong translation for Rzeczpospolita!
Moreover, the term is being used incorrectly because the Polish term Rzeczpospolita has been mistranslated as Commonwealth. So the term Commonwealth is used because of an incorrect translation. For that reason alone, one should not use this term. In addition the Commonwealth of Nations as the union of the former British colonies has the official title "Commonwealth". If one compare these Polish state of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries with this Commonwealth one can see how absurd the term Commonwealth is instead of Rzeczpospolita. The term Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealt was not used at all in earlier times. It would be appropriate to speak of Rzeczpospolita because that was the traditional and official name of this state as a whole, including all duchies i.e. all areas dominated by the Polish Parliament and the Polish King. It is a combination of rzecz "thing, matter" and pospolita "common", a calque of the Latin res publica (res "thing" + publica "public, common"), so the republic, incorrectly translated as Commonwealth in English. By the way, in Poland, the word Rzeczpospolita is used exclusively in relation to the Republic of Poland, while other republic is referred to in Polish as "republika". Used in international treaties and diplomacy, the state has been called the most serene ( most high) Rzeczpospolita Poland (Polish: Najjaśniejsza Rzeczpospolita Polska, Latin: Serenissima Res Publica Poloniae or also Rzeczpospolita of the Polish Kingdom or Rzeczpospolita of Poland. Its residents simply referred it in the everyday language as Rzeczpospolita or Poland occasionally also the crown. But the state was never called Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. NEVER! The term Rzeczpospolita seems difficult to pronounce for non-Poles. But that is not the case at all. With a little practice, anyone can pronounce the term correctly, even you. A little help: Rz is pronounced like the "isi" in vision. So virzon sounds like vision. Cz sounds like the "ch" in church. So Czurcz sounds like church. But if one just use "sh" instead of "rz", that sounds close to Polish. "Ch" can be used instead of "cz". So Shechpospolita would be written in English, which could be pronounced without problems. So there is no reason not to use this correct term.
@@GreatPolishWingedHussars shit-pole there are no automatic becoming but elections. And read statutes of Grand Duchy of Lithuania poles even cant own land in private property in GDoL. P. s. Lithuanian grand duke Jogaila fuck your Anzu (Jadwiga) princess and made dinasty. Real polish born king rules Poland Kingdom only in mid 1600. P.s.s. and first president of Poland (after WWI) was lithuanian noble Narusevicius, second Pilsudski from Lithuania too. Pour shit-pole you domination only is in your ashole.
What is sort of relevant and missing is that Lithuanian capital Vilnius was so polonised people in Poland felt it should be polish city - after WW1. And so it was.
Not anymore.
Lithuanians who spoke Lithuanian were always a minority within their own Duchy. This is because Lithuania expanded into the former lands of the Kyivian Rus' early in their history, bringing a majority Slavic Orthodox Christian population into their realm. Lithuania's legacy within the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was in the nature of the laws which were applied. Lithuanian law incorporated laws from Rus', particularly laws that heavily restricted slavery & serfdom. It was these laws that were notably absent from the Polish legal system. Additionally, those lands that Lithuania ceded to Poland became the nexus of the Ukrainian State while the lands they retained became the heartland of modern Belarus. The modern border between Ukraine & Belarus largely follows this administrative partition, itself a consequence of having lands that spanned the vast Pripyat Marshes.
Nice video, that answers important question but..
There were no "ukrainians" at that time, only Ruthenians. In fact today's ukrainians are just ruthenians with different name, and just symbolic changes, to separate themselves from russians (similar name to ruthenians, because russian≠rusin) So you should sum these ukrainians and ruthenians together in diagram.
Lithuanian royal family ruled for more than two centuries in PLC, some of lithuanian generals were complete and utter badasses with no match in entire world at their times. Same goes for every aspect of life. they took part in basically everything and were damn important. I regret that PLC didnt changed into three nation union with Ruthenians. That would help with many problems later.
I think, maybe in this current diagram ruthenians means ruthenians-belarusians. Its just assumption
The Ruthenians are the progenitors of the Ukrainians and Belarusians. By the way, the official and written language of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania before being taken over by Poland was not the Lithuanian language, which only became a written language in the 16th century, but Ruthenian, an early form of today's Belarusian and Ukrainian languages. By the way, everywhere the upper class spoke Polish. Before being taken over by Poland in 1385, the East Slavic language Ruthenian, as most common language, was used as the written language, not Lithuanian. Lithuanian was mostly used as a spoken language and not in writing, because the earliest surviving written Lithuanian text is a translation dating from about 1503-1525. The first book printed in the Lithuanian language was in 1547. The majority of the loanwords in Lithuanian were from Polish. This is also why Polish was able to spread so successfully in the Lithuanian. So Lithuanian and Ruthenian were supplanted by Polish. Everywhere in the empire the upper class spoke Polish. Poles completely dominated the Lithuanians. Lithuania was voluntarily polonized. All relevant was Polish like also the Polish currency Polski Złoty. Złoty means golden in Polish. The capitals of the entire state were the Polish cities of Krakow and Warsaw.
Several times in history Poles have proposed Polish-Russian Union to Russian nobility. But that was always rejected by the Russian nobility becuas they were afraid of polonization, as was already happening with Lithuanian and Ruthenian nobility. Because in fact, the Ruthenian territories were also polonized although these areas originally belonged to the Lithuanian dominion, but through the Union of Krewo in 1385, these Ruthenian areas, like the entire Lithuanian dominions, came under Polish supremacy. Step by step these areas were polonized.
Polish dominance over Lithuania also illustrates that the Polish king automatically became the grand duke of Lithuania. That was by far not the only additional title of the Polish kings. For example, the Polish King Sigismund III Vasa had in addition to the Polish royal title, Grand Duke of Lithuania and Grand Duke of Finland, Prince of Rus, Prussia, Mazovia, Volhynia, Podolia, Podlaskie, Severia, Czernihów, Samogitia, Livonia, also Hereditary King of Sweden. Rus stands for Russia because the Poles ruled large areas of Russia at the time, and even Moscow was briefly occupied by Polish troops. Samogitia stands for the Baltic States, which the Polish king largely ruled. Hereditary king of Sweden and Grand Duke of Finland because the Polish king was also the king of Sweden for a short time. But he lost the power in Sweden and Finland. This list of titles makes it clear that Grand Duke of Lithuania was just one of the many titles of the Polish king. But the most important title was always King of Poland.
But he titles of Polish kings were not always identical so the titles of other Polish kings like Stephen Báthory, also make clear. Grand Duke of Lithuania and Prince of Rus, Prussia, Mazovia, Volhynia, Podolia, Podlaskie, Severia, Czernihów, Samogitia, Kiev, Volhynia, Podlaskie, Livonia and Transylvania. He ruled large areas in southern Europe up to the Black Sea with Moldova. In 1462 even Caffa in Crimea was a protectorate of Poland. But only a short time because the armies of Polish King Casimir IV were involved with the war against the Teutonic Order and therefore he couldn't defend Caffa against the Ottomans. Poland was in the 15. century the largest kingdom in Europe. So it is no exaggeration to call this state a Polish empire because the Polish kings ruled at least over 15 different peoples and also over 5 different religious groups because an empire is a multi-ethnic state with political and military dominion of a population who are culturally and ethnically distinct from the imperial ruled ethnicities and its culture. So by the imperial ruling population of Poles. This all shows the Polish dominance because in an empire reigns and dominates just one ethnic group. The Polish king was the head of all inhabitants of the empire.
In the end, the title Grand Duke of Lithuania was just one of many Polish king's titles. The title was particularly important only at the beginning of the Polish rule over Lithuania, when the Lithuanian nobility was not yet Polonized. At that time the Poles still had to pretend the Lithuanian nobility that this was not a takeover. The treaty of Krewo for personal union of Poland with Lithuania in 1385 was the decisive step in Poland's takeover of Lithuania. This union was declared indissoluble. This personal union meant that the Polish king should also be the ruler of Lithuania. In fact, the union treaty also contained the provision of the attaching of Lithuanian and Ruthenian lands to the Polish Crown. However, the various other treaties wich followed this treaty actually meant the takeover and Polonization of Lithuania too. A significant resolution was the adoption of Polish administrative divisions and offices like voivode and castellan by Lithuania. Even more important was that in total 47 selected Lithuanian nobles were adopted by Polish nobles heraldic families and granted Polish coats of arm. This symbolic gesture signified their desire to adopt Polish customs and integrate into Polish society. Because of this possibility of heraldic adoption, Poland had a much higher proportion of nobles than other European kingdoms. In Poland, the proportion of nobles in the total population was already 10-15% in the 16th century, in the rest of Europe it was 1%. Thus the Union of Krewo in 1385 signified the beginnings of the strengthened Polonization of Lithuania. Strengthened Polonization because the Polonization actually started before the Union of Krewo, because the Lithuania was Christianized from Poland. Priests, especially from Poland, Christianized Lithuania and priests had great influence at that time, so there was already a Polish influx in Lithuania before the Union of Krewo.
The revolutionary constitution Nihil Novi in 1505 passed by the Polish parliament applied to the entire Polish Empire as well as to Lithuania. Through this constitution, Poland became the Rzeczpospolita Nobles' Democracy! The state was no longer called the Kingdom of Poland, but the most serene (most high) Rzeczpospolita Poland. The constitution was the primary element of the democratic governance in the Polish kingdom which granted Parliament extensive powers. The Parliament (sejm) was a powerful political institution and the king could not pass most of laws without the approval of that body. Poland, along with England, was a leader in democratic development in Europe, that was, in the world! Warsaw was the primary location of the sejm. The Lithuanians have adopted the Polish word "sejm" as "seimas" for parliament from Polish! With this constitution, the Polish nobility, including the Polonized nobility in Lithuania and Ruthenia, actually had power in the state. Later the constitution was supplemented with the Henrycian Articles, which stipulated that the Polish king was elected by the nobility. The Articles incorporated the Warsaw Confederation provisions guaranteeing almost unprecedented religious freedom. It is worth to underline that according to the Articles, if the King were to transgress against the law or the privileges of the the nobility, the Articles authorized the the nobility to refuse the king’s orders and act against him. As mentioned above, the nobility made up up to 10-15% of the population in the Polish Empire, which meant that 10-15% of the population had democratic rights. This was revolutionary in comparison to other European nations ruled despotically by a single monarch, with the exception of the English.The final fusing was then in 1569 with the Union of Lublin. This union replaced the personal union with the real union of Poland and Lithuania. This union showed clearly how advanced the asimilation of Lithuania was. That was the last act of the polonization of Lithuania, in which it was only legally determined what had long been factual, that Poland had completely absorbed Lithuania. Poland was successful for centuries The Polish Empire, along with England, was a leader in democratic development in Europe, that was, in the world!
By the way, the video contains some mistakes. One of the most important mistakes is the use of the term Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. But this term is a modern, nonsensical invention by 20th century historians that does not correspond to reality. This state was never called Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. NEVER! Used in international treaties and diplomacy, the state has been called the most serene ( most high) Rzeczpospolita or also Rzeczpospolita of the Polish Kingdom or Rzeczpospolita of Poland. In everyday language Rzeczpospolita or Poland occasionally also the crown. By the way, the Polish Empire could also be used as an alternative to Rzeczpospolita for this state if one wants to use a modern term. Because that was a Polish Empire and not a Polish Lithuanian Empire. Because the Poles completely dominated this state and were the rulers. The video didn't make clear enough how much the Poles dominated Lithuania. In fact, this is also clearly shown by the real name of the state. The ruling Poles have also determined what the state should be called Polisch Rzeczpospolita! The Polish name was then adopted by the Lithuanians into the Liatuish languages as "Žečpospolita". By the way, Polish term for nobility ”szlachta” was also adopted into Lithuanian as ”šlėkta” like many other Polish words.
I explain why the term Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is wrong in detail in the next comment below!
So here I explain in detail the name of Poland, repeating some aspects from above. To call this state Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is wrong. This term is wrong because the term Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is a modern, nonsensical invention by 20th century historians that does not correspond to reality. This state was never called Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. NEVER! Used in international treaties and diplomacy, the state has been called the most serene ( most high) Rzeczpospolita Poland (Polish: Najjaśniejsza Rzeczpospolita Polska, Latin: Serenissima Res Publica Poloniae or also Rzeczpospolita of the Polish Kingdom or Rzeczpospolita of Poland. Its residents simply referred it in the everyday language as Rzeczpospolita or Poland occasionally also the crown.
In addition the Commonwealth of Nations as the union of the former British colonies has the official title "Commonwealth". If one compare these Polish state of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries with this Commonwealth one can see how absurd the term Commonwealth is instead of Rzeczpospolita. The correct translation of Rzeczpospolita would actually be republic. But it would still be wrong to use the English term republic to refer to this Polish state, because the republic is actually defined today as the opposite of a monarch. But Poland was a monarchical republic back then and therefore something special. If there is no suitable translation for a term, then the proper noun from the original language is usually used. In this case it is the Polish proper name Rzeczpospolita.
By the way, I know that's done in English-speaking countries, that republik is mistranslated as Commonwealth. This is because English is a very chaotic language with many vague terms. Unfortunately, this is currently the lingua franca worldwide. Republic derived from Latin res publica for public affair is definitely not the same as common wealth. That's a fact. Public affair is not the same as common wealth! Therefore Commonwealth is the wrong translation for Rzeczpospolita! Just because many use a wrong translation does not mean that it becomes a correct translation. Republic derived from Latin res publica for public affair is definitely not the same as common wealth (Commonwealth.) That's a fact. Public affair is not the same as common wealth! Therefore Commonwealth is the wrong translation for Rzeczpospolita!
Moreover, the term is being used incorrectly because the Polish term Rzeczpospolita has been mistranslated as Commonwealth. So the term Commonwealth is used because of an incorrect translation. For that reason alone, one should not use this term. In addition the Commonwealth of Nations as the union of the former British colonies has the official title "Commonwealth". If one compare these Polish state of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries with this Commonwealth one can see how absurd the term Commonwealth is instead of Rzeczpospolita. The term Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealt was not used at all in earlier times. It would be appropriate to speak of Rzeczpospolita because that was the traditional and official name of this state as a whole, including all duchies i.e. all areas dominated by the Polish Parliament and the Polish King. It is a combination of rzecz "thing, matter" and pospolita "common", a calque of the Latin res publica (res "thing" + publica "public, common"), so the republic, incorrectly translated as Commonwealth in English. By the way, in Poland, the word Rzeczpospolita is used exclusively in relation to the Republic of Poland, while other republic is referred to in Polish as "republika". Used in international treaties and diplomacy, the state has been called the most serene ( most high) Rzeczpospolita Poland (Polish: Najjaśniejsza Rzeczpospolita Polska, Latin: Serenissima Res Publica Poloniae or also Rzeczpospolita of the Polish Kingdom or Rzeczpospolita of Poland. Its residents simply referred it in the everyday language as Rzeczpospolita or Poland occasionally also the crown. But the state was never called Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. NEVER! The term Rzeczpospolita seems difficult to pronounce for non-Poles. But that is not the case at all. With a little practice, anyone can pronounce the term correctly, even you. A little help: Rz is pronounced like the "isi" in vision. So virzon sounds like vision. Cz sounds like the "ch" in church. So Czurcz sounds like church. But if one just use "sh" instead of "rz", that sounds close to Polish. "Ch" can be used instead of "cz". So Shechpospolita would be written in English, which could be pronounced without problems. So there is no reason not to use this correct term.
Great video! How about one on the Russo Japanese war
Can you do a video on Poland-Lithuania's decline?
As a polish i can Say that our commonwealth was our not only polish 🇵🇱❤️🇧🇾❤️🇺🇦❤️🇱🇹❤️🇱🇻
nowadays it would be ukrainian lol
@@zzap4922 why? I think Poland would still be dominating
@@Bauvolk because most of the population in this area today are Ukrainians
@@zzap4922 nah, we would still have a dominant economy and military. But I think that they should have created the unitarian Church and open up the sarmatian identity to commoners, we would still be on the map by now. And Russia wouldn't dare come close to Kviv.
Actually wrong! The good video contains some mistakes. One of the most important mistakes is the use of the term Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. To use this term is wrong because this term is a modern, nonsensical invention by 20th century historians that does not correspond to reality. This state was never called Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. NEVER! Used in international treaties and diplomacy, the state has been called the most serene ( most high) Rzeczpospolita or also Rzeczpospolita of the Polish Kingdom or Rzeczpospolita of Poland. Its residents simply referred it in the everyday language as Rzeczpospolita or Poland occasionally also the crown. I explain why the term Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is wrong in detail in the next comment below!
By the way, the Polish Empire could also be used as an alternative to Rzeczpospolita for this state if one wants to use a modern term. Because that was a Polish Empire and not a Polish Lithuanian Empire. Because the Poles completely dominated this state and were the rulers. The video didn't make clear enough how much the Poles dominated Lithuania. In fact, this is also clearly shown by the real name of the state. The ruling Poles have also determined what the state should be called Polisch Rzeczpospolita! The Polish name was then adopted by the Lithuanians into the Liatuish languages as "Žečpospolita". By the way, Polish term for nobility ”szlachta” was also adopted into Lithuanian as ”šlėkta” like many other Polish words. As the video shows, the official languages were Polish and Latin. Everywhere the upper class spoke Polish. Before being taken over by Poland in 1385, the East Slavic language Ruthenian, as most common language, was used as the written language, not Lithuanian. Lithuanian was mostly used as a spoken language and not in writing, because the earliest surviving written Lithuanian text is a translation dating from about 1503-1525. The first book printed in the Lithuanian language was in 1547. The majority of the loanwords in Lithuanian were from Polish. This is also why Polish was able to spread so successfully in the Lithuanian. So the languages Lithuanian and Ruthenian were supplanted by Polish. Everywhere in the empire the upper class spoke Polish. Poles completely dominated the Lithuanians. Lithuania was voluntarily polonized. All relevant was Polish like also the Polish currency Polski Złoty. Złoty means golden in Polish. The capitals of the entire state were the Polish cities of Krakow and Warsaw.
Several times in history Poles have proposed Polish-Russian Union to Russian nobility. But that was always rejected by the Russian nobility becuas they were afraid of polonization, as was already happening with Lithuanian and Ruthenian nobility. Because in fact, the Ruthenian territories were also polonized although these areas originally belonged to the Lithuanian dominion, but through the Union of Krewo in 1385, these Ruthenian areas, like the entire Lithuanian dominions, came under Polish supremacy. Step by step these areas were polonized.
Polish dominance over Lithuania also illustrates that the Polish king automatically became the grand duke of Lithuania. That was by far not the only additional title of the Polish kings. For example, the Polish King Sigismund III Vasa had in addition to the Polish royal title, Grand Duke of Lithuania and Grand Duke of Finland, Prince of Rus, Prussia, Mazovia, Volhynia, Podolia, Podlaskie, Severia, Czernihów, Samogitia, Livonia, also Hereditary King of Sweden. Rus stands for Russia because the Poles ruled large areas of Russia at the time, and even Moscow was briefly occupied by Polish troops. Samogitia stands for the Baltic States, which the Polish king largely ruled. Hereditary king of Sweden and Grand Duke of Finland because the Polish king was also the king of Sweden for a short time. But he lost the power in Sweden and Finland. This list of titles makes it clear that Grand Duke of Lithuania was just one of the many titles of the Polish king. But the most important title was always King of Poland.
But he titles of Polish kings were not always identical so the titles of other Polish kings like Stephen Báthory, also make clear. Grand Duke of Lithuania and Prince of Rus, Prussia, Mazovia, Volhynia, Podolia, Podlaskie, Severia, Czernihów, Samogitia, Kiev, Volhynia, Podlaskie, Livonia and Transylvania. He ruled large areas in southern Europe up to the Black Sea with Moldova. In 1462 even Caffa in Crimea was a protectorate of Poland. But only a short time because the armies of Polish King Casimir IV were involved with the war against the Teutonic Order and therefore he couldn't defend Caffa against the Ottomans. Poland was in the 15. century the largest kingdom in Europe. So it is no exaggeration to call this state a Polish empire because the Polish kings ruled at least over 15 different peoples and also over 5 different religious groups because an empire is a multi-ethnic state with political and military dominion of a population who are culturally and ethnically distinct from the imperial ruled ethnicities and its culture. So by the imperial ruling population of Poles. This all shows the Polish dominance because in an empire reigns and dominates just one ethnic group. The Polish king was the head of all inhabitants of the empire.
In the end, the title Grand Duke of Lithuania was just one of many Polish king's titles. The title was particularly important only at the beginning of the Polish rule over Lithuania, when the Lithuanian nobility was not yet Polonized. At that time the Poles still had to pretend the Lithuanian nobility that this was not a takeover. The treaty of Krewo for personal union of Poland with Lithuania in 1385 was the decisive step in Poland's takeover of Lithuania. This union was declared indissoluble. This personal union meant that the Polish king should also be the ruler of Lithuania. In fact, the union treaty also contained the provision of the attaching of Lithuanian and Ruthenian lands to the Polish Crown. However, the various other treaties wich followed this treaty actually meant the takeover and Polonization of Lithuania too. A significant resolution was the adoption of Polish administrative divisions and offices like voivode and castellan by Lithuania. Even more important was that in total 47 selected Lithuanian nobles were adopted by Polish nobles heraldic families and granted Polish coats of arm. This symbolic gesture signified their desire to adopt Polish customs and integrate into Polish society. Because of this possibility of heraldic adoption, Poland had a much higher proportion of nobles than other European kingdoms. In Poland, the proportion of nobles in the total population was already 10-15% in the 16th century, in the rest of Europe it was 1%. Thus the Union of Krewo in 1385 signified the beginnings of the strengthened Polonization of Lithuania. Strengthened Polonization because the Polonization actually started before the Union of Krewo, because the Lithuania was Christianized from Poland. Priests, especially from Poland, Christianized Lithuania and priests had great influence at that time, so there was already a Polish influx in Lithuania before the Union of Krewo.
The revolutionary constitution Nihil Novi in 1505 passed by the Polish parliament applied to the entire Polish Empire as well as to Lithuania. Through this constitution, Poland became the Rzeczpospolita Nobles' Democracy! The state was no longer called the Kingdom of Poland, but the most serene (most high) Rzeczpospolita Poland. The constitution was the primary element of the democratic governance in the Polish kingdom which granted Parliament extensive powers. The Parliament (sejm) was a powerful political institution and the king could not pass most of laws without the approval of that body. Poland, along with England, was a leader in democratic development in Europe, that was, in the world! Warsaw was the primary location of the sejm. The Lithuanians have adopted the Polish word "sejm" as "seimas" for parliament from Polish! With this constitution, the Polish nobility, including the Polonized nobility in Lithuania and Ruthenia, actually had power in the state. Later the constitution was supplemented with the Henrycian Articles, which stipulated that the Polish king was elected by the nobility. The Articles incorporated the Warsaw Confederation provisions guaranteeing almost unprecedented religious freedom. It is worth to underline that according to the Articles, if the King were to transgress against the law or the privileges of the the nobility, the Articles authorized the the nobility to refuse the king’s orders and act against him. As mentioned above, the nobility made up up to 10-15% of the population in the Polish Empire, which meant that 10-15% of the population had democratic rights. This was revolutionary in comparison to other European nations ruled despotically by a single monarch, with the exception of the English.The final fusing was then in 1569 with the Union of Lublin. This union replaced the personal union with the real union of Poland and Lithuania. This union showed clearly how advanced the asimilation of Lithuania was. That was the last act of the polonization of Lithuania, in which it was only legally determined what had long been factual, that Poland had completely absorbed Lithuania. Poland was successful for centuries The Polish Empire, along with England, was a leader in democratic development in Europe, that was, in the world!
I explain why the term Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is wrong in detail in the next comment below!
A big chunk of my ancestry is Lithuanian and north eastern Polish. Always knew my mom was Polish but our dna tests show we’re more Lithuanian than Polish. This was a surprise that brought me here. Thanks!
A lot of ethnic lithuanians were polonized in the centuries after Christianization and Union with Poland.
@@sovijus I just watched that documentary about the Baltic tribes and their fight against christianization. Very interesting. This summer I’m booking a trip to visit.
The commonwealth was formed when Queen Jadwiga married the then ruler of Lithuania in XIVc. Jadwiga was only ~14yo, and she kept the "King of Poland" title. Yes, she was female, formally called King. It was because polish nobility could not know how the marriage and the union would play out in longer term, so didn't want to cede the King's title to the Lithuanian prince Jagiello.
Please come to Lithuania.
And have kids
To further prove how strong was bound between Polish and Lithuanian nations it is good to point that brother of first Polish President (1922) signed Lithuanian Act of Independance 4 years earlier.
The wife(Joanna) of that brother(Stanislaw) of the first president of Poland(Gabriel) was the last owner of the manor of their noble family in Brėvikiai and she was Pilsudski's cousin. Also, the wife of Smetona, the first president of Lithuania(Sofija) was a member of the historic Chodakowski family of the commonwealth, which originated in Poland and a large part of it branched off into Lithuania over time. And her branch of that family did many things for the Lithuanian national revival.
@@mp1335 Joanna Narutowicz operated Polish school after the death of her husband and after the war she moved to Warsaw where she later died.
After poland occupied vilnius 😂😂. They didn't want any relation with the poles, they only got back on speakin terms when the soviets were becoming a threat in the 30s
@@flip849 That's the problem with being one state and than separating, the 20th century was a missed opportunity
Цэнтральную частку дзяржавы ў палітычным эначэньні гэтага паняцьця складала «Літва», якая ўлучала Ашмянскую, Берасьцейскую, Браслаўскую, Ваўкавыскую, Віленскую, Вількамірскую, Гарадзенскую, Капыльскую, Клецкую, Кобрынскую, Лідзкую, Менскую, Наваградзкую, Нясьвіскую, Пінскую, Рэчыцкую, Слонімскую, Слуцкую, Троцкую і Тураўскую землі[4].
Дамінаваньне ў дзяржаве мелі фэўдалы цэнтральных (беларускіх) зямель, бо Вялікае Княства ўтварылася на беларускай тэрытарыяльнай, этнаграфічнай і культурнай аснове, а беларуская мова зьяўлялася дзяржаўнай[4]. Тут канцэнтравалася большасьць велікакняскіх і дзяржаўных маёнткаў, а таксама асноўныя маёнткі буйных фэўдалаў. Адсюль набіралася асноўная частка арміі, зьбіраліся асноўныя даходы ў дзяржаўны скарб. Буйныя фэўдалы зь беларускіх этнаграфічных зямель Алелькавічы, Друцкія, Глябовічы, Гальшанскія, Кішкі, Радзівілы, Сапегі і іншыя займалі кіроўныя пазыцыі ў дзяржаўным апараце[4].
Вялікае Княства Літоўскае ачольваў вялікі князь (гаспадар), які быў носьбітам вярхоўнай улады. Ягоны Гаспадарскі суд зьяўляўся найвышэйшай інстанцыяй. Да 15 стагодзьдзя ўрадавую дзейнасьць ажыцьцяўляў толькі сам князь, які выконваў усе функцыі кіраваньня дзяржавай. З-за патрэбы арганізацыі дваровай гаспадаркі і вырашэньня праблем ўнутранай ды вонкавай палітыкі зьявіліся пастаянныя службовыя асобы - спачатку маршалак, падкаморы, падчашы, чашнік, крайчы, стольнік, мечнік, кухмістр ды ішныя, у сярэдзіне 15 стагодзьдзя - пасады агульнадзяржаўнай адміністрацыі (падскарбі земскі, канцлер ды гетман найвышэйшы)[22].
Заканадаўчую функцыю вялікага князя абмяжоўваў сойм - зьезд дэлегатаў ад рэгіянальных збораў фэўдалаў (сходаў) - і вялікакняская Рада (з XVI ст. яе звалі Паны-Рада).
Як ви, білоруси, ідeнтифікуєтe самі сeбe? На старих картах українці позначeні як русини, а білоруси － як білі русини. Іноді вас позначали як литвинів.
@@dgsf9444 kak belarusi mozet bit litvini esli oni rusini?
Great video. One doesn't see many on topics such as this.
You could also do one on how Finnish was the Swedish Empire. For a long time Finns made up IIRC 40% of the Swedish infantry and at times even 60% of the cavalry. Sweden's colony "New Sweden" in North America was also majority Finnish towards the end of its existence. Just some figures that came to mind.
But the good video contains some mistakes. One of the most important mistakes is the use of the term Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. To use this term is wrong because this term is a modern, nonsensical invention by 20th century historians that does not correspond to reality. This state was never called Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. NEVER! Used in international treaties and diplomacy, the state has been called the most serene ( most high) Rzeczpospolita or also Rzeczpospolita of the Polish Kingdom or Rzeczpospolita of Poland. Its residents simply referred it in the everyday language as Rzeczpospolita or Poland occasionally also the crown. I explain why the term Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is wrong in detail in the next comment below!
By the way, the Polish Empire could also be used as an alternative to Rzeczpospolita for this state if one wants to use a modern term. Because that was a Polish Empire and not a Polish Lithuanian Empire. Because the Poles completely dominated this state and were the rulers.
The video didn't make clear enough how much the Poles dominated Lithuania.
In fact, this is also clearly shown by the real name of the state. The ruling Poles have also determined what the state should be called Polisch Rzeczpospolita! The Polish name was then adopted by the Lithuanians into the Liatuish languages as "Žečpospolita". By the way, Polish term for nobility ”szlachta” was also adopted into Lithuanian as ”šlėkta” like many other Polish words. As the video shows, the official languages were Polish and Latin. Everywhere the upper class spoke Polish. Before being taken over by Poland in 1385, the East Slavic language Ruthenian, as most common language, was used as the written language, not Lithuanian. Lithuanian was mostly used as a spoken language and not in writing, because the earliest surviving written Lithuanian text is a translation dating from about 1503-1525. The first book printed in the Lithuanian language was in 1547. The majority of the loanwords in Lithuanian were from Polish. This is also why Polish was able to spread so successfully in the Lithuanian. So the languages Lithuanian and Ruthenian were supplanted by Polish. Everywhere in the empire the upper class spoke Polish. Poles completely dominated the Lithuanians. Lithuania was voluntarily polonized. All relevant was Polish like also the Polish currency Polski Złoty. Złoty means golden in Polish. The capitals of the entire state were the Polish cities of Krakow and Warsaw.
Several times in history Poles have proposed Polish-Russian Union to Russian nobility. But that was always rejected by the Russian nobility becuas they were afraid of polonization, as was already happening with Lithuanian and Ruthenian nobility. Because in fact, the Ruthenian territories were also polonized although these areas originally belonged to the Lithuanian dominion, but through the Union of Krewo in 1385, these Ruthenian areas, like the entire Lithuanian dominions, came under Polish supremacy. Step by step these areas were polonized.
Polish dominance over Lithuania also illustrates that the Polish king automatically became the grand duke of Lithuania. That was by far not the only additional title of the Polish kings. For example, the Polish King Sigismund III Vasa had in addition to the Polish royal title, Grand Duke of Lithuania and Grand Duke of Finland, Prince of Rus, Prussia, Mazovia, Volhynia, Podolia, Podlaskie, Severia, Czernihów, Samogitia, Livonia, also Hereditary King of Sweden. Rus stands for Russia because the Poles ruled large areas of Russia at the time, and even Moscow was briefly occupied by Polish troops. Samogitia stands for the Baltic States, which the Polish king largely ruled. Hereditary king of Sweden and Grand Duke of Finland because the Polish king was also the king of Sweden for a short time. But he lost the power in Sweden and Finland. This list of titles makes it clear that Grand Duke of Lithuania was just one of the many titles of the Polish king. But the most important title was always King of Poland.
But he titles of Polish kings were not always identical so the titles of other Polish kings like Stephen Báthory, also make clear. Grand Duke of Lithuania and Prince of Rus, Prussia, Mazovia, Volhynia, Podolia, Podlaskie, Severia, Czernihów, Samogitia, Kiev, Volhynia, Podlaskie, Livonia and Transylvania. He ruled large areas in southern Europe up to the Black Sea with Moldova. In 1462 even Caffa in Crimea was a protectorate of Poland. But only a short time because the armies of Polish King Casimir IV were involved with the war against the Teutonic Order and therefore he couldn't defend Caffa against the Ottomans. Poland was in the 15. century the largest kingdom in Europe. So it is no exaggeration to call this state a Polish empire because the Polish kings ruled at least over 15 different peoples and also over 5 different religious groups because an empire is a multi-ethnic state with political and military dominion of a population who are culturally and ethnically distinct from the imperial ruled ethnicities and its culture. So by the imperial ruling population of Poles. This all shows the Polish dominance because in an empire reigns and dominates just one ethnic group. The Polish king was the head of all inhabitants of the empire.
In the end, the title Grand Duke of Lithuania was just one of many Polish king's titles. The title was particularly important only at the beginning of the Polish rule over Lithuania, when the Lithuanian nobility was not yet Polonized. At that time the Poles still had to pretend the Lithuanian nobility that this was not a takeover. The treaty of Krewo for personal union of Poland with Lithuania in 1385 was the decisive step in Poland's takeover of Lithuania. This union was declared indissoluble. This personal union meant that the Polish king should also be the ruler of Lithuania. In fact, the union treaty also contained the provision of the attaching of Lithuanian and Ruthenian lands to the Polish Crown. However, the various other treaties wich followed this treaty actually meant the takeover and Polonization of Lithuania too. A significant resolution was the adoption of Polish administrative divisions and offices like voivode and castellan by Lithuania. Even more important was that in total 47 selected Lithuanian nobles were adopted by Polish nobles heraldic families and granted Polish coats of arm. This symbolic gesture signified their desire to adopt Polish customs and integrate into Polish society. Because of this possibility of heraldic adoption, Poland had a much higher proportion of nobles than other European kingdoms. In Poland, the proportion of nobles in the total population was already 10-15% in the 16th century, in the rest of Europe it was 1%. Thus the Union of Krewo in 1385 signified the beginnings of the strengthened Polonization of Lithuania. Strengthened Polonization because the Polonization actually started before the Union of Krewo, because the Lithuania was Christianized from Poland. Priests, especially from Poland, Christianized Lithuania and priests had great influence at that time, so there was already a Polish influx in Lithuania before the Union of Krewo.
The revolutionary constitution Nihil Novi in 1505 passed by the Polish parliament applied to the entire Polish Empire as well as to Lithuania. Through this constitution, Poland became the Rzeczpospolita Nobles' Democracy! The state was no longer called the Kingdom of Poland, but the most serene (most high) Rzeczpospolita Poland. The constitution was the primary element of the democratic governance in the Polish kingdom which granted Parliament extensive powers. The Parliament (sejm) was a powerful political institution and the king could not pass most of laws without the approval of that body. Poland, along with England, was a leader in democratic development in Europe, that was, in the world! Warsaw was the primary location of the sejm. The Lithuanians have adopted the Polish word "sejm" as "seimas" for parliament from Polish! With this constitution, the Polish nobility, including the Polonized nobility in Lithuania and Ruthenia, actually had power in the state. Later the constitution was supplemented with the Henrycian Articles, which stipulated that the Polish king was elected by the nobility. The Articles incorporated the Warsaw Confederation provisions guaranteeing almost unprecedented religious freedom. It is worth to underline that according to the Articles, if the King were to transgress against the law or the privileges of the the nobility, the Articles authorized the the nobility to refuse the king’s orders and act against him. As mentioned above, the nobility made up up to 10-15% of the population in the Polish Empire, which meant that 10-15% of the population had democratic rights. This was revolutionary in comparison to other European nations ruled despotically by a single monarch, with the exception of the English.The final fusing was then in 1569 with the Union of Lublin. This union replaced the personal union with the real union of Poland and Lithuania. This union showed clearly how advanced the assimilation of Lithuania was. That was the last act of the polonization of Lithuania, in which it was only legally determined what had long been factual, that Poland had completely absorbed Lithuania. Poland was successful for centuries The Polish Empire, along with England, was a leader in democratic development in Europe, that was, in the world!
I explain why the term Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is wrong in detail in the next comment below!
So here I explain in detail the name of Poland, repeating some aspects from above. To call this state Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is wrong. This term is wrong because the term Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is a modern, nonsensical invention by 20th century historians that does not correspond to reality. This state was never called Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. NEVER! Used in international treaties and diplomacy, the state has been called the most serene ( most high) Rzeczpospolita Poland (Polish: Najjaśniejsza Rzeczpospolita Polska, Latin: Serenissima Res Publica Poloniae or also Rzeczpospolita of the Polish Kingdom or Rzeczpospolita of Poland. Its residents simply referred it in the everyday language as Rzeczpospolita or Poland occasionally also the crown.
In addition the Commonwealth of Nations as the union of the former British colonies has the official title "Commonwealth". If one compare these Polish state of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries with this Commonwealth one can see how absurd the term Commonwealth is instead of Rzeczpospolita. The correct translation of Rzeczpospolita would actually be republic. But it would still be wrong to use the English term republic to refer to this Polish state, because the republic is actually defined today as the opposite of a monarch. But Poland was a monarchical republic back then and therefore something special. If there is no suitable translation for a term, then the proper noun from the original language is usually used. In this case it is the Polish proper name Rzeczpospolita.
By the way, I know that's done in English-speaking countries, that republic is mistranslated as Commonwealth. This is because English is a very chaotic language with many vague terms. Unfortunately, this is currently the lingua franca worldwide. Republic derived from Latin res publica for public affair is definitely not the same as common wealth. That's a fact. Public affair is not the same as common wealth! Therefore Commonwealth is the wrong translation for Rzeczpospolita! Just because many use a wrong translation does not mean that it becomes a correct translation. Republic derived from Latin res publica for public affair is definitely not the same as common wealth (Commonwealth.) That's a fact. Public affair is not the same as common wealth! Therefore Commonwealth is the wrong translation for Rzeczpospolita!
Moreover, the term is being used incorrectly because the Polish term Rzeczpospolita has been mistranslated as Commonwealth. So the term Commonwealth is used because of an incorrect translation. For that reason alone, one should not use this term. In addition the Commonwealth of Nations as the union of the former British colonies has the official title "Commonwealth". If one compare these Polish state of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries with this Commonwealth one can see how absurd the term Commonwealth is instead of Rzeczpospolita. The term Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealt was not used at all in earlier times. It would be appropriate to speak of Rzeczpospolita because that was the traditional and official name of this state as a whole, including all duchies i.e. all areas dominated by the Polish Parliament and the Polish King. It is a combination of rzecz "thing, matter" and pospolita "common", a calque of the Latin res publica (res "thing" + publica "public, common"), so the republic, incorrectly translated as Commonwealth in English. By the way, in Poland, the word Rzeczpospolita is used exclusively in relation to the Republic of Poland, while other republic is referred to in Polish as "republika". Used in international treaties and diplomacy, the state has been called the most serene ( most high) Rzeczpospolita Poland (Polish: Najjaśniejsza Rzeczpospolita Polska, Latin: Serenissima Res Publica Poloniae or also Rzeczpospolita of the Polish Kingdom or Rzeczpospolita of Poland. Its residents simply referred it in the everyday language as Rzeczpospolita or Poland occasionally also the crown. But the state was never called Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. NEVER! The term Rzeczpospolita seems difficult to pronounce for non-Poles. But that is not the case at all. With a little practice, anyone can pronounce the term correctly, even you. A little help: Rz is pronounced like the "isi" in vision. So virzon sounds like vision. Cz sounds like the "ch" in church. So Czurcz sounds like church. But if one just use "sh" instead of "rz", that sounds close to Polish. "Ch" can be used instead of "cz". So Shechpospolita would be written in English, which could be pronounced without problems. So there is no reason not to use this correct term.
Though funnily enough Poland-Lithuania was also the most Democratic country in history until the 13 colonies created the U.S.A. because anyone that could prove they were a legitimate desedant of any noble large or small they could vote for the king.
Joseph Henry.
It was a direct democracy too, like ancient Athens.
Didn't work too well for a country the size of Poland.
@@alanpennie8013 Well not quite like ancient Athens. It was more of an aristocratic monarchy where as athens had no aristocrats. Poland right to vote for king was hereditary. Athens it was all freemen born in the republic. But yes, it did lead to instability and foreign intervention common.
@@yotubeification
True. But the citizens of Athens were a minority of the adult male population of the city.
And Poland's elective monarchy was indeed an invitation to the surrounding states to meddle in Polish politics whenever a new king was elected.
@@alanpennie8013 Polish nobility seen itself as copying ancient Roman Republic and not Athens...
@@aleksandersokal5279 not at all, neither from Rome nor from Athens. Mega oversimplification.
To właśnie tego polskiego komentarza tu szukasz
haha
POLSKA GÓRĄ! :D
Marṡ, marṡ Dǫbrowski, z ziemię włoskiej do Polski. Za twoim przewodem złǫczym się z narodem.
People forget thay Lithuanianess had a multiethnic meaning at the fime and this is why Belarusians see themselves as Slavo-Lithuanians
Rulling class and core people were Baltic Lithuanians.
@@klanas40 That's before the Commonwealth and the ruling class was Baltic in Baltic Lithuania and Ruthenian in Belarus (although even then many of then many of the Baltic upper class spoke Ruthenian). The Baltic upper class would end up intermarrying with Poles and assimilating.
I'm from Belarus and nobody here sees us as baltic, we are slavs 100%.
@@klanas40 77 people who signed the Union of Lublin were either ethnic Ruthenians (ancestors of Ukrainians and Belarusians) or Poles. It is strange if you consider that you ruled over Slavic slaves. And if you don't attribute Kalinowski or Mickiewicz -as at the end, they don't become Lithuanians.
@@KGBkgbkgbkgbkgbkgbkgbkgbkgbk When did I say that
interesting video, would like to point out the reference of the background image being shown during the outro is likely being Stańczyk for anyone curious : )
Most people refer to it as the commonwealth here and we really want to fix our relationship with Lithuania after what had happened in 1920. Commonwealth 2: Winged Boogaloo anyone?
@@aive751 Lol
@@aive751 Politics? Really? By Politics almost every country on the world should be hated, you think that in Poland we like our government? No.
I would love to see Polish people similar way we see Latvian's !!! In the end of the day we share the same border. As long as we can respect each other's differences and support on each other's weaknesses. What happened in the past can't be used as excuse to hate each other these days. If I was born 100y ago I bet I'd be doing same things people did back then! Peace and right - fuck politicians. People are the power!
@@algirdasnausedas324 I'm from Poland, i love Lithuania, and i hope that we can be friends like in the old days
@@marcelow8606 that is entirely up to us - common people ;) And I am all way in!!! :)
I’m of Polish-Jewish background and I gotta say I’m confused about Polish history. Ik we go back a ways in Europe obviously but I never learned much of the history
What are you confused about for instance?
@@plrc4593 I guess when did the poles first get land? Where does our Sence of self come from. Ik those are stupid questions but like I said idk much about my own history
@@samgreen7334 Poles didn't get land, they created a country. Mieszko I did. His son Bolesław the Brave was the first Polish king.
That just shows that a small Lithuania was much more powerful than everybody thinks - it's name is out there after all. So there is no need to oversimplify and underestimate its role. :)
But then Lithuania disappeared in the shadow of Poland! However the good video contains some mistakes. One of the most important mistakes is the use of the term Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. To use this term is wrong because this term is a modern, nonsensical invention by 20th century historians that does not correspond to reality. This state was never called Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. NEVER! Used in international treaties and diplomacy, the state has been called the most serene ( most high) Rzeczpospolita or also Rzeczpospolita of the Polish Kingdom or Rzeczpospolita of Poland. Its residents simply referred it in the everyday language as Rzeczpospolita or Poland occasionally also the crown. I explain why the term Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is wrong in detail in the next comment below! By the way, the Polish Empire could also be used as an alternative to Rzeczpospolita for this state if one wants to use a modern term. Because that was a Polish Empire and not a Polish Lithuanian Empire. Because the Poles completely dominated this state and were the rulers. The video didn't make clear enough how much the Poles dominated Lithuania. In fact, this is also clearly shown by the real name of the state. The ruling Poles have also determined what the state should be called Polisch Rzeczpospolita! The Polish name was then adopted by the Lithuanians into the Liatuish languages as "Žečpospolita". By the way, Polish term for nobility ”szlachta” was also adopted into Lithuanian as ”šlėkta” like many other Polish words. As the video shows, the official languages were Polish and Latin. Everywhere the upper class spoke Polish. When Lithuania was united with Poland in 1385, the East Slavic language Ruthenian, as most common language, was used as the written language, not Lithuanian. Lithuanian was mostly used as a spoken language and not in writing, because the earliest surviving written Lithuanian text is a translation dating from about 1503-1525. The first book printed in the Lithuanian language was in 1547. The majority of the loanwords in Lithuanian were from Polish. This is also why Polish was able to spread so successfully in the Lithuanian. So the languages Lithuanian and Ruthenian were supplanted by Polish. Everywhere in the empire the upper class spoke Polish. Poles completely dominated the Lithuanians. Lithuania was voluntarily polonized. All relevant was Polish like also the Polish currency Polski Złoty. Złoty means golden in Polish. The capitals of the entire state were the Polish cities of Krakow and Warsaw.
Several times in history Poles have proposed Polish-Russian Union to Russian nobility. But that was always rejected by the Russian nobility because many Russians were afraid of polonization, as was already happening with Lithuanian and Ruthenian nobility. Because in fact, the Ruthenian territories were also polonized although these areas originally belonged to the Lithuanian dominion, but through the Union of Krewo in 1385, these Ruthenian areas, like the entire Lithuanian dominions, came under Polish supremacy. Step by step these areas were polonized.
Polish dominance over Lithuania also illustrates the fact that with the coronation as Polish king, the Polish king automatically became the grand duke of Lithuania. And that was by far not the only additional title to the title of the Polish king. For example the Polish King Sigismund III Vasa totaled these titles in addition to the title of King of Poland. Grand Duke of Lithuania and Grand Duke of Finland, Prince of Rus, Prussia, Mazovia, Volhynia, Podolia, Podlaskie, Severia, Czernihów, Samogitia, Livonia, also Hereditary King of Sweden. Rus stands for Russia because the Polish king and parliament ruled large areas of Russia at the time, and even Moscow was briefly occupied by the Polish king's troops. Samogitia stands for the Baltic States, which the Polish king largely ruled. Hereditary king of Sweden and Grand Duke of Finland because the Polish king was also the official king of Sweden for a short time. But he lost power in Sweden and Finland. This list of titles makes it clear that Grand Duke of Lithuania was just one of the many titles of the Polish king. But the most important title was always King of Poland.
The official titles of other Polish kings, such as Stephen Báthory, also make this clear. But he titles of Polish kings were not always identical. What also clarifies Stephen Báthory's titles: Grand Duke of Lithuania and Prince of Rus, Prussia, Mazovia, Volhynia, Podolia, Podlaskie, Severia, Czernihów, Samogitia, Kiev, Volhynia, Podlaskie, Livonia, also Prince of Transylvania. He ruled large areas in southern Europe up to the Black Sea with Moldova. In 1462 even Caffa in Crimea was a protectorate of the Polish King. But only a short time because the armies of King Casimir IV were involved with the war against the Teutonic Order and therefore could not defend Caffa against the Ottomans. Poland was in the 15. century the largest kingdom in Europe. So it is no exaggeration to call this state a Polish empire because the Polish kings ruled at least over 15 different peoples and also over 5 different religious groups because an empire is a multi-ethnic state with political and military dominion of a population who are culturally and ethnically distinct from the imperial ruled ethnicities and its culture. By the way, the imperial ruling population were the Poles. This all shows the Polish dominance because in an empire reigns and dominates just one ethnic group. The Polish king was the head of all inhabitants of the empire.
In the end, the title Grand Duke of Lithuania was just one of many Polish king's titles. The title was particularly important only at the beginning of the Polish rule over Lithuania, when the Lithuanian nobility was not yet Polonized. At that time the Poles still had to pretend the Lithuanian nobility that this was not a takeover. The treaty of Krewo for personal union of Poland with Lithuania in 1385 was the decisive step in Poland's takeover of Lithuania. This union was declared indissoluble. This personal union meant that the Polish king should also be the ruler of Lithuania. In fact, the union treaty also contained the provision of the attaching of Lithuanian and Ruthenian lands to the Crown of Poland. However, the various other treaties which followed this treaty actually meant the takeover and Polonization of Lithuania too. A significant resolution was the adoption of Polish administrative divisions and offices like voivode and castellan by Lithuania. Even more important was that in total 47 selected Lithuanian nobles were adopted by Polish nobles heraldic families and granted Polish coats of arm. This symbolic gesture signified their desire to adopt Polish customs and integrate into Polish society. Because of this possibility of heraldic adoption, Poland had a much higher proportion of nobles than other European kingdoms. In Poland, the proportion of nobles in the total population was already 10-15% in the 16th century, in the rest of Europe it was 1%. Thus the Union of Krewo in 1385 signified the beginnings of the strengthened Polonization of Lithuania. Strengthened Polonization because the Polonization actually started before the Union of Krewo, because the Lithuania was Christianized from Poland. Priests, especially from Poland, Christianized Lithuania and priests had great influence at that time, so there was already a Polish influx in Lithuania before the Union of Krewo.
The revolutionary constitution Nihil Novi in 1505 passed by the Polish parliament applied to the entire Polish Empire as well as to Lithuania. Through this constitution, Poland became the Rzeczpospolita Nobles' Democracy! The state was no longer called the Kingdom of Poland, but the most serene (most high) Rzeczpospolita Poland. The constitution was the primary element of the democratic governance in the Polish kingdom which granted Parliament extensive powers. The Parliament (sejm) was a powerful political institution and the king could not pass most of laws without the approval of that body. Poland, along with England, was a leader in democratic development in Europe, that was, in the world! Warsaw was the primary location of the sejm. The Lithuanians have adopted the Polish word "sejm" as "seimas" for parliament from Polish! With this constitution, the Polish nobility, including the Polonized nobility in Lithuania and Ruthenia, actually had power in the state. Later the constitution was supplemented with the Henrycian Articles, which stipulated that the Polish king was elected by the nobility. The Articles incorporated the Warsaw Confederation provisions guaranteeing almost unprecedented religious freedom. It is worth to underline that according to the Articles, if the King were to transgress against the law or the privileges of the the nobility, the Articles authorized the the nobility to refuse the king’s orders and act against him. As mentioned above, the nobility made up up to 10-15% of the population in the Polish Empire, which meant that 10-15% of the population had democratic rights. This was revolutionary in comparison to other European nations ruled despotically by a single monarch, with the exception of the English.The final fusing was then in 1569 with the Union of Lublin. This union replaced the personal union with the real union of Poland and Lithuania. This union showed clearly how advanced the assimilation of Lithuania was. That was the last act of the Polonization of Lithuania, in which it was only legally determined what had long been factual, that Poland had completely absorbed Lithuania. Poland was successful for centuries The Polish Empire, along with England, was a leader in democratic development in Europe, that was, in the world!
In the next comment I will explain why it is wrong to call the Polish Empire the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
So here I explain why it is wrong to call the Polish Empire the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, repeating some aspects from above. To call this state Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is wrong. This term is wrong because the term Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is a modern, nonsensical invention by 20th century historians that does not correspond to reality. This state was never called Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. NEVER! Used in international treaties and diplomacy, the state has been called the most serene ( most high) Rzeczpospolita Poland (Polish: Najjaśniejsza Rzeczpospolita Polska, Latin: Serenissima Res Publica Poloniae or also Rzeczpospolita of the Polish Kingdom or Rzeczpospolita of Poland. Its residents simply referred it in the everyday language as Rzeczpospolita or Poland occasionally also the crown.
In addition the Commonwealth of Nations as the union of the former British colonies has the official title "Commonwealth". If one compare these Polish state of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries with this Commonwealth one can see how absurd the term Commonwealth is instead of Rzeczpospolita. The correct translation of Rzeczpospolita would actually be republic. But it would still be wrong to use the English term republic to refer to this Polish state, because the republic is actually defined today as the opposite of a monarch. But Poland was a monarchical republic back then and therefore something special. If there is no suitable translation for a term, then the proper noun from the original language is usually used. In this case it is the Polish proper name Rzeczpospolita.
By the way, I know that's done in English-speaking countries, that republik is mistranslated as Commonwealth. This is because English is a very chaotic language with many vague terms. Unfortunately, this is currently the lingua franca worldwide. Republic derived from Latin res publica for public affair is definitely not the same as common wealth. That's a fact. Public affair is not the same as common wealth! Therefore Commonwealth is the wrong translation for Rzeczpospolita! Just because many use a wrong translation does not mean that it becomes a correct translation. Republic derived from Latin res publica for public affair is definitely not the same as common wealth (Commonwealth.) That's a fact. Public affair is not the same as common wealth! Therefore Commonwealth is the wrong translation for Rzeczpospolita!
Moreover, the term is being used incorrectly because the Polish term Rzeczpospolita has been mistranslated as Commonwealth. So the term Commonwealth is used because of an incorrect translation. For that reason alone, one should not use this term. In addition the Commonwealth of Nations as the union of the former British colonies has the official title "Commonwealth". If one compare these Polish state of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries with
this Commonwealth one can see how absurd the term Commonwealth is instead of Rzeczpospolita. The term Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealt was not used at all in earlier times. It would be appropriate to speak of Rzeczpospolita because that was the traditional and official name of this state as a whole, including all duchies i.e. all areas dominated by the Polish Parliament and the Polish King. It is a combination of rzecz "thing, matter" and pospolita "common", a calque of the Latin res publica (res "thing" + publica "public, common"), so the republic, incorrectly translated as Commonwealth in English. By the way, in Poland, the word Rzeczpospolita is used exclusively in relation to the Republic of Poland, while other republic is referred to in Polish as "republika". Used in international treaties and diplomacy, the state has been called the most serene ( most high) Rzeczpospolita Poland (Polish: Najjaśniejsza Rzeczpospolita Polska, Latin: Serenissima Res Publica Poloniae or also Rzeczpospolita of the Polish Kingdom or Rzeczpospolita of Poland. Its residents simply referred it in the everyday language as Rzeczpospolita or Poland occasionally also the crown. But the state was never called Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. NEVER! The term Rzeczpospolita seems difficult to pronounce for non-Poles. But that is not the case at all. With a little practice, anyone can pronounce the term correctly, even you. A little help: Rz is pronounced like the "isi" in vision. So virzon sounds like vision. Cz sounds like the "ch" in church. So Czurcz sounds like church. But if one just use "sh" instead of "rz", that sounds close to Polish. "Ch" can be used instead of "cz". So Shechpospolita would be written in English, which could be pronounced without problems. So there is no reason not to use this correct term.
IIts a good video,. although as someone noticed already the nationality did not equal to native language. I did my PhD in university students in Early Modern Era, so you could get really self identifications (my favourite and the most exotic was a late XVII century Scoto-Lithuanus (Shotish-Lithuanian) from Kėdainiai). It seems allegiance and citizenship was always considered more important and always superceded ethnic identifications during that era. And with polinization we should not jump to conclussions too soon. Lithuania got more latinised (ergo event Ruthenian Orthodox priests and literature started to be printed in latin) and polonised at the same time. You could describe the process as social colinization, which had severe limits the lower on the social ladder you look. Therefore groups which participated in public life less were not as touched by the expansion of the Polish language (so the usual example - Samogitians. But, there were serious changes towards the very end of the state's existance. Once the old elite sold out to Russians, the rebels in 1794 Koscziusko's rebellion remembered that there were groups which had to be adressed in their native languages to be convinced to join the rebels. So the very first political document in Lithuanian was a translation or an adaptation of a rebellions' manifesto. So as the modernizers tried to discover support for their project of popular sovereignity, they have discovered that not all people that had to be adressed could read Polish.
This is super interesting, thanks for sharing this knowledge
Poland Lithuania. Waited so long. Thank you