Reddit mentions of Poland: A History

As a long-term player of europa universalis I am biased against the Elective Monarchy government form because, true to historical form, its a reactionary force that can cripple development of a nation or empire.

Its important to remember that the elective monarchy still pulled exclusively from existing royal houses, and that after the loss of the jagiellon dynasty a string of foreign rulers would be granted the throne of poland. How can you reasonably expect a foreign royal person to effectively represent the interests of the Polish people in the system? In reality you can't, and a string of monarchs from france and sweden would exploit the Polish throne for their own political gains in their dynastic homeland or outright ignore it for the most part.

The Szlachta themselves represented a duality of reactionary forces that helped take the Commonwealth from the most dominant nation of Europe at its peak to a dissembled, partitioned mess. The Szlachta were primarily minor landed nobles, and exclusively of the militant class (they formed the body of the much praised Hussars, most famous for breaking the Jannisary formations and Ottoman Siege of Vienna in 1683). This meant that things such as land reform, a critical component on the path to industrialization that many european nations embarked on in the later days of the PLC, were subject to constant opposition and veto by this class of citizens that would be most harmed by such a reform.

Similarly, military advances were hampered by the elitist and traditional views of the Szlachta. While the Swedes were adopting combined arms tactics and fully embracing gunpowder based warfare, the commonwealth remained forcibly wedded to the fantastical notions of mighty cavalry charges and the superiority of their assumed Sarmatian heritage.


Ultimately the limited scope of the representative nature in the commonwealth's political system (only the rich and the hereditary military class have voices) alongside its inability to maintain a clear, consistent national policy, would lead to a two major points of failure. The first of these failures is that at no point did the common citizen or even the conscript develop a sense of national pride. The nation was a mongrel mix of tartars, lithuanians, ruthenians, polish, moldavians, etc. The lack of a strong monarch hampered a push towards national solidarity (keep in mind, absolute monarchies with nationalist notions became THE dominant model of european power in the 17th century - France, Sweden, being the most notable examples). In addition, because so few common people had any stake in the political system and no loyalty to a monarch that was often a complete foreigner, it was insanely difficult to foster a sense of collective national defense.

The best example of the split between the commonwealth's political class and the population at large can be seen in its response to the reformation. The commonwealth became one of the most tolerant societies in the world, possibly the most tolerant except for the De Facto mixed cities in germany that refused to engage in sectarian fighting. However, even as fervor for Lutheran and then Reformed theology swept through the upper classes, with a similar regression in the onset of the Jesuit movement and counter reformation; most of the Commonwealth citizenship remained traditional catholics and orthodox with a muslim minority in the southern provinces.

It feels like I've been spewing words for a bit, so let me wrap up with a nice summation of polish history from a polish author. While not my exclusive source for understanding the history of the Commonwealth it is a very solid set of background information and fact finding

https://www.amazon.com/Poland-History-Adam-Zamoyski/dp/0781813018

Definitely. Polish effort towards intelligence with regard to the Enigma cipher is also important through that time period. I read a lot of history and found myself fascinated with the Poles; a good place to start is Zamoyski's work although they are at least tangentially related in other histories like The Enemy at the Gate - who doesn't love Sobieski vodka? In any case, the Blyskawica ("lightning" - be sure to look up its proper pronounciation) was my very first premium purchase, of which I am proud, even though I have little to no Polish blood. Their history of Catholicism also made them a fun choice in everything from Medieval: Total War II to the Europa Universalis series...but of course that's a far cry from piloting a destroyer. (although true enough, they are a rather tough country to play in Hearts of Iron)

Unbiased history of Poland during/after WW2. I found this book which is what I was looking for:

https://www.amazon.com/Poland-History-Adam-Zamoyski/dp/0781813018/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1487557388&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=Poland%3A+A+history+Paperback+%E2%80%93+July+30%2C+2015