History UsefulNotes / PolishLithuanianCommonwealth

** Martin Wallace and co. made English-language ''God's Playground'', which is a serious political and military game about the magnate families fighting each other over Poland, while defending its borders.
** Polish-made ''Boże Igrzysko: Magnaci'' (''God's Playground: Magnates'') started its life as a [[EdutainmentGame teaching aid]] (it ''still'' hit stores with an extra primer of rules for History teachers on how to run a class using the game), but quickly evolved into a game about conflicting interests, portraying the chaotic nature of the Commonwealth's politics.

* ''Diaries'' by Jan Chryzostom Pasek, one of the main inspirations for Sienkiewicz to write his ''Trilogy''. Even if Pasek was a bit of MilesGlorious, his diaries are easily one of the best sources on the mindset of Polish petty szlachta in the mid-17th century.

After a short reign of Henry de Valois (he quickly ran back to his native France just in time to get crowned and then shanked, but not after starting the new precedence for each elective monarch to provide grandiose promises and further privileges as a way of securing election), the next election chose a king of the Transylvanian dynasty of Bathory, and he was as metal as it sounds like. In a series of successful wars, he beat back the Muscovite westward expansion. However, Muscovy was there, and it was waiting.

* The first and third ''VideoGame/{{Cossacks}}'' RTS games had Poland (read: the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth) as a playable faction, with its own set of wholly unique units, including the famous Winged Hussar. They are enemies (and one-time allies) in the campaign of the Ukrainian UsefulNotes/{{Cossacks}} in ''VideoGame/CossacksEuropeanWars'', and a playable faction with its own campaign in that game's first ExpansionPack, ''The Art of War''.

That big blot on the map of [=15th-18th=] Century UsefulNotes/{{Central|Europe}}-Eastern UsefulNotes/{{Europe}}.

That big blot on the map of [=15th-18th=] Century Central-Eastern UsefulNotes/{{Europe}}.

* ''ComicBook/{{Cossacks}}'', a French comic book about a young early 17th century Lithuanian Hussar from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth who deserts the Polish army to join a group of Ukrainian Cossacks and [[GoingNative live among them]].

That big blob on the map of [=15th-18th=] Century Central-Eastern UsefulNotes/{{Europe}}.

That big blot on the map of [=15th-18th=] Century Central-Eastern UsefulNotes/{{Europe}}.

The [=18th=] century was a time of decay -- although not to the nobles, who could be described as all too many cases of IdleRich and [[UpperClassTwit Upper-Class Twits]], except nobody was running around wearing bat ears on his cap. Political infighting caused several civil wars, while the Saxon kings (popular due to their hedonistic ruling style) led the country into UsefulNotes/TheGreatNorthernWar, with no gain at all and destruction compared to that of the Deluge. Meanwhile, [[RunningGag the tsars]] had their fun bribing nobles to veto the laws, and in some cases not even pretending they aren't enforcing their passing by force of arms. UsefulNotes/{{Prussia}} -- once a vassal of Poland, since the last grand master of the Teutonic Knights turned Protestant and swore fealty to Polish king -- negotiated its way out of its vassal state during the many troubles the country was facing in the [=1650s=], and [[UsefulNotes/FrederickTheGreat by the time of the Fredericks]] too had joined the party with counterfeiting the Polish money and an occasional kidnapping of a tall man for Frederick's regiment of giants. At least, by that time Turkey was already beaten down to not cause too many problems.

This miserable time began to turn for the better after the election of Stanisław Poniatowski, UsefulNotes/CatherineTheGreat's former boy toy ([[NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer no kidding]]), in 1764. While not historically the most popular of monarchs, he was a man of the Enlightenment, and took his perceived duties as the new King unexpectedly seriously (i.e. he actually tried to help restore the Commonwealth, rather than just serve Catherine's interests). He supported the redevelopment of the state's culture and economy, importing know-how from abroad and establishing schools and cultural institutions, even the below-mentioned Constitution. This resurgence was impeded by the fact that in 1772, Prussia, Austria and Russia figured they might as well take some juicier plots of land for themselves - and that they most certainly did not want a powerful semi-democratic Commonwealth on their borders. Finally, the cultural unrest achieved its peak at the Great Sejm, and with the passing of the Constitution of the [=3rd=] May in 1791. Interestingly enough, the Constitution (described as being influenced by the US Constitution and the UK's constitutional monarchy) can be argued to mark the end of the Commonwealth -- it discarded the old system in favour of a unified state under a constitutional, non-elective monarchy. In any case, it was moot anyway, as in a couple of years the "three black eagles" decided they would carve up the country wholesale rather than see it get better, and in 1795 the country ceased to be. Especially since it was far too liberal for their liking and, even worse, ''too close home'', all while everyone was already giving UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution nervous looks.

As you can guess, that wasn't the best time or place to run a business in. By 1660s, the country was in complete ruin, a ''third'' of the population was dead[[note]]To put it into some perspective: not even UsefulNotes/WorldWarII was this bad for Poland - and that one included a purposeful extermination of local population[[/note]] and every neighboring country either held a grudge or was looking for their next chance to seize Polish territory. The traditional tolerance began to dissipate, as various Protestant sects came to be seen as supportive of the Swedes. And finally, the [[ImpoverishedPatrician impoverished nobles]] -- retaining all the rights of a nobleman even if they were poorer than a peasant -- clung to the magnates' courts, with a predictable effect on the quality of law. In 1657, a certain nobleman figured that since ''liberum veto'' was in place, he could just show up at the Sejm, shout "veto!" [[note: However, Władysław Siciński, who did that, didn't do that out of stupidity or to spite other members of the Sejm. He thought he should stop the assembly, because the Sejm couldn't agree on anything and they wanted to lengthen the parliamentary sitting for two days to finally work something out, making the war with the Swedes harder this way and interfering with most of the Sejm members' plans. Siciński wanted to help everybody, but well... his choice opened a whole new can of worms.]], and get away before anybody could "convince" him to recall it. And he did exactly that. And with minor exceptions, the next 150 years went with barely a law passed.

As you can guess, that wasn't the best time or place to run a business in. By 1660s, the country was in complete ruin, a ''third'' of the population was dead[[note]]To put it into some perspective: not even UsefulNotes/WorldWarII was this bad for Poland - and that one included a purposeful extermination of local population[[/note]] and every neighboring country either held a grudge or was looking for their next chance to seize Polish territory. The traditional tolerance began to dissipate, as various Protestant sects came to be seen as supportive of the Swedes. And finally, the [[ImpoverishedPatrician impoverished nobles]] -- retaining all the rights of a nobleman even if they were poorer than a peasant -- clung to the magnates' courts, with a predictable effect on the quality of law. In 1657, a certain nobleman figured that since ''liberum veto'' was in place, he could just show up at the Sejm, shout "veto!", and get away before anybody could "convince" him to recall it. And he did exactly that. And with minor exceptions, the next 150 years went with barely a law passed.

The [=18th=] century was a time of decay -- although not to the nobles, who could be described as all too many cases of IdleRich, except nobody was running around wearing bat ears on his cap. Political infighting caused several civil wars, while the Saxon kings (popular due to their hedonistic ruling style) led the country into UsefulNotes/TheGreatNorthernWar, with no gain at all and destruction compared to that of the Deluge. Meanwhile, [[RunningGag the tsars]] had their fun bribing nobles to veto the laws, and in some cases not even pretending they aren't enforcing their passing by force of arms. UsefulNotes/{{Prussia}} -- once a vassal of Poland, since the last grand master of the Teutonic Knights turned Protestant and swore fealty to Polish king -- negotiated its way out of its vassal state during the many troubles the country was facing in the [=1650s=], and [[UsefulNotes/FrederickTheGreat by the time of the Fredericks]] too had joined the party with counterfeiting the Polish money and an occasional kidnapping of a tall man for Frederick's regiment of giants. At least, by that time Turkey was already beaten down to not cause too many problems.

The [=18th=] century was a time of decay -- although not to the nobles, who could be described as all too many cases of RichIdiotWithNoDayJob, except nobody was running around wearing bat ears on his cap. Political infighting caused several civil wars, while the Saxon kings (popular due to their hedonistic ruling style) led the country into UsefulNotes/TheGreatNorthernWar, with no gain at all and destruction compared to that of the Deluge. Meanwhile, [[RunningGag the tsars]] had their fun bribing nobles to veto the laws, and in some cases not even pretending they aren't enforcing their passing by force of arms. UsefulNotes/{{Prussia}} -- once a vassal of Poland, since the last grand master of the Teutonic Knights turned Protestant and swore fealty to Polish king -- negotiated its way out of its vassal state during the many troubles the country was facing in the [=1650s=], and [[UsefulNotes/FrederickTheGreat by the time of the Fredericks]] too had joined the party with counterfeiting the Polish money and an occasional kidnapping of a tall man for Frederick's regiment of giants. At least, by that time Turkey was already beaten down to not cause too many problems.