Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

## History

#### Server Establishment and Early Years:

The first leader of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was Shane\_MC as King Celek Bosen, who was voted in by the Sejm in early 1761. Not long after his coronation, Poland entered into the Tripartite Pact with France, Venice, and Switzerland in order to create a defense capable of standing against Austria.

#### Democratic Takeover:

In 1809 a growing movement of a small portion of the Polish-Lithuanian population achieved what most thought was impossible. Due to the famine, Tuvia Bielski, the leader of the rebellion group, Liberatorzy (the Liberators) led managed to amass a small army and marched to Warsaw, quickly defeating the little resistance the palace guards and local police put up. The royal family was taken into custody by this group and Tuvia Bielski was installed as the Protektorat. Knowing that most of the generals of the military had been loyal to the crown, so in order to keep the generals oblivious for as long as possible, he sent communications to his generals, just as the old king would do. Due to the Commonwealth's lack of inter-city infrastructure, he knew that any news of the truth of what happened to the king would arrive there slowly. So, he knew he would have to act quickly. He set up a democratic government and moved it to Krakow, even further away from the majority of the Polish-Lithuanian forces in the east and south. The Admiral of the West Baltic Fleet, stationed around the Gdansk harbor to defend against possible sea invasion from Sweden or Russia, was the first to hear about what happened in Warsaw. After confirming the news by sending some men to scout out what had happened, he sent word to the Admiral of the newly formed Eastern Baltic Fleet, who advised the Generals stationed with their units on the Eastern border. After an emergency council in early 1810, it was decided by the leading military figures that a small force would be dispatched along with a mandate to the Protektorat. Upon arrival of this force in Warsaw, they came upon a completely destroyed city. Scouts were sent to the country side in order to find out what had happened. They discovered and reported that the new Protektorat had decided that in order to stimulate the economy, the capital would be built anew, and that construction would begin shortly. After some rest, the force set out for Krakow, the new government seat for the Democratic nation of Poland Lithuania. Upon arrival, meetings with the new government leaders were set and it was decided that the military would align themselves with the new government so long as the nation would be able to rebuild successfully. The force returned to the Russian front and peace between the military and the government was established.

#### The Poland-Lithuanian Democracy:

The Democracy remained the government form from 1810 until 1822. Russian aggression during this period increased to the point where war was threatened various times, although, it never happened. Sweden became a great military ally against Russia, vowing to aid in the defense of the commonwealth in the case that Russia invaded. In addition to the constant threats made by Russia, the economy never really recovered. Various reforms were implemented, however, due to various issues, especially corruption at the local levels, they had no grand impact. In 1812 alliances began to be formed in Europe, specifically, the Turin Pact, NAPO, and the WNA. Poland-Lithuania chose to remain outside of any of these pacts, which ultimately boded well for its existence. In 1817, Poland-Lithuania's long time ally, Portugal, cut ties with the Commonwealth, no longer seeing their alliance profitable due to the unstable government that was leading the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Democracy collapsed in 1822.

#### Monarchal Reestablishment and Reconstruction:

In mid-1821 most of the military leaders were tired of the Democratic government. Its failure to better the economic situation of the commonwealth led to widespread dissent and a feeling of betrayal felt throughout the military high command. They new that if they moved their forces off of the Russian border in order to overturn the government, the Russians would take advantage of the situation and invade. Therefore, in a turn of desperation in 1821, they turned to the retired Hetman that they had grown to respect during his years of service, Jan Karol Chodkiewicz. Jan, quite old, sent a letter to his son Leo Karol Chodkiewicz, who was living in Canada at the time, explaining the situation. Leo immediately left for the Commonwealth. Meanwhile, Jan gathered a force that consisted of a small unit from the military and a larger force of the Polish-Lithuanian population, mostly peasants that were out of work, funded by a few of the nobles around the northwestern and central parts of the Commonwealth. News was spread throughout the commonwealth about this uprising against the democratic government and due to the economic situation, the movement became very popular and this scared the government. By early-1822, the government had failed to quell the movement and Leo arrived. In mid-1822, Leo gathered this force for the final time and led this force to Liepaja. From there, they passed through Vilnius, the remains of Warsaw, Gdansk, and Lviv, gathering support. Then they marched on Krakow. However, upon arrival, they found no resistance. Whatever resistance they would've encountered had fled. The leaders had fled as well, but unfortunate for them, the carriage they had fled in had left tracks. A fast group of soldiers was dispatched to track the carriage and within a couple of days, they returned with the leaders imprisoned in the same carriage they fled in. Leo and his supporters set up camp in the outskirts of Krakow, and the era of the Democratic control of the Poland-Lithuania ended.

#### Stability and Opposition:

Soon after the dissolution of Democratic power, no time was wasted in restoring the Electoral Monarchy to as it was before. Within a couple of months, a council of nobles was set up, and Leo Chodkiewicz was elected as the new King. On June 15, 1822, the results of months of deliberation of how to recover the Polish-Lithuanian economy was presented and the construction of Warsaw began. Soon after the elevation of the monarchy, trouble was on the horizon once again. Sweden laid claim to the Polish-Lithuanian throne, threatening war if the Polish-Lithuanian government refused. Naturally, the government didn't comply and received support from various nations. In Sweden, terrorist attacks in Reval (Swedish city at the time) were blamed on Poland in what is thought to be an attempt to swing the international community in Sweden's favor. However, that failed, as most nations sided in the defense of Poland. In early 1824, Sweden threatened invasion, and continued with the threats until mid 1825. In response to this, the Polish-Lithuanian Navy was improved with new ships commissioned. Also, during these war years, few foreign diplomats were allowed into the Commonwealth. Just as tensions were decreasing, the Canadian Prime Minister Oliver Augustus disappeared, and Poland played a critical role in the search, rescue, and recovery. In late 1826, Poland and Piedmont/Imperialistic State of Northern Italia formed an alliance, which was ended in 1830 and subsequently replaced with a free trade agreement. By 1830, with the various reforms enacted by the monarchy and the Sejm/Senat, along with the free trade agreement made with the ISNI, the Polish-Lithuanian economy had improved significantly. The famine was officially over. In late 1830, Russia began to threaten war with the PLC again. These threats lasted another three years. Also, in 1830, the docks of Liepaja suffered an attack by the terrorist group Narrssarssuk. Three ships rammed into the docks, severely damaging the docks, though minimum casualties were sustained. Polish authorities suspected that Narrssarssuk was funded by the Russian government. Russian opposition and threatening continued until 1846. In 1842, the government allowed a small local to be set up in Vilnius, called the Lithuanian Council, in an effort to better address the concerns of the Lithuanian people. In 1846, ties with Denmark were strengthened. In 1846, the formation of the Saratov Pact, and the subsequent formation of the Central Powers Pact once again presented the PLC with a hard decision to make. Ultimately, the PLC remained neutral of the pacts, and was able to maintain good relationships with nations on either side. The exceptions are the Russians and the United Kingdom, who denounced the PLC for a supposed attack on its citizens, though it was clearly a ploy to get the PLC to join with the Central Powers Alliance so that Russia would be able to invade the PLC with support from other nations.

#### Bordering the USSR:

With the fall of the Russian Tsars in 1850 and the creation of the USSR, relations with the Russian people improved significantly, thought the battle didn't end. Instead of a person vs person war, the new battleground was ideology. The newly empowered communists pushed their propaganda hard into the PLC. In order to maintain the progress that the nation had seen, King Leo urged his supporters to fight the communist propaganda, which was met with much success. Monarchist groups and moderate groups alike all rallied in support of the king and the system that had brought them so much prosperity. Further complicating the fight, in 1853, a large group of Piedmontese Lemonists migrated to Poland from the Confederacy, where they had been living as refugees after the fall of Piedmont. They settled in the port city of Gdansk/Danzig. Their extreme fascism, while it was something that the King also strongly campaigned against, the strong feelings kept communism from taking hold in any of the major cities. Reports suggest that the USSR constantly was sending agents to spread communism throughout Poland, though, the monarchist groups were able to continually combat them.

#### Death and Transition:

On June 14, 1857, King Leo, the monarch who led the PLC through so much, passed away. Talks went on for a couple weeks before the Sejm and Senat elected a new leader. The new king was the son of King Leo, Emeryk Jan Chodkiewicz. Emeryk, in his reign, follows in the footsteps of his father, promoting religious freedoms, promoting monarchism and the stable economy that the PLC has. King Emeryk has a large support base within the Sejm and Senat, reportedly receiving upwards of 80% of the votes, as well as he is well liked by the people.

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## Notable Residents

Jan Karol Chodkiewicz - Hetman of Polish-Lithuanian Military

Leo Karol Chodkiewicz - King of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

Emeryk Jan Chodkiewicz - King of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

Aleksandr Chodkiewicz - Mayor of Vilnius, Diplomat

Stanislaw Niemczyk- Head of Homeland Defense

Eliasz Nikodem- Mayor of Rzeszow

Tuvia Bielski- Leader of the group, Liberatorzy (The Liberators)

## Settlements and their Notable Landmarks

### Mainland cities:

Warsaw:

Warsaw is the capital of Poland-Lithuania and was the probably the second city to be worked on. It was originally built by Bandhi, however, when EdenNoble took over as the leader, one of the cities he destroyed was Warsaw. The current Warsaw was almost entirely built by smashiinn.

* Warsaw Palace
* Red Cross Hospital

Krakow:

Krakow was originally built by Bandhi. When EdenNoble became leader, he also destroyed most of Krakow. After a failed attempt to do a rollback, the current Krakow was built by CakeyCaden. During the time that Warsaw was being rebuilt, Krakow served as the capital of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

* Memorial to King Leo Chodkiewicz

Gdansk:

Gdansk was the first city to be started in Poland-Lithuania by Shane\_MC. It is the main port city of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and is where most of the PLC navy is stationed. Additions and modifications to the city have been made by smashiinn, christ45g7, and OliverPanda. Gdansk is currently the next city planned to be modernized.

* Gdansk Coastal Fortress
* Lemonist Temple

Liepaja:

Liepaja was started by suchinni. It is the second port city in Poland-Lithuania, being significantly smaller than Gdansk and less developed. OpenWishes began the modernization of Liepaja, however did not complete it. Coastal fortifications were added on by smashiinn, TheArmy12345, HistoryOP and CakeyCaden. A portion of the PLC navy is stationed in Liepaja.

Rzeszow:

Rzeszow was started by HistoryOP. It is one of the principle manufacturing cities in Poland-Lithuania. Assistance was given by smashiinn during its construction.

Zhytomyr:

Zhytomyr was started by Quelk and Cyprus\_T. It is a small town near the Russian border with little more than a couple houses and a big fountain. A defensive structure, started by smashiinn was built during the era of Russian intimidation in the case of an invasion.

Lviv:

Lviv was started by smashiinn. It's a small mining and farming town near the Southern Russian border and the German border. It consists of a few farms, a mining company building and an inn. A rail line runs from its mine to the nearby city of Rzeszow.

Vilnius:

After several attempts by players to start Vilnius in the correct geographical spot, Vilnius (in its correct location) was started by n0\_sc0per-p0pe and ComedyCube.

 Birzai:

Birzai was one of the attempts at starting Vilnius in the right spot. It was started by scaryjoebo. It's not very developed

 Kaunas:

Kaunas was another attempt at starting Vilnius in the correct spot. TinySquids started Kaunas. It's very undeveloped.

* Fort Stanislow

 MInsk:

Minsk was started by TheArmy12345. It has a tavern, a clock tower, and a town hall.

Lamovo:

Lamovo was started by OpenWishes. It was meant to be a very poor town on the PLC-USSR border.

### Non-mainland cities

Dlugosburg:

Dlugosburg was the Polish-Lithuanian's first African Colony. The area was claimed while TinySquids was leader and construction was begun by FluffyKeeshond and CherryBlossom77

* Munchausen Lighthouse

Przystán Palmo:

Under the leadership of smashiinn as King Leo, Poland bought the island of Gran Canaria from Portugal. The beginnings of Przystán Palmo were then laid and a shipyard structure was started within the island, all by smashiinn.

* Cavern Shipyard