It’s interesting to note why exactly it lost to Sweden and Russian empires - largely because of the haughtiness of Polish nobility that wroke havoc on collective decision making. Apparently this haughtiness still survives and it will take more historical lessons to completely overcome it.
Imperial status, even for a short time, and even in failed empires, is quite an addictive drug for haughtiness that may take centuries to wear off.
Nobility was also resisting attempts on modernization of warfare - as result they did not had answer to Swedish riflemen or at best some half-assed solutions that they failed to implement in practice. Hard to tell as Polish historians love to obfuscate facts with euphemisms and wishful thinking. The fact remains that Swedish army was 3 times smaller than force Poland mobilized in total. Probably one of the most humiliating wars in Polish history.
I sincerely hope that gentle but steadfast efforts of the EU will allow for our Eastern European political culture to gradually grow up. In this regard, recent Hungarian events are an inspiring example.
It’s interesting to note why exactly it lost to Sweden and Russian empires - largely because of the haughtiness of Polish nobility that wroke havoc on collective decision making. Apparently this haughtiness still survives and it will take more historical lessons to completely overcome it.
Imperial status, even for a short time, and even in failed empires, is quite an addictive drug for haughtiness that may take centuries to wear off.
Nobility was also resisting attempts on modernization of warfare - as result they did not had answer to Swedish riflemen or at best some half-assed solutions that they failed to implement in practice. Hard to tell as Polish historians love to obfuscate facts with euphemisms and wishful thinking. The fact remains that Swedish army was 3 times smaller than force Poland mobilized in total. Probably one of the most humiliating wars in Polish history.
I sincerely hope that gentle but steadfast efforts of the EU will allow for our Eastern European political culture to gradually grow up. In this regard, recent Hungarian events are an inspiring example.
Do you think this is realistic?
Time will tell. Region (Poland included) has it’s own local flavor with own specifics per country.