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| — Description of forming Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth |
The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is a formable located in Eastern Europe 
. It requires either 
Poland or 
Lithuania to take numerous nations in Eastern Europe and the Baltics.
Its a famous, yet difficult formable, due to being located in between some of the strongest nations of Europe, such as 
Germany, and 
Russia, with the last requiring all the nations that the formable encompasses for their own formables, except for Poland.
Background[]
The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, formally known as the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland and the 
Grand Duchy of Lithuania or, after 1791, the Commonwealth of Poland, was a dual state, a confederate, constitutional monarchy ruled by one monarch who was both the King of Poland and the Grand Duke of Lithuania. It was formed by the personal union of Poland and Lithuania in 1386, but it was formally formed in 1569. by the Union of Lublin. Nothing much happened until 1772 when Prussia, 
Russia, and 
Austria partitioned it for the first time. It was partitioned a second time in 1793 and a third time in 1795, resulting in its loss of sovereignty. It had a sphere of Influence in modern day 
Slovakia and 
Estonia.
Base Statistics[]
Military[]
The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth has a relatively low income of $2,001,052, and a base manpower capacity of 764,302. It has a manpower gain of 2,483.
| Disarmed [1% RP] |
|
|---|---|
| Volunteer [2% RP] |
|
| Limited [5% RP] |
|
| Extensive [10% RP] |
|
| Required [25% RP] |
Resources[]
 Aluminum
|
+1.22 |
|---|---|
 Copper
|
+9.74 |
 Gold
|
+1.11 |
 Iron
|
+4.88 |
 Oil
|
+23.43 |
 Phosphate
|
+1.22 |
 Titanium
|
+7.32 |
 Uranium
|
+1.22 |
Geography[]
Terrain[]
The terrain of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is relatively flat all around, only having the Mountainous terrain in the 
Carpathian Rus.
Biome[]
The only biome in the Commonwealth are the seasonal winter biomes. In the months of December-January, western and southern Poland, the area surrounding Warsaw, and almost all of 
Ukraine except for its northern-most point experiences Mild Winter. The rest of the country in these months has Severe Winter. During September-November and February-March, however, the places where Mild Winter occurs in December-January have no snow, And the areas where Severe Winter in December-January instead experience Mild Winter.
Cities[]
The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth has 99 cities, its most populous being Katowice.
Threats[]
Russia may take Latvia, Ukraine, Lithuania and Belarus to form Soviet Union or the Russian Empire.- If you are Poland, Germany has a good chance of annexing you early on.
- If Ukraine is a really good player or has developed an army stronger than you, your playthrough could end.
- If you are Lithuania and Poland is a player and is spared by Germany, he may attempt to conquer you first.
- The Czech Republic or Slovakia might annex you (if you are playing as Poland) to form Zapadoslavia, although this is rare.
- A Ukraine or Belarus player trying to form Intermarium.
- Sweden may take Latvia to form the Swedish Empire.
Strategy[]
The main issues when forming the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, as stated above, are Germany, Russia, and Ukraine when playing as Poland, and Poland too when playing as Lithuania. Germany is a big threat, as they usually invade Poland early in the game. Russia is also a big threat as they often take Ukraine early, making it impossible for you to form.
Your best bet is to try and ally Germany and Russia, and if needed, ask Russia for aid against Ukraine. You can also try to solve it diplomatically, like asking Ukraine if he would give up their land so you can form, and then you give up Belarus so they can form etc.
But if none of those work, the strategy I usually use does work, even though sometimes Germany does attack you early and leave your preparations in vain.
There are likely 4 possible scenarios.
- Germany is a player and plans on invading you.
- Russia is a player and plans to form the Soviet Union or Russian Empire, and will take out every player they need to form.
- Germany and Russia will partition you.
- Ukraine is a player and will resist.
Scenario A[]
You begin like this in each scenario. Your preparations will take you about your Justifying time (75 days), which is ideal. Start by making Electronic Factories in Lublin and Rzeszów. Then make a Steel factory in Kraków and a Motor Factory in Kielce. Make sure to trade with AI Nations to make sure you get the Resources needed, and when the electronic factories are done, trade 32 units with something like 
Brazil or 
Mexico. (China etc. are also possible, if all strong nations are a player, then trade 16 units to 
South Africa or 
Nigeria or something. If none of those work, you will probably not be in the deficit though.) Then, wait till you have enough money for a Fort in Warsaw, move your home guard to it. Also at the beginning, justify on Ukraine and Belarus. If possible, attack Ukraine and take it before Germany declares on you.
When Germany declares, make sure to have 1-2K Tanks and 150-200K Troops ready. Also, build Artillery and place them in Warsaw. Then, wait until Germany declares, and make sure to exhaust all his manpower. If you are lucky, you will have 1K Tanks and maybe 100-130K Troops left. then, you should be able to take Germany. Of course, you also must worry about Russia taking Belarus and the Baltics early, but usually, Russia doesn't do that. They justify on 
Kazakhstan and Ukraine, but as you have taken Ukraine already, they have to waste some time Justifying. Also, Russia players are usually semi-experienced (Or complete noobs) and usually don't take the time to make Tanks. Unlike you, you already have tanks, and with Germany's strength on your side, you should be able to take Russia.
Scenario B[]
The main issue here is that Russia is far more powerful than Germany.
Prepare like in Scenario A, but make sure to get only Tanks. Don't go into the deficit though, and use your Tanks to Blitzkrieg through Ukraine. Also, justify on Lithuania and Latvia. When Ukraine has been deposed, declare on Belarus and again, Blitzkrieg through Belarus. Russia is already angered at this point, and if they are justifying you, Ally China, and attempt to defend, again, from Warsaw. If they don’t notice you invading those stuff, then Split your Troops into 2 stacks, and attack Lithuania and Latvia simultaneously. You can't waste time then. After you completed the attack, Form the Commonwealth, and yes, you made it. Just one issue. By now, Russia has probably already started justifying you, and you need to survive. Thank god, there are Defensive strategies.
How to survive[]
Russia is more powerful than you, and you will not be able to take it on alone (unless Russia rages like hell and leaves). Ally with 
China, or any power that can help you almost immediately, and tell them your issue. They might ditch you (sometimes happens), but you should be able to at least make Russia rage quit. First, bring all your troops to Warsaw. Make artillery, station it in Warsaw, and make sure that they are split. Artillery deals more damage when split. If Russia has aircraft, make sure to make some anti-aircraft artillery. Make sure to train all those troops, you need them at a higher level than Russia's troops. Also, make a small unit of tanks, and station them somewhere, but not in Warsaw. Those tanks will be used to take out Russia's artillery. Then, Russia should declare war on you. Make some troops if needed, and hold out in Warsaw. If Russia uses artillery, use those tanks not stationed in Warsaw and take the artillery out. Russia should be raging by now. If you do survive, good job! You just restored the Commonwealth to its former glory. (And took over Russia too.)
Scenario C[]
Well, this is the worst scenario. Russia and Germany are partitioning you. You can't defend yourself, but this doesn't happen so often. Russia and Germany often try to beat each other when it comes to the economy and military. Well, it still happens though. The issue here is that you will not be able to defend, you will be overrun.
So, prepare like in the last two scenarios, and now, you need to add another step. Ally China or Japan, and ally France or the United Kingdom. Italy would also work. Now, if your allies ditch you, you are just dead. But if they don't ditch you? Then you have a fighting chance. Hold out like in Scenario B, in How to survive. By then, your allies should be coming to your rescue and you'd be saved.
Scenario D[]
Main issue here is that is stronger than you, and they also usually prepare in the same way as you do. In this case, you must prevent Ukraine from forming their formable, 
Kievan Rus.
Prepare in the same way you prepared in every Scenario, but this time, Justify on Belarus and Lithuania, and not on Ukraine. Use your Tanks to make as much of Belarus as possible, cutting Ukraine from the northern expansion route. Then, attack Lithuania, Attack Slovakia and Hungary then. Afterwards, Take Romania, and continue expanding and cutting Ukraine off from expanding himself. Once you have more power than Ukraine, declare on them. You should be able to win has the three front war is too much for Ukraine to handle. You are coming from the west, north, and south, and under this pressure, Ukraine is doomed to fall.
Remember, those strategies don't always work. They sometimes fail due to Russia not being an idiot, or Germany going for you immediately.
Trivia[]
- Despite being called The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Lithuanian wasn't an official language in the commonwealth and Lithuanian nobles would voluntarily assimilate into Polish culture as a part of Polonization
- The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is one of many nations/formables/releasables that does not have a rectangular flag. It shares this category with:
- Afsharid Dynasty
- Byzantine Empire
- Caucasian Imamate
- Chola Dynasty
- Crimean Khanate
- Crown of Aragon
- Danish Empire
- Emirate of Bukhara
- Frankish Empire
- Goguryeo
- Grand Duchy of Lithuania
- Hafsid Dynasty
- Hui
- Khanate of Kazan
- Khmer Empire
- Kingdom of Hungary
- Kirat
- Kush
- Mamluk Sultanate
- Mongol Empire
- Nepal
- North Sea Empire
- Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
- Sikh Empire
- Swedish Empire
- Timurid Empire
- ↑ The following columns below present the manpower capacity from lowest (Disarmed) to highest (Required). RP stands for Recruitable Population.