This is just a guess, but I bet most people were surprised by the prominence of Lithuania and subsequently Poland/Lithuania over a long period of time.
In fact, if it had not been for those brave settlers on what was then the eastern frontier of Europe proper, the Mongol Golden Horde would have ridden through the Fulda Gap into central Europe.
A Pole, Henry Sienkiwizc (sp?)wrote a wonderful historical novel called “With Fire and Sword” about the battle between the Horde and the Europeans way back. I read it as a boy and have never forgotten it.
I was. I had always thought of Lithuania as a small country. I wish that the "annotation" were larger. I can barely read it. By the time I get my eyes focused on those tiny words at the bottom of the page, the map has already changed.
I watched the miniseries of it on TV Polonia, thankfully they had English subtitles.