[exit82]

The Russians better be careful.

The Poles have lost a lot to the Russians in the last 76 years—and it’s time for payback.

Remember, it was the Poles under King Jan Sobieski who saved Vienna from the Muslim siege in 1673, and sent them back to Turkey.

That siege is where the croissant came from—meaning “crescent” in French—so you could “eat” the enemy, whose crescent was on their flags.

[The Toll]

If they squared off right now, the Poles would put a serious thumping on the Russians. They couldn’t hold out forever but they would bleed them very very deeply for certain.

[Cronos]

Remember also that the Poles were the only ones who managed to conquer Moscow -- granted that that was in 1610, but they kept the pressure up until the 1700s

Why did they fail after that? Internal politics...

The Polish grand lords decided they preferred weaker kings and they promoted a parliament where even a single NAY vote would kill a bill. Net result, nothing happened.

This opened Poland up to meddling by its neighbors (autocratic governments)