Today I learned Lithuania used to be a strong european powerhouse

What happened?

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they were never very strong
they quickly gained a lot of territory because they basically took control over the Rus territories destroyed by Mongol invasion
these lands were defenseless and basically free for taking
after this like 80% of their population were Ruthenian people

They allied P*les

it was actually belarus
they enslaved us and now they owe us reparations

Polacks

The eternal Pole

Afterwards Lithuania with Poland formed the original NATO, aka the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, to curb Muscovy. It failed massively because it had a retarded political system (elective monarchy) and failed to keep countries that later partitioned it on a tight leash (Prussia and Muscovy).

polish empire and NATO are 2 different incomparable things

Chrisis in local economy, like it always happens. Everything else is just a topping.

Demographics. Too few Litwins and too much Slavs

Can it really be called an empire when all it took is a few corrupt nobles to block their ability to do anything including self defense?

Yes, but in some sense it was a defensive alliance to keep Russia/Muscovy at bay.

Why isn't modern Lithuania a #1 economy then?

Nah, it was the retarded liberum veto. Muscovy only had to bribe one noble and nothing would get done.

wait 10 years moskal

no it wasn't. It was a polish state. An alliance is when 2 or more nations form a mutual defensive pact. That's not what we're seeing here.

Russia was never a big deal until 17th century
the alliance was first focused on dealing with the Teutonic Order

And the PLC let it to develop into Prussia that later cannibalised the PLC kek

You won't have that much time.

The disappearance of the PLC collapsed the foundation of the European geopolitical security and later caused two world wars

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Imagine Lithuania was like 4 times larger than Poland, but still was considered a weaker partner of Poland.

Just imagine how backward it was back then

Whatever helps you sleep at night, ruslan. Hope you have some dollars withdrawn.

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they were simply not very numerous
it was a baltic tribe that took advantage of Mongols annihilating the Rus and quickly took control over large depopulated territories

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