Poland 1400-1848 EU3

MONARCHS OF POLAND:

Władysław II Jagiellon 1386 - 1400
Died in the very first battle against Golden Horde, and he was without a heir, soooo...

August II Piast 1400 - 1447
A new dynasty, or should we say, an old one, took power, with August II Piast becoming King of Poland and Lithuania. Was he even related to Casimir III the Great? No idea.
This guy punched Golden Horde and Teutonic Order in their faces so hard the former lost western Crimea and the latter handed over Danzig and Warmia.
Halfway through his reign, a new dispute with Teutonic Order sparked a war, which the Order lost and was forced to become a Polish vassal.

Władysław III Piast 1447 - 1485
Continued his precedessor's policy of punching Golden Horde, gaining eastern side of Crimea and slightly beyond.
Massive campaign of converting Crimean Muslims begun during his reign.

Michał I Piast 1485 - 1511
Wrestled trade centre of Astrakhan from Golden Horde and that's about it, he was busier with converting them Tatar Muslims instead.

Fryderyk I Piast 1511 - 1540
Became the first Emperor of Polish Empire. Has embraced the ideas of Counter-Reformation and also Westernized the country, issueing many national and religious edicts.
He has broken Bohemian power and wrestled Silesian lands from them, as well as took Carpathian region from Austria-Hungary.
He also moved the capital to Warszawa and begun buttering up the Pope in Utrecht with gifts; after his reign Poland very often controlled Roman Curia via many, many cardinals.
The last one in a long while to do any conversions of Tatar Muslims in the vast eastern steppes.

Stanisław I Piast 1540 - 1551
Begun long-term friendship with Denmark and helped them out in few minor wars, otherwise his reign was rather uneventful.

Kazimierz IV Piast 1551 - 1589
Has abandoned the backwater ideas of feudalism in favor of Administrative Monarchy.
Did some vassalization, including Mecklenburg (HRE elector) and some minor Russian states.
Also, managed to peacefully integrate Lithuania into Poland in year 1580, almost doubling its size.

Aleksander I Karol Piast 1589 - 1613
Military modernization occured during his reign, making Poland fully western through and through. His mercantilistic policies and edicts slashed any chances of Polish trading supremacy.
This allowed Poland to begin participating in HRE politics and wars, often at behalf of Denmark against Bohemia, the HRE Emperor.
Prussia, Murom, Ryazan, Transylvania, Mecklenburg, Magdeburg, Moldavia and Serbia and Tver were all subjects of Polish Crown in last years of his rule.

Zygmunt I Piast 1613 - 1622
Continued Aleksander Karol's war against Bohemia and her buddies, helping liberate western Balkans, didn't do much else.

August III Piast 1627 - 1637
Wrestled Abkhazia in Caucasus from then nigh-powerful England. Helped break Bohemia so much that it lost the HRE crown forever in favor of Bavaria.
In the far east, wars against Novgorod and Nogai Khanate saw expansion toward Siberia and Central Asia.

Zygmunt II Piast 1637 - 1680
Annexed Moldavia into greater Poland, and re-started the conversion campaign of Russian Orthodox and Tatar Muslims in the far east.
Punched Brandenburg in the face twice, first to reduce its size and then vassalize it, giving Polish Piasts two electoral votes in HRE elections.
Fought on behalf of Pope, Denmark and Austria many times against Italian states, Bavaria, Novgorod and Castille.

Władysław IV Piast 1680 - 1694
Helped erode Bavarian Emperor's power by forcing him to release states and vassals, paving way for Savoy to acquire HRE Crown.

Henryk I Piast 1694 - 1699
Did absolutely nothing of note.

Aleksander II Piast 1708 - 1745, as King
Modernized the vast Kingdom of Poland with help of Constitutional Monarchy, using all those magistrates to do with long overdue building up of Polish inftrastucture and economy.
He has helped curbstomp Byzantine power in Asia Minor, releasing and taking Georgia as a loyal vassal. Fought against Novgorod which helped Duchy of Tver gain extra lands.
In 1729, he has acquired Crown of Holy Roman Emperor, and was involved in its politics for next ten years, curbing Bavarian, Hessian and Frankfurtian blobs.
In the year 1740 his heir Zygmunt has died presumably of old age (was around 50 at this point), and for next five years there was no Piast or even local candidate to the throne.
Faced with prospect of Poland ruled by Brankovic dynasty (the ruling dynasty of Bohemia), he decided that a drastic action must be taken.
So, he abandoned the King's throne in favor of the office of the President of Constitutional Republic.

PRESIDENTS OF POLAND:

Aleksander II Piast 1745 - 1755, as President
Managed the rebel-filled and instability-racked Poland during the first four years of his presidency.
Becoming a president alienated him from Denmark and Austria, whose monarchs decided to abandon the centuries-long alliances they had with Poland.
During his presidency, it was decided that Polish subjects need to be made equal and thus campaign of annexation begun, with Pomeranians in Stettin being the first.
Because a President cannot be Holy Roman Emperor, Aleksander de-vassalized german states of Mecklenburg, Brandeburg and Magdeburg.
He died in office halfway through his third term as president.

Władysław Ozarowski 1755 - 1799
Absolute genius in administration, military and diplomacy, elected a whooping 11 times. During his presidency, Hungary, Ryazan and Transylvania were absorbed into Polish Republic.
Furthermore, the western slavic brothers were liberated from Bohemian crown and made Polish citizens as well.
This didn't go well with HRE and Baden Emperor, and a great war was fought over imperial lands in Bohemia and Balkans, but Poland won and those lands were removed from HRE charter.
Died in 1799, just few weeks after being elected President of Poland for the 12th time.

Zygfryd Lubomirski 1799 - 1803
A skilled administrator but not what Polish Republic wanted or needed at that time, thus he had no chance for re-election in 1803.

August Zamoyski 1803 - 1811
Considered much better President than Lubomirski, served for 2 full terms.
His low diplomatic skill hurt Polish campaign of inclusion of its vassal states, which made it harder and unnecessarily longer than it should be.
Still, he managed to integrate Wallachia into Poland. Also, he helped secure the sovereignty of Papal State of Utrecht as well as help it recover Rome.

Jan Albert Krasinski 1811 - 1815
Declared worst leader ever since beginning of modern Poland under Piasts and Presidents. How he got elected in the first place is mystery for the ages.

Bogumił Jabłonowski 1815 - 1831
Skilled military and administrative ruler, he oversaw inclusion of Murom as the last state to join the Polish Republic.
During his four-term presidency, Poland fought on behalf of Papal States against Baden, Bavaria, Austria and Switzerland several times, scoring numerous victories.
His death coincided with elections of 1831.

Zygmunt August Potocki 1831 - 1845
Often compared to Aleksander II Piast and second best president of Poland after Ozarowski, administration and diplomacy were his greatest skills.
He begun a campaign to improve fortifications and shipyards across Poland, because defenses and naval infrastucture were neglected for decades.
His narrowminded policies helped Polish missionaries to eradicate Orthodox presence in russian parts of Poland. Died suddenly in 1845 midway through his fourth term.

Mirosław Sobieski 1845 - ...
An adequately good diplomat and administrator, some people were betting how many terms he would serve, or if he was going to be re-elected at all.
//Game ends on 12th January 1848.