getBusyChild t1_iqmg6l9 wrote on October 1, 2022 at 1:42 PM

After he defeated Prussia, Austria, and Russia. Why did Napoleon not restore the Poland-Lithuanian commonwealth?

Thibaudborny t1_iqnnsvk wrote on October 1, 2022 at 6:57 PM

Grand Duchy of Warsaw was a move in that direction, that is not the PLC itself, but a 4th political power between the other 3 Eastern European powerhouses. Keep in mind doing so was antagonizing these. Napoleon defeated them, sure, but not completely. That is not how war worked unless you are Napoleon after Moscow and Europe has had enough. If you want geopolitical stability & not war after war each few years, then at some point you want to create a stable political context. Messing with Poland was one of the (many) reasons that served to perpetually antagonize in particular Russia & caused Napoleon to get in too deep.

Phokasi t1_iqpju7g wrote on October 2, 2022 at 3:56 AM

I would argue that geopolitical stability actually depended on creating more powerful counters to Prussia, Russia, and Austria. He needed a more powerful Poland than just the Grand Duchy, and he needed to split Hungary off from Austria and make it more powerful.

Otherwise you would have to believe that Prussia, Russia, and Austria would just accept the geopolitical situation with France as a hegemon and not fight France again. I don't think that would be possible. French hegemony was inherently unstable unless Napoleon could pit other European states against each other.

Thibaudborny t1_iqpy7dt wrote on October 2, 2022 at 6:40 AM

While I follow the sentiment, the contemporary reality was that Napoleon had done something no previous French monarch had even done: he tied together the eastern & western European spheres. By creating the Polish satellite he ensured that Russia for example would forever ‘haunt’ him till the end of his days. Russia had been generally lukewarm about what was happening in France up until then, no more so after that point.