What if Poland-Lithuania Reunited Today?

The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, or Poland-Lithuania as it is commonly said, was one of the most significant European powers at its time and controlled a big portion of the continent. However, like all empires, the commonwealth gradually began to lose its power and influence it once had in Eastern Europe, until in 1795, when several other significant European powers at the time decided to invade it from all sides and slowly diminishing the empire's territory. And finally, on the 24th of October 1795, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth surrendered to them, marking the end of another empire. But what if it reunited today?

As always, the first thing we need to think about a reunited Poland-Lithuania is the population and land it would control. For starters, 10 different countries would lose all or some of their territory to the commonwealth: Belarus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia and Ukraine, which would all be located in Europe. This may not seem that many, at a glance, but it wouldn't stop the empire from having an impressive land area if you take into consideration how big these countries actually are.

In total, Poland-Lithuania's land area would stand at a significant  425,000 Square miles (1,100,0000 Sq km), which would be enough to make it the 28th largest country in the world, slightly larger than Bolivia (1,098,000 Sq km) and Mauritania (1,030,000 Sq km), but just smaller than Ethiopia (1,104,000 Sq km) and Colombia (1,141,000 Sq km).

As well as a big land area, Poland-Lithuania would also have an impressive population, standing at a huge 97.3 Million. This would make the commonwealth the 16th most populous country in the world, well ahead of other very populated countries like the D.R Congo (90 Million) and Turkey (84.4 Million), but just slightly behind the 15th and 14th place contenders, Vietnam (97 Million) and Egypt (102 Million).

A reunited Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth would also boast some big cities within its borders, which brings us to the next part. The capital city would most likely be Warsaw, as it was originally one of the two historic capitals of the empire, the other one being Krakow, and is the most significant out of them as Krakow only has a current population of around 819,000. Despite this, Warsaw would not be the biggest city in the commonwealth, although having a strong place in the top 10. Instead, Kiev, in modern-day Ukraine, would be the biggest, with a population of 3,480,000, which is slightly larger than Warsaw's. Here would be the rest of the top 10 most populous cities within the empire:

Poland-Lithuania would also have a significant economy, similar to its population and land. The Nominal GDP of the commonwealth would stand at a total of $1.005 Trillion, which would be enough to place it in 18th place, in terms of Nominal GDP, being ahead of other big economies like Switzerland ($824 Billion), Saudi Arabia ($804 Billion) and Turkey ($794 Billion), but behind others such as the Netherlands ($1.012 Trillion) and Indonesia ($1.158 Trillion).

The GDP Per Capita of the commonwealth, however, wouldn't stand at a very impressive amount like its GDP, mainly due to the poor living standards in some modern-day countries of the empire like Belarus and Ukraine. Taking all of this into consideration, Poland-Lithuania's Nominal GDP Per Capita would stand at $10,360, and give it the 82nd highest living standards in the world. This would still put the commonwealth's conditions ahead of many other countries like Nauru ($10,125) and the Maldives ($10,024), but just slightly behind the global average of $11,339, and the countries of Bulgaria ($11,321) and Malaysia ($11,604).

A reunited Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth could also join the European Union to boost its GDP and recognition around the world as a few of the modern-day countries making it up are already strong members of the organization but still, the country would remain divided on whether to join or not.

The next topic we need to think about a reunited Poland-Lithuania are the religious and ethnic groups prevailing within its borders.

Starting with religion, Christianity would by far be the most followed faith in the commonwealth, accounting for 89% of the population, split between 45% Orthodox, 42% Catholic and 2% Protestant. Islam would be the last major religion in the commonwealth's borders, at a small 2% of the population. The remaining 9% would be made up of Atheists and irreligious people.

Now focusing on Ethnic groups, Poles would be the largest of them all at 39% of the population, still not enough to make a clear majority of over 50% though. This would be followed very closely by Ukrainians at 35%, followed by Russians at 18%, Lithuanians at 2.5% and Latvians at 1.5%. The final 4% would be a mix of various other tiny ethnicities within the commonwealth.

Similar to its religious and ethnic groups, a reunited Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth would also have very interesting languages spoken within its borders, which brings us to the next topic. Polish would be the most spoken language in the commonwealth, with 38% of the population speaking it. This would be closely trailed by Ukrainian at 33%, making it the second most spoken language. Russian would be next at 17%, followed by Belarusian at 6.1%, Lithuanian at 2.9% and Latvian at 1.3%. The final 1.7% of the population would be a mix of various other tiny languages spoken within Poland-Lithuania's borders.

One specific official language of the commonwealth would be a tough decision to make but I predict there would be more than one official language, like the situation in South Africa, based on the most spoken of them all.

The last topic we need to think about a reunited Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth is its military, which would of course be no disappointment. Starting with manpower, the commonwealth would possess a very significant force of 398,350 active-duty personnel, which would be the 12th largest force in the world, even ahead of other big militaries like Indonesia (395,500 troops) and Thailand (360,850 troops), but behind Myanmar (406,000 troops) and Egypt (438,500 troops). This would also be added to by an extra 1,219,000 troops placed in reserves, bringing the commonwealth's entire army to a gargantuan 1,617,350.

Poland-Lithuania's budget to fund its military, would be slightly lacking, however, at around $12.9 Billion. This would be the 19th largest budget in the world, larger than other huge militaries like Iran ($12.6 Billion) and the Netherlands' ($12.1 Billion) budgets, but still significantly smaller than either Spain ($17.2 Billion) and Turkey's ($20.5 Billion) budgets.