Welcome to Russian History Retold, Episode 261 Russia and Poland throughout history.

Last time we covered the 13 lovers of Catherine the Great.

Today we cover a topic that significantly influenced the history of two countries, Poland

and Russia.

This is a topic I've been interested in exploring since I finished up the rulers side of the podcast.

As Poland and Russia's histories are intricately intertwined in a very unique way, of course

the natural connection is via their shared borders, borders that have ed and flowed back

and forth for centuries.

I've gone beyond my existing library of Russian history to purchase a few books on the

history of Poland.

They include history of Poland, a captivating guide to the Polish history by the people at

captivating history, and Poland, a history by Adam Zamowski.

Of course, I will also rely on my extensive library of Russian history, but I wanted to

guard against a purely Russian viewpoint of the relationship between the two countries.

On the Russian side, I'm leading on the old book, the icon in the axe, an interpretive

history of Russian culture by James Billington, Borderland, a journey through the history

of Ukraine by Anna Reed, and the Slavs in European history and civilization by Francis

Vorneck.

To be honest, the history of Poland and Russia can be summed up by one word, conflict.

The two countries, in whatever iteration they existed at the time, seem to always be

at each other's throats, whether it be the time of Kiev in Rus, Moscow, the Russian

Empire, the Soviet Union, or even today in modern Russia, there's either an ongoing conflict

...