AHC: Orthodox Poland

Hibernicus

Banned
Any PoD, resulting in a modern Poland that is Orthodox although does not have to have the same borders as OTL Poland, due to whatever butterflies the change of religion causes.
 
Easy. Mieszko I, instead of accepting Catholicism via Bohemia turns East and accepts Orthodoxy. AFAIK Orthodox Christianity was already heard of in his land, and since it didn't require praying in a strage lanugasge (Latin) it might be attractive ebnough. OTOH, one of the reasons Polish prince did what he did was to avoid Germans trying to baptize Poland by force, i.e. conquer it. Polabian Slavs already had those problems, he didn't want to be next. I'm not sure if it would have worked had he accepted Orthodoxy.
 

Wolfpaw

Banned
Easy. Mieszko I, instead of accepting Catholicism via Bohemia turns East and accepts Orthodoxy. AFAIK Orthodox Christianity was already heard of in his land, and since it didn't require praying in a strage lanugasge (Latin) it might be attractive ebnough. OTOH, one of the reasons Polish prince did what he did was to avoid Germans trying to baptize Poland by force, i.e. conquer it. Polabian Slavs already had those problems, he didn't want to be next. I'm not sure if it would have worked had he accepted Orthodoxy.
That's the reason most Eastern European peoples converted to Catholicism; to avoid conquest and plunder by German "crusaders."

I suppose if Lithuania and Moscow somehow buried the hatchet, things would go better. There were chances in the late 15th Century, and the Standoff at the Ugra is Lithuania's last best chance to stop Muscovy; same goes for the Great Horde of Akhmat Khan.

Poland's sorta doomed to Catholicism due to its proximity to Christendom. Lithuania was able to hold out for a while longer, playing Catholics and Orthodox princes off against one another by flirting with promises of integration, but even that was coming to an end by the late 1400s. So while you could potentially get an Orthodox Lithuania, it's going to be much harder for the Poles, who are riiiight next door to oodles of land-hungry German second-borns.
 
Top