I have to agree with the Lithuanian Review in at least one regard, I do think the Litva chapter is the worst in the book, mostly because it sort of goes against the stated spirit of the rest of the intro.
His Lithuania is explicitly a Polish Lithuania.
His Lithuania is explicitly a Polish Lithuania.
https://twitter.com/Irkutyanin1/status/1446953329872015362
This isn’t a surprise, he IS a Polonophile, but it does mean his approach on historical Lithuania is one that can barely be coherent, because he tries to separate Belarus from Russia and Ukraine while drawing it to Poland (and not talking about Lithuanians at all)
I think Davies realizes he runs away from himself too when he has to talk about who exactly the non Lithuanian Lithuanians are. He uses the diaspora Ukrainian historian “Ruthenians” while calling their language, the language of record for GD Lithuania “Ruski”
He directs most ire against Russia, but after Vytautas, Lithuanian Lithuania basically disappears entirely. Just a minority in the Polish-Russian struggle and Poland is on the good side because they understand liberty and democracy kurwa. They aren’t even Orthodox in Vitebsk!
That said, I think part of it is a set up for his Prussian chapter, where he talks about German war guilt and the Prussian legacy in context.
Still something to think about that it was the chapter he is a specialist historian in that proved to be the least enjoyable.
Still something to think about that it was the chapter he is a specialist historian in that proved to be the least enjoyable.
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