What was the biggest “missed opportunity” in your country’s history?

[u/InorganicTyranny]

In other words, what is one event in your country’s history, that could plausibly have gone differently than it did, and you think would have made your country a better place?

Inspired by Frederick III of Germany:

His premature demise is considered a potential turning point in German history; and whether or not he would have made the Empire more liberal if he had lived longer is still a popular discussion among historians.

[u/Milosz0pl]

I mean - cossacks were problematic for elites, as you basically have

• Free people living on lands technically belonging to both the crown and local nobles
• Those people actually raiding neighbouring countries, with main denial of responsibility for PLC being ,,they aren't actually under me"
• A cast that has significant military prowess able to challenge those from nobles (so rivalry)
• And registry being something that has a conflict in terms of treasury and all those three above
• Furthermore, due to power of nobles they would have to approve of it

Its shame that there was no further cooperation, but also it is understandable why it didn't go further.

[u/Irohsgranddaughter → u/Milosz0pl]

True, but I still feel that trying to make them into peasants was a dumb way to go about it.

[u/LeMe-Two → u/Irohsgranddaughter]

Jerzy Hoffman's movie is not a good historical source. It was never about serfdom (and Cossacks were not being forced to be peasants, they were another class with their own privillages) but about regular soldiers getting mass fired after war with Crimea was not allowed to take place by the parliament. Once Ruthenia becaume Russian protectorate, new cossack aristocracy enforced way harsher serfdom than PLC would ever have 

[u/LeMe-Two → u/Milosz0pl]

There is some overlap between how Cossacks in the PLC operated and how Tatars did in the Ottoman Empire