This later led to the creation of much more unified Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1569. The main reason why the union was brockered in the first place, was the common threat that both Lithuania and Poland faced, in the form of aggresively expanding Teutonic Order.
'Lithuania, my country!' - these words were written by Adam Mickiewicz, a Polish poet and independence activist, in the first half of the 19th century to refer to his homeland. While today, despite much political turmoil and after many years, similar exclamations can still be heard from the 200,000 or so Poles living in Lithuania.5pt2.