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1612 means little to the Anglophone world. But during the last timeVladimir Putin was president, it became enshrined in an annualRussian ritual. Few of us noticed. Now, after a constitutionalfeint in which he served as Prime Minister, Putin has returned aspresident, by remarkable coincidence, on the year's 400thanniversary. We need to know why he thinks 1612 is sacred. According to Kremlin mythology, 1612 is the year that the Russianpeople — rich and poor, town and country — united under astrong leader to rise up against foreign, heathen oppressors. Thebad guys, the story goes, were an army of Poles that had occupiedMoscow for two years. They had been sent by their fanatical king,who was intent on conquering and converting the entire space ofOrthodox Russia to western culture, in the form of RomanCatholicism. A prince named Dmitri Pozharsky and a merchant namedKuzma Minin emerged as national heroes and chased off the Poles. Agentle, pious teenage boy named Mikhail Romanov was elected Tsar.His dynasty lasted 305 glorious years. Throughout this time, Russiacelebrated 1612, the year of salvation from outsiders, each Nov. 4as "Unity Day." A suitable motto could have been: "Defeatingoutsiders together." (PHOTOS: Putin Sworn In as Russia's President) For about 88 years, however, Lenin's revolution eclipsed Unity Day.Russian Communists associated 1612 with the Romanovs and thescourge of monarchist power and forced 1612 out of fashion,replacing it with the Bolshevik's favorite year 1917. Indeed, in2005, Moscow's die-hard communists protested when Putin switchedthe country's favorite year back to 1612. It was to no avail: 1612soon became part of Kremlin mythmaking. Within two years, Russia'sFederal Agency for Culture and Cinematography had produced 1612 , the movie. That treatment of history fit in with the lore ofPutinland — one in which Russians need a strong leader andcentral authority to protect them from their worst nightmares. There is a view of 1612 from Warsaw, of course. Polish romanticssaw the years leading up to 1612 as the pinnacle of their nation'spower, when Warsaw imposed its will on Moscow, and very nearlyunited Christianity's Eastern and Western churches. Themelodramatic Polish rendition of history recounts how the greed ofan authoritarian Russia led to liberal Poland's decline anddismemberment — with only a late and miraculous rebirth.(There are Lithuanian, Belarusian and Ukrainian versions of thisvictimization by Russia, too.) Historians tend to agree, however, that none of the stories about1612 are quite right. It is true that four centuries ago, at thetime of William Shakespeare and the Jamestown Settlement, Russiawas in chaos following the death of Ivan the Terrible in 1583. Atthe time, the map of Eastern Europe was dominated by a singlesuperpower, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Its kings wereelected, but to limit their authority they were often chosen fromforeign dynasties (in 1612, the King of Poland was Swedish). TheCommonwealth had a unique political system — in theory, aconstitutional monarchy with a robust parliament and federaldevolution. In reality, it lacked central authority and depended onthe consensus of a few willful power groups, rarely in agreementand each pushing their own agenda (there are some startlingsimilarities with today's European Union). The system contrastedwith the police states of England, Spain and especially Russia. TheCommonwealth's system worked for a time, especially for Europe'smisfits (runaway Protestants, Cossacks and Jews could do as theypleased). Poland was too decentralized for there to have been anygeneral scheme to take over Russia. (MORE: Russia's Courts of Injustice: Why Only Protesters Pose aThreat to Putin's Rule) It is not surprising that when a slightly crazy Russian monkcalling himself Dmitri appeared in the Commonwealth with a madcapidea of becoming the Russian Tsar, he wasn't locked up. On thecontrary, he found enough Polish speculators to fund a free-bootingexpedition into Russia. With the half-hearted consent of the Polishking, these pirates on horseback occupied Moscow in 1610, werewelcomed by Russians who wanted change, and the "False Dmitri" onthe throne. Two years later, without serious political orlogistical support from home, the motley garrison of Poles,Lithuanians and others gave up their residence in Moscow or werebeaten out of the city. Russians who had profited from outsideinterference were also hounded. And so, Russians can come up with squishy justification that wayback in 1612, they threw out outsiders who were heart of a nationalcrisis. And in that way, Putin can interpret his country'ssituation today as a parallel attempt at putting Russia first.History is power and Putin knows it. But mythmaking has its drawbacks. Warsaw, of course, is suspiciousof such propaganda from the resurgent Russian state, even thoughordinary Poles tend to get along with ordinary Russians, since bothconsider each other fellow victims of Soviet oppression. TheKremlin regularly provokes Polish public opinion with commentsabout the past — in particular, when it has sought toexonerate Stalin's actions during World War Two. Still, Putin couldhave trouble with his historical equations if he sets himself up asan equivalent to the Romanovs 400 years after they took the throne.They were a dynasty of reactionary despots who used oppression tokeep themselves in power while drumming up fear of foreignintervention. Or maybe that's his point. MORE: Is Moscow Developing Super Duper Secret Mega Weapons?. 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