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Post by TheRomanSlayer on May 13, 2018 6:03:55 GMT
Well then, thanks for the support. Now, onwards with the new update:
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Case Study #8: Ottoman Empire, the Caucasus and Persia
With the Ottoman control of Syrmia and the positioning of its armies closer to the city of Belgrade (currently under Hungarian control), Bayezid II was closer to achieving what his father, the famous Fetih Mehmet II, was unable to do. However a more direct issue arose when Gazi Husrev Bey was ordered by Sehzade Ahmet to continue the push towards the Croatian capital of Zagreb and even sent his brother Sehzade Korkut to back him up. While Sehzade Ahmet consolidated control of Vukovar, he was at a loss as to what to do with the region that now fell under Turkish control. Though he wrote to his father about this kind of dilemma, the Sultan responded by advising him to worry about politics later: the conquest of Belgrade must come first.
At the same time, there were small towns and villages throughout Croatia that fell under control of the opposition forces hostile to the illegitimate king where peasants helped their landlords resist royal authority. Such a massive division between the king and his subjects made it much easier for the Ottomans to exploit the situation, even bribing various minor noble lords to restore order under Ottoman supervision. One such noble family that defected to the Ottoman camp was an obscure nobleman by the name of Mirko Kasun (1471-1542)[1], who owned a large amount of land around the village of Komora. Of Catholic origin, Kasun, like many other Croatian nobles, detested John Corvinus and had been one of the few opposition figures to publicly call for Maximillian to take over Croatia directly. While he and his army were patrolling the road between Komora and the border with Ottoman Bosnia, an Ottoman raiding party had caught them in an ambush. With all of his men dead, Kasun had the option to commit suicide, but in a flash of fear, he surrendered to the Ottoman raiding party led by a minor commander, a certain Yusuf Aga. When Kasun was led to the Ottoman military base in Prijedor in the fall of 1494, another Ottoman commander interrogated him about the military positions around Croatia. It was then that Koar told them of the chaos and instability that his country faced and that he wanted Maximillian to restore order.
What changed Kasun's mind on his allegiance was an encounter with a Bosnian daughter of the Pasha in command of the garrison around Prijedor. Converted to Islam and adopted the name of Almira, her father had noticed the look on Kasun's face and had offered him his daughter's hand in marriage on the condition that he convert to Islam. Though he was a bit hesitant on changing sides, his position as a prisoner of the Ottomans allowed him to observe a rather different world from the one he was used to. He even saw at one point the parading of small boys who were recruited through the devsirme system and presumably sent to Istanbul to begin their lives as devout Muslims. What also surprised the young Croatian prisoner was that Almira's father, the prominent Tuzloglu Nusret Pasha (Tuzlogu meaning of Tuzla, a Bosnian town), was recruited in the same manner as the boys Kasun witnessed earlier. His own family came from a long line of miners and landless peasants who worked for their landlords before the Ottoman soldiers came to their town. The wonders of meritocracy was lost on Kasun, but his curiosity continued to grow until a Hungarian raiding party belonging to Maximillian's Black Army staged a raid into Ottoman Bosnia on October of 1494. While searching for an escape route, Kasun spotted a Hungarian soldier attempting to kill Almira with a spear. It was then that he grabbed an Ottoman saber and plunged it into the stomach of the unlucky Hungarian soldier. Kasun and Nusret Pasha worked together to expel the Hungarians from Prijedor throughout the night, and when the battle was over, Kasun agreed to convert to Islam and adopted the name Azad, meaning free. Mirko Kasun or rather, his new Muslim identity, Azad Kasun (later changed to Komoroglu), married Almira a few days later on November 1st in a Muslim ceremony. The Komoroglu eventually became a fifth clan of akincis that would serve the Ottoman Empire as frontier raiders, and many of their descendants would marry into other Ottoman families of diverse origins, with the Malkocoglu family being one of them.
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While the Ottomans were busy trying to consolidate control over the Balkans, another clan was making a power play over the Caucasus region, in particular the region of Azerbaijan. Before the rise of the Safavid dynasty in Persia, the region was controlled by the Aq Qoyunlu confederation, a Sunni Oghuz tribe. The Aq Qoyunlu had conquered much of Persian territory from their rivals, the former Qara Qoyunlu confederation that collapsed in 1468. Within the Aq Qoyunlu, there was the Safaviyya Order that didn't play much role until 1494 when in an attempt to strike a blow against their overlords, Ali Mirza Safavi started to gather enough Qizilbash troops along with Dagestani mercenaries who were recruited for their mountain warfare abilities. The moment Ali Mirza Safavi began to gather supporters and soldiers, the Aq Qoyunlu acted right away. They launched a pre-emptive strike against the Safavi stronghold in Ardabil in July of 1494, in an attempt to catch the Safavids off guard. The plan to defeat Ali Mirza Safavi had gone horribly wrong for the Aq Qoyunlu: their other vassal, the Shirvanshah, had been involved in another civil war that saw the dethronement of Farrukh Yassar and the rise of Gazi Beg as the new Shah of Shirvan. Gazi Beg immediately declared Shirvan's independence from the Aq Qoyunlu and immediately sided with Ali Mirza, contributing 3,000 of his own troops to defend Ardabil against the Aq Qoyunlu. The result of the sudden loss of its remaining vassal in the Caucasus accelerated the decline of the Aq Qoyunlu.
The alliance between the Shirvanshah and the Safavids was overshadowed by their neighbors to the north. The lands west of Shirvanshah had consisted of several Georgian statelets that fractured due to internal turmoil as a result of ambitious rivals seeking power for themselves. The three dominant kings of the Georgian states were in a state of alliance with each other, but their bonds were extremely fragile. For it was King Alexander I of Kakheti, King Constantine II of Kartli and King Alexander II of Imereti, along with Atabeg Kaikhosro I Jaqeli of the Principality of Samtskhe who endured the worst of the raids conducted by the Aq Qoyunlu. Unfortunately it was the Principality of Samtskhe that was to fall under Ottoman rule during the early 1500s when Bayezid II would send another son, Sehzade Selim Yavuz (Selim the Grim) to subdue Samtskhe. The three Georgian statelets of Imereti, Kartli and Kakheti were almost a mirror version of their Western European Iberian counterparts of Castile, Aragon and Portugal, with only one glaring difference being that the former were dominated by the same Bagrationi dynasty (though several branches emerged through the sons of previous Georgian kings) while the latter had two ruling dynasties at that time: Castile-Aragon with the Transtamaras and Portugal with the Aviz. In 1497 Ali Reza Safavi approached the Georgian statelets for support in his war against the Aq Qoyunlu, promising to respect their independence in exchange for their help. Though the three Georgian kings were suspicious of Ali Reza, their countries' experiences with the Aq Qoyunlu raids had made them embittered. Fearing the worst of the Aq Qoyunlu's potential reprisal against them, they reluctantly agreed to Ali Reza's request.
In what became known as the Ardabil War of 1497-1499, the campaign for the fate of not just the Caucasus, but all of the territories that were dominated by Persian culture, was hard and brutal. Though both sides were technologically inferior to the Ottoman Empire in the west, they made up for it with battle experience. For the Aq Qoyunlu, their experience mainly came from raiding Georgian statelets. For the Safavids and the Georgian statelets, it was fighting off the raids that came from the Aq Qoyunlu. For the most part, the Safavid military consisted of Qizilbash cavalry, Georgian heavy infantry and Dagestani light infantry. In comparison, the Aq Qoyunlu military mostly consisted of light cavalry suited for raids and steppe warfare. Both sides didn't have firearms, but the Ottomans were not interested in what's happening in the east due to their attention being set on resolving the Croatian conflict.
Between March of 1497 and September 1497 the Aq Qoyunlu launched a series of devastating raids throughout Ardabil in an attempt to starve out the Safavids. Ali Reza became more dependent on the Georgian statelets for food and other supplies, in which they reluctantly shared, much to their irritation as they had their own soldiers to feed. The Shirvanshah also faced raids from the Aq Qoyunlu, but not as much as their Ardabil neighbors to the south. This allowed Gazi Beg to gather up to 20,000 troops in his own army while building several forts in areas most likely to be targeted by the Aq Qoyunlu. Meanwhile, the Georgian statelets had sent their envoys to the rest of the other Georgian territories like the Abkhaz kingdom, the small province of Mingreli, and even Svaneti, each with a message of request for troops in the fight against the Aq Qoyunlu. Of these, Mingreli responded positively to the request, partly because they were the vassals of the Kingdom of Kartli. To ensure of Mingrelo or Samegrelo's loyalty to Kartli, Duke Liparit II Dadiani had personally accompanied 2,000 of his soldiers to join the fight against the Aq Qoyunlu. Though their role was restricted to reconnaissance, they did take part in minor raids against isolated outposts controlled by Aq Qoyunlu troops.
The succession problems within the Aq Qoyunlu also persisted within that tribal confederation, as the civil wars in the 1490s had caused a major crisis on who would succeed who. As the veterans of these civil wars were still alive by the time Ali Reza and Gazi Beg had launched their rebellion, fears of the death of the current Aq Qoyunlu ruler would have resulted in another civil war. It was this crisis that Ali Reza was determined to take advantage of, and both Ardabil and Shirvan plotted for a major offensive. It was not until December of 1497 that Ali Reza had secured another potential ally in the fight against the Aq Qoyunlu: within the mountains of what was then the former Artsakh province of ancient Armenia, there existed the five Melikdoms of Karabagh, each of them under a ruling Melik family. Of these Melikdoms, the Principality of Khatchen under the powerful Hasan-Jalalyan dynasty was the dominant power in the region. When Ali Reza went to Khatchen, he offered the Armenians of Artsakh the same deal he gave their Georgian neighbors: aid in fighting the Aq Qoyunlu in exchange for securing their independence. The current head of the House of Hasan-Jalalyan graciously offered his assistance, though he also demanded that the rest of the Armenian lands be ceded to the Melikdoms in order to resurrect the Armenian state. Though the Armenians have started to work on the long awaited dream of regaining their sovereignty, their struggle against the Aq Qoyunlu would be marred with tragedy: between January 23 to 28, 1498, the Aq Qoyunlu launched an attack on Karabagh with the intention of pre-empting a potential Armenian attack on Tabriz. Though the five Melikdoms had put up a heroic resistance, the Aq Qoyunlu had by stroke of luck, captured all five Meliks of Karabagh and summarily executed them. In what was to become the wound festering on the heart of the future Armenian nation, the Slaughter of the Meliks had occurred within those five days, as a record of 12,000 Armenian civilians were killed by troops of the Aq Qoyunlu, and an additional 24,000 of them were enslaved and shipped in multiple directions: Central Asia, the Ottoman Empire and the Indian subcontinent.
News of the fall of Karabagh had spurred the Georgian forces and Ali Reza's army to take the offensive on March of 1498. In the stronghold of Kapan, Ali Reza and Gazi Beg, together with 15,000 Georgian troops and 2,100 surviving Armenian troops that managed to flee from Karabagh launched an attack on the Aq Qoyunlu stronghold. Though the siege was rather long, due to the natural geography favoring the defenders, the anguish of Karabagh had only encouraged the Armenians to fight even harder than ever before. The Georgians likewise, were motivated by avenging past Aq Qoyunlu raids with a chance to settle the score with their enemies. Finally, Ali Reza and Gazi Beg had made a secret pact where should either of them die, the other will inherit each other's kingdoms. The Aq Qoyunlu fought back ferociously, even inflicting massive casualties on the attacking forces. In the midst of the battle, Gazi Beg led a cavalry detachment to face off an incoming enemy reinforcement. While slashing an enemy soldier with his sword, he didn't notice a lancer rushing forward until it was too late. The lancer impaled him in the lung with the lance, causing him to die instantly. Ali Reza, who saw what happened to his comrade, managed to rally the remaining soldiers and on March 22nd, Kapan finally fell to his army. The Aq Qoyunlu forces were compelled to retreat, giving the victory to Ali Reza. It was not until March 24th that another news had reached Ali Reza, which was relayed to the Georgians: Alexander I of Kakheti, who also led an army against the Aq Qoyunlu, was killed during an attempt to stop another Aq Qoyunlu attack on Shusha a day after Kapan fell. The Kingdom of Kakheti now came under the rulership of his infamous son, George II the Kinslayer. Fearing the worst, David X of Kartli immediately marched back to his domain to prepare for an inevitable civil war. It was the War of the Kartlian Succession of 1498 that will eventually set the stage for the rise of Prince Bagrat, the youngest son of Constantine II of Georgia and the founder of the House of Mukhrani, a dynasty that was to play a vital role in securing the independence and reunification of the Georgian kingdoms and the resurrection of a new Armenian kingdom.
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[1] Mirko Kasun is a fictional character here, but he is an expy of both Pargali Ibrahim Pasha and Rustem Pasha, as well as a mirror image of Malkoc Bey, the founder of the Malkocoglu family.
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Post by TheRomanSlayer on May 15, 2018 4:59:34 GMT
Case Study #9: Eastern Europe Part One
Although the drama in the Georgian statelets was gathering steam, in Eastern Europe the political dynamics there is steadily changing for the worse on part of the Polish-Lithuanian Union. The increasing pressure from the Holy Roman Empire in the face of Maximillian's consolidation of the Hungarian throne and the subsequent Hungarian political integration into the Holy Roman Empire had resulted in a panic among the Polish nobles. Fearing the possible loss of independence, they also have to worry about another geopolitical shift in Elizabeth Jagiellon's marriage to Prince Vasily III of Moscow. The marriage was the result of Muscovy's desire to pry off the Lithuanian lands from Polish control and the potential re-conquest of the lands that consisted of the former Kievan Rus'. With Muscovy setting up plans to drive a wedge between the Poles and Lithuanians plus reintegrating the lost Rus' lands, the Lithuanian portion of the Polish-Lithuanian union has also struggled to find a new ally that would be an enemy of Poland, Muscovy and the Holy Roman Empire.
Between 1494 and 1498, the Muscovite state was mostly focused on preparing Vasily to take over for his ageing father, Ivan III. Influenced by his Jagiellon wife, Vasily started to draw up plans for an ambitious reform of Muscovite and later Russian society, using the Polish and Imperial (read: Hapsburg) models. Thanks to Elizabeth Jagiellon's dynastic and social connections in Poland, she was able to bring in several Italian architects who had experience with designing marvelous buildings that are still standing today in Italy and later on in Lithuania and Russia. Vasily was particularly interested in hearing more about the Magdeburg Laws that the Lithuanian portion of the Polish-Lithuanian union had adopted, seeing it as a valuable tool in which Muscovite towns and cities can be governed and developed at the same time.
To Elizabeth Jagiellon's shock, she was unable to find one single university within Muscovy where most of the nobility could be educated. Before the ambitious Sudebnik of 1509 that was the result of the brainchild of the power couple, the Orthodox Church had only restricted the level of education needed to its priests who intended to join the religious life. In March of 1498, Elizabeth pleaded with her husband and her brother, the newly crowned Jan I Albert of Poland, to allow the admission of roughly 500 students from the Muscovite state to attend the University of Cracow. Jan I Albert accepted the request and even printed official documents for those 500 Muscovite students who were eligible to attend. Among those 500 students selected, one of them was a religious leader by the name of Vassian Patrikeyev. Patrikeyev had once supported the ascension of Dmitry Ivanovich (Ivan III's son through Elena of Moldavia) before switching to Vasily Ivanovich once he learned of the young Prince's sudden interest in Western learning. Patrikeyev had attracted the attention of both Prince Vasily and his wife due to his radical thoughts on what church life should be like. He and another religious leader, Nil Sorsky, had championed the idea that ecclesiastical ownership of property was detrimental to the spirituality of the Orthodox Church. Curiously enough their views almost matched that of their Catholic counterpart in France, Girolamo Savonarola.
Starting in September of 1498, the 500 Muscovite students started their education in Cracow, and immediately they were exposed to a totally different world from which they were used to. Although there was no Orthodox Church for them to go to, they were more curious about the wonders of the printing press, the architectures that dominated Cracow and even the wonders of the newly emerging Renaissance art occurring in the city. A few Muscovite students studied modern architecture while many others chose to study religious and secular laws, mathematics, sciences and even the learning of Greek, Latin, Hebrew and Polish. From 1498 until 1501 when the War of the Polish Succession broke out, more than 1,200 students from Muscovy (another 300 students were accepted on the authority of Jan I Albert and supported by his sister in 1499 and 400 more students were accepted in 1500) would study and graduate from the University of Cracow. Due to the War of the Polish Succession over the competition for the Polish crown between Philip the Handsome (he was Maximillian's preferred candidate over the unmarried Alexander Jagiellon) and Alexander Jagiellon after Jan I Albert died unexpectedly in that same year, most of the Muscovite students had to return to their homelands. Fearing the possible Hapsburg targeting of Polish universities, three quarters of the universities' teaching staff chose to evacuate from Cracow. In April of 1501 when the War of the Polish Succession broke out, one of the teachers from the university named Albert Brudzewski, had been appointed as interim head of the soon to be exiled Cracow university student community.
Upon the advice of Elizabeth, Brudzewski and his students (all of the attendees of the University of Cracow) would relocate to the Byelorussian town of Polotsk where they had to establish a temporary university that would later grow into one of the Polish-Lithuanian union's last great universities established before the dissolution of the union, the Polachak-Brudzewski Royal Academy for Higher Learning. The makeshift university was established on a manor that was owned by a minor noble who was also a student of the University of Cracow, but its building would later be rebuilt in 1578, 1642, 1786, 1832, 1946 and lastly in 2010. Brudzewski continued to teach at the new university, but he realized that such power could also be used to educate Orthodox priests who might be open to the idea of rapprochement with the Catholic Church. Yet in June of 1501 several students from France who lived in the Savonarola villages would attend this university. Silvestro Maruffi, one of Savonarola's fellow accomplices who traveled with him to France, would become a teacher in the Polachak-Bruzewski Royal Academy for Higher Learning, as would Savonarola himself, apparently. It was in Polotsk that Savonarola's ideas began to spread into the minds of the students who studied in Polotsk. Three months later, Savonarola, Mariffi and Vassian Patrikiyev would have the first meeting on Church reforms.
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Excerpts from “From Kievan Rus' to the Russian Imperial Federation: A Detailed History”
by: Sergei Simeonov
Chorny Medved Printing Press, published 2015
Chapter Nine: The Roots of the Russian Renaissance
Education in the Grand Duchy of Muscovy had been neglected enormously to the point where it was only the Orthodox Christian priests who were educated while segments of the nobility were illiterate. Although various members of the House of Rurik were given basic education, they were ignorant of the things that are occurring outside their borders. During the time of Ivan III, Western learning was forsaken in favor of territorial expansion. Upon the ascension of Vasily III in 1505, he had some idea of how his new Muscovite domain should function. Fate had favored the young prince, whose marriage to Princess Elizabeth Jagiellon had opened another possibility of avoiding the needless bloodshed that would have plagued both Muscovy and the Polish-Lithuanian union. The marriage happened due to Maximillian von Hapsburg's foolhardy decision to sever ties to Muscovy due to religious differences, but even the Kalmar Union chose to maintain its ties. In fact, John II of Denmark had sent envoys to the Muscovite court, pleading to establish a diplomatic mission there, to which Ivan III had granted.
The War of the Polish Succession of 1501-1504 had become an unexpected boon for the Polish religious leaders who favored religious reform. Settling mainly in Lithuania, Byelorussia and Ukraine, the Polish religious reformers feared for their lives should they remain inside the Polish kingdom that is certainly going to end up in the hands of Philip the Handsome. Not only the Polish religious leaders, but the Italian Renaissance figures like Bartholomeo Berecci and the Gucci brothers also took their trade to Lithuania. There, Grand Duke Alexander Jagiellon had commissioned the Gucci brothers to redesign a church that was going to be used by the reformists who will stay there. The Gucci brothers would also be tasked with the construction of new churches, cathedrals, monasteries and even revamping the Kremlin palace alongside Aloisio da Montagnano, whose architectural revolution paved the way for the domination of the tented roof as the default roof design for most of the churches in the Russian Empire and its future colonies.
Unlike the European Renaissance where it was dominated by artists, scientists and architects, the Russian Renaissance was entirely dominated by educated and enlightened religious figures. Vassian Patrikiyev was commonly referred to as the Godfather of Russian Renaissance, and his radical ideas on how a Christian society should function. Moreover, his meeting with Girolamo Savonarola and Silvestro Marruffi in Polotsk in September of 1501 had exposed him to Savonarola's ideas on Church piety, especially its influences on economics and morality. Russian religious leaders who opposed Savonarola's ideas were led by Joseph of Volokolamsk, under whose leadership had petitioned for the Church's right to own property. It was this kind of argument that Patrikiyev was precisely opposed to, having seen the corruption and the parasitic behavior that certain priests who owned property had displayed. So while serfdom was beginning to get entrenched in Muscovy, it was restricted to peasants laboring under the landowners who belonged to the nobility. Patrikiyev also complained that there was no interaction between the clergy and the parishioners who went to their masses. Thus Patrikiyev's ideas included open interaction within Muscovite society across class lines.
While Patrikiyev is known as the Godfather of Russian Renaissance, the true figure who led Russia's cultural revival was oddly enough, not a Russian, but a Bulgarian. A junior priest under the command of the Archbisphoric of Ohrid, Dmitry of Pleven (1469-1547) [1] was well versed in Old Church Slavonic, and thus he was well positioned to help Prince Vasily with the translations of various Christian documents and corrections as well. Unlike Patrikiyev and Savonarola, Dmitry of Pleven wasn't exposed to Western learning but he was well connected with various Christian communities under Ottoman rule. It was Dmitry of Pleven who would later spearhead the Russian language reform, upon which the pronunciations and writing of the Russian language would be simplified on the Bulgarian model. It was also the monk from Ohrid who would later issue a call for the Thracian Bulgarians who launched an uprising against the Turks in the 1572 Rhodope Uprising to resettle in the conquered steppes of southwestern Russia.
Like Patrikiyev, Dmitry of Pleven was exposed to the ideas of Savonarola and agreed with many of his viewpoints. He also sought to enlist Savonarola's help in attempting to combat both the secular Ottoman Turkish oppression of the Bulgarian church and that of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, to which Savonarola could only give advice. At the same time, the Bulgarian monk also became more involved with the religious affairs of the Russian clergy and state affairs of the Muscovite state. A meeting in Polotsk with Albert Brudzewski also exposed Dmitry of Pleven to the educational system of the Western world, particularly the university system that was established in the Polachak-Brudzewski Royal Academy for Higher Learning. He was inspired by such open learning that he made a request to bring 100 to 200 Bulgarian Orthodox monks to Polotsk to study there. Unfortunately, Brudzewski didn't have the power to authorize such a thing, suggesting that he seek an audience with Elizabeth Jagiellon. In January of 1503, Dmitry of Pleven had plead his case with Vasily's wife, emphasizing on what he needed: a modernized, educated elite that would shape a great and long forgotten nation like Bulgaria. Upon his courage and determination, Elizabeth would once again ask her brother for permission to admit more students. Unfortunately, the plea for more students would be gone unheard. Her remaining brother, Alexander Jagiellon, was in a middle of a succession war against the Hapsburgs and one of the news that she received had disheartened her: Cracow University had fell to the control of the Hapsburg armies and was in the process of sacking it. Moreover, Jan I Albert had written another note, giving authorization to his sister for the admission process to the university in Polotsk and any future university that would be opened within the borders of either the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Grand Duchy of Muscovy.
One piece of good news had arrived at the quarters of Dmitry of Pleven while he stayed in Polotsk: Elizabeth was given authorization on who could be enrolled at the Polachak-Brudzewski Royal Academy of Higher Learning and was even appointed the title of Honorary Headmistress of that university. Furthermore, the 100 to 200 Bulgarian students who would come to Polotsk would also have to explain to the Ottoman authorities on why they're leaving the territories of the Ottoman Empire to study abroad. Moreover, all of those students would be given the nickname the Tarnovo Students because a good majority of them came from Veliko Tarnovo, the former capital of the long dead Second Bulgarian Empire.
To one's viewpoint, it would be weird and downright odd that a couple of Bulgarians would play a major role in the emerging era of Russian Renaissance. Yet because the Russian Renaissance era was dominated by reform minded clergymen, it was inevitable that other learned clergymen from the territories under Ottoman control with large Christian populations would play a role as well. It is also because of the actions of Dmitry of Pleven that when the Rhodope Uprising broke out in 1572 and was eventually suppressed by the Ottomans with brute force, Dmitry's spiritual successor Grigori Kubanski (his surname was acquired after settling in the Kuban region in 1575) would become the head of the Bulgarian community in Russia, spearheading another round of cultural emissions. The spiritual awakening among the Bulgarian Orthodox students who traveled to Polotsk were exposed to Savonarolan ideas and began to speak out in condemnation of the Ecumenical Patriarch's collusion with the Ottoman sultan. It was said that the Rhodope Uprising was connected to the Bulgarian attempts at creating a Bulgarian Uniate Church (the term Uniate here meant neither Catholic or Orthodox, but a mix of both worlds added with the influence from Armenian Apostolicism)[2] that would be theoretically autonomous, but would in fact take its marching orders from the newly named Catholicos-Patriarch of Moscow and its French counterpart, the Catholicos-Patriarch of Avignon, but the plan was revealed to the Ecumenical Patriarch himself.
Even before the death of Ivan III and the ascension of Grand Duke Vasily III as head of the Muscovite state, the roots of Russia's eventual transition into the club of European civilization was already planted. The Papacy, while they might be pleased with Poland's attempts at bringing Orthodox Muscovite Russia into the European family, were incensed that the plan to bring the two rival churches together would somehow be hijacked by their heretical enemies, the followers of Savonarola.
[1] Dmitry of Pleven is an expy of Maximus the Greek, who unfortunately will not make an appearance here. However, Dmitry of Pleven (or Dmitri Plevenski) would be fare more outspoken of the corruption that is present within the Russian Orthodox Church, and will also act as a proto-Nikon (OTL Patriarch Nikon who spearheaded the Russian Orthodox reforms that split the church into the mainstream branch and the Old Believers).
[2] The term “Uniate” here will have a radically different meaning. IOTL, “Uniate” was used to denote the Orthodox Christian congregation that swore allegiance to the Roman Papacy, hence the term “Eastern Catholics” or “Greek Catholics”. ITTL, “Uniate” will be used to denote both Orthodox Christian and Roman Catholic congregations that would form a truly reformed Church. In other words, Protestantism with a heavy ritualistic tone.
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Post by TheRomanSlayer on May 19, 2018 17:40:51 GMT
Case Study #10: Eastern Europe Part Two
The origins of the War of the Polish Succession were rather vague and whimsical, but significant. It began when Jan I Albert was still alive in 1499, but his health started to decline back then. A disastrous attempt at placing his other brother Sigismund Jagiellon on the throne of Moldavia had alerted the Ottoman authorities to Poland-Lithuania's intentions to lead a new Crusade against them. In 1501, Jan I Albert was prepared to deal with the Teutonic Order when he unexpectedly died. The news of his death had alerted Maximillian in Budapest, who immediately began to make preparations for an attack on the Polish-Lithuanian union. Thus by June 22, 1501, Hapsburg aligned forces launched an invasion of southwestern Poland from their strongholds in Silesia and northern Hungary.
News of the Hapsburg attack on the Polish-Lithuanian state had shocked Alexander Jagiellon,who was supposed to succeed his brother. Fearing that the Teutonic Order will use the Holy Roman Empire's attack on the Polish-Lithuanian state as a pretext for attacking them, he dispatched Prince Sigismund to deal with the Teutonic Order. Forced into a two front war between the Holy Roman Empire and the Teutonic Order, the Poles sent envoys to France, the Kalmar Union and Muscovy, pleading for help. Though the Kalmar Union declined Poland-Lithuania's request, Muscovy agreed to back them, sending 12,000 soldiers to support the Jagiellons against the Hapsburgs. Though the conflict in Poland was rather brutal, it also exposed the Muscovites to another area of Western expertise: warfare. The power and strength of the modern bombards was first introduced to the Muscovite forces in the Polish defense of Lviv from the approaching Hungarian force of 14,000 led by Philip the Handsome, and another invasion force, this time from the rest of the Holy Roman Empire, led by Eitel Frederick II, the Count of Hohenzollern on July 21st, 1501. The appearance of the Count of Hohenzollern was of great concern to the Jagiellon faction, mainly because it demonstrated to them the growing influence of the Hapsburgs and the marriage between Philip the Handsome (of House Hapsburg) and Duchess Sophie of Brandenburg-Ansbach-Kulmbach (of House Hohenzollern) had turned the Electorate of Brandenburg into an informal vassal of Austria.
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Siege of Lviv (July 21-July 25):
Lviv marked the beginning of the first phase of Maximillian's attempts at securing the Polish crown for his son, although some historians were perplexed as to why they were besieging a city that is farther than Warsaw or Cracow. Yet some military experts had deduced that Lviv was a diversionary target from Maximillian's true targets: Cracow and Warsaw. Cracow was the seat of the Kingdom of Poland while Warsaw was under the control of the Duchy of Masovia, a Polish vassal. Because the Black Army had been training and expanding itself a couple of months, if not years before the War of the Polish Succession had broken out, they were deemed untested by Maximillian. Thus he sent the regular Hungarian and Austrian troops to Lviv while he would personally lead the Black Army to Cracow.
The siege began with the bombardment of the city's walls by 100 Austrian cannons. Philip the Handsome was camped just outside the city while his second in command, Eitel Frederick II, moved his troops closer towards Drohobych in order to cut off any potential aid to the Polish defenders. Polish reinforcements in the form of the 12,000 Muscovite volunteers arrived by late afternoon, though they were equipped with a few obsolete weapons. Moreover, the Muscovite volunteers were entirely composed of aristocrats and their servant slaves who often wore the same kind of armor as their ancestors did almost three hundred years ago.
The Muscovite volunteers, led by Ivan Chelyadnin, were tasked with stopping the Hapsburg advance into Lviv, but three hours into the operation, Hungarian cavalry forces managed to split the Muscovite forces into two, making it easier to destroy them in battle. A Hungarian cavalry commander named Gyorgy Dozsa noticed the lack of coordination that the Muscovites had often encountered, and most of their infantry troops fared little better than his own infantry forces. Although they were well versed with the composite bow, the Hungarian hussars and cavalry archers possessed better range and a better bow. The defense of Drohobych ended in disaster for the Muscovites as the Hungarians had managed to take not only the city, but two thirds of the Muscovite soldiers as prisoners of war. Ivan Chelyadnin was personally rebuked and disgraced by his superior, Prince Simeon Belsky, whom Ivan III had entrusted with keeping an eye on Chelyadnin. The disastrous performance that the Muscovite landed army had displayed, in sharp contrast to the performance that the Polish forces had put up during a skirmish between Polish and Austrian forces just outside Stryi was one of the main issues that Simeon Belsky had written to the Grand Duke. It was up to Vasily III and his successors to complete the transition of the Muscovite state to what Western European civilization is like, and nothing is to be spared from such modernizations.
With the Muscovite defeat, the pressure on the defenders of Lviv grew stronger. Survivors of the Dorobych disaster limped back to the city where they were met with ridicule by their western Ruthenian counterparts who defended the city. Needless to say, some of the Muscovite soldiers begrudgingly agreed with them in that they failed utterly. The aristocracy who led the Landed Army were appalled by how outclassed they were. Demoted to just helping the defenders with resupply, the Muscovite Landed Army had been rudely awakened to the reality of the warfare of the Early Modern Era. The next three days was mostly consisted of bombardments and attempted defenses of the city's outskirts. However on July 25, one of the artillery shots had knocked open the city's gates. Polish and western Ruthenian troops attempted to block off the gate to the incoming Austrian and Hungarian forces, but additional artillery bombardment had reduced their numbers. Finally, Philip the Handsome called off the attack in order to allow the withdrawal of the Polish-Lithuanian and Muscovite forces from Lviv in order to formally take over the city.
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When news of Lviv's conquest reached Maximillian's camp on the outskirts of Cracow, he was pleased with the progress his son made. He and the Black Army laid siege to Cracow in July 23rd, two days after Lviv was besieged. Like his son, Maximillian had brought cannons to lay waste to the city. It was not until July 29th that Cracow fell to the Black Army. Austrian and Hungarian troops under Maximillian's command proceeded to plunder the city, including Cracow University. It was by luck that the majority of the teaching staff there evacuated from that university, among them Albert Brudzewski who relocated to Polotsk and built a new university that bore his name, the Polachak-Brudzewski Royal Academy for Higher Learning. For the remaining teaching staff, they feared the potential reprisals that the Hapsburgs may dish out to them, but to their surprise and relief, Maximillian opted to bring Cracow University under the control of Augustinian Friars. The Augustinian Friars led the academical purge against teachers who displayed Savonarolist sympathies and carried out the first Inquisition inside Polish territory.
While Maximillian hoped that the Polish crown would be secured by his troops for his son Philip, the Polish Catholic priests who opposed Maximillian had safely retrieved the crown and made their way towards Lithuanian territory. Between July 30 and August 15, the journey made by these Polish priests was perilous and fraught with potential encounters with bandits in the countryside. Luckily, the Polish priests arrived at Prince Sigismund's stronghold in Zakroczym by August 16, just in time for him to launch an offensive against the Teutonic Knights. At that time, the Teutonic Order was led by Frederick of Brandenburg-Ansbach. He not only controlled most of the Teutonic Knights, but also relied on its Livonian counterpart, the Livonian Knights. In addition, as the father of Duchess Sophie, his intentions to fight the Poles for his son-in-law's crown was personal. (In 1498, Duchess Sophie and Philip the Handsome were married in a lavish ceremony in the city of Danzig, a city that is now targeted by the incoming Polish forces under the command of Mikolaj Firlej in August 20, 1501)
Nibork was attacked a day after Danzig was invaded, in which Prince Sigismund had personally led his army over the Wisla River from his base in Zakroczym. Backing his attack was Grand Duke Alexander and 15,000 Lithuanian soldiers crossing over towards Memel from the nearby town of Polaga. The Lithuanians managed to catch the Teutonic Order off guard, and placed an enormous pressure on Frederick of Brandenburg-Ansbach's already overstretched army. Knowing which danger was closer, Prince Sigismund and Grand Duke Alexander agreed that eliminating the Teutonic Order was first and foremost the most important task before dealing with the Holy Roman Empire. It was because of the Teutonic threat that the Polish-Lithuanian armies were dead set on eliminating them entirely as a fighting force and as a geopolitical power. Thus during the battle of Nibork, the entire Teutonic force stationed there were massacred, and no prisoners were taken at all. However, the German civilian population there were spared on the condition that they swear allegiance to the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Needless to say, the worsening situation for the Teutonic Order grew as each of its knights who hailed from different regions of the Holy Roman Empire often bickered with each other. Bavarian and Rhineland-origin warriors were bribed to defect to the Polish side in exchange for their lives when the Polish Army moved on from Nibork to Lubawa. With the aid of the defected knights who now served the Polish side, various towns under the control of the Teutonic Order fell and the last bastion, Koenigsberg, was under siege by December 2nd, 1501.
While the Poles laid siege to Koenigsberg, their Lithuanian counterparts had sent another force of 17,000 under the command of Hetman Konstanty Ostrogski. Hetman Ostrogski had overseen the preparation of the main Lithuanian force for the siege of Koenigsberg, though he rejected any further help from the Muscovite side until they were fully re-trained, re-armed and re-organized along Polish-Lithuanian lines. Therefore, the huge task of the Muscovite Landed Army's complete reconstruction fell under the hands of Prince Mikhail Glinski. Mikhail Glinski was an excellent choice for the role of helping Muscovy rebuild its army mainly because of his personal links to most of Europe's political inner circles, and also because of his knowledge of the Hapsburg military (he once served under them). While the Muscovites retrained their army, the main Lithuanian force led by Ostrogski had finally taken Memel after a long siege, and was on their way to Koenigsberg when news of Maximillian's conquest of Poznan reached the Lithuanian camp just outside the town of Ragneta. Forced to divert half of his army to stop Maximillian and the Black Army, Ostrogski had weakened his forces enough to allow the Teutonic Order to survive the siege of Koenigsberg.
The Black Army had performed admirably under Maximillian's command, and their strength increased with the addition of Italian mercenaries and Czech volunteers who were lured with the prospect of acquiring wealth through looting Polish manors. The adoption of the composite bow for the entire Hapsburg force, along with the increasing adoption of arquebuses as well, had made them a truly formidable army on the battlefield. On the Polish side, arquebuses were limited in use, and most of the Polish forces have ironically relied on the same composite bow as their Muscovite counterparts, with the only difference being the level of tactics used. As a result of the War of the Polish Succession, Maximillian had commissioned a new weapons factory within Hungarian territory and as well as in Austria. Places like Debrecen, Budapest, Vienna and Salzburg emerged as the dominant cities with a new tradition in firearms manufacturing. At the same time, a few arms manufacturers sold some arquebuses and technical know how on making those very same weapons to people connected to Prince Glinski. Even so, the power of the arquebuses and its deadly effect had surpassed the composite bow, and as a result, there were more usages of arquebuses in this conflict than any of the previous conflicts in human history.
Despite the military superiority of the Hapsburgs through the Black Army and their military prowess, their enemies were beginning to adapt quickly to the changes occurring in modern warfare. Seeing as the Poles could not sustain much longer against the Hapsburgs, they opted to use their light cavalry and light infantry for guerrilla warfare to harass and cut down the invading Hapsburg forces. The Polish decision to drag the war longer, though risky, played a pivotal role in the Holy Roman Empire, as Maximillian and Philip the Handsome relied more on regular soldiers from other member states within the Hapsburg realm. States like Brandenburg, Hesse, Bavaria and Pomerania had contributed supplies, money and soldiers to the fight for Philip the Handsome's claim on the Polish throne. Yet with more contributions from those states came more taxes for the citizens of those states, thus potentially setting the Hapsburgs up for some major financial trouble down the road. Another state, Bohemia, was reluctant to contribute its resources or soldiers, due to fears of being dominated by Austria. On the Polish side, besides the Polish, Lithuanian, Muscovite, Ruthenian and a few Tatar troops who joined in the fight, no other nation was willing to fight on behalf of a declining dynasty. France for instance, was too weak to start a fight with the Holy Roman Empire, having just finished helping England deal with the Irish problem and their humiliation at the hands of Scotland's King James IV. The three Iberian kingdoms, while willing, were unable to contribute anything because of their war plans against Morocco. The Ottomans on the other hand, were indirectly helping the Poles, though not for the benefit of the Jagiellon dynasty. While Maximillian and Philip the Handsome were mired in the Polish conflict, the Ottoman forces had finally launched the Siege of Belgrade (1502).
Throughout the War of the Polish Succession, the entire Polish countryside had witnessed carnage on a scale never seen before. Polish peasants who worked for their landlords often saw their crops stolen by Hapsburg troops, and common instances of Hapsburg violence against Polish civilians occurred alarmingly. The common tactic employed by the Hapsburg Black Army whenever they suffered an ambush by Polish irregulars was to burn down seven villages closest to the scene of the ambush. Polish counter-reprisals came in the form of impalement, often impaling captured Hapsburg Black Army soldiers unfortunate enough to fall into Polish hands. As was with the Teutonic Knights who fell under Polish captivity, other forms of punishment would involve blinding, garroting and beheading. Out of the subjects of the Polish kingdom, no other ethnic group suffered the most than the Jewish population that lived within the borders of the Polish state. Back in 1495 Grand Duke Alexander Jagiellon of Lithuania had expelled the Jewish population from its territory. The Jewish population in the Grand Duchy of Muscovy, though small, was subjected to discriminations as well, but the establishment of the Polachak-Brudzewski Royal Academy of Higher Learning had unfortunately produced a new generation of well-educated but fanatical anti-Semites with a vicious rhetoric towards the Jews. Both sides sought to court the Jews in this manner, and lured by the prospect of further economic concessions, the Jews inside Poland began to do business with both sides. Unfortunately their economic opportunities had provoked a violent pogrom in Plock on August 14, 1502 when 2,900 Jews were massacred by Polish peasants for allegedly supplying financial aid to a Hapsburg noble who confiscated 89 hectares of land from a murdered Polish noble with anti-Hapsburg leanings.
Seeing that the knightly order would suffer further massacre if it resisted, the 36th Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, Friedrich of Saxony, surrendered the fortress of Koenigsberg to the victorious Polish and Lithuanian troops on August 17, three days after the Plock pogrom.
The only reason why the Teutonic Order chose to surrender rather than to fight to the death against the Poles was because he made a controversial decision that would ironically enough, save the Teutonic Order as an organization in the long run: he chose to relocate his headquarters to Dresden, Saxony, and from there, he would decide on whether or not the Teutonic Order will continue to exist as an organization. However, the evacuation of the Teutonic Order to Saxony had left its autonomous member, the Livonian Order, in a worse position than ever before, for their territories were now vulnerable to Lithuanian and Muscovite conquest. Having secured Koenigsberg and by extension, the territories of the region later called Prussia, the Polish-Lithuanian forces were now poised to retake the initiative and expel the Hapsburgs from all of Poland. One unintended consequence of the Teutonic Order's evacuation from Prussia was that three quarters of their troops had later joined the Black Army, and their experience in fighting the Poles came in handy. Another remaining quarter of the Teutonic Order would offer their services as mercenaries in the armies of Western and Northern Europe.
Poland's decision to annex all of the lands of the former Prussian Confederation had given them an access to the Baltic coastline, and in the newly conquered Koenigsberg (renamed Krolewiec), the Poles began to rebuild the city by bringing in refugees from southern Poland who survived the Hapsburg rampages. Prince Sigismund and Grand Duke Alexander had donated what remained of their personal wealth to the formation of two separate Polish and Lithuanian naval fleets, though not huge enough, were to be used against the Hapsburgs in a future engagement. Memel on the other hand, was also annexed by Poland and was subsequently renamed Nowojagiello in honor of the reigning Jagiellon dynasty. From the newly annexed Polish Prussia, the Polish land forces began to rebuild itself, often with the help of defected ex-Teutonic Knights who accepted Polish servitude. The growth of Nowojagiello and Krolewiec contributed to Poland-Lithuania's mercantile trade with the Kalmar Union, and they also found themselves entering into a diplomatic relationship with the Danish ruling dynasty there. Their hopes of enlisting the help of the Danes in the war against the Hapsburgs were dashed: though they were not happy with Maximillian's abandonment of the rapprochement with Muscovy, they didn't want to cause any more trouble in the continent. Moreover, their growing partnership with Muscovy wasn't something John II of Denmark wanted to destroy. However, John II did allow a 200 Swedish pioneers who were experienced in construction of harbors to immigrate to Poland, where their expertise was proven useful in expanding Nowojagiello and Krolewiec. Each month, three Polish and four Lithuanian warships (mainly medium sized balingers, or small sea going vessels) were built in those shipyards, while galleys were also built to support the balingers. The Polish-Lithuanian Navy as it was called, was rather small and its potential wasn't fully exploited as none of the shipbuilders in Krolewiec and Nowojagiello were knowledgeable in shipbuilding. On the other hand, the Hapsburgs didn't even own a navy and were hard pressed into finding good privateers to do the job for them. Like their Jagiellon counterparts, Maximillian and Philip the Handsome tapped into their personal wealth to hire the best privateers to besiege the two coastal cities under Polish control.
Throughout 1502 and until July of 1503 the war had acquired a naval angle, as the Hapsburgs with their privateers were able to intercept Polish merchant ships bound for the Kalmar Union while Poland-Lithuania continued to build their own fleets. In August of 1503, a Scottish naval captain by the name of Andrew Wood of Largo had sailed into the port of Lubeck, on a goodwill visit on behalf of King James IV of Scotland. Though the Scottish admiral attracted virtually no attention, his next journey took him to Krolewiec where he and 100 other Scots had introduced a completely new ship design to the Poles: the carrack. Originally designed by the Portuguese, the carrack was well suited for ocean based journeys, as well as within the confines of various European seas. Though the Poles were curious and interested in learning how to build a carrack, the Hapsburgs gained the upper hand in naval development. Two brothers from Scotland who specialized in privateering were among the naval mercenaries that the Hapsburgs had hired for their war against Poland-Lithuania. The Barton brothers, Robert and Andrew, had been hired in December of 1502 as a part of the ongoing war against Poland-Lithuania, though the Holy Roman Empire itself had no experience in naval matters. Not only did the Barton brothers accepted the Hapsburg employment, but they've also shared the design of the carrack with the Hapsburg authorities, in addition to the five galleon ships that was donated by Castile in the same month (eager for more allies, the three Iberian kingdoms had instead decided to donate the ships built in the Granadan shipyards to the Hapsburgs in lieu of resources or soldiers). Lubeck and Stettin became the HRE's two main shipbuilding hubs, each of them specializing in the construction of galleons, carracks and galleys.
One of the main advantages that the HRE possessed over Poland-Lithuania was their abundant supply of timber, which was crucial for their naval construction. The other minor states within the HRE who didn't contribute soldiers or resources had participated in the economic activity of logging. In the Rhineland, several tonnes of lumber were being hauled through the Rhine river and into the port of Hamburg where they were cut down into plywood and shipped it to Lubeck. The production of sails was mainly in the Schleswig-Holstein region, while the training of sailors was mainly done in the HRE's Low Countries region. The sailors who crewed these warships were mainly Dutch speaking, but a few of these sailors also came from Hesse and Cologne. On the other hand, Poland's sailors took a lot longer to train, partly because none of their instructors had any naval experiences. Thus an additional school for training naval cadets was established in Krolewiec, with the sole intention to train future military leaders. Other naval academies would open in the Lithuanian lands as well, though its staff would entirely consist of either French or English naval instructors. At the same time, the Hapsburgs were also capable of building more ships than their Polish counterparts, and the ratio of ships built between the Hapsburgs and the Poles was usually 5:1. Thus by the end of 1503, the Holy Roman Empire had possessed a 5:1 naval advantage over the Poles.
The decisive moment for the HRE and the Poles came during the Sieges of Warsaw (February 13, 1504) and Krolewiec/Koenigsberg (February 15, 1504) when for the first time, artillery was used by both sides. In the case of Krolewiec/Koenigsberg, it also marked the first naval engagement between the two powers, and aided by their hired privateers, the Hapsburgs had seized the upper hand. Following the destruction of the entire Polish fleet, Andrew Barton's new fleet proceeded to besiege the port city while his brother Robert led another fleet to bombard Nowojagiello. This time the Poles and Lithuanians were at a disadvantage as the Black Army had managed to fully pacify most of Poland with the exception of Warsaw and the Lithuanian lands. The naval and land blockades of the two port cities had resulted in the dwindling of supplies, and by February 19, Prince Sigismund and Grand Duke Alexander formally surrendered to Maximillian in Krolewiec.
In the Treaty of Warsaw of 1504, the Jagiellon brothers were compelled to give up the Polish crown but were allowed to acquire the Lithuanian crown and to raise the status of Lithuania from Grand Duchy to a Kingdom. However, they were forbidden from regaining the Polish crown and were also banned from entering Polish soil, even for business. In exchange, the Jagiellon brothers were to recognize Philip the Handsome as the new King of Poland, and to acknowledge the Hapsburg hegemony over both Poland and Hungary (the two Jagiellon brothers were also forced to pay reparations to the Kingdom of Hungary for losing the War of the Hungarian Succession as well). Grand Duke Alexander had formally abdicated from the Polish throne and in February 24, the two brothers made their way to Lithuania where they were met with happy onlookers, many of whom were pleased that the two brothers will finally take care of their fellow Lithuanian citizens.
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on May 19, 2018 17:49:17 GMT
Case Study #10: Eastern Europe Part Two
The origins of the War of the Polish Succession were rather vague and whimsical, but significant. It began when Jan I Albert was still alive in 1499, but his health started to decline back then. A disastrous attempt at placing his other brother Sigismund Jagiellon on the throne of Moldavia had alerted the Ottoman authorities to Poland-Lithuania's intentions to lead a new Crusade against them. In 1501, Jan I Albert was prepared to deal with the Teutonic Order when he unexpectedly died. The news of his death had alerted Maximillian in Budapest, who immediately began to make preparations for an attack on the Polish-Lithuanian union. Thus by June 22, 1501, Hapsburg aligned forces launched an invasion of southwestern Poland from their strongholds in Silesia and northern Hungary. News of the Hapsburg attack on the Polish-Lithuanian state had shocked Alexander Jagiellon,who was supposed to succeed his brother. Fearing that the Teutonic Order will use the Holy Roman Empire's attack on the Polish-Lithuanian state as a pretext for attacking them, he dispatched Prince Sigismund to deal with the Teutonic Order. Forced into a two front war between the Holy Roman Empire and the Teutonic Order, the Poles sent envoys to France, the Kalmar Union and Muscovy, pleading for help. Though the Kalmar Union declined Poland-Lithuania's request, Muscovy agreed to back them, sending 12,000 soldiers to support the Jagiellons against the Hapsburgs. Though the conflict in Poland was rather brutal, it also exposed the Muscovites to another area of Western expertise: warfare. The power and strength of the modern bombards was first introduced to the Muscovite forces in the Polish defense of Lviv from the approaching Hungarian force of 14,000 led by Philip the Handsome, and another invasion force, this time from the rest of the Holy Roman Empire, led by Eitel Frederick II, the Count of Hohenzollern on July 21st, 1501. The appearance of the Count of Hohenzollern was of great concern to the Jagiellon faction, mainly because it demonstrated to them the growing influence of the Hapsburgs and the marriage between Philip the Handsome (of House Hapsburg) and Duchess Sophie of Brandenburg-Ansbach-Kulmbach (of House Hohenzollern) had turned the Electorate of Brandenburg into an informal vassal of Austria. --- Siege of Lviv (July 21-July 25):
Lviv marked the beginning of the first phase of Maximillian's attempts at securing the Polish crown for his son, although some historians were perplexed as to why they were besieging a city that is farther than Warsaw or Cracow. Yet some military experts had deduced that Lviv was a diversionary target from Maximillian's true targets: Cracow and Warsaw. Cracow was the seat of the Kingdom of Poland while Warsaw was under the control of the Duchy of Masovia, a Polish vassal. Because the Black Army had been training and expanding itself a couple of months, if not years before the War of the Polish Succession had broken out, they were deemed untested by Maximillian. Thus he sent the regular Hungarian and Austrian troops to Lviv while he would personally lead the Black Army to Cracow. The siege began with the bombardment of the city's walls by 100 Austrian cannons. Philip the Handsome was camped just outside the city while his second in command, Eitel Frederick II, moved his troops closer towards Drohobych in order to cut off any potential aid to the Polish defenders. Polish reinforcements in the form of the 12,000 Muscovite volunteers arrived by late afternoon, though they were equipped with a few obsolete weapons. Moreover, the Muscovite volunteers were entirely composed of aristocrats and their servant slaves who often wore the same kind of armor as their ancestors did almost three hundred years ago. The Muscovite volunteers, led by Ivan Chelyadnin, were tasked with stopping the Hapsburg advance into Lviv, but three hours into the operation, Hungarian cavalry forces managed to split the Muscovite forces into two, making it easier to destroy them in battle. A Hungarian cavalry commander named Gyorgy Dozsa noticed the lack of coordination that the Muscovites had often encountered, and most of their infantry troops fared little better than his own infantry forces. Although they were well versed with the composite bow, the Hungarian hussars and cavalry archers possessed better range and a better bow. The defense of Drohobych ended in disaster for the Muscovites as the Hungarians had managed to take not only the city, but two thirds of the Muscovite soldiers as prisoners of war. Ivan Chelyadnin was personally rebuked and disgraced by his superior, Prince Simeon Belsky, whom Ivan III had entrusted with keeping an eye on Chelyadnin. The disastrous performance that the Muscovite landed army had displayed, in sharp contrast to the performance that the Polish forces had put up during a skirmish between Polish and Austrian forces just outside Stryi was one of the main issues that Simeon Belsky had written to the Grand Duke. It was up to Vasily III and his successors to complete the transition of the Muscovite state to what Western European civilization is like, and nothing is to be spared from such modernizations. With the Muscovite defeat, the pressure on the defenders of Lviv grew stronger. Survivors of the Dorobych disaster limped back to the city where they were met with ridicule by their western Ruthenian counterparts who defended the city. Needless to say, some of the Muscovite soldiers begrudgingly agreed with them in that they failed utterly. The aristocracy who led the Landed Army were appalled by how outclassed they were. Demoted to just helping the defenders with resupply, the Muscovite Landed Army had been rudely awakened to the reality of the warfare of the Early Modern Era. The next three days was mostly consisted of bombardments and attempted defenses of the city's outskirts. However on July 25, one of the artillery shots had knocked open the city's gates. Polish and western Ruthenian troops attempted to block off the gate to the incoming Austrian and Hungarian forces, but additional artillery bombardment had reduced their numbers. Finally, Philip the Handsome called off the attack in order to allow the withdrawal of the Polish-Lithuanian and Muscovite forces from Lviv in order to formally take over the city. --- When news of Lviv's conquest reached Maximillian's camp on the outskirts of Cracow, he was pleased with the progress his son made. He and the Black Army laid siege to Cracow in July 23rd, two days after Lviv was besieged. Like his son, Maximillian had brought cannons to lay waste to the city. It was not until July 29th that Cracow fell to the Black Army. Austrian and Hungarian troops under Maximillian's command proceeded to plunder the city, including Cracow University. It was by luck that the majority of the teaching staff there evacuated from that university, among them Albert Brudzewski who relocated to Polotsk and built a new university that bore his name, the Polachak-Brudzewski Royal Academy for Higher Learning. For the remaining teaching staff, they feared the potential reprisals that the Hapsburgs may dish out to them, but to their surprise and relief, Maximillian opted to bring Cracow University under the control of Augustinian Friars. The Augustinian Friars led the academical purge against teachers who displayed Savonarolist sympathies and carried out the first Inquisition inside Polish territory. While Maximillian hoped that the Polish crown would be secured by his troops for his son Philip, the Polish Catholic priests who opposed Maximillian had safely retrieved the crown and made their way towards Lithuanian territory. Between July 30 and August 15, the journey made by these Polish priests was perilous and fraught with potential encounters with bandits in the countryside. Luckily, the Polish priests arrived at Prince Sigismund's stronghold in Zakroczym by August 16, just in time for him to launch an offensive against the Teutonic Knights. At that time, the Teutonic Order was led by Frederick of Brandenburg-Ansbach. He not only controlled most of the Teutonic Knights, but also relied on its Livonian counterpart, the Livonian Knights. In addition, as the father of Duchess Sophie, his intentions to fight the Poles for his son-in-law's crown was personal. (In 1498, Duchess Sophie and Philip the Handsome were married in a lavish ceremony in the city of Danzig, a city that is now targeted by the incoming Polish forces under the command of Mikolaj Firlej in August 20, 1501) Nibork was attacked a day after Danzig was invaded, in which Prince Sigismund had personally led his army over the Wisla River from his base in Zakroczym. Backing his attack was Grand Duke Alexander and 15,000 Lithuanian soldiers crossing over towards Memel from the nearby town of Polaga. The Lithuanians managed to catch the Teutonic Order off guard, and placed an enormous pressure on Frederick of Brandenburg-Ansbach's already overstretched army. Knowing which danger was closer, Prince Sigismund and Grand Duke Alexander agreed that eliminating the Teutonic Order was first and foremost the most important task before dealing with the Holy Roman Empire. It was because of the Teutonic threat that the Polish-Lithuanian armies were dead set on eliminating them entirely as a fighting force and as a geopolitical power. Thus during the battle of Nibork, the entire Teutonic force stationed there were massacred, and no prisoners were taken at all. However, the German civilian population there were spared on the condition that they swear allegiance to the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Needless to say, the worsening situation for the Teutonic Order grew as each of its knights who hailed from different regions of the Holy Roman Empire often bickered with each other. Bavarian and Rhineland-origin warriors were bribed to defect to the Polish side in exchange for their lives when the Polish Army moved on from Nibork to Lubawa. With the aid of the defected knights who now served the Polish side, various towns under the control of the Teutonic Order fell and the last bastion, Koenigsberg, was under siege by December 2nd, 1501. While the Poles laid siege to Koenigsberg, their Lithuanian counterparts had sent another force of 17,000 under the command of Hetman Konstanty Ostrogski. Hetman Ostrogski had overseen the preparation of the main Lithuanian force for the siege of Koenigsberg, though he rejected any further help from the Muscovite side until they were fully re-trained, re-armed and re-organized along Polish-Lithuanian lines. Therefore, the huge task of the Muscovite Landed Army's complete reconstruction fell under the hands of Prince Mikhail Glinski. Mikhail Glinski was an excellent choice for the role of helping Muscovy rebuild its army mainly because of his personal links to most of Europe's political inner circles, and also because of his knowledge of the Hapsburg military (he once served under them). While the Muscovites retrained their army, the main Lithuanian force led by Ostrogski had finally taken Memel after a long siege, and was on their way to Koenigsberg when news of Maximillian's conquest of Poznan reached the Lithuanian camp just outside the town of Ragneta. Forced to divert half of his army to stop Maximillian and the Black Army, Ostrogski had weakened his forces enough to allow the Teutonic Order to survive the siege of Koenigsberg. The Black Army had performed admirably under Maximillian's command, and their strength increased with the addition of Italian mercenaries and Czech volunteers who were lured with the prospect of acquiring wealth through looting Polish manors. The adoption of the composite bow for the entire Hapsburg force, along with the increasing adoption of arquebuses as well, had made them a truly formidable army on the battlefield. On the Polish side, arquebuses were limited in use, and most of the Polish forces have ironically relied on the same composite bow as their Muscovite counterparts, with the only difference being the level of tactics used. As a result of the War of the Polish Succession, Maximillian had commissioned a new weapons factory within Hungarian territory and as well as in Austria. Places like Debrecen, Budapest, Vienna and Salzburg emerged as the dominant cities with a new tradition in firearms manufacturing. At the same time, a few arms manufacturers sold some arquebuses and technical know how on making those very same weapons to people connected to Prince Glinski. Even so, the power of the arquebuses and its deadly effect had surpassed the composite bow, and as a result, there were more usages of arquebuses in this conflict than any of the previous conflicts in human history. Despite the military superiority of the Hapsburgs through the Black Army and their military prowess, their enemies were beginning to adapt quickly to the changes occurring in modern warfare. Seeing as the Poles could not sustain much longer against the Hapsburgs, they opted to use their light cavalry and light infantry for guerrilla warfare to harass and cut down the invading Hapsburg forces. The Polish decision to drag the war longer, though risky, played a pivotal role in the Holy Roman Empire, as Maximillian and Philip the Handsome relied more on regular soldiers from other member states within the Hapsburg realm. States like Brandenburg, Hesse, Bavaria and Pomerania had contributed supplies, money and soldiers to the fight for Philip the Handsome's claim on the Polish throne. Yet with more contributions from those states came more taxes for the citizens of those states, thus potentially setting the Hapsburgs up for some major financial trouble down the road. Another state, Bohemia, was reluctant to contribute its resources or soldiers, due to fears of being dominated by Austria. On the Polish side, besides the Polish, Lithuanian, Muscovite, Ruthenian and a few Tatar troops who joined in the fight, no other nation was willing to fight on behalf of a declining dynasty. France for instance, was too weak to start a fight with the Holy Roman Empire, having just finished helping England deal with the Irish problem and their humiliation at the hands of Scotland's King James IV. The three Iberian kingdoms, while willing, were unable to contribute anything because of their war plans against Morocco. The Ottomans on the other hand, were indirectly helping the Poles, though not for the benefit of the Jagiellon dynasty. While Maximillian and Philip the Handsome were mired in the Polish conflict, the Ottoman forces had finally launched the Siege of Belgrade (1502). Throughout the War of the Polish Succession, the entire Polish countryside had witnessed carnage on a scale never seen before. Polish peasants who worked for their landlords often saw their crops stolen by Hapsburg troops, and common instances of Hapsburg violence against Polish civilians occurred alarmingly. The common tactic employed by the Hapsburg Black Army whenever they suffered an ambush by Polish irregulars was to burn down seven villages closest to the scene of the ambush. Polish counter-reprisals came in the form of impalement, often impaling captured Hapsburg Black Army soldiers unfortunate enough to fall into Polish hands. As was with the Teutonic Knights who fell under Polish captivity, other forms of punishment would involve blinding, garroting and beheading. Out of the subjects of the Polish kingdom, no other ethnic group suffered the most than the Jewish population that lived within the borders of the Polish state. Back in 1495 Grand Duke Alexander Jagiellon of Lithuania had expelled the Jewish population from its territory. The Jewish population in the Grand Duchy of Muscovy, though small, was subjected to discriminations as well, but the establishment of the Polachak-Brudzewski Royal Academy of Higher Learning had unfortunately produced a new generation of well-educated but fanatical anti-Semites with a vicious rhetoric towards the Jews. Both sides sought to court the Jews in this manner, and lured by the prospect of further economic concessions, the Jews inside Poland began to do business with both sides. Unfortunately their economic opportunities had provoked a violent pogrom in Plock on August 14, 1502 when 2,900 Jews were massacred by Polish peasants for allegedly supplying financial aid to a Hapsburg noble who confiscated 89 hectares of land from a murdered Polish noble with anti-Hapsburg leanings. Seeing that the knightly order would suffer further massacre if it resisted, the 36th Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, Friedrich of Saxony, surrendered the fortress of Koenigsberg to the victorious Polish and Lithuanian troops on August 17, three days after the Plock pogrom. The only reason why the Teutonic Order chose to surrender rather than to fight to the death against the Poles was because he made a controversial decision that would ironically enough, save the Teutonic Order as an organization in the long run: he chose to relocate his headquarters to Dresden, Saxony, and from there, he would decide on whether or not the Teutonic Order will continue to exist as an organization. However, the evacuation of the Teutonic Order to Saxony had left its autonomous member, the Livonian Order, in a worse position than ever before, for their territories were now vulnerable to Lithuanian and Muscovite conquest. Having secured Koenigsberg and by extension, the territories of the region later called Prussia, the Polish-Lithuanian forces were now poised to retake the initiative and expel the Hapsburgs from all of Poland. One unintended consequence of the Teutonic Order's evacuation from Prussia was that three quarters of their troops had later joined the Black Army, and their experience in fighting the Poles came in handy. Another remaining quarter of the Teutonic Order would offer their services as mercenaries in the armies of Western and Northern Europe. Poland's decision to annex all of the lands of the former Prussian Confederation had given them an access to the Baltic coastline, and in the newly conquered Koenigsberg (renamed Krolewiec), the Poles began to rebuild the city by bringing in refugees from southern Poland who survived the Hapsburg rampages. Prince Sigismund and Grand Duke Alexander had donated what remained of their personal wealth to the formation of two separate Polish and Lithuanian naval fleets, though not huge enough, were to be used against the Hapsburgs in a future engagement. Memel on the other hand, was also annexed by Poland and was subsequently renamed Nowojagiello in honor of the reigning Jagiellon dynasty. From the newly annexed Polish Prussia, the Polish land forces began to rebuild itself, often with the help of defected ex-Teutonic Knights who accepted Polish servitude. The growth of Nowojagiello and Krolewiec contributed to Poland-Lithuania's mercantile trade with the Kalmar Union, and they also found themselves entering into a diplomatic relationship with the Danish ruling dynasty there. Their hopes of enlisting the help of the Danes in the war against the Hapsburgs were dashed: though they were not happy with Maximillian's abandonment of the rapprochement with Muscovy, they didn't want to cause any more trouble in the continent. Moreover, their growing partnership with Muscovy wasn't something John II of Denmark wanted to destroy. However, John II did allow a 200 Swedish pioneers who were experienced in construction of harbors to immigrate to Poland, where their expertise was proven useful in expanding Nowojagiello and Krolewiec. Each month, three Polish and four Lithuanian warships (mainly medium sized balingers, or small sea going vessels) were built in those shipyards, while galleys were also built to support the balingers. The Polish-Lithuanian Navy as it was called, was rather small and its potential wasn't fully exploited as none of the shipbuilders in Krolewiec and Nowojagiello were knowledgeable in shipbuilding. On the other hand, the Hapsburgs didn't even own a navy and were hard pressed into finding good privateers to do the job for them. Like their Jagiellon counterparts, Maximillian and Philip the Handsome tapped into their personal wealth to hire the best privateers to besiege the two coastal cities under Polish control. Throughout 1502 and until July of 1503 the war had acquired a naval angle, as the Hapsburgs with their privateers were able to intercept Polish merchant ships bound for the Kalmar Union while Poland-Lithuania continued to build their own fleets. In August of 1503, a Scottish naval captain by the name of Andrew Wood of Largo had sailed into the port of Lubeck, on a goodwill visit on behalf of King James IV of Scotland. Though the Scottish admiral attracted virtually no attention, his next journey took him to Krolewiec where he and 100 other Scots had introduced a completely new ship design to the Poles: the carrack. Originally designed by the Portuguese, the carrack was well suited for ocean based journeys, as well as within the confines of various European seas. Though the Poles were curious and interested in learning how to build a carrack, the Hapsburgs gained the upper hand in naval development. Two brothers from Scotland who specialized in privateering were among the naval mercenaries that the Hapsburgs had hired for their war against Poland-Lithuania. The Barton brothers, Robert and Andrew, had been hired in December of 1502 as a part of the ongoing war against Poland-Lithuania, though the Holy Roman Empire itself had no experience in naval matters. Not only did the Barton brothers accepted the Hapsburg employment, but they've also shared the design of the carrack with the Hapsburg authorities, in addition to the five galleon ships that was donated by Castile in the same month (eager for more allies, the three Iberian kingdoms had instead decided to donate the ships built in the Granadan shipyards to the Hapsburgs in lieu of resources or soldiers). Lubeck and Stettin became the HRE's two main shipbuilding hubs, each of them specializing in the construction of galleons, carracks and galleys. One of the main advantages that the HRE possessed over Poland-Lithuania was their abundant supply of timber, which was crucial for their naval construction. The other minor states within the HRE who didn't contribute soldiers or resources had participated in the economic activity of logging. In the Rhineland, several tonnes of lumber were being hauled through the Rhine river and into the port of Hamburg where they were cut down into plywood and shipped it to Lubeck. The production of sails was mainly in the Schleswig-Holstein region, while the training of sailors was mainly done in the HRE's Low Countries region. The sailors who crewed these warships were mainly Dutch speaking, but a few of these sailors also came from Hesse and Cologne. On the other hand, Poland's sailors took a lot longer to train, partly because none of their instructors had any naval experiences. Thus an additional school for training naval cadets was established in Krolewiec, with the sole intention to train future military leaders. Other naval academies would open in the Lithuanian lands as well, though its staff would entirely consist of either French or English naval instructors. At the same time, the Hapsburgs were also capable of building more ships than their Polish counterparts, and the ratio of ships built between the Hapsburgs and the Poles was usually 5:1. Thus by the end of 1503, the Holy Roman Empire had possessed a 5:1 naval advantage over the Poles. The decisive moment for the HRE and the Poles came during the Sieges of Warsaw (February 13, 1504) and Krolewiec/Koenigsberg (February 15, 1504) when for the first time, artillery was used by both sides. In the case of Krolewiec/Koenigsberg, it also marked the first naval engagement between the two powers, and aided by their hired privateers, the Hapsburgs had seized the upper hand. Following the destruction of the entire Polish fleet, Andrew Barton's new fleet proceeded to besiege the port city while his brother Robert led another fleet to bombard Nowojagiello. This time the Poles and Lithuanians were at a disadvantage as the Black Army had managed to fully pacify most of Poland with the exception of Warsaw and the Lithuanian lands. The naval and land blockades of the two port cities had resulted in the dwindling of supplies, and by February 19, Prince Sigismund and Grand Duke Alexander formally surrendered to Maximillian in Krolewiec. In the Treaty of Warsaw of 1504, the Jagiellon brothers were compelled to give up the Polish crown but were allowed to acquire the Lithuanian crown and to raise the status of Lithuania from Grand Duchy to a Kingdom. However, they were forbidden from regaining the Polish crown and were also banned from entering Polish soil, even for business. In exchange, the Jagiellon brothers were to recognize Philip the Handsome as the new King of Poland, and to acknowledge the Hapsburg hegemony over both Poland and Hungary (the two Jagiellon brothers were also forced to pay reparations to the Kingdom of Hungary for losing the War of the Hungarian Succession as well). Grand Duke Alexander had formally abdicated from the Polish throne and in February 24, the two brothers made their way to Lithuania where they were met with happy onlookers, many of whom were pleased that the two brothers will finally take care of their fellow Lithuanian citizens. Is Philip the Handsome real name Philip I of Castile.  |
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Post by TheRomanSlayer on May 19, 2018 17:55:24 GMT
Is Philip the Handsome real name Philip I of Castile. Yes, he is. Because of the entrenchment of the Aviz dynasty in Portugal, along with a much bloodier and more violent death of OTL Joanna the Mad, Philip the Handsome does not become King of Spain, but rather King of Poland. ITTL he marries Duchess Sophie of Brandenburg-Ansbach-Kulmbach, thus cementing the Hapsburg-Hohenzollern alliance in Central Europe. ITTL Joanna the Mad was even more of a rebel than IOTL (yep, she was a typical rebellious teenager and was even subjected to the Inquisition IOTL and ITTL, but the difference is that ITTL she was killed by accident). |
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on May 19, 2018 17:56:55 GMT
Is Philip the Handsome real name Philip I of Castile. Yes, he is. Because of the entrenchment of the Aviz dynasty in Portugal, along with a much bloodier and more violent death of OTL Joanna the Mad, Philip the Handsome does not become King of Spain, but rather King of Poland. ITTL he marries Duchess Sophie of Brandenburg-Ansbach-Kulmbach, thus cementing the Hapsburg-Hohenzollern alliance in Central Europe. ITTL Joanna the Mad was even more of a rebel than IOTL (yep, she was a typical rebellious teenager and was even subjected to the Inquisition IOTL and ITTL, but the difference is that ITTL she was killed by accident). Wonder why he was called the handsome. |
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Post by TheRomanSlayer on May 19, 2018 18:07:31 GMT
That is one thing I can never understand, but Philip the Handsome was also called the Fair.
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on May 19, 2018 18:16:54 GMT
That is one thing I can never understand, but Philip the Handsome was also called the Fair. Is it not going to be a problem of him for ruling a country who language he most likely does not speak. |
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Post by TheRomanSlayer on May 19, 2018 18:28:55 GMT
That is one thing I can never understand, but Philip the Handsome was also called the Fair. Is it not going to be a problem of him for ruling a country who language he most likely does not speak. True, but there might also be some translators as well who might be able to speak both German and Polish. However, his children might be required to be brought up in Poland while speaking Polish, and the future issue of their marriage to any Polish female candidate would be brought up in the future. Maximillian in his case does not speak Hungarian and yet he became King of Hungary. Upon his death, Philip the Handsome would have the chance of inheriting both the title King of the Romans and King of Hungary, thus making the HRE a bit larger. Polish and Hungarian would still be spoken but German would become the de facto lingua franca of the entire HRE. Basically Germanization of Poland and Hungary, but not as effective. It would also be a problem in the future for the Poles as well since they may be forced to learn German and as a result may end up suffering the same fate as the Sorbs in Germany today. |
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on May 19, 2018 18:35:47 GMT
Is it not going to be a problem of him for ruling a country who language he most likely does not speak. True, but there might also be some translators as well who might be able to speak both German and Polish. However, his children might be required to be brought up in Poland while speaking Polish, and the future issue of their marriage to any Polish female candidate would be brought up in the future. Maximillian in his case does not speak Hungarian and yet he became King of Hungary. Upon his death, Philip the Handsome would have the chance of inheriting both the title King of the Romans and King of Hungary, thus making the HRE a bit larger. Polish and Hungarian would still be spoken but German would become the de facto lingua franca of the entire HRE. Basically Germanization of Poland and Hungary, but not as effective. It would also be a problem in the future for the Poles as well since they may be forced to learn German and as a result may end up suffering the same fate as the Sorbs in Germany today. Also Philip I of Castile is a Catholic, is Poland also a catholic country. Question are we talking about OTL Sigismund I the Old ore another Prince Sigismund. |
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Post by TheRomanSlayer on May 19, 2018 18:40:10 GMT
Yep, Poland is a Catholic country and the Protestant Reformation hasn't gotten into full gear. Yet.
Yes, the Prince Sigismund ITTL is the very same Sigismund the Old.
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on May 19, 2018 18:44:43 GMT
Yep, Poland is a Catholic country and the Protestant Reformation hasn't gotten into full gear. Yet. Yes, the Prince Sigismund ITTL is the very same Sigismund the Old. And now who will be king of Lithuania, Prince Sigismund who will be known as King Sigismund I of Lithuania ore will Grand Duke Alexander become King Alexander I of Lithuania. |
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Post by TheRomanSlayer on May 19, 2018 18:55:56 GMT
Yep, Poland is a Catholic country and the Protestant Reformation hasn't gotten into full gear. Yet. Yes, the Prince Sigismund ITTL is the very same Sigismund the Old. And now who will be king of Lithuania, Prince Sigismund who will be known as King Sigismund I of Lithuania ore will Grand Duke Alexander become King Alexander I of Lithuania. Grand Duke Alexander would be the new King of Lithuania since he's older than Sigismund, and unless he marries and have children with a princess, Sigismund the Old would inherit the Lithuanian throne. We'll also cover the internal events in Lithuania and Muscovy at a future update, but I can tell you that the next update will cover the Ottomans and what they're up to, plus the events in Persia and one other topic that I wanted to cover, which would be the Kazakh Khanate. |
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stevep
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Post by stevep on May 20, 2018 8:51:03 GMT
Interesting. Bad for the Poles as their both seeing a pretty brutal conquest and losing country of their country. However it could be that the Hapsburg's are going to suffer serious over-stretch as their likely to be public enemy No. 1 with such power. True they don't have the Spanish lands of OTL Charles V or their American colonies but with Poland, a claim to Hungary and their HRE lands their going to look very threatening to just about all their neighbours, as well as many of their 'subjects'.
I think you mentioned possibly expanding the HRE to include Hungary [or at least those bits they hold) and Poland but how would that be done. Would it be creating new imperial circles and also would there be any new electors. [The latter may be doubtful as unless their clerical the new lands would have Hapsburg rules so would further concentrate power in their hands. However not doing so would leave those sizeable new lands without representation which would cause resentment].
Lithuania is large but I think relatively lightly populated. A lot of forests, marshes and relatively unsettled plains. As such their going to have serious problems paying the reparations the Hapsburg's are demanding. Which could be part of the plan, to keep them weak.
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Post by TheRomanSlayer on May 20, 2018 15:01:39 GMT
Interesting. Bad for the Poles as their both seeing a pretty brutal conquest and losing country of their country. However it could be that the Hapsburg's are going to suffer serious over-stretch as their likely to be public enemy No. 1 with such power. True they don't have the Spanish lands of OTL Charles V or their American colonies but with Poland, a claim to Hungary and their HRE lands their going to look very threatening to just about all their neighbours, as well as many of their 'subjects'. I think you mentioned possibly expanding the HRE to include Hungary [or at least those bits they hold) and Poland but how would that be done. Would it be creating new imperial circles and also would there be any new electors. [The latter may be doubtful as unless their clerical the new lands would have Hapsburg rules so would further concentrate power in their hands. However not doing so would leave those sizeable new lands without representation which would cause resentment]. Lithuania is large but I think relatively lightly populated. A lot of forests, marshes and relatively unsettled plains. As such their going to have serious problems paying the reparations the Hapsburg's are demanding. Which could be part of the plan, to keep them weak. That is indeed the case, but let's not forget that Philip the Handsome and his wife doesn't have children yet. Anything can happen between the current time and when Maximillian dies. As such, we could also see the HRE have a new dynasty as well, and unlike the Hapsburgs, the Hohenzollern family have plenty of children to put on the thrones of the HRE, Poland and Hungary. Realistically speaking, Poland and Hungary are too large to have a single elector, so I suspect that the HRE would split Poland into several electorate provinces: Lodomeria, Prussia, Poland proper and Mazovia. For Hungary, it would be split until three provinces: Nitra, Transylvania and Hungary proper. Also, you're also forgetting that the Ottomans might also take a chunk out of Hungarian territory too, like Croatia, the Sanjak of Temešvar and Syrmia, which would be added to Serbia. There is also the possibility of Transylvania breaking away from Hungary and joining the Ottomans as a vassal state, and it kinda happened with John Zapolya. |
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