The Lurid Livonians

A Grand War - Part 2​

von der Recke was sent to Västergötland in the autumn of 1553 to initiate a siege there. On his way, the Sweden fleet in the Sund sailed away to the waters outside Gästrikland. Therefore the Livonian fleet was sent to patrol in The Sund. This revealed that Cleves was sending all their troops from Holstein to Mecklenburg. von der Recke was ordered to go back to Småland, and embark onto the Livonian fleet. The 29k army from Cleves was actually sent to liberate Danzig, which I didn't see coming. However, von der Recke was already besieging Holstein. Holstein was captured after only four months. Seeing this, the army from Cleves retreated from the siege of Danzig, and went back to their capital. Even if both Danzig and Holstein was under Livonian control, the warscore was only 34% (Danizg "required" 36%). Therefore it was no surprise that Cleves rejected my offer to keep Danzig in a peace deal. However, one month later this message arrived:


Finally!! The first of 3 CoT's around the Baltic Sea is now under Livonian control. With Cleves out of the war, von der Recke is sent back to Sweden. The plan is to finish of the Swedes before Brandenburg. Hanover isn't engaging in the war, so I will leave them alone. As a side note, the only drawback with getting Danzig, is that Poland will have a permanent casus belli against me, since they have a claim on Danzig.

von der Recke is sent back to Memel to reinforce his army. With Danzig under Livonian ownership, Brandenburg made that province their primary target. Up north Sweden managed to capture Gästrikland, so they moved on to Småland to besiege it. Nyland was also under siege. Even if the Livonian Order was under heavy pressure from Sweden and Brandenburg at land, the Livonian fleet made things balance out: They started to win naval engagements against the Swedish fleet (which also had a leader). The last Swedish ship was sunk in 1556, and the Swedish admiral followed it to the bottom of the Baltic Sea.

Before von der Recke was sent back to Sweden, Småland was captured by the Swedes. von der Recke was therefore directly unloaded into Småland to liberate it. However, both Nyland and Danzig fell under enemy control in 1556. I don't mind what Brandenburg are doing, but it is annoying that the Swedes captures provinces at a faster rate than I am.

Siege in Småland, Danzig and Nyland​

In the following years the Swedes captured a lot of Livonian provinces - in addition to Småland, Gästrikland and Nyland, Kola and Kexholm was captured too. They had a leader which made it possible to assault provinces successfully. Even if the Order also had a skilled leader, I decided not to assault, just to save troops. In 1556 was Småland liberated, so von der Recke was sent first to Västergötland to capture it, and then to Svealand.

After some skirmishes vs Swedish armies, von der Recke captured Svealand and liberated Gästrikland in 1560. Warscore was still too low to get Västergötland in a peace deal. van der Recke was therefore sent to Nyland to liberate it. The Swedish armies was fortunately idle in Bergslagen, even if all my troops were out of Swedens heartland. In 1561 two good things happened to the Order: A manufactory was built in Kola by event, and Nyland was liberated. This gave me enough warscore to secure Västergötland!


With Sweden out of the war, only Brandenburg (and Hanover) remained. I minted ducats for some months to reinforce the army, so there were no engagements between the Order and Brandenburg. Skåne was under my control, while Danzig was controlled by Brandenburg. von der Recke embarked onto the Livonian fleet and was sent to Hinterpommern. Forces from Brandenburg tried numerous times to kick me out, but von der Recke managed to keep them at bay. Hinterpommern was captured in 1565. von der Recke was then sent to Danzig to liberate it. Brandenburg had 12k men there, but they were routed after the first fight. Finally, in 1567, Danzig was liberated. Tired from a war that had lasted 16 years, Brandenburg offered me Skåne and Hinterpommern. I accepted without hesitation.

Is nice! I like!​

17 years in war had been tough for the Order. Warexhaustion was skyhigh, and there were many rebels besieging provinces in the realm. However, it was definitely worth it: 4 new provinces added to the Livonian realm, and one of them a CoT. The Order have now also access to all areas in the Baltic Sea (except the most northern, Bottenviken (?) which is useless anyway).

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It seems that 3 of the screenshots are lost from Imageshack. Sadly, I don't have them on my computer anymore, so I can't reupload them

Thanks everyone

It's always satisfying when your enemies cave in to your demands. I didn't think Cleves would give up Danzig that easily, especially when I had less warscore than required.

Denmark is going down​

With 3 new rich provices under Livonian control (Västergötland wasn't so very rich), the Order recieved a much needed economic recovery. With high revoltrisk and low stability, the income had barely covered the expenses during the 17 years war. In the budget, stability was recieving funds for some years. After a while, with increasing income, the bailiffs in the 4 new provinces were promoted. In 1570 revolrisk was finally at 0% in the core provinces. The only sad thing that happened during these years was this:

Nein!​

In 1575 infrastructure level 4 was reached. This was not the most important event in this year though: Lappland revolted from Sweden to Norway on the first of November. This was a great insult for Sweden, so they DoW'ed Norway 45 days later. Denmark joined the war on Norways side. Knowing that this would weaken the Denmark-Norway alliance greatly, I decided to take the Order to war again. Merchants was sent to Sjælland until Denmark refused them to enter anymore. With a new CB forged, the Livonian army embarked onto the fleet. War was declared on Denmark on the first of September 1576. Norway joined the war on Denmarks side. Denmark had land tech level 14 (new CRT level), while I was still on level 13. Therefore land combats were avoided until the Order had reached level 14 as well. Fortunately Denmark had no troops in Jutland, so the Livonian army disembarked into the unguarded province. The Danish fleet was idle in the port in Sjælland. Jutland was besieged for about a year until it was captured. Then the Livonian army was transported to Skåne. Poland, which was not invited to the war, was apparently eager to do some fighting:

20k men from Poland on their way to Küstrin​

I accepted to join, and Sweden, Cleves and Hanover joined Brandenburgs side. I was really not ready for a new Baltic war, so I didn't plan to get any provinces from Sweden. Fortunately was Poland beating Brandenburg pretty well, so peace was offered 8 months later, giving Poland and the Order 78 ducats. That was just in time, since Cleves was almost finished liberating Jutland. With things back in control, the Livonian army in Skåne was ordered to attack Sjælland and the 13k men there. Halfways on their way, land tech level 14 was reached. The Danish army was beaten after a hard fight. Sjælland was besieged while the Livonian fleet blockaded the port. After 6 moths Sjælland was under control, and 100% warscore was achieved. I offered Denmark to keep Jutland and grant them the honour to be my vassals, but they refused (it was a 92% offer). The reason why they refused was most probably beacuse they still had a ally in the war: Norway. The Livonian army was then transported to Østlandet, and started the besieging. After some minor skirmishes, Østlandet was captured. Norway had managed to get Gästrikland under their control, so it was still more work to do for the army. Finally, in 1582, Gästrikland was liberated and Norway accepted peace giving me (only) 75 ducats. 1 month later peace was again offered to Denmark, and this time they accepted! A new province and vassal for the Livonian Order .

Yet another province added to the Order's realm​

Here is a short summary of the Order's income (1st of January 1583)​

...and a comparison table​

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The nasty event discussed earlier kicked in around 1567. I deleted the event because of several reasons, but in hindsight I should have chosen option C:

http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/7775/livord57wd4.jpg

The grip will grow stronger in the next update too

Yeah, it's good to see that the Order is one of the richest around the Baltic. It's also surprising to see that the English got less income than me. As for the relations with Poland and what to do with Denmark - read the next update

More wars in Scandinavia​

With all of Denmark indirectly under Livonian control, a diploannexation should be possible in about ten years time. Even if Denmark is reduced to only one province, Sjælland, they could still create a large army. Denmark was therefore a good alternative for a new member in the Order's and Poland's alliance. A state gift (105 ducats) was sent 1st January 1583. The relations jumped up to +30. With so good relations, they accepted my offer to join the alliance a month later.

Good!​

The state of peace didn't last long for the Order. In june 1583 Sweden declared war on Norway again. Norway was still a vassal of Denmark, so Denmark felt it was right to "counterattack" and therefore DoW'ed Sweden. Denmark asked me and Poland to join; I accepted, while Poland refused! Sweden was still allied to Brandenburg, Hanover and Cleves, and they also had support of the Huguenots. I asked Poland to rejoin my alliance, but unfortunately they turned the offer down! This war could get ugly...

Not so good!​

The Livonian army was stationed in Jutland, counting around 26k men. Cleves had already 35k in Holstein, and of course they sent most of them to attack Jutland. They sent two waves - the first one the Orders army managed to fend off easily, but when the second wave came it was a terrible defeat. Fortunately the Orders fleet was in The Sund, so a total annihilation of the army was avoided. The fleet transported the army to Småland. Meanwhile Poland created an alliance with the technology backwards nation Lithuania.

The enemy was quick to initiate sieges. Cleves went for Jutland, while Sweden besieged Gästrikland and Brandenburg besieged Hinterpommern. Fortunately was Norway aggresive, and sent 16k men into Bergslagen. Once disembarked in Småland, the Livonian army was sent to Svealand. The Livonian fleet was patroling the Baltic Sea to find and engage enemy ships. After a few successful naval engagements, the fleet was sent to Åland Sea to blockade Svealands port.

The Livonian fleet with the Livonian army on their way to Småland​

Jutland was the first province to fall (9th May 1584), coming under control of Hanover. Fortunately the big German armies didn't have any ships, so they couldn't take the war to the Livonian core. However, Danzig was reachable for the German nations.

Svealand was captured in September. I really wanted Sweden out of the war first, so I could concentrate on the Germans later. Since winter was approacing, I decided to wait for the spring to initiate further sieges. Norway was meanwhile quite lucky; they managed to capture Bergslagen before the winter. The Swedes were still struggling to break the walls in Gästrikland. To make things worse for the Swedes, I sent the Livonian army to fight them in Gästrikland. They had only 10k men there, so the battle vs 29k Livonian men was soon over, ending in a great victory for the Livonian soldiers. The Swedes retreated to Västerbotten. Meanwhile Brandenburg had managed to capture Hinterpommern. Danzig was still untouched by the enemy. The Livonian army was sent to fight the Swedes again in Västerbotten, and was once again successful. A siege was started the same month.

Fighting the Swedes in Västerbotten​

In July 1586 Norway agreed to get 112 ducats from Sweden in exchange for peace. Hanover had discovered that Danzig was undefended, so they started assaulting it en masse. In Västerbotten the siege went slowly, and the Livonian soldiers was struggling under hard winter conditions. The province finally fell in 1587, after big losses for the army. Reinforced with artillery, the army was then sent to Bergslagen. The fortress there was damaged when the Norwegians besieged it, so it was fortunately only on minimal level now. In Danzig the garrison was nearly annihilated after numerous assaults, but surprisingly the army from Hanover retreated. In Jutland Denmark tried to fight the army from Cleves which was stationed there, but alas, they didn't prevail.

With over 40 cannons in the Orders army, 3 bonus siege points were added to the siege of Bergslagen. Therefore the siege was over in no time. Peace was agreed between the Order and Sweden in October 1588 - Bergslagen and Västerbotten to the Order, and 150 ducats to the alliance.


The war against Brandenburg, Cleves and Hanover continues though.

Things are looking really good in Scandinavia indeed. Sweden only got one rich province left, so they're pretty much done for. In other words it's the German minors (well, they're actually quite big!) who are the biggest threat at the moment, especially Brandenburg as you said. As for Denmark and diploannexation, I can't remember how the situation was, but I managed to DA them in the end (I also think you can't DA a nation when they have a vassal, so Norway must have been released).

Brian: Poland getting friends with Lithuania again is not good. Even if Lithuania is backwards, they still field large armies. This created some big problems for me, as a later update will show.

coz1: It's been a lot of wars, and it will certainly come a lot more! If I remember correctly, it is only one update in this AAR where the Order isn't in a war. (Most of the updates last for around 10 years; in other words - lots of wars!)

Taking the war to German soil​

After the peace with Sweden, I really had what I wanted from the war. However, Brandenburg, Cleves and Hanover was eager to get some new territory. The Huguenots was also still in the war, but they was in a war vs France, and was therefore soon annexed. My plan for the rest of the war was really to get a peace with Brandenburg as soon as possible.

The situation in the war was the same for all nations - race for the richest provinces to capture them. Jutland and Hinterpommern was already captured by the Germans. The Livonian army, which was stationed in Bergslagen, was ordered to march to Skåne. New troops were recruited there to reinforce the army. The money the Order got from the peace with Sweden was really handy. With the Livonian fleet in place in The Sund, the reinforced army could be transported to Holstein. The war could finally commence on German soil .

The Livonian army was unloaded in Holstein, where it met newly trained recruits from Cleves. The battle was of course a big success for the Order:

Fightning recruits in Holstein, while the Germans siege Danzig​

Several small skirmishes vs small German armies were fought, until the Livonian army started a siege in Holstein. Capturing the province went fast - even if it had a medium sized fortress. The Germans didn't try to route me during the siege, much due to their massive siege in Danzig. Fortunately they didn't have any ships to blockade the port there, so they made little progress in breaching the walls.

Holstein was captured in February 1590. The next target was Jutland. Hanover, which was controling the province, had 13k soldiers there. They were no match to the Livonian army's 23k men, so the liberation of Jutland could start quickly. This siege, just like in Holstein, went quickly too; it was captured after only 3 months. Cleves was the only nation in the German alliance that didn't have any of the Order's provinces under their control. Since I had control over Holstein, they offered me peace - 137 ducats. I accepted - they had the bulk of forces which was siegin in Danzig, so it was good to release some of the pressure there. Norway was still in war with the Germans (Sweden DoW'ed Norway in 1583). However I didn't get any more help from them when they signed peace with Brandenburg in 1590.

Besieging Mecklenburg, while the Germans still try to capture Danzig. Cleves is out of the war.​

With Jutland under Livonian control again, the next target was Mecklenburg. This province was captured in 1591. I had hoped to sign peace with Brandenburg when this happened, but unfortunately Danzig was captured by Hanover the same month. To prevent the enemy to have control over Danzig too long, the Livonian army was ordered to besiege Hanover (the province). Hanover tried three times to break the siege, but they were repelled each time. Luckily Brandenburg was busy liberating Mecklenburg (with 50k men!), and not trying to fight me, which could have brought very dire results for the Livonian army. Hanover was captured in the spring in 1592. They accepted a white peace.

Now the last nation to fight was Brandenburg. A cat and mice game started between Denmark, Brandenburg and the Order. Provinces were liberated as soon as another province was captured. This continued for a while until this happened:

Both Mecklenburg and Vorpommern under Livonian control, while Brandeburg have control over Hinterpommern and Danzig​

Picture seems to be lost. Poland DoW'ed Brandenburg.
Poland had apparently not forgotten their old friends in the north . With this mighty enemy at their doorsteps, Brandenburg canceled their liberation-urge and sent their troops to their capital. This was just what Denmark and the Order needed, so warscore quickly came back to 0%. Brandenburg realized that it was best to end the war, and offered Denmark and the Order 92 ducats. I accepted.

I might have continued the war, but warexhaustion was starting to get very high. In addition it was an offensive war, so gaining new provinces would have produced much BB. I had gained two provinces from Sweden in the same war, so I was satisfied with that. Under is the current situation in Europe: