You once again manage to write an excellent update. This AAR is actually very good so I'm surprised to see it's still quite small.
I'm enjoying it anyway!
I'm enjoying it anyway!
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A very gripping update, I'm glad to see the snake Heinrich finally punished for his many crimes. A pity though that Ulrich has now passed away, he proved a great ruler, his only seeming weakness being his trusting his former friend Heinrich rather too much. He's left the kingdom in safe hands in choosing Gustav to next rule. Gustav may be grief striken at present but I suspect he will make a strong ruler and honour his good friend's name.
Best of luck with the exams!
Best of luck with the exams!
I am too actually. It is strange that either very few people read it or very few comment on it. Its actually causing me to wonder how many people read this regularly.
The Fact that I am not the most regular of updaters and that it usually receives few comments is probably to blame for that.
Thank you very much, the exam did turn out pretty well if I do say so myself. I must also say that I think Ulrich did make a pretty good King as well. The real reason he trusted Heinrich was that while he knew his friend was ambitious, he thought his personal loyalty to him was stronger then his ambition. He also thought he had fixed his Heinrich problem. Unfortunately, he was wrong.
I apologize for the lack of updates this week. I had one all written up. Unfortunately a lot of it got deleted due to a mistake on my part and I really don't feel like re-writting it right now. I will try to rewrite it and upload it tonight but I make no promises other then to say that I will definitely update sometime in the the next week. Also, in case this is the last you hear from me this week, Merry Christmas to all of my readers.
Very much seconded. Merry christmas to you, I hope you have a great one!
I'm a little quiet here, but I'd like to take the opportunity to say I am here and I'm following this with significant interest. 
6 November, 1426, Schwerin Castle, Mecklenburg
Gustav Wilhelm von Hannover sat in his throne and realized how lonely it could be at the top. He had lost almost everyone that mattered to him. His best friend, his son, and now even his wife. The pain of losing both her son, brother, and nephew in such quick succession had proven too much for his dear Andrea. She had fallen ill, he suspected from the grief, and had passed away not long before.
However, while he was racked with grief at the moment, he knew he could not afford to let it affect him too much. His friend had left his great dream to him and he would ensure that that dream would live on, even if he would not live to see it fullfilled. It was the only way to make all of the sacrifices and all the losses worth it. With a heavy heart, Gustav therefore got to work on the business of state.
Gustav found that his first task was to solve the problem of his reigns legitimacy. Despite being the designated heir, many of the nobility of the country did not recognize his claim, as they believed it to be shaky at best. He therefore had to do something to make strengthen his claim. He decided that the best way to do that would be to arrange some key marriages with some of the other great houses of Europe. Doing so would show to his subjects that the other dynasties and houses of Europe considered his house to be an equal to theirs and that they viewed the dynasty as legitimate. This might therefore calm the complaints he was getting. While he really did not feel like remarrying, he realized that he needed an heir to succeed him and, therefore, requested marriages for himself from among the great houses of Europe. He now only needed to wait for a reply.
8 November, 1426, Schwerin Castle, Mecklenburg.
It had been a surprisingly quick response. Out of the 5 requests he had sent out, only Brunswick had denied his request of a royal marriage. The Kings of France, Bohemia, Denmark, and Castile had all accepted.
All four Kings had offered him his choice of their daughters to be his bride. However, he had settled rather quickly on the daughter of Francois de Valois, the King of France. Her name was Natalie. She was smart, beautiful, and young (which also meant she might be fertile). All of these things appealed to Gustav and, while his still lingering love for his wife prevented him from truly falling in love with her, at least initially, he decided that this was the woman he would now marry.
25 July, 1428 Schwerin Castle, Mecklenburg
The last few years had been rather uneventful for Mecklenburg. Gustav, acting as his own foreign minister, had arranged numerous more royal marriage agreements from Portugal, Poland, Norway, England, and Naples. He had also focused efforts in increasing Mecklenburgs share in various centers of trade in Northern Europe, with a mind to further enriching the state coffers. One thing that had happened was that Heinrich's son, Axel von Meinecke, had been found innocent of any voluntary involvement in the plan that set up his son and Friedrich. Apparently, Heinrich had told his son he thought that the boys needed to get away from the frantic palace for a few days and suggested they go to his family villa, located just outside of Rostock, to unwind. Axel agreed and had invited Karl and Friedrich to come along on the grounds that he believed both had been working themselves into the ground lately. Heinrich, knowing his son would invite the two boys to the villa as well, told the bandits to lie in wait just a few miles from the villa outside of town and left strict orders not to harm Axel. Axel had been knocked out early to ensure he did not try to help his friends fight off the bandits, which might have forced the bandits to kill him. When Axel learned of his fathers part in the ambush during his interrogation, he all but disowned his father. Now the mere mention of Heinrich's name seemed to send the man into a rage. Friedrich and Karl had, after all, been Axel's best friends and he believed his father had gone to far this time in the name of petty ambition.
Gustav entered the throne room with Natalie and then awaited the arrival of the other three men who comprised his council. Erich Askanier was the first to arrive, as always. With Launenburg now part of Mecklenburg, he had been created Lord of the province and been appointed as Gustav's military advisor. While now getting on in age his son, Sigismund, was growing into a fine lad himself. While all expected to find his way into either the army or civil service, he had not yet chosen which profession to pursue.
Johann arrived next. He had been made the new spymaster following Heinrich's death and had taken to it surprisingly well for a peasant with no training in espionage. All in the room believed he might one day rival or even surpass the skill Heinrich had displayed and all were glad that he lacked the all consuming ambition of his predecessor. Gustav had considered bestowing his old Lordship on him, seeing as being King meant he didn't really need the duchy anymore. However, he was still a Peasant and it would take a truly great service to convince the other nobles that he deserved such an honor
The Last to arrive was Axel von Meinecke, who was his domestic affairs advisor. Axel had shown a not inconsiderable grasp of administrative abilities and Gustav had therefore decided to give him that post. He had not disappointed so far. However, he did sometimes clash with Eric Askanier. However, unlike the clashes between his father and Gustav, these were not clashes brought about by personal rivalry as much as by professional rivalry. Eric was the military advisor and always wanted vast amounts of money to be diverted to the military to strengthen it for future expansion. Axel was of the opinion that the money was better spent being invested in the country. Both had proved uncompromising in the past and it was often the job of Johann and Gustav to find a happy medium for compromise between the two. Today looked like it would be a good day for one of those clashes, as they were set to talk about the budget for the coming year and where the King should invest his money for the coming year.
Now that all three men had arrived, Gustav began the meeting. "Alright, lets get down to business. We are here today to decide how to best spend our money in the coming year. I would like to hear suggestions from all of you, even if it is merely in support of someone else's proposal."
Eric Askanier spoke first. "Sire, I believe that we should spend the money to expand the military. We currently have a force of only 2,000 men. This is far from sufficient for the scale of conflict we may face in the future. I propose the levying of one additional cavalry and one additional infantry regiment for the foreseeable future."
Axel von Meinecke spoke next. "Your grace, with all due respect, I must disagree with my esteemed colleague. This money would be better spent in building a constabulary to increase the efficiency of tax collecting in my province of Vorpomern as well as in Eric's province of Launenburg. Doing so will increase the tax base in the province for the forseeable future."
Gustav then rolled his eyes. It looked like another round of arguments between the two opposing viewpoints was about to break out. It was then that a very unconventional voice spoke up.
"I believe we should go with Axel's plan".
The voice belonged to Queen Natalie. While it was true that she was often present during their council meetings, she had never once spoken. Indeed, it was something of an unspoken rule that women were not to speak in council, though they were allowed to be present. with all four men to shocked to point this out just yet, Natalie continued.
"It is true that we do need more troops, however, I do not see an urgent need for them. We have no enemies at present and I do not believe we are planning anymore expansion right now. The increased income will also make us better able to pay for the soldiers that Eric requests."
The persuasive and educated support for her earlier comment shocked the men even further. Of the four of them, the only one who was not surprised was Gustav. He had noticed rather early on that Natalie was much better educated then most women. Her father, King Francois, had seen to that, believing it would make her more attractive to suiters. Moreover, she had plenty of natural intelligence to match her education. It was no coincidence that she often gave him her own advise on what policies to pursue. However, in the past, she had always waited until they were alone to advise him, never daring to speak in council. Why this change?
By this time, Gustav had recovered enough to speak up. "That was very observant my dear, but I believe you have spoken out of turn. It is an unwritten rule of sorts that women are not supposed to speak in council. However, you are still relatively new at court and things may have been different in France, so I think we can overlook this."
After taking sufficient time to recover himself, Johann also spoke. "While it was rather unconventional for her to have spoken, I believe that her Grace makes a rather good point. My own spies confirm that none of our larger neighbors is particularly interested in fighting us. The Hansa is preoccupied with their trade and as long as we do not disrupt that or attempt to interfere with their own sphere of influence, they should leave us alone. They also hold lands in Slesvig and Holstein that are coveted by Denmark and thus have them to watch, in addition to the recent inexplicable rivalry with Hesse. Bohemia, while strong, is also the emperor and therefore has much greater concerns then us at the moment. While they are a little concerned with out growing power, they seem content to try and use their influence as the emperor to curtail us rather then direct force. They also believe that we may be useful in a future conflict with Brandenburg, who we both border. For the moment, however, Brandenburg remains in a personal union with Luxembourg and cannot yet pursue war with either of us so they can safely be ignored for the time being. Moreover, we have yet to find a suitable target for expansion, as all of our neighbors are either all ready under our control or we lack the proper justification to go to war. Should we try to declare war in the name of naked aggression, we can count on Bohemia getting involved, so we must first find a reason for war before pursuing future expansion."
Eric spoke next "Thank you very much Johann. I must say that changes my viewpoint a little. As does what her Grace said earlier, even though I am not sure it was appropriate for her to say it. The constabulary would give us more money with which to expand the military and I therefore concur with Axel that we should put the money towards building a constabulary."
After all had spoken, Gustav made his decision "Very well, a Constabulary will be built in the provinces of Vorpommern and Launenburg. We shall re-evaluate our financial situation upon its completion and decide whether or not we can afford to expand the military as per Askanier's request. I must thank you my dear Natalie, it seems you may have saved us about an hour of heated debate. If their is nothing else, you are dismissed."
So ended probably one of the most unconventional councils Gustav had ever attended. While she did violate an established norm in Mecklenburg by speaking, Gustav had to give Natalie credit. What he had said at the end was true. by her well reasoned argument, she had gotten Eric to concur with Axel's suggestion, something that most likely would have taken an hour of debate had she not spoken up. Moreover, she had come to that realization before any of the other advisors had. Gustav thought this might have stemmed from the fact that she was not only a third party but also an impartial one. Since she did not have a department to oversee, she therefore did not have to look out for any one institutions best interests, thus lacking a personal agenda. This was something that could indeed be valuable in the future. Perhaps it was time for Gustav to re-evaluate that custom of not allowing women to speak in council.
22 May, 1430, Schwerin Castle, Mecklenburg
This day was without a doubt the happiest day Gustav had had for many years now. On this day, his wife Natalie, whom he had come to love just as much as he had once loved Andrea, Had given him a Son. Words could not describe how happy Gustav was at this moment. After that fateful day 4 years ago, Gustav was not quite sure he would ever be able to sire a child again. However, he now, once again, had a son to call his own. He had not been this happy since the death's of Karl, Ulrich, and Andrea in quick succession. Now, for the first time in 4 years, he had a family again. As he held his son in his arms for the first time, nothing else in the world seemed to matter. For that one moment, the fact that he was King of Mecklenburg did not matter at all. All that mattered was his new son. He decided on the name Philip Ludwig for the child. In that moment, he knew his son would be destined for great things.
1 May, 1431, Schwerin Castle, Mecklenburg
As Gustav sat with his three advisors in the emergency meeting of the council, they all knew something had to be done and done fast. Recently, a local noble in Vorpommern calling himself Adolph Friedrich Schlien had laid claim to his throne and had launched a rebellion to try and take it. At this moment, he was thankful he had finally been able to raise the additional cavalry and infantry regiments, as they would now be sorely needed to put down the 6,000 man force commanded by the pretender.
This was the first real crisis of Gustav's reign and how he handled it would show just what kind of a King he would be. He began the meeting the moment that everyone had arrived.
"Alright, let us get started. My friends we have a serious problem. Their is a pretender who has his eyes set on my throne. Naturally, he most be stopped at all costs. We are gathered today to decide how best to do that.
Eric Askanier spoke first. "Sire, while they do indeed outnumber us, I believe we should strike immediately. This force was raised rather quickly and he has had little chance to train the men into actual soldiers. They are still raw recruits and may prove no match for our seasoned professionals. I believe if we strike now we may have a chance to rout them before they can get organized."
Axel then spoke. "I also agree we should strike immediately. However, I have another reason. We must strike now before they have the opportunity to draw others to their banner and send the message that such insurrections will not be tolerated and shall be dealt with swiftly and brutally. moreover, he will likely find it difficult to find replacements for any troops we slay, so we may be able to wear him down by attrition even if we fail in the initial assault."
Johann spoke last " I concur with my fellow advisors. We must strike quickly and decisively. To do any less would be to invite charges that you are an indecisive and weak ruler, and that is something we can ill afford. We strike now before he can attempt to gain foreign recognition and support and send a clear message that you are a decisive leader and maybe we can avoid the fate of finding ourselves to all be shorter by a head."
Upon hearing their counsel, Gustav made his decision. "It is decided, we shall strike now. I shall march at the head of our forces to strike a quick and decisive blow. While I know I am not the best of commanders, I cannot entrust such an important duty to an unknown and Eric is too old to go on the campaign again. I shall march at first light. You are all dismissed."
And with that, Gustav set out to resolve the first true crisis of his reign. The future of the fledgling Von Hannover dynasty would be decided in the next few months.
Gustav Wilhelm von Hannover sat in his throne and realized how lonely it could be at the top. He had lost almost everyone that mattered to him. His best friend, his son, and now even his wife. The pain of losing both her son, brother, and nephew in such quick succession had proven too much for his dear Andrea. She had fallen ill, he suspected from the grief, and had passed away not long before.
However, while he was racked with grief at the moment, he knew he could not afford to let it affect him too much. His friend had left his great dream to him and he would ensure that that dream would live on, even if he would not live to see it fullfilled. It was the only way to make all of the sacrifices and all the losses worth it. With a heavy heart, Gustav therefore got to work on the business of state.
Gustav found that his first task was to solve the problem of his reigns legitimacy. Despite being the designated heir, many of the nobility of the country did not recognize his claim, as they believed it to be shaky at best. He therefore had to do something to make strengthen his claim. He decided that the best way to do that would be to arrange some key marriages with some of the other great houses of Europe. Doing so would show to his subjects that the other dynasties and houses of Europe considered his house to be an equal to theirs and that they viewed the dynasty as legitimate. This might therefore calm the complaints he was getting. While he really did not feel like remarrying, he realized that he needed an heir to succeed him and, therefore, requested marriages for himself from among the great houses of Europe. He now only needed to wait for a reply.
8 November, 1426, Schwerin Castle, Mecklenburg.
It had been a surprisingly quick response. Out of the 5 requests he had sent out, only Brunswick had denied his request of a royal marriage. The Kings of France, Bohemia, Denmark, and Castile had all accepted.
All four Kings had offered him his choice of their daughters to be his bride. However, he had settled rather quickly on the daughter of Francois de Valois, the King of France. Her name was Natalie. She was smart, beautiful, and young (which also meant she might be fertile). All of these things appealed to Gustav and, while his still lingering love for his wife prevented him from truly falling in love with her, at least initially, he decided that this was the woman he would now marry.
25 July, 1428 Schwerin Castle, Mecklenburg
The last few years had been rather uneventful for Mecklenburg. Gustav, acting as his own foreign minister, had arranged numerous more royal marriage agreements from Portugal, Poland, Norway, England, and Naples. He had also focused efforts in increasing Mecklenburgs share in various centers of trade in Northern Europe, with a mind to further enriching the state coffers. One thing that had happened was that Heinrich's son, Axel von Meinecke, had been found innocent of any voluntary involvement in the plan that set up his son and Friedrich. Apparently, Heinrich had told his son he thought that the boys needed to get away from the frantic palace for a few days and suggested they go to his family villa, located just outside of Rostock, to unwind. Axel agreed and had invited Karl and Friedrich to come along on the grounds that he believed both had been working themselves into the ground lately. Heinrich, knowing his son would invite the two boys to the villa as well, told the bandits to lie in wait just a few miles from the villa outside of town and left strict orders not to harm Axel. Axel had been knocked out early to ensure he did not try to help his friends fight off the bandits, which might have forced the bandits to kill him. When Axel learned of his fathers part in the ambush during his interrogation, he all but disowned his father. Now the mere mention of Heinrich's name seemed to send the man into a rage. Friedrich and Karl had, after all, been Axel's best friends and he believed his father had gone to far this time in the name of petty ambition.
Gustav entered the throne room with Natalie and then awaited the arrival of the other three men who comprised his council. Erich Askanier was the first to arrive, as always. With Launenburg now part of Mecklenburg, he had been created Lord of the province and been appointed as Gustav's military advisor. While now getting on in age his son, Sigismund, was growing into a fine lad himself. While all expected to find his way into either the army or civil service, he had not yet chosen which profession to pursue.
Johann arrived next. He had been made the new spymaster following Heinrich's death and had taken to it surprisingly well for a peasant with no training in espionage. All in the room believed he might one day rival or even surpass the skill Heinrich had displayed and all were glad that he lacked the all consuming ambition of his predecessor. Gustav had considered bestowing his old Lordship on him, seeing as being King meant he didn't really need the duchy anymore. However, he was still a Peasant and it would take a truly great service to convince the other nobles that he deserved such an honor
The Last to arrive was Axel von Meinecke, who was his domestic affairs advisor. Axel had shown a not inconsiderable grasp of administrative abilities and Gustav had therefore decided to give him that post. He had not disappointed so far. However, he did sometimes clash with Eric Askanier. However, unlike the clashes between his father and Gustav, these were not clashes brought about by personal rivalry as much as by professional rivalry. Eric was the military advisor and always wanted vast amounts of money to be diverted to the military to strengthen it for future expansion. Axel was of the opinion that the money was better spent being invested in the country. Both had proved uncompromising in the past and it was often the job of Johann and Gustav to find a happy medium for compromise between the two. Today looked like it would be a good day for one of those clashes, as they were set to talk about the budget for the coming year and where the King should invest his money for the coming year.
Now that all three men had arrived, Gustav began the meeting. "Alright, lets get down to business. We are here today to decide how to best spend our money in the coming year. I would like to hear suggestions from all of you, even if it is merely in support of someone else's proposal."
Eric Askanier spoke first. "Sire, I believe that we should spend the money to expand the military. We currently have a force of only 2,000 men. This is far from sufficient for the scale of conflict we may face in the future. I propose the levying of one additional cavalry and one additional infantry regiment for the foreseeable future."
Axel von Meinecke spoke next. "Your grace, with all due respect, I must disagree with my esteemed colleague. This money would be better spent in building a constabulary to increase the efficiency of tax collecting in my province of Vorpomern as well as in Eric's province of Launenburg. Doing so will increase the tax base in the province for the forseeable future."
Gustav then rolled his eyes. It looked like another round of arguments between the two opposing viewpoints was about to break out. It was then that a very unconventional voice spoke up.
"I believe we should go with Axel's plan".
The voice belonged to Queen Natalie. While it was true that she was often present during their council meetings, she had never once spoken. Indeed, it was something of an unspoken rule that women were not to speak in council, though they were allowed to be present. with all four men to shocked to point this out just yet, Natalie continued.
"It is true that we do need more troops, however, I do not see an urgent need for them. We have no enemies at present and I do not believe we are planning anymore expansion right now. The increased income will also make us better able to pay for the soldiers that Eric requests."
The persuasive and educated support for her earlier comment shocked the men even further. Of the four of them, the only one who was not surprised was Gustav. He had noticed rather early on that Natalie was much better educated then most women. Her father, King Francois, had seen to that, believing it would make her more attractive to suiters. Moreover, she had plenty of natural intelligence to match her education. It was no coincidence that she often gave him her own advise on what policies to pursue. However, in the past, she had always waited until they were alone to advise him, never daring to speak in council. Why this change?
By this time, Gustav had recovered enough to speak up. "That was very observant my dear, but I believe you have spoken out of turn. It is an unwritten rule of sorts that women are not supposed to speak in council. However, you are still relatively new at court and things may have been different in France, so I think we can overlook this."
After taking sufficient time to recover himself, Johann also spoke. "While it was rather unconventional for her to have spoken, I believe that her Grace makes a rather good point. My own spies confirm that none of our larger neighbors is particularly interested in fighting us. The Hansa is preoccupied with their trade and as long as we do not disrupt that or attempt to interfere with their own sphere of influence, they should leave us alone. They also hold lands in Slesvig and Holstein that are coveted by Denmark and thus have them to watch, in addition to the recent inexplicable rivalry with Hesse. Bohemia, while strong, is also the emperor and therefore has much greater concerns then us at the moment. While they are a little concerned with out growing power, they seem content to try and use their influence as the emperor to curtail us rather then direct force. They also believe that we may be useful in a future conflict with Brandenburg, who we both border. For the moment, however, Brandenburg remains in a personal union with Luxembourg and cannot yet pursue war with either of us so they can safely be ignored for the time being. Moreover, we have yet to find a suitable target for expansion, as all of our neighbors are either all ready under our control or we lack the proper justification to go to war. Should we try to declare war in the name of naked aggression, we can count on Bohemia getting involved, so we must first find a reason for war before pursuing future expansion."
Eric spoke next "Thank you very much Johann. I must say that changes my viewpoint a little. As does what her Grace said earlier, even though I am not sure it was appropriate for her to say it. The constabulary would give us more money with which to expand the military and I therefore concur with Axel that we should put the money towards building a constabulary."
After all had spoken, Gustav made his decision "Very well, a Constabulary will be built in the provinces of Vorpommern and Launenburg. We shall re-evaluate our financial situation upon its completion and decide whether or not we can afford to expand the military as per Askanier's request. I must thank you my dear Natalie, it seems you may have saved us about an hour of heated debate. If their is nothing else, you are dismissed."
So ended probably one of the most unconventional councils Gustav had ever attended. While she did violate an established norm in Mecklenburg by speaking, Gustav had to give Natalie credit. What he had said at the end was true. by her well reasoned argument, she had gotten Eric to concur with Axel's suggestion, something that most likely would have taken an hour of debate had she not spoken up. Moreover, she had come to that realization before any of the other advisors had. Gustav thought this might have stemmed from the fact that she was not only a third party but also an impartial one. Since she did not have a department to oversee, she therefore did not have to look out for any one institutions best interests, thus lacking a personal agenda. This was something that could indeed be valuable in the future. Perhaps it was time for Gustav to re-evaluate that custom of not allowing women to speak in council.
22 May, 1430, Schwerin Castle, Mecklenburg
This day was without a doubt the happiest day Gustav had had for many years now. On this day, his wife Natalie, whom he had come to love just as much as he had once loved Andrea, Had given him a Son. Words could not describe how happy Gustav was at this moment. After that fateful day 4 years ago, Gustav was not quite sure he would ever be able to sire a child again. However, he now, once again, had a son to call his own. He had not been this happy since the death's of Karl, Ulrich, and Andrea in quick succession. Now, for the first time in 4 years, he had a family again. As he held his son in his arms for the first time, nothing else in the world seemed to matter. For that one moment, the fact that he was King of Mecklenburg did not matter at all. All that mattered was his new son. He decided on the name Philip Ludwig for the child. In that moment, he knew his son would be destined for great things.
1 May, 1431, Schwerin Castle, Mecklenburg
As Gustav sat with his three advisors in the emergency meeting of the council, they all knew something had to be done and done fast. Recently, a local noble in Vorpommern calling himself Adolph Friedrich Schlien had laid claim to his throne and had launched a rebellion to try and take it. At this moment, he was thankful he had finally been able to raise the additional cavalry and infantry regiments, as they would now be sorely needed to put down the 6,000 man force commanded by the pretender.
This was the first real crisis of Gustav's reign and how he handled it would show just what kind of a King he would be. He began the meeting the moment that everyone had arrived.
"Alright, let us get started. My friends we have a serious problem. Their is a pretender who has his eyes set on my throne. Naturally, he most be stopped at all costs. We are gathered today to decide how best to do that.
Eric Askanier spoke first. "Sire, while they do indeed outnumber us, I believe we should strike immediately. This force was raised rather quickly and he has had little chance to train the men into actual soldiers. They are still raw recruits and may prove no match for our seasoned professionals. I believe if we strike now we may have a chance to rout them before they can get organized."
Axel then spoke. "I also agree we should strike immediately. However, I have another reason. We must strike now before they have the opportunity to draw others to their banner and send the message that such insurrections will not be tolerated and shall be dealt with swiftly and brutally. moreover, he will likely find it difficult to find replacements for any troops we slay, so we may be able to wear him down by attrition even if we fail in the initial assault."
Johann spoke last " I concur with my fellow advisors. We must strike quickly and decisively. To do any less would be to invite charges that you are an indecisive and weak ruler, and that is something we can ill afford. We strike now before he can attempt to gain foreign recognition and support and send a clear message that you are a decisive leader and maybe we can avoid the fate of finding ourselves to all be shorter by a head."
Upon hearing their counsel, Gustav made his decision. "It is decided, we shall strike now. I shall march at the head of our forces to strike a quick and decisive blow. While I know I am not the best of commanders, I cannot entrust such an important duty to an unknown and Eric is too old to go on the campaign again. I shall march at first light. You are all dismissed."
And with that, Gustav set out to resolve the first true crisis of his reign. The future of the fledgling Von Hannover dynasty would be decided in the next few months.
Off with his head!
Nice you got a heir, in case things turn out...poorly for Gustav
Nice you got a heir, in case things turn out...poorly for Gustav
It seems as if Gustav has struck lucky with Natalie, not only intelligent but she has provided him with a son already. Hopefully though said son isn't require to assume the throne anytime soon, especially with rebels needing to be dealt with! I'm not sure of his making Axel his domestic affairs advisor, I would have thought banishment for the man the best option. Even if he says he had no hand in the deaths of the two earlier, I don't think I could trust him regardless.
I apologize for the lack of updates. First exams, then Skyrim, was distracting me. Now that the distractions are done, I will finally be updating soon. However, my HOI2 AAR will be updated first, seeing as it has gone even longer without an update. Therefore, you guys can expect an update sometime before the end of next week, and hopefully by the end of this week.
Good news. I ended up sinking plenty of time into Skyrim myself, there is always something in the game to steal your interest.
Alright, after a incredibly long "week", It is finally time to update this again. I must apologize again for not updating. Immediately after the Skyrim distraction ended, I started having an entirely new distraction in the form of two massive research papers in school that have a voracious appetite for my free time. On top of that was work. One of those things is no longer a problem but the other still is, so I will probably not be able to update as regularly as I would like, but I will attempt to update this and the other AAR whenever I can.
That is good indeed. The heir is also a good one. In my opinion, Administration is the most useful stat for a monarch as Military's and Diplomacy's main effects can be compensated by the hiring of other people. There is nothing that can substitute for the Administration stat, however.
Indeed, I wanted to have Natalie have a more active rule then Amalia did. I also like the idea of an intelligent female character who is not power hungry. As for Axel, just because he has not been banished does not necessarily mean all is forgotten. He will be on a short leash until he proves his loyalty.
We shall have to see
This is indeed true. I have professed that their is no beating Skyrim, only completing the storyline. I however, have shelved that particular game for the moment.
without further ado, let the update begin and as a little treat for you guys who are still reading this, here is a little treat for remaining loyal over the long absence. a little mood music to play in the background of this update, as I think it will fit with it, or at least the beginning of it very well.
Mood Music
23 May, Vorpommern, Kingdom of Mecklenburg
Gustav Wilhelm Von Hannover sat atop his horse in what was his first taste of battle. He and his men were outnumbered by about 2,000 men, but he still believed he had the better troops. Also, to his surprise, he was finding that he was actually a better general then his opponent, despite never having commanded men in battle before. Apparently, the pretender, Adolf Friedrich von Schlien, was renowned as a hard driver who could move his men to march at incredible speed, but was utterly incompetent when it came to actually commanding men in battle. Clearly, this man was not someone that should have been entrusted with the leadership in an attempt to overthrow a King, especially when his claim was as shaky as his. He had claimed that he was the long since deceased Friedrich, who had somehow escaped the bandit attack and had gone into hiding. Why anyone bought the story was beyond Gustav. However, he hardly had time to think about that now. He had a battle to win
So far, he was doing quite well at that job. His infantry had managed to pin down and distract the usurpers army long enough for his cavalry to hit them in the flank Still, while the infantry on the Adolf Friedrich von Schlien's flank had not noticed the cavalry coming, their commander had and he had ordered his cavalry to intercept. However, they did not arrive in time to stop the attack and the impact of a bunch of horses plowing into a body of infantry that were unprepared for it had a great impact.
However, he was not sure if he could keep it up, the pretender had brought his cavalry up to try and contest his cavalry's charge and they had managed to halt their advance. Even worse, his men were beginning to tire and morale was beginning to sag. If he could not think of something soon, he could very well lose this battle due to flagging morale.
Almost as soon as he thought this, some men on his right flank began to break. Gustav tried to rally them, but it was too little to late. They broke and ran, and Schlien, seeing this happen, ordered some of his cavalry to push through and take him in the flank. His men were faltering and a general rout seemed to be a complete possibility. Gustav knew he had to do something, or he risked losing his whole army right here. He therefore rallied what men he could and led one last charge against the enemy. He did not intend to drive them back, it was too late for that. His hope that the sight of him charging in might shame some of his men into joining him. If it worked, he might be able to buy sometime for his men to withdraw in good order. The plan worked. Some of his men rallied to his side and he ordered the rest to withdraw. Together, they were able to fight a successful rearguard action and hold off the enemy just long enough to allow the rest of the men to escape. Then, he and the rest of his men withdrew in good order. He had lost the battle, but preserved his army and he felt confident that the pretenders would not order his raw farmboys to pursue his veterans with their backs against the wall. After rejoining the rest of his men, Gustav began the march back to Mecklenburg proper.
1 January, Throne room, Schwerin Palace, Mecklenburg, 1432
What Gustav Wilhelm von Hannover had hoped would be a quick and decisive war had quickly had now become a serious crisis. While he had managed to get what little was left of his army after the last defeat, about 1,200 men all told, it had taken months to replace the men he had lost, time he could ill afford. Moreover, what many of those lost had been seasoned veterans. That could hardly be said about the men he currently had in his army, some of which had never even picked up a sword before in there lives. A second attempt to defeat Adolf Friedrich von Schlien had ended in a defeat just as bad as the first one.
Gustav seriously began to worry that he might lose this war. Moreover, every battle they won gave Adolf's men more experience. If this kept up, he ran the risk of his army being the one composed of raw farmboys and the pretender having the seasoned veterans. Still, he still hoped he might be able to bring the pretender to heal quickly, he just needed to figure out a way to do it. While he was thinking this, his wife, Natalie, and Axel von Meincke walked into the room
"I see my husband still has that worried look on his face, tell me, did the battle truly go that bad."
"Yes, my dear, I am afraid it did. We had the better leadership again, but terrain and numbers were still with the enemy. We lost a large portion of our men yet again to the pretender but didn't do enough damage to make a difference. It will take months to replace the men we lost and if this keeps up much longer, we run the risk of the pretender getting support from outside, or of some of the lands we conquered trying to take advantage of our momentary weakness and rebel."
"Might I make a suggestion, you have tried twice to drive them from Vorpommern and twice you have told me the same things have defeated you. I am certainly no expert in strategy, but might it not be wise to wait and let the pretender come to you so that you can pick the battleground."
"That does make sense, however, I am not sure that that would be a wise idea. Sure, we might be able to take advantage of better terrain, but we would run the risk of them being able to gather more support. We would also being abandoning the people of Vorpommern to their fate, which could make me appear that I am a coward."
At that, Axel spoke up "I must say, sire, on this, I find myself agreeing with Natalie here. You have tried twice to bring him to heel by taking the fight to him and it has not worked. You clearly need a change of strategy and that is exactly what she has suggested. As for them gaining support, As long as your army remains intact, I do not believe that you have to worry about that. As long as your army is around, it can recover. As for your fears about abandoning Vorpommern and looking cowardly, you have tried twice to save the province. No one can say you did not do everything in your power to try to save the people, but it has not worked. Had you simply sat in your palace without trying, you might have to worry about that, but the fact that you tried and led the rearguard yourself shows that you are no craven and I must say, sometimes wisdom is better then bravery".
Upon listening to his wife and his adviser's words, he realized they were right. Marching into Vorpommern to crush the rebels had clearly not worked. However, Vorpommern was only one province and he still had his army. As long as that remained the case, Adolf would have to come to him in the capital if he wanted to take the throne. That would give him time to prepare and pick ground that would be to his advantage. He had made up his mind. He would rebuild his army, prepare his defenses, and when the Adolf the Pretender came, he would throw him back and then pursue and send him to the Hell where he belonged.
September 14, 1432, a few miles from Rostock, Mecklenburg
Gustav von Hannover sat atop his horse from the top of a hill observing a much different scene. After raising more men for his army, He had finally sought out the perfect ground on which to fight the contender. Vorpommern had fallen some time ago and the Pretender, left with little other choice, had decided to march on the capital. After two crushing victories against Gustav, he had grown arrogant and thought there was no possible way he could lose. So when he had approached Gustav's army, camped on a large hill outside Rostock, he had ordered his men to attack without even trying to lure Gustav into attacking him, completely ignoring the incredible advantage the placement at the top of the hill offered the defenders. It had been a mistake. For several hours, the Adolf the Pretender's men had thrown themselves at Gustav and his men, and each time, with his men already exhausted by the charge up the hill, they had been driven back. Finally, fatigue had begun to take its toll and morale began to crumble in the Pretender's army, seeing this, Gustav ordered his men into the attack. It was too much for Adolf's already demoralized men to take. They had broken and ran. Gustav, however, did not order his men, who were also tired from hours of battle, to pursue. Thus the pretender was allowed to escape, but he had lost almost half his men in the battle. Gustav had only lost 1,150 men, a considerably smaller amount. With this victory, Gustav felt he had finally turned the tide of this war around. After his men were rested, he ordered them to give chase back into Vorpommern
13 October, 1432, a few miles outside of Rostock, Mecklenburg
He had finally done it. After months of trying, Gustav had finally managed to smash the Pretenders army on the same field that he had won his first victory against them. Actually, he could hardly call this a victory, seeing as their was no battle. The pretenders army had simply surrendered at the first sight of his men.
After the first victory, he had pursued them back into Vorpommern. There, a quick battle had resulted in an incredibly lopsided victory for him. Adolf Friederich von Schlien had lost 785 men. Gustav had only lost 59, and most of those were men with minor injuries who would soon be back in the field. After the victory, Adolf had decided to try and turn his army around and march on the capital while it was undefended. He had hoped to seize it without a fight and thus force Gustav to surrender. It was not a bad plan, except that the morale of his army was at rock bottom and Gustav was able to catch up to him before he could pull it off. At the first sight of Gustav's men, the Pretenders army had surrendered, having completely lost their taste for battle. More importantly, Adolf Friedrich Schlien himself was among the captured. After ordering him away to be beheaded, he officially pardoned all those who had surrendered. With this move, he was able to show that those who would attempt to steal his throne would be punished, but only the ringleaders need be punished. He also felt that executing the captured rebels, with the obvious exception of the ringleader, might send the wrong kind of message and make future enemies less likely to surrender and more likely to fight to the death.
October 1, 1433, Throne Room, Schwerin Palace, Mecklenburg
It had been a quiet year for King Gustav. After the defeat of the Pretender's army, He had marched into Vorpommern intending the siege the city of Stalsund only to find that there was no need. Apparently, the city garrison had heard about the mercy he had shown to those soldiers who had surrendered to him in Mecklenburg, and he found the city gates thrown open to him. He entered the city to thunderous cheers. To the members of the garrison who had thrown open the gates, he showed his customary mercy. However, he was not so merciful to the man that Adolf had left to defend the city, whom he ordered to be executed. After that, he had finally had some peace and quite for a while. The only thing of note that had happened had been a royal marriage agreement that he had signed with the King of Brandenburg, that country having recently escaped from the personal union under the King of Luxembourg. It was this that he had summoned his councilors to the throne room to discuss. With the Pretender dead and his position on the throne finally secured, he had decided it was time he got to trying to continue to bring his friend Ulrich's dream to reality, and he had thought he had found a target.
When all had arrived, the King addressed his council.
"Allright, I trust you all know why you are here. The pretender is long dead and I have finally managed to gain a reputation for legitimacy in the eyes of my people, I believe it is high time that we resume our expansion."
It was Axel who spoke first. "I could not agree more, shall we discuss possible targets for expansion then"
"That will not be necessary, for I think I have found a target for us."
"And what would that be" asked Axel in reply
"Brandenburg"
"With that, the room erupted. All of the men in the room seemed to be opposed to the idea. Eric was not necessarily against the idea, but insisted that Mecklenburg did not have the men for the job and asked for more time to raise the additional men. Axel insisted that the country needed to improve its diplomatic and economic positions more before considering such a move, suggesting instead that they pick a smaller nation to target for now. Johann claimed that it was too soon and his men had yet to gain enough information on the Kingdom.
However, there was one person in the room who did not join in the criticism. That person was Queen Natalie. After much though on the subject and in light of her good council given in the past, King Gustav had decided to allow her to be present in council from now on. There had been some complaints from the others, but they had been silenced after they found that she was more then capable of handling herself in the council chambers. She gave good advice and never overstepped her bounds or came off as power hungry. She had even shown herself willing to criticize Gustav and point out when his policies were wrong. This time, however, she found herself on her husband's side. When all the men had finished making their cases, she spoke up to voice her approval of her husbands decision.
"This is merely a wife supporting her husband, nothing more" said Eric Askanier.
The men nodded their heads and went back to their arguing, but Gustav raised a hand to quiet them.
"Silence" he bellowed, " before we dismiss her advice, I would hear what she has to say"
With that Natalie again spoke up
"Thank you, my lord. Now, to respond to Eric Askanier's comment that we lack the men to make this move, he is at least partially correct. Mecklenburg does not have the men, but I believe that our allies do have the necessary manpower when added to ours. True, we most rely on them backing us up, but I am certain they will all agree to support us and while we cannot command their armies ourselves, we will be able to back them up when we get in trouble. Our army of about 5,000 men should be sufficient to help bail them out of any trouble they might get into. To answer Axel's point, if we wait much longer, we might miss out opportunity. Brandenburg is a rich state with four provinces. If allowed to expand freely after being freed from their Personal Union, they could easily gain enough power to rival or even surpass us. This is something I am sure you all realize. Moreover, with this royal marriage and no heir to the throne yet, we have the perfect excuse for war. With that, we can be assured that the Emperor will not intervene. More over, his country borders Brandenburg and he would likely be more then happy to see it weakened. There are also not that many smaller states nearby who do not have a powerful protector or who are not already bound to us. I therefore believe we should capitalize on this opportunity.
"You make some fine points my lady" said Axel "Very well, you have convinced me, I agree with your highness in this course of action."
With that, the other two men eventually consented as well.
"Very well then. Now that we are all in agreement, I will draft a statement making a formal claim to the Brandenburg throne. We will meet again in one month to discuss a plan for this war, dismissed.
And with that, Gustav Wilhelm von Mecklenburg decided to make the greatest gamble of his reign so far. Win, and he would remove one of his most dangerous competitors before they had a chance to get off the ground. Lose, and it could very well mean the end of everything Ulrich and he had fought for. It all now came down to a last role of the dice.
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Exciting! Adding Brandenburg to your realm would be an incredible boost. I hope he manages to pull it off!
Ps: The 2nd and 3rd screenshot are the same.
Ps: The 2nd and 3rd screenshot are the same.
A true roll of the dice indeed. A brave gamble but the rewards are considerable. I merely hope Gustav has learned from his bitter battles againt Adolf Friedrich von Schlien, Brandburg promies to be a tougher foe!
It would indeed be an excellent addition. It would also remove one of my biggest potential rivals permanently
also, fixed.
We shall see if that is indeed the case.
and here is some mood music to play while you read.
20 May 1434, Stadtschloss, Berlin, Kingdom of Brandenburg
Gustav sat upon the throne of the King of Brandenburg, Christian von Zweibrucken, feeling contented with himself. Despite the misgivings of his council, he had chosen wisely on which nation to attack. As it happens, Brandenburg was, at the time of the declaration of war, having problems with a rebellion. While the rebellion would normally have been crushed easily, King Christian decided instead to focus his attention on defeating Mecklenburg and her allies rather then wiping out his internal enemies first. In pursuance of that goal, when he managed to capture the rebel province of Neumark, he elected to invade Pomerania, one of the stronger members of the Mecklenburg alliance, rather then pursue and destroy the rebels. The thinking was that the Pomeranians would immediately move to eject the Brandenburg forces from their lands to remove the threat to them. This would then draw them into open battle. Not wanting one of his stronger allies to be defeated, he reasoned that Gustav would move to support them, which would ultimately lead to his defeat. While a sound plan in theory, it went wrong almost immediately. First, the undefeated rebels retreated to another province and began to lay siege. That province was none other then his capital at Brandenburg. However, Christian still refused to move against them. He still believed his plan could work. Even if it didn't, he could simply move against the rebels when the fortress at Stettin, which he was besieging fell, which he was sure would not take long. He would be mistaken, as the city would hold for months before finally surrendering. In the meantime, the Pomeranians never took the bait, instead invading Brandenburg in retaliation. Then, to make matters worse, Berlin fell to the rebels. With the King of Brandenburg to busy besieging Stettin to do anything, Gustav had seen an opportunity he could not pass up. He immediately marched his army to Berlin and began to lay siege. now, after months of sieging the city, it had fallen. The first province of Brandenburg to fall to his armies.
June 27, 1434 Outside Berlin, Kingdom of Brandenburg
Gustav sat mounted on his horse watching his enemy run. While the Brandenburg army still sat in Stettin, the rebels had not been idle. Upon hearing of the fall of Berlin, they had marched to the city to try and fight Gustav and his allies. Gustav, who had allowed Franz Otto von Welf of Brunswick command the battle, he being the better general of the two, then waited with his allies to fight them off. And fight them off they had.
While losses on both sides had been minimal, the rebels having quickly realized they were figthing out of their weight, it was still a victory. Gustav, however, immediately ordered his men to pursue. He would not make the same mistake as King Christian had. He would hunt these rebels down to the last man before stopping to lay siege, thus avoiding having any "surprises".
4 January, 1434, just outside Berlin, Kingdom of Brandenburg.
After months of trying to chase down the rebels, he had finally managed to get them to commit to battle. While he had allowed Duke Otto to take the lead last time, this time he pulled rank and took command himself. The duke had proved a glory hound who had tried to claim all the credit for himself. Gustav could not afford allowing him to claim that the war was won all due to him if they won. That would lead to not only a loss of prestige for Mecklenburg, but might hurt his position at home or even lead the duke to get ideas beyond his station. Regardless of the situation, Gustav had managed to inflict yet another defeat on the rebels. While far from the decisive victory he sought, it still brought the rebels closer to defeat.
Moreover, while he had spent his time hunting down the only army in Brandenburg capable of challenging them at the moment, his other, smaller allies had not been idle. While he and the Duke of Brunswick had seized the Neumark region almost as an afterthought after chasing the rebels out (they had only had a garrison of 240 men to their 10,000 after all), his other allies had managed to siege and capture Potsdam. Now only Rupin remained to be captured. However, Gustav could not afford to waste time thinking about that, and so he got ready to lead his men in pursuit of the rebels.
25 February, 1435, Neumark, Kingdom of Brandenburg
Gustav sat observing the field, infinitely pleased with himself. After two relatively minor victories, he had finally gained the decisive victory he was looking for against the rebels. It had been a relatively simple thing. through clever, yet bold tactics, Gustav had managed to trick the rebel cavalry into making a suicidal charge on his position. When the battle had been joined, he had put his archers out in front of his force, with the infantry behind. They had showered the enemy cavalry with arrows. The cavalrymen, wanting to put an end to the harrasment, made a charge towards the archers. They did not appear to be supported closely enough by the infantry, and everyone knew that archers cannot stand up to cavalry due to their lighter armor. It was a target a cavalryman dreamed of. However, Gustav ordered the archers to hold their ground until the last possible moment. When the cavalry force was committed to the charge and with the archers keeping up their fire, providing distraction, he had moved his spearmen up to just behind the archers. The cavalrymen, already committed to the charge, could not see this. Then, at the last possible moment, the archers fell back and the spearmen, who had not been there before the charge, now moved forward. Even if the cavalrymen had noticed what was happening, it was now too late to do anything about it. They were all slaughtered by the spearmen, leaving the rebels without any cavalry support. Seizing on the opportunity afforded by this, Gustav ordered his army on the assault. His cavalrymen slammed into the rebels flanks, now completely unguarded by the rebel cavalry. The rebel commander had not had time to move his spearmen to the flanks and so they were completely unprepared for when the cavalry hit them. With the infantrymen at the front preventing him from shifting forces from there and the cavalrymen decimating his ranks, the rebel commander had no choice but to order the retreat. However, he ordered several of his units to perform a rearguard action to cover the retreat. These men fought valiantly, taking out many Mecklenburg men before the rest of the army was out of reach of a pursuit, at which point they either quit the field or were cut down. All told, he had lost just under a thousand men, most of them infantry. However, the rebels had lost their entire cavalry force along with 1,000 infantrymen, and they could not afford such losses. They were now down to just 2,000 men, which could be easily cut down by Gustav and his forces. It would not be long now before the rebels had been crushed.
June 30, 1435, a few miles from Berlin, Brandenburg, Kingdom of Brandenburg.
Gustav thought to himself that it was a good thing he had arrived when he did. Despite his resounding victory over the rebels, he had been forced to call off pursuit when informed that his allies, the Pommeranians, were engaged in battle with the main Brandenburg army. King Christian having finally seized the province of Stettin and realizing that his strategy was failing and failing fast, had ordered his men back to Berlin to try and recapture his capital. They had managed to arrive while Gustav and his Mecklenburg forces were away. Had he not arrived when he had with his reinforcements, he feared the outnumbered Pommeranians would have been defeated. With one of their principal allies thus out of the war, the Mecklenburgers might have been forced to sue for peace. As it happened, however, Gustav was able to arrive just in the nick of time and in just the right place. They had appeared from behind the Brandenburgers and immediately launched an attack on their rear, catching King Christian completely by surprise. Fearing complete encirclement, he quickly disengaged his army and ordered an immediate retreat before things could get any worse. All told, it had been a rather indecisive battle, with both sides suffering similar casualties. Despite that, however, it was still the allies first win over the main Brandenburg army. Hopefully, it would not be the last.
16 July, 1435, Potsdam, Kingdom of Brandenburg
King Gustav was not pleased with this particular "victory". The King of Brandenburg was turning out to be a general of superior quality and had managed to inflict significant casualties on his men before a break in his lines forced him to order a withdrawal. When he withdrew, he had orders several of his men to carry out a rearguard action, something that they did with great skill, preventing Gustav from exploiting the momentary weakness of Brandenburg's army.
The result was a victory that felt more like a defeat. His army was now done to just 1,500 men, less then half their original strength. That meant that, for the time being, he would be unable to carry out offensive operations and certainly unable to pursue the Brandenburg army. Gustav, however, was not as worried about this as he would have been normally, however. While Gustav had kept the rebels and the Brandenburgers busy with his main army, his allies had managed to seize Ruppin and Potsdam. With Neumark having fallen back into rebel hands due to his calling off the pursuit of them, that meant that all of Brandenburg was either in his hands, or the rebels. The King of Brandenburg would have his hands full besieging all of those different cities and if they chose to attack his allies, he still had enough men to provide support. King Gustav, therefore, decided to bide his time and see what move his enemies would make next.
25 September 1435, outside Berlin, Brandenburg
"Their running, keep up the pursuit"
Gustav had yet again managed to secure victory in this fight. Due to the current state of his army, Gustav had decided to take what remained of his men back to Berlin to rest and reinforce. While his men were recuperating, they were suddenly attacked by the rebel army yet again. The battle had been a simple matter, the rebel commander haven fallen for the same trick he had before, only this time, he ordered the retreat as soon as his cavalry started getting mowed down, ensuring that his infantry suffered relatively few casualties.
15 October, 1435, Neumark, Kingdom of Brandenburg
He had finally done it. All of Brandenburg had fallen to his armies. At this point, King Christian of Brandenburg would probably be willing to give anything for peace, most certainly his throne. Gustav, however, was not ready for peace. While some had accused him of becoming bloodthirsty for prolonging the war at this point, he had a more practical purpose in mind. That purpose was in ensuring that the Personal Union thus established would survive his death. As is, the Brandenburg Army outnumbered his own. If peace were ensured now, he felt certain that the nobility in Brandenburg would spend the rest of his reign generally being annoying and, while he doubted they would rebel against him, he felt certain that they would find some reason to deny his heir the throne and give it instead to one of their number. He therefore felt that the only way that he could ensure peace is if he could destroy the Brandenburg army. He hoped that in doing so, it would buy his own country enough of a headstart in the ensuing arms race to be able to overtake Brandenburg. He therefore set out towards Ruppin to confront King Christian and the Brandenburg army
28 November, 1435, a few miles outside of Rostock, Mecklenburg
Gustav still could not understand what his adversary had been thinking. While he had arrived to late to meaningfully contribute to the battle at Ruppin, he joined the Duke of Brunswick in pursuit of King Christian following the battle. The strange part, however, was the choice of destination for the retreat. Apparantly, King Christian had ordered a retreat into Mecklenburg itself. To King Gustav, this made no sense. He guessed the plan was to try and take the city in a surprise attack and then force Gustav to the negotiating table. That plan, however, made little tactical sense when considered with what the situation on the ground was at the time of the retreat. They had been defeated and their enemies were in hot pursuit. Surely, the king must have known he would be caught before he managed to actually take the city. Regardless of the reasoning, the plan had failed nonetheless. Indeed, he could hardly call the "Battle of Mecklenburg" a battle. both sides suffered hardly any casualties, the only action being a failed charge by the Brandenburg that Gustav was not entirely certain had been ordered. After hardly suffering any casualties at all, common sense seemed to have taken hold, and Christian fled again, this time back into Ruppin with Gustav and the Duke of Brunswick in hot pursuit.
17 December, 1435, Ruppin, Kingdom of Brandenburg.
King Gustav was furious at himself. He had allowed his forces good showing in the war to go to his head. He had gotten overconfident and now he paid the price. Having ordered a pursuit of the Brandenburg army after the victory in Mecklenburg, he finally caught up to them a few miles outside of the provincial capital. However, in his arrogance, he failed to notice the absence of much of his opponents cavalry. Thinking that they were simply out foraging or that they had defected, he ordered his men to the attack. Soon enough, however, he realized his folly, for he soon found out where those cavalrymen were. King Christian had anticipated the road that Gustav would take to catch them and had thus told his cavalry to lie in wait, hidden in a small forest not far from the 9 battlefield When they heard the sounds of battle, they quickly mounted a charge straight into Gustav's flank. Realizing too late what was happening, Gustav quickly shifted his troops to try and repel the attack. Ultimately, he succeeded in driving back the cavalry attack, but the damage had been done. When he saw that the charge was not going to break the Mecklenburg line, Christian had ordered a withdrawal, with the remnants of the cavalry charge and a few picked infantry units serving as rearguard. The distraction thus bought provided enough time for King Christian and his army to escape. When the dust settled, his men had lost around 1,300 men. King Christian had only lost 1,000 men, most of them cavalry killed in the initial charge. Bloodied, but still determined to bring his nemesis to heel, he ordered a continued pursuit. He would catch the Brandenburg army if it killed him, which, he mused privately, it very well might if he won many more battles like this one.
9 January 1436, a few miles outside of Berlin, Brandenburg
"It seems they have lost their stomach for battle Anton"
"I would agree, this was almost to easy my liege"
As the two men mused over the battle they had just fought, both of them hoped that it was a sign of things to come. After ordering his men to Hinterpommern due to erroneous reports that that was where the enemy were retreating to, Gustav had arrived in Brandenburg to a battle between the Brunswickers, under their Duke Anton, and the Brandenburg Army under King Christian. Unlike the last time this had happened, King Christian did not stick around long enough to get caught between the two armies, ordering a retreat almost as soon as Gustav and his army arrived. Gustav felt this might be a sign that his army was weakening and ordered his men into pursuit. Anton, however, decided to allow his men to lick their wounds. This amounted to quite the gamble. If Gustav was right, the war could very well be over very soon. If he was wrong, his army would be outnumbered almost 2 to 1. Gustav decided to roll the dice and hope he won.
23 January, 1436, Neumark, Kingdom of Brandenburg.
After three long months of chasing the Brandenburg army from one end of the country to the other, it was finally over. Gustav had arrived in Neumark expecting a decisive battle. What he got was something completely different. After marching for three months and with only a single partial "victory" to show for it, King Christians men had had enough. Some of the men, who had been serving since the start of the war, had not seen their families in over a year. What that meant was that morale in the Brandenburg army was at rock bottom. Realizing that he lacked the numbers for a full on battle, he instead decided to go for a bluff. He sent a letter to King Christian stating that he was on his was only a days march behind him with a combined force of Meckelnburgers and Brunswickers that amounted to 12,000 men. He then offered them his terms. If King Christian von Zweibrucken agreed to renounce all claim to the throne of Brandenburg and recognize Gustav's claim to said title and his men agreed to lay down their arms, Gustav would let them all return to their homes. If they refused, he promised that he would show no quarter. The note gave King Christian three days to send a response. King Christian weighed his options. On the one hand, he could fight and maybe prevail. His own reports stated that the Brunswick forces had not joined Gustav in the pursuit, but they were at least a week old. That left plenty of time for the situation to have changed. However, even if he was bluffing, it did not change the fact that morale among his army was at rock bottom and he was not sure they would be able to hold their own in a fight for long. Thus torn, Christian called his generals to discuss the situation. To a man, they told him that he should accept the offer,as the men were close to mutiny and they could not guarantee how they would perform in a real battle, especially if King Gustav was telling the truth. Defeated, King Christian sent a letter informing Gustav of the acceptance of the terms. The next day, Gustav arrived with a handful of picked men to oversee the surrender.Perplexed, King Christian questioned King Gustav
"Is this all you bring?"
"No, this is all that accompanied me to the treaty signing. The rest of my men have been ordered to surround the area. If you fail to abide by the terms or I or one of my men do not return within the hour to tell them otherwise, they have orders to attack the camp immediately?"
"Do you think I would betray you, you wound me"
"I am merely being cautious. You are a man with nothing to lose at this point, I cannot be sure what you will do."
"Very well, then, shall we get on with this"
"I have the official terms of surrender for both of us to sign right here, if you do not mind, we can get right to it"
And with that, the two men sat down to sign what would come to be called the Treaty of Neumark.
"There, it is done, what happens now?"
"What happens now is quite simple, your men will lay down their arms and be allowed to return to their homes. The will be free to go once my men have collected their arms. You yourself have two options. You can either return to your estate in Brandenburg so long as you promise not to oppose me any further, or, if you would prefer, I can make arrangements for a villa and some land for you somewhere in Mecklenburg, but you will never again be allowed to return to Brandenburg."
Weighing his choices, the King of Brandenburg made his decision "I think I shall return to my lands in Brandenburg, my family has owned them for many years and I have grown quite attached to them."
"Very well, me and my men will escort you back. Be warned, Christian, I am trusting you to keep your word. If you break that trust, you will be summarily executed."
"I understand, now, if you will excuse me, I shall instruct my men to lay down their arms."
And with that, the former King Christian von Zweibrucken of Brandenburg left. After all of his men had laid down their arms before Gustav and the men that had come with him, he permitted them to leave. Christian then accompanied them back to his camp. Upon returning to the camp, he was shocked to see how few men there were.
"Were are the rest of your men? Have they not yet returned?"
"These are all my men, Christian"
It then dawned on Christian that he had been tricked into surrendering to a force half his size. At that moment, he felt like the biggest idiot ever born. That thought was soon replaced by anger, but their remained little he could do about it. while he was being permitted to return to his lands, he had no doubt that Gustav would be keeping a close eye on him. If he so much as breathed a word of rebellion, he knew his life would be forfeit. the former King therefore swallowed his anger and followed his escort to the tent that had been prepared for him. The Mecklenburg War for the Brandenburg Crown was now over.
And there you have it. Another update. I have finally finished one of my two monster papers so I may be able to update a bit more then before. the funny thing about this update, however, is that that several months in the making research paper was 17 pages and this update is 11. Hope you enjoy the update. Last Bastion gets updated next, so I cannot promise when I will update this again. Hopefully though, it will be soon.
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And with that a considerable force has been added to your realm. Well done!
(Nice music as well!)
(Nice music as well!)
Good job at defeating the Brandenburgers with some help...
I see that the Swedes and Danes are hammering at each other, that should keep the northern front clear for a bit.
I see that the Swedes and Danes are hammering at each other, that should keep the northern front clear for a bit.
Very good stuff, Gustav is proving himself a skilled commander as the battle of Neumark shows, a most clever tactic employed there. Gaining the throne of Brandenburg is a great step forward for Mecklenburg, but I think Gustav is right to worry about potential future succession issues. Still, good to see this updated and I'm looking forward to the promised update of Bastions next.