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Drama is good, as well. As long as they stay in the alliance, I think you'll be okay...or have some other nations in an alliance with you.
 
Dobre Dneï Nalivayko.

Great start! I love the idea of thos wild plains and the three empty provs you left. :)


BTW: I lived in the Ukraine for a while, and I have to say that the Ukrainians are the kindest people on Earth. And also Kiev is the most beautiful city in the world IMOO. :)
 
Amric, as long as Cossacks have a large army and can support it they will be ok regardless of their allies. Of course, it is bloody unlikely it will happen any time soon :)

Eochaid, yes I though so myself :D they make the map look more authentic, for some reason. Thanks for the kind words about Ukraine and Kiev. Of course, the only reason the latter is beautiful is because of the girls there ;)

To all of you: hold on to your seats, another update coming in 30-40 minutes.
 
Baron of the Border


By roads of Volyn',
And through borderless steppes,
Proudly marches the army to battle.
There march Sich Cossacks,
Like eagles of the steppe,
Their song roars like thunder.


The first Cossack-Crimean War ended in stalemate, yet it gave Cossack state an opportunity to expand even further east, by establishing an outpost in Lugansk.

In 1503 the storm forced 5 Turkish warships to seek refuge in Ochakiv. Cossacks shamelessly confiscated them and in a matter weeks sailed across the Black Sea, proudly displaying their colors in front of Czargrad - Constantinople.

Settlements in Donetsk continued to grow and the Wild Fields seemed peaceful enough for people to start farming them again.

But the warlike nature of Cossacks would not allow peace to last long. In 1506 an Ukrainian noble Predslav Lantskoronskiy brings together several Cossack units and is elected the first hetman of Zaporozhian Host. He is a true baron of the border, experienced in frontier warfare and he is determined to expand Cossack lands at the expense of the growing Ottoman empire. Cossacks, listened to him like children. Not even once it occured to them that Turkish Sultan Bayezid II may have something to say about Lantskoronskiy's plans.

1506.jpg


The obviously crazy plan to attack the Sultan did have some good points. The possession of five warships gave Cossacks the opportunity to attack Kaffa and Kerch - both of which Ottomans could only reach by sea. Besides, the Sultan's troops were already engaged in wars with Mamelukes in the south and Georgians in the east. Hetman counted on Polish and Lithuanian support, and hoped Moldova's large army could at least slow down the Ottomans until Kaffa and Kerch would be conquered.

1507.jpg


The war lasts for seven long years. In the beginning Lantskoronskiy's plan appears to work. Cossacks easily capture Kaffa and besiege Kerch. Couple of thousand Turkish troops caught in the peninsula are massacred. And then Hungary takes advantage of the situation and declares war on Moldova. With Moldovian army out of the way, Ottomans invade Jedisan and capture Ochakiv. Crimean Khan declares war on Georgia and the little Orthodox country is about to collapse under combined Ottoman-Crimean assault.

Duke of Lithuania is gone mad and declares war on the Teutons, angried by their recent conquest of Pskov. Rebels in Ukraine defeat couple of superior Lithuanian army, but failing to receive support from the Zaporozhians, are forced to surrender to the Duke's forces.

Moldova becomes a desert in a matter of weeks. First taken by Ottomans, it is liberated by Polish forces and then lost again to Hungary. By 1508 it is completely annexed by Hungarians. Muscowites annex Ryazan' - a shame on them for annexing a fellow Orthodox nation. However, next they redeem all their sins when they join Polish alliance against infidel Turks.

Meanwhile, failing to capture Kerch quickly, Hetman leaves a cover force at the walls of the city and, declaring war on Crimean Khan, invades Crimean lands on his way to Zaporozh'e. He encounters and annihilates two Tatar armies (killing approximately 3,000 men). Crimeans abandon Georgia and invade Cossack lands in turn. Helping the Sultan to capture Ochakiv, they fall back to Azov, while Turks hurry south.

Lantskoronskiy quickly marches on Ochakiv and suprises the Turkish garrison. Taking the province bac, he gathers around him 8,000 Cossacks and invades Crimea through Sivash Sea (*shallow bay to the east of the peninsula). He falls on unsuspecting Tatars and slaughters a great deal of them in numerous encounters (around 8,000 enemy killed in two months). Then hetman besieges Bakchi-Sarai and takes it July of 1508. The Khan offers Cossacks 200,000 ducats in return for peace. Again Cossacks trust his word and again he betrays their trust, paying only 30,000 in the end.

Having secured Georgian independence, hetman invades Turkish province of Bujak. In September of 1509 he fights equal number of Turks at Ismail and annihilates the entire enemy force at the cost of three thousand of his own men. Since he lacks numbers to besiege Ismail, he falls on Dobrudja, slaughters another thousand of Turks there and retreats north to Jedisan.

In 1510 Turks return. First army is again annihilated by Cossacks. 9,000 Turks will never again see their homes. Cossacks too suffer heavy casualties. Out of 5,000, who take part in battle, only 1,500 live to see another day. Lantskoronskiy retreats before the enemy army, refusing to give battle. Soon he finds himself in Donetsk, with two large enemy forces occupying Jedisan and Zaporozhye.

Famous Turkish admiral Kemal Reis brings 58 ships to the bay of Ochakiv. Cossacks finally begin to comprehend how much they piss the Sultan off. He even makes peace with Mamelukes to concentrate the full weight of his army on Zaporozhians.

At this dark hour, Hungarian King offers Zaporozhians 50,000 ducats in exchange for peace. Evidently, their reputation finally caught up with them. Hetman accepts and uses the money to rebuild his army. At this time Polish and Lithuanian troops finally arrive to the Borderlands - Turks leave Jedisan and it is soon retaken by the allied forces. However, one Turkish detachment raids Poltava and Voronezh, forcing Lithuania to accept peace with the Sultan.

By 1511 the situation is again dire. Poles, who had at least 50,000 troops in the region, divert their attention to Hungary. Muscowites make peace with the Sultan as well, while Georgia is again on the brink of the disaster. Hetman is forced to take a loan from the Jewish community in Kiev and decides to lead his army on a death march deep into Turkish lands, in order to punish the Sultan for his destroying Cossack farms in Jedisan and Zaporozhye.

And so the 6,000-strong Cossack army invades the Ottoman empire, leaving the trail of dead bodies behind it. They make a stop at Dobrudja and massacre two thousand Turkish soldiers caught off guard. Passing without a stop through Rumelia, they descend on Thrace like a pack of lions and in a number of small engagements slaughter 8,000 Turks and do a great deal of damage to the prestige of the Ottoman Porta. Then they cross to Asia and ambush another 2,000 Turks at Smyrna. Returning to Thrace Cossacks capture 3,000 Turkish soldiers send to burry the dead comrades and cut them in pieces in front of the Sultan, who stares with disbelief from the walls of Czargrad.

At this point Lantskoronskiy has a chance to turn back to Zaporozhye, but he pushes his exhausted troops further. Cossacks climb the mountains of Bulgaria - five thousand strong Turkish relief force is annihilated at the walls of Sofia. Cossacks descend on the plains of Serbia - three thousand Turks lose their lives south of Belgrade. Cossacks return to Bulgaria and clash with another Turkish detachment - another two thousand Turks die in the battle.

1513a.jpg


By this time Turks organized a large hunt on the little and daring Cossack army. Lantskoronskiy finally tries to force his way out - but is stoped in Rumelia by a large Ottoman army. Cossacks lose two thousand men, return the favor by killing two thousand Turks and, burning villages and destroying fields, retreat south. Losing the Turks in the Balkans, hetman leads his army through Serbia, Kosovo and Albania to Macedonia, killing another three thousand Turks on his way. He already knows he cannot escape - twenty thousand Turks block his escape rout through Bujak. His last chance - the Cossack navy, is again defeated in the Black Sea. Luckily, no ships are lost.

Desparate and outnumbered 50 to 1, Cossacks continue to raid Turkish territory. There is only twelve hundreed men left, but they finally brought the fear of God into the Sultan's dark heart. Fearing to face them in battle, Sultan Selim agrees to pay 75,000 ducats to get them out of his hair.

Cossacks leave Turkey with large loot and many tropheys. Saddened by the loss of their comrades, they sing their songs, passing Turkish troops on their way home. Hetman rides first and his Zaporozhian Host follows his lead. He failed in his plan to acquire any new territory for himself, but his cunning and ruthless tactics saved Cossacks from being overan by the Ottomans and Crimeans. Turkey was taught an important lesson - it will never underestimate Cossack valor. True to his word, like any noble lytzar' (knight) should be, Lantskoronskiy never did attack Turkey again. He spent his last years managing the settlements in Donetsk - Ukrainian outpost was burnt by Tatars in Lugansk, and it was immedeately replaced by a Lithuanian one.

Predslav Lantskoronskiy dies in 1515, the first hetman of Zaporozhian Cossacks, the true baron of the border and victor over the Ottomans and the Crimean Tatars. He could not expand Cossack lands with sword, but after his death every Cossack who served under Lantskoronskiy believed himself to be invincible.
 
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Wow! That attack on the Turks was a huge mistake! :eek:

However, that raid is the kind of story the poets will turn into epic songs!

What were Lantskoronskiy's specs? :)
 
Originally posted by Eochaid
Wow! That attack on the Turks was a huge mistake! :eek:

However, that raid is the kind of story the poets will turn into epic songs!

What were Lantskoronskiy's specs? :)

Yep, a mistake it was, but my real goal was to weaken their advance - I saw them unable to conquer Mamelukes and wanted to save Georgia from certain destructio. Still, big mistake :D

Yes on the second one - it was rather useful too. I had zero victory score (my victories at land compensated by my defeats at sea) and this raid brought me up to +10.

Specs: 4/2/4, quite modest, right? And Turks do have a lead in technology.
 
Hetman: Polish regular army commander, in the begining of 16th century, the head of Zaporozhian Cossacks.

P.S. Glad you liked that installment.
 
Originally posted by Commandante
And finally, what does "hetman" translate to?


Hetman means "leader."

Originally posted by Commandante
EDIT: Eochaid beat me to it. :D

I always do. :D

EDIT: darn, now the author beat me to it! :eek: :p
 
Hilarious :D

Let's see if anybody can beat me now.

EDIT: Nope, I am too fast for all of you :)
 
Just got out of that one! Could have been very messy. You turned it around by running all over the place and scaring the AI it appears. Nicely done saving yourself. Great Update as usual.
 
Thank God we gain points for victories in battle - if I played by EU
I'd be meat right now. Of course, by EU rules I'd be able to get out of the war with Ottomans when I captured Kaffa. But no, as I took it, Poles and Molvovians and Lithuanians managed to lose quite a number of battles to Turks and my vp was actually negative.

*sigh* You just cannot trust anybody - I was hoping my alliance will kick some Turkish ass (especially with Turks being in war elsewhere) and look what happened. Moldova dragged us in another war, Lithuania went north and I was left alone for many years.
 
Chernobog (Black God - commonly known as Luciper to Ukrainians or Lucifer to others) was not pleased with Rod's plans to aid God's newly found chosen people. He was quite successful in bringing his own pets - the Ottomans - to power and he was worried that the rise of the Cossack state might ruin his designs for that region of the planet.

Lucifer (or Chernobog, whichever one prefers), did not waste much time - he turned into an ancient man and approached first hetman of Zaporozhians with a song. The song told about the ancient Russian warriors, who did not sink in water and did not burn in fire. As Chernobog had hoped the song made Predslav eager to test himself and his men and drove him to a suicidal act - declaring war on Ottoman Turkey. But to Lucifer's disappointment, and without much help from St. Elias, Cossacks drove through the Ottoman armies like a hot blade drives through a butter. They truly appeared to be like the very man Lucifer sang about - their ships were defeated numerous times by the Ottoman navy, yet not a single one was sunk; their army, badly outnumbered, still fought and won on almost every occasion.

Lucifer lost almost 60,000 Turks and their servants - the Tatars. But he was not about to give up. He entered the city of Buda at night and under cover of darkness devised a cunning trap for Zaporozhian Cossacks. Now he only needed to convince the Hungarian King to follow him...

Meanwhile, in the Carpathians, an old man descended from the mountain. St. Elias (or Perun, for those who was paying attention) was watching the Lucifer's every move and figured that in the absense of Belobog (White God, also known in Medieval times as Jesus of Nazareth) he should be the one to stop the evil doer. However, even though he used to be known as the god of warriors, St. Elias feared his strength would not be enough to stop Lucifer. He decided to call on St. Yuri (Yur Victorious - god of war, a straight two-edged sword used to be his symbol. One of the reasons Attila - another follower of Rod - was able to conquer half of the known world was because he found Yur's sword) and beg him to aid Zaporozhians in the coming battle.
 
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Uh oh...when the gods get involved things can get way interesting...:D

I'm on tenterhooks...More! More I say!:D
 
I was going to write more, but my business neighbor invited me over for a cup of vodka and I lost precious time. Now it's almost eleven and tomorrow it's off to my fun job again. I do promise it will be an interesting and bloody round though ;)
 
My God! You have to work on Saturday? That's awful! You poor fellow. Don't employers in Kansas know that the weekend should be sacrosanct...left for playing EU2 and writing about it? Oh, and playing with children...Or so my wife says...:)
 
Hm... I got myself two jobs. My Kansas employer is very merciful, but I have my own business, and I suck as an employer (cruel and cold). My partner and I only have a part-time designer and an intern under us, so we have to do the majority of the work. You cannot trust anybody if you want to make it right :D
 
ah...when you are the owner you are your own worst taskmaster....Well have fun then!
 
Hmm, a Ukranian AAR, excellent! I look forward to the Cossacks allying with either Poland/Lithuania or Russia as the polticis dictate. The game can't really model the Cossack raids all that well though. Good stuff. :)