Well this looks fun - I like your intentions of keeping Denmark's horizons closer to home - still, it seems you have ever chance of making the Baltic a Mare Nostrum by the end.
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The Scandinavian - Hanseatic War of Heresy
October 31 1511 - June 13 1519
Part One:
The Scandinavian - Hanseatic War was the bloodiest war in Danish history and would have disastrous consequences.
---
The war began upon the coronation of Emperor Erik, recently having come of age to lead the Scandinavian Empire in his own right. Scandinavia had long sought after the opportunity to go to war with Hansa and capture its rich territories every since their betrayal of Scandinavia some decades ago. Hansa's profession of Reformed Catholicism was just the excuse Scandinavia needed to attack the Republic. Scandinavia declared war on All Hallow's Eve in commemoration of the works of the Christian Saints that was now being undone by the reformation.
Alone Scandinavia outmatched the Hanseatic League. Hansa was allies with the Anti-Papacy in Munster, also professing Reformed Catholicism, and the Kingdom of Holland. With all of those allies Scandinavia could still have went to war and comfortably fought the Hanseatics alone, even if Great Britain and Lithuania insisted on taking part in the conflict. The one thing that Scandinavia did not account for was the Kingdom of Hesse, currently the seat of the Holy Roman Empire.
Bohemia's sovereigns had held the title of Holy Roman Emperor for generations and had used this title to form a massive empire. It had appeared as though Bohemia would retain the title forever until the unthinkable occurred, the Reformation. Bohemia's inability to deal with the reformation had lead to their losing of the crown of the Empire. With Bohemia gone there was some debate on who should succeed them. The top two contenders, the Kingdom of Austria and Burgundy, battled for influence over the crown and the electors. This conflict almost brought the two nations to the brink of war. This war was averted with the election of a tertiary, neutral, candidate: Hesse. The Kingdom of Hesse was a rather powerful state, but even within the Holy Roman Empire it was rarely ranked above the level of "regional" power. It was expected that Hesse would later lose the crown in the next election to either Austria or Burgundy. So when Scandinavia invaded the Hansa, they were not expected the Catholic Kingdom of Hesse, new to the throne and firmly set in the secondary leagues, to go to war with them. They were wrong.
Erik sent general Alfred Hahn personally lead a regiment of 12,000 soldiers to Holstein. He was not expected to do battle with the enemy, just to hold position while Erik lead a much larger host of men from the capital to attack the Hansa. Because of this he was unprepared when Statthalter Valentin lead a far larger host to invade the Holstein. Caught completely unprepared, Alfred and the entire Scandinavian army was routed in a matter of days.
With the loss of the entire army, Erik decided not to make landfall on mainland Denmark and waited out the conflict. Valentin was not alone, tens of thousands of Hesse, Munster, and Dutch soldiers poured into the region. The Holstein fell in 56 days, Slesvig in 24, and Jylland in 45.
Erik watched this play out safe in the capital, protected by a vast navy of ships. Seeing how the war had turned against him so quickly he decided to bide his time. The Kingdom of Hesse was willing to return to the status quo, but Erik wasn't. The war wasn't finished, not yet. He wanted Lubeck's territories. Eventually both Munster and Holland would agree to a peace believing the conflict was over. With their retreat Slesvig and Jylland were returned to the Scandinavians, this was the moment where Erik struck.
Leading an army of 15,000 of Scandinavia's finest soldiers he crossed the Baltic sea to attack the entrenched positions of Statthalter Valentin in Slesvig. Due to unfavorable weather, crossing a sea, and attacking a fortified position the battle ended with a Scandinavian defeat, this was obvious from the very beginning. Erik didn't want to defeat the Statthalter, he wanted to weaken him. He succeeded, though at the cost of over 20,000 lives.
Erik fled to Jylland, where he was able to recover over the next few months. In June he was ready to try again, this time scoring a massive victory over the Hanseatics, who still felt the effects of the last offensive.
Erik pursued the fleeing remnant army of Valentin to Holstein, where he completely routed Valentin's army. By a stroke of dumb luck, the Statthalter himself managed to flee.
Erik then besieged the province, liberating it in just four months. With Scandinavia free from foreign occupation Erik marched towards Lubeck, the seat of the Hanseatic League. The city was only lightly defended by a small regiment of soldiers as Valentin had not yet been able to regroup his forces. Easily sweeping those soldiers aside Erik laid siege to the trading center. Eventually Erik overcame the cities defenses and captured it, but not before over 200 days had passed and all of the mainland holdings were once again under siege.
Once Erik had began to move towards Holstein an army of 18,000 Hessian troops appeared in his path. In a panic, Erik halted his advance and returned to Lubeck. Another 16,000 Hessians arrived in Hamburg. In a sense of the word, he was surrounded. Erik could not move from Lubeck, not without causing serious harm to his unit and dooming it to defeat. Faced with an impossible situation, Erik sent word to Magnus Wrangel, leader of the Finnish Regiment (and the only other significant force in Scandinavia proper), to come to the mainland and relieve his forces from what would certainly be complete destruction. Wrangel, fearing for his Emperor's welfare, immediately began the months long trek to Slesvig.
Upon arrival Wrangel was able to defeat a Hessian army and make moves towards Erik's forces. Time, however, was already beginning to run out. Erik had just defended against an army of Hessians. If he was in home territory, Erik could replenish his forces, but here in Lubeck reinforcements came slowly. Left with no choice, Erik moved to Hamburg.
Hamburg was defended by General Wenzel Pollnau, an intimidating nobleman. The two armies clashed, but even battered Erik was able to defeat Wenzel's forces. As Wenzel fled to Holstein, Erik pursued and routed the unit entirely. With Magnus right above him in Slesvig, Erik set out to meet up with the second army.
While Erik moved north he was forced into battle with the pursuing Hessian Army. This army, unlike the others, was headed by the Holy Roman Emperor himself, Ludwig II von Hessen. Desperately, after the egagement began Erik tried to flee. Tried to meet up with Magnus. After a weeks worth of fighting he fled to Slesvig after a devastating defeat to Scandinavia. It was at this moment where Hesse would no longer accept a return to the status quo.
October 31 1511 - June 13 1519
Part One:
The Scandinavian - Hanseatic War was the bloodiest war in Danish history and would have disastrous consequences.
---
The war began upon the coronation of Emperor Erik, recently having come of age to lead the Scandinavian Empire in his own right. Scandinavia had long sought after the opportunity to go to war with Hansa and capture its rich territories every since their betrayal of Scandinavia some decades ago. Hansa's profession of Reformed Catholicism was just the excuse Scandinavia needed to attack the Republic. Scandinavia declared war on All Hallow's Eve in commemoration of the works of the Christian Saints that was now being undone by the reformation.
Alone Scandinavia outmatched the Hanseatic League. Hansa was allies with the Anti-Papacy in Munster, also professing Reformed Catholicism, and the Kingdom of Holland. With all of those allies Scandinavia could still have went to war and comfortably fought the Hanseatics alone, even if Great Britain and Lithuania insisted on taking part in the conflict. The one thing that Scandinavia did not account for was the Kingdom of Hesse, currently the seat of the Holy Roman Empire.
Bohemia's sovereigns had held the title of Holy Roman Emperor for generations and had used this title to form a massive empire. It had appeared as though Bohemia would retain the title forever until the unthinkable occurred, the Reformation. Bohemia's inability to deal with the reformation had lead to their losing of the crown of the Empire. With Bohemia gone there was some debate on who should succeed them. The top two contenders, the Kingdom of Austria and Burgundy, battled for influence over the crown and the electors. This conflict almost brought the two nations to the brink of war. This war was averted with the election of a tertiary, neutral, candidate: Hesse. The Kingdom of Hesse was a rather powerful state, but even within the Holy Roman Empire it was rarely ranked above the level of "regional" power. It was expected that Hesse would later lose the crown in the next election to either Austria or Burgundy. So when Scandinavia invaded the Hansa, they were not expected the Catholic Kingdom of Hesse, new to the throne and firmly set in the secondary leagues, to go to war with them. They were wrong.
Erik sent general Alfred Hahn personally lead a regiment of 12,000 soldiers to Holstein. He was not expected to do battle with the enemy, just to hold position while Erik lead a much larger host of men from the capital to attack the Hansa. Because of this he was unprepared when Statthalter Valentin lead a far larger host to invade the Holstein. Caught completely unprepared, Alfred and the entire Scandinavian army was routed in a matter of days.
With the loss of the entire army, Erik decided not to make landfall on mainland Denmark and waited out the conflict. Valentin was not alone, tens of thousands of Hesse, Munster, and Dutch soldiers poured into the region. The Holstein fell in 56 days, Slesvig in 24, and Jylland in 45.
Erik watched this play out safe in the capital, protected by a vast navy of ships. Seeing how the war had turned against him so quickly he decided to bide his time. The Kingdom of Hesse was willing to return to the status quo, but Erik wasn't. The war wasn't finished, not yet. He wanted Lubeck's territories. Eventually both Munster and Holland would agree to a peace believing the conflict was over. With their retreat Slesvig and Jylland were returned to the Scandinavians, this was the moment where Erik struck.
Leading an army of 15,000 of Scandinavia's finest soldiers he crossed the Baltic sea to attack the entrenched positions of Statthalter Valentin in Slesvig. Due to unfavorable weather, crossing a sea, and attacking a fortified position the battle ended with a Scandinavian defeat, this was obvious from the very beginning. Erik didn't want to defeat the Statthalter, he wanted to weaken him. He succeeded, though at the cost of over 20,000 lives.
Erik fled to Jylland, where he was able to recover over the next few months. In June he was ready to try again, this time scoring a massive victory over the Hanseatics, who still felt the effects of the last offensive.
Erik pursued the fleeing remnant army of Valentin to Holstein, where he completely routed Valentin's army. By a stroke of dumb luck, the Statthalter himself managed to flee.
Erik then besieged the province, liberating it in just four months. With Scandinavia free from foreign occupation Erik marched towards Lubeck, the seat of the Hanseatic League. The city was only lightly defended by a small regiment of soldiers as Valentin had not yet been able to regroup his forces. Easily sweeping those soldiers aside Erik laid siege to the trading center. Eventually Erik overcame the cities defenses and captured it, but not before over 200 days had passed and all of the mainland holdings were once again under siege.
Once Erik had began to move towards Holstein an army of 18,000 Hessian troops appeared in his path. In a panic, Erik halted his advance and returned to Lubeck. Another 16,000 Hessians arrived in Hamburg. In a sense of the word, he was surrounded. Erik could not move from Lubeck, not without causing serious harm to his unit and dooming it to defeat. Faced with an impossible situation, Erik sent word to Magnus Wrangel, leader of the Finnish Regiment (and the only other significant force in Scandinavia proper), to come to the mainland and relieve his forces from what would certainly be complete destruction. Wrangel, fearing for his Emperor's welfare, immediately began the months long trek to Slesvig.
Upon arrival Wrangel was able to defeat a Hessian army and make moves towards Erik's forces. Time, however, was already beginning to run out. Erik had just defended against an army of Hessians. If he was in home territory, Erik could replenish his forces, but here in Lubeck reinforcements came slowly. Left with no choice, Erik moved to Hamburg.
Hamburg was defended by General Wenzel Pollnau, an intimidating nobleman. The two armies clashed, but even battered Erik was able to defeat Wenzel's forces. As Wenzel fled to Holstein, Erik pursued and routed the unit entirely. With Magnus right above him in Slesvig, Erik set out to meet up with the second army.
While Erik moved north he was forced into battle with the pursuing Hessian Army. This army, unlike the others, was headed by the Holy Roman Emperor himself, Ludwig II von Hessen. Desperately, after the egagement began Erik tried to flee. Tried to meet up with Magnus. After a weeks worth of fighting he fled to Slesvig after a devastating defeat to Scandinavia. It was at this moment where Hesse would no longer accept a return to the status quo.
Hmmm. Could you maybe add in a couple map clips to show battlefield locations, military movements, or something along those lines? I 'think' I'm following well in my minds eye, but sometimes It's hard to visualize.
Oh. Go Scandinavia!!!
Oh. Go Scandinavia!!!
I actually wasn't even planning on forming Scandinavia and would have been happy keeping Norway and Sweden in the Kalmar Union. Once I inherited them both forming Scandinavia was the best thing to do! Even though I didn't intend to be Emperor, ever since I became Emperor of Scandinavia, its been fun. Try it sometime!
This might happen, but not until the Hessians are gone.
I will endeavor to do so in the future, for now, however, part two is almost done.
Will do.
As a Swede I am not sure I do approve of the outcome for my home country but it is still a very good read and it is quite fun to see all these familiar noble families from history popping up all over the place so I'll read on!
I like the forming of Scandinavia and I'd love to see the second part of The Scandinavian - Hanseatic War of Heresy
The Scandinavian - Hanseatic War of Heresy
October 31 1511 - June 13 1519
Part Two:
The Scandinavian - Hanseatic War was the bloodiest war in Danish history and would have disastrous consequences.
---
After being defeated at Holstein there was a brief moment where the Scandinavian Empire could have fallen. Fleeing with just over a thousand men, Erik was in a truly dire position. The only thing that saved Erik from complete and total destruction was the army lead my Magnus Wrangel. Magnus had recently swept aside a minor Hanseatic army and moved to support Erik in his flight from Holstein. Erik and Magnus would reunite briefly in Slesvig before being forced into battle with the Hessians. Outmatched and outnumbered Erik tried desperately to flee to the Danish Isles and seek refuge in the homeland, safe from the Hessian armies. Every time he moved to retreat the Hanseatic Navy, relatively unharmed so far in the conflict, moved to intercept them. With no ability to reach the heartland of Scandinavia, Erik could send notice to the Scandinavian Navy, headed by Admiral Gustav.
Gustav was a proud old sailor, having spent much of his lifetime at sea. Originally from Sweden, it took him many decades to climb the social ladder of acceptability amongst the Danish admiralty. When he received notice that his Emperor was near defeat because of the Hanseatic Navy, he immediately set sail from Skane to challenge the Lubeck navy. Admiral Barnabas, leader of the enemy Fleet, was caught completely off guard. Gustav's assault was bold and aggressive, caring little for even his own safety he moved every ship into optimal range to bombard the enemy fleet with salvo after salvo. Barnabas lost many ships within the first few minutes into the engagement, furious at the situation he attempted to reorganize his fleet to fire back at the Scandinavian fleet. Under attack and in complete disarray, only a fraction of the ships received his orders. After an hour into the conflict, Barnabas had managed to gain control over five vessels and ordered a concentrated attack on the lead ship. The lead ship sank, but in the process half of Barnabas's fleet was sinking. In anger and disgrace, Barnabas lead the Hanseatic fleet away in defeat.
The Scandinavian Fleet had won a decisive victory and captured several enemy vessels. This would have been a joyous occasion if not for one sobering fact. Admiral Gustav was on the lead ship, commanding the battle from the front line, when an enemy round landed just six feet away from Gustav. While close to the blast, Gustav managed to hold onto life just long enough to order his men to abandon ship. His crew tried to bring Gustav along, but he wouldn't have it and demanded to left on his ship. The last man to see him alive, one deckhand named Christian, reported that he was smiling as he fled the ship.
With the Hanseatic Fleet beaten, Erik was finally able to retreat out of mainland Scandinavia and back into the heartland. Of his original force only two hundred men remained. In addition to these causalities over half of Magnus's relief army also perished.
Over the next several months Erik slowly rebuilt his army. Demands for Erik's abdication, as well as the release of Sweden and Norway from Scandinavian rule, came in monthly from the Hessians. Erik naturally rebuked each envoy that demanded such a price for peace. After a year Erik finally felt comfortable enough to attempt to enforce the status quo upon the Hessians. Magnus Wrangel, leading a force of twelve thousand men, set out to liberate the city of Slesvig from Hessian Control. Magnus easily swept aside the defending regiment of five thousand soldiers under Wilhelm Gustav von Zerbst and laid siege to the Hessian garrison. Zerbst would attempt to defeat Magnus with an army of three thousand, these too were easily swept aside. With control over Slesvig restored to Scandinavia Erik set out once again from Denmark.
Erik would only be in Slesvig for a week before the Holy Roman Emperor arrived. Ludwig made a much more generous offer than before, this time he only requested that Holstein's independence be restored, and only in the province of Holstein itself. This was by far the best offer for peace Erik had expected, but after learning Ludwig had suffered heavy casualties due to rebellions against Hessian occupation Erik declined. The two forces immediately did battle with one another. Erik, together with Magnus, had a combined army of over 26,000 soldiers, while Ludwig had just over 11,000. For the first time Erik fought the Holy Roman Emperor with numerical superiority. Ludwig was no doubt a great general, maybe even twice the caliber of Erik, but even he could not overcome these odds. After sustaining heavy casualties Ludwig retreated from Slesvig without a victory.
After Ludwig's defeat the army split into two parts. The first under Erik would march south to Holstein to head off Ludwig and end this war once and for all. The second marched north to Jylland were a large Hessian army was stationed. Erik and Ludwig would never fully engage one another in the south. Ludwig was faster and smarter than Erik, at every turn he was able to slip right through the Scandinavian's grasp. Further north it was a different story. The Hessian army under general Egon von Scheideck was disorganized and undisciplined. After news reached them that Ludwig had been defeated in battle the army became fell into a panic. When Magnus arrived the army had all but ceased to exist and after a brief battle Egon surrendered a force of six thousand unconditionally.
Over the next few months Magnus managed to secure Jylland and march to Holstein. Holstein was defended by the Statthalter Wilhelm Gustav von Zerbst, who had recently won the election following Valentin's death. Zerbst, chronically in command of a small force, once again fought Magnus with just over two thousand men. With the Hansa largely in rebellion and manpower at an all time low, it is surprising that Zerbst was able to produce that many able bodied men. Zerbst was quickly defeated and sent into flight. After his defeat Magnus became aware that the entire Hanseatic navy was inside harbor in the Holstein. Seeing this as an opportunity too great to pass on, Magnus coordinated with the admiralty to obliterate the enemy navy. When Magnus successfully stormed the port, Barnabas was forced out into the sea in order to prevent being completely overrun. Once at sea, Barnabas was surrounded by the Scandinavian Navy. Unwilling to surrender, Barnabas fought to the very last cog. With his defeat the Hanseatic fleet ceased to exist.
The war wouldn't end for another year, but with the total destruction of the Hanseatic fleet and with Hansa and Hesse in rebellion there was no question that peace could be attained. The Erik had even convinced himself that he might actually even be able to attain victory inside the conflict. Unfortunately, the war had taken a heavy toll on Scandinavia. The people were rebelling in every province, and for every reason. Pretenders regularly arose just outside of Copenhagen, Swedes and Protestants constantly arose to demand an end to this war. On June 13, 1519 peace was finally signed between the Scandinavian Empire and the Holy Roman Empire. External peace was attained for the first time in nearly a decade.
However, The Great Rebellion had just begun.
October 31 1511 - June 13 1519
Part Two:
The Scandinavian - Hanseatic War was the bloodiest war in Danish history and would have disastrous consequences.
---
After being defeated at Holstein there was a brief moment where the Scandinavian Empire could have fallen. Fleeing with just over a thousand men, Erik was in a truly dire position. The only thing that saved Erik from complete and total destruction was the army lead my Magnus Wrangel. Magnus had recently swept aside a minor Hanseatic army and moved to support Erik in his flight from Holstein. Erik and Magnus would reunite briefly in Slesvig before being forced into battle with the Hessians. Outmatched and outnumbered Erik tried desperately to flee to the Danish Isles and seek refuge in the homeland, safe from the Hessian armies. Every time he moved to retreat the Hanseatic Navy, relatively unharmed so far in the conflict, moved to intercept them. With no ability to reach the heartland of Scandinavia, Erik could send notice to the Scandinavian Navy, headed by Admiral Gustav.
Gustav was a proud old sailor, having spent much of his lifetime at sea. Originally from Sweden, it took him many decades to climb the social ladder of acceptability amongst the Danish admiralty. When he received notice that his Emperor was near defeat because of the Hanseatic Navy, he immediately set sail from Skane to challenge the Lubeck navy. Admiral Barnabas, leader of the enemy Fleet, was caught completely off guard. Gustav's assault was bold and aggressive, caring little for even his own safety he moved every ship into optimal range to bombard the enemy fleet with salvo after salvo. Barnabas lost many ships within the first few minutes into the engagement, furious at the situation he attempted to reorganize his fleet to fire back at the Scandinavian fleet. Under attack and in complete disarray, only a fraction of the ships received his orders. After an hour into the conflict, Barnabas had managed to gain control over five vessels and ordered a concentrated attack on the lead ship. The lead ship sank, but in the process half of Barnabas's fleet was sinking. In anger and disgrace, Barnabas lead the Hanseatic fleet away in defeat.
The Scandinavian Fleet had won a decisive victory and captured several enemy vessels. This would have been a joyous occasion if not for one sobering fact. Admiral Gustav was on the lead ship, commanding the battle from the front line, when an enemy round landed just six feet away from Gustav. While close to the blast, Gustav managed to hold onto life just long enough to order his men to abandon ship. His crew tried to bring Gustav along, but he wouldn't have it and demanded to left on his ship. The last man to see him alive, one deckhand named Christian, reported that he was smiling as he fled the ship.
With the Hanseatic Fleet beaten, Erik was finally able to retreat out of mainland Scandinavia and back into the heartland. Of his original force only two hundred men remained. In addition to these causalities over half of Magnus's relief army also perished.
Over the next several months Erik slowly rebuilt his army. Demands for Erik's abdication, as well as the release of Sweden and Norway from Scandinavian rule, came in monthly from the Hessians. Erik naturally rebuked each envoy that demanded such a price for peace. After a year Erik finally felt comfortable enough to attempt to enforce the status quo upon the Hessians. Magnus Wrangel, leading a force of twelve thousand men, set out to liberate the city of Slesvig from Hessian Control. Magnus easily swept aside the defending regiment of five thousand soldiers under Wilhelm Gustav von Zerbst and laid siege to the Hessian garrison. Zerbst would attempt to defeat Magnus with an army of three thousand, these too were easily swept aside. With control over Slesvig restored to Scandinavia Erik set out once again from Denmark.
Erik would only be in Slesvig for a week before the Holy Roman Emperor arrived. Ludwig made a much more generous offer than before, this time he only requested that Holstein's independence be restored, and only in the province of Holstein itself. This was by far the best offer for peace Erik had expected, but after learning Ludwig had suffered heavy casualties due to rebellions against Hessian occupation Erik declined. The two forces immediately did battle with one another. Erik, together with Magnus, had a combined army of over 26,000 soldiers, while Ludwig had just over 11,000. For the first time Erik fought the Holy Roman Emperor with numerical superiority. Ludwig was no doubt a great general, maybe even twice the caliber of Erik, but even he could not overcome these odds. After sustaining heavy casualties Ludwig retreated from Slesvig without a victory.
After Ludwig's defeat the army split into two parts. The first under Erik would march south to Holstein to head off Ludwig and end this war once and for all. The second marched north to Jylland were a large Hessian army was stationed. Erik and Ludwig would never fully engage one another in the south. Ludwig was faster and smarter than Erik, at every turn he was able to slip right through the Scandinavian's grasp. Further north it was a different story. The Hessian army under general Egon von Scheideck was disorganized and undisciplined. After news reached them that Ludwig had been defeated in battle the army became fell into a panic. When Magnus arrived the army had all but ceased to exist and after a brief battle Egon surrendered a force of six thousand unconditionally.
Over the next few months Magnus managed to secure Jylland and march to Holstein. Holstein was defended by the Statthalter Wilhelm Gustav von Zerbst, who had recently won the election following Valentin's death. Zerbst, chronically in command of a small force, once again fought Magnus with just over two thousand men. With the Hansa largely in rebellion and manpower at an all time low, it is surprising that Zerbst was able to produce that many able bodied men. Zerbst was quickly defeated and sent into flight. After his defeat Magnus became aware that the entire Hanseatic navy was inside harbor in the Holstein. Seeing this as an opportunity too great to pass on, Magnus coordinated with the admiralty to obliterate the enemy navy. When Magnus successfully stormed the port, Barnabas was forced out into the sea in order to prevent being completely overrun. Once at sea, Barnabas was surrounded by the Scandinavian Navy. Unwilling to surrender, Barnabas fought to the very last cog. With his defeat the Hanseatic fleet ceased to exist.
The war wouldn't end for another year, but with the total destruction of the Hanseatic fleet and with Hansa and Hesse in rebellion there was no question that peace could be attained. The Erik had even convinced himself that he might actually even be able to attain victory inside the conflict. Unfortunately, the war had taken a heavy toll on Scandinavia. The people were rebelling in every province, and for every reason. Pretenders regularly arose just outside of Copenhagen, Swedes and Protestants constantly arose to demand an end to this war. On June 13, 1519 peace was finally signed between the Scandinavian Empire and the Holy Roman Empire. External peace was attained for the first time in nearly a decade.
However, The Great Rebellion had just begun.
I really enjoied it... just a bit sad with all the rebellions and stuff. The people having an opinion... Jeez
Thanks for that! I'm not sure I'd continue writing this if no one enjoyed the AAR.I really enjoied it... just a bit sad with all the rebellions and stuff. The people having an opinion... Jeez
----
As the days turn into a week I am finding it very difficult to write the next update. It covers several decades, but I'm not sure how to represent it and how I should write it. Within the next few days I am making it a point to post whatever I have, but for the moment I'd like to thank everyone who has read the AAR, even if you haven't commented on it. Just having what you spend time writing on read by other people is a joy and a gift in and of itself. :happy:
I'm sure many of you are wondering why I haven't updated this AAR in a long time. The truth is that EU3 keeps crashing on me. Leaving me in a rough spot. I had saved right before the Second Russo-Scandinavian War and was planning on writing both the first Russo-Scandinavian War and the 'Long Night' some weeks ago. The game just constantly crashes. Now there are two unique ways for the game to crash, the first is on January 31st 1591. It always crashes there both from the main save and the two autosaves. The second way for my game to crash is if I spend more than twenty minutes playing without tabbing out and letting my computer 'rest' due to (what I suspect to be) overheating on my laptop. Both of them has made continuing a gameplay aspect of this AAR virtually impossible. That's not to say that I'll be giving up on this AAR, quite the opposite I will be continuing to do the AAR to give it a resolution. I've had too many AARs go uncompleted because of technical difficulties to allow this one to as well.
The Long Night
June 13 1519 - October 3 1579
The Long Night refers to a period of over six decades that had its roots within the Scandinavian-Hanseatic War of Heresy. In that war tens of thousands of Danes, Norwegians, and Swedes lost their lives in what would largely be a fruitless engagement. By the time peace was made half of the country was already in rebellion with the other half just waiting for the opportunity. Within these decades dozens of pretenders, hundreds of nationalists, and thousands of peasants would try their hand at bringing the Scandinavian Empire to its knees. Due to the massive number of diverse leaders and armies only the most major conflicts will be touched upon and only the most major of events will be cited.
-----
Part One
The Swedish Rebellion of Karl Polsen
The Swedish Rebellion was born not just from the War of Heresy, but the overall mistreatment of the Kingdom of Sweden (A Dependency under the Crown of Denmark in the Empire) and its citizens in comparison to its compatriots. Swedes had been consistently vilified as untrustworthy and traitorous since their initial rejections of the Kalmar Union and subsequent wars. Swedish Officers rarely attained high rank, often having to resort to bribery and double dealing in order to maintain the most mediocre of positions. The Norwegians and the Danes by comparison had no such restrictions, and while there was some bias towards the Danes above the Norweigians the treatment of the two peoples were remarkably even handed in comparison to other countries. During the War of Heresy many Swedes readily left the safety of their homes to fight for their country in defense of Scandinavia and Sweden. Swedes, while initially less important than Danes and Norwegians in the opening months of the war, rapidly became important after the destruction of the largely danish army on the mainland. When Scandinavia needed the Swedes, the Swedes were all too willing to join arms with fellow Scandinavians.
When it came time for the second invasion of the mainland to liberate the peoples of Holstein and Denmark from Lubeck and Hesse, the majority of the foot soldiers were Swedish recruits. Their blood was just as red when it was spilled on the snow covered fields of Jutland. Even so many Swedish Officers found themselves under rewarded for their service. A few had managed to climb the ranks to that of general and beyond, but these were small success stories in comparison to the vast number of heroes that would be recorded in the history of Scandinavia from Denmark and Norway. Even Holstein had an average of four times the promotion rate of soldiers and they were normally considered untrustworthy to promote in a conflict against their cultural germanic kin. When the war finally ended tens of thousands of disgruntled soldiers were underpaid for their service because of 'national debt in a time of crisis' and sent home to lands already in complete rebellion. A number of soldiers would be detained by traveling armies as spies, further aggravating the Swedish veterans. Finally, at the turn of Spring in the next year (1520), a large rebellion erupted just outside of Stockholm declaring their intent on restoring the Swedish Kingdom.
Initially there was a great deal of panic amongst the Danish ranks in regards to the rebellion. They had enough difficulty overcoming widespread, but disorganized, rebellions across Scandinavia. With much of Scandinavia's army widespread and thinned out by the conflict there was little that could be done except try to defeat this rebellion at its very heart before it could evolve into something uncontainable. A Swedish Noble named Karl Polsen declared himself to be the rightful King of Sweden through obscure marital relations that were obviously fabrications. After rushing the siege of Stockholm the largely German garrison surrendered. With the home of Sweden under the control of Polsen he declared the Kingdom restored and demanded the return of all Swedish territories before the Kingdom was inherited. Emperor Erik would have none of this. Already on his way to relieve Stockholm, he focused on destroying every single Swedish Army he could reach. After two years he had defeated twelve armies, each numbering at least 4000 in number, before laying siege to Stockholm itself. Stockholm would fall on the 30th of May in the year 1523. Scattered Swedish nationalists would continue to fight on in Eastern Sweden before being overrun by Fins shortly after the Scandinavian Army arrived.
After Finland was finally pacified and revolts occurred in the region only every month or so, the long and arduous task of fully pacifying the Swedish desire to revolt took place. While Magnus Wrangel was still facing off against rebelling Protestants in Norway and General Niils was putting down a rather significant peasant rebellion in Skane, Emperor Erik tried to temper the situation. Erik, by nature, was a rather militant man and sought to achieve lasting peace through military protocol. He stressed rewarding loyalty and punishing disobedience. Karl Polsen was given the option of being imprisoned at Copenhagen or going into willful exile in Ryazan. He chose the later, as Erik had expected him to. As much as many would have liked to have place all the blame for the war on Karl, Erik was forced to recognize that the military had some fault in it as well. A number of radicals sought to partition the Crown of Sweden amongst the Danes, Norwegians, and Fins, but it was realized that this was a fool hardy and dangerous objective. Even outstanding Norwegian and Danish claims on Swedish soil were put aside by Erik in order to ensure that a new peace would be a stable one. As such he left Sweden proper very much alone west of the Baltic Sea.* The East, however, would be granted to Finland. Though only half of the new Crown of Finland was ethnically Finnish the idea of creating a patchwork Finland would have invited further trouble. Erik also promised to pay off all outstanding wages to Swedish soldiers after the rebellions came to a close. Most Swedes remained very unhappy with this arrangement, but some measure of peace came about.**
*Sweden had already lost a large number of territories to both Norway and Denmark in the reunification wars, this arrangement would allow Sweden only to retain what land it had left to it rather than cede back provinces that were already annexed.
**Some measure of peace would mean a rebellion in Sweden every few months rather than several every single month.
June 13 1519 - October 3 1579
The Long Night refers to a period of over six decades that had its roots within the Scandinavian-Hanseatic War of Heresy. In that war tens of thousands of Danes, Norwegians, and Swedes lost their lives in what would largely be a fruitless engagement. By the time peace was made half of the country was already in rebellion with the other half just waiting for the opportunity. Within these decades dozens of pretenders, hundreds of nationalists, and thousands of peasants would try their hand at bringing the Scandinavian Empire to its knees. Due to the massive number of diverse leaders and armies only the most major conflicts will be touched upon and only the most major of events will be cited.
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Part One
The Swedish Rebellion of Karl Polsen
The Swedish Rebellion was born not just from the War of Heresy, but the overall mistreatment of the Kingdom of Sweden (A Dependency under the Crown of Denmark in the Empire) and its citizens in comparison to its compatriots. Swedes had been consistently vilified as untrustworthy and traitorous since their initial rejections of the Kalmar Union and subsequent wars. Swedish Officers rarely attained high rank, often having to resort to bribery and double dealing in order to maintain the most mediocre of positions. The Norwegians and the Danes by comparison had no such restrictions, and while there was some bias towards the Danes above the Norweigians the treatment of the two peoples were remarkably even handed in comparison to other countries. During the War of Heresy many Swedes readily left the safety of their homes to fight for their country in defense of Scandinavia and Sweden. Swedes, while initially less important than Danes and Norwegians in the opening months of the war, rapidly became important after the destruction of the largely danish army on the mainland. When Scandinavia needed the Swedes, the Swedes were all too willing to join arms with fellow Scandinavians.
When it came time for the second invasion of the mainland to liberate the peoples of Holstein and Denmark from Lubeck and Hesse, the majority of the foot soldiers were Swedish recruits. Their blood was just as red when it was spilled on the snow covered fields of Jutland. Even so many Swedish Officers found themselves under rewarded for their service. A few had managed to climb the ranks to that of general and beyond, but these were small success stories in comparison to the vast number of heroes that would be recorded in the history of Scandinavia from Denmark and Norway. Even Holstein had an average of four times the promotion rate of soldiers and they were normally considered untrustworthy to promote in a conflict against their cultural germanic kin. When the war finally ended tens of thousands of disgruntled soldiers were underpaid for their service because of 'national debt in a time of crisis' and sent home to lands already in complete rebellion. A number of soldiers would be detained by traveling armies as spies, further aggravating the Swedish veterans. Finally, at the turn of Spring in the next year (1520), a large rebellion erupted just outside of Stockholm declaring their intent on restoring the Swedish Kingdom.
Initially there was a great deal of panic amongst the Danish ranks in regards to the rebellion. They had enough difficulty overcoming widespread, but disorganized, rebellions across Scandinavia. With much of Scandinavia's army widespread and thinned out by the conflict there was little that could be done except try to defeat this rebellion at its very heart before it could evolve into something uncontainable. A Swedish Noble named Karl Polsen declared himself to be the rightful King of Sweden through obscure marital relations that were obviously fabrications. After rushing the siege of Stockholm the largely German garrison surrendered. With the home of Sweden under the control of Polsen he declared the Kingdom restored and demanded the return of all Swedish territories before the Kingdom was inherited. Emperor Erik would have none of this. Already on his way to relieve Stockholm, he focused on destroying every single Swedish Army he could reach. After two years he had defeated twelve armies, each numbering at least 4000 in number, before laying siege to Stockholm itself. Stockholm would fall on the 30th of May in the year 1523. Scattered Swedish nationalists would continue to fight on in Eastern Sweden before being overrun by Fins shortly after the Scandinavian Army arrived.
After Finland was finally pacified and revolts occurred in the region only every month or so, the long and arduous task of fully pacifying the Swedish desire to revolt took place. While Magnus Wrangel was still facing off against rebelling Protestants in Norway and General Niils was putting down a rather significant peasant rebellion in Skane, Emperor Erik tried to temper the situation. Erik, by nature, was a rather militant man and sought to achieve lasting peace through military protocol. He stressed rewarding loyalty and punishing disobedience. Karl Polsen was given the option of being imprisoned at Copenhagen or going into willful exile in Ryazan. He chose the later, as Erik had expected him to. As much as many would have liked to have place all the blame for the war on Karl, Erik was forced to recognize that the military had some fault in it as well. A number of radicals sought to partition the Crown of Sweden amongst the Danes, Norwegians, and Fins, but it was realized that this was a fool hardy and dangerous objective. Even outstanding Norwegian and Danish claims on Swedish soil were put aside by Erik in order to ensure that a new peace would be a stable one. As such he left Sweden proper very much alone west of the Baltic Sea.* The East, however, would be granted to Finland. Though only half of the new Crown of Finland was ethnically Finnish the idea of creating a patchwork Finland would have invited further trouble. Erik also promised to pay off all outstanding wages to Swedish soldiers after the rebellions came to a close. Most Swedes remained very unhappy with this arrangement, but some measure of peace came about.**
*Sweden had already lost a large number of territories to both Norway and Denmark in the reunification wars, this arrangement would allow Sweden only to retain what land it had left to it rather than cede back provinces that were already annexed.
**Some measure of peace would mean a rebellion in Sweden every few months rather than several every single month.
The Long Night
June 13 1519 - October 3 1579
The Long Night refers to a period of over six decades that had its roots within the Scandinavian-Hanseatic War of Heresy. In that war tens of thousands of Danes, Norwegians, and Swedes lost their lives in what would largely be a fruitless engagement. By the time peace was made half of the country was already in rebellion with the other half just waiting for the opportunity. Within these decades dozens of pretenders, hundreds of nationalists, and thousands of peasants would try their hand at bringing the Scandinavian Empire to its knees. Due to the massive number of diverse leaders and armies only the most major conflicts will be touched upon and only the most major of events will be cited.
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Part Two
The Protestant Rebellions and the Norwegian Noble Republic
The rebellion of the protestant and the subsequent 'Noble' Republic converts in Norway was as much a byproduct of the current nightmare of rebellion in Scandinavia as much as it was of the Protestant Revolution. For the past few decades Scandinavia had largely been spared the rapid expansion of the Protestant and Reformed faiths, often having just a single province convert every decade or so. When the last protestant rebellion came to a close the faith had been limited to a small number of enclaves. Many of these enclaves would lose themselves with heavy missionary activity against such heresy. The only regions that remained Protestant were those regions to the far north of Scandinavia and these land were all ethnically Norwegian. Halogaland would be the den of the most organized and powerful of the Protestant Rebel factions. Magnus Wrangel had spent years marching his weary army from the thickly forested and mountainous terrain that encircles northern Finland. Kola in particular was especially harrowing in the deep and cold winters. Every time he had the briefest of moments to dedicate himself and his army to purge Halogaland of its heresy, he was forced to march across hundreds of miles to defeat new armies. The situation was completely untenable.
Things began to change noticeably for the better after Sweden was pacified and Emperor Erik was able to march North to assist Wrangel in bringing down the Protestants. While many soldiers were more than willing to march on the rebelling Swedes, the Norwegians were largely unhappy to fight against their own national kin in the conflict. Things were exacerbated when the Crown of Norway was not allowed to take many of its outstanding claims on Sweden including the most important region of Jamtland, to which Norway had extensive claims. As the rebellions began to quiet down and the rebellion became limited to just four provinces that were fully occupied by the protestants, there were a number of dissenting feelings as to how the conflict should be resolved. The Treasury was just barely staying afloat, stability while increasing was still deep in the red, and manpower reserves continually appeared low in the wake of constant warfare and battle. Further aggravating the issues were a large number of sympathetic Norwegian officers within the army to the protestant cause. Protestantism was at its strongest amongst Norwegians and this was just as true within the Scandinavian Military. As Halogaland was being sieged by Emperor Erik something drastic happened: The Noble Republic of Norway was formed.
Like Sweden before it, this Norway had no legitimacy to it. Its capital, Halogaland, had no history ever being the seat of Norway's power. The Norwegian nobility to the south largely rejected any claim that it might have over the state dividing its support even amongst Norwegians, but what it had accomplished was buy time. As the Danes began to lay siege to the country the Kingdom of Burgundy intervened on the side of the Norwegians.
Queen Mary of the House of Lorraine
As Queen Mary took it upon herself to declare war upon the Empire of Scandinavia to buy herself time, Empress Anne (of the House of York) of Great Britain and the Republic of Mazovia pledged their support to the Empire of Scandinavia. The war was rapidly taken out of Erik's hands and he would become sidelined in his own war. Even when the separatists were completely occupied by the Scandinavians, Erik could not completely annex them because of Burgundian Support. Erik would never fight a single conflict with the Kingdom of Burgundy for over three years, relying completely upon Anne to handle the war for him. After the British were finally able to breach Calais and pour into the lowlands that the Burgundians became willing to discuss terms for peace. It was only after some doing that Burgundy would renounce all ties with the Norwegian court, but this vital peace required that the Republic be allowed to remain sovereign for a period of five years after it had surrendered all peripheral territory. Erik could only express his fury with the treaty unable to recognize why a rebel state could dare to pretend to be sovereign in nature.
The next five years passed by slowly for Erik, but it had led to some interesting results. The Kingdom of Ryazan to the east was rapidly becoming the dominant Russian State and he pledged his niece to Erik's second son, Håkon. Further south the Germans continued to squabble amongst themselves, but surprisingly the Burgundian backed Archbishopric of Trier was rapidly coming to dominate the upper-lowlands. To the west Scandinavia's eternal ally, the British Empire, went to war with the Kingdom of Castille and Scandinavia moved to support them. Once again Scandinavia did little to actually involve themselves in the engagement as their navy was kept in a state where only its most basic needs were met in order to ensure that the Scandinavian Bank doesn't collapse on itself. The most interesting events would be surrounding the Halogaland separatists. Founded on completely Protestant Ideals, the Noble Republic had the state religion of Catholicism. Its nobility were mostly Catholic and one of the more prominent nobility wished to ensure his continued position by sending his own son to be a hostage in Erik's court. It was mildly amusing to Erik to see how the state behaved itself with its new found sovereignty. When the five years came to a close Erik was busy putting down a Hanoverian Rebellion so Norway had a small respite before Magnus Wrangel captured the city and annexed it in 1531. Missionaries were immediately dispatched to the region to bring back the wayward heretics while the armies marched on to deal with more pressing matters.
June 13 1519 - October 3 1579
The Long Night refers to a period of over six decades that had its roots within the Scandinavian-Hanseatic War of Heresy. In that war tens of thousands of Danes, Norwegians, and Swedes lost their lives in what would largely be a fruitless engagement. By the time peace was made half of the country was already in rebellion with the other half just waiting for the opportunity. Within these decades dozens of pretenders, hundreds of nationalists, and thousands of peasants would try their hand at bringing the Scandinavian Empire to its knees. Due to the massive number of diverse leaders and armies only the most major conflicts will be touched upon and only the most major of events will be cited.
-----
Part Two
The Protestant Rebellions and the Norwegian Noble Republic
The rebellion of the protestant and the subsequent 'Noble' Republic converts in Norway was as much a byproduct of the current nightmare of rebellion in Scandinavia as much as it was of the Protestant Revolution. For the past few decades Scandinavia had largely been spared the rapid expansion of the Protestant and Reformed faiths, often having just a single province convert every decade or so. When the last protestant rebellion came to a close the faith had been limited to a small number of enclaves. Many of these enclaves would lose themselves with heavy missionary activity against such heresy. The only regions that remained Protestant were those regions to the far north of Scandinavia and these land were all ethnically Norwegian. Halogaland would be the den of the most organized and powerful of the Protestant Rebel factions. Magnus Wrangel had spent years marching his weary army from the thickly forested and mountainous terrain that encircles northern Finland. Kola in particular was especially harrowing in the deep and cold winters. Every time he had the briefest of moments to dedicate himself and his army to purge Halogaland of its heresy, he was forced to march across hundreds of miles to defeat new armies. The situation was completely untenable.
Things began to change noticeably for the better after Sweden was pacified and Emperor Erik was able to march North to assist Wrangel in bringing down the Protestants. While many soldiers were more than willing to march on the rebelling Swedes, the Norwegians were largely unhappy to fight against their own national kin in the conflict. Things were exacerbated when the Crown of Norway was not allowed to take many of its outstanding claims on Sweden including the most important region of Jamtland, to which Norway had extensive claims. As the rebellions began to quiet down and the rebellion became limited to just four provinces that were fully occupied by the protestants, there were a number of dissenting feelings as to how the conflict should be resolved. The Treasury was just barely staying afloat, stability while increasing was still deep in the red, and manpower reserves continually appeared low in the wake of constant warfare and battle. Further aggravating the issues were a large number of sympathetic Norwegian officers within the army to the protestant cause. Protestantism was at its strongest amongst Norwegians and this was just as true within the Scandinavian Military. As Halogaland was being sieged by Emperor Erik something drastic happened: The Noble Republic of Norway was formed.
Like Sweden before it, this Norway had no legitimacy to it. Its capital, Halogaland, had no history ever being the seat of Norway's power. The Norwegian nobility to the south largely rejected any claim that it might have over the state dividing its support even amongst Norwegians, but what it had accomplished was buy time. As the Danes began to lay siege to the country the Kingdom of Burgundy intervened on the side of the Norwegians.
Queen Mary of the House of Lorraine
As Queen Mary took it upon herself to declare war upon the Empire of Scandinavia to buy herself time, Empress Anne (of the House of York) of Great Britain and the Republic of Mazovia pledged their support to the Empire of Scandinavia. The war was rapidly taken out of Erik's hands and he would become sidelined in his own war. Even when the separatists were completely occupied by the Scandinavians, Erik could not completely annex them because of Burgundian Support. Erik would never fight a single conflict with the Kingdom of Burgundy for over three years, relying completely upon Anne to handle the war for him. After the British were finally able to breach Calais and pour into the lowlands that the Burgundians became willing to discuss terms for peace. It was only after some doing that Burgundy would renounce all ties with the Norwegian court, but this vital peace required that the Republic be allowed to remain sovereign for a period of five years after it had surrendered all peripheral territory. Erik could only express his fury with the treaty unable to recognize why a rebel state could dare to pretend to be sovereign in nature.
The next five years passed by slowly for Erik, but it had led to some interesting results. The Kingdom of Ryazan to the east was rapidly becoming the dominant Russian State and he pledged his niece to Erik's second son, Håkon. Further south the Germans continued to squabble amongst themselves, but surprisingly the Burgundian backed Archbishopric of Trier was rapidly coming to dominate the upper-lowlands. To the west Scandinavia's eternal ally, the British Empire, went to war with the Kingdom of Castille and Scandinavia moved to support them. Once again Scandinavia did little to actually involve themselves in the engagement as their navy was kept in a state where only its most basic needs were met in order to ensure that the Scandinavian Bank doesn't collapse on itself. The most interesting events would be surrounding the Halogaland separatists. Founded on completely Protestant Ideals, the Noble Republic had the state religion of Catholicism. Its nobility were mostly Catholic and one of the more prominent nobility wished to ensure his continued position by sending his own son to be a hostage in Erik's court. It was mildly amusing to Erik to see how the state behaved itself with its new found sovereignty. When the five years came to a close Erik was busy putting down a Hanoverian Rebellion so Norway had a small respite before Magnus Wrangel captured the city and annexed it in 1531. Missionaries were immediately dispatched to the region to bring back the wayward heretics while the armies marched on to deal with more pressing matters.
The Long Night
June 13 1519 - October 3 1579
The Long Night refers to a period of over six decades that had its roots within the Scandinavian-Hanseatic War of Heresy. In that war tens of thousands of Danes, Norwegians, and Swedes lost their lives in what would largely be a fruitless engagement. By the time peace was made half of the country was already in rebellion with the other half just waiting for the opportunity. Within these decades dozens of pretenders, hundreds of nationalists, and thousands of peasants would try their hand at bringing the Scandinavian Empire to its knees. Due to the massive number of diverse leaders and armies only the most major conflicts will be touched upon and only the most major of events will be cited.
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Part Three
The Ryazani Reconquest of Finland
With the death of Erik I of Scandinavia relations with the Kingdom of Ryazan worsened. The King of Ryazan, Fyodor IV Rurikovich, had a relationship of understanding with Erik. The two rulers were competent military men and understood and respected these qualities in each other. Christian was not a military man, in fact he was militarily incompetent. What's more, his diplomatic talents were all but nonexistent. The deterioration of the two power's relations to one another was inevitable. It only took one or two diplomatic incidents and some rather public remarks about the other's religious background and paternal heritage for all ties to be severed with one another. By 1535 A.D. both sides were waiting on an excuse to go to war with one another. Even Christian who still faced regular rebellions amongst his subjects was eager to engage in another war. In August of the same year, Karl Polsen relinquished his claims on Eastern Sweden to Fyodor.
Polsen had barely any claim to the region at all. He was a rebel. A pretender. Yet his claims were enough to give Fyodor at least some basic claims on the surrounding territories in Finland and he wasted no time declaring his intent to capture those territories. When the first action was finally taken the Kingdoms of Tver, lead by Mikhail III Romanov, and Yaroslavl, lead by his nephew Ivan, sided with Ryazan. All in all some 25,000 soldiers came to Fyodor's aid in the conflict. Christian's forces far outnumbered Ryazan's simply with his own forces, some 35,000 soldiers. Empress Anne and the Republic of Mazovia more than doubled this number. If this war was simply a numbers game it would have been obvious that Ryazan was at an extreme disadvantage, but this wasn't the case. Great Britain's armies were far away and throughout the entire conflict would relegate their greatest service by sending a small naval force of four ships to blockade Ryazan's ports. Mazovia would also only play a minor role inside the war, occasionally laying siege to the under defended Ryazan homeland. Further, while Christian had numerical superiority, he still suffered from rebellion and General Niils would spend the majority of the war quelling various rebellions. This left Christian and Magnus to personally handle the Ryazan army.
First blood would not be drawn until late December outside the Finnish hinterland. Fyodor lead an army of 14,000 troops against Christian's 18,000 army. When the two armies clashed Christian had been assumed the victory. He had superiority of numbers, terrain, and a powerful defensive position. Christian himself, for his part, displayed some of his best generalship during the entire war during the first battle. Even so, Fyodor claimed victory against the Scandinavians. He was simply too good of a general. Magnus Wrangel would have even less luck against Fyodor's veteran general Anastas Nizhegorodsky. After several embarrassing defeats both Scandinavian Armies retreat northward.
The fragile recovery that Scandinavia had been carefully nursing under Erik began to unravel in the midst of these defeats. General Niils had no rest from each rebellion while Magnus Wrangel and Christian found themselves having to engage against minor revolts even while they were slowly regaining their forces. When it came time for the descent down south again into the cold heavily wooded depths of Finland the two armies worked in unison with one another to engage Fyodor and Anastas one at a time. Fyodor still managed to inflict heavy casualties upon the Scandinavian army before he was forced to retreat. Christian and Magnus pursued Fyodor all the way back into Ryazani territory before he was finally routed. By the time both armies could engage Anastas they had been heavily worn away due to attrition and constant fighting and thus began laying siege to Ryazani territories rather than try to remove the powerful general. As the first of Ryazan's cities began to fall in 1539, Fyodor and Christian agreed to restore the status quo between them and organize a five year truce. Christian, however, would not be able to restore the stability that had been lost during the conflict and would spend years trying to undo the damage.
Northern Europe
June 13 1519 - October 3 1579
The Long Night refers to a period of over six decades that had its roots within the Scandinavian-Hanseatic War of Heresy. In that war tens of thousands of Danes, Norwegians, and Swedes lost their lives in what would largely be a fruitless engagement. By the time peace was made half of the country was already in rebellion with the other half just waiting for the opportunity. Within these decades dozens of pretenders, hundreds of nationalists, and thousands of peasants would try their hand at bringing the Scandinavian Empire to its knees. Due to the massive number of diverse leaders and armies only the most major conflicts will be touched upon and only the most major of events will be cited.
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Part Three
The Ryazani Reconquest of Finland
With the death of Erik I of Scandinavia relations with the Kingdom of Ryazan worsened. The King of Ryazan, Fyodor IV Rurikovich, had a relationship of understanding with Erik. The two rulers were competent military men and understood and respected these qualities in each other. Christian was not a military man, in fact he was militarily incompetent. What's more, his diplomatic talents were all but nonexistent. The deterioration of the two power's relations to one another was inevitable. It only took one or two diplomatic incidents and some rather public remarks about the other's religious background and paternal heritage for all ties to be severed with one another. By 1535 A.D. both sides were waiting on an excuse to go to war with one another. Even Christian who still faced regular rebellions amongst his subjects was eager to engage in another war. In August of the same year, Karl Polsen relinquished his claims on Eastern Sweden to Fyodor.
Polsen had barely any claim to the region at all. He was a rebel. A pretender. Yet his claims were enough to give Fyodor at least some basic claims on the surrounding territories in Finland and he wasted no time declaring his intent to capture those territories. When the first action was finally taken the Kingdoms of Tver, lead by Mikhail III Romanov, and Yaroslavl, lead by his nephew Ivan, sided with Ryazan. All in all some 25,000 soldiers came to Fyodor's aid in the conflict. Christian's forces far outnumbered Ryazan's simply with his own forces, some 35,000 soldiers. Empress Anne and the Republic of Mazovia more than doubled this number. If this war was simply a numbers game it would have been obvious that Ryazan was at an extreme disadvantage, but this wasn't the case. Great Britain's armies were far away and throughout the entire conflict would relegate their greatest service by sending a small naval force of four ships to blockade Ryazan's ports. Mazovia would also only play a minor role inside the war, occasionally laying siege to the under defended Ryazan homeland. Further, while Christian had numerical superiority, he still suffered from rebellion and General Niils would spend the majority of the war quelling various rebellions. This left Christian and Magnus to personally handle the Ryazan army.
First blood would not be drawn until late December outside the Finnish hinterland. Fyodor lead an army of 14,000 troops against Christian's 18,000 army. When the two armies clashed Christian had been assumed the victory. He had superiority of numbers, terrain, and a powerful defensive position. Christian himself, for his part, displayed some of his best generalship during the entire war during the first battle. Even so, Fyodor claimed victory against the Scandinavians. He was simply too good of a general. Magnus Wrangel would have even less luck against Fyodor's veteran general Anastas Nizhegorodsky. After several embarrassing defeats both Scandinavian Armies retreat northward.
The fragile recovery that Scandinavia had been carefully nursing under Erik began to unravel in the midst of these defeats. General Niils had no rest from each rebellion while Magnus Wrangel and Christian found themselves having to engage against minor revolts even while they were slowly regaining their forces. When it came time for the descent down south again into the cold heavily wooded depths of Finland the two armies worked in unison with one another to engage Fyodor and Anastas one at a time. Fyodor still managed to inflict heavy casualties upon the Scandinavian army before he was forced to retreat. Christian and Magnus pursued Fyodor all the way back into Ryazani territory before he was finally routed. By the time both armies could engage Anastas they had been heavily worn away due to attrition and constant fighting and thus began laying siege to Ryazani territories rather than try to remove the powerful general. As the first of Ryazan's cities began to fall in 1539, Fyodor and Christian agreed to restore the status quo between them and organize a five year truce. Christian, however, would not be able to restore the stability that had been lost during the conflict and would spend years trying to undo the damage.
Northern Europe
Since I started updating this again there has been a total of 400 views and not a single comment. Its not quite what I had hoped, but I will continue to update this. 'The Long Night' will have its conclusion tomorrow, then we're off to the Russian Wars.
Ouch...Long Night sounds very unappealing
but still Scandanavia is united and that's one snakey looking France.
but still Scandanavia is united and that's one snakey looking France.
It was several decades of never ending revolts, so it wasn't vastly appealing to me either. I can say that the government never collapsed and there's only one thing that really stands out amongst the rest left to write about.
The Long Night
June 13 1519 - October 3 1579
The Long Night refers to a period of over six decades that had its roots within the Scandinavian-Hanseatic War of Heresy. In that war tens of thousands of Danes, Norwegians, and Swedes lost their lives in what would largely be a fruitless engagement. By the time peace was made half of the country was already in rebellion with the other half just waiting for the opportunity. Within these decades dozens of pretenders, hundreds of nationalists, and thousands of peasants would try their hand at bringing the Scandinavian Empire to its knees. Due to the massive number of diverse leaders and armies only the most major conflicts will be touched upon and only the most major of events will be cited.
-----
Part Four
The Reign of Regent Ulrika
Emperor Christian had a number of children of close age to one another. The eldest of which was his daughter Ulrika. His next two children were both sons, Christian and Karl. Karl was the elder of the two born in the year 1537 while Christian was born four years later. For the vast part of Christian's reign it was expected that his daughter would marry Anne's nephew, the next in line to the British Throne. The relationship between the house of Gryf and the house of York was of eminent importance to the continued survival of both dynasties. The names of York and Gryf had become controversial in the eyes of Northern Europe. France, Burgundy, Poland, Ryazan, Hesse, Bohemia, Mecklenburg, and the Hanseatic League had all at one time or another been engaged in a long and bloody war with them. It had gotten to the point that during the war of Heresy that mothers would scare their children out of mischief by saying that Erik the Viking was coming to get them.*
A major development of concern in regards to Christian's succession was when Charles, Anne's Nephew, died of illness at in his mid twenties. This was a serious blow to both Ulrika and the House of York. In her grief, Ulrika requested to return home to Scandinavia in order to be close to her family. Once there she remained inactive in public and political affairs, preferring a life of relative seclusion. She would reject all attempts by her father to get her to remarry, even threatening to go to a nunnery. He would never stop trying, even till his own passing in 1559.
Christian was in his forties when he passed. Karl at the time was only 12 and was considered too young to succeed the throne on his own. His mother rejected any attempt to put her in charge of the throne until Karl became older, instead requesting that Ulrika take that responsibility. Ulrika rejected twice before becoming regent for her younger brother. Within the first few months of her regency a massive revolt occurred inside of both Norway and Denmark. Some 47,000 rebel forces rose up across the realm. Waldemar von Döbeln led the most significant number of the Rebellion and was the only force to ever actually breach a city wall. The rest would fall one by one to Scandinavia's major generals. Even the disgraced Alfred Han scored some victories. When Waldemar was the leader of the last remaining rebel group he surrendered along with his captured city sometime in 1561. The rebellion itself, while certainly significant, was only the catalyst for a rather deadly political game at Copenhagen.
Regent Ulrika
A number of influential political officials within the Scandinavian government were upset with the way Ulrika handled the revolt. It was not so much how she executed the full function of her office as Regent, but how she chose not to consult with the other leaders of state and how she refused many suggestions by her staff. Many of them began to wonder if Ulrika had designs on the throne and were terrified by the notion of a headstrong woman in control of the Empire. All forms of lies and slander began to fill the capital, even rumoring that Ulrika had a sixth digit on her left hand and three breasts. Ulrika herself was aware of this but did little to stop them. She viewed herself as the steward of the country and that in a few more years she would be able to retire without fail. When it became time for a revision of government politics Ulrika maintained the policy of her fore bearers and continued to increase the the centralized government in the capital. This was not a popular move.
While Ulrika had done much the same thing as her father and his father before him, her reputation had deteriorated to the extent that even the most obvious and dismissible of objections to her policies gained wide spread support amongst the nobility. When Ulrika tried to maintain her usual reserved self, far away from political affairs, she faced rebellion. In 1563, just about the time when Ulrika was preparing to resign as regent and let Karl rule on his own, a massive rebellion formed at the very heart of Denmark centered around Inge Krag a 'pure-blooded Dane'.** This rebellion had been so massive that it had overrun the defending local garrison led by General Niils. Ulrika and the young King fled to Skane with support of the navy. With Copenhagen under siege Ulrika acted with unparalleled decisiveness ordering that no rebel be allowed to travel by sea while further north a the secondary army under General Axel Ulfeldt marched south to meet with General Niils and organize the relief of Copenhagen, whose walls were beginning to crumble.
Under the cover of night a force of 23,000 Scandinavians made their way to the capital. Inge was taken completely by surprise by the large army approaching him. Outnumbered he positioned himself into a strong defensive point. As the Scandinavians marched they found themselves unable to attack the rebels without incurring heavy losses. With neither side completely willing to attack the other, Inge settled in for a waiting game with the two generals. Both generals had differing views on how to handle the rebellion. Niils wanted to simply outlast the rebels as their supplies would almost certainly be gone by the end of the week. Axel however didn't want to wait for their food stores to run out because of the lesser rebellions running rampant up north in his absence. Eventually Axel won out and the two forces clashed not two miles from the capital. While Inge had the better position his force's moral was already a nonentity and was quickly overrun. He fled in the chaos to the Hansa leaving his cohorts at the mercy of the Regent.
Many of the nobility had never met the Regent. Or, when they had, it was only from a distance. Because of this they were inclined to believe the stories told to them by those that did meet with the Regent. At first these stories were believable and portrayed a very cold and very authoritarian Regent that ruled with complete impunity. As the stories evolved they became less believable, but having already succumbed to the previous hearsay they became convinced that Ulrika was a danger to Scandinavia and the young King. So when they were forced into a chamber inside the palace, many had expected that they would be summarily executed to pave the way to a cold dictator's reign. They were stunned by Ulrika's quiet and compassionate demeanor when she addressed the rebels. She spoke of their importance in the running and maintenance of the Empire. She gave every rebel the option to leave the palace unharmed and continue their former duties or to go into willful exile. She explained in great detail her decisions and why she made them. When she was finished a large number of them regretted and were ashamed of their actions. Some were unconvinced and left for more distant shores. Just days after putting the rebellion to an end Ulrika stepped down as regent and Karl became the official Emperor of Scandinavia.
While the rebellions would not stop for another decade, Emperor Karl's reign, and that of his brother Christian, would be increasingly quiet and inconsequential in the face of Scandinavian History. Nearing the turn of the next decade the rebellions finally stopped and with them the Long Night that spread across the northern lands came to a conclusion.
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* Throughout history it was a common occurrence for the most prolific and most profound of enemies to any society to be used to scare children into doing what they were told. Pre-Enlightenment Europe was not exception.
** In spite of the relative acceptance towards Norwegians, Scandinavian politics are still populated by the Danes. As such pureblooded Danes have their own self important group to themselves where they hold a great deal of influence amongst the Danish court. They would be treated with scorn any where else. This rebellion was mostly by the Danish nobility and in the future the large number of noble families that did choose the second option and go into willful exile will have broken the back of the Danish nobility at the very heart of Scandinavia and the Danish capital itself of Copenhagen. In case any of you are scratching your heads and wondering why I'm writing some rather bigoted scenarios its not because I'm a Danish supremacist, its so that in later years the resolution between the Scandinavian peoples and the rise of mutual equality and respect amongst them will have more meaning. Its not a perfect agenda and probably isn't the most pleasant of things to read about, but for the most part the worst of it is over.
June 13 1519 - October 3 1579
The Long Night refers to a period of over six decades that had its roots within the Scandinavian-Hanseatic War of Heresy. In that war tens of thousands of Danes, Norwegians, and Swedes lost their lives in what would largely be a fruitless engagement. By the time peace was made half of the country was already in rebellion with the other half just waiting for the opportunity. Within these decades dozens of pretenders, hundreds of nationalists, and thousands of peasants would try their hand at bringing the Scandinavian Empire to its knees. Due to the massive number of diverse leaders and armies only the most major conflicts will be touched upon and only the most major of events will be cited.
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Part Four
The Reign of Regent Ulrika
Emperor Christian had a number of children of close age to one another. The eldest of which was his daughter Ulrika. His next two children were both sons, Christian and Karl. Karl was the elder of the two born in the year 1537 while Christian was born four years later. For the vast part of Christian's reign it was expected that his daughter would marry Anne's nephew, the next in line to the British Throne. The relationship between the house of Gryf and the house of York was of eminent importance to the continued survival of both dynasties. The names of York and Gryf had become controversial in the eyes of Northern Europe. France, Burgundy, Poland, Ryazan, Hesse, Bohemia, Mecklenburg, and the Hanseatic League had all at one time or another been engaged in a long and bloody war with them. It had gotten to the point that during the war of Heresy that mothers would scare their children out of mischief by saying that Erik the Viking was coming to get them.*
A major development of concern in regards to Christian's succession was when Charles, Anne's Nephew, died of illness at in his mid twenties. This was a serious blow to both Ulrika and the House of York. In her grief, Ulrika requested to return home to Scandinavia in order to be close to her family. Once there she remained inactive in public and political affairs, preferring a life of relative seclusion. She would reject all attempts by her father to get her to remarry, even threatening to go to a nunnery. He would never stop trying, even till his own passing in 1559.
Christian was in his forties when he passed. Karl at the time was only 12 and was considered too young to succeed the throne on his own. His mother rejected any attempt to put her in charge of the throne until Karl became older, instead requesting that Ulrika take that responsibility. Ulrika rejected twice before becoming regent for her younger brother. Within the first few months of her regency a massive revolt occurred inside of both Norway and Denmark. Some 47,000 rebel forces rose up across the realm. Waldemar von Döbeln led the most significant number of the Rebellion and was the only force to ever actually breach a city wall. The rest would fall one by one to Scandinavia's major generals. Even the disgraced Alfred Han scored some victories. When Waldemar was the leader of the last remaining rebel group he surrendered along with his captured city sometime in 1561. The rebellion itself, while certainly significant, was only the catalyst for a rather deadly political game at Copenhagen.
Regent Ulrika
A number of influential political officials within the Scandinavian government were upset with the way Ulrika handled the revolt. It was not so much how she executed the full function of her office as Regent, but how she chose not to consult with the other leaders of state and how she refused many suggestions by her staff. Many of them began to wonder if Ulrika had designs on the throne and were terrified by the notion of a headstrong woman in control of the Empire. All forms of lies and slander began to fill the capital, even rumoring that Ulrika had a sixth digit on her left hand and three breasts. Ulrika herself was aware of this but did little to stop them. She viewed herself as the steward of the country and that in a few more years she would be able to retire without fail. When it became time for a revision of government politics Ulrika maintained the policy of her fore bearers and continued to increase the the centralized government in the capital. This was not a popular move.
While Ulrika had done much the same thing as her father and his father before him, her reputation had deteriorated to the extent that even the most obvious and dismissible of objections to her policies gained wide spread support amongst the nobility. When Ulrika tried to maintain her usual reserved self, far away from political affairs, she faced rebellion. In 1563, just about the time when Ulrika was preparing to resign as regent and let Karl rule on his own, a massive rebellion formed at the very heart of Denmark centered around Inge Krag a 'pure-blooded Dane'.** This rebellion had been so massive that it had overrun the defending local garrison led by General Niils. Ulrika and the young King fled to Skane with support of the navy. With Copenhagen under siege Ulrika acted with unparalleled decisiveness ordering that no rebel be allowed to travel by sea while further north a the secondary army under General Axel Ulfeldt marched south to meet with General Niils and organize the relief of Copenhagen, whose walls were beginning to crumble.
Under the cover of night a force of 23,000 Scandinavians made their way to the capital. Inge was taken completely by surprise by the large army approaching him. Outnumbered he positioned himself into a strong defensive point. As the Scandinavians marched they found themselves unable to attack the rebels without incurring heavy losses. With neither side completely willing to attack the other, Inge settled in for a waiting game with the two generals. Both generals had differing views on how to handle the rebellion. Niils wanted to simply outlast the rebels as their supplies would almost certainly be gone by the end of the week. Axel however didn't want to wait for their food stores to run out because of the lesser rebellions running rampant up north in his absence. Eventually Axel won out and the two forces clashed not two miles from the capital. While Inge had the better position his force's moral was already a nonentity and was quickly overrun. He fled in the chaos to the Hansa leaving his cohorts at the mercy of the Regent.
Many of the nobility had never met the Regent. Or, when they had, it was only from a distance. Because of this they were inclined to believe the stories told to them by those that did meet with the Regent. At first these stories were believable and portrayed a very cold and very authoritarian Regent that ruled with complete impunity. As the stories evolved they became less believable, but having already succumbed to the previous hearsay they became convinced that Ulrika was a danger to Scandinavia and the young King. So when they were forced into a chamber inside the palace, many had expected that they would be summarily executed to pave the way to a cold dictator's reign. They were stunned by Ulrika's quiet and compassionate demeanor when she addressed the rebels. She spoke of their importance in the running and maintenance of the Empire. She gave every rebel the option to leave the palace unharmed and continue their former duties or to go into willful exile. She explained in great detail her decisions and why she made them. When she was finished a large number of them regretted and were ashamed of their actions. Some were unconvinced and left for more distant shores. Just days after putting the rebellion to an end Ulrika stepped down as regent and Karl became the official Emperor of Scandinavia.
While the rebellions would not stop for another decade, Emperor Karl's reign, and that of his brother Christian, would be increasingly quiet and inconsequential in the face of Scandinavian History. Nearing the turn of the next decade the rebellions finally stopped and with them the Long Night that spread across the northern lands came to a conclusion.
---
* Throughout history it was a common occurrence for the most prolific and most profound of enemies to any society to be used to scare children into doing what they were told. Pre-Enlightenment Europe was not exception.
** In spite of the relative acceptance towards Norwegians, Scandinavian politics are still populated by the Danes. As such pureblooded Danes have their own self important group to themselves where they hold a great deal of influence amongst the Danish court. They would be treated with scorn any where else. This rebellion was mostly by the Danish nobility and in the future the large number of noble families that did choose the second option and go into willful exile will have broken the back of the Danish nobility at the very heart of Scandinavia and the Danish capital itself of Copenhagen. In case any of you are scratching your heads and wondering why I'm writing some rather bigoted scenarios its not because I'm a Danish supremacist, its so that in later years the resolution between the Scandinavian peoples and the rise of mutual equality and respect amongst them will have more meaning. Its not a perfect agenda and probably isn't the most pleasant of things to read about, but for the most part the worst of it is over.
Not only is the Portrait of Ulrika that of the Swedish Regent and Queen Ulrika Eleonora you seem to have been quite inspired by her real life. She also abdicated but not for her brother but to her philandering husband Fredrik 1 of Hessen. A very good use of actual history for your purposes!
In the map above, What is the beige brown blob split all over eastern Europe? Just over Austria, Is it Bohemia?
In the map above, What is the beige brown blob split all over eastern Europe? Just over Austria, Is it Bohemia?