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Emperor_krk

Mǎlum incarnatum
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Mar 4, 2006
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PROLOGUE

Members of the Polish Piast dynasty always were characterised by one feature: they had ambitions. Usually, these ambitions couldn't be fulfilled because of lack of money, power, influence, or just luck. Pomerania (or Pomorze in Polish) has since the 10th century been considered part of the Polish native lands. It was inhabited by Slavic peoples, including Pommeranians (Pomorzanie) in the lands east of the Oder river, and the Polabians: the Wieletes, the Rans, Obodrites, and some other, smaller tribes. Being one of the first areas of Polish expansion by Mieszko I, the prince of Poland who converted to christianity, Pommern has since then gone in and out of the hands of the Polish lords numerous times. Whenever it was conquered - or at least made to recognize Polish sovereignity - its dukes and counts (Piasts, Gryfites and others) always accentuated their land's separate character, and always maintained a vassal status - if needed, as vassals of Poland or the German Holy Roman Empire.

pomeraniaeducatustabulayn5.jpg

One could ask a question, what is Pomerania? Well, as shown on the map above, the lands, considered as Pomeranian, were concentrated around the Oder river. Ranging almost from the Hel peninsula to the east, to the
west the border was the lands of Mecklemburg, south of the Rugia island. The northern border was, of course, the Baltic Sea, and the southern - the lands between Neumark and Mittelmark, belonging usually to Brandenburg.

In 1419, Pomerania was pretty much the same as it used to be, and as - in our real life history - will be. My goal is, though, to expand as much as possible around the Baltic Sea region, which would mean:
-getting hold of the long lost (1309, to the Teutonic Order - before
that date the Pomorze Gdanskie, represented in-game by the province Pomerellen - was the vassal of Poland) city of Danzig;
-trying to expand westwards, to (if possible) seize the rich Hanseatic cities, especially Mecklemburg;
-taking a few provinces from Poland, with the help of Brandenburg, and then
-reclaiming Ukermark from those pesky Germans!
-AFAIK, there are some events connected with Denmark - will see if we
are able to use them to our advantage;
-achieving as much of the mentioned above before the year 1637, when
Brandenburg and Sweden partitioned Pomerania between themselves; I hope
I can make it till then: my anti-talent for writing and lack of patience
may destroy this AAR even before it will have realy begun.


Dreams of a Baltic state

Bogusław IX, the Prince of Pomerania, was bored. His rule has lasted a year already and as of yet absolutlely nothing has happened that would make his life interesting in any way. No wars in his region (well, yes, the Poles have the irritating habit of going to war against the Teutons almost every year, but that doesn't matter - everyone got used to that, and their petty conflicts never end despite Poland being quite a few times bigger and stronger than their German nemezis. If only WE were tu rule Poland instead of that filthy Lithuanian, Jogaila... Who invited him there, anyway? The throne in Kraków needs a Pole, not a convert pagan from the north... Even that lackwit, the Duke of Mazovia would be more suitable for that.) meant that his 8000 troops were standing in Stargard only or the sake of looking good. Even watching them manoeuver on the fields around the city bored Bogusław after a few months.

screensave8ys6.jpg


Wouldn't it be great to become King someday? Just imagine... His Majesty Bogusław IX, the King of Pomerania and... And...Damn. We don't own Anything else. Just this cold, forgotten and scarcely populated patch of terrain in central northern Europe. Piteous.

Bogusław wasn't stupid, although he wasn't a talented ruler. He knew that becoming a regional power will not come easily, and that he needs to wait for the situation to be more suitable for conquests...

***
Played just until 1421, as of yet - will play more tomorrow, and possibly - write. As you can see, I added a core on Danzig province - the reasons for it I have already explained: I just felt this little white shield with a red griffon on it would look very nice over there :).
Hope anyone reads this, and - if possible - likes this :).
 
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Good luck with this AAR. Will be interesting to see your progress on that map ( is it MyMap?). Possibly Poland would DoW Teutons, and you can grab Danzing then. :)
 
An occasion

What our princedom has never had yet is a fleet. This fact dawned on Bogusław during his monthly bath. The decision that came to his mind is quite predictable; he ordered to build a fleet. Thus in 1425 craftsmen from Stettin, Wolin and Swinoujscie - the three main cities of what we call Vorpommern started works on his first galleys, having built two of them by november 1426. Bogusław didn't really know what he would use these ships for - he had never waged a land war, not to mention a sea one. He was sure though that having a few galleys would be better than having none. In the meantime he sent quite a few merchants, of whom some were successful. After seeing, though, that the Centre of Trade in Mecklemburg was dirt poor (a 5th level merchant sent home no more than 4-5 ducats :/), he ordered a whole caravan to be sent to Praha, the capital of Bohemia. The city was one of the richest in central Europe and trying to establish trade factories in it seemed profitable. The caravan, packed mostly with wood products, grain and all sorts of textiles, actually was able to achieve quite a success in the Bohemian metropolis, doubling the profit from trade in Pomerania. What Bogusław hadn't thought of, though, was the problems with the new religious movement of some strange kind, the Hussites - present currently in Bohemia. The wars between those heretics and the righteous ruler of Bohemia - the Emperor Sigismund, destroyed all trade activity in the region (my merchants stayed on their very nice and just as profitable 3rd level for 2 months - after that they vanished completely, and I can't afford sending many more - they are 6d each :/).

In the past few years, there was quite a lot of movement around Bogusław's court: numerous diplomats from Poland, Lithuania, Teutonic Order and Denmark were coming to ask for military access through our princedom. All of these were denied - Bogusław felt this may be problematic if he was going to wage war against his neighbours at some time. He wanted to feel safe behind the forests and swamps of Eastern Pomerania.

1426 would be the year Bogusław will remember for the rest of his life - on January 28 Denmark declared war against his noble ally, the Elector Count of Brandenburg. The countries of the Kalmar Union promptly followed in issuing the same declaration, with Mecklemburg - the enemy of Denmark from just a year before - joining their alliance just a day later. Brandenburgians needed help, which they quickly received: Bogusław and the counts of Saxony and Würzburg, and the archbishop of Magedeburg declared war against the Kalmar Union. Bogusław was more than happy, seeing that the war Denmark had waged against Mecklemburg not so long ago resulted in Pomerania having a common border with their new enemy, in the province of Güstrow. He quickly ordered the ducal army to march from Stargard to siege Rostock, the small, but still most important city of Güstrow. It was defended by a small garrison of about two thousand Danish troops, who were easily defeated by the four times stronger Pomeranian army. Attempts at pushing them back were repelled with similar ease: the newly trained recruits from Rostock were no match for the well-paid Pomeranians. The siege continued...

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The Duke also ordered for 2'000 infantry and 1'000 cavalry to be recruited in the army's main draft point - Stargard in Hinterpommern. The detachment was ordered to attack the Danes occupying Vorpommern, but being led by an unexperienced commander Korycki they failed to fulfil the order and had to withdraw to Bandenburgian capital in Berlin.

Bad news dawned on Bogusław: a 5'000 strong Swedish army had made landfall and was besieging Stargard! He hoped Bandenburgians would come to help with their big armies with strong leaders, like Friedrich I.

It would prove not to be needed, when in 1427 the Danish king accepted a peace treaty with Brandenburg: Gustrow to Brandenburg (their damned leaders stole my siege after having annexed Mecklemburg. Damn. I have an ally I WILL have to beat sometime, but whose power is at least ten times greater than mine :()
screensave11kg9.jpg

The situation after the peace settlement
 
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thrashing mad said:
Good luck with this AAR. Will be interesting to see your progress on that map ( is it MyMap?). Possibly Poland would DoW Teutons, and you can grab Danzing then. :)
Thanks :). I somehow had that feeling that either you or some other Polish guy who comments in your great AAR would be the first person to comment mine :).

Aye, it is MyMAP - my favourite map mod. And yeah, Poland did DoW Knights of the Cross, but I didn't want to meddle in that conflict - I feared Jagiello would have stolen my siege :/.
 
First real success

Bogusław was truly outraged when he heard how his allies treated him. First, taking command in a siege his troops were maintaining, and then leaving us as weak as we had been before the war, with just one exception: Pomerania's treasury was much, much emptier. Bogusław's craving for success was so huge he didn't wait longer than a year, and in August of the year 1428 he decided to attack the Teutonic Order. The situation was much favourable, seeing that two of the Teutons' provinces were occupied by rebels. He raised the wages of his troops and ordered the, now strengthened, ducal army to siege the Hanseatic city of Gdansk (Danzig). At the same time the two ducal galleys were ordered into the sea for the first time. He decided as well not to call for his 'allies' who would certainly do the exact same thing as in the previous conflict.

declarationye6.jpg

In less than a month the siege of Gdansk began. Our troops blockaded the city, defended by a strong, 10'000-man garrison. The fleet stood on the waters of the Stettin Bay undisturbed until the first days of the new year (1429), when a single Teutonic warship attacked. Pomeranian sailors defeated them easily, which news Bogusław heard with much satisfaction. When later in the year the very same, 2 galley strong fleet, defeated 3 times the main bulk of the Livonian Confederation's fleet (ca. 10-12 ships, mostly warships and usually 1 or 2 galleys each time), Bogusław's astonishment couldn't be greater.

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Those news were, however, disturbed by the fact that the very same Livonian Confederation was able to transport some 4, and then another 3 thousand troops to siege Stargard. After some time they attacked our army in Pomerellen (Gdansk) with just four thousand men. Upon hearing this, Bogusław was relieved: such a ridiculously small force would surely not be able to defeat his (the odds were 4'000 against mine 11'000, defending marshes)! The next day, though, brought dire news: the army sieging Gdansk was somehow defeated!

ridiculousnl4.jpg

By September, the former siegers of Gdansk were trying to conquer the province of Kulmerland, defended again by 10'000 Teutons. Seeing that the Livonian army in Stargard was reinforced, and hearing that they were going to capture the city in very near time, Bogusław ordered to recruit more men in Stettin: 2'000 infantrymen were trained. During that time, the inevitable came: Stargard fell and the knightly forces occupying it set on their way to attack Stettin, defended by no more than 3'000 troops! Bogusław's court was ready to leave the city to seek safety in the lands of Brandenburg. He didn't need to flee though; his brave guards stopped the invasion during the Livonians' Oder crossing. The new recruits and the already battle-hardened troops were then ordered to take the long route across Brandenburgian lands, and to attack the Livonian army in Pommern from a more favourable position - the Neumark.

By January of 1430 Torun (Thorn), the capital of Kulmerland province, fell and the army was sent towards Koenigsberg, the capital of the Teutonic Order, where it was attacked by an equally strong (11'000 men) army of the Teutons. The German knights were dealt a stinging defeat, but many of the Pomeranian troops were lost in the winter-frozen forests of Prussia. The commander decided to withdraw to Torun, and then to Gdansk, where he would wait for reinforcements to arrive. In the meantime, the army sent to Stargard had defeated the Livonians, who fled towards - now emptied of any troops except for the city's garrison itself - Stettin. Bogusław had no time to prepare his escape from there and prayed that his capital would not fall to the Germans. He was relieved whenever he heard of his fleet's successes, and of the army's progresses in sieging Gdansk and retaking Stargard from the occupants.

haharh4.jpg

The glory of the Pomeranian Armed Forces

He sent numerous emissaries to the commanders of the Livonian armies, asking for a status quo peace, but each time he was rejected (despite my +7 war score :/). The same was the result of his envoys to the Teutons; when he demanded peace for the province of Gdansk, they would reject and propose a few ducats instead (of course I wouldn't accept! With a warscore of >20... Yeah, I know that Gdansk is worth exactly 20%, so what!?).

By August of 1431 Gdansk fell to the Pomeranians, and the troops who had taken it were directed to conquer Ermland. A 200'000 ducats loan was needed for the recruitation of more troops, as Pomerania's treasury grew emptier and emptier.
Bogusław, seeing that his city walls wouldn't hold much longer, sent a desperate order: assault the besieging Livonian forces as soon as possible! Pomeranian army in Stargard marched out, but its commander ordered it to use the longer path, to avoid attacking from behind a river and into marshes. His assault on the weakened (winter attrition :D) Livonian troops was an unquestionable success: their 5'000 men strong force was defeated, and the remnants were cut by rebel forces in Stargard (a rebellion had sprung out just after our army left Hinterpommern).

The rebels were dealt with later, in the first months of 1433. The siege of Ermland was ongoing for about a year already, but without much success. However, on April 17, an emissary from the Teutonic Grand Master was received in Stettin.

screensave31ig6.jpg

He bore a message from Paul Bellizer von Russdorf himself, who was asking for a peace treaty in return for the provinces of Kulmerland and Pomerellen. Bogusław was more than happy to accept this offer; he knew of unrest among the populace of his principality due to war exhaustion, moreover, those two provinces were much more than he'd expected when de had been declaring this war!

At last, Pomerania was starting to become a considerable power in the region, and did no more have to fear all invasions from even the smallest of its neighbours.

***
So, what I have achieved during this update is:
-a loan, due in 1437 - hopefully I can repay it without much problem
-Kulmerland and Pomerellen, two german (therefore, my national) cultured provinces
-tax collectors in both new provinces.

bigswedenno6.jpg

This is just a pic I found I need to share with you: Sweden after having force-annexed Novgorod (I take colonies don't count as full provs here)


Hope you like what you have read :).
 
Man i`m starting to regret that i didn`t convert my AAR-CK game to MyMap, it`s so good looking, detailed and historical.

Nice progress, in one moment I thought that you`ll loose that war. What`s next - finishing off Teutons?

Good work, keep it up, i`m sure more comentAARs would come, so don`t get discouraged. :)
 
thrashing mad said:
Good work, keep it up, i`m sure more comentAARs would come, so don`t get discouraged. :)
I'm definitely not going to ;). Of course, a few commentAARtors would be nice here, but I haven't deserved that yet - in contrary to your truly magnificent Polish AAR.
Man i`m starting to regret that i didn`t convert my AAR-CK game to MyMap,
Well, after you finish with EU3, Vicky and HoI2 you can always have a go at that, don't you? ;)
And yeah, MyMap is so detailed and just looks beautiful. I barely play vanilla anymore because of that :).
fingal said:
Looks like Bandenburg may cause some problems in the west...
Very nice to have you on board. Yeah, BRA is definitely going to be a problem. Hopefully I can maintain good relations with them long enough... And hopefully the two killer alliances (Poland-Kalmar Union and TO-Lithuania :/) dissolve in any near future...

Update due probably later today :).
 
Boredom... And troubles.
Having signed the very satisfying peace deal with the Teutonic Order, Bogusław ordered for tax collectors to be hired in Gdańsk and Toruń. Much needed peace was used for repaying the loan taken in 1432 (needed to mint for that though :/).

loanfw1.jpg

For a blessed period of seven years absolutely nothing happened. Bogusław's main concern was, who would succeed as the duke of Pomerania after his death? He was unlucky in his marriage with the daughter of Siemowit IV of Masovia: he didn't have any male heirs, only two daughters: Sophie (Zofia) and Alexandra. The former was engaged to his far relative, Erich (Eryk), the prince of Wologoszcz - a part of Bogusław's domain. He decided that the best heir to the ducal throne would be Eryk, whom he designated as heir in 1437.

screensave5ze6.jpg

Not long after that did an end come to these happy times: in December 1440 the Elector of Brandenburg, Bogusław's ally, declared war against their common neighbour: Poland. Bogusław was happy to hear that: if he had the chance to acquire some Polish land, it would be only better. He ordered for his small (at least compared to ca. 30-40k of his allies') force to besiege Poznań, the capital of the province of Wielkopolska (Polonia Maior) and the seat of the bishop. When he was informed that the bulk of Brandenburgian and Saxonian (also allied) armies were directed samewise, the commander of the Pomeranian troops was sent with his force towards Sieradz (Syradia province). What he noticed too late, though, was the massive (ca. 31'000) Polish Common Movement (Pospolite Ruszenie), gathered in Cujavia. Knowing about the much smaller Pomeranian force, the Poles attacked and annihilated them easily.

screensave8ls4.jpg

Bogusław was devastated upon hearing of that defeat; he lacked the funds needed for recruitation of more troops, and a big Dane force was reported besieging Gdańsk. At the same time dire news of another large invasion came, this time from the northwest - luckily enough, at first against Mecklemburg, owned by Brandenburg, but if the Swedes occupied it, who knew, where they would go afterwards? In order to organize some sort of defense, Bogusław ordered for more money to be minted; he knew of the consequences of such a move, like devaluation of coin, but on the other hand he knew that loss of land to anyone would mean loss of prestige and political weakness of the state - and this was the last thing he wanted.

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After some time Bogusław was able to recruit a larger force, this time about 15 thousand men. He sent them against Poznań again, seeing that both his allies' and Polish forces were engaged in fighting elsewhere. Having destroyed the small force defending it, his commanders were able to quite quickly take the province and were sent to Cujavia. The siege was going well, but at the same time the Poles attacked Poznań and were able to retake it just before Brześć Kujawski fell to Pomeranians. All these efforts brought us nothing; Bogusław didn't want just money in return, his ambitions were to take Wielkopolska - this wasn't possible though (WS about +20%, Wielkopolska though is worth quite a lot and Poles didn't want to hand it to us :/)

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From time to time Bogusław would recruit some more men and send these detachments to strengthen the main force. Unfortunately, lots of Swedish, Danish and Polish warbands seemed to be running like wild in all directions, destroying most of these small forces on their way (no, not just defeating. You heard well. Destroying them:/). The hecticness of these times resulted in Bogusław accidentally signing a petition for redress some peasants from Wolin had come with; this caused much unrest (-4 stability hit, but still the centralization is worth that :)) among the nobles. The war was, though, enough for them and didn't feel the urge to revolt against the ducal power.

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Yeah...

Luckily, on March 4 of the year of Our Lord 1446 this war came to an end - at last the Brandenburgians paid for their arrogance (peace with the alliance leader - Denmark - for some ducats).

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Pomerania was weaker after this conflict: the inflation has gone up to 5.5% as no money was directed into research of new technologies; the provinces were destroyed and famine was looming upon Pomeranians, as all the crops were destroyed by the ravaging Danes. Bogusław was hoping that the peace would be a long-lasting one, but apparently the Elector of Brandenburg needed some sort of revenge after the defeat the Kalmar Union and Poland had dealt him; he caused a scandal by insulting the count of Hesse, who in turn declared war against Brandenburg just four months after signing the peace treaty in Lubeck. Bogusław decided to answer the call to arms from his allies despite the needlessness of this war. Pomerania though was not going to participate in it in any way. In such a situation, after his twenty-eigth year of rule, on 7 December, 1446, Bogusław IX has left the world. The ducal throne in Pomerania was ascended by Eryk, the husband of Bogusław's daughter Zofia.

diplomatictw1.jpg

***
Another update, as you see :). Hope you'll like it.
 
Game seems to be rather hard now. You should try to create your own alliance instead of one with those annoying Brandenburgians.
 
Mmm, I am tempted to say that perhaps you should consider switching sides. See if you can get in an alliance with the Poles.
 
thrashing mad - you're right, despite my playing this on, if I remember well, easy/normal settings (me=not so much of a good player).

stnylan - thinking about this, both of you are right. There is a problem though: my relations with the Poles are really ugly (ca. -140) and I lack the cash to bribe... I mean, improve them :).

Thanks for commenting :). I have played till 1474 and will write a new update tomorrow.
 
More wars​

Eryk, the new Duke of Pomerania, Count of Kulmerland and Burmistrz (Burgmeister, Mayor) of the Polish city of Gdańsk (as he wanted to be titled), descended from a germanized branch of the Gryfites, the family ruling both parts of Pomorze since the 12th century. He was brought up in the court of the Elector Count of Brandenburg, which made him a man of high culture, good administrator and a strong politician. His relations with the Brandenburgians were quite good - until he was designated as the heir of Pomerania. Counts of Brandenburg had hoped that they would be able to acquire lands from the Duchy after the death of Bogusław IX. Therefore, upon ascending the throne, Pomerania's relations with Brandenburg began to worsen, moreso with the lack of action by Pomeranian armies against their common enemies in the south.

screensave0qn2.jpg

AI behaving stupidly, sitting in a province waiting for the enemy (Berg here) to annex a one-province allied minor.

The first years of Eryk's rule were very calm: the war in the south progressed without any invasions from his enemies' side: Brandenburg and Saxony attacked Meissen and Hesse, but without much success. Eryk hoped that the count of Hesse would agree for a white peace (Pomeranian forces weren't engaged in the conflict in any way), but he didn't - for quite a long time, actually. Despite there were no battles on Pomeranian soil, the population grew weary of the conflict (Revolt Risk of up to 8% in Kulmerland) - something Eryk considered at least disturbing. Luckily only one revolt erupted, in a few towns near Stargard. It was, however, quite quickly put down.

In 1452, the count of Hesse agreed to sign a peace treaty; he understood that Eryk doesn't want any hostilities between Pomerania and Hesse. The next few years went by without many events of note, except for unprovoked revolts in both parts of Pommern. At some point a notification was received in Stettin that Bohemia has become part of our alliance. It was good news: our relations with the Bohemians improved. Moreover, our merchants were safer on the roads to the rich Centre of Trade in Praha and our trading post there was becoming more and more meaningful and sent home more and more goods and money.

In the very same year 1452, the King of Poland signed some privileges for his Nobles. Eryk, the Duke of Pomerania, was thinking of a way to appease the Polish population inside our borders. Therefore, he allowed the Polish-speaking part of Gdańsk's citizens opened a big trade outpost in the city, at first mostly for use by Poles, but after some time it became a Centre of Trade. The significant growth of Gdańsk's population and the product exchange has greatly increased our income from the city, effectively more than doubling our monthly tax income.

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The growth, however, of Brandenburg was becoming more and more disturbing. The war against Hesse brought them no territorial gains, but in 1458 the Elector ordered for the Archbishop of Magdeburg, a vassal of Brandenburg, to be assasinated. The turmoil afterwards was used by our traitorous ally to incorporate the whole domain of Magdeburg, together with the well-populated and rich city itself, into Brandenburg.

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Eryk I was becoming of age, but - in contrary to his predecessor - he had a male heir, of the same name. Eryk II was not a very good administrator, but proved himself a capable leader early in the war against Meissen and Hesse (he, like his father, was brought up in Berlin; during the war he commanded some Brandenburgian units). He ascended the throne on 17 June 1459, upon his father's death. He was an ambitious man, and wanted to continue the expansion started by his father's father-in-law, Bogusław IX: Eryk II intended to attack the Teutonic Order and expand further into its territories. There was one problem about that, though; a very strong alliance existed between both Orders (the southern one and the Livonian Brotherhood) and Lithuania, now independent from Polish influence.

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Eryk was more than happy to know though, that the alliance was to dissolve in 1461: he won't have to wait long with declaring the war. He gathered the army in Kulmerland and, just a few days after the end of the threatening alliance, issued the order to march into Prussia, to besiege the capital city of Königsberg. The small defending force was annihilated easily, and a detachment was sent to Kleinlitauen to avoid the strengthening of the Teutonic army by recruiting more troops in that isolated province. The remnants fled to Ermland, where a new Teuton army was forming. The siege of Preußen was progressing well, and after Königsberg fell, Eryk's force continued on to Kleinlitauen to siege its forts.

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The Teutonic Order's vassal, the Livonian Confederation entered the war on their overlord's side a few months after Eryk's declaration of war; thankfully, Lithuania didn't do the same at all. After one-and-half a year of struggle against the Teutons, blood-freezing news arrived: Poland, allied with Austria and Hungary declared war upon Pomerania! We called for the help of Bohemia, Saxony and Brandenburg, which we thankfully received. However traitorous and expansionist the latter would be, it's good to have them on our side... For some time yet, at least. Meanwhile, as it had happened in the previous war against them, a strong (about 10'000 men) Livonian force started to siege the city of Gdańsk - the richest in our domain.

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Looks like it will be problematic

Eryk II decided to react to neither the invasion of the Poles nor of the Livonians; his primary goal was to humiliate the Teutonic order. Moreover, he hoped that the harsh winter would at least weaken the Livonian forces in Gdańsk. After taking control of Kleinlitauen (Small Lithuania), Eryk amassed all his troops (ca. 18'000)near Königsberg, from where he would attack the 12'000 strong Teutonic force in Ermland.

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The battle was a great success, resulting in routing the German knights and making it possible to begin the siege of the last unoccupied Teutonic Order's city - Elbląg (Elbing). At the same time, the Livonians finally took control of Gdańsk. After that, they attacked the Pomeranian force, gathered near Stargard, defeating them. Eryk's troops occupied Ermland, and he issued a peace treaty proposal to the Grandmaster of the Teutonic Order: They would give up Ermland and become our vassals; moreover, they would have to pay 200'000 ducats in indemnities. This was, however, rejected.

The reason for this was progress, made by the Livonian Knights: they had taken another province of ours, this time Hinterpommern. Their attack on Stettin, however, was repelled, and a counter-attack was made, which defeated their army in Stargard. At the same time Eryk sent diplomats to the King of Poland, asking him for peace: no battles were fought between Poland and Pomerania, and remaining in a state of war seemed pointless. The King agreed to a white peace. Pomeranian forces started to retake lost ground, capturing Stargard and Gdańsk by 1467. After that the Teuton Grandmaster saw he was in no position to defy our claims anymore. He accepted the peace on conditions proposed some time earlier, thus becoming a vassal of Pomerania and giving up Ermland.

my.php

In such a way the Six Years War against the Teutonic Order has ended. The war between the Polish and Brandenburgian alliances (minus Pomerania) lasted until 1468 and ended without any border changes: Brandenburg had to pay 122'000 ducats. Just a few months after that Brandenburgians felt confident enough to annex their another vassal, Saxony.

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Hey, it's just to easy for them! :mad:

No more events of note happened during Eryk's reign. His troops were trained better and better (LT level 3) and stability of the state was achieved. On July 6, 1474, Eryk II passed away, leaving the ducal throne to his son, Bogusław X.

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Times of troubles... For our enemies

***
For some reason one of the images is displayed only as a link... Sorry for that. I hope everything is understandable, I have the impression that I write quite chaotically.
 
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Wedged inbetween Brandenberg and Poland-Lithuania, it makes me wonder if you shouldn't start to consider Scandinavian ventures as well. Your coastal strip does look rather precarious compared to the inland behemoths.
 
I'd say conquer Brandenburg now before they can get too much stronger.

:looking for popcorn: :)
 
Nice AAR! Would never dream to get that far as Pomerania myself ;) And Mymap sure is beautiful!!

According to your last pic, Brandenburg looks very strong...be careful with them!! You might want to wait switching sides. To forge an alliance with the Poles is hard and dangerous work, and while you're still building up power, stability is what you need.

For countries like Brandenburg, the sun will set sooner or later. My advice: Switch sides when the tide has turned for Brandenburg. An alliance with the Scandinavians then is a good option, but I agree that, on the long run, an alliance with Poland is best.

Good luck
 
stnylan - there is nothing here currently like Poland-Lituania, thankfully. They hate each other (-200 relations all the time) and are in separate alliances.
My strategy right now is to not conquer any non-countrycultural provinces: I don't want my stab and tech costs to skyrocket, so no Scandinavian or Teutonic conquests in the near future (Teutons have right now only baltic provinces left, and others... You will see in the next update :) ).
In addition, all these countries (POL, BRA, DEN, SWE, LIT) all get in huge alliances all the time which discourages me from even thinking of attacking them. Those >50 thousand stacks of troops Brandenburg owns too don't look encourageing... :(

CatKnight - they are right now, like, 5 times stronger than me already so whatever I would do, conquering them right now seems quite undoable. :(

samsonov13 - as above, not the former not quite doable.

Next update hopefully later today, if I get the vein for writing :).
Thanks to all for reading and commenting :).
 
Brandenburg should be kinda hated now, so I think that you could be able to deal with them later while they'll be occupied with Polish or even Austrian enemies, or with a coalition of minors.
Also, watch out for everyone. IMO you are still a bit unstable with the Poles on one side, Brandenburg on the other (even if they are an ally) and the Scandinavians just on the other side of the Baltic.
Also, in my opinion, when (if :D ) Poland and Lithuania merges, they will be much stronger than they already are. Therefore, you may want to bolster up relations with the Poles before that, or weaken them via war. (both are difficult though :eek: )