The Norwegian Empire

Chapter 1:

Prelude to War.

Year 1419 in Christiania. Norway is a vassal of Denmark and is a member of a military alliance between Denmark, Sweden and Norway. The King of Norway Sigurd III Jonsson summons his best military commanders to his castle in the capital of Christiania. They arrive the next day. Elseneur, Holstein and Aarhus are already aware of the king’s plans and they all agree to his plans of gathering Scandinavia under Norway. The ing and the commanders planed for 2 whole months. And on a beautiful summer morning they set out to start the training of a grand Norwegian Army.


Two years later the king got a message from Denmark. They planned to go to war against Holstein. The king was asked for a hasty answer. If Norway went to war against the entire Holstein alliance there was a chance of getting invaded. But he also knew that the Swedes did not like the Danes at all and that if they turned down the request for help they would be banned from the alliance. And this would leave Sweden open to an attack. The king thought about this for a while until he wrote a message back to Denmark telling them that Norway would help them. After a week the war was declared but the Swedes had turned the offer down and that they were banned from the alliance. As a gift to Norway Denmark cancelled the vassal agreement with Norway, giving them more freedom. Now the relations between Denmark and Norway were extremely good. The war versus Holstein raged for 3 years and finally Denmark was able to annex Holstein. During this time the Norwegian Army was still growing. Sweden had moved their entire army of 16 000 troops down to the southern parts of their country in fear of a Danish attack.


In July 1426 the Norwegian army prepared to attack. Sweden was totally unaware that a massive army was gathered at their borders. Elseneur and Aarhus planned to attack from Ostlandet and Holstein moved his troops up to Jamtland to spend the winter there. Sigurd was sitting in his castle. “Come March and we will launch this great and glorius war with all of our best troops and the world will witness Norways power. We will rise again…”

Chapter 2:

War

A man was riding through Sweden. His big black horse was running gallantly. The rider was wearing chainmail and black leather. His black hood hid his face. In his right hand he held a banner. It was red with a golden lion holding an ax. When he arrived in Stockholm he dismounted the horse and left the banner standing in the ground. He walked fast up to the castle and demanded to see the king. A messenger from Norway. He walked into the throne room were the Swedish king was playing with his son. When the messenger approached the king he took of his hood and kneeled before him. He handed the king a piece of paper and the messenger left the king immediately. As the messenger was about to leave the room he stopped and turned around. The king had read the paper and it fell out of his hands. His face was pale white and his hands were shaking. The messenger spoke with a low voice: “I am Elseneur, supreme commander of the Norwegian Army. You and me are now at war with each other. And Denmark has agreed to follow us. I will leave you now”.


And so it came to past that Elseneur came back to Ostlandet and led his army into Vestergotland. Aarhus left the same day with his army and followed the road to Bergslagen. After spending the winter in Jamtland, Holstein took his troops towards the province of Gastrikland. His plan was to go through Gastrikland and continue towards the capital of Sweden. 19 March 1427 king Sigurd stood on the balcony of his castle. “So it begins…” he whispered to himself. Three days later the entire Norwegian Army had crossed the border of Sweden. The Swedish army of 16 000 troops now faced an invading Norwegian Army that consisted of over 60 000 troops.


Elseneur with his army of 20 000 men marched for days without any sign of the enemy. But one morning a scout came back from the morning reconnaissance with news. “Sir, the enemy has camped just behind this hill. I think they are aware of our presence as well”. “Is that so” said Elseneur. An hour later the army moved out. They marched up the hill and after a while the Swedish war banner could bee seen. The banner came closer and 5000 Swedes came out of the morning fog. Elseneur fired a volley of arrows and hundreds of them fell to the ground. The Swedish commander launched a hopeless attack. They were quickly cut down by arrows, swords and spears form the Norwegian shield wall. The Swedish war banner was dropped and the heavy damaged army turned and fled. The next day the city was laid under siege by Elseneur and his army.


Aarhus encountered the enemy fast. Only two days after he had crossed the border he found the Swedes. There were 7000 of them. He caught them by surprise and was able to surround them and destroy the entire army leaving no one alive. And a week later the city was laid under siege.


Holstein encountered a small Swedish army in Gastrikland. 2000 Swedes lost their lives. Holstein marched unchallenged for an entire month until he finally stood face to face with the city of Stockholm.


King Sigurd decided that Sweden had fallen in only two months of fighting. The following year he sent in reserve armies into the area of Sweden called Finland to finish Sweden of for good.


Small military encounters were reported and cities fell for 4 years. Denmark had never moved their army in to help Norway. And Sigurd felt that the Danish king was a fool not to do so. “Well”, he said to himself “tomorrow the peace negotiations will begin and those will lead Norway into a position as the most powerful country in the north…”

Chapter 3

Peace

December 30 1431 was announced the day when day when Sweden fell. Sigurd and Elseneur summoned the Swedish King and his council to Christiania. The Norwegians had overrun Sweden and Norway controlled it all.


One week later the Swedish king and his council met Elseneur at the gate of the Norwegian castle. “We meet again” said Elseneur with an ironic voice. “Always a pleasure” replied the King behind his teeth. Elseneur smiled and led them to his king.


“Welcome to my humble home” said Sigurd when the company walked through the door into his throne room, were he and his son Hans I was talking to each other. “I bet you are all tired after the long journey, so I have arranged sleeping quarters for you. We can settle the issue later” said Sigurd happily. “No, we will settle it now” said the Swedish king strictly as if he was talking to his own son. Sigurd sat down on his throne and nodded in Elseneur’s direction. He pulled a piece of paper out of his cloak and handed it to Swedes. “Do what is best for your people” he said.


Nobody is quite sure what made the Swedes accept the Norwegian terms but the next day sigurd was given all the land he had asked for. Norway grew to include Smaaland, Vastergotland, Bergslagen, Gastrikland and Lappland. Sweden had been crushed.

Chapter 4

The Middle War Years


With the new land that Norway obtained in the war against Sweden gave the country better income and more military power. Sigurd and Elseneur became best friends but Elseneur caught the flu and died. A grand feast was held to honor his name and a statue was built of him and put in the front of the castle. The same year Sigurd opened the first military academy in Norway, the Elseneur Military Academy. Sigurd was very fond of Elseneur and he saw it as a great tragedy that he was dead. “We may never see anyone like him again”.


But Sigurd did not forget his dream. He decided that the only threat he faced was Denmark. He put down the map on the table over Scandinavia. “To prove myself I will lay down the strategy for war in Denmark Myself,” he said. “Our fleet is to small to compete with the Danish but not our army. According to military intelligence the Danish have an army of no more than 7000 men. We might be able to land forces in Gotland but not on the Danish peninsula. That is impossible. The country is a fortress all right. I need military access in Mecklemburg. I will send a large gift to them and ask them for military access. Skaane will be no problem.


And so it came to past that Mecklemburg granted the kingdom of Norway military access to their land. And Sigurd sent one of his best generals, Svendborg, down to Mecklemburg to prepare. He sent two other generals to Smaaland to attack Gotland and Skaane.

You are right, I am not playing with the beta patches. Just plain old, ordinary original EU 2!

Chapter 5

Final Victory


Denmark was foolish not to see were this was going. They were stupid enough to declare war on Mecklemburg. Norway declined the Danish request for help and the next day war was declared by Norway on Denmark.


Norwegian soldiers then marched into Skaane, landed in Gotland and swarmed into Holstein from Mecklemburg. Denmark was overwhelmed and their armies were destroyed quickly. Cities were laid under siege and the Danish king begged for mercy.


The war in Denmark was short. After two years of sieges Denmark surrendered. Sigurd was surprised that the Danish didn’t put up more of a fight than that. They agreed to give Norway Holstein, Skaane and Gotland in exchange for a 5 years truce.


Now all Sigurd had to do was to declare war on Sweden once again to take away their last recourses. Denmark would fall the same way. But Sigurd was old and on Christmas Day 1452 he died. His son Hans I then rose to the throne on January 3 1453. But Hans shared the same ideas as his father and he sweared on his grave that he would full fill his fathers dream…