Chapter 14, Part II
As the reign of Albrecht Achilles began, the number of German pretender states had been somewhat reduced. There were still too many for his liking, and still too many for German stability. Still, in 1470, Brandenburg rested.
The nation was facing stability problems as the new king centralized his power. And, perhaps more importantly, in the eyes of the world, Brandenburg had sinned. It is reasonable to suppose that only the strength of the Frederick Alliance kept other powers from attacking the enlarged Brandenburg. But for Brandenburg and the Frederick Alliance, the peace held. For others, however, dark coulds were looming.
Indeed, in 1471, a tremendous war broke out between Austria, Baden, Bohemia and Wurtemburg against Helvetia, Mainz, Cologne, Kleves, Hessen and Milan. As this war raged, Brandenburg and her allies kept to the side. Soon enough the war ended with the outright annexation of Helvetia by Austria. Following up her victory of 1473, Austria also persuaded Baden to join that realm. In 1481, Wurttemburg followed suit and became a part of Austria.
While Austria consolidated her new holdings, an event occured that would charge the sleeping Brandenburg giant and unleash more than a decade of war in Germany. In January of 1475, the Elector of Munster, confident of his place in an alliance with the then powerful England, spit on the visiting nephew of an important Brandenburger noble, Bernard von Klingen, and sent the lad home with a purse of one gold ducat to salve his honor. Albrecht's nobles demanded that honor be paid. Albrecht agreed and let loose the dogs of war; England joined their ally, Munster. Albrecht, considering this a matter of honor and not of war, left his allies and vassals at home. The Brandenburg army went forth in March of that year to restore honor, and soon put Munster and Oldenburg to the torch. By May, Oldenburg was under siege and in June Munster followed suit.
Defeating all relieving armies, Albrecht was able to conquer Oldenburg and Munster by February of 1477. Munster was annexed immediately, and every member of her nobility was stripped of all lands, titles and monies save one gold ducat. The Elector, meanwhile, was drowned in a cesspool of spit and urine donated by the conquering Brandenburg army. Albrecht named von Klingen to rule Munster, and so he did -- with an iron fist. The war with England continued as an ineffectual, inconclusive affair until 1479, when England acknowledged her defeat with a token payment of 50,000 gold ducats.
During the Spitting War, as it has become known, the oppressed Poles of Krakow rebelled against their Teutonic masters. After going alone for a time, the rebels conferred and agreed to petition Albrecht of Brandenburg in 1476. Surpised that the Poles would voluntarily join his realm, Albrecht accepted them and set out to bring order to the province. The fortress was improved and taxes were levied in the reasonably fair Brandenburger method.
Thus from 1477 through 1492, all was quiet in Germany. Only diplomatic activity occurred among the German states as this period of calm and stability ruled for a change. It was not to last.
In 1492, Europe exploded into the 9-Years War. France drew in her allies -- Scotland, Bremen, Strassburg and Aragon -- and declared war on England and her alliance of Austria, Bohemia, Kleves, the Palatinate. As with any war during this time between France and England, it was over the "rights" of the French King. In reality, France wanted some lands England controlled and fabricated a legal pretext. This war opened with several German states against one another in a war that had nothing to do with Germany. As ever, though, the kings and dukes were willing to sacrifice blood and treasure in the attempt to expand their lands. The Palatinate scored the first and only major success in the German theatre of the war when she annexed Strassburg in 1493 and made peace. Austria and the rest of the small German states began settling down to talk peace when out of the blue, Bavaria declared war on Bohemia and both sides called their allies.
Brandenburg debated sitting out the war, but in the end, the tradition and effectiveness of the Frederick alliance weighed on Albrecht, and he joined his alliance in the war. Still, he limited his war against Bohemia at the beginning, hoping for a quick resolution. But this was not to be. With the powerful alliances of Frederick (Brandenburg, Bavaria, Mecklenburg, Wurzburg and Saxony) and England/Austria (Austria, Bohemia, England, Kleves and the Palatinate) fighting while the Austrian alliance was embroiled against France and her allies, all of Western and Central Europe was aflame. Even Scandinavia and the remnants of the Hanseatic Alliance were fighting. Only Italy and Poland were quiet.
The year 1495 saw Bavaria under siege from Austria and Bohemia. Seeing the danger, Brandenburg moved two armies into Moravia and Bohemia proper. Albrecht began conquering the provinces and in the process defeated two Bohemian armies trying to relieve the pressure. Despite the repeated offers of a separate peace from the friendly monarchs in Bohemia and Austria, Brandenburg stuck to the war -- because in the summer of 1495, Austria annexed Brandenburg's vassal, Wurzburg. Albrecht was said to go into a rage, killing the messenger, his second son, and he was clearly limited in his faculties for the rest of the year. Nonetheless orders went out immediately (though illegibly), and more troops were levied. After they were raised, they were sent to liberate Wurzburg.
The Frederick alliance scored a quick revenge when Mecklenburg annexed Austria's vassal Kleves in the fall of 1495. With this annexation, Hesse, who had previously sat out, entered the war on Austria's side, adding more fuel to the fire. The new Brandenburger army, levied in response to the annexation of Wurzburg, moved south in late 1495 and laid siege to Wurzburg. That summer, the city fell and Brandenburg took possession of the fortress. After the success in Wurzburg, Mad Albrecht was crazed enough to try and buy Hesse out of the war. Sure enough he bribed his 3rd cousin in Hesse to sit out the war for 75,000 ducats.
Things were balanced in the war as the year 1495 ended and victory could go either way. 1496 was a year of battle and recuperation. Austria was defeated and nearly exhausted and Brandenburg was sieging castles. In April of 1496, Prague fell and the deadlock broke. Moravia held out longer, but capitulated in February of 1497. With the capture of the Bohemian territories, this member of the Austrian alliance could no longer build troops and was effectively defeated.
Austria showed great resilience, however, and managed to take back Sudeten from Bavaria in the Spring of 1497. Albrecht, cleared of his rage, sent two armies in and defeated the Austrians and annihilated them as they attempted to retreat. Leaving the remnants of the Bavarian army to retake the castle, Albrecht moved south. Claiming that his rage had given him clarity, Albrecht directed that an invasion of Austria take place. Striking fast and hard, the Austrians were defeated in Ostmarch. In August of 1497, a siege commenced.
Meanwhile, Mainz, of her own volition, widened the war in Germany with her attack on the Palatinate. Austria and Bohemia both declared war, while the exhausted England bowed out of the alliance. Mainz effectively took the Palatinate out of the war, and greatly aided the Frederick alliance, even though she wasn't a part of the alliance. Austrian generals could never decide whether to attack Mainz or not. In addition, Bohemia accepted a peace proposal from Bavaria and the Frederick alliance. The peace awarded 275,000 ducats to Bavaria and Moravia to Brandenburg. With this peace, the pendulum had swung heavily in favor of the Frederick alliance.
But, the war had a lot of fight left in it. As Brandenburg sieged Ostmarch, Austria struck at Wurzburg and defeated the holding force in place. June of 1498 saw both Ostmarch and Wurzburg fall. Later that year, the armies of Austria were defeated and forced to retreat by a reinforced Brandenburg army, and Austrians were again defeated trying to relieve the city in December of 1498.
After conquering the province of Ostmarch, that army wasn't resting on its well-deserved laurels. After different detachments had taken Bohemia, Moravia, and Ostmarch and defeated two Bohemian and three Austrian armies, it combined and moved against Vienna. Defeating the Austrians again in battle, they began the siege in July of 1498 and with little fanfare the army began reducing the vaunted fortress.
In 1499, a new Marshal was named by a new King. Casimir, the commander of the undefeated Brandenburg army was promoted, by Joachim I Nestor, and he gave the army a new name for their bravery. "The Undefeated," for their uninterrupted string of victories added one more, when they captured Vienna in August. Looting the city, they found important documents in the Palace that were rushed back to Berlin. In addition, the siege of Wurzburg ended as the Austrians were starved out in September.
Casimir and the Undefeated moved next to Salzburg. After the fall of Austria, the peace negotiations began in earnest. Austria offered Ostmarch and Wurzburg, Brandenburg declined. Brandenburg demanded Wurzburg and 200,000 ducats. Austria refused. Austria offered Ostmarch and Wurzburg, Brandenburg again declined. Brandenburg demanded Wurzburg, but again Austria declined and refused to allow Brandenburg to accept anything less than Ostmarch and Wurzburg, which King Joachim eventually accepted the Treaty of Vienna on December 13, 1499.
Though the war was over for Brandenburg, it wasn't over for Bavaria. Austria, though exhausted and beaten, was determined to extract its pound of flesh for this costly war. They forced the proud Bavarians to give up Nuremburg and the province of Ansbach on January 15, 1500.
Later that year, disappointed with the actions of his vassals in Saxony, Joachim confronted them about their performance in the war. In a heated discussion Joachim gave Saxony a choice: become a part of Brandenburg, or be booted from the alliance and attacked by Casimir and the Undefeated. They chose annexation and on June 13, 1500, were formally incorporated into the realm.
Bohemia, meanwhile, never let go of the war against Mainz, and annexed them on February 10, 1501, thus finally ending the 9-Year War.
After the war, and the gaining of new possessions, Joachim determined that it would be wise to rest and recuperate for sime time. He worked to stabilize his realm and despite a bout of insanity -- something that seemed to plague the Hohenzollerns -- he managed to do so. While insane, Joachim observed Austria vassalize Cologne and Bohemia and decide to counter with the annexation of Bavaria and an end to the Frederick alliance.
In 1516, on August 3rd, a new alliance was formed: the Greater German alliance. It included Brandenburg, Austria, Bavaria and Hesse. In September, feeling secure in the new alliance, and with the future of Brandenburg, Bavaria elected to become a part of Brandenburg. The next three years were spent in improving the infrastructure and stability of the newly enlarged realm.
As this hundred year period drew to a close, the number of German states had been reduced to 11. There were three dominant German states -- Austria, Brandenburg and Holstein. Austria had been a dominant German state previously, and Holstein was barely holding on to such a designation after the disastrous wars of its neighbors gave them a legitimate reason to join a wealthier power.
But the rise of Brandenburg, a small power surrounded by enemies and petty kings, is unprecedented in the world's history through this time. In one hundred years, Brandenburg had enlarged itself nearly eight-fold times and had swallowed the realms of Madgeburg, Hannover, Munster, Saxony, Wurzburg and Bavaria. It had twice humbled Bohemia and had taken four-fifths of her land. Brandenburg had taken Vienna, humbled Austria and forced serious concessions in the peace. And, after the victory, forged an alliance with the beaten German powers to dominate Central Europe and the Holy Roman Empire. And all this came from the vision of a petty King, Frederick I, when he assembled a strong, central German alliance among Saxony, Bavaria, Wurzburg, Brandenburg and, later, Mecklenburg.
In a celebration commemorating Brandenburg's first victory over Bohemia, Joachim Nestor named his ancestor Frederick the Farsighted, and history has seen fit to accept that title as apt for a King who did so much to unify Germany.
I've only played through about 1475, and I can only play a little at a time, so this will take a while. Please be patient. Eventually, I will post some screenshots.
