The History of Lithuania

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History of Lithuania: late medieval period
Part I - Prelude to war



Grand Duke of Lithuania Vytautas the Great


Grand Duke of Poland Wladyslaw Jagiello

The struggle for freedom against the Teutons was a long and bloody one that lasted from the 13th century to the early 15th century. The struggle showed both the cruelty of the Christian crusaders fighting for the Lord to “civilize” these pagan lands and the Polish and Lithuanian people’s cruelty, born a hatred and revenge against people whom would enslave them. These wars and struggles against the Order produced many Polish and Lithuanian heroes. The greatest of them where the Grand Duke of Poland, Wladyslaw Jagiello, and his cousin the Grand Duke of Lithuania, Vytautas the Great.

The Teutonic Knights achieved excellent diplomatic relations with other western countries, and developed a particularly good relationship with the papacy. They seemed destined to control and occupy the whole of Eastern Europe, and acted under a commission signed by the Pope, ordering them to Christianize the pagan lands in the Baltic Region. No matter how they behaved, they could always claim that they acted under Papal authority, and with the approval of God Himself.

Their first Christianizing mission in the 13th century involved the Prussians, a tribe which controlled the amber trade along the Baltic. The Teutonic knights dealt with them in a most effective way: they eliminated them almost completely. Those who remained alive were forbidden to marry so that no further Prussian children would be forthcoming. Centuries later, when Prussia was a proud and famous name among Europeans, there was hardly a true Prussian alive, and the archaic Prussian language slowly died out under Teutonic occupation.

Every time Polish or Lithuanian land was captured, the population was massacred, and Germans were brought to live in the captured lands. For example, in 1308 when the knights marched on Gdansk singing "Jesu Christo Salvator Mundi" they killed most of the Polish citizens, about ten thousand in number, and replaced them with German immigrants, who gave them full allegiance. That same year the biggest, most powerful fort in Europe was finished, Malbork - built by the Knights in the occupied Prussian area.

Well-armed knights from France, England, Luxembourg, Austria, Hungary, Bohemia and the Low Countries arrived every year to participate in "Lithuanian Crusades". Although these mercenaries were never allowed to become full members of the Teutonic Order, they were granted an honorable affiliation, and fought alongside the Teutonic Knights. For two centuries, the Crusaders attacked, but the Lithuanians resisted hard.

In 1385 Lithuania entered into a union with the Polish Kingdom and the following year The Grand Duke of Lithuania, Vladyslav Jogaila, married the Queen of Poland and acceded to the Polish throne. He became a Christian, and changed his name to Wladyslaw Jagiello.

Jagiello brought Christianity to the last pagan European country, Lithuania in 1387. It was understood by both nations that only by uniting, could they handle the powerful Knights. It was obvious that war could not be avoided between the two enemies.

In 1401 Jagiello left the title of Grand Duke of Lithuania to his cousin Vytautas the Great, so that he (Jagiello), could be free to concentrate on Polish affairs.

There was peace for a time after the union of Lithuania and Poland, but in 1398 the Teutonic knights invaded Lithuanian and Polish territory, and occupied the areas of Zemaitija (Zmudzi), Santok, and Drezdenko.The Polish-Lithuanian State considered Zemaitija to be part of its own territory, of course, and a cold war started between the Polish-Lithuanian State and the Teutonic Order.

Game starts

The Poles and Lithuanians knew that peace with the Teutonic Order would be short lived as the knights would inevitably descend into Lithuania again. On March 1, 1419 Grand Duke Vytautas called a conference with the Grand Duke of Poland, Wladyslav Jageillo to be held in Lutsk, a river port in the Ukraine near Keiv. The topic of discussion was the growing Teutonic menace.

It had been 8 years after the battle of Grunwald, where 28,000 Crusaders and their helpers including the Grand Master of the Order, Ulrich von Jungingen had been slain and over 20,000 Poles, Lithuanians, and their allies had died to save their beloved homeland from the barbarian Crusaders. As a result of this battle, a peace treaty was signed giving Lithuania some territory, but the fortress of Malbork remained.

The Order had been strengthening their positions and enlisting aid from members of the Holy Roman Empire. While the Order did not have the full support of the Emperor, they did form an alliance with Bremen, Holstein, Mecklenburg, Pommern and their Prussian vassals. This alliance worried Vytautas and Jageillo because and would lead to another crusade against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

It was decided at the conference that war was inevitable and that Poland-Lithuania should strike against the Teutonic Order before their preparations where complete. At the end of the conference Jagiello said: "Next year we either conquer the Crossed Knights or we perish as a nation, and as individuals.” It was decided that war would be declared next spring, in April 1420.

Diplomatic efforts where underway almost immediately after the conference as the leaders knew that they would need support from neighboring nations against the Crusaders, they set out on the task of gathering support and to try to make a new alliance similar to the one in the battle of Grunwald. Unfortunately, the member nations of the old alliance where not interested in forming another alliance against the Crusaders. The monarchs relieved that they would be alone against the Order and its alliance.

The diplomatic efforts where not in vain though, as most nations where sympathetic to the Polish-Lithuanian cause. This brought the crowns of Bohemia and Hungary closer to the Lithuanian crown as Vytautas married a daughter to the Hungarian king, Zsigmond and the marriage of his cousin and Jagiello’s brother, Zawisza Czarny to a Bohemian princess.

Royal Marriage to Hungary and Bohemia

This marriage did not last long as the Hussites took over Bohemia on 8/17/1419 and Zawisza and his wife fled to Krakow.

Hussites take over Bohemia, Bohemia converts to Protestant

On April 2, 1420, Jageillo declared war on Prussia and Lithuania joined the war against Prussia, the Teutonic Order, Mecklemberg, Holstein, Pommern and Bremen. It was decided that the Lithuanians would concentrate on the Order and that Poland would focus on the Prussians and keep the other allies from coming to the Order’s aid.

Lithuania at the time had three armies in the field, the Lithuanian Army numbering 16,000 infantry and 12,000 cavalry, the Belgorad Regiment, numbering 18,000 infantry and 12,000 cavalry, and the Second Lithuanian Army, numbering 12,000 infantry and 3,000 cavalry which was kept in reserve. The Lithuanian’s equipment and training better than during the last war, but still it was vastly inferior to the Order. The other problem that faced the Lithuanians was that they did not have the gifted military leaders that the Order had.

Next installment soon, war begins!

Originally posted by Phalanx
Don't worry about originality, besides textbooks are funny. It should be more interesting since you have a human with you. Good luck.

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Thanks for the encouragement, much appreciated.

Thanks for the kind words. I was unsure about the blue text, how about green or purple?

I wanted to present a struggle for independence against foreign invadors, and to show the brutality and hatred between the two nations. Knowing some of the history I am surprised that Lithuania does not start out with a CB, but Poland does. I'm not sure about the colors, let's try a few....cyan, pink, yellow, brown. What do you think is easiest to read?

Yellow it is then!

Part 2- The War of Revenge

Part 2 - The War of Revenge



Battle of Riga: May 12th, 1420

The war that began on April 2, 1420 against the Order and its allies was one of revenge and brutality. The Lithuanians and Polish people where hungry for revenge against the Order and it’s vassals for hundreds of years of persecution and hostility. But for Wladyslaw Jagiello and Vytautas the Great the war had other motives than revenge.

The desire of the dual monarchs for revenge and to ensure their people’s freedom had been satisfied during the last war after the battle of Grunwald. The Order was no longer a threat to the Polish or Lithuanians. The new alliance that the Order was part of was a threat to the Polish and Lithuanians because it consisted of all German nations and the threat of another group of Germans coming to the Baltic and taking back all the lands that the Order had lost was a very large concern for Jagiello, and Vytautas. The dual monarchs thought that the Order’s alliance would give the Germans an excuse to start Crusading again against them. The declaration of war delivered to the Prussians was as thought by Jageillo and Vytautas to be a pre-emptive strike against the Germans before they could organize their forces.

The monarchs’ strategy was that if they could show the Germans that they where powerful and not the same nations that the Order had subdued in the 13th century that the Germans would think twice before attacking. The private desire of the monarchs was to gain a Baltic seaport so that trade could be conducted more economically with the rich trading centers of Western Europe. Without these seaports the Polish and Lithuanians had to continue the methods of trade that had been used since the 14th century. The old method in place consisted of all goods passing through the Order’s lands or Russian lands to reach the Baltic or by the slow overland route through Hungary and Germany. This arrangement hampered Poland and Lithuanian’s ability to compete with the rest of Europe and to become a major European power along with Castile, France, Austria and England.

The first battle in the war was waged near the capital of Riga, the capital of the Teutonic Order. The Belgorad Regiment lead by General Gaszto with 18,000 infantry and 12,000 cavalry at his disposal met against 8,000 cavalry, of which 200 were knights of the Teutonic Order on April 20, 1420. Gaszto was decisively beaten by the Order and gave up the field of battle and retreated back into Lithuania. After this defeat the reserve unit was ordered to advance to Riga. The reserve unit was the 2nd Lithuanian Army and was commanded by an ethnic Polish German from Berlin named Henyrk Hlebowicz. Hlebowicz was born in Berlin to polish parents, his father was the ambassador to Brandenburg from Poland and his mother was a Polish Jew. His father was killed by the Order in 1399 and his mother died of typhoid in 1412.

After Hlebowicz's father was killed he was asked to command a regiment of the Polish army which later became the 2nd Lithuanian Army. Hlebowicz had a deep hatred for all things German and was known for his cruelty to both German soldiers and civilians. He was tolerated by the nobility because of his success against Smolensk in 1404. When Hlebowicz was given the order to attack he said, “Ojciec broni mnie.” father protect me, as he knew he would face the most difficult battle of his life in Riga.

The Lithuania Army arrived in Kurland on May 12th, 1420 and was met near Riga by the Order. The Lithuanians had 12,000 infantry and 3,000 cavalry at their disposal while the Order had about 7,000 cavalry as well as 5,000 infantry defending the city. The Lithuanians quickly attacked the Crusaders at 6 a.m. and the battle was fought until 5 p.m. that night when the two sides broke off attacks for the night. After that day over 1,200 Lithuanians infantry had died while the Order lost only 400 cavalry. The next day proved to be just as bad for Hlebowicz as the Lithuanians lost another 1,000 men and the Order only 100.

That night the Hlebowicz decided to mount a night raid against the Order’s supply line to try and cut them off from Riga. The raid worked and now the Crusaders where trapped between the Lithuanians surrounding the city and the river Daugava. The Order was massacred on the banks of the river and the remaining 1,000 men retreated into the countryside. In the battle Hlebowicz was fatally wounded and died the next day as the siege of Riga ensued.



General Henyrk Hlebowicz

At the same time that the siege of Riga was taking place the rest of the Lithuanian army was busy besieging the cities of Reval, Vitebsk and Dorpat as well as sending a regiment to assist the Polish in Pozan. The Belgorad Regiment still under the command of Gaszto was sent to Memel in Prussia to besiege the city there. The army met little resistance from the Prussians and started a siege. The city of Memel would not fall until exactly two years later on October 5, 1422.

Without any armies in the field to contend with, the Lithuanians could then direct their attention to assisting the Polish against the Germanic armies from the west. A joint attack was conducted against Pommern on May 5, 1421. After the siege began the Pommernians wisely accepted peace with Poland.

White peace with Pommern

This settlement cut the rest of the Germanic allies from attacking Poland and Lithuania as Pommern would not allow any looting German armies to pass through her lands.

War's over and no military access

The Germans formed a new strategy and a large force landed on the Black Sea coast and lay siege to Jedisan. After many repeated attempts by both Polish and Lithuanian forces the siege is lifted and the opposing army completely destroyed.

On November 3, 1422 the Teutonic Order settled for peace with Lithuania for Estland, Livland and Polotsk, days later the Prussians gave Memel as a peace offering.

Peace with Teutonic Order and Prussia

This did not end the fighting as small groups of ethnic Germans in the conquered lands rose up against Vytautas. The most successful rebellion was at Memel where 12,000 rebels trapped 20,000 Lithuanian soldiers at the Baltic Sea coast and defeated them. The rebels then killed every last prisoner and sent the Lithuanian general’s remains to Vytautas who was in nearby Riga. Infuriated, Vytautas also learned that the German nobles in the region had formed their own militias and where keeping supplies from reaching his armies and that they had made a secret treaty with Bremen and Holstein.

Nobles ally with foreign power -2 stab.
I also forgot to set my land slider back to 100% DUH!

Vytautus sent 25,000 soldiers to Memel to destroy the new Teutonic Order, as the rebels were calling themselves. The Lithuanians arrived in Memel and after a long 5 day battle defeated the Germans, as punishment the nobles where rounded up and executed in the Memel market and most of the Germans in the conquered lands where deported or killed by the Lithuanians.

The war finally ended on October 7, 1425 when the Germans sued for peace.

White peace with Holstein
Good thing too WE was starting to kick my ass!

In total 75,000 Lithuanians had lost their lives and as is the case in most wars of the time, more men where killed by disease and malnutrition than by the enemy. The Lithuanians had gained Estland, Livland and Polotsk from the Order and Memel from the Prussians, the Polish gained the port of Danzig from the Prussians. The power of the Order was completely broken and Jageillo and Vytautas had gained the seaports that they needed. Soon the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth would grow into to be the largest and one of the most powerful nations in Europe.





Green=Areas taken from Teutonic Order to Lithuania
Blue=Areas taken from Prussia to Lithuania
Purple=Areas taken from Prussia to Poland

Thanks! The next couple installments gets a little more difficult for the Lithuanians.

Originally posted by Stroph1
Way to break those dastardly Knights!

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It gets worse for them, just wait and see.

Thanks, I had hoped that my sources where correct. Sources for Lithuanian history are not very abundant where I live and I had to read many Polish history texts to peace together the Lithuanian's history. Is Vytautas considered the founder of your nation?