LIII: End Game
No one can be sure what was going through the mind of Peter von Habsburg, Hochmeister of the Baltic Cross through the spring and summer of 1628. He'd raised a formidable army with commanders loyal to him almost equal in size to that controlled by his Hochkomtur and former Grand Marshall. Perhaps he reasoned that since Konrad von Spanheim survived his ouster he would prove immune to any political attempts to remove him. If so this would have meant abandoning the quiet, undercover tactics both men used so far. Neither seemed ready for a formal confrontation with a war on, but they were at peace and perhaps the Hochmeister felt it was time to deal with business.
On May 23, 1628 he issued a general condemnation. Among other things, it blamed von Spanheim for the relatively lenient terms Pommern received in the last war. Interestingly, he also accused the Grand Commander of creating the strategy that led to Luebeck's being sieged and therefore endangering Baltic League holdings. Once more von Habsburg dismissed him.
This time it looked like it might take hold, for without a war there was no urgent need for unity. It even appeared von Spanheim might accept disgrace, for he knew how close the Order came to civil war only a few years before and wouldn't be responsible for starting it. Then...
Surprise!
Some credit von Habsburg, for it would give a benign reason for his sudden recruiting efforts. Also a second war would appeal to the Hochmeister's paranoia
and unify the Order behind him.
Others credit von Spanheim with a, frankly, brilliant maneuver that would not only stop the grand master from plunging the Order into civil war, but also guarantee that he would have effective, if not actual control of
all the armed forces.
Little evidence supports either of these conclusions though, so we're left with the possibility of chance; serendipity. Perhaps Johann-Georg of Saxony simply decided that, with a von Habsburg on his greatest ally's throne, it was time to take his land back.
(SAXONY, Hanover, Denmark, Baltic Order vs MAINZ, Austria)
The declaration of war between Saxony and Mainz caught the Baltic Order by surprise, but in a tolerable situation nonetheless. Rittermeister Kessinger moved south as did the Grand Master's levies, which would end up split among the various commands. Von Spanheim himself anchored the center and attacked Moravia, while two new commanders, Rittermeisters von Nassau and von Sambia, would attack the Magyar duchies and Sudetenland respectively. Saxony invaded Mainz, while Hanoverian troops pushed through their allies' territory and attacked Nurenberg on the Austrian west flank.
Just weeks after the declaration, the Holy Roman Empire let the Baltic Knights know
just what they thought of Saxony's aggression.
The Austrian emperor, Ferdinand II, declared Saxony and Hanover enemies of the Empire itself, while reserving his strongest condemnation to "polluted and diseased line of criminals, a legacy of too many bastards marrying too many whores" and "servants of the Enemy, whose very number is written large on their breasts" known as the Order of the Baltic Cross. He convinced Pope Urban VIII (still a Napolese pawn) to declare the Union 'enemies of all righteous men.' He stopped short of calling for a Crusade, but made it clear that any 'God fearing man' would stand up against these 'agents of evil.' From this point the Austrian alliance, swelled by volunteers, reaffirmed its past title as the Catholic League.
A day after receiving this communique, while giving mass, Hochmeister von Habsburg asserted his authority as head of the Baltic Order, "the champions of Christ," to damn Ferdinand II and Urban VIII to "an eternity of torment....cast off from God's grace and mercy."
He reactivated the alliance's former title: The Evangelical Union, and called on God to judge the righteousness of their cause.
The commander of Austria's northern defense, such as it was, was twenty-nine year old Ottavio Piccolomini, Unfortunately he simply didn't have the strength. Most of Austria's army was arrayed along the southern border, under Albrecht von Wallenstein, against possible Turk mischief.
Despite this problem, Piccolomini performed brilliantly. He duelled von Sambia, outnumbered over two to one in August, and won. He simply didn't have the manpower to deal with a massive Protestant rebellion in Tabor, former home of the Hussites, but von Wallenstein appeared in September with reinforcements and crushed them.
In October Kessinger replaced von Sambia and fought Piccolomini at 4-1 odds and lost AGAIN. Meanwhile, thirty thousand men, the first of von Habsburg's mass levy, encountered von Wallenstein in Prague and also lost.
While the two Austrian generals expertly stalled the Baltic west flank, they couldn't counterattack. Further, the piecemeal forces sent to stop von Sambia and von Spanheim were completely worthless. Finally in November Kesselring, supported by the rest of von Habsburg's levy, pushed into the Sudetenland killing Piccolomini.
Albrecht von Wallenstein began preparing a massive counterstrike in Prague to push the invader back out. It's then von Spanheim turned to his lieutenant, Hans von Stargard. Stargard was given every man that could be spared from Moravia, and told to sneak behind enemy lines and attack Vienna itself.
Von Wallenstein had just repelled a fresh attack in January when he received curt orders to bring EVERYONE home to repel von Stargard's advance. This left Prague defenseless, and Kessinger dispatched von Sambia to siege the Bohemian capital.
As the western front collapsed, the east plodded steadily along. Von Nassau completed his two sieges in Magyar lands and moved to Poszony. Von Spanheim seized Moravia and helped there as well as Prague. Kessinger finally took the Sudetenland.
Then, in June 1629, von Wallenstein finally arrived in Vienna with ten thousand men to relieve the capital. Von Stargard only had twelve thousand - not enough to actually take the city, just enough to make Ferdinand II panic and call his army home.
The armies of the Baltic Order and Austria were identical in composition. Von Wallenstein abandoned his artillery, while the knights relied on a quick advance, so this would be a battle of pikemen and musketeers with cavalry skirmishers in front and to the side of the main forces. For two days they picked away at each other, never committing to a decisive action. In the afternoon von Wallenstein gathered his horsemen for what was to be a strike at the Baltic flank. The Order's musketeers rushed to that side. An Austrian nobleman put it thus:
And so this ragged band of miscreants, running pell mell and in the greatest disorder to the sides, in front and even behind their own pike, so that a successful charge must have slain them utterly, fired. A great cloud covered our horse - the heroes and champions of the Empire, fell slain as if by the locusts of hell.... So great was his grief that (von Wallenstein) gnashed his teeth and pounded his chest, screaming before succumbing to torpor and agreeing to withdraw.
Von Wallenstein wouldn't return, for as the Baltic Cross advanced on all fronts a rebellion broke out in Linz led by Catholics angry at Austria's military impotence. As he dealt with that, von Sambia invaded Sumava in western Bohemia.
In October 1629, Peter von Habsburg spoke of the complete destruction of Austria. He promised to restore Bohemia, Hungary and Styria. He also swore to end the 'taint' of the Austrian Habsburgs until only 'purity' remained. This rhetoric alarmed friend and foe alike. Saxony, for one, wanted peace. Sigismund III of Poland worried the Order might try the same thing with them and sternly warned against it. Merchant and noble alike argued that such a 'total' war went against all reason. As for the soldiers themselves, they knew it would take years to actually conquer Austria and they wanted to go home.
To continue prosecuting this war he issued a new series of brutal taxes and levies. Modern historians note that, had he succeeded, the Baltic Order would have become the first fascists as these new demands would have devoted
everything to the 'State.'
It did not go through. Hochkomtur Konrad von Spanheim countermanded the order. He had no possible regulation supporting this, but the nobility, almost to a man, cancelled plans to invoke von Habsburg's draconian regulations. Some called for a Conclave, but even von Spanheim said that would be inappropriate in mid-war.
On December 2, 1629 Austria effectively surrendered, offering massive land grants to the Order and Hanover that would all but break their power forever. Peter von Habsburg refused. He cited his previous promise to the 'oppressed' souls in Bohemia, Hungary and Styria and demanded Austria's complete capitulation.
The Order of the Baltic Cross had enough. Hochkomtur von Spanheim left the siege of Prague to von Sambia's command and returned home with twelve men. On December 31, they snuck into Marienburg Castle - some say with the knowledge and support of the castle guards - and imprisoned Grand Master von Habsburg. On New Years Day, 1630, he gave a speech.
von Spanheim said:
Because of this, by my authority and on my own head, I hereby suspend the Charter and Rule of the Order of the Baltic Cross. The Hochmeister has forced my hand, and indeed that of any sane, rational, and above all just man in this realm. We cannot live in fear of what madness may come out of Marienburg, and so today we take back the sceptre and ring of office.
Later that day he accepted Austria's terms for peace.
Nowhere did he discuss when, or even
if, he'd call a Conclave. Nor was it quite clear what the Conclave would do if summoned. In the entire proud history of the Teutonic, Livonian and Baltic Orders, no one had ever,
ever simply seized power in a coup d'etat.
Many speculated that Konrad von Spanheim, the Order's greatest champion in his generation, had just in fact destroyed it.
