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Ah, I see that Kiev has grown strong enough to fend off the steppe hordes (for now...). The rough treatment from the Abbassids is unfortunate but not totally unexpected; they usually either collapse outright or just keep getting stronger, in my experience.

Out of curiosity, how well has the spread of Christianity progressed among the common folk? Looks like almost all of the lords have converted at this point, so I'd imagine they've been mighty busy with their own court chaplains.
 
Ah, I see that Kiev has grown strong enough to fend off the steppe hordes (for now...). The rough treatment from the Abbassids is unfortunate but not totally unexpected; they usually either collapse outright or just keep getting stronger, in my experience.

Out of curiosity, how well has the spread of Christianity progressed among the common folk? Looks like almost all of the lords have converted at this point, so I'd imagine they've been mighty busy with their own court chaplains.

Christianity has been spread quite well. There is still Tengris in the southeast, Baltic lands are still mostly Romuva and Northern area is mixture of Christian and Slavic areas.
 
Diomedes "the Strong" Pontian
Lived: 943-1018
Ruler of Kiev: 991-1018
King of Kievan Pontus: 991-1018​
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The reign of Diomedes was important to the history of Kiev because he launched major reforms that had long-term impact to Kiev and its people. Personally Diomedes wasn't interested to conquering territories like his father and grandfather had had but that didn't mean a time of peace.

Before the kingship, Diomedes helped his father in governing, especially when his father was more needed in the command of army. Even though Diomedes was not warlike like his father, it is known that he sometimes joined to war with his father.

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Baptism of High Chief Jaunutis of Zemaitija.
After Diomedes was crowned, series of wars were declared against the last Baltic pagans by decision of Kievan nobles who had been wanting new war againt Baltic pagans already at the end of Mithridatir's reign but he had denied that. Now after death of Mithridatir nobles got their way because new king was afraid to enrage them too much. Kievan army won wars easily and all lands of Baltic pagans were conquered except those which accepted convert to Christianity in 997.

During the same year new war was started when former ally, Kingdom of Georgia, declared war against Kiev. King of Georgia considered that Kievan had territory that was legally Georgian territory. Kievan army needed march to south where Georgian armies crossed the Don river and started invading Kievan lands. Kievan armies were able to get important victories against Georgia and when Georgia was forced to separate war against Byzantine Empire, King of Georgia was forced to ask peace from Diomedes.

Even though Diomedes made new alliance with Byzantine Empire with marriage of his daughter and Emperor, the trust of alliances was at stake. Allies weren't considered anymore as totally reliable. Diomedes started to think about big changes in Kiev.

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Hungarian invasion in Kievan lands
However there were no time for changes when Hungary started invasion against Kiev in 1003. Hungary had been big threat in west but had been peaceful a long time. This had changed when King Dezsõ “the Great” of Hungary had started conquer new territories: At first Kingdom of Bohemia had been defeated and then Kingdom of Poland which was already no more than group of scattered independent realms.

When war against Kiev had been declared, Diomedes needed to make decisions fast. Diomedes was able to call Byzantine Empire to war but that was not enough: Kiev needed more men and so Diomedes also resorted to mercenaries. Hungarian army advanced through Kiev besieging Kievan territories. Kiev was in trouble, nothing seemed to stop the Hungarians.

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Finally in Lyubech Hungarian army faced Kievan army which was supported with a lot of mercenaries. Hungarian troops were tired after crossing the Dnieper river and therefore miraculously Kievan army was able to beat them. Hungarian army tried to flee but Kievan army was able to destroy it during the retreat. After the victory, Kievan Pontus got upper hand. Kievan troops started attack against Hungary with help of Byzantine Empire and finally King of Hungary had to surrender. Diomedes had got victory that was originally seen as impossible task.

It was during the same time when Pope Theodore II decided to crown King Waltheof of Mercia to be new Holy Roman Emperor in 1011. Diomedes decided to use his diplomatic skills and get alliance with this new powerful empire in the west and as a result, marriage with Diomedes' daughter and Emperor's son was signed.

After the war against Hungary was over, Diomedes sent his army to east where vassal of Georgia, Duke of Abkhazia, had attacked against Kiev. Duke had decided use Hungarian war as good chance to take land from Kievan Pontus which was busy fighting in the west. However Diomedes had been able to end war by now and Duke of Abkhazia hadn't really a chance to win. Duke needed to abandon his war and peace was made.

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Diomedes informs about reforms to his court.
When peace was back, Diomedes launched radical reforms in Kiev. Organization that had been almost same since the beginning of the kingdom was changed to be more productive and more like in Western Europe and feudal system was finally fully enabled. Diomedes also passed the new law which made vassals more obligated to crown and he was able to change Kiev to be more centralised state. Concern about foreign invaders got Diomedes to set up standing army to protect Kiev even though levies were still bulk of the army since standing army only consisted of about five hundred men. The reforms were too much to some of the Nobles of Kiev who started planning rebellion against King. However modern historians believe that some of the reforms weren't really that radical. For example feudalization was longer process which already started during the reign of Dyre.

The rebellion plans were canceled when Kiev faced again foreign attackers in 1016. This time Slavic Kingdom of Rus had decided to conquer new territories from Kiev. Diomedes again resorted to mercenaries and with their help he managed to defeat invaders.

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Diomedes could not celebrate the victory for long when he died peacefully at the age of 75 in 1018. The Kingdom passed down to Mithridatir II, the oldest son of Diomedes.


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Realm of Kiev during the death of Diomedes.
 
Diomedes seems to have focused on a few defensive wars protecting his kingdom and hardly expanded at all. Hungary has crumbled with another neighboring threat eliminated. I find it odd that Italy took a chunk of their land. How strong is the HRE in the west?
 
Hungary splitted thanks to gavelkind. All four sons got their own kingdoms (Hungary, Poland, Bohemia and Great Moravia).

HRE consists Kingdom of Germany and Kingdom of England and some areas in Pomerania and Lotharingia. It's not really huge but it has one of the biggest army.
 
Got round to reading this AAR and enjoying it very much. nice to see Kiev as a superpower KUTGW

Saxon
 
A grand kid age for your King to live to. When I'm playing AAR games I often get a bit tentative about embarking on major new projects after they reach their late 50s for fear the King will die right in the middle of them and disrupt the flow of updates :p.

Kiev really dominates Eastern Europe now, no power can realistically threaten you at the moment. Time to consolidate your realm, make it nice and peaceful, and stable.
 
Got round to reading this AAR and enjoying it very much. nice to see Kiev as a superpower KUTGW

Saxon

Thanks for reading. Nice to hear that you have enjoyed it :)

A grand kid age for your King to live to. When I'm playing AAR games I often get a bit tentative about embarking on major new projects after they reach their late 50s for fear the King will die right in the middle of them and disrupt the flow of updates :p.

Kiev really dominates Eastern Europe now, no power can realistically threaten you at the moment. Time to consolidate your realm, make it nice and peaceful, and stable.

Yeah, nice domination Kiev has :) Though feudalization gave a little hit to military power so that it is now little bit harder to beat down those enemies.
 
Mithridatir II "the Gentle" Pontian
Lived: 961-1044
Ruler of Kiev: 1018-1044
King of Kievan Pontus: 1018-1044​
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Mithridatir II was King of Kievan Pontus 26 years after inheriting his father. It was during his reign when internal stability started to crumble which eventually led to civil war which weren't seen long time in Kiev.

At the beginning of his reign, Mithridatir II attacked against King of Rus which he saw as a threat to Kiev. The main goal of war was to conquer the most important city of Rus, Novgorod. It was thought that without Novgorod Rus would be too weak to be threat anymore. Kingdom of Rus was beaten after Kievan army besieged Novgorod and destroyed Slavic armies. Consequence of the war Kingdom of Rus was weakened too much and it ultimately collapsed.

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Horse archers of Turhan Khanate.
New war began when Khan of Turhan Khanate declared war against Kiev. Turhan Khanate was new powerhouse in the east after collapse of Yabguid Khanate but their military power wasn't as great as Yabguid had had and, because of that, Turhan Khanate wasn't seen as big threat. However at the same time Kingdom of Hungary had decided to attack against Kiev too and Kiev was in trouble.

At that time alliance with Holy Roman Emperor was proved to be good when Emperor accepted to help Mithridatir II and attacked against Hungary. Hungarian army was no match to army of Emperor. While Emperor took care of Hungary, Kievan armies were able to handle the Khan whose armies were fully destroyed in three battles: in Ryazan, in Pronsk and in Khopyor . Both of the enemies, Turhan Khanate and Kingdom of Hungary, were finally defeated in 1026.

Kievan western neighbor, Kingdom of Pomerania, had been turmoil for a while when Christians and Slavs fought for the power of Kingdom. After wars with Hungary and Turhan Khanate, Mithridatir II started supporting Christian side of civil war. With his help, christian ruler was able to get crown back but later on he lost it again back to Slavs. Mithridatir II wasn't able to join the new civil war since new invasion against Kiev came from the east.

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Battle of Tana
New attacker was Khan of Yabguid Khanate which had taken back power in east after Turhan Khanate had been defeated in war against Kiev. Army of Khan made powerful assault against Kiev and Khan had upper hand against Kiev during the first years of war but after the defeat in battle of Tana in 1030, Khan lost the control of war. Kievan armies were able to push Khan and his armies back. Khan's armies had too many losses and eventually Khan surrendered in 1032.

Mithridatir II needed raise his troops again in 1038 when Turkish warrior, Kaikaus, started conquest against Kiev. Kaikaus had been able to summon very large number of warriors and Kiev was in danger. Same time Slavs in the north saw opportunity to strike against Kiev and they also started war. Kiev was great need of more men and Mithridatir II had to get mercenaries. Mithridatir II decided to attack first against Slavs which weren't expecting this decision. Mithridatir II beated the army of Slavs and forced them retreat. Due to this Mithridatir II got time to face the Turkish invaders which had already besieged a lot of territories in southeast of Kievan Pontus. Kaikaus' armies had suffered losses during all of besieging so that Kievan army had chance to defeat them. This happened beginning of the year 1041 when Kievan army defeated the Kaikaus' armies in Battle of Bryansk. Defeat was too devastating to Kaikaus and he needed to accept defeat. After the surrender of Kaikaus, Mithridatir II marched back to north and finished the last armies of Slavs. Slavs accepted peace in the summer of 1041.

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Kievan army fighting against rebellion army.
When all the foreign threats seemed to be eliminated, internal threat appeared. Rebellion, ruled by Grand Prince Roman II of Lithuania, Mithridatir II's nephew, started in 1041. Rebellion considered that Mithridatir II had too much power to his vassals and wanted to change that. Having gathered his army again, Mithridatir II marched against armies of rebellion. He was able to destroy them in couple of battles and at the end of the year 1043 rebellion was finally defeated. Grand Prince of Lithunia, the leader of rebellion, was imprisoned but he was allowed to keep his titles.

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Soon after the rebellion, Mithridatir II's health weakened due to his old age. It was before his 83-year anniversary when he passed away leaving his kingdom to his son, Roman II.

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Realm of Kiev during the death of Mithridatir II.
 
Growing as big as you are, I'm not surprised to see so many conflicts as Kiev shares borders with so many nations. The constant war would definitely deplete the nation's treasury and weaken it. With the rise of a new ruler, new internal struggles seem destined to erupt. Surely, there must be many plotting against your ruler now.
 
That's certainly one hell of a blob you've got there. Good luck trying to keep everything in the one piece.
 
Growing as big as you are, I'm not surprised to see so many conflicts as Kiev shares borders with so many nations. The constant war would definitely deplete the nation's treasury and weaken it. With the rise of a new ruler, new internal struggles seem destined to erupt. Surely, there must be many plotting against your ruler now.

I must admit that vassals have liked to plot against rulers of Kievan Pontus but their ability to unite their power has been little bit lacking.

That's certainly one hell of a blob you've got there. Good luck trying to keep everything in the one piece.

Let see what will happen.

Well just read through this, and you are doing quite a good job so far! And its been interesting to read as well.

Thanks to you that you read it :)
 
Roman II Pontian
Lived: 985-1050
Ruler of Kiev: 1044-1050
King of Kievan Pontus: 1044-1050​
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Roman II was already old man when he got the throne. His reign of six years was mostly stable even though risk of civil war was near almost whole time. Roman II was descriped as a cruel ruler but it's not certain how much of it was true.

After the death of his father, Roman II decided to raise the crown authority but his vassals were not eager to accept that. Roman II tried to change their minds with releasing Grand Prince of Lithuania from jail but this was not enough to everybody.

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Imprisoning of conspirators.
Some vassals were not happy to Roman II's ruling methods and idea of coup was planned. Roman II became aware of the plan and decide act. Three conspirator Grand Princes were demanded to be imprisoned for treason. One of the Grand Princes was Grand Prince of Lithuania who was not keen for being imprisoned again and decided fight back. Decision was poor because Roman II easily defeated him. Grand Prince was jailed and his title of Grand Prince of Lithuania was removed and it was given more loyal vassal.

After the incident, Roman II bribed some of his vassals so that he was able took the decision to increase crown authority to the end.
In 1049 group of Danish nobles decided attack against Kiev and take Grand Principality of Courland. Roman II, who was not really man with martial ability, gave army command to his son Mithridatir which in turn was known as great military leader. Even though Christian King of Denmark denied any involvement in the war, relations between two kingdoms worsened. Roman II believed that Denmark had giving aid to these invaders and he started to design attack against Denmark.

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Roman II was never able to start his plan when he passed away in 1050. His brief reign was ended and Kingdom was inherited by his only son, Mithridatir III.

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Realm of Kiev during the death of Roman II.
 
Not much accomplished by the ruler but he held Kiev together. Sounds like his son will expand the borders as the a "great military leader."
 
Roman's reign seems to be one of those lulls that's like the calm before a great storm. He didn't quite reign long enough to see any of his ambitions truly carried through, but I bet young Mithridatir has many of those same aspirations.

Meanwhile, looks like the Hungarians are on the prowl again. If they decide to look east, let's hope they can be turned back from Kiev's gates once more...
 
Mithradatir III sounds like he'll be a bit of a conqueror...unless of course the nobility decides to rise up in rebellion. With as short a reign as Roman's was I have a feeling Mithridatir may have more internal problems brewing than external.
 
Not much accomplished by the ruler but he held Kiev together. Sounds like his son will expand the borders as the a "great military leader."

Yeah, maybe he will but sometimes fate has other plans.

Roman's reign seems to be one of those lulls that's like the calm before a great storm. He didn't quite reign long enough to see any of his ambitions truly carried through, but I bet young Mithridatir has many of those same aspirations.

Meanwhile, looks like the Hungarians are on the prowl again. If they decide to look east, let's hope they can be turned back from Kiev's gates once more...

Yeah those Hungarians are still very powerful foe.

Mithradatir III sounds like he'll be a bit of a conqueror...unless of course the nobility decides to rise up in rebellion. With as short a reign as Roman's was I have a feeling Mithridatir may have more internal problems brewing than external.

That can be possible.
 
Mithridatir III Pontian
Lived: 1016-1063
Ruler of Kiev: 1050-1063
King of Kievan Pontus: 1050-1063​
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When Mithridatir III succeeded his father the expectations were high. Mithridatir III military skills were admirable and it was thought that he would raise Kiev to new heights. However, all these dreams were destroyed when Mithridatir III got fatal disease and suffered death.

Already in his youth, Mithridatir III was known as powerful military leader. He admired his forefathers which had had great military campaigns and wanted to be like them. He was able to rose to command of the Kievan army during his father's reign.

He gained knowledge of his father's death when Mithridatir was fighting against Danish invaders. Mithridatir III was wanted to come back Kiev to be crowned but Mithridatir III decided to beat invaders first. Mithridatir III was able to defeat Danish invaders and after the victory he travelled back to Kiev where he was coronated.

Mithridatir III was known to had intimate love affair with his wife, Danish noble girl, and some of his foes even claimed that he was unable to rule because he spend too much time in "sinful things" Mithridatir III was able to ward off all attempts to destabilize his authority and in fact his reign was very stable.

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Kingdom of Finland.
Even though Mithridatir III was man of war, he also was eager to support clergymen with their proselytizing. The proselytize supported by Mithridatir III was able to convert pagan King of Suomi to christianity. This achievement was not long-term achievement because after converted king died, Suomi went back to paganism.

Kievan noble wanted revenge against Kingdom of Denmark after Danish invaders had made invasion against Kiev. There were however no proof that Kingdom of Denmark had nothing to do with it. Mithridatir III didn't desire direct war against Denmark and so he decided attack against County of Samogitia which was owned by independent Danish Count who was dynasty member of King of Denmark. King of Denmark tried to help Count but Kievan army was still able to take County to themselves. Count fled to Denmark and war was ended.

Chiefdom of Belo Ozero was Slavic land which had been successor of Kingdom of Rus. It had sole power in north after it had conquered other successors. Kievan land splitted Belo Ozero to two: major area was in east but there was also some area in west. Belo Ozero was forced to move everything through Kievan lands because it was easiest way to move between Eastern Belo Ozero and Western Belo Ozero. Mithridatir III was annoyed that Belo Ozero marched its armies, people and stuff through Kievan Pontus and because of that decided declare war against Belo Ozero in 1055. He thought that if whole Western Belo Ozero would annexed to Kiev, there wouldn't be anymore trespassing.

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Troops of Mithridatir III charging against enemies.
Mithridatir III marched with his army against Slavs. His army was able to beat all resistance. After a three-year campaign, Belo Ozero accepted peace and annexation of its western half.

Mithridatir III had already ready to new campaign but before that he wanted secure succession with more stable system and adopted primogeniture succession. The law couldn't anymore force to divide King's lands to all sons.

After new law was set in stone, Mithridatir III started war against Kingdom of Pomerania. Kingdom, which had been a war zone between Christian and Slavic nobles, was now under the dominion of Slavs. Mithridatir III had intended to bring to the power the daughter of former Catholic King of Pomerania. He advanced against Pomerania and destroyed Pomeranian armies that tried stop him. It was planned that war would be quick victory but Pomeranian resistance was fierce.

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The biggest setback of war happened when Mithridatir III became very ill. Kievan healers were unable to cure him. Mithridatir III called his wife and his son up to him. His disease got worse and finally in one evening Mithridatir III passed away, holding the hands of his wife. The throne now belonged to his oldest son, who was also called as Mithridatir.

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Realm of Kiev during the death of Mithridatir III.
 
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