A German Dream - Teutonic/Prussian(German?) AAR

[Esben_DRK]

Hi guys and girls.
This is my first try with an AAR, so please be kind with me, and forgive my horrible grammar and spelling.

This is the first chapter, but I've come further. (I've formed Prussia already, for example).


During the relative peace of the late 1390ies, the Teutonic Order began their last inquisition of the so-called pagan areas of Samoteiga. This peace lasted nearly ten years, only broken by small revolts in the Samoteiga area.
But peace doesn’t always last forever, and border incursions from Riga into Teutonic territory meant war, even though the fear of German intervention was justified, as the Holy Roman Empire personified by the King of Cleves decided to step in. Though Cleves and Riga received support from large areas of the Holy Roman Empire, they were no match for the Teutonic Knights, and in 1411, the peace treaty of Riga was signed, wherein the Archbishop of Riga accepted the Teutonic as overlords, and became a bishop. The Roman Emperor signed his own peace treaty in Berlin the same year.
Though Riga entered a full military alliance with Teutonic Order the following year, it was viewed as nothing more than pro forma, as the only way to reach Riga was either through Teutonic controlled land or water. Following these two treaties, the Order began supporting the trade through Königsberg, paying and lending huge sums of gold in support to broken merchants and upstarts. This policy bore fruit. During the peace-time, Königsberg city grew with almost five thousand inhabitants, most educated craftsmen, foreign tradesmen, sailors and other skilled workforce, becoming one of the biggest cities in the Baltic area, only rivalled by Lübeck and Novgorod.
After 15 years of vassalage, the bishop of Riga died. Claiming the right to appoint the new bishop, the Knights intervened in the election, and forced the election of a puppet. He died three years later of old age, and the Order, tired of ruling from distance, marched their troops in and claimed the city of Riga as their own. Though this was followed by protests from the Holy Roman Emperor, they decided against an intervention, as the Order’s military was strong as ever, and posed a serious threat against the harmony of the Empire.
In 1432, the peace was broken. Angered by the Order’s successes, military threat and the support for internal dissent, Poland-Lithaunia declared war. On the other hand, the Order welcomed the war, having for long time build up forces for a summer’s war against the eastern enemies, in order to claim the province of Plock. Also, the Order decided to call in their allies of Hungary, Brandenburg and the Moscovites, in a coalition nearly surrounding the enemy.
Though the Teutonic Order had the upper hand, she was not able to direct her allies in the war, and soon Hungary broke beneath the collective might of Poland-Lithaunia, ceding the Carpathian mountain range. With the southern borders free, the Polish soldiers returned to the northern battlefields, forcing the Brandenburg armies on retreat to Poznan. In the meantime, Plock, Mazovia and Warsaw had fallen to the Teutonic Knights, and the Moscovite armies had defeated the Litahaunian through series of battles on the eastern steppes.
Though beaten, the Poles and Lithaunians fought until the 1st of August, where the Polish king at last was caught by the Knights, and forcing his hand as he signed, Poland ceded Plock to the Order.

 

[unmerged(47151)]

Has the game actually started yet?

 

[Cyrus_The_Great]

Nice AAR so far, maybe include some screenshots too though

 

[Mattabesta]

I think he's just telling us what has happen untill he started taking screenies.

 

[Coinneach]

time for a great big Drach nach Osten..... or a spelling similar to that :rofl:

 

[Enewald]

Screenies are not a must.

Nice beginning.
What shall the knights next do?
Stop Russia from uniting, or try to keep Poland-Lithuania down?

 

[unmerged(102667)]

A thrust into novgorod will insure russia will not form. After that finland as an easy conquest. The Teutonic knights must rule the baltic.

 

[Esben_DRK]

Thanks for the replies guys.
There will come a few screenshots once in a while. I forget to take them most of the time.
I write this mainly for my own amusement, so that I can remember what happened to my country during my reign, so excuse me if I leave out details that you find important, or focus on details that you find unimportant.

Anyway, I wrote chapter two of my little story.

Though the Order’s victory over the Poland-Lithuanian hordes were, by and large, an armistice where the frontline was, the Order quickly lulled itself into a dream where none could threaten the security of it’s people. This meant that demilitarization were in order, to spare the treasury of finding the funds for the large armies the Knights had standing after the war.
But this created problems. During the war, a lot of companies had shifted from importing or producing common goods towards goods for war. The need for such goods had driven the prices high and made it very profitable. With the demilitarization, the need for these goods dropped like a stone, and a lot of people were suddenly without jobs. The decadence of the Knights and the Grandmaster meant that they did not take this threat serious until the first common revolts. After the first couple massacres on rebellious peasants, the Order invested heavily in the economy in order to restore jobs and balance in the cities, and thus giving the peasants a place to sell their wares again.
This took several years, from the end of the war in 1436 to 1440.
In 1440, a plot amongst the officers of the army was found, and nearly two thousand soldiers, knights and officers were executed or banned from military service, crippling the military efficiency of the Order for the decade to come. This had serious effects, when the war between the Byzantine Empire and the Ottoman Empire broke out. Having guaranteed the independence of Byzantium, the Order was compelled to step in, on the 14th of March 1441.
What followed was a three and a half year’s worth of slaughter, disastrous commands and military failures. The Ottomans occupied Constantinople before the Knights could intervene, and forced the Byzantines out of the war. The Order, however, felt the need to fight on, as to stop the Ottoman expansion into European proper. This was a failure. Nearly twenty thousand Teutonic soldiers and knights died before the General Staff saw the errors in their ways, and asked for a ceasefire. The first answer was no, and thus the Order fought on. In January 1443, the Order was decidedly forced on retreat from Bulgaria, and in September, an armistice was signed, where the Order accepted not to interfere in Ottoman-Byzantine matters again, and accepted to pay a symbolic indemnity.
What followed was 8 years of peace and prosperity. The military budget was cut down, and the private sector benefited from the peace. The state used every coin it was able to get hold of on to expand the revenues from trade, taxes and improvements, and several new road systems were built in the period.
In 1451, the armistice between Lithuania and the Knights were broken. Assaulting the Teutonic border with more than twenty-five thousand infantry and twenty thousand cavalry, the Order was under pressure. But two young majors, von Preussen and von Bülow, were appointed as generals in response, and they fought the war with glory and honour. They rebuilt the Order’s armies, and they counterattacked on several occasions as the weary Lithuanian soldiers besieged Teutonic fortresses.
The war was settled December 1452 in Vilnus, where another armistice was agreed to. This agreement gave the Order great chunks of Lithuanian land, as well as a little indemnity. This indemnity, however, was only a drop in the ocean when the Order faced the consequences of the war. Though they disbanded their mercenary troops, they still had a debt of more than 500 ducats to pay. It would take nearly ten years before the Order’s armies were re-manned and the treasury’s coffers full.

 

[Inner Circle]

a different Bsttle of Tannenberg... interesting, but I would like to see some Screenshots...

Any good Progress so far...

 

[Enewald]

Losing to ottoes?
Shame!

Well, at least still victorious at home.

 

[Esben_DRK]

I had no manpower, my inflation was skyrocketing and my WE was high as well. There wasn't much left that I could do, so I had to pay them 25d in order to get peace.

 

[unmerged(102667)]

It was a reverse and late tannenberg.
Another wacking of the commenwealth.(or just Lithuania?)
Do you have plans to stop russia form forming?

 

[Esben_DRK]

It was only Lithuania. Their allies decided not to join them. It would've wrecked me asunder, had they done.

As I said in the beginning, I've come further than what I've written, so at the moment I've taken Novgorod, Kholm, Pskov and Ingermanland. No Russian hordes from the east for me, thank you very much!

 

[Esben_DRK]

Wrote a little more. Now I'm only 200 years behind.

As the Order’s economy slowly rose herself from the ashes, as the armies were rebuilt and the prosperity returned, as the people returned to the pillaged and burned villages, the trade ascended to new heights and the debts were repaid, so did the Order’s prestige in the eyes of the world also rise. Not every country would be able to suffer such devastating disasters and yet still be able to rebuild.
The land claimed in the various wars and the original lands of the Order were, during the rebuild, claimed as an inherent part of the Empire. The Emperor, the King of Brandenburg, was in Königsberg on several occasions and signed, in 1459, the treaty that would, once and for all, give the Knights the possibility to claim Polish, Lithuanian and Russian land in the name of the Empire.
In order to prevent such catastrophes in future wars with Lithuania, Teutonic Order and the city-state of Genoa signed an alliance agreement, worded against Lithuania, but as history would show, in action not as much. In 1461, the Genoese called for Teutonic assistance during a war of domination in northern Italy. 27.000 Teutonic soldiers marched towards the battlefields, and fought the Spanish and Milanese troops in a war which burned half of Northern Italy, leaving only ruins and widows.
In the end, however, the Spanish intervention proved disastrous. The Italian allies were occupied, and the Spanish fleets blockaded every Teutonic port they could get to. Of the original soldiers, only officers and generals were left. Admitting defeat, the Order borrowed 400 ducats from the National Bank, and paid the Spanish off. The three year long war had enormous consequences for the Order’s foreign policy in the years to come. From 1464 to 1505, the Order would not wage a single war, and would focus her strength on building and rebuilding the nation to become a great power once again.
The 10th of April 1461, Michael I becomes Grandmaster of the Teutonic Order. He would rule until 1503, and become creator of the “idea” of Prussia. But before we go on with history, it is important to note the changes that had happened to the Order’s society before his reign.
The Order, at the dawn of the Renaissance, was a closed society with small cities and knights lording over huge amounts of serfs, with only professional cavalry soldiers and with a Grandmaster which could enforce little to none of his power upon his subjects if the nobility willed it otherwise. This had all changed. The Grandmaster was the head of a streamlined bureaucracy, with a purely professional and standing army at his disposal. Officers, generals and knights were still drawn from the nobility class, while foot soldiers were drawn from the city population. The serfs were freer than in most European countries. They could move from their place of birth if they were accepted or wanted at the place they’d arrive, and the cities always needed more workforce. It is not surprising that one of the greatest expanding factors in Teutonic economy was the unlimited workforce which could be drawn from the rural population. The cities were governed by the Grandmaster’s chosen directly, while the countryside resembled the normal European feudal monarchy. The country was united in faith, the One True Faith, and cracked hard down upon any sort of heretics. This was the country which Michael I should now rule.
Michael continued the economical expansion. Trading agreements were signed with several major powers in Western Europe, and the state was willing to loan huge sums of ducats, without interests, to innovative and creative merchants and craftsmen all over the land. It is today estimated that more than five hundred ducats were spend this way over a twenty years period, creating jobs for a total of fifty thousand farmers coming in from the land districts.
Michael had other ideas too. Limiting the nobility’s influence on his rule, he centralized the armies and the government to further extends, relying on a standing army loyal to him and his closest allies. One of these allies was the head of the Arnsweld family, and a powerhouse in himself. One of the other things he did was releasing the Grandmaster from the oath that he should not bear children, and he used this to sire two sons, Albrecht and Wilhelm. He made them generals, and especially Wilhelm was loved by the army.
When Michael I died (22nd of March, 1503), Wilhelm Friedrich was in the capitol with his loyal band of knights and soldiers, and he marched to the palace, where he murdered Albrecht and assumed the throne, claiming that he had now inherited the realms of Prussia. Europe was poised for a change…

 

[Enewald]

Prussia is a dukedom where the pagans called prussians used to live. A shameful name for a an kingdom. King of Baltia would be better.
But anyways, how is it possible that the serfs would be freeer than other serfs?
Why would the local barons speaking deutsch allow some kind of freedom for the uncivilized local 'pagan' balts?

And doesn't this change to a monarchy cause a civil war?

 

[unmerged(102667)]

I think the ordenstaat is the best name.
Anyway it seems you were kick by castille that has never happend to me in any of my teutonic games. Another question, have you begun colonising?

 

[Esben_DRK]

Prussia is a dukedom where the pagans called prussians used to live. A shameful name for a an kingdom. King of Baltia would be better.
But anyways, how is it possible that the serfs would be freeer than other serfs?
Why would the local barons speaking deutsch allow some kind of freedom for the uncivilized local 'pagan' balts?

And doesn't this change to a monarchy cause a civil war?

While I agree that King of Baltia would be a better name, the game does not quite agree with us upon that subject. It'd require me to mod my game to make the name Baltia, and I'm not secure enough in my modding skills to do so.
The serfs are free in the sense that they're not actually serfs. I had "Serfdom vs Free subjects" around 0 at this time. I tried to tell that with the story that they could move as the pleased.
I dont recall loosing any stability, and I haven't noted so in my notes, so I dont think there'll be any big reaction towards the new monarchy... YET!

Anyway it seems you were kick by castille that has never happend to me in any of my teutonic games. Another question, have you begun colonising?

It was more in a sense that I didn't want to give away my allies' land, and rather give away some money. And I haven't any colonies in the history that is told, but in around 1700, I'll tell a story of a conquest of India.

 

[Esben_DRK]

After assuming the throne, the new king declared that every German noble was sacred to him, and that every German noble would deserve land in return of loyalty. He instituted a feudal monarchy, in the same style as the western European countries. He also married a daughter of the Emperor and King of Brandenburg, to keep the good relations with the Empire. Several of his subjects were also married away to Pomeranian nobility and the Muscovite nobility.
But the new King of the Baltic angered Poland-Lithuania further, and the Royal Claim upon Warsaw and Vilnius were the drop that made the cup flow over. The alliance invaded, and brought with them the Bohemians, who likewise were angered and afraid of the new kingdom in the east. Against them were the countries and dukedoms of Pommerania, Brandenburg, Muscowy and Prussia. The war was long and bloody. From the outbreak in 1505 to the murder upon the Lithuanian prince, heir to the throne and greatest general (Which forced the peace in the end) in 1510, at least 40.000 Prussian soldiers and civilians gave their lives in the war, while the Lithuanian losses are estimated to above 75.000 soldiers, militia and civilians. The peace treaty in Warsaw gave Ingermanland, Kalisz and Trakai to the sovereign King of the Baltic, as well as forcing the Lithuanians to accept the new King. The prestige loss of the Lithuanians would take years to recover, as well as the utter destruction of most of their armed forces. For the many coming years, Lithuania would be forced to use subtle means in order to achieve revenge.
The newly founded kingdom, however, only needed four years to recover and rebuild, as well as investing enormous amounts of money in the conquered lands, building churches, workshops, city walls and other infrastructure.
The Christian world had changed during these years. A North-Italian monk pinned 45 theses upon his church door, which broke the church doctrine and claimed the right to translate the Holy Bible. Many Christians, not consent with the Church’s excesses, found a new path to walk during these years, and the Roman Church of Christ was divided into numerous of branches. Prussia, true to her foundation, remained one of the most Catholic countries, refusing to let the new religions take over the country, and investing heavily in an inquisition which was able to put down most of the revolts and heresy which sprung up during the years of religious confusion. Wilhelm Friedrich also met with the Pope in Wien, where he and other Catholic kings and rulers agreed to find a common step to combat the effects of Protestantism. This was called the Counter-Reformation.
The first King of Prussia died on the 12th of April, 1511, whereupon his son, Friedrich Wilhelm I ascended the throne. The minor noble opposition was put down thanks to assistance from the Arnsweld Family. Between 1511 and 1517, there was peace. The King of Prussia made alliances with his equals, and some who was not his equals. One of those with whom he was allied was Pommerania, who, in return of assistance, protection and officers, became a Vassal of Prussia. Another, an equal, was Muscowy.
The alliance with Muscowy, however, turned out to be a great discomfort. As the minor border-incursions between Golden Horde and Muscowy spilled into total war, the Prussians followed. But another country intervened. The Ottoman Empire had earlier guaranteed the independence of Golden Horde, and now they used that guarantee to get involved.
Twenty-three devastating years would pass before Eastern Europe would have peace again. Twenty-three years which would burn and destroy everything the Empire, the Prussians, the Muscovites and the Horde had tried to build up. More than a hundred thousand Prussian soldiers and civilians died in the war, and the Ottoman numbers are even more catastrophic: More than two hundred and fifty thousand soldiers, civilians, militia and sailors were killed during the looting of cities in Bulgaria, Greece and Constantinople, as well as the several failed attempts to assault the Prussian coastal line. The inflation of the involved countries sky-rocketed, they were forced to sell everything not nailed to the ground. The exhaustion from the war meant the near collapse of all four countries, as revolts became common and there were no soldiers to put them down. The Prussian Inquisition had to be stopped for years during the war, as it couldn’t be afforded, as well as to stop religious revolts. The most gross about the war was the peace treaty. Hundreds of thousands had died – for nothing. Nothing at all. Not as much as a ducat was paid in any direction, not a meter of land changed ownership. The participating kings just met in Budapest and agreed to a five years ceasefire.

 

[Enewald]

Just go to localisation, text. and then find PRU and change the english meaning to Kingdom of Baltia or Empire of Baltia.
Should work.

Nice feodalization, just before a new era begins elsewhere.

 

[Esben_DRK]

*yayz*

It worked. Thanks a bunch, mate!