A HISTORY OF THE HANSEATIC LEAGUE
Part 2: The Storm and Its Aftermath (1530-1543)
The 12-Year War (1530-1542)
The Papal States declare war on the Hansa on November 28th, 1530, only weeks after the Hansa Council declared Protestantism as their state religion. Both allies of the Papacy, France and Savoy, intervene on their behalf; the Hansa stands alone against the might of the French alliance, as the former Hanseatic allies, Russia and the Teutonic Knights, abandoned the once great Northern Union when the Hansa converted.
Our enemies in this war are far away from us, but they can all reach us by sea. France is the first to attack but their small expeditionary force is defeated in Bremen in February 1531; the remains of the force flee to Mecklenburg, where they are slaughtered in March. In June, French forces catch us by surprise by landing in the Eastern part of our country; they start the siege of Eastern Pommerania in June. The siege force is much larger than that we defeated in Bremen earlier, and our army is unable to provide any relief to the Eastern Pommerania garrison.
As our army tries in vain to drive away the French troops stationed in Pommerania, the French assault Bremen in September and Mecklenburg in October. The two Hanseatic army forces meet in Madgeburg, form one large unit and wait for new replacements. It reaches full battle readiness in December 1531, and starts marching towards our capital Lübeck, in Mecklemburg.
Only days after the garrison in Bremen is forced to surrender to the French, the Hanseatic and French armies battle in Mecklenburg in early February, 1532. We are victorious against the numerically inferior enemy, but our troops get no rest; they are ordered to liberate Bremen immediately. However, the small French army in Bremen defends its positions tenaciously and force the Hanseatic army to retreat. A second attack is successful in June, but the small French garrison continues to resist until November 16th, 1532.
During the winter of 1533, France launches two seaborne assaults on Bremen; the first is beaten back with ease, but their second wave forces our army to retreat. However, we had recruited another, smaller army group in Mecklenburg during the previous year, and they succeed in driving away the French forces. Our small but technically advanced fleet patrols in the waters West of Bremen, and defeats small transport fleets from both Savoy and France in the fall of 1533 and winter of 1534. Attacking armies do not get through our naval forces until July 1534, when a small Savoyan regiment reaches Bremen but is utterly defeated. Meanwhile, the French siege force in Eastern Pommerania has been almost decimated by hunger, disease, and the harsh Baltic winter; they do not have the manpower to effectively siege the fortifications anymore, but they do manage to stop all trade in the province.
Our naval forces prove victorious again in the following winter, driving both French and Savoyan fleets from our coasts. In May 1535, France manages to invade our territory and drive away the defenders of Bremen. Their siege is short-lived, however, since a the Second Hanseatic Army marches in from Mecklenburg and defeats them; the fleeing French soldiers are hunted down and killed in the fall. An invasion force from Savoy meets a similar faith in the spring of 1536.
France and Savoy have proven surprisingly inept in the war so far, but both refuse separate peaces. Do they not see that the so-called 'Holy Father' is just using them in this war – that fat bastard in Rome has not yet sent a single soldier to this war. Just how blind can those Papists be?
The Hanseatic Council has not been inactive on the diplomatic front during the war; we have established several royal marriages with other Protestant nations throughout the Northern part of Europe. However, we have not been able to find allies to help us in the war effort; this is of concern to both the Council and the commoners alike. General discontent due to the drawn-out war has been in the air for a long time, but the first rebellion does not take place until February 1537, when Western Pommerania rebels, and the local nobles and their guards join rebel forces.
The Hanseatic navy achieves a series of naval victories off the coast of Bremen and Holland in the summer and fall of 1537, but the main French navy positions itself in The Sund, the narrow channel between Sjælland and Skåne. Wars rage on elsewhere near our borders as well; Poland and Brandenburg fight, and after a short war Russia takes Ingermanland from the Teutonic Knights in late 1537.
A large French invasion force lands in Western Pommerania in November 1537, and apparently unknowingly do us a favor by annihilating most of the rebel forces in the province; only a small garrison is able to resist them. The French army also defeats our first two iberation attempts in the spring of 1538, but in May we finally succeed in driving them away. The French retreat to Eastern Pommerania, and start siege operations there in June. A small siege force from Savoy reaches Mecklenburg in August.
Fearful of its future, the Council agrees to take out a loan of 200 ducats to pay for the new soldiers needed to drive away the invaders. A newly recruited army force succeeds in defeating Savoy in Meclenburg in February 1539, and on March 11th, a diplomat from that country offers a separate status quo peace, a treaty which the Council gladly accepts. Almost exactly a month later, on April 13th, Eastern Pommerania falls to France; the French are also willing to grant peace, but their demands are exorbitant: they want Eastern Pommerania AND 247 ducats – our entire treasury!
We use more than a hundred ducats to recruit more soldiers to continue the war, rather than give in to their outrageous demands. However, the French are determined to profit from this war; their Eastern Pommeranian force receives a large batch of reinforcements in November, 1539, and heads west; when Bremen rebels in early December, the council realizes that they are, in fact, fighting a losing war. The French send another, only nominally more generous peace offer, which we are forced to accept; on December 14th, 1539, we sign away Eastern Pommerania and our entire treasury, 112 ducats, to France.
Our main enemy France is now out of the war, but the long, drawn-out war has taken a toll on the Council's popularity. What is worse, we are still technically at war with the Papacy, even though by the end of 1539 we still have not seen a single soldier or ship from the Papal States; this state of war is too much on the commoners, and both Bremen and Holstein rebel in January 1540. To add insult to injury, the Pope rejects our peace proposal.
Our armies defeat the rebels in both Bremen and Holstein, but the casualty rate is alarming; neither the First nor the Second Hanseatic Army are in battle condition, when the Papal States assault the rebel-controlled Western Pommerania in November 1540. Partly due to this new twist in the war, Bremen and Holstein are in open revolt again in December, and this time the rebels are more numerous than ever. In Bremen, they drive away the First Hanseatic Army, and the Second Army fares worse: they are slaughtered to the last man in a battle outside Hamburg. The defeat fuels unrest among commoners further around the country.
In November, 1540 the rebel forces sieging Holstein take control of the local fortifications and reportedly head West, towards the capital province. They reach Mecklenburg in December, and the battle-weary remains of the Hanseatic Army are forced to flee to Madgeburg. We try to recruit more soldiers there, but very few willing young men can be found.
As the rebels from Holstein siege Mecklenburg, Madgeburg rebels, and the rebels seize local fortifications. The massive rebel army defeats the Hanseatic Army. The few remaining soldiers flee in panic to Western Pommerania, where they meet their death in the hands of the Papal invasion force. In July 1541, the Hanseatic Council has no money and no army, and apparently soon, no country, either.
On January 8th, 1542, Bremen falls to the rebels, and on February 1st, Mecklenburg surrenders and the members of the Council are arrested. An envoy from the Papacy meets with rebel leaders, and the Council members have to choose between re-conversion to Catholicism or slow, agonizing death. Only few choose to convert, so a new Hansetag (2/2/2) is eventually appointed. However, before the new Catholic Council is ready to govern, local nobles in Holstein take advantage of the power vacuum and general chaos, declare independence.
The fall of the Hanseatic Council in 1542 brought us peace, but at what cost? Our army is totally annihilated, the country defenseless, and the richest province in the nation has been lost to some opportunistic Baron who tries to pass as a monarch; our treasury is also almost depleted, and when the loan we took in 1538 to finance the war expires in 1543, we are forced to take out a new one to pay it off.
The Council now has only one mission: to bring back the glory days before 1530. However, to do that we need an army, and to recruit an army, we need money; money, however, is scarce, unless we can take back Holstein. And to take Holstein we need an army, but even that is not enough; Holstein joins the French Alliance in late 1543, and we do not intend to fight them alone again.
********************************
A screenshot of the situation at the start of 1544 can be found in
http://users.utu.fi/timhau/hansa1544.JPG
Part 2: The Storm and Its Aftermath (1530-1543)
The 12-Year War (1530-1542)
The Papal States declare war on the Hansa on November 28th, 1530, only weeks after the Hansa Council declared Protestantism as their state religion. Both allies of the Papacy, France and Savoy, intervene on their behalf; the Hansa stands alone against the might of the French alliance, as the former Hanseatic allies, Russia and the Teutonic Knights, abandoned the once great Northern Union when the Hansa converted.
Our enemies in this war are far away from us, but they can all reach us by sea. France is the first to attack but their small expeditionary force is defeated in Bremen in February 1531; the remains of the force flee to Mecklenburg, where they are slaughtered in March. In June, French forces catch us by surprise by landing in the Eastern part of our country; they start the siege of Eastern Pommerania in June. The siege force is much larger than that we defeated in Bremen earlier, and our army is unable to provide any relief to the Eastern Pommerania garrison.
As our army tries in vain to drive away the French troops stationed in Pommerania, the French assault Bremen in September and Mecklenburg in October. The two Hanseatic army forces meet in Madgeburg, form one large unit and wait for new replacements. It reaches full battle readiness in December 1531, and starts marching towards our capital Lübeck, in Mecklemburg.
Only days after the garrison in Bremen is forced to surrender to the French, the Hanseatic and French armies battle in Mecklenburg in early February, 1532. We are victorious against the numerically inferior enemy, but our troops get no rest; they are ordered to liberate Bremen immediately. However, the small French army in Bremen defends its positions tenaciously and force the Hanseatic army to retreat. A second attack is successful in June, but the small French garrison continues to resist until November 16th, 1532.
During the winter of 1533, France launches two seaborne assaults on Bremen; the first is beaten back with ease, but their second wave forces our army to retreat. However, we had recruited another, smaller army group in Mecklenburg during the previous year, and they succeed in driving away the French forces. Our small but technically advanced fleet patrols in the waters West of Bremen, and defeats small transport fleets from both Savoy and France in the fall of 1533 and winter of 1534. Attacking armies do not get through our naval forces until July 1534, when a small Savoyan regiment reaches Bremen but is utterly defeated. Meanwhile, the French siege force in Eastern Pommerania has been almost decimated by hunger, disease, and the harsh Baltic winter; they do not have the manpower to effectively siege the fortifications anymore, but they do manage to stop all trade in the province.
Our naval forces prove victorious again in the following winter, driving both French and Savoyan fleets from our coasts. In May 1535, France manages to invade our territory and drive away the defenders of Bremen. Their siege is short-lived, however, since a the Second Hanseatic Army marches in from Mecklenburg and defeats them; the fleeing French soldiers are hunted down and killed in the fall. An invasion force from Savoy meets a similar faith in the spring of 1536.
France and Savoy have proven surprisingly inept in the war so far, but both refuse separate peaces. Do they not see that the so-called 'Holy Father' is just using them in this war – that fat bastard in Rome has not yet sent a single soldier to this war. Just how blind can those Papists be?
The Hanseatic Council has not been inactive on the diplomatic front during the war; we have established several royal marriages with other Protestant nations throughout the Northern part of Europe. However, we have not been able to find allies to help us in the war effort; this is of concern to both the Council and the commoners alike. General discontent due to the drawn-out war has been in the air for a long time, but the first rebellion does not take place until February 1537, when Western Pommerania rebels, and the local nobles and their guards join rebel forces.
The Hanseatic navy achieves a series of naval victories off the coast of Bremen and Holland in the summer and fall of 1537, but the main French navy positions itself in The Sund, the narrow channel between Sjælland and Skåne. Wars rage on elsewhere near our borders as well; Poland and Brandenburg fight, and after a short war Russia takes Ingermanland from the Teutonic Knights in late 1537.
A large French invasion force lands in Western Pommerania in November 1537, and apparently unknowingly do us a favor by annihilating most of the rebel forces in the province; only a small garrison is able to resist them. The French army also defeats our first two iberation attempts in the spring of 1538, but in May we finally succeed in driving them away. The French retreat to Eastern Pommerania, and start siege operations there in June. A small siege force from Savoy reaches Mecklenburg in August.
Fearful of its future, the Council agrees to take out a loan of 200 ducats to pay for the new soldiers needed to drive away the invaders. A newly recruited army force succeeds in defeating Savoy in Meclenburg in February 1539, and on March 11th, a diplomat from that country offers a separate status quo peace, a treaty which the Council gladly accepts. Almost exactly a month later, on April 13th, Eastern Pommerania falls to France; the French are also willing to grant peace, but their demands are exorbitant: they want Eastern Pommerania AND 247 ducats – our entire treasury!
We use more than a hundred ducats to recruit more soldiers to continue the war, rather than give in to their outrageous demands. However, the French are determined to profit from this war; their Eastern Pommeranian force receives a large batch of reinforcements in November, 1539, and heads west; when Bremen rebels in early December, the council realizes that they are, in fact, fighting a losing war. The French send another, only nominally more generous peace offer, which we are forced to accept; on December 14th, 1539, we sign away Eastern Pommerania and our entire treasury, 112 ducats, to France.
Our main enemy France is now out of the war, but the long, drawn-out war has taken a toll on the Council's popularity. What is worse, we are still technically at war with the Papacy, even though by the end of 1539 we still have not seen a single soldier or ship from the Papal States; this state of war is too much on the commoners, and both Bremen and Holstein rebel in January 1540. To add insult to injury, the Pope rejects our peace proposal.
Our armies defeat the rebels in both Bremen and Holstein, but the casualty rate is alarming; neither the First nor the Second Hanseatic Army are in battle condition, when the Papal States assault the rebel-controlled Western Pommerania in November 1540. Partly due to this new twist in the war, Bremen and Holstein are in open revolt again in December, and this time the rebels are more numerous than ever. In Bremen, they drive away the First Hanseatic Army, and the Second Army fares worse: they are slaughtered to the last man in a battle outside Hamburg. The defeat fuels unrest among commoners further around the country.
In November, 1540 the rebel forces sieging Holstein take control of the local fortifications and reportedly head West, towards the capital province. They reach Mecklenburg in December, and the battle-weary remains of the Hanseatic Army are forced to flee to Madgeburg. We try to recruit more soldiers there, but very few willing young men can be found.
As the rebels from Holstein siege Mecklenburg, Madgeburg rebels, and the rebels seize local fortifications. The massive rebel army defeats the Hanseatic Army. The few remaining soldiers flee in panic to Western Pommerania, where they meet their death in the hands of the Papal invasion force. In July 1541, the Hanseatic Council has no money and no army, and apparently soon, no country, either.
On January 8th, 1542, Bremen falls to the rebels, and on February 1st, Mecklenburg surrenders and the members of the Council are arrested. An envoy from the Papacy meets with rebel leaders, and the Council members have to choose between re-conversion to Catholicism or slow, agonizing death. Only few choose to convert, so a new Hansetag (2/2/2) is eventually appointed. However, before the new Catholic Council is ready to govern, local nobles in Holstein take advantage of the power vacuum and general chaos, declare independence.
The fall of the Hanseatic Council in 1542 brought us peace, but at what cost? Our army is totally annihilated, the country defenseless, and the richest province in the nation has been lost to some opportunistic Baron who tries to pass as a monarch; our treasury is also almost depleted, and when the loan we took in 1538 to finance the war expires in 1543, we are forced to take out a new one to pay it off.
The Council now has only one mission: to bring back the glory days before 1530. However, to do that we need an army, and to recruit an army, we need money; money, however, is scarce, unless we can take back Holstein. And to take Holstein we need an army, but even that is not enough; Holstein joins the French Alliance in late 1543, and we do not intend to fight them alone again.
********************************
A screenshot of the situation at the start of 1544 can be found in
http://users.utu.fi/timhau/hansa1544.JPG
