Chapter 4: Humility (1494-1514)
As predicted, there was a lot of unrest in the conquered provinces. Livonia had a very different culture and religion from the Scandinavians, and trying to implement their trading restrictions and taxation system would be controversial. It was decided that for the time being, citizens of the conquered territories would remain untaxed and follow a more loose code of law while infrastructure was expanded and ports rebuilt – later once stability was achieved, these allowances could potentially be revoked.
Despite these measures, the rebellions still came. The armies were ferried around between the conquered territory to defend it, and were mostly successful. Skane was the location of the largest rebellion, as it was part of the Scandinavian mainland and quite far away from Livonia. The rebels succeeded in occupying the province for around a month, but as their army entered Norway (attempting to connect with Halsingland), the Northern Army recaptured Skane and defeated the rebels in battle as they returned.
Aquitaine continued to expand into France, while Badyah was attacked by a coalition of southern Europeans, launching a massive war between the Christian and Muslim forces.
Around a decade after their defeat, the Swedes marched into the remaining Norwegian territory and demanded the concession of all of their land, excluding a small coast in the far north. In addition, the people of Westrogothia were released as their own independent country.
Butvydas took advantage of this sudden occupation to claim the former lands of Norway for himself – naturally, the Swedish refused his demands, and war was declared once again in 1504.
The king knew that Halsingland had no chance of defending itself – its alliance with England had been broken in the previous war, and Germany had stopped focusing on other countries since it was currently being carved up by its neighbors. While the Swedish army had taken almost no losses during the invasion of Norway, they were still stationed in the new territory and were unprepared for another Livonian invasion this soon.
The invasion came from two directions – an army invaded the south from Skane, while in the east, the armies were transported onto the coast of Stockholm.
The main battle of the war was in the capital itself, Halsingland. Prussian forces launched an attack on the Swedish army, and the Livonians flanked from the south, routing the enemy very quickly.
Following the battle, there was nothing stopping the armies from advancing. By September, the war was won, after less than 1 year. The peace terms were quite ambitious on Butvydas’s part: Suomi was given large amounts of the northern coast, while the King’s Scandinavian coast was extended all the way north to Stockholm.
While normally this would have worried foreign powers, the Baltic Sea was almost completely under Livonia’s influence – Brabant likely wished to invade Halsingland themselves, and the only other notable power was Pomerania, which was still focused on the never-ending German wars.
The army hadn’t taken very many casualties during the invasion, they would be face far stronger resistance from the rebels. As one can imagine, a Swedish Catholic people aren’t going to be happy with Baltic Jewish leadership. Regardless, the conquered land significantly increased transportation capacity –all of the conquered land was now connected, and with decent infrastructure as well. The vast coastline would make overseas trade and transport very easy.
The religious war in southern Eurasia was still going in 1510, and the Christian forces were doing remarkably well. After almost completely occupying the Uyunids, Bohemia gained several border provinces from them in a separate peace deal. In fact, Bohemia was now the most powerful it ever had been, which was of great concern to their neighbors. A series of forts were built all along the southern border, which at this point contained Livonia’s only true threats.
After the Uyunid defeat at the hands of the Catholics, the King of Mordvinia met with Butvydas to propose their own dual-invasion. The country had already been defeated and was dealing with rebels, so it seemed to be the perfect time to strike. Butvydas agreed, seeing this as his greatest chance to weaken a powerful threat.
Mordvinia had much to gain – they had lost land to both the Uyunids and Karenia which they hoped to reclaim, while Liivimaa was mainly concerned with weakening the Uyunids. Suomi did not join the war, as they had little stake in it, but the Uyunids were joined by Karenia and Persia, two very powerful nations.
The Livonian armies had begun to hire professional mercenary officers for the army; the most notable being Vykintas Saaremaa, who innovated the art of artillery warfare and siege tactics. The early successes of the army would crucial, as it was important to gain as much land as possible before the enemies had time to assemble and regroup. A battle was already ongoing in Yelets between an Uyunid army and some separatist rebels, so the Baltic Army moved in to ambush them. As they approached, the Uyunids sent another army to reinforce, doubling their size. The armies from the south were quickly rushed to assist the Baltic army. The ambush was successful, but the Uyunids decided to retreat instead of attempting to fight.
Overall, the combined forces of the enemies outnumbered the Jewish armies, but transporting the armies took a very long time, and Karenia’s invasion of eastern Mordvinia would be difficult during winter, which gave the notherners a tactical advantage.
Despite their advantages, Livonia still had troubles. As they continued to advance, the armies were halted by a harsh winter. To make matters worse, a very large rebellion popped up in Warsaw, which forced one of the armies to return home.
The other army tried to hold the line, but the allied armies of Karenia and Persia were beginning to arrive. The southern army successfully picked off some smaller forces, but they were surprised by the Persian Horsemen. Combined with an Uyunid army, they completely encircled the southern army and captured every survivor.
The rebels had been defeated in Warsaw, but the Baltic Army couldn’t return to Uyunid territory due to the massive enemy presence. The King took several loans, and spent the money on recruiting thousands of new soldiers. The armies hid in Livonia while the new forces were recruited and assembled. Meanwhile, Mordvinia was fighting back-and-forth on the border with Karenia, and the Uyunids were recapturing territory.
As the armies were assembling and moving to the border, the Uyunids attempted to attack one of the border armies. They were surprised by the quick reinforcement by the newly-replenished Baltic Army, and suffered a large defeat.
The armies advanced, hoping to defeat the Uyunid-Persian forces in the south and regain their momentum. The Battle of Voronezh would decide this war – a smaller Uyunid army was attacked by the Livonians, but was quickly reinforced by Persia. The rest of the Baltic armies moved in to assist; the battle raged on for a very long time, but the Livonians were unable to keep up with the seemingly endless reinforcements that were coming from Persia and Karenia.
As they retreated, the Muslim armies followed very close behind, ignoring the occupied territories they passed. The Persian Horsemen managed to encircle another one of the shattered Livonian armies, capturing them as well. Meanwhile, Mordvinia was losing ground. Butvydas became very concerned when the Muslim armies continued their chase all the way into Livonian borders.
The manpower of the country was decimated, and couldn’t hope to compete with the vast enemy armies, especially now that Livonia’s own territory risked being raided and occupied. Butvydas decided to swallow his pride and ask what terms would be demanded in the event of a peace. Having no better options, he was forced to cede all border provinces to the Uyunids, while Mordvinia lost land in the east.
The country was left in debt with no manpower and less land. Despite the Uyunid defeat against Bohemia, they still managed to win this war with ¼ of their own lands occupied, thanks to the vast armies of their allies. Now Livonia was in a weak position, bordering two powerful enemies to the south. Butvydas never expected to be put on the defensive, but now he would have to change his approach in order to keep the country together
