Joachim I Nestor (1499 - 1515)
"Majesty, France's emissaries bring a declaration of war. They lay claim to our province of Lorraine."
Joachim smiled. "Let them come, Frundsberg can handle them," he said. It was true. The new general of his western armies had displayed great aptitude in the art of war, both open battle and siege warfare. Joachim had every confidence in his abilities, perhaps too much so. But Frundsberg had not let him down yet, and most of the new German empire owed its allegiance to the fact they dared not face down Brandenburg's armies. Some had tried and failed, some had succeeded for a time. But Joachim had a tenuous hold on most of his territorial claims. As long Austria, Hungary and Poland stayed out of it, he might just pull it off...
1499 - Joachim I ascends the throne. A new convening of the electors of the Holy Roman Empire takes place in Frankfurt. Will the electors hold true to the Hohenzollerns?
1499 - Joachim's emissaries are waiting to ride as the alliance between Mecklemburg, Cleves, Berg and Bavaria expires. Mecklemburg, Berg and Bavaria simultaneously agree to join the alliance with Bremen and Brandenburg. Joachim can barely contain his glee. 10 German kingdoms are either allied or vassalized to Brandenburg.
1500 - The Imperial Diet of Augsburg took place in this year. At this Diet, the invited members discovered just how deeply ran the schemes of Brandenburg's power grab. Joachim declared himself ruler of all German people and laid claim to the German provinces of Europe. He gave the kingdoms two choices. Accept his rule voluntarily, or have it rammed down their throats by his armies.
1501 - Bremen agreed to the reforms, as a long time ally should, and immediately marched against the newly formed Holstein, who did not agree. Joachim received news that Mecklemburg did not agree either, but as allies they would not declare war on Brandenburg. He instructed his armies that Mecklemburg could wait. Berg and Wirtemburg accepted the new reforms, and Joachim rejoiced again later that month to hear that Bavaria had done likewise. With his allies having made their decisions, Joachim quickly sent emissaries to Cleves and made an alliance before their council could discuss the proposal. Just in time because Oldenburg refused to submit to Joachim's will. Strassburg and Lorraine both refused as well. And then, more worryingly, Savoy followed suit, bringing with her a powerful alliance including France, Brittany and Switzerland. Cleves, the new ally, swayed by the olive branch offered by Joachim, accepted the reform less than a month after being invited to the alliance. German armies laid siege to Alsace, Holstein and Oldenburg. Meanwhile Swiss invaders laid siege to Wirtemburg and a small French army was beaten back in Bremen.
1502 - In January, Holstein was captured, vassalized and finally agreed to the reforms. Oldenburg was also captured, but as she was already a vassal of Denmark, Joachim was forced to annex Oldenburg in order to incorporate her into the realm. Frundsberg arrived in Lorraine with a large siege army. In September, Alsace was captured and again Joachim was forced to annex this vassal of his own vassal, Palatinate.
1503 - Lorraine was captured, vassalized and accepted German rule from Berlin. In May, after capturing the eastern half of Switzerland, Joachim pursued separate peace agreements with Savoy and Switzerland, which were agreed to. A similar proposal to Brittany was rejected. Savoy would have to be dealt with later. This left only France and Brittany to be dealt with. The French needed a lesson in humility, and so German forces were sent to siege Champagne and Nivernais. Frundsberg moved on and pillaged Paris, but his supply lines were stretched thin and his weakened army was destroyed by converging French armies. Nonetheless the French had had enough and accepted a white peace, leaving Joachim in control of an empire stretching from the Baltic to Bavaria, and from Lorraine to Poland.
1507 - Palatinate ended her vassalization to Brandenburg by becoming part of the new empire.
1508 - Mainz followed the example set by Palatinate. The princes were not entirely happy with this. Saxony, Cologne and Pomerania were nervous. Which would be next?
1510 - Cologne it was. It took two years and a considerable amount of gold but the prince finally agreed to his loss of title, in exchange for a lesser administrative position in the bureaucracy.
1511 - The Teutonic Order became a vassal when the ruling house in Prussia became a branch of the Hohenzollern family.
1513 - Mecklemburg voluntarily agreed to join Germany, 13 years after its formation. Joachim accepted his ally's proposal willingly.
1514 - Saxony was added to the realm next, but this same year Joachim was disappointed to hear that his other vassal, Bohemia, had run afoul of the Habsburgs and been annexed. Only Pomerania was left as his original vassal.
1515 - France, Poland, Denmark and Hungary's casus bellis against Germany ended.
Situation in 1515:
OOC: Well, that went really well. I managed to avoid conflict with all the majors but France. It helped that I knew a bit about what to do. I tried this German formation with Austria once (and failed). Getting as many of the minors vassalized or allied as I did meant I only had to fight a few single province kingdoms with tiny armies. Once I could focus just on France it was easy. Honestly I expected more trouble but Poland and Hungary did nothing at all. I thought for sure Poland would, as they'd DOWed me several times already in the game. Next update will complete Joachim's reign to 1535, and that's about as far as I've played yet.
I had to force annex Strassburg and Oldenburg because they were vassal kingdoms so that put my BB at 12 or so, which means I failed to stay below 10 like I planned. Oh well.