Thanks to DanielMcCollum for the idea of a history-book-like AAR. I hope he doesn't mind me stealing the idea 
Up until 1492, Europe seemed to be a continent destined to fall to more dynamic, unified nations like the Turks. Most of the continent was content to let itself waste away in the feudal fashion; splitting countries, duchies and even baronies into smaller and smaller domains. Yet there were signs of unification movements coming to light - the French were recovering their lands from the English, the Poles recovered their historic lands and access to the sea, the Lithuanians had made massive landgrabs in the decimated Russias, and Spain was on the verge of uniting the Iberian peninsula under one crown. Still, even these 'united' nations paled in comparison to true empires - both former and contemporary.
With 1492, however, came the events that changed the world. First, Spain's explorer Columbus had discovered a brand new world, though he did not know it at the time. Second, a mysterious sect had planted itself as the power behind the thrones of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In this chapter we cover the latter event and its deadly consequences.
In 1492, Poland-Lithuania was a nation that seemed to be settling down. The great conquests were behind them, as traditional Polish lands were recovered and Lithuania had taken as much of Russia as was available. The remnants of the Mongol Horde and Muscovy itself seemed to deny further expansion. The new Commonwealth was surrounded by enemies - the Austrians and Hungarians to the South, Denmark and a pair of dynamic German principalities to the West, the Teutonic Order to the North, and Russia and the Hordes to the East. Yet just as an uneasy peace seemed to be settling on the land, Poland-Lithuania launched a short but bloody campaign against the Order, decimating the religious knights and absorbing all their lands. Prussia, all alone now and with no outside help, fell quickly to the rapacious armies of the Commonwealth.
The peace did not last long. After establishing armies to deter rebels, the Commonwealth began the three Imperial Wars, determined to establish themselves as an Empire - just as Moscow kings fancied themselves inheritors of the Byzantine crown, the Jagiellon dynasty yearned for that title.
The first Imperial War was a haphazard undertaking, poorly planned and executed. The Commonwealth had as yet not recovered from its conquests of the Teutonic Order, and it had to maintain garrisons over the provinces of Memel and Eastern Prussia to put down rebels. Russia, in the meanwhile, had been planning on assaulting Kazan and was completely ready for a showdown with its western neighbor. Quickly striking with its Moscow army through Tula all the way to Smolensk, the Russians were stopped by the cold winter weather and brutal attrition rates as much as any Commonwealth action. The war might have gone differently had the Russians shortened the sieges with cannon, but alas, they succumbed to the elements more than to any Polish swords or Lithuanian axes.
In the meanwhile, the Commonwealth gathered what few forces it had remaining after the Russian assaults, and struck at Tula then Tver, before re-taking Smolensk from the now-decimated Muscovite siege force. The peace settlement favored the Poles, though barely, with Tula and 250 ducats changing hands.
5 years later, as the peace treaty expired, both sides were ready for a rematch. The Commonwealth secured its southern and western borders with royal marriages, stripped the garrisons just in time to receive the Russian declaration of war. Muscovite armies marched from Novgorod, Tver and Moscow into the neighbouring Lithuanian provinces, only to bloody themselves on the walls of the fortifications and be driven back by relief forces. Those same relief forces combined for an assault on Moscow itself, then Tver, Novgorod, Karelia and other northern Russian provinces. Unfortunately, what the Poles managed to do to Russia in the North, Russia was doing to Poland in the South - through its vassal Ryazan. The Commonwealth armies had to disengage and chase the invaders away, as a beneficial peace settlement is rather hard to sign when the enemy ravages your lands unchecked. For over a year the chase continued - enough time for Russia to recover and recapture its provinces. The Poles sent their original armies to the North to delay a Russian counter-attack, while Glinsky gathered an overwhelming force around the Ukraine. Two years passed with nothing more than young, inexperienced armies being thrown against each other. Finally, Glinsky's Commonwealth army was ready and moved up North - not to Moscow yet, but to Ryazan. Ryazan had been sending its troops to defend Russia, and was about to pay the price. Within 6 seasons, it fell and submitted to Poland. The Russians lost Moscow, Tver and Novgorod a second time, and were forced to accept the loss of Tver and Novgorod on paper, as well as paying another 250 ducats in indemnities. Muscovite power was broken.
With more garrisons being set up to fight off rebels, Glinsky kept his army's edge by annexing Pskov and its colony of Ingermanland. Though 5 years had no passed, Russia could not stand by to see its ally annexed and declared war again, the Third Imperial War.
Stricken with rebellions, it proved no match for Glinsky's Commonwealth armies - but the conquests and sieges took long. Long enough for war fatigue to set in and nationalistic sentiments to rise in the Germanic and Russian lands. Numerous rebellions wracked the Commonwealth, almost bringing it to its knees. P-L did not accept a regular peace this time, but chose to finish off the Muscovite threat once and for all. Although Ryazan and the Teutonic Order were on the verge of declaring independence, Poland-Lithuania annexed Russia (which by now included parts of the Golden Horde and all of Kazan.)
The rebellions were put down at great cost, but a new Tsar was proclaimed and the Great Lull swept the land, as the Tsars calmed Nationalistic feelings and began converting Krementjug to Catholicism, in a most brutal fashion.
During the Great Lull, many developments had occured. Sweden allied and was vassalized by the Commonwealth. Burgundy, along with Spain and England, stopped French unification - three provinces itself before the Spanish and English could claim one. Brittany, however, accepted its fate as a French province and rarely rebelled. The Papal States seemed intent on a re-creation of the Roman empire, having united central and southern Italy, less Sicily. Brandenburg had also begun its unification plans, setting up strategic alliances and marriages among the German states. Austria inherited Hungary and began its military conquest of Bohemia, while establishing good relations with Bavaria and Baden - its future vassals.
The Great Lull wasn't a complete peace, it was only relatively peaceful. Several rebellions were put down and the Mongol nations were slowly absorbed, much to the chagrin of other European nations, who hoped that the Mongols might at least slow down the ever-more-threatening Commonwealth. The end of the Lull was marked when a major German alliance declared war when Astrakhan was attacked by the Commonwealth, but they proved ineffective, with only slight border changes (Silesia, Kustrin and Eastern Pommerania were taken by the Commonwealth.)
No doubt the Poles would have taken more vengeance for these acts of war, but a totally unexpected, world-changing event occured - the rise of Protestantism. Almost overnight, many of the Commonwealth's northern provinces fell to this heretical faith, and the Tsars despaired what to do - to convert the heretics would take an incredible effort, yet they were clearly hampering stability. The power behind the throne was always looking forward into the future, grimly deciding that these heretics must be exterminated, at any price. The persecution of Protestants was remorseless. They were led to rebellion after rebellion, and each of these was brutally put down, wiping out massive populations of Protestants. When a province was finally weak enough, the Tsars would convert it.
Just as these conversions were coming to an end, the Heretic Wars were beginning. Sweden renounced its vassalization and declared itself to be a Protestant nation - inviting swift retribution from the Commonwealth who took what is now modern-day Finland in a pair of wars. Yet Sweden was not the only nation to be fought against - for Brandenburg, Hansa, Denmark and other Protestant nations would declare war the moment they thought the Commonwealth weak or pre-occupied. Gotland was taken from the Danes, and a great price (1500 ducats) extracted from Brandenburg, but many of the other Protestant nations were beyond the reach of the Commonwealth.
The Poles dispatched foreign Heretics just as brutally as they did their own, forcibly converting them to Catholicism. With the former Swedish lands barely pacified (National sentiments remained), the Poles turned their attention to the Balkans. Turkey had grown immensely powerful at this time. It stretched from the Hedjaz in the South to Wallachia and Hungary in the North, and Persia in the East to Morocco in the West.
The Commonwealth sat quietly for a few decades, building itself up for the inevitable showdown with these heathens. Through its great northern trading empire, it financed the upgrades of armies, navies, infrastructure and more trade. Fortresses were upgraded, manufactories built and navies now patrolled the coasts. The occasional war with Austria, Sweden or Crimea was fought, but these were not serious engagements.
Finally, the Commonwealth declared war on Crimea, quickly took the capital and demanded great tribute. This tribute financed further armies, which were sent to strike at the heathens. If the Imperial Wars were savage, it was because they were messy, unorganized affairs. The Heathen Wars - all 5 - were slaughters. Armies charged into provinces, began sieges, suffered attrition and were wiped out by relief forces. The relief forces then invaded the enemy province, and suffered the same fate as the army they just wiped out. Over and over this occure, with no more than a province or two exchanging hands at each peace treaty. Poland's fleets in the Black sea were decimated, for though they were greatly upgraded in the past few decades, they remained no match for the Turkish navy. With several fleets, large invasion forces meant for Thrace found watery graves.
Even at the end of the 5th Heathen War, Turkey remained a worthy match... yet it was no longer the threat.
For in the half century that the wars were fought, and the decades pre-empting the wars, Brandenburg had grown mighty. It absorbed its neighbors either peacefully (like Kleves, the Palatinate, Hessen, Hanover) or through force (Hansa, Saxony and parts of Denmark.) It expanded South, fighting at least one war in which it gained Baden and Bavaria from Austria, and was only stopped from reaching the Mediterranean by a surprisingly powerful Savoy.
Brandenburg had also allied with Burgundy, which managed to put down several Dutch revolts, all the while slowly eating up France. With some Spanish and English help, France ceased to exist - its colonial empire never took off the ground, thanks to Spain and the Treaty of Tordesillas.
When the Edict of Tolerance came around, Brandenburg married into the Burgundian dynasty and eventually vassalized and annexed Burgundy - forming a great western European empire - Brandenburgundy.
Poland-Lithuania, so pre-occupied with its vicious wars with Turkey, with keeping Silesia and Moravia out of Austrian hands, and with the conversion of the last Heretics in Finland, didn't even pay attention to Brandenburg's declaration of war. After all, Kustrin and Eastern Pommerania had the world's mightiest fotresses at the time. Krakow was manned by a massive, 70,000 man army, as was Danzig. So began the Dividing War - between East and West. Protestant, Reformists and Catholics, against Catholics and Orthodox...
When word reached the power behind the throne that Brandenburg wasn't just sueing for peace demanding a mere 250o, but Kustrin, Silesia and Danzig, and that the armies in Galicia and Prussia were totally wiped out (they used to be the armies in Krakow and Danzig, respectively), panic hit.
A quick, weak peace was made with Turkey. Austria was payed off 250o to bow out of the war early, and Crimea was assaulted again to fund this war. Loans were taken out and armies raised - but they weren't thrown haphazardly against the might Brandenburgian forces. The armies were gathered together and trained, then faced off against their foes.
The zones of control did not change significantly for fifteen years. Fifteen years of war! Neither side could gain an advantage. The Brandenburgians held onto their initial gains with the exception of East Prussia.
Moravia, Silesia, Krakow, Kustrin, Posen, Western Prussia, Eastern Pommerania - these provinces were <I>not</I> about to be ceded to the Heretics! But it was obvious that with Turkey at the South, declaring war every several years, the Commonwealth might not make it - until war fatigue started setting in. The inhumane and grotesque extermination of Protestants and Muslims in Commonwealth territory was paying off. War fatigue didn't start rebellions in the Commonwealth, but Reformist and Catholic provinces in Brandenburgundy were beginning to show their discontent. The Dutch quickly rebelled and declared independence yet again - and this inspired the neighbouring French provinces to rebel. Unable to reinforce its front-lines with troops from France or Holland, Brandenburg soon lost its gains and was forced to sue for a white peace - which was gladly accepted by the Commonwealth, who could not buy off the Austrians and fight the Turks any longer. Holland was again annexed by Brandenburg, and the French never did manage to declare independence...
Up until 1492, Europe seemed to be a continent destined to fall to more dynamic, unified nations like the Turks. Most of the continent was content to let itself waste away in the feudal fashion; splitting countries, duchies and even baronies into smaller and smaller domains. Yet there were signs of unification movements coming to light - the French were recovering their lands from the English, the Poles recovered their historic lands and access to the sea, the Lithuanians had made massive landgrabs in the decimated Russias, and Spain was on the verge of uniting the Iberian peninsula under one crown. Still, even these 'united' nations paled in comparison to true empires - both former and contemporary.
With 1492, however, came the events that changed the world. First, Spain's explorer Columbus had discovered a brand new world, though he did not know it at the time. Second, a mysterious sect had planted itself as the power behind the thrones of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In this chapter we cover the latter event and its deadly consequences.
In 1492, Poland-Lithuania was a nation that seemed to be settling down. The great conquests were behind them, as traditional Polish lands were recovered and Lithuania had taken as much of Russia as was available. The remnants of the Mongol Horde and Muscovy itself seemed to deny further expansion. The new Commonwealth was surrounded by enemies - the Austrians and Hungarians to the South, Denmark and a pair of dynamic German principalities to the West, the Teutonic Order to the North, and Russia and the Hordes to the East. Yet just as an uneasy peace seemed to be settling on the land, Poland-Lithuania launched a short but bloody campaign against the Order, decimating the religious knights and absorbing all their lands. Prussia, all alone now and with no outside help, fell quickly to the rapacious armies of the Commonwealth.
The peace did not last long. After establishing armies to deter rebels, the Commonwealth began the three Imperial Wars, determined to establish themselves as an Empire - just as Moscow kings fancied themselves inheritors of the Byzantine crown, the Jagiellon dynasty yearned for that title.
The first Imperial War was a haphazard undertaking, poorly planned and executed. The Commonwealth had as yet not recovered from its conquests of the Teutonic Order, and it had to maintain garrisons over the provinces of Memel and Eastern Prussia to put down rebels. Russia, in the meanwhile, had been planning on assaulting Kazan and was completely ready for a showdown with its western neighbor. Quickly striking with its Moscow army through Tula all the way to Smolensk, the Russians were stopped by the cold winter weather and brutal attrition rates as much as any Commonwealth action. The war might have gone differently had the Russians shortened the sieges with cannon, but alas, they succumbed to the elements more than to any Polish swords or Lithuanian axes.
In the meanwhile, the Commonwealth gathered what few forces it had remaining after the Russian assaults, and struck at Tula then Tver, before re-taking Smolensk from the now-decimated Muscovite siege force. The peace settlement favored the Poles, though barely, with Tula and 250 ducats changing hands.
5 years later, as the peace treaty expired, both sides were ready for a rematch. The Commonwealth secured its southern and western borders with royal marriages, stripped the garrisons just in time to receive the Russian declaration of war. Muscovite armies marched from Novgorod, Tver and Moscow into the neighbouring Lithuanian provinces, only to bloody themselves on the walls of the fortifications and be driven back by relief forces. Those same relief forces combined for an assault on Moscow itself, then Tver, Novgorod, Karelia and other northern Russian provinces. Unfortunately, what the Poles managed to do to Russia in the North, Russia was doing to Poland in the South - through its vassal Ryazan. The Commonwealth armies had to disengage and chase the invaders away, as a beneficial peace settlement is rather hard to sign when the enemy ravages your lands unchecked. For over a year the chase continued - enough time for Russia to recover and recapture its provinces. The Poles sent their original armies to the North to delay a Russian counter-attack, while Glinsky gathered an overwhelming force around the Ukraine. Two years passed with nothing more than young, inexperienced armies being thrown against each other. Finally, Glinsky's Commonwealth army was ready and moved up North - not to Moscow yet, but to Ryazan. Ryazan had been sending its troops to defend Russia, and was about to pay the price. Within 6 seasons, it fell and submitted to Poland. The Russians lost Moscow, Tver and Novgorod a second time, and were forced to accept the loss of Tver and Novgorod on paper, as well as paying another 250 ducats in indemnities. Muscovite power was broken.
With more garrisons being set up to fight off rebels, Glinsky kept his army's edge by annexing Pskov and its colony of Ingermanland. Though 5 years had no passed, Russia could not stand by to see its ally annexed and declared war again, the Third Imperial War.
Stricken with rebellions, it proved no match for Glinsky's Commonwealth armies - but the conquests and sieges took long. Long enough for war fatigue to set in and nationalistic sentiments to rise in the Germanic and Russian lands. Numerous rebellions wracked the Commonwealth, almost bringing it to its knees. P-L did not accept a regular peace this time, but chose to finish off the Muscovite threat once and for all. Although Ryazan and the Teutonic Order were on the verge of declaring independence, Poland-Lithuania annexed Russia (which by now included parts of the Golden Horde and all of Kazan.)
The rebellions were put down at great cost, but a new Tsar was proclaimed and the Great Lull swept the land, as the Tsars calmed Nationalistic feelings and began converting Krementjug to Catholicism, in a most brutal fashion.
During the Great Lull, many developments had occured. Sweden allied and was vassalized by the Commonwealth. Burgundy, along with Spain and England, stopped French unification - three provinces itself before the Spanish and English could claim one. Brittany, however, accepted its fate as a French province and rarely rebelled. The Papal States seemed intent on a re-creation of the Roman empire, having united central and southern Italy, less Sicily. Brandenburg had also begun its unification plans, setting up strategic alliances and marriages among the German states. Austria inherited Hungary and began its military conquest of Bohemia, while establishing good relations with Bavaria and Baden - its future vassals.
The Great Lull wasn't a complete peace, it was only relatively peaceful. Several rebellions were put down and the Mongol nations were slowly absorbed, much to the chagrin of other European nations, who hoped that the Mongols might at least slow down the ever-more-threatening Commonwealth. The end of the Lull was marked when a major German alliance declared war when Astrakhan was attacked by the Commonwealth, but they proved ineffective, with only slight border changes (Silesia, Kustrin and Eastern Pommerania were taken by the Commonwealth.)
No doubt the Poles would have taken more vengeance for these acts of war, but a totally unexpected, world-changing event occured - the rise of Protestantism. Almost overnight, many of the Commonwealth's northern provinces fell to this heretical faith, and the Tsars despaired what to do - to convert the heretics would take an incredible effort, yet they were clearly hampering stability. The power behind the throne was always looking forward into the future, grimly deciding that these heretics must be exterminated, at any price. The persecution of Protestants was remorseless. They were led to rebellion after rebellion, and each of these was brutally put down, wiping out massive populations of Protestants. When a province was finally weak enough, the Tsars would convert it.
Just as these conversions were coming to an end, the Heretic Wars were beginning. Sweden renounced its vassalization and declared itself to be a Protestant nation - inviting swift retribution from the Commonwealth who took what is now modern-day Finland in a pair of wars. Yet Sweden was not the only nation to be fought against - for Brandenburg, Hansa, Denmark and other Protestant nations would declare war the moment they thought the Commonwealth weak or pre-occupied. Gotland was taken from the Danes, and a great price (1500 ducats) extracted from Brandenburg, but many of the other Protestant nations were beyond the reach of the Commonwealth.
The Poles dispatched foreign Heretics just as brutally as they did their own, forcibly converting them to Catholicism. With the former Swedish lands barely pacified (National sentiments remained), the Poles turned their attention to the Balkans. Turkey had grown immensely powerful at this time. It stretched from the Hedjaz in the South to Wallachia and Hungary in the North, and Persia in the East to Morocco in the West.
The Commonwealth sat quietly for a few decades, building itself up for the inevitable showdown with these heathens. Through its great northern trading empire, it financed the upgrades of armies, navies, infrastructure and more trade. Fortresses were upgraded, manufactories built and navies now patrolled the coasts. The occasional war with Austria, Sweden or Crimea was fought, but these were not serious engagements.
Finally, the Commonwealth declared war on Crimea, quickly took the capital and demanded great tribute. This tribute financed further armies, which were sent to strike at the heathens. If the Imperial Wars were savage, it was because they were messy, unorganized affairs. The Heathen Wars - all 5 - were slaughters. Armies charged into provinces, began sieges, suffered attrition and were wiped out by relief forces. The relief forces then invaded the enemy province, and suffered the same fate as the army they just wiped out. Over and over this occure, with no more than a province or two exchanging hands at each peace treaty. Poland's fleets in the Black sea were decimated, for though they were greatly upgraded in the past few decades, they remained no match for the Turkish navy. With several fleets, large invasion forces meant for Thrace found watery graves.
Even at the end of the 5th Heathen War, Turkey remained a worthy match... yet it was no longer the threat.
For in the half century that the wars were fought, and the decades pre-empting the wars, Brandenburg had grown mighty. It absorbed its neighbors either peacefully (like Kleves, the Palatinate, Hessen, Hanover) or through force (Hansa, Saxony and parts of Denmark.) It expanded South, fighting at least one war in which it gained Baden and Bavaria from Austria, and was only stopped from reaching the Mediterranean by a surprisingly powerful Savoy.
Brandenburg had also allied with Burgundy, which managed to put down several Dutch revolts, all the while slowly eating up France. With some Spanish and English help, France ceased to exist - its colonial empire never took off the ground, thanks to Spain and the Treaty of Tordesillas.
When the Edict of Tolerance came around, Brandenburg married into the Burgundian dynasty and eventually vassalized and annexed Burgundy - forming a great western European empire - Brandenburgundy.
Poland-Lithuania, so pre-occupied with its vicious wars with Turkey, with keeping Silesia and Moravia out of Austrian hands, and with the conversion of the last Heretics in Finland, didn't even pay attention to Brandenburg's declaration of war. After all, Kustrin and Eastern Pommerania had the world's mightiest fotresses at the time. Krakow was manned by a massive, 70,000 man army, as was Danzig. So began the Dividing War - between East and West. Protestant, Reformists and Catholics, against Catholics and Orthodox...
When word reached the power behind the throne that Brandenburg wasn't just sueing for peace demanding a mere 250o, but Kustrin, Silesia and Danzig, and that the armies in Galicia and Prussia were totally wiped out (they used to be the armies in Krakow and Danzig, respectively), panic hit.
A quick, weak peace was made with Turkey. Austria was payed off 250o to bow out of the war early, and Crimea was assaulted again to fund this war. Loans were taken out and armies raised - but they weren't thrown haphazardly against the might Brandenburgian forces. The armies were gathered together and trained, then faced off against their foes.
The zones of control did not change significantly for fifteen years. Fifteen years of war! Neither side could gain an advantage. The Brandenburgians held onto their initial gains with the exception of East Prussia.
Moravia, Silesia, Krakow, Kustrin, Posen, Western Prussia, Eastern Pommerania - these provinces were <I>not</I> about to be ceded to the Heretics! But it was obvious that with Turkey at the South, declaring war every several years, the Commonwealth might not make it - until war fatigue started setting in. The inhumane and grotesque extermination of Protestants and Muslims in Commonwealth territory was paying off. War fatigue didn't start rebellions in the Commonwealth, but Reformist and Catholic provinces in Brandenburgundy were beginning to show their discontent. The Dutch quickly rebelled and declared independence yet again - and this inspired the neighbouring French provinces to rebel. Unable to reinforce its front-lines with troops from France or Holland, Brandenburg soon lost its gains and was forced to sue for a white peace - which was gladly accepted by the Commonwealth, who could not buy off the Austrians and fight the Turks any longer. Holland was again annexed by Brandenburg, and the French never did manage to declare independence...
