Preußenlied - An SRI HTTT Brandenburg AAR

[Vagn]

Preußenlied - An SRI HTTT Brandenburg AAR

Ich bin ein Preuße, kennt ihr meine Farben

Preface:- The State of the Margraviate

All is not well in the Margraviate of Brandenburg, we are ruled by a foolish member of the von Luxembourg family, Jobst, the Duke of Luxembourg itself, a relative of the Bohemian Emperor. The von Luxemburg family was granted the title so as to ensure that a von Luxembourg Emperor would ascend to the Imperial Throne.

The Duke is naught but a fool, who has relied upon his family connections to ascend to power, he has no authority, over the Nobles, the Burghers of the Hansa or even over the Serfs who inhabit the land, all of whom are beginning to talk of rebellion against the Duke. Recently Duke Jobst was made aware of this treacherous talk, and granted the nobles of the realm more powers, however this just annoyed them more, as all the powers actually ended up in the hands of the councils, which were mostly filled with Burghers and minor noble families, who were also not satisfied, as they could not actually use the powers, due to the lack of a central authority, who would hear cases in the area and who would adjudicate on any conflicts which would arise in the councils.

The Duke has in effect, strengthened the resistance to his rule, by allowing the government to become decentralised, and by increasing Brandenburg’s resolve to resist the Luxembourg’s rule, and to find a new Margrave from within the existing noble families. I am not one of those nobles in contention, as whilst I am a noble, I am from a junior branch of the von Mecklenburg family.

My father is a landholder on the border with Pommerania, and claims descent from the noble Saxon Crusaders who fought the pagan Slavs and drove those who would not convert away from the Christendom. His land lies a few miles up the River Oder from the city of Stettin, which is a large Hanseatic Port, and as a result, my father is a very rich man. Unfortunately, I am the youngest son of 3, and have two sisters, whom are both younger than me, and are in my care at the Margrave’s court in Berlin.

My name is Klaus von Anhalt-Stettin, and I was born in the year of our Lord 1380 on the 17th March, making me 19 years of age at the moment. I am a knight in the service of the Margrave of Brandenburg, which as mentioned currently sits, with Duke Jobst, but hopefully this will not be the case for much longer, as my sister, Katherina could do a better job at ruling than the fool.

MY two sisters, Katherina and Ingrid, aged 10 and 5 respectively were both sent to join me in Berlin with me after the death of my mother, giving birth to another son. My father sent them to me as he claimed that both of the girls looked so much like my mother that, he could not bear to look at them any longer, my eldest brother, Friedrich, serves my father as a knight, and my 2nd brother, Lukas, took the oath to the Virgin Mary and joined the Teutonic Knights, leaving only me to care for my sisters, as opposed to them being sent to a nunnery.

I serve under the Marshall of Brandenburg, the man who acts in the stead of the Duke, Leopold von Mecklenburg-Stettin, a noble House of the same lineage as my own. He is a generous and very Christian lord, whom is well known throughout the Reichstag as an honourable, if somewhat dull man. The treachery planned does sit uneasy with him, but he does recognise it as being necessary to release Brandenburg from von Luxembourg’s lecherous and gluttonous grasp. Of course there are several members of the court who would prefer to murder the Duke rather than simply depose him, from the title of Margrave, however Leopold has a tight grip on these people currently and has let them know not to even bother attempting an assassination, or he will personally hunt them down. A rebellion is planned within the next few years, but although Leopold cannot be seen to give his support to the rebellion, he has allowed his soldiers to fight for the rebellion. This includes me and I can not wait for the chance to wet my sword with Waloon blood.



Welcome to my second AAR, my first died prematurely as a result of a corrupted save game, hopefully this will survive longer. The AAR will be interactive, if enough interest is generated, as I will be playing and updating at the same time, more or less. I will be using SRI for HTTT in this AAR with a few personal modifications, which will be used so as to develop the story a bit more accurately, as the AI has a nasty habit of disagreeing signifcantly with the players ideas.

The aims of this AAR are as follows:-

• 
  Regain Brandenburg's independance from the von Luxembourg family.
  Conquer Pommerania to gain sea access.
  Form Prussia.
  End the noble House of von Luxembourg.

Obviously these aims can change in game, depending on what is accomplished.



Feel free to post your thoughts and any constructive criticism you may have.




Contents:-
Chapter 1 - A Change in Fortunes
Chapter 2 - A Humiliating War
Chapter 3 - The Battle of Waldenburg

 

[The_Shepherd]

A good start, and I look forward for the next update.

 

[HMAS-Nameless]

Looks like a good one! Once Jobst dies Brandenburg ftw!

 

[Vagn]

Chapter 1 – A Change in Fortunes
Much has happened since I last wrote here, the status quo is very different and we are at war, and we have gained some powerful allies, as well as powerful enemies.


I have been too busy serving the Marshall and the Margrave to write recently, due to the size and stature of the events which have unfolded. Needless to say, I have already wet my sword with the blood of Walloons, Bohemians and Silesians. But before I write about these events, I must first inform you of the events which happened previously, causing our wars.

Central Europe 1399


On the 11th December 1399, the Duke of Luxembourg’s eldest child, Elisabeth von Luxembourg, disappeared during a ducal parade in the city of Luxembourg. Fast Riders spread the news across the Empire, and although our Nobles were required to act surprised, when they heard the news, they were not.
The Marshall had ordered the Spymaster the moon before, to prepare a plot to kidnap the young girl, when she appeared in the parade, and to bring her to Berlin by ship. After he had kidnapped her, he was to board a Hanseatic Merchant Ship, from Antwerpen bound for Stettin, where he would rest for a while with the girl at my Father’s estate. He would then complete the journey and arrive at Berlin on the 18th December.

Duke Jobst and his daughter, Elisabeth


By the 23rd of December, he had still not arrived, and the Marshall feared that he had been discovered and killed by the Duke’s soldiers, and was already mourning his friend’s death. However, on Christmas Eve, my brother Friedrich arrived at the court, with news of the Spymaster’s arrival, who had sent apologies for the delay.
My brother said that the Emperor had told all the Hansa Ports that they had to search every ship heading into their harbour until Elisabeth had been found, so they had been severely delayed in arriving.
Elisabeth had actually been discovered, hiding in a crate, containing Flemish cloths, luckily the Spymaster had foreseen this event and had brought enough silvers to bribe the Port Master to not inform the Emperor.

He and Elisabeth had arrived at my Father’s Estate the night of the 22nd, and had asked my Father to send his fastest rider to Berlin to tell the court of his survival, and so my brother set off the following morning.
That Afternoon, the Spymaster arrived with Elisabeth, who despite only being 15 years of age and having been locked in a wooden box for the best part of a week, held such grace and poise, which very few women in the Imperial court had, never mind the court of the Margraviate. She was also a very stunning woman, which the von Luxembourg family had become known for, and as she stepped into the room, the entire court gasped at her beauty.

Lady Elisabeth by Alexander Hoffmann of Prussia. A later Piece of Art c.1690


There were very few members of the Court who were willing to take her into their household, for fear of being discovered, and what that would mean for their families, and so, as one of the Marshall’s most trusted Knights, he asked me if I would take her into my household, at least until somewhere else could be found, and of course I accepted, and welcomed her to Berlin, and introduced her to Katherina, who I asked to be Elisabeth’s maid servant, as I though she would gain a lot of experience in matters which she would need in the future.

One Morning, the 29th December I think, I was woken up by Katherina, who told me that Elisabeth was crying in her chambers, and wouldn’t unlock the door to let Katherina in. I dressed, and fetched my own maid before heading off to Katherina’s chambers. I warned her that my maid was about to unlock the door and that I was going to come in.

Elisabeth was sat there with her eyes steaming tears down her face, and didn’t so much as look up when I entered, and kissed her on the forehead before sitting on the bed next to her, and she finally looked up, before I could say a word, she asked me what we were going to do with her, and when we were going to kill her. I told her that we weren’t going to kill her, and that she was much to valuable to the Margraviate to simply kill, and that her capture, was more about embarrassing her father in front of the Reichstag, and showing the members that he was an incompetent fool.
She told me that she agreed with us and that he was incompetent, and would be the downfall of the von Luxembourg family. She told me that he constantly made mistakes managing all of her realms, and that they were obvious to her having read various histories, including Julius Caesar ad Anna Komnenos.
She then asked how we were going to embarrass her father, and reluctantly I told her.

The day came on the 1st January, the day where we were to embarrass her father in front of the entire Reichstag. A meeting of the Reichstag was being held by the Duke of Milan, which Duke Jobst the Emperor and even the Pope were all attending along with several Kings from outside of the Empire, and the Duke of Burgundy. Elisabeth was paraded, naked on horseback through Berlin with nought but her long red hair to cover herself with. Although the Peasants and the Burghers were laughing and jeering at her, she did not react, and simply maintained the elegance that she innately had. After the parade, the Marshall sent riders in all directions taking the news to every King, Duke and Baron in Christendom, to Muscovy, Scotland, Constantinople, and of course Milan. Jobst von Luxembourg, and his entire family, were now the laughing stock of Christendom, even the lowliest peasant in the furthest reaches of Christendom had heard of Lady Elisabeth’s Parade.

Lady Elisabeth's Parade, A Contemporary Piece by an Unknown Artist


When the messenger arrived in Milan, he was told that the Reichstag was in session, and that unless it was urgent news then he must wait. The Messenger found his way to the banquet hall where he, in front of all the representatives, read an account of the Parade. The Emperor went red in the face, and exploded when he heard the news demanding that the messenger be beheaded and that war be declared on Brandenburg, for such an insult, however the Pope advised him not to otherwise, both he and his cousin, Jobst, would be excommunicated. The messenger was lucky enough to escape his punishment, but Luxembourg and the Emperor, the King of Bohemia declared war on Brandenburg, earning excommunication.

The next day, troops with loyalties to Brandenburg and not the von Luxembourg family, stormed the forts and garrisons of Brandenburg, killing all the Luxembourg troops, and the Marshall proclaimed Joachim Ernst von Dessau, a noble who owned some land in Saxony, had ties to the Duke of Pommerania and the lands surrounding Berlin as The Elector of Brandenburg, Margrave Ernst I von Dessau.

Joachim Ernst von Dessau's rebellion.

Joachim I Dessau


Several days into the war, we received an envoy from the Habsburg dynasty of Austria, who promised us gold, and soldiers, to help us in our war, if the Margrave, agreed to vote for the Habsburg candidate in the next Imperial election, for the new Roman Emperor. We also received money from several kings including the King of Poland, as the Luxembourg dynasty had been trying to manipulate the Nobles of Polish Silesia, and whilst he could not intervene directly, due to his involvement in other conflicts, he would fully support our efforts against Bohemia.

The Emperor tried to manipulate the Reichstag into allowing him to use their troops, the Imperial Army in this war, however when it came to a vote on the matter, only a few members of the Reichstag voted in favour, many more actually voted for the Emperor to be removed, as he had been Excommunicated, and was therefore ineligible to wear the Imperial Crown, so the only army we faced was that of Bohemia.

The Balance of Power in the Holy Roman Empire after Lady Elisabeth's Parade.

Next Chapter:- Chapter 2 - A Humiliating War

<--Back to Contents

 

[blsteen]

Nice move with the bareback parade. Now to lay the boots to your enemies.

 

[unmerged(90806)]

parading in the nude! you surely know how to start an aar

 

[Vagn]

Its a good way to introduce a character, in the nude. We should be seeing quite a lot of Elisabeth, she will become quite a major character within the Margrave's Court and she will have a large input into the fate of Brandenburg and its relations. What do people think of the pieces of art that are in the AAR so far, should I keep using art in some places, or should I just use screen shots from in game?

 

[The_Shepherd]

mix them evenly; I like the current style

 

[Vagn]

Chapter 2 – A Humiliating War

After the Bohemian Declaration of War, we received the support of several states monetarily, but there was one state who supported us militarily, the Kingdom of France, and his vassals, including the Duchy of Burgundy. French and Burgundian troops were sent to Berlin by ship via Stettin. Many members of the Reichstag sent their support also, and refused to listen to the Emperor’s demands for them to refuse our merchants access and his requests for troops, only Luxembourg sent any troops. There was much intrigue within the Reichstag.

The Marshall called for the War Council to assemble in Berlin, in the Margrave’s Chamber. The Council consisted of about 100 nobles of differing importance, most of whom I did not recognise, there were also a few nobles who only held land on the Bohemian border land. The Margrave made these men Marcher Lords, meaning that they no longer had to pay any of the taxes to the Margrave, but the money had to be spent on maintaining troops and the building or upkeep of fortifications.

After the necessary, but irritating political wrangling, a stratagem was decided, and approved by the King of France and the Duke of Burgundy. The Burgundian Duke and the majority of the French Duchies would focus mostly on taking the von Luxembourg’s homelands, whilst our own, and the remaining French soldiers would attack Bohemia itself. We would first siege the cities of Cottbus and Bautzen in Bohemian Saxony, before laying siege to Breslau and taking the rest of Lower Silesia and the Bohemian Capital of Praha.
Before leaving for Ruppin, where we were to assemble our army, I was approached by Elisabeth, who asked if she could come with me to Ruppin, as she wanted to watch the fall of her family from power. She had adapted well to life in Berlin, and had seemed to adopt Brandenburg as her own State, and no longer felt any loyalty towards von Luxembourg.
She told me that she had been trained by her father, as his only child for a long period of time, to repair and maintain armour and weaponry, as well as knowing how to look after wounds. I decided that I may as well allow her to come with me, as she would be able to help my squire in the maintenance of my armour whilst I trained with my Household’s men of arms.
I warned her in advance that there would be men who would attempt to assault and rape her, and that whilst I would try to look out for her, I wouldn’t be able to all the time, she seemed unconcerned and told me that she would be able to take care of herself, although I gave her a small dagger, which she could carry concealed anyway.

Once we arrived at Ruppin, we came across the camp that had assembled outside the city. It was much larger than I or anyone else who travelled with me had expected, including the Marshall himself. The Margrave had sent out requests for mercenaries, and had made it well known that they would be well paid, even he was surprised with the outcome. Mercenaries and soldiers from across Christendom arrived at the Camp. Companies of Scottish Pikemen, English and Welsh longbows, Venetian Men-At-Arms and Castilian Infantry, all were present. When combined with our own soldiers the total numbers totalled somewhere around 15000 soldiers. And so, once the army had assembled we marched to war.

The Emperor, not realising the size of our army had sent a large part of his own army to defend Luxembourg and take the Burgundian Netherlands. When we arrived at Cottbus, we met little resistance and the City surrendered to our forces after a few day of being pounded by trebuchets. After Cottbus fell, our army split into two halves, containing 7,500 men each, one marched to Bautzen, commanded by the Margrave and one marched towards Breslau, commanded by the Marshall.
I went with the Marshall, and marched towards Breslau, whilst we were marching we heard of news of a large revolt in Praha, which was aimed at removing the Jewish population from their ghetto in the East of the City. The Bohemian army refused to get involved, and the revolt was only stopped after, according to rumours, a Jewish Rabbi, created a Golem, which had slain the leaders of the revolt, causing the rebels morale to waiver, and collapse which sent them scurrying home.

A later Sketched Work of the Golem of Praha


As we approached Breslau we heard of a Bohemian army, 10,000 strong waiting close to the town of Waldenburg, commanded by the Emperor’s son and heir, Zikmund von Luxembourg. The Marshall was wary, when he heard the news as they outnumbered us quite significantly, and would have the advantage of the knowledge of the terrain, and so he called his commanders into council to discuss our next steps, both I and Elisabeth were in attendance.

A major landowner called Ludwig von Anhalt-Dresden, from our borders with Meissen suggested that we retreat to Cottbus, and set up a defensive position there, whilst we wait for reinforcements sent by the Margrave. Several prominent nobles from around Berlin agreed with him, and although most nobles were not happy with the proposal, most muttered in agreement. My father stood up and disagreed, he suggested that if we were to march on around the army and take Breslau, before coming back and hitting Zikmund’s army from two sides, using both our own army and the army of the Margrave, there was some murmur of agreement, but no-one stood up. Ludwig stood up and accused my father of being incompetent and that because my father’s lands were nowhere near Bohemia, he would not be affected if the plan went wrong. My Father, my Brother and I were fuming at the insult, but before anyone could react, Elisabeth had stood up.

She walked over to Ludwig, her tall frame towering over him, her cheeks glowing, only being outshone by her glistening fiery hair, and she challenged him calling him a coward, and a traitor to Brandenburg. Ludwig made his first mistake, he laughed at her. Before he could react, Elisabeth punched him in the face, breaking his nose, before knocking him off his chair, onto the ground, holding the dagger I had given to her to his throat.
She proclaimed to the War Council, that if anyone else wanted to laugh at her, then by all means they could, but they would rue the decision and Ludwig made his second big mistake. He accepted the challenge. A time for the duel was set by the Marshall. It would occur the next morning before the next meeting of the council, where the plans for battle, or retreat would be formalised. Over the day, I and several of my stewards and other members of my household tried to persuade Elisabeth to withdraw the challenge, but she refused to.

A Later painting of Ludwig von Anhalt-Dresden by an unkown artist c.1790


Early the next morning I awoke to find Elisabeth in my tent, preparing for battle, she was oiling her limbs and stretching her muscles ready for her fight. She was of a similar build to myself, even at such a young age, although, by now she had turned 17, and as she could hardly fight a duel without armour, I offered her mine. She gratefully accepted and once she had finished preparing I told my squire to get my armour, and to put it on Elisabeth. The armour fitted her well, apart from the breastplate, so instead, she just wore the chainmail coat, which went underneath and left for the duel ground.

When she arrived Ludwig was already there with his most trusted knight, fully armoured and wielding a morning star with his shield and a small dagger by his side, with the knight holding his sword. Elisabeth was carrying similar weaponry to him, but carried the sword at her side as well. The Marshall declared the rules and the two combatants went at each other, Ludwig was one of the most skilled combatants in the Empire, but he never once landed a blow, but Elisabeth refused to go on the offensive, even when Ludwig mocked her she still refused. She was deliberately getting him fatigued. He launched into an attack which Elisabeth blocked with her shield, he attacked again, but this time she parried the blow, and swung the spiked weapon at Ludwig’s knees, making firm contact and a sickening crunching sound.

He fell to the ground in agony, Elisabeth threw the mace to the ground and drew the sword, she pulled off Ludwig’s helmet and was about to plunge the sword into his neck, when the previously silent knight charged at her and just as he swung his sword at her head, she ducked out the way and charged into the knight, knocking him to the ground, drew the dagger, and forced it through the visor in his helmet, before turning round and swinging the sword straight down, through Ludwig’s neck severing it from his head, she then turned away and left for her tent.

Elisabeth von Luxembourg of Brandenburg slaying Ludwig von Anhalt-Dresden, Lukas Oldenburg c.1893


Next Chapter:- The Battle of Waldenburg
<--Back to Contents

 

[General_BT]

Elizabeth the Badass. That should be her name.

 

[Vagn]

She is quite the badass is Elisabeth. She's also quite the scholar, which we will find out later, amongst other things. She will become a major influence in Berlin in time, and she will become an almost legendary figure for some of the events she is involved in, and the things she will do in the future. I will try and think of a name for her as well. Any ideas anyone?

 

[Vagn]

Chapter 3 – The Battle of Waldenburg

Once everyone present had recovered from the shock of Ludwig’s death, the Marshall sent me to go fetch Elisabeth and bring her back to the War Council, it took but a few short minutes to find her. She was sat in my tent, talking to the household staff. She had been bathing in the river next to the camp, which our tents were next to, her hair was still dripping water onto the ground, but she was easily persuaded to join the Council again.
Whilst we were walking back to the War Council’s tent I questioned her, asking why she killed Ludwig. She informed me that it was due to myself and my family looking after her and helping her settle into life in Berlin, and that she had a strategy planned for the upcoming battle, as she knew her cousin well, having spent much of her childhood in the Bohemian Court, but the Council would not have listened to her unless she showed her strength to them, and so she had to fight von Anhalt-Dresden. I said that I understood her reasoning and I thanked her for defending my family.

As soon as we entered the tent, the previously noisy council fell silent, waiting for Elisabeth to speak, but before she got the chance, the Marshall stood up and asked her what her intentions were, and asked why she killed him. She told the council of everything she had told me over the past few months, from her desire to help Brandenburg destroy the von Luxembourg’s, to why she challenged von Anhalt-Dresden. When she finished the Marshall smiled, and thanked her for her co-operation, and said that he was glad the Anhalt-Dresden was dead, he then requested that she tell the council of her plan of battle, after hearing the layout of the terrain, around which any battle would occur, and so she told them.
After the Council had been dismissed by the Marshall, he requested that Elisabeth, the Spymaster and I stay behind, so he could speak to us privately. First of all he asked for the latest intelligence from the Spymaster, who said that Anhalt-Dresden had in fact been in contact with Zikmund and had been offering intelligence on the composition of the Brandenburg army as well as the size of our forces. He also predicted that the Bohemian army had actually started to march towards us, as a result of Anhalt-Dresden’s intelligence, to engage our forces, whilst myself and the Marshall were both quite surprised at the news, Elisabeth was not.
She knew that her cousin was quite the hothead, and that he would march to engage us in a pitched battle at the first available opportunity, and suggested that we begin setting up a series of defensive networks, and that whilst the nobles would be disappointed that they would not be able to gain much glory through a charge, there would be many riches gained by each man, both from ransoms and looting the dead. At this point we were interrupted by a priest going by the name Torsten von Holstein-Gottorp, who was the Priest in what had been von Anhalt-Dresden’s lands, who requested that he would be allowed to retrieve his former Lord’s and the Helmeted Knight’s corpses to give them a Christian burial. He invited us to the Funeral Mass and we all graciously accepted.

Over the next few nights the heavens opened and rain was crashing down, which caused the river to break its banks, turning the camp and the valleys nearby to turn into a bog, and although the conditions were not particularly suitable for building defences, all the people in the camp, from the lowliest servant, to the Mercenary Captains, to the Priests and the Marshall himself were given shovels and axes with which to prepare the defences. First of all a small palisade was built out of wooden logs to defend the camp, with a ditch on one side and a palisade on the inside, allowing our archers and crossbows to fire upon any enemy who came too close. Then another set of ditches were dug covered with a mesh of leaves, branches from the felled trees and ferns. These new pits had a series of pointed stakes hidden underneath the mesh, which would destroy the cohesion of any cavalry charge. The Captain of the English and Welsh longbowmen suggested that we cover the area in front of the pits with spiked caltrops which would penetrate horse’s hooves and the leather shoes of men, causing them to stumble and fall into the pits, giving the pikes in the pits a greater killing power. Both Elisabeth and the Marshall approved, and so the longbowmen set about laying a maze of caltrops beyond the pits, including on area of safe passage for our own cavalry to fit through.

A week after we learnt of the Bohemian advance, their Army appeared on the horizon, they set up camp a few miles away from our own and sent a messenger towards our camp. The Marshall, Elisabeth and myself rode out to meet the messenger, who demanded that we surrender ourselves to the Emperor’s forces. The Marshall laughed at him and told him to run back to his Lord, the weak son of a foolish Emperor. Presumably Zikmund was furious when he heard of our insults, as he immediately drew up his battle lines, and of course we responded by drawing up our lines, he sent one more messenger demanding our surrender, saying that he would attack and destroy us if we didn’t, and as an example, to their soldiers, the messenger was hung from our newly constructed ramparts.

This caused several of the soldier’s comrades to break free from their own line and charge towards us, but before they even got in our longbowmen’s range they were cut down by Bohemian Archers, who had been ordered to fire by Zikmund. These archers then advanced towards our line, amongst the Archers were some Genoese Crossbowmen who were carrying the Pavise Shields which they had become well known for, as they entered the range of our longbowmen the man carrying the Pavise stood in front of the Archer himself to cover him from the arrows, whilst the Genoan mercenaries were protected from the storm, the lightly armoured Bohemians were not. The Arrows and Crossbow bolts tore straight through the linen and leather coats they were wearing, piercing deep into the flesh, in the first salvo alone, at least half of the archers collapsed on the floor, dead, most of them resembled hedgehogs, with the sheer number of bristled arrows sticking out of their lifeless corpses.

The archers began to retreat further down the field towards their own lines, leaving the Genoans stranded in the centre of the battlefield, but no amount of arrows would penetrate the thick woven Pavise, but rather than charge the Genoans, the Marshall ordered that we use our new weapons that we acquired from the English King, bought with French and Polish money. Three Ribaudekin. These monstrous pipes were designed to resemble a dragon or a wyrm for good reasons. They spat masses or solid iron and liquid fire across the battlefield. They took an age to reload, but they were deadly, a single iron shot sliced through three Pavises and all 6 men stood behind them before the shot finally came to a rest in the river.
Zikmund noticed that the Ribaudekin took a large amount of time to reload, and after the next round had been delivered by each gun, he ordered his cavalry to rush at the battery, which unbeknownst to him, lay within our series of ditches.

The pits and caltrops were devastating. Both riders and horses fell dozens of yards before reaching the battery, and those who did make it through then faced a wall of Swiss and Scottish Pikes and Halberds, who had fallen into rank in front of the battery as the opposing General ordered the charge. Hundreds of Bohemian nobles were taken as prisoners, and many more died, crushed by the sheer mass of animal and human above them, or impaled upon the end of a pike or stake. The Bohemian infantry, then began to rout, fleeing the battlefield. A large section of our own Nobility then emerged from the wooded area on our left flank and ran down the retreating infantry taking as many nobles and mercenaries prisoner as they could.

The Battle of Waldenburg 1899 - Torben Wagner


Amongst the prisoners were several prominent member of the von Luxembourg family, including Zikmund himself, and the nephew of the King of Hungary. All the nobles were available for ransom except those who belonged to the von Luxembourg family. The Marshall asked Elisabeth what she wanted to do with them, she had captured Zikmund herself, and without hesitating she asked the Marshall to have them hung, drawn and quartered as traitors to the Imperial Crown, before burning their remains as punishment for accepting the Hussite faith, which is why Elisabeth came to be known as Elisabeth Kinslayer in Bohemia.

After all the bodies had been looted and disposed of, and the pitfalls dismantled our army began the advance towards the cities of Breslau and Waldenburg, both of which surrendered to our forces immediately. During this time we also received word from the Margrave, telling us that he had taken the province of Oberlausitz, and the Bohemian capital of Praha. A few weeks later we received further news from the Margrave, telling us that he and the Emperor had signed a peace treaty, which came to be known as the Treaty of Aachen, in the Free Imperial City of Aachen which contained Aachen itself and a few square miles of countryside, before the Bishoprics of Köln and Liege are reached.
In the peace treaty, we acknowledged Bohemia’s right to the Imperial Throne, but they ceded us Lower Silesia and also recognised the Duke of Upper Silesia as being independent of the Bohemian Kingdom, and so was no longer considered a vassal of the Bohemian King. We also received, hundreds of pounds of gold and silver as reparations.

A Humiliating Peace Deal.


Duke Jobst was also forced to give up any claims he had upon the Margrave’s throne, and Burgundy gained a small area of land around Luxembourg and Jobst was forced to become a vassal of the Duke of Burgundy., who was in himself a vassal of both the French King and the Imperial Crown.

Peace with Luxembourg.


To conclude, dear readers, I would like to inform you of a change in my personal circumstances, upon the death of Ludwig von Anhalt-Dresden, Elisabeth was offered his lands as a reward for killing a traitor, she said that she didn’t want to own the lands and suggested to the Margrave that I receive the lands, and that if that was unacceptable, then she would take possession of the land. I am now the Duke of Ruppin, a vassal of the Margrave himself, as well as a retainer of the Marshall. Friedrich, my eldest brother is incredibly jealous.
However, this is not the only change in my circumstances, the Wedding Bells have recently been ringing for me. My new wife is Lady Elisabeth ‘Kinslayer’ von Luxembourg, now aged 18, and she is now a very important advisor to the Margrave in his diplomatic and militant relations with, amongst others, the von Luxembourgs and the von Habsburgs.

Elisabeth and Klaus 1677 - Paul von Askanier


Next Chapter:- Peace and Prosperity?
<--Back to Contents

 

[blsteen]

Stud

 

[The_Shepherd]

This is one of the few story/historybook AARs I follow, and even wait for! keep up the good work!

 

[History_Buff]

Good battle. I only wish you actually could have fought it instead of writing about it. That is one thing I do not like about pretty much every Paradox game I have played, the fact that you cannot personally take command of a battle. Even though I do not always do this in games where I can, I do do so in battles where I see a terrain advantage I can exploit or when I think I will lose and can change that particular outcome. Not sure why you settled for peacing out with so insignificant gains. I would have gone for everything I could, aiming at reducing Bohemia into an OPM if I could.

I also like this Elizabeth character. She just plain kicks ass, their is no other way to say it. She seems to be an accomplished warrior and consummate strategist in her own right, and has critical knowledge of your main initial enemy. If only you could find some way to make her a general. Now THAT would be sweet as I am not even sure it is possible for women to be generals in this game. I certainly have not seen them and it would be a nice change of pace.

 

[Vagn]

@ The_Shepherd Thanks, I'm glad it is being enjoyed.]

@History_Buff I agree it would have been excellent to actually fight the battle, rather than just write about it. It would be quite easy to modify the save game to make Elisabeth a general and I did think about it, but I decided not to, as she would probably then die within 2 years, due to the short lifespan of my generals.


The next update should be up within the next few days.

 

[History_Buff]

Not to mention I don't think she would have earned the rank of general after one battle. It would have been better for the story to have her slowly work her way up the ranks until she was a general if you decided to do that.

 

[unmerged(90806)]

I only wish you actually could have fought it instead of writing about it. That is one thing I do not like about pretty much every Paradox game I have played, the fact that you cannot personally take command of a battle.

i prefer it as it is, you can't control your generals fully, let alone soldiers; in this time-frame a lot of 'generals' were hired mercenaries and they pledged to whoever paid them more, there were even cases of castles giving in to besiegers for money and free passage or formations switching sides in mid-battle; add to this pure luck factor

for more tactical combat we have other games (which obviously neglect the aspects paradox games highlight)

It would have been better for the story to have her slowly work her way up the ranks until she was a general if you decided to do that.

for the story - definitely; i wouldn't like to see such straightforward/one-way mechanism in the game, some generals improved, others got wounded/too over-confident/senile/clung to old-fashioned tactics (CK portrays it to some extand)

Vang: and Klaus married Elisabeth out of his own free will??!!! Unbelievable! Would anyone want to hava such a diminating wife? She'll get rid of Klaus as soon as he's past his sell-by date. She'll use him and chew him up! Watch out boy, this woman is a maneater!

 

[unmerged(146885)]

I really like the ''images'' that your writing creates.
For example the scene where soldiers from various nations are in the same battlefield is epic.

 

[Vagn]

@gabor:
We shall see what she does, and whether she does dispose of Klaus or not in time. He might die before that anyway. Its not set in stone yet.

@Zitanier
Thanks, I enjoyed writing that scene, I actually spent several hours trying to find an image which I could use as a piece of art, representing the battlefield but I couldn't find one. Oddly, most of the nations who I included troops from did actually send me war subsidies in that war.

I've not been able to write an update recently because I've had a few exams. My last one is on Thursday, so I should be able to get an update up then.