In the year of our Lord 1492, leader of our glorious order was Johann Fridach von Lorinkoff. Our nation is a small one, on the coast of the Baltic sea. Only neighbours are Russia, Poland-Lithuania, Sweden (still vassalized by Denmark) and our vassal, dutchy of Kurland. Lorinkoff decided to recruit new armis so we can fight off the Russian threat and also send merchants to Novgorod, Kurland and Flanders.
Lorinkoffs rule was a short one, and in 1495 he died. Wolter von Plettenberg took his place as a grand master of our order. He was both great general and good leader, though his diplomatic skills were a bit lacking. First we agreed that we need good allies: Russia is definetly too strong for us. We both agreed that the best option is Poland-Lithuania, who is the strongest nation in our region. We proposed an alliance, and they accepted.
Plettenberg also decided that Kurland as a vassal is not as good as Kurland a province and Order attacked Kurland in 1495, annexing it within a year. Plettenberg ordered to upgrade fortresses there and also to promote officials.
But in 1499, Russia saw the oppurtunity and attacked us without any reason. His main army crossed our borders and attacked Livonia. Soon Dorpat was under siege. We asked help of our allies the Poles, but they refused! Russians soon begun the assault on Dorpat, but failed. Lord must be protecting us: soon after that they left back to Russia.
Plettenberg decided to take the initiative and took our army (8/4/10) to Russia. We found Russian main army (40 000 man) in Novgorod and after long battle our cavalry managed to break through enemy lines and force them to retreat. Suprisingly, we lost only couple of hundred man there, Russia's casualties reached to 10 000- 15 000 man. We started our siege of Novgorod.
In the same time Russia attacked Kurland, looting Livonia on the way. Still, he couldn't conquer the town and left, but our provinces are in ruins.
In 1502 small part of our army (2/2/7) attacked Novgorod. Russia must have anticipated our attack, for his main army of 90 000 man was waiting for us there. Once again, our soldiers proved to be superior to Russia's troops: we won again, losing only 400 infantry and some cavalry units. After that battle, Russia asked for peace, offering 250 indemnities. We accepted.
We decided to use the money we got to improve our fortifications and recruit additional armies.
1505 Ivan III rose to throne of Russia. He was a strong supporter of his father's expansionist politics and his first command was to declare war on Pskov. In 1509, Russia finally annexed it. This was very troublesome news, for now we had even more common border with Russia.
1517 Marthin Luther did some carpentering work at Wurtenberg. Soon, the whole Europe was in flames. I and Plettenberg had several long discussions concering this new faith: protestants, but we couldn't decide which one to support. Finally, in 1522, we decided to convert to protestant faith and abandon the true faith. We had no choice: the people had decided for us. All our provinces had converted to Luther's faith as soon as they heard about it.
Naturally, our stability dropped to zero and we had to increase our investment in stability. The money we gained from conversion went mostly to promote officials, though we also recruited some extra troops.
In 1532, citizens of Tallinn decided to upgrate their fortress. Same year, the plague hit Tallinn and local nobles revolted in Livonia.
Plettenberg died in 1535, after being headmaster of our order for 41 years. Hes reign was mostly peaceful, only one war with Russia at the beginning of the centuty. He was a proud man and after seeing the treachery of Poland, he decided not to commit to any alliances, but rather stand with support of our swords. That was a bad decision, for now we are alone against the growing might of Russia and all surrounding nations hate us.
Next grand master was Hermann von Bryggenei. His reign was a quiet one. We sent even more merchants to Novgorod and eventually gained a monopoly there. Only event was fire in Riga in 1547.
Bryggenei died in 1549 and next grand master was Johann von der Recke. He ruled only for two years.
Our next ruler was Hindrick von Galen, who became our grand master in 1551. Same year Russia begun his attacks on Kazan and Astrahan. We were happy at the beginning- we though that Russia would bleed to death in these wars and give us a little peace. To our great suprise, Russia annexed Kazan in 1552 and Astrahan in 1553. That made Russia twice as big as they were and looks like we are their main target for now.
1557 Kurland rebelled. Our forces managed to destroy them, but only with great losses. Von Galen also died this year and Wilhelm von Föstenberg became our next grand master.
We noticed that Russia was massing troops in our borders. And in 1558, they attacked us again. After nearly 50 years of peace, our country had to fight again. Russia split their armies to two and attacked Tartu and Riga. Additionally, another army attacked Ingermaland and besieged Narva. Soon the city fell. Also, the fortress in Tartu was showing craks and Russia assaulted. War is beginning to turn disastorous. We have only two provinces left: Kurland (besieged by Russia) and Estonia, our capital province.
In 1559, Förstenberg decided that he was uncapable to rule Order and retired. He was replaced by Gotthard Ketler. He was able to achive our first military victory in this war: he attacked Russian army in Livonia and won. He begun the siege, but soon the winter begun and there wasn't enough cannons or man to conquer the city. Same year, emissarys of Crimea came to Livonia and made us a small gift. They were seeking for alliance against Russia and we promised to think about it. Allie like this would truly prove useful, if we want to survive this war. At the end of the year, Russia decided that he cannot win Riga and retreated.
In april 1560, Russia's army arrived to Estonia and begun the siege of Tallinn. Also, in june he begun to besiege Riga once again. Tallinn's heavy fortresses were too much to them and they decided to retread in september. In october, peasants in Harjumaa rebelled. We quicky produced new units in Tallinn and crushed them.
Next year, the disaster became even bigger. Poland and Sweden declared war on us as well. Poland's troops led by Radziwill quickly conquered Riga in june. Swedish troops landed in our last free province, Tallinn, and after long negotiations, Tallinn decided to surrended. This was the end of our glorious order. Our land is divided between Russia, Poland and Sweden, our people are made slaves or killed and our country is in ruins.
The end
Lorinkoffs rule was a short one, and in 1495 he died. Wolter von Plettenberg took his place as a grand master of our order. He was both great general and good leader, though his diplomatic skills were a bit lacking. First we agreed that we need good allies: Russia is definetly too strong for us. We both agreed that the best option is Poland-Lithuania, who is the strongest nation in our region. We proposed an alliance, and they accepted.
Plettenberg also decided that Kurland as a vassal is not as good as Kurland a province and Order attacked Kurland in 1495, annexing it within a year. Plettenberg ordered to upgrade fortresses there and also to promote officials.
But in 1499, Russia saw the oppurtunity and attacked us without any reason. His main army crossed our borders and attacked Livonia. Soon Dorpat was under siege. We asked help of our allies the Poles, but they refused! Russians soon begun the assault on Dorpat, but failed. Lord must be protecting us: soon after that they left back to Russia.
Plettenberg decided to take the initiative and took our army (8/4/10) to Russia. We found Russian main army (40 000 man) in Novgorod and after long battle our cavalry managed to break through enemy lines and force them to retreat. Suprisingly, we lost only couple of hundred man there, Russia's casualties reached to 10 000- 15 000 man. We started our siege of Novgorod.
In the same time Russia attacked Kurland, looting Livonia on the way. Still, he couldn't conquer the town and left, but our provinces are in ruins.
In 1502 small part of our army (2/2/7) attacked Novgorod. Russia must have anticipated our attack, for his main army of 90 000 man was waiting for us there. Once again, our soldiers proved to be superior to Russia's troops: we won again, losing only 400 infantry and some cavalry units. After that battle, Russia asked for peace, offering 250 indemnities. We accepted.
We decided to use the money we got to improve our fortifications and recruit additional armies.
1505 Ivan III rose to throne of Russia. He was a strong supporter of his father's expansionist politics and his first command was to declare war on Pskov. In 1509, Russia finally annexed it. This was very troublesome news, for now we had even more common border with Russia.
1517 Marthin Luther did some carpentering work at Wurtenberg. Soon, the whole Europe was in flames. I and Plettenberg had several long discussions concering this new faith: protestants, but we couldn't decide which one to support. Finally, in 1522, we decided to convert to protestant faith and abandon the true faith. We had no choice: the people had decided for us. All our provinces had converted to Luther's faith as soon as they heard about it.
Naturally, our stability dropped to zero and we had to increase our investment in stability. The money we gained from conversion went mostly to promote officials, though we also recruited some extra troops.
In 1532, citizens of Tallinn decided to upgrate their fortress. Same year, the plague hit Tallinn and local nobles revolted in Livonia.
Plettenberg died in 1535, after being headmaster of our order for 41 years. Hes reign was mostly peaceful, only one war with Russia at the beginning of the centuty. He was a proud man and after seeing the treachery of Poland, he decided not to commit to any alliances, but rather stand with support of our swords. That was a bad decision, for now we are alone against the growing might of Russia and all surrounding nations hate us.
Next grand master was Hermann von Bryggenei. His reign was a quiet one. We sent even more merchants to Novgorod and eventually gained a monopoly there. Only event was fire in Riga in 1547.
Bryggenei died in 1549 and next grand master was Johann von der Recke. He ruled only for two years.
Our next ruler was Hindrick von Galen, who became our grand master in 1551. Same year Russia begun his attacks on Kazan and Astrahan. We were happy at the beginning- we though that Russia would bleed to death in these wars and give us a little peace. To our great suprise, Russia annexed Kazan in 1552 and Astrahan in 1553. That made Russia twice as big as they were and looks like we are their main target for now.
1557 Kurland rebelled. Our forces managed to destroy them, but only with great losses. Von Galen also died this year and Wilhelm von Föstenberg became our next grand master.
We noticed that Russia was massing troops in our borders. And in 1558, they attacked us again. After nearly 50 years of peace, our country had to fight again. Russia split their armies to two and attacked Tartu and Riga. Additionally, another army attacked Ingermaland and besieged Narva. Soon the city fell. Also, the fortress in Tartu was showing craks and Russia assaulted. War is beginning to turn disastorous. We have only two provinces left: Kurland (besieged by Russia) and Estonia, our capital province.
In 1559, Förstenberg decided that he was uncapable to rule Order and retired. He was replaced by Gotthard Ketler. He was able to achive our first military victory in this war: he attacked Russian army in Livonia and won. He begun the siege, but soon the winter begun and there wasn't enough cannons or man to conquer the city. Same year, emissarys of Crimea came to Livonia and made us a small gift. They were seeking for alliance against Russia and we promised to think about it. Allie like this would truly prove useful, if we want to survive this war. At the end of the year, Russia decided that he cannot win Riga and retreated.
In april 1560, Russia's army arrived to Estonia and begun the siege of Tallinn. Also, in june he begun to besiege Riga once again. Tallinn's heavy fortresses were too much to them and they decided to retread in september. In october, peasants in Harjumaa rebelled. We quicky produced new units in Tallinn and crushed them.
Next year, the disaster became even bigger. Poland and Sweden declared war on us as well. Poland's troops led by Radziwill quickly conquered Riga in june. Swedish troops landed in our last free province, Tallinn, and after long negotiations, Tallinn decided to surrended. This was the end of our glorious order. Our land is divided between Russia, Poland and Sweden, our people are made slaves or killed and our country is in ruins.
The end
