Chapter 5: Livonia’s Revenge
Hochmeister Wolfgang’s smashing victory over the Livonian Order brought the old northern chunks of the Order back together politically with the Teutonic South. When things were just starting to look up for the Order, there was really no chance that things could go south!
Teutons everywhere had reasons to think so! Soon after the Knights’ victory against Livonia, the Order began to annex its old enemy-turned-vassal, Pomerania. In 10 years, the Order would own even more of the Baltic coast and even more of the juicy trade that flowed through it. Scotland, for some reason, saw that the winds of change were blowing in the Baltic and proposed an alliance. Wolfgang was confused, understandably, but decided that having more friends never hurts. After all, Scotland could surely do much more to help the Order than Hungary and the Kalmar Union ever did back in the dark days of the First Livonian War. Finally, the Order’s treasury was filled to the brim when the leading clergy decided that they should sell, ahem, cede some church functions to leading noblemen. Things were truly looking up for the brave Teutons.
Well, shit.
The Knights were taken aback that Denmark, their old unhelpful ally, thought that the Teutonic Order was so weak as to attempt to take Osel from the newly vassalized Livonian Order! Teutonic generals and soldiers sighed with relief that the war would mostly be fought on the Baltic, where Teutonic naval prowess had already been demonstrated on many occasions. Nevertheless, the army was mobilized and ordered to move north into Livonia to head off any incursions by land and specifically to defend Osel so as to rack up war score.
Well, crud. Also on this list are allies too insignificant to mention: Luneburg and The Hansa.
Lithuania’s entrance in the war sounded alarms throughout the Order. There was not a single knight or peasant who had forgotten the disasters wrought by tens of thousands of homicidal Lithuanians decades prior. The entrance of Lithuania, however, prompted Austria to join on the Order’s side in defense of the Empire.
The first engagement of the war came when the Teutonic army, shipped to Livonia, got bushwacked by seemingly inferior Swedish troops who solidly crushed the poor Knights.
Drat.
The Teutonic army rushed deeper into Russia where it was hoped that the troops could rest and reinforce so that they might fight another day. But Sweden had other ideas.
Double drat.
The Teutonic army was shattered and forced to retreat. Meanwhile, 30,000 Lithuanian and Polish troops started seiging the homeland again. While we had counted on protection from the Emperor and our allies, our diplomats were aghast to see our worst fears—Austria and Hungary were busy duking it out. Once again, things looked grim for the Order.
Why.
After a few ping-pongs from Polish and Lithuanian troops unable (or unwilling?) to finish the Order’s army off, the death blow came. Wolfgang’s successful career seemed to be going down in flames.
Well, we honestly knew this was coming when the Lithuanians joined in.
While the war was going bad for the brave Teutonic Knights, the Order’s allies seemed to be having better luck. The Hansa and Luneburg, aided by the Teutonic and their own fleets, began a full-scale invasion of Denmark, hoping to knock the Danes off balance.
Honestly, I’m as astonished as you are that I have useful allies.
The Teutonic generals were astonished at this turn of events. Historically, the only useful ally the Order has ever had was Hungary, and the Hungarians were truly only useful for being meat shields for the many battles the Order got itself into. Such a crisis of conscience was on the generals’ minds when they broke into open unrest at choosing a particular line of strategy. We chose to go defensive because, let’s face it, was there really much of a choice at this point?
That stab loss hurts, but getting a 10% defensiveness buff is nice to have in times like these.
Meanwhile, Scotland’s leadership was utterly befuddled that it might be called into a defensive war due to its treaty obligations with the Order. The Scottish army decided that the only prudent thing to do was to wait on the coast of Scotland, looking out to the Baltic in the hopes of staring the Danes down. Even when their country was invaded by equally malicious Norse, the Scots refused to budge.
We can’t have good allies all across the board here. That would be unseemly.
With the army completely destroyed on land and the situation turning desperate, but not unsalvageable, the Order unleashed its wooden wall, winner of several important wars in the past decades. The battle fleet caught the entire Danish fleet in transit near Bornholm.
The fate of the war lay in the hands of the Teutonic sailors.
Luckily, the allies took note of the Order’s last-ditch naval assault and poured their formidable fleets into the fray. Their contributions ensured victory in the Baltic.
It’s a beautiful and rare occurrence to see our men beating the whole of the Kalmar Union.
By chance, Austria and Hungary decided at this moment to stop fighting and peace out with each other. Austrian troops quickly marched to the rescue of their beleaguered Teutonic subjects and caught the Lithuanian army in the Palatinate. The Lithuanians were skewered to a man.
The clouds have parted!
Swollen with pride and captured vessels, the Teutonic navy set sail to hammer the final nails in Denmark’s coffin. The Danish army was caught at Fyn by the allied expeditionary force. Unable to retreat, the Danes surrendered quickly.
Now, that’s more like it!
The Danes saw the writing on the wall and put feelers out to the Order and its allies while the battle was engaged. Austria and Scotland immediately bailed from the war with white peaces. The Hansa follows that trend quickly afterwards. We decide to be a bit more exacting with our terms.
Perhaps a paltry treaty, but at least the Order won a victory by any definition! Apparently we frightened off Brandenburg with our victory as well.
No sooner did the ink dry on the treaty, than Munster attacked our ally Luneburg. We joined in defense of our loyal friend. In addition, the admin points that were built up finally got us to Admin level 7. With all the loans the Order has been taking, it made sense to go for the Economic idea branch. Cheaper loans, cheaper inflation reduction, and higher taxes all sound good to me.
What a doosy of an update! The brave Teutonic Knights overcame adversity and won a war! Now who can stop them? Will the Knights ever not be attacked by an aggressive enemy? Will Lithuania ever rear its ugly head again? Will the Kalmar Union finally break? What about the rest of the German principalities? Stay tuned for the next exciting episode of Teutonic Tribulations!