Part III
1479-1499
The year 1479 started in prosperity, thanks to the Russian gold. Hehe...
In February I chose to alter my policies towards quality.
Nothing happened during this year.
In September, a landlord in Podolia found out you could use the leftovers from the farming animals to fertilize the crops, thereby increasing the amount of grain you could harvest, causing a agricultural revolution throughout Poland.
In October, Tver was annexed by the foul Muscovians. In the meantime, a small world war raged throughout Europe. Castile, Portugal and Aragon, Sicily and Granada versus England, Venice, Genua, Bavaria, Leinster and Ulster.
In January 1480, the Lithuanians once again decleared war upon Crimea. Getting really tired with their behaviour, I dishonored my alliance with them and Hanover.
Now I was completely neutral. I continued sending insults to Denmark, never allowing our relations to reach higher than -130. I concentrated on fighting the occasional WE rebellions, biding my time.
The World War increased somewhat when Hungary declared war upon Venice on the 12th of May, 1480. The nations allied with Hungary (Brandenburg, Pomerania and the Palatinate), all joined.
On the 14th of May:
I joined without hesitation. Hungary was perhaps THE most powerful nation in Central Europe, having expanded to include Wallachia, Serbia, Bosnia and Kosovo. Their King Mathias Corvinus (The Raven) had done much to increase their technology in all fields.
A few days after my joining, Bavaria followed. Bavaria had taken parts of Bohemia and had expanded quite a lot in Germany. We were now the most powerful alliance in Europe.
I did next to nothing in this war, as I had trouble to see what it could give me. I didn't expect anyone to attack me, but I kept some troops in my two coastal provinces just in case.
And the months went on.
In February 1482, Hungary accepted peace with England, thereby accepting to pay 225 ducats.
Shortly thereafter, England accepted peace with Castile, giving them 186 ducats and Gascogne.
In June, Denmark had "Hans claims Norway". In October, Sweden chose to stall the coronation of King Hans.
During that time, Ulster declared war upon Denmark. Sweden joined the Danish cause. England and the others backed Ulster up.
Lithuania made peace with Crimea in October, Crimea paid 75 ducats. They were still at war against Tlemcen and the Ottomans though.
On the first of April, 1483, Hungary declared war upon Burgundy. Burgundy had been in war at least since the mid 60's, winning all the time but now things went badly for them. I joined.
Due to them being Sunni, Jedisan revolted close to all the time. The rebels also managed to make the city guards revolt, forcing me to besiege the province again and again... I kept a constant force of 16,000 cavalry in the province.
Denmark accepted peace with England, letting them have Connaught back in October. In February 1484, my leader Dunin died, and later that year two good things happened: I got a gift to the state in August and in September:
Awesome! Podolia was now one of my most valuable provinces, increasing my manpower and granting as much income as Poznan (12 or 16 ducats as base, can't remember exactly).
To further celebrate this, the people in Jedisan revolted. This time though, the city guards were still on my side.
Just before the year 1485 was to begin, Aragon was annexed by Castile. This year went by quickly and in December I declared war upon... Denmark! I had been finalizing the setup by asking Hanover for MA, which they accepted. With Brandenburg on my side, this war really couldn't go wrong.
Hungary, Pomerania, Palatinate and Bavaria dishonored the alliance, leaving Brandenburg as the leader. They invited Pomerania (their vassal) and Hungary to it. Both accepted.
Bavaria formed an alliance of their own with the Palatinate.
My troops blitzed through the German countryside (they were in fact already in Mecklenburg as the war was about to start, and in May the situation looked like this, after a couple of battles, in which the Danish were beaten:
Soon after, I got an unexpected invention in Danzig, and Hungary accepted peace with Burgundy:
You can see the German empires of Hungary, brown, and Bavaria, blue.
In October, Austria joined on our side. The fortress in Jylland fell in December. Since I didn't have a fleet, I couldn't get over to Zealand, as the Danish and Swedish fleets blocked the straits.
And when I moved my troops down to Holstein, Brandenburg arrived with 40,000 men and a king, so I was stuck with Jylland.
I took my armies home to defend the manufactory in Danzig from vicious Swedes. Jedisan was being besieged by Danes.
The Swedes defeated me in Danzig, so I took out war taxes and recruited like there was no tomorrow. Jedisan fell to the Danish in March 1487.
Another Swedish army went south to Wielkopolska (I guess they wanted to pillage all my provinces), and the Danes went over the strait and started to besiege Jylland.
In June, Albania annexed the Byzantine Empire. (!) They got an event called "Turkish ambition on Constantinople", which I believe gave Thrace to the Turks, as I can't find anything about Thrace after this in the event history.
The Swedes were defeated in Wielkopolska, and soon enough in Danzig too. I was able to defeat the army in Jylland in October, and a few days after that, Holstein fell to Brandenburg.
I had "Capital Attraction" in March, 1488 - increasing the population in Krakow with a few thousand. 2,000 if I remember correctly.
The war went on with few battles and in 1489 I once again changed my policy towards quality.
Then in February Denmark offered me alone 275 ducats, an offer I accepted.
The others, with Brandenburg in the top were still at war with them though.
In April, Corvinus died and the Hungarian nobles elected the Polish king as the king of Hungary. This meant, Hungary was now my vassal! Nice
With the money I started an attempt to convert the heathens in Volyn.
In August, Venice joined the Danish alliance, and when Switzerland in June 1490 declared war upon them, Sweden dishonored and joined the Lithuanian alliance, who were still at war against OE and Tlemcen.
In August, Denmark finally accepted peace with Brandenburg. Brandenburg got Bremen and Holstein, as well as 21 ducats.
In November, the three-year white peace happened to Lithuania and OE. They now got a lot of events concerning Constantnople, giving them their COT, moving their capital and so on.
In January 1491, Lithuania declared war upon Crimea, so once again there was war between OE and Lithuania. In February, Denmark declared war upon Sweden, and in December, Russia declared war upon Lithuania.
In September, I reached trade 3. I switched back the investment to 100% infra.
The years went on, and Lithuania coped quite well.
In October 1492, Hanover annexed Oldenburg by force. (On the 1st of August they declared war upon Sweden, who called upon their allies, Hanover crushed them and the day before they were annexed they joined our alliance). Rather funny.
The trade investment seemed to have been in vain. Whenever I got a monopoly, another nation pulled me back again, and I had to start over.
In November 1494, my conversion attempt in Volyn failed. I crushed the rebels. I started one in Jedisan instead, and then I also restarted the one in Volyn.
In April 1495, Bavaria once again declared war upon Burgundy. Austria left our alliance, and declared war upon Bavaria instead. Somewhere around here, a bug must've happened, because I never got an invitation to the war against the Hapsburg's, I had to DOW them myself, which I did.
In August, Lithuania gave Livland to Denmark. Only two wars were left to fight now.
On the 30th of December, Denmark declared war upon Brandenburg.
In April 1496 I had corruption. I chose to fight it.
The Danes invaded in Danzig and in Jedisan. Danzig was my no.1 priority, since I didn't want to lose my manufactory there. Besides, Jedisan was kind of a death trap to any significant force, the supply value was next to none.
I won a couple of struggles in Danzig throughout the year. It was also during this year, things started to go really badly for Lithuania: See attached screenie. I won the battle in Jedisan with my cavalry superiority...
In December, Lithuania accepted the peace offer from the Teutonic Knights, they agreed to pay 50 ducats.