The saxon challenge

[chefkoch]

--A very short outline of saxon history--​

Once the Saxons had a great empire for themselves. In the fifth century, the roman-british people of todays England called for german mercenaries to fight the Picts but they get more germans than they expected. It was the time of the great german migration. Hundreds, thousands of Saxons, Angles and Jutes crossed the channel and the German Sea (today: North Sea) with their families to conquer new lands. They fought against the Picts and fend them off and than it was time to subdue the roman-british people. The dominant Saxons had established the three kingdoms Sussex (->South Saxons), Wessex (->West Saxons) und Essex (->East Saxons). The Angles had established the Kingdoms Nordhumbrien (Northumbria; fusion between Deira and Bernicia), Deira, Bernicia, Ostanglien (East Anglia) and Mercien. The Jutes had established the kingdom Kent. Those were the legendary seven kingdoms - respective nine.

At the end of 7th. century, the great time and the power of the Saxons should decline. The Franks under Karl the Great had stabilized their power in todays France, southern Germany, Benelux, Netherlands and northern Italy. Now they looked to the north. In 772 the war starts and in 795 the legendary saxon leader Widukind submits the Saxons under rule of the Francs but the Saxons fought hard for their freedom and the war continues without Widukind. It came no help from England. Our brothers let us down. Maybe because the language of the continentalgermans changend between the fifth and eighth century and the language of the islandgermans missed that evolution because of their isolated position. However, they let their brothers down.

Before the Saxonwars (Sachsenkriege) started, the Saxons ruled an impressive empire.

England:

The old Tribalduchy:

in modern borders:
http://img252.imageshack.us/img252/6154/sax973vo8.gif

In 919, the Saxons displaced the Franks from the crown of the Emperor. The holy roman empire (of german nation) was lead by Saxons now - as it should be!

In 928, the slavs in todays Saxony and Brandenburg surrender finally and the Saxons, Franks, Thuringians and Frisians colonized that lands under saxon rule. They colonized Brandenburg, too. The new Mark Meißen came under the rule of the House Wettin and the Marks of Brandenburg under the rule of the House Askanien. The Wettins inherit later the saxon titles.

Unfortunately the line of the saxon emperors died out in 1002 with Otto III. and the crown wanders again - to Bavarians, Swabians and again to Franks.

In august 1073, the Saxons take up arms again against the german Emperor Heinrich (Henry) IV. At the brink of a saxon victory, the Emperor could escape of the saxon siege and later (1075) finally defeat them crushing. The emperor didn't missed to humiliate the saxon leaders. But the resistance of the saxon people and lords were not broken. In 1112 saxon noblemen first and foremost Duke Lothar von Süpplingenburg, Wiprecht von Groitzsch, Bishop Reinhardt von Halberstadt and Friedrich von Sommerschenburg started another uprise against the german Emperor Heinrich V. This time, the Saxons left the battlefield as winners and could enforce their demands and Lothar became later the Emperor called Lothar III. He should be the last saxon Emperor. The Saxons had hope to get the crown again, there was a man, powerful, wealthy, aggressive: Heinrich the Lion. Duke of the saxon people. He was the biggest rival for the actual Emperor, the legendary Friedrich I., called Barbarossa. In 1179 and 1180 the emperor imposed the Reichsacht (ban of the Empire) on Heinrich. He lost the saxon Tribalduchy and had to go in exil. The second black time for the saxon people had come. The Duchy were splitted into four parts - Oldenburg, Braunschweig-Lüneburg (Brunswick-Lüneburg -> Eastphalia), Westfalen-Engern (Westphalia-Engern) and the remainings of the Tribalduchy (-> the north and the colonized lands).

An idea where those areas are located within to he old Tribalduchy

In 1296 the remaining Tribalduchy was suffering a distribution of an estate - another black time for Saxony. The country was splitted into Anhalt-Zerbst (today part of Saxony-Anhalt), Saxony-Lauenburg and Saxony-Wittenberg. Saxony-Wittemberg was the germ cell of todays Saxony. In 1355 S-W became against the will of S-L an electorate of the empire.

Then in 1485, Saxony-Wittenberg had another partition between two brothers. They split it into the Duchy Saxony (todays Saxony) and the Electorate Saxony (todays Thuringia). 1547 there was a heavy civil war between both states and the duchy get the privilege being Electorate and the former Electorate was degraded to an ordinary duchy. The losing duchy had done its final breath and decomposed into more than 20 states while the winning duchy (todays Saxony) became more and more powerful.

In 1806 it became a kingdom and was one of the 4 german kingdoms. After the Napoleonic Wars, the kingdom loses much territories to Prussia. They formed together with the Anhalt-lands the prussian province Saxony and the todays Saxony-Anhalt.

During the 19. century, the Kingdom of Saxony became the leading industrial nation in Germany and was so an european economic powerhouse.

the hatched areas are industrial areas:


I start the game in 1337. The Tribalduchy is decomposed. The colonies were splitted into Saxony-Wittenberg and Brandenburg. Anhalt and the region around Magdeburg is independent and disputed between Saxony and Brandenburg. The pomeranian aquisitions of Heinrich the Lion were independent again. England is a far away country.

Its time to stand up and fight for what is ours. Its time to unite the Tribalduchy again with its colonies and all acquisitions that were done. And then its time to remember the english people who they are and that there should be only one saxon state.

My goals in Germany. I'm not sure about Brandenburg because it was never a part of a saxon state but they were at least colonized to the same time by the same people. Okay okay, Brandenburg was mainly colonized by Franks and Thuringians but in their hearts they are Saxons.

We will succeed or die trying.

 

[chefkoch]

I play the WATKABAOI mod by cool-toxic and added some new stuff and changed a bit.

--The changes--​

Yellow in the north, England and in the southern netherlands is the Hanse with its capital in Lübeck.
Dark red in Italy and Avignon is the Empire of Rome.
The Union of Kalmar is included.
The Teutonic Order gets cores for a Crusade in the Levante (Outremer).
I included some Saxony events from AGCEEP.
I took Erfurt from Mainz and gave it to Saxony (A failure in the mod ).
I added two cores in Erfurt and Magdeburg for Saxony.
I gave a CoT to Leipzig.
I made Leipzig to the capital - just for my ego.
Lorraine gets german culture, Bar keeps french and the Duchy Lorraine gets german and french culture.
I delated the anatolian minor Eretna and gave the province to another to get a free country tag.
I added 2 generals for the time from 1388-1450.
I replaced 4 monarchs from the ernestinian line of the House Wettin (-> Thuringian Minor States) with 4 monarchs from the albertinian line of the House Wettin (todays Saxony) and changed some dates and names.
I added core-giving events for colonies.

--The settings--​

Mod: WATKABAOI
Difficulty: normal
AI-aggressiveness: weakling
Timeframe: 1337-1914
House rules:
trying to avoid credits
not becoming Germany
not cheating

 

[unmerged(84806)]

Nice to read about the history of Saxony - so much I didn't know.

Good luck in the game! I guess we will see lots of encounters vs the Hanse...

 

[derAleks]

First I feared, that you'll be doing some sort of Wessex-AAR...but now GO SACHSEN!!

 

[coz1]

Interesting. A pan-Saxon empire. I like it. Looking forward to where you go with this. Good luck.

 

[chefkoch]

Some stats to the start:



As soon Rudolf I. had nominated the new diplomats of the diplomatic corps, he send them to the Deutschritterorden (Teutonic Order) to invite them to an alliance with Saxony and Hannover. They refused two proposals before they entered an alliance with the Hanse. Angry about that diplomats, he called them in. These young boys still have to learn very much in the field of diplomacy. We have to train them better.

A picture of Rudolf I.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...on-Sachsen.jpg/180px-Rudolf-I-von-Sachsen.jpg

In the middle of the year 1337, legates of the pope were seen among the knights. They prepared the Order for a new crusade. We decide that its not our business but if they need help, we would not say no.

At the end of the year, we could finally send tax collectors to their offices in Meissen and Leipzig. The life was easy and peaceful in Saxony-Wittenberg but then in the middle of may 1338 an ambassador of Brandenburg arrived with a declaration of war. Rudolf screamed angry at him, he had done nothing to provoke anything. All protestnotes and conversation-offers were useless and the war soon raged in Saxony. Rudolf suspected the Bishop of Magdeburg and his own cousin Albrecht III. of Saxony-Lauenburg behind that DoW. Albrecht envies Rudolf for his powerful position within the empire and he feared that the shared electoralprivilege could go finally and exclusive to Rudolf and Saxony-Wittenberg. Hannover joins in.

The new drawn out "Army of Sachsen" marched over Wittenberg for Brandenburg in the heart of the land of the eight year old Ludwig I., Markgraf (Marquess or Marchecounte/Marchgrave) of Brandenburg, Duke of Bavaria and Earl of Tirol from the bavarian House Wittelsbach.

During supplying in Wittenberg, the Army of Sachsen was took by surprise and lost within two days (20. and 22. august) two battles in the surroundings of Wittenberg. We had to retreat and refresh our troops and hoped Wittenberg could stand the siege. As the course of the war weren't bad enough, the bavarian ally Württemberg came Ludwig to help and declared Saxony-Wittenberg and Hannover the war. But then in late august, hannoverian troops marched to Magdeburg, defeated their army and marched further to Brandenburg. Our weakened army marched immediately to Magdeburg. It was no march, it was a hounded run. That was the chance we had waited for a so long time. We could enforce our claims on Mageburg if we capture it. At the fourth of november we arrived in Magdeburg and could easily defeat the weak garrison. The siege of Magdeburg began and was soon supported by troops from Hannover.

In January 1339 we could defeat two relief armies from Magdeburg. In september, Magdeburg fell in our hands and after short talks with the imprisoned bishop, we annexed Magdeburg. The relieftroops of Ludwig arrived on 17. september but it was to late. The Army of Sachsen annihilated them completely.

In october and november the war slows down but at the end of november, troops of Brandenburg marched through southern Saxony on its way to Braunschweig (Brunswick) and leave their homeland unprotected. Rudolf used that opportunity and marched toward Wittenberg and Brandenburg. At 24. March 1340, the "Luzern Regiment" retake Wittenberg and marched afterwards toward Berlin and initiated a siege there. The hannoverians had succesfully defend Braunschweig and Ludwig tried to conquer Magdeburg. Ludwig stopped in march 1341 his siege of Magdeburg and marched toward the fallen Berlin while the saxon troops marched to Neumark to finish the war. At 19. October, we captured Neumark and controlled all of Brandenburg but Ludwig had initiated a siege of Berlin. Rudolf reject all of his peace offers and let the whole saxon military march to Berlin - he wanted the young Ludwig and his advisors in chains. At 18. november Ludwig surrenders unconditioned and offered Brandenburg, Neumark and 216.000 Gulden. A long war ended with a clear saxon victory.

The last battle:

Saxony-Wittenberg after the war:

From the money we could afford two further tax collectors in Coburg and Erfurt.

 

[chefkoch]

After the Brandenburgian-Saxonian war, Rudolf I. concentrates his attention on reconstruction of his Duchy. Especially Wittenberg needed help after the war. The city was serious damaged in war. Besides that, we made some efforts to improve our relationships with Brandenburg and the House Wittelsbach. The only thing that was necessary to do that was beheading the advisors of Ludwig. Life could be so easy sometimes.

While Rudolf sat togehter with his son about some economic tables, he was impressed by the size his duchy had now. He remembers some words of his grandfather Albrecht I. When Rudolf was he child, he had told him all the stories about Widukind and what for furious fighters the Saxons used to be. He had told him that the name saxon came from the word 'sax' (engl. seax) what was once the word for a weapon, an axe or a long sword. It was the name our enemies gave us. He told him also how Karl the Great had slaughtered the saxons, how Otti I. ascend the throne, how Heinrich the Lion loses by complott and fake accusations all he had and all the other stories.
Now the thoughts of Rudolf were wandering. It was so easy to beat Magdeburg and Brandenburg. Could it be possible? Rudolf I. the next Widukind? Rudolf laughed and went back to work, reading his economic figures. They have to be prepared when the Markgraf of Meissen, the Markgraf of Zeitz and the Markgraf of Merseburg arrived to counsel how the duchy could be developed - economically, socially and military. That those three guys were not independent from Saxony-Wittenberg was a great merit of Albrecht I. who could regain some of the territories Heinrich the Lion had lose.

In the middle of the forties, another war raged in eastern europe. The Elderman of the Hanse declared war on Poland and the Teutonoc Order joined in. On the side of Poland stands Lithuania and some other minor states. That war ends after some initial successes with a knockdown defeat for the Knights and the Hanse. More then half a million Gulden changed the owner.
After that defeat the Order was bankrupt and had no choice but to subdue to the Hanse before Lithuania strikes again. The people in Saxony were alarmed by the defeat of the Hanse. They will need now some money and Poland became a bigger and more self confident threat in the east. We will have to watch them.

After our common war the relationship to the Principality Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel became better and better. It was governed by the three Brothers Otto, Ernst und Magnus. As Otto was dying without childs, the future of Braunschweig was to be splitted between the other two brothers. Rudolf talked to the three of them and could convince them, that it would the worst thing that they could do. The saxon lands are splitted enough. Rudolf presented the brothers a plan. He promised them they could execute an autonomous rule in Braunschweig under his supreme rule. He will protect and finance them and keep peace in Braunschweig. The old Otto advised his brothers that they should agree and so at the 16. May 1343 the Principality became a vassal of Saxony. The following seven years went peaceful. Rudolf bonds himself strong to the House Habsburg and elected Karl IV. in 1346 to the new Emperor. Rudolf was the only electorate duke who appeared at Karls coronation in 1346. As thanks to Rudolf, Karl gave him the Altmark as feud. That was now just for declaration because Rudolf conquered the Altmark already in the war with Brandenburg.
When Otto finally dies, Braunschweig suffers no conflict between the remaining two brothers. The life in northern Germany was disturbed in August 1348 by the annexation of the Teutonic Order by the Hanse. It shows, that the Grandmaster peculate the money from the Pope and the Order was not able to survive without help. Rudolf was wondering why Pope Clemens VI. say nothing against that annexation. He send some diplomats to the german Emperor and to Rome. It shows, that the Pope decided to recreate The Roman Empire and was busy with making war in northern italy. That explain something thought Rudolf anxious. He feared the threat the Hanse could be to him. In the north and the east were strong neighbours now. Not good at all. Not good at all.

Rudolf send some merchants as negotiators to Lübeck and they made some trade agreements. The Eldermann guaranteed peace and free trade for all saxonian merchants. Nevertheless was Rudolf anxious because he was still surrounded by three potential major threats.

The alliance with Braunschweig was renewed and after one long year of tough negotiations, Brandenburg joins 1352 the alliance and subdued under Saxony as vassal for a payment of 415.000 Gulden. Ludwig also helped Rudolf against some revolters who didn't accept the new borders.

Now Rudolf felt better but his inner peace should not last for long. The Hanse undermined his agreement with the two Braunschweig-brothers and a heavy dispute was rising. As the both of them insulted each other at an official banquet with the Emperor, Rudolf had have enough of them and annexed their lands the next day.

Now Saxony needed a new ally and after the long search for a willing an suitable one, he found in the Erzbischof von Köln (Archbishop of Cologne) Wilhelm von Gennep a vassal and ally of Saxony who agreed to subdue for payment of 166.000 Gulden and some promises with religious topic by Rudolf.

Through the good contracts with the Hanse and the excellent government of Rudolf, the income raises from 90.000 Gulden in 1350 to 110.000 Gulden in 1355.

With the years Rudolf became old and weak. The conflict with Saxony-Lauenburg for the electoralprivilege intensified and Rudolf was forced to send his son to court to obtain a final recognition of the electoralprivilege for Saxony-Wittenberg. With the Goldene Bulle (The Golden Bull) from the 04. October 1455 their rights were confirmed and Saxony-Lauenburg loses finally all claims on that rights. Being the official and only one saxon electorate, Rudolf I. died one year later at 12. march 1356 in the age of 72 years. His son Rudolf II. followed him on the throne.

Picture of Rudolf II:
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bild:Rudolf-II-von-Sachsen.jpg

Rudolf II. knows about the fears and the dreams of his father. He wanted to conquer the Lausitz that belonged rightous to Saxony and he wanted to conquer the Sudentenland (Sudety) because of its mines. He needed the gold for his army. The alliances has changed in eastern europe and Silesia was now without ally. That was the right time for him. In Oktober 1358 Rudolf II. declares war on Silesia and Brandenburg and Köln joins in.

 

[chefkoch]

The Lausitz was besieged but an relief army could fend off the saxonian and brandenburgian troops in late October. That should be their last victory. With new mercenaries the saxon army overrun Silesia.

In December 1359 only Oppeln was without siege but the Army of Sachsen was already on its way and achieved victory at 14. May 1360.

At 22. November 1360, Oels fells as last region and the saxon alliance controlled everything.

2 days later, peace was made in the capital of Silesia. Brandenburg annexed the Lausitz, Saxony annexed Liegnitz, Oels and Oppeln and gets 125.000 Gulden for the alliance.

That was a short and easy campaign and like his father he suppressed the remaining slavs. The Emperor but mostly some other dukes saw our expansion with suspicion. Rudolf defends himself in claiming he did his Schlesienfahrt (campaign against Silesia) in the tradition and with the same goals as the Preussenfahrt (campaigns of germans in the baltics) or the Wendenkreuzzug (crusade against the Wends, Kashubs and Sorbs) in the last two centuries. We claimed just to do this in interest of all germans and of the holy church and everyone was appeased for now.

In 1361 Rudolf II. donate Ludwig II., first electorate of Brandenburg and Duke of Bavaria 117.000 Gulden so that he could pay his depts with the Hanse. Our relationship to the House Wittelsbach was never before so good. Because of the growing tension with the Empire of Rome and the stucked situation of the small Brandenburg between Saxony, the Hanse and Bohemia and the rising tension between the Hanse and Brandenburg, Ludwig decides to go back to Bavaria and so he gaves his remaining territories in Brandenburg to his friend Rudolf at 25. September 1362.

Saxony in the Year 1362

Our new political situation:

 

[unmerged(84806)]

Good progression so far. I was a bit worried when Brandenburg made your Silesian provinces unconnected, but the annexation solved it nicely. I wonder where you will expand next - perhaps your next aim is a province with a port? Sooner or later you have to get a fleet to get to England...

Even if the Hanse lost the war against Poland and Lithuania, they got quite nicely out of it with the annexation of the Order. So now you got a big Hanse and a very large Poland/Lithuania/Hungary alliance on your doorstep. That could get ugly...

 

[chefkoch]

thanks olav.
"Sooner or later" was what i thought too but then... read yourself what happened



When we made Brandenburg to our domain, Rudolf had two votes in the electoral council. One vote for Saxony and one vote for Brandenburg. With that he was the most powerful among the electors. The Eldermann of the Hanse envied him and could not accept a saxon hegemony and declared immediately war on us. He wanted Brandenburg and with the land the electoral privilege. In age of 55 Rudolf had to sattle his horse again to defend his country. No one should be able to say Rudolf was just sitting around and giving commands in his warm snuggery.

In early October we had send our troops from Silesia up to the northern border.

Not worse enough that we were forced to fight a new war, our southern neighbours joins the war of the Hanse against us. We understood that we were victims of a spineless conspiracy. We were afraid, that they wanted to break our land.

Our enemies overrun quickly our lands while our army was marching from Silesia to their operational aims. Erfurt, Coburg, Meissen, Hannover, Brandenburg - they were everywhere. But then in Januaray 1363, we stroke back and invaded Vorpommern. But we stayed not for long, the war raged with changed war luck and we had to give up the siege of Vorpommern while we initiated the siege of Mecklenburg in February 1363. Kleve joined the war as our enemy but we could hold up the siege of Mecklenburg and defeated some relief troops. In May we managed to defeat the defenders of Vorpommern and besieged the area again. Our southern lands and Hannover are in serious danger. Rudolf wished he could came to help but he and his brother Wenzel (engl. Wenceslaus) were needed against the Hanse. Erfurt surrendered at 23. April, Meissen at 29. July and Coburg at 26. November to our southern enemies.




In July 1369, the Empire of Rome forced Genua and Venezia in a so called "Union of Rome" and forced some of their merchants to establish a new trade center in the city of Rome. If the Knights had not conquered the Black Sea trade center, Rome would be as powerful as the Hanse.

At 18. Oktober 1369, the defenders of Mecklenburg surrendered and we had our first big victory in this war. Our commanders had never expected to get such an important aim so early in war. Rudolf ordered the "Lübeck Regiment" one day after that to Lübeck. Their capital had to fall for a fast victory. Wenzel, Rudolf and their generals agreed, that they would not help Hannover yet. While the enemy sieged with all of his men our cities, we tried to do as much damage we could in their land.

At 8. November, we started the siege of Lübeck. Soon after that a diplomat of Geldern (Geldre) arrived in the fieldcamp of Rudolf and offered peace. The two leading brothers of the saxon troops just laugh at him and send him away. Did he really thought Saxons would surrender? We fould fight to the end if neccessary. We knew we would be on the winning side. Our spies told us that 40.000 hostile soldiers died because of fights, hunger and illnes. We should surrender? Laughable.

 

[chefkoch]

The war went in the next year and our chances grew lesser and lesser. Hannover was lost end of March and the hostile alliance had lost a immense number soldiers to attrition but they had enough to start another siege of Mecklenburg and to attack our siege of Lübeck. The Hanse was now on its way to defend their homeland. Till September we managed to recruit and concentrate a honorable number of soldiers and achieved to reconquer Erfurt with only 7000 brave men at 18. September 1364. Together with some reinforcements from Leipzig, the "Lazio Regiment" should support the siege of Coburg. Parallel to that moralboosting success we managed to bring Vorpommern to capitulation. At the same time was a battle around Lübeck ongoing. In the same days, Vorpommern surrendered and the Army of Sachsen was immediately ordered to the battle.

When the Army of Sachsen arrived in early Oktober Lübeck, we won that battle against the hanseatic relief army. Wenzel arrived just in time with his troops. Rudolf sat in Mecklenburg and was about to surrender when he had heard from the victories of his brother and in southern Saxony. He offered the Eldermann a peacedeal before the Hanse could retake Mecklenburg. The Hanse accepted and had to hand over Vorpommern and so Saxony had a access to the coast. That was a lucky last minute peace deal. Rudolf had no reason to celebrate right now. He met immediately with his brother and they discuss their further strategy.

Shortly after our peace with the Hanse, Bavaria rejected our peace offer. We had send the Army of Sachsen to retake Hannover and supplying there. Meanwhile Braunschweig and Magdeburg were in danger.

During the rest of the year we did nothing but sieges. We besieged Hannover and Coburg, the letter successful in January 1365. Kleve ended their siege of Braunschweig successful. In January Rudolf ordered all troops in southern Saxony to Würzburg. The bavarians used their chance and started on their own new sieges in Meissen and Erfurt but our troops were ordered to stay in Würzburg. In April we had a breakthrough in Würzburg and arrested the Bishop of Würzburg Albrecht II. von Hohenlohe. Having the Emperor as friend and an highly distracted pope, Rudolf decided to secularize and annex Würzburg like he did before with Magdeburg. In July 1365 our small troop in southern Saxony could stop the bavarian siege of Erfurt but they initiated another in August in Leipzig. The troops from Nürnberg (Nuremberg) besieged Meissen. Rudolf decided to left the two cities alone. "Hostile troops are best when they are dead or bond" said he always and always again. The southern troop was only available for the most serious critical problems.

The rest of the year was just sitting around and waiting. Waiting that Hannover fells, waiting for new money, waiting for fresh soldiers for the southern war. In April 1366 we put some music in the war and attacked the bavarians in Leipzig and killed every single men. How could they dare to touch our capital. Troops of Münster (Munster) were supplying themselves in the by Kleve held city of Braunschweig and klevian soldiers started to siege the Neumark. Rudolf orderd the southern army to Neumark and the Army of Sachsen to Münster. End of May, we were forced to took a loan to get new troops and Rudolf managed to settle down a boundary conflict with Hessen (Hesse). That gave us enough money to continue the war. In June we defeated several relief armies of Münster and we get a message that Geldern (Geldre) was in war now with France. THANK GOD! THANK GOD! That will help us immense and Wenzel saw us already winning. In Oktober 1366, our relief army arrived in Neumark and achieved a victory but Meissen was about to fall.

End of November we were losing Meissen as we had it expected but the peace talks between Saxonys Rudolf II. and Bavarias Stephan II. were already secretly in progress in a quit Castle in Hessen. Stephan was after the dead of his nephew Meinard III. the only ruler of bavarian lands and he did not want to continue a war he were forced to join. At least that's what he said. At 09. December we had a white peace with Bavaria and his allies and Meissen remained just for two weeks in the hands of hostile forces. For now, our only enemies were three minor states and at least one of them was in war with France. Good news, seems that Wenzel kept right. At 09. February 1367 Rudolf captured ahead the Army of Sachsen Münster and annexed it. One enemy gone, two still to go.

When we thought the war is soon over we had no clue how much we were wrong. At the end of March, we get a declaration of war of Böhmen (Bohemia) and its allies and at 06. April, Hungary and Lithuania declared war. Thank god Poland changed its alliance. That would we had thought, when Poland didn't declared war on us a couple of days later. Luckily we could convince the Bishop of Köln (Cologne) that there is nothing better in the world then dying on the field of honour defending the own people and home. Happily Köln joins our fun in May 1367 - the fifth year of the war. Rudolf could not understand why his friend Karl IV., German Emperor and King of Bohemia could betray him and attack. He felt so sick at the moment.

While the war in the western part of our lands was calming down, the war in Schlesien (Silesia) and Böhmen (Bohemia) was brutally raging. We had to took a second loan and were minting some money. It doesn't took much to buy Poland out of the war - 100.000 Gulden and they were satisfied and left at 24. November 1367 the other two eastern alliances down. Till February 1368 we suffered heavy losts. Oppeln went to the hungarians, the brave and famous southern regiment were supplying in Leipzig after losing a battle, Meissen and Lausitz were besieged by bohemians and Oels had to face an attack soon. Only in Karlsbad (Sudety) saxon troops could hold themselves victorious. At 09. November 1368, a peace with Geldern (Geldre) was signed and Kleve was annexed by Rudolf. During the next year we had to give up the siege of Karlsbad and were forced to left Oels. At 22. March we won another heavy battle in the surroundings of Karlsbad but only to be beaten in April. We were waiting desperately for the arrival of troops from the bishop in Bohemia to helped us out. They arrived finally in the summer of 1369. We saved enough money to reinforce our in defense waiting troops proper and followed the soldiers from Köln to Karlsbad. We had to grab that damn mines.

In 1370, Rudolf decided to take another titel for himself. Since he was now the one and only electorate for the saxon vote, he claimed now the titel KURFÜRST (princeps elector). Everyone should easily recognize his powerful position within the German Empire. At 04. April 1370, Hungary rejected a peace offer but Lithuania accepted our offer for a white peace. A bad deal for Hungary but an extremely good one for us. The lithuanian ruler showed much more respect before the new titel. Rudolf was not ably to smile about that instead he was jokingly who would declare war on us next. Maybe France, Spain or Norway. We were facing still two hositle nations and the war have had to many twists and surprises for us. The next surprise was that Schlesien (Silesia) joined the remaining hostile coalition.

 

[chefkoch]

Rudolf and Wenzel were holding an inflamous speech in a chilly July night in their fieldcamp. After that the saxon fighters were now in rage and fight feverously and without mercy. They were nothing but cruel barbarian axemen. In the next battles, both armies lost many of their men to achieve victory but they made it. After eight years of war, the saxon soldiers were motivated again. Breslau was taken at 09. July 1370 and with that Silesia controlled nothing. Rudolf annexed them. In August, Bohemia had a new ally in its alliance. Mähren (Moravia) joined their war against us. Rudolf, Wenzel and their General staff just wanted to scream. This war seems to have no end. The next months were a hard test for willpower, constancy and toughness. The saxon armies were only small remainings not worth telling but they deserved to be honoured. Just around 10.000 brave men were defending their positions and moreover to initiate a new siege around Karlsbad (Sudety). Nevertheless the new enemy was to much to deal, to much to beat with our weakened soldiers. At St. Nikolaus Day 1370, Rudolf II. died at age of 63. because of a heart attack. The first Kurfürst slipped away and left a big hole in the Kurfürstentum (electorate country). Rudolf had no male childs and so his brother Wenzel was the new Kurfürst and Duke of Saxony. The news of the death of the beloved leader spreads fast through the saxon fieldcamps and the hole war zone. The next day, Karl IV appeared in the Camp of Wenzel and his old friend Rudolf and accorded Rudolfs death body the last honour. When he left his tent, Karl declared an armistice. Wenzel and Karl brought with a small battalion the body of Rudolf back to his birthplace Wittenberg and buried him there in a small ceremony. Our soldiers were like paralyzed and mad of mourning. No more action was done in the war between Saxony and Bohemia. At 22. May 1371, Bohemia offered a peace deal and 58.000 Gulden. We accepted fast because it seemed the bohemians did not know how near we stood at the brink of a defeat and because our soldiers were not able to fight right now. Rudolf was like a father for everyone. After the signing of the peace contract, Karl asked Wenzel humbly for exculpation and declared that his political situation demanded the war against his only friend. Karl promised that he would never do that failure again and promised he would protect Wenzel and Saxony whenever he could. Wenzel gave his friend the requested exculpation.

After that peace treaty, the Army of Sachsen supplied themselves in the city of Karlsbad and at 02. June 1371, they marched to Moravia. We had no second chance to win this war against them. If the Army of Saxony would lose, Moravia could do big harm to us. We started the siege of Mähren in June 1371 and with fresh troops we attacked the moravian siege of Breslau in January 1372 but lost that battle. But we had blessing in disguise because the moravian army was forced to gave up the siege. Practically we already won the war against them. The war went in its tenth year and maybe its the last. Maybe its the last. In May we forced the last rest of the moravian army to hide themselves in the fortifications of Breslau. In May we made our first contact with mediterranean soldiers. They look funny.

At 11. August 1372, Moravia surrendered and when we stormed into Breslaus fortifications at 13. March 1373, Moravia was gone forever as independent country. With that final act, we finished the active war that had began with the attack of the Hanse in 1362. Genoa, the new leader of the hostile alliance accepted our offer for a white peace not before 23. February 1374. This war should be known as the "Zwölfjährige Krieg" (12 Years War).


Saxony in 1374:

European trade:

Our political situation:

Other alliances:

Rome-Genua-Venezia (=Union of Rome)
France-Norway
Denmark-Sweden-Scotland
Hanse-Geldre
Poland-Bohemia-Savoy-Sicily-Napoli
Lithuania-Hungary
Bavaria-Nuremberg-Nassau-Berg-Rhine Palatinate
England-Friesland-Navarre
Aragorn-Portugal-Castile
Bulgaria-Serbia-Romania

 

[cool-toxic]

Great job.

I will look forward to see how the Saxons will react when facing the Romans.

I hope they defeat them in some way and make them recognise the Saxons as the true Emporers.

 

[chefkoch]

UPDATE


The life after the war was stamped by deep mourning and hard work for the reconstruction. In August, an army from Poland crossed our borders and stayed in the Neumark. They told us, it was just a mistake caused by bad maps of the swamps in that area. We gave them some supplies and let them march back to Poland. Wenzel thought about that accident and ordered his geographers to him. They should made him an actual map of Europe and Saxony.

In November, we saved enough money to open a new tax collectors office in Kleve and in January an office in Munster followed. To the begin of the new year, we had to face a small revolt in Oels but because the presence of the Army of Sachsen, it was no problem and the revolters were all arrested till March. Not letting himself disturb, Wenzel went ahead with his reconstruction plan and economical reforms and so we could open in February further tax collectors offices in Breslau and in Vorpommern. In April opened a government office in Würzburg. Also in April, the geographers had the maps ready. Wenzel and his staff were stunned. They did not knew that the world was that huge. They read names of countries and cities they never heard before, they even could hardly speak. "So many wealth out there" "So many enemies out there" The opinions of the new knowledge were splitted. Wenzel decided that only the european maps are relevant for us. "The rest is just eyecandy with no use for us" told he his officers.

In April, Karl invited us in his alliance. Wenzel was glad that he kept his promise but he had never really doubted that. The only bad thing was, that these alliance was in war with Switzerland. Nevertheless Wenzel told Köln (Cologne) about his plans, joined the new alliance and send immediately ambassadors to Bern to made peace. In august the peace treaty was signed without a single fight of our soldiers.

Not disturbed by other things, Wenzel focussed his work again on the economic progress and in January 1376, the last tax collectors office was opened in Morava. Now could the economy grow and the state would get its taxes in every single part of the country. His reforms included also the fight against corruption and mismanagement. He wanted that Saxony became a high efficient country that could mess with the Hanse.

In January 1377 Wenzel could convince the Lord of Nassau to join our alliance. With that step, our southwestern flank had a good protection in case of war.

In November 1378 the German Emperor Karl IV. died and his son Wenzel I. was elected to be the new Emperor. With that our alliance lose an integrative factor and Wenzel a friend and confident. In May 1379 losed our alliance the war with Switzerland and Austria pays 32.000 Gulden for reparations. Our partners were not angry with us because they knew we had a heavy war behind us. That we brought a new member for the alliance was a big plus for Wenzel i nthe eyes of the other members. In the same year, Austria annexed Aquileia and got coastal access, too. The year 1380 was an exceptional unsteady and turbulent year. Denmark and Norway melted to the Union of Kalmar, the Hanse annexed Geldre and was near to connect its dutch territories with its german territories. That would be the worst case for Saxony. We are glad that we were able to got Vorpommern. Without that they would have a landconnection from the baltic to the channel. The Hanse is still to consider as our major threat. The Roman Empire annexed Genoa and Venezia. It showed that the Union of Rome was only created to integrate Genoa and Venezia peu-a-peu in the empire. In this situation, the people of the Steiermark panicked, revolted in their fear against Austria and declared themselves independent. That was the worst and dumbest thing that could happen to our alliance.

Wenzel and the general staff decided that we had to grow faster. All money was meant to be saved for the war that we had planned. It should be a fast strike against the alliance of Hesse and Mainz. Wenzels reforms paid off really fast and the fiscal year 1380 was a record year. Inflation sank rapidly and the treasury was full. The generals could convince Wenzel that we have had enough troops for the war but we needed more fortifications in the borderlands. Wenzel agreed, with that low inflation the construction would be cheap like never before and so he ordered the building measures. 12 month later was the final inspection of the new fortifications and the general staff was satisfied with the work. In Oktober 1383, our engineers could improve our mining technology and so the silvermines in Meissen would be more profitable. Wenzel was the whole following year in Paris and in Oktober 1384, he could lure an excellent minister away from the french court. The man was supposed to observe and develop Wenzels economic reforms while he was busy with planning the war against Hessen and Mainz.




Before we could attack, Austria asked us in November 1387 to honour our alliance and declare war against Bohemia and Bavaria. The generals were against that but Wenzel had just one aim. Destoying Bohemia! Karl was gone and so was no more friendship in way, no more promises in way. The new bohemian king Vaclav IV. should better follow his predecessors advise but he did not. The generals wanted to leave the alliance with Austria and strike on own risk against Hesse but Wenzel and the minister of economic affairs could retune them. "With the goldmines of Sudety, we could afford ten wars against Hesse" was the winning argument. Saxony joined with some weeks in delay the ongoing war. It seems Saxony could never follow its own plans and is always exposed to decisions of others. This has to stop!




Our troops were in the western part of the country located in preparation for the strike against Hesse. In late January, they arrived in Bohemia and started to besiege half of the land. Meanwhile besieged Bohemia with all of their army Morava. It seemed they did not expect any resistance of us. The sieges went well but we suffers a lot through attrition. In July, the southern corps was the first one that finished its siege and was ordered to the next one. After a long battle in September 1387, the siege was initiated.

 

[chefkoch]

Austria performed very lousy compared to us but Nassau was doing well, too. Nassau had almost conquered the Pfalz but Austrias Johann van Ockenstein was just sitting around waiting for nice weather. Maybe it's true that the Dutch can't fight. Bavaria besieged Tyrol and we had no trouble in our inland. In January 1388, Karlsbad finally surrenders and we got the control about the whole province with its mines. The dream of all of our prior leaders came true and the mines are finally ours. In May we got the control over Tabor. During a conference in Celle, a city north of Hannover, Wenzel was murdered by a bohemian assassinator. He died in age of 51. His successor was his 21 year old son Rudolf III. Rudolf was a commanding officer in the Army of Sachsen when he got notice of his fathers dead. He took over the supreme command and marched with his small army to Tarbor. Chechy and Morava were about to fall. Rudolf marched with the now bigger Army of Sachsen towards the last rests of the bohemian army in Morava. He came to late. During his march, both cities surrendered and the bohemians were about to occupy the city when he arrived.






We had to fight the bohemians and it took only few days to convince the remaining hostile troops that the war is over and it makes no sense to die in the last days. The city was soon again under our control and Rudolf started the talks for a separate peace with Bohemia. King Vaclav dared to reject and wanted only talk with someone of prime importance. Rudolf decided he has to make something clear and send troops to kill all remaining bohemian soldiers. The bohemian King got the point and surrendered before our troops arrived their aims. He handed over all the by saxon troops conquered provinces and paid 70.000 Gulden to the alliance.




We opened after the war immediately tax offices and installed an occupying power. This is the first time in history that Saxony owns territories with foreign population. Rudolf expected a high risk for revolts.

Saxony in 1388:

 

[chefkoch]

An old map was found among the booty of the last war.

After the peace was confirmed, Rudolf traveled into the saxon switzerland for vacation. The last years had cost him much energy and elan. He enjoyed climbing and wandering very much and was glad to have his wife Anna around him. He needed just some private time to get over the death of his father and the cruel of the recent war. After one quiet week, an adjutant of the chief of the general staff appeared at the secluded small castle. The Hanse had declared war on Saxony again. Rudolf told that man, that he will meet the general staff in Leipzig soon. He wanted to spend one last night with his wife before he had to fight the next war. When Rudolf arrived in Leipzig, the generals told him that only Austria honored the alliance. The Kurfürst (princeps elector) was in rage and send some diplomats to the missing alliance members to make them clear what it could mean for them to break their word given to a princeps elector. Then he travelled back to his command with the Army of Sachsen and when arrived, he inspected the troops before giving the march order.

In the middle of September, two weeks after the declaration of war, the saxon army marched into battle. The southern army to Bremen and the Army of Sachsen to Oldenburg. Before our army was roughly near, the Hanse overrun our positions in Vorpommern and Brandenburg. They literally crushed our men.

End of the month, Liège, Nassau and Württemberg had decided to join the war. Mostly because we could point out that they are not hot zones.

While sieging without any hostile relief army near, Rudolf and his general staff made plans for an army reform. A restructuring of the national defence is with such an aggressive neighbour inevitable. It was planned to give the saxon army a more offensive character. Till Aprill 1389, the concept was elaborated and the first new unit was mobilized with a required strength of 33.000 men. The "First Saxon Army Corps" (I. Sächsisches Armeekorps) was the biggest fighting unit in service of the saxon army. The reorganisation included the formation of the saxon navy. At the end of September, we lost the control over Vorpommern and the first ships of our fleet sunk. The complete navy was annihilated. In Oktober the news became better. According to his slogan 'good boys finish first', Rudolf captured Oldenburg before the southern army could capture its aim and marched to Saxony-Lüneburg. Our sister duchy which was a part of the Hanse. The First Army did a better job then the navy and has beaten some big hostile forces in its operating field Altmark, Anhalt, Brandenburg and Neumark. In December, Rudolf ordered the First to siege Mecklenburg. In April 1390, Bremen was taken and the new target was the capital of the Hanse. Meanwhile was Berlin about to fall. At 15. May, Rudolf captured his second province in this war and moved on to Holstein. In summer 1390, the Hanse intensified their resitance and we had to fight the "Doublebattle of Wismar and Holstein" in the first two weeks of June. To our luck, the effords of the hanse were not enough to drive us out and so we could uphold all of our sieges. In the last week of July, the "Second Saxon Army Corps" was commissioned had had the first victories. The military reforms of Rudolf were a full success. We lost Berlin in July but the Second was already busy with reconquering the province.

In Oktober, we had taken Mecklenburg and the First returned to its usual patrol. In January, the "Third Saxon Army Corps" was created to assist the princeps elector in Wismar. At 17. January, they arrived and Rudolf could intensify his siege of the city of Lübeck. When we captured Holstein in February, Rudolf started peace talks with the ambassadors of the Hanse in Lübeck. At 2. May, they handed over Oldenburg and Saxony retreat from battlefield as winner. Now Saxony had access to the East Sea (Baltic Sea) and to the North Sea and was not vulnerable through sea blockades in the Skagerrak or Kategat.

In July 1391, all troops were in their peace positions and the Third was melted with the Army of Sachsen.

The weapons should not be quiet for long time. In September 1392, the people of Geldern (Gelre) revolted against the Hanse and declared themselves independent. Driven by the state doctrine that stated the obligation of all saxon leaders to try to regain all saxon lands, Rudolf declared war on Gelre and marched towards Zwolle. The city was already besieged by hanseatic forces but Rudolf could managed to overtook the leading of the siege. In March, Gelre surrendered and was annexed by us because the commanding officer was Rudolf. Tough luck for the Hanse, they lost another province to us. That will sure intensify their hate against us but we know now that we can beat them.

The economy growed fast and strong in the next years and we had in 1397 a cencus tax income of more than 200 Gulden and in our treasury was more than one million Gulden. The Kurfürstentum (electorate) was more then healthy. In January 1397, we got not notice that the Union of Kalmar annexed Sweden. We were still not sure if this is a new big friend or a new big adversary. Time will show.

 

[chefkoch]

In September 1397, our general staff made an interesting proposal to Rudolf. At the moment, Cologne is in serious financial trouble. They had to dissolve their armed forces and to subdue themselves to the French for fresh money. Right now, they were with almost no protection. If we wanted to get Westfalen (Westphalia) back, then now. Rudolf thought about it for a while and finally declared war on Cologne at the end of the month. He decided, that we did not need any help against Cologne. The French did not need long for their reaction. At 02. December, we were in war with them. Our whole alliance followed us in our war against France. It was a defensive war against France for us.

Till February 1398, we had driven out the french forces in Westphalia and besieged both provinces of Cologne. In September, Cologne surrendered and handed over the province Westphalia and a big amount of Gold - 181.000 Gulden. At 13. Novemeber, the capital of Holland-Hainaut was taken and we captured some maps. In the following May, we made peace with the Dutch.

Rudolf ordered his complete general staff to him and they made plans. No one knows what they had in mind and so all of their actions were mysterious to the ordinary soldiers. The Army of Sachsen was ordered to stay in Holland. In Oldenburg were new building measures ordered and new ships were built. Since August 1398 we had no fights in this war. Everything the princeps elector did was a secret. Out of the sudden, there was a hectic trouble in Holland. Before the harbour crossed a saxon fleet. Two large and impressive corvettes. The ships belonged to the new "Saxon Baltic Sea Fleet" (Sächsische Ostseeflotte). A brigade of volunteers of the second army corps boarded and the fleet set sails to a secret aim. The journey should became long and cold and after three month on sea, the man in the crow's nest shouted "LAND IN SICHT, LAND IN SICHT" (engl: "LAND IN SIGHT, LAND IN SIGHT"). The agile ships sailed faster and their cannons fired towards the land. After one day of bombarding the coastline, the brigade went off board and attacked the defenders on land. They lose and they lose three further attempts to storm the beach. When the commander of the fleet saw, that all soldiers were dead, he set sail and sailed back home but he never arrived. Meanwhile was the war raging in central europe. Württemberg and Austria were at the brink of a defeat. When Rudolf heard reports of his spies that the french general staff is highly anxious about the situation in Iceland. He decided to send another expedition. Rudolf thought the first one was a complete failure but it shows now that it wasn't. He had no time to lose and so was in January 1402 a new battlegroup of the North Sea fleet with a brigade from the third army corps aboard appearing before the coast of Iceland. The worries of the french general staff were reasoned. The whole french garrison was dead and Iceland fell without a second battle. The fleet left the soldiers on Iceland and returned back home where she was cheering about a french fleet. In the autumn of 1402, the french army got control over Zwolle and we started a siege to get the region back. While the first army corps was sieging Zwolle, Rudolf marched in the lion's den - towards France. He captured in Summer 1404 Lorraine and in October Bar. When he was sieging Champagne, he got notice that Genaral Charles d'Albrecht was gathering troops north of his position and would soon start an counterattack. Rudolf had to hurry up. In November, the King of France offered peace and we agreed. Iceland and Lorraine were now belonging to Saxony.

The troops in our nothern territory were dying fast because of the inhospitable of the island. We had to work on that and were hoping that the two remaining companies would survive.

Saxony in 1404:

Our diplomatic situation:

Other alliances:

Poland-Scottland-Hanse-Union of Kalmar-Berg
Lithuania-Sicily
Hungary-Bulgaria-Serbia-Moldavia
France-Holland-Hainaut-Orleans
Switzerland-Burgundy-Liege
Castile-Aragorn
England-Navarre
Bavaria-Rhine-Palatinate
Baden-Bohemia-Luxemburg-Ragusa
Hesse-Mainz-Nuremberg
Moscowy-Suzdal

 

[cool-toxic]

Great now you got a nice naval base in the North Sea.

Now take out Hungary-Bulgaria-Serbia-Moldavia.

 

[unmerged(61727)]

Yay, I love picture heavy, but with an interesting sorty AAR's, will be following this one closely.

 

[chefkoch]

UPDATE

A new peace was agreed and with that, the outmost island of the known world became a saxon outpost. A young Premier-Lieutenant (equal to a todays german Oberleutnant or a US First Lieutenant) showed at the usual post-war meeting of the general staff some new maps.

"What's that?" asked Rudolf and pointed to a place west of Iceland.
"Uhm, we don't know" said an old General.
"It seems that this is land, Sire. We think an island." breaks the young Lieutenant in.
"Are you sure this is not the rand of the world?"
"No Rudolf, we know nothing about this area" remarks the General of the Infanterie, "If we want to know what's there, we have to go and look."
"And what when it is the rand and the ship falls off?"
"Then their crews died for the honor of their lord and country. Their names will be immortal because they proved that the bibel and the word of the pope is right and infallible."
"Hm, i have to think about it. What about..." ...and the meeting drifted to the usual topics.

Two weeks later, a fleet of 18 ships were gathered in Oldenburg and Admiral von Rüdesheim waited for his orders.




Just to this time the Hanse declared again war on us. Our leadership wasn't sure about the reasons. Maybe some spies told them our plans and they wanted to sabotage us, maybe we should not set sail and find out whats that for land. Or they feared we could strike on our own, maybe they think they are doing a preemptive war. 18 ships are a nice fleet. At 15. November 1404 we were at war again. Poland and the Union of Kalmar did not supported the war against us but also on our side we had unloyal alliance members - Württemberg and Steiermark and so the war was fought between Hanse/Scotland/Berg and Saxony/Austria/Nassau.




The expedition fleet was blocked in harbour. The Hanse was just blocking and did not attack. Rudolf returned to his command with the Army of Sachsen and marched to Berg. The weakest link in the chain should fall first. The hanseatic diplomats were send out to the stayed out alliance members and tried to convince them to declare war on us. After New Year, they succeeded and Poland joins the war. Before Rudolf reached Berg, he had to fought several battles. His army lost more then the half of its original strenght - moral and supplies were down but they marched without complaining. To be a good role model, Rudolf shared his supplies with the soldiers and rationed his food, too. In April, they finally reached Berg and inititated a siege. In June, we lost the control over Iceland. The First had taken Gelre in November and was then marching to Bremen. In November and December, we had to swallow two had news. A rebellion in Tabor and the capitulation of Nassau. Now it was only Austria and we. In April 1406 was Würzburg about to surrender but we had send the Third to Lüneburg instead to help Würzburg. Poland was no real threat to us. Rudolf said his generals that the war would be won in the north. It seemed that the war would take a long time and so the minister of economic affairs was orderd to raise war taxes and to increase his affords to generate income. In September Oppeln was captured by polish forced because our relief army was to slow because of the rebels in Tabor. In November, we had 4 ongoing sieges of hostile provinces (Berg, Nassau, Bremen, Lüneburg) and one of a own province (Oppeln). The Hanse holds just one siege (Vorpommern) and Poland two (Neumark and Oels). At 30. November we took Berg and annexed them. Rudolf marched as soon as possible to Lüneberg. In the last days of February, we captured Bremen and when we attacked Lübeck and Wismar, the Hanse gives up. The Battle of Lübeck at 17. March was enough for them. The Archduke of Austria gained Bremen and Gelre for us. We had 70.849 soldiers in the north distributed in four armies. 5.000 of them were ordered to Oldenburg. The rest should march to Berlin in preparation to fight the polish forces.






With 46.023 soldiers we were marching into battle with Poland in May 1307. The fights for Neumark were hard and took long. It needed 11 months and cost the lives of over 10.000 saxon soldiers to gain control over Neumark back. The Battle of Neumark was the turning point in this war. From then on, we won every battle against Poland and in summer 1408, we were holding three sieges in their provinces. They already lost the war but needed till March 1409 to recognize that but then the peace became much more expensive then it would be in the year before. We captured till June 1409 two border provinces and their capital and forced them then to a hard peace. It should be a satisfying punishment. In October, we send the troops out to fight rebels and gave them easy shifts afterwards. The men needed some rest. Peace with Scotland was made at 16. October 1409.






In April, while the Saxon Army marched to the east, the 5.000 to Oldenburg ordered men of the Second went aboard of the waiting fleet of von Rüdesheim. When everything was loaded, the fleet set sails to the unknown lands. In September, they arrived the marked lands on the rand of their map and it was indeed land - cold and stony land. Only the southern strip looked habitable. The fleet sails further and were forced to return in May 1408. After refreshing their supplies in Iceland, the fleet set again sails to explore the coast of the new land. In October, the Admiral and the commanding officer of the army troops decided that it was time to go on land. They met natives and were soon attacked by them. We never found out why. While Oberst (engl.: Colonel) von Coburg went on with the coastline southwards, the Admiral went on with exploring the coast, too. In September they tried to establish a outpost but it showed that the position was not optimal due the natives. They continued their walk into the inner of the land. The Admiral set sail to the open ocean to find a shorter way back home. He discovered a small group of islands and one ship was left behind to explore these. The rest of the fleet continued their traval. We had never heard again from the Admiral. Only the one ship left behind reached home and reported us from their discoveries. May the Admiral and his brave men rest in peace wherever they are. They are heroes for us. They discoveres new lands for Saxony and they proved that the bibel is wrong. They sailed for months to the west and never found the rand of the world. Rudolf decided that it should be a secret for now. The pope is lying and we know that now. That could be a useful trump in our hand.

In 1410, the German Empire outlawed Lübeck and the seat of the Hanse was relocated to Lüneburg. Without the leadership of Lübeck, the Hanse was severly weakened. The old city council had to leave the city, whilst the major of Lübeck Jordan Pleskow went to the Imperial court. Over the next years the struggle went back and forth.

In May 1410, Rudolf gave his cousin the command of the eastern army. He was a qualified officer and someone Rudolf could trust blind. In September, we had sent secretly settlers to the new found islands and colonized them. To honor the Admiral, we had named the first city after his birthplace. NEW MEISSEN was the first city founded out of europe by europeans. A new era has began. In November 1410, Oberst von Coburg disovered a powerful native tribe - the Huron. They couldn't speak with us but they pointed out that we should go westwards. The Oberst did so and discovered the Iroquois in February 1411. He let send a message to a small coastal outpost his troops had established to stay in contact with home. In May, Rudolf let built new fortifications on Iceland. This small island was now the most important tactical base of Saxony but no one should know that. It was a difficult secret that Saxony had to defend.






Von Coburg moves further into the inland and in March we got the last message from them. We believe that he got lost near the natives he had discovered. We had a bad suspicion about that case...