This Chapter’s Mood Music
State of the World, 1527
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I had a map cache bug earlier, which is why France has somehow colonized South America)
Christendom was being torn apart from within. Protestant and Calvinist factions had taken hold of a number of European states and were forcing their adaptation of Christianity among the populace, and nowhere did this happen more ferverently than in Northern Germany, where Protestanism spread like a plague across the German lands. Even Transylvania did not escape the spread of these heretic religions, and they began taking hold in some of the Empire’s westernmost provinces. The Pope was furious with anyone and everyone, and even Transylvania’s announcement of their annexation of the Muslim state of Ramazan did not quell the Pope’s rage, and on the 30th of September, 1530, cardinals in the pocket of the Kingdom of Castille arranged for the excommunication of Emperor Leopold.
Emperor Leopold is excommunicated by the Holy Father, September, 1530
Leopold was not really concerned however. Though he hardly paid attention to the military of the empire, he knew it was sufficient to guard against any foe that should dare to cross Transylvania. No, Leopold took the excommunication as a chance to pass a number of religious reforms in Transylvania that would allay the fears of the growing number of the populace had that Catholicism was corrupted by greed and preached false doctrines. In an attempt to curb the appeal of the newly risen branches of Christianity, Leopold passed the Statute in Restraint of Appeals in November, and issued a law requiring churches to pay taxes to the state shortly afterwards. While it was an entirely unpopular set of reforms in the eyes of the clergy, the general population of Transylvania was more than satisfied with their new emperor’s conduct, and the spread of heretic religions slowed noticeably. This was helped again as Emperor Leopold adopted the policy of the Counter-Reformation in October of 1532.
It was during this time that Transylvania saw a massive growth in their economy, thanks in no small part to Leopold’s brilliant administrative abilities. Grain depots, land reforms, population census’, all were pressed forward with ease, and Transylvania even managed to formalize a standard scale of weights and measures to assist with trade and business. It was also one of the most peaceful times Transylvania had seen as well, as while Europe tore itself apart in religious wars and bloody conquests, Transylvania sat comfortably, their avenue into Europe guarded by the Austrians, and the Muslim nations cowering away from them in the East. The Austrians were quite a bit busier, and on October 20th of 1533, after 3 years of bloody war with the Kingdom of Lithuania, they signed the Treaty of Bessarabia, which saw Lithuania cede a fair portion of their Polish holdings to the Habsburg kingdom.
The Result of the Treaty of Bessarabia, October, 1533
Lithuania was in desperate need of allies, and they knew it. The Austrians carved out their territory in the West, and Scandinavia in the North. And so King Jogaila approached his cousin Leopold and they talked for hours about forming the alliance. Leopold had one condition that must be completed before he would ally with Lithuania, and that was for King Jogaila to arranged the excommunication of Leopold removed, which was done in July of 1534, and the alliance soon followed.
Austria’s enemies were fortifying themselves against the Habsburg dynasty’s ambitions. The Luthuanians had secured the alliance of one of Europe’s major powers, but the Italians went a different route, unifying their country under a single banner, and on August 1st of 1535 the Kingdom of Italy was founded by the Neapolitans. While in Transylvania, the Croatian people gained shelter from Austrian ambitions by agreeing to assimilation within the Transylvanian Empire in 1537.
The Kingdom of Italy is formed, August 1st, 1535
Croatia is annexed by the Empire, December 31st, 1537
The next five years simply droned on with little of note. In the west, Austria bled the Bavarians dry and cut deeper into the German lands, and Utrecht expanded eastwards, away from the other Dutch cultured provinces. Finally, in 1543, after numerous petitions by ranking military staff, Leopold agreed to pursue war against the Muslim nation of Persia, who had been raiding trading caravans that were leaving the Kingdom of Georgia. Once again the armies of Christendom would meet those of Allah.
The Transylvanian and Georgian armies advanced quickly, shattering the forward guard of the Persians and driving deep into unmapped territory. The going was slow as the Transylvanian armies lacked proper maps of the area, but eventually they found their way, and on October 21st of 1544 the joint Transylvanian-Georgian army met the main Persian force in Qarabagh and smashed it to pieces. The Persians, used to fighting against other Muslim nations, were completely unprepared for the iron discipline and unwavering morale of the Transylvanian soldiers, and so the Transylvanians destroyed them, inflicting over 8,000 casualties while taking barely a thousand themselves. The Persian force retreated in inglorious defeat, and was pursued by the Christian armies with glee.
I.
The Battle of Qarabagh, October 21st, 1544
The Persians did not take defeat lightly however, and the rest of their armies from their eastern lands made their way to the border region. Garrisons were stripped completely as the full might of Persia marched to defeat the armies that Transylvania threw against them, and the two sides met again in Azerbaijan; 40,000 Persian soldiers pitted against 30,000 Transylvanian. The battle was fought for two full days and at the end the field was littered with Persian dead. Of the 40,000 men Persia had assembled, only half that managed to survive the blades, bullets, and cannons of Transylvania, while Transylvania lost barely 3,000 men in the fight.
The Battle of Azerbaijan, December 27th, 1544
The survivors of Persia’s army retreated to Sharizhor, where they were trapped and destroyed by Transylvania’s veteran forces, and after that the Persians had no choice but to sue for peace. Though Leopold could have pursued the war, which was requested of him multiple times by senior military advisors, he had no stomach for prolonged warfare, and so the Persians were luckily presented with the Treaty of Armenia on June 3rd, 1545, which they promptly accepted.
The Treaty of Armenia, June 3rd, 1545
The Transylvanian Empire, 1545
I.
Painting of the Battle of Lutzen in 1632 More information can be found here.