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Bohemia-Hungary and Lithuania, in a way, represented two different worlds. Sure, they both were the main rising powers in Central-Eastern Europe, but almost everything about them was different... Sure, there were the obvious differences: Lithuania was Orthodox, the Dual Crown was Catholic, Lithuania was greater in size, but less populous, while the Dual Crown was one of the centers of trade and commerce in Central Europe. But there were many more subtle differences, too. In many ways, Lithuania still resembled it's past self - dominated by nobility, with a weak monarchical institution structured along feudal lines, though these holdouts of tradition were slowly evaporating, even under Teodoras I. While Bohemia-Hungary wasn't anything amazing, it was a far more centralized state by comparison - the King had more tangible power and a greater percentage of revenue. Lithuania was led by Teodoras Jogailaitis, a man in the shadow of his genuinely great and capable father, groomed like the old Lithuanian dukes of past - as a warlord, a man of warfare and combat. Charles I, the King of Bohemia and Hungary, was instead an innovative man, a believer in humanist ideals and a strong supporter of the Renaissance.

This disparity between the two nations was best seen in the military capacity and organization of both of these "regional powers". The army of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania carried much from the old pagan days of the regime, being mostly composed of wealthy nobles who can afford a horse, a seat of armor and weapons, and maybe a group of armed peasants from his estate each. The Grand Duke himself had little say in whether or not the nobility wanted to serve or not - everything was completely voluntary. Aside for his own royal retinue, of course, and the armies of the Voivodes. Meanwhile, Bohemia-Hungary had adopted the mercenary army format that began to spread across Western Europe - while regular units were still common, the core was made up by hired soldiers who each were paid a wage for their services, like, for example, the famous Black Army. Hiring professional mercenaries was not something Lithuania could afford, especially since the main source of them - Bohemia - was on enemy side.

With this situation in mind, the three-way Polish Succession War began.

Gintaras Sinkevičius provides the military sizes for each of the belligerents in this conflict in his 1996 study on the war. According to him, Lithuania fielded up to 75 000 men, mainly cavalry, throughout the entire war, though a sizable part of this entire force was raiding parties. The Januszite rebels that Teodoras I supported were up to 11 000 men strong. The Polish loyalists under Mikhail Lubomirski only had about 8 000 men in total - yet another fault of the chaos of the Siemowitian Interregnum. The capacity of Bohemia-Poland is up to debate. The Black Army of Hungary was composed of 25 000 mercenaries, and Charles I personally called 35 000 troops from both kingdoms. 11 000 Bohemian mercenaries participated in Charles's side. Nevertheless, even if the Lithuanians had the superior number of troops, that was only a minor advantage in the war.

The war began with B-H troops moving into Polish territory en masse, reaching Krakow along with a number of other border towns and cities within two weeks, where the council of Polish szlachta was still present and getting ready to crown Lubomirski as King Mikhail I. Upon receiving the news of an approaching army, more accurately the Black Army lee by Matthias Corvinus and Charles I himself, the Poles began to scatter in panic, even though the elected King tried to organize a defense of the city. Some of the szlachta fled to the Bohemo-Hungarian camp to swear loyalty to Charles, many fled back to their manors and castles, while about 2000 defenders, many of them local townspeople, prepared for a siege.

Lithuania didn't sit around twiddling it's thumbs, not at all. Teodoras I assumed control of the Lithuanian army, and in his belief, all he needed was a single decisive battle and the Westerners will fold. Janusz Piast raised his banner of revolt in Lesser Poland, concentrating his forces near Lublin, and his troops soon clashed with B-H raiding parties and small units, capturing towns in Podolia and negotiating with the local magnates for support to Charles I. A few minor battles happened near Zamosc and Lvov. A Lithuanian detachment of about 10 000 men, led by the Vaivada of Kiev, Viktoras Kaributaitis, attacked Lesser Poland and Podolia, with brutality beyond what this was has seen this far.

"Viktor of Kiev ordered his troops to spare no one, even sometimes ignoring that the territory the marched on was held by his allies Januszites. He told his men to harvest and burn all of the grain fields to deny the Hungarians any loot, he ordered to burn the roads to deny the Hungarians them, and he told his troops to go wild and loot as much wealth and trophies as they possibly can - be it gold, grain, valuables, produces or even women." - this is how a Polish chronicler described the chaos. The point of the attack was to scare the Bohemo-Hungarians away from Podolia and deny them valuable loot to feed their troops, but Viktoras Kaributaitis went so overboard that the Poles even sent a complaint to the Pope on the brutality of these so-called "Eastern Christians". Even Teodoras I himself was shocked.

Charles I, meanwhile, laid siege on the city of Krakow. Employing over 50 cannons among his ranks, the King was quick to achieve a breach in the famous Wavel Castle, heavily damaging the numerous works of art collected within it. The uncoronated Mikhail I Lubomirski had fled the city five days prior, and the defenders soon surrendered. The capital of Poland was captured by the B-H claimant, and Charles I soon ordered a hasty coronation of him as King of Poland. However, only a minor part of the nation around Krakow answered to him - the rest of Poland was in chaos, torn apart between Lubomirski loyalists, Januszites, other nobles, upstart rebels in Ruthenia, a seceding City of Danzig and bands of bandits and brigands that rose and thrived in the chaos.

Teodoras I, for one, wasn't even planning to accept this as a loss. His army was at the time camping in Mazovia, near Plock, and the news of the fall of Krakow did not even surprise him. However, he was far more than willing to plunge into the heart of Poland himself and end this war on the battlefield. Ordering a forced march to reach Krakow before the B-H forces can organize a planned defense, Teodoras charged across the chaotic nation, crossing Vistula, then moving through Greater Poland.

In Lesser Poland and Podolia, the war had devolved into an array of raiding warfare - instead of trying to attack the enemy directly, both sides moved back and went into harassment tactics, sending small raiding parties to cut off enemy supply lines, disrupt grain and resource requisition from the land and maybe capture a town of two. It turned the war there static, at a great cost for the people actually trying to live there. "Raiding warfare" more often than not meant "release pent up aggression against the local Poles rather than each other". Each raid, even the most minor one, meant dozens, if not hundreds or thousands of people dead, and many more losing the only thing they could feed off on - their harvest.

And when winter was coming, having an empty stomach and an empty warehouse never meant any good. But that is to be left for another time.

On November of 1363, Lithuanian forces under Teodoras I finally reached Lesser Poland, meeting the Bohemo-Hungarian troops led by Matthias Corvinus near Czestoskowa.

Corvinus, a capable general, learning of the Lithuanian advance from spies, prepared for the fight beforehand - most importantly, he ordered his forces to plant mines across the battlefield, and assume a defensive fortified position atop a hill. When Teodoras I reached the designated battle spot, he had already lost.

The Battle of Czestoskowa was the first major battle in the Polish Succession War, and one that set the mood for the rest of the war. It was a cold and rainy morning, and despite the uncomfortable weather, Teodoras I ordered his first move to be... a cavalry charge. To scare the Bohemians and Hungarians away, one might guess. The troops charged, soon followed by archers and javelin throwers... and then suddenly explosions like never heard before started happening. Did they fire cannons? No! The shots somehow came right out of the ground. Matthias Corvinus ordered his troops to shoot at the panicked and confused Lithuanians - and this was their first introduction to the arquebus. A recent development in Westerner technology, it was introduced to the army of the Dual Crown not long before Sigismund of Luxembourg's death. While not as accurate as a bow used by a trained archer, it could be used with much less training needed - perfect for mercenary armies and mass recruitment.

Lithuanians had never even seen such a weapon before. Sure, they were familiar with bombards and cannons, but this?..

Teodoras I, frantically ordering his cavalry to reorganize, ordered his own archers to fire, but it proved to be not as effective to shoot up a hill rather than down from it. In order to even get a hit on them, the troops, protected by infantry, had to get much closer, carefully side-stepping the planted mines, and that is when the B-H foot troops moved to the side to let a surprise cavalry charge from their ranks... Lacking pretty much no protection in the flanks, fired upon by arquebusiers, and unable to move back lest they step back to the minefield, the foot troops of the supposedly invincible Lithuanian army, the one that won in Ilava and Vorskla, were instantly broken and scattered...

In the end, Lithuanians lost almost 50% of their troops and the Bohemo-Hungarian army, smaller in size, lost only 250. In total. Teodoras I, who miraculously survived the fight after almost stepping on a mine - and who knows what could have happened if he did - was forced to flee in shame and move back to Mazovia with the remnants of his army. Corvinus was willing to chase the enemies and destroy them completely, but the upcoming winter, and a very harsh one indeed, called off his plans. Lithuania was able to recover safely this time, and Teodoras still melt his hopes up for a more successful second strike. The rest of Poland soon entered the same raiding warfare period, and this time it was practically necessary - the winter was extremely harsh and snowy, up to -30℃ in some places according to modern estimates, and the only way for these massive standing armies on all three sides to feed themselves was to take the food from those who were unable to defend themselves. So, the local Polish peasants.

Thousands were already dying from hunger and spreading disease in the most heavily affected areas, and the war was only beginning...

Teodoras I swore to himself to finish this war to the very end, and "either I die, or Corvinus does, there is no other way to solve this". No matter how devastating Czestoskowa was to his efforts, he still wanted to fight on, and he even purposefully demanded to not inform the homeland of this defeat in order to keep enthusiasm for war high.

However, something much more threatening to the Jagiellon's rule happened at the very beginning of 1464... The court of King Charles I of Bohemia, Hungary and Poland was visited by a peculiar man, who called himself Mykolas, Grand Duke of Lithuania - it was the same Mykolas Žygimantaitis that fled Lithuania all the way in 1435. Presenting himself as "the true Grand Duke of Lithuania", he asked Charles I help on taking the throne, promising a stirrup in the Lithuanian morale by causing "civil unrest".

Mykolas Žygimantaitis already had 500 supporters following him, and Charles I agreed to this alliance of sorts. What will this hold for Lithuania?

And what will happen in the Polish Succession War? Can the Lithuanians recover from the crushing blow Corvinus and his Black Army dealt them?

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Am I wanking Lithuania right? I feel like I am not wanking it right...