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Chapter 22: Retribution for Cruelty
Part 22: Retribution for Cruelty (1570-1572)
As was already stated before, Queen Sofija seized the throne in a difficult time, but despite her young age - around 20 years old at the time - and inexperience in rule, she was quick to react to the ever changing situation in her Kingdom. Many still say that it was her husband Friedrich, almost twice as old as her and already a professional warrior from his previous service in his homeland Brandenburg, who made many of her decisions during this period, but this statement is disputed.
The very first thing that the freshly ascendant Queen did was try to secure the loyalty of the Lithuanian Regiment in Lida, the core of the Kingdom's armed forces. Lucky for her, the negotiations went much more smoothly than for Jonas Astikas and his magnate coup. The officers and common soldiers understood the legitimacy of the heiress of Valdislavas II, and soon the regiment joined on the Queen's side. Heavily depleted - many of the Russian soldiers deserted soon after the beginning of the Revolt - but nevertheless very important to the cause. Queen Sofija was aware that Lithuania Propria was going to be her backbone in this war - the magnates and nobles of this land did not want a free Russia nor a defeat at the hands of the Visegrad, and thus aligned with her. Sofija ordered her troops to open all of the coffers of the Treasury and began shipping her country's wealth to the West to hire mercenaries and rally any possible support.
It should be noted, though, that the Great Russian Revolt was mostly Volanite in it's nature and composition. Volanite preachers and intellectuals rallied against the Concordate of Brest and in favor of liturgy being held in national languages, and a large portion of them supported the blooming and developing idea of "nationality". Not only were Kratkov's Russians fighting against Lithuanian dominance, but also in favor of their religion. A religion that, oddly enough, separated them from the Ruthenians, who were for the most part in favor of the Concordate and Orthodox. This "Volanite revolt" was not supported by Lithuanian Volanites, by the way, but Sofija nevertheless declared the criminalization of "the heresies spread by Russian and Westerner heretics" in 1571 - for a country well known as being extremely tolerant to different faiths, this change in policy was shocking.
In the southwest, the Lithuanian-Visegradian border war was still ongoing, but slowly grinding to a halt. Matthias I feared a possible Ottoman or Austrian incursion into his lands, not to mention possible Reformist revolts that could be inspired by the French and Russians, and as such did not commit as many forces as he possibly could to Podolia. Not that his opponents could do much better, anyway, - in fact, in the chaos that engulfed the Lithuanian countryside led to the Queen only having direct control over the heartland, in Lithuania Propria and the Baltic Sea coast. The voivodes of the peripheries had the most control over the lands in question, and their goals would not necessarily align with that of the central government. In 1571, the armies of Visegrad finally broke through the defenses of Lutsk, taking control of the area and province. Fearing that his city might be next, the Voivode of Kiev, Jonušas Rudeikis, rallied his forces to engage the invaders by himself.
The army of the Voivodeship of Kiev and the reorganizing Visegradian forces met face to face in the fields near the town of Radyvyliv (Radvilivas) in Volhynia - and the fight carried a big surprise. The Lithuanian forces were mostly composed of infantry, armed with spears, swords and some with muskets, while the Triple Crown brought a mix of foot troops and cavalry, and even an artillery unit. It didn't look good for the troops of Rudeikis from the start, but he nevertheless ordered his troops to advance forward through the flat, grassy field. Visegradian troops, led by a Polish officer, Kazimierz Serebawski, let go a few cannon and musket volleys to pick off some of the advancing infantry, then moved the front lines to the side to release... something terrifying.
The Lithuanian Chronicle describes it from the perspective of a soldier who participated in the fight and described his experience to the writers, saying:
"The Hungarians and Poles suddenly moved to the side, and, and we were attacked by... it, it was an army of wings! An army of angels, moving faster than a bullet! They tore through our ranks like shreds!"
The type of soldiers known as hussars are reported to originate from bands of Serbian and Hungarian light cavalrymen serving as mercenaries or raiders in the 14th and 15th centuries, but were introduced as full-blown units in the army of the Triple Crown not long after the Polish Succession War by the famous Matthias Corvinus. While originally starting out as a light skirmish force organized in small bands for harassing the enemy, experiences in combat against the Ottomans and Lithuanians evolved these troops in a much different direction. In Poland, which was incorporated in the 16th century, hussars turned into a powerful armored cavalry force, with massive, extremely long lances and the role of tearing through enemy infantry ranks with their speed and force alone, and they proved to be effective enough to be incorporated into the standing forces of the Union of Visegrad.
The soldiers on the fields of Radyvyliv were the first to taste the power of what we now call Winged Hussars, named for the famous pairs of wings these brave and powerful soldiers would wear on their armor while charging into battle.
A painting of a Winged Hussar unit from 1601
The crushing defeat in the Battle of Radyvyliv forced Queen Sofija to reluctantly come to the peace table - after all, there was no way she could fight two powerful opponents at once. In the Peace of Lutsk, Lithuania agreed to cede most of Volhynia and Podolia to the Union of Three Countries and agreed on a five year truce among the two nations, among other concessions - a yet another blow in the pride of the Lithuanian nation, but the Queen only saw this as a temporary armistice. From her point of view, as soon as she is done with the Russians, she'll turn around and regain the ceded land. However, this had some unexpected consequences, in that other countries around Lithuania saw the weakness of the empire and began chipping away parts for themselves. The Ottomans annexed Khadjibey, Lithuania's primary Black Sea port, while Sweden increased influence in Livonia.
No matter what, though, the peace on the Western Front was not going to be a good thing for Russians in the long-term.
But anyway, in Russia, the revolters led by Ivan Kratkov raised their flags - a light blue banner, some with the symbols of their city or principality, some without, some not even blue - above many of the cities in the Russian heartland, and their primary resolve was to give the unfortunate Lithuanian soldiers, voivodes or bureaucrats in the region a taste of their own medicine. The idea of "erasing X from the map" that Mykolas Glinskis proposed was etched deep into the minds of the Russians, and to them, it was only fair if they could avenge their lost ancestors with the same violence that they suffered through. In front of the burghmeister's office in Tver, over 300 wooden poles were lined up, each with a mutilated and impaled Lithuanian body, with a writing at the front: "The murderous Litvin army looks good today, doesn't it?"
Ivan Kratkov's first target was something much different, though - Novgorod. Running an appeasement diplomacy by aligning with whoever is victorious, Novgorod ended up more and more hated by Lithuanians and Slavs alike - the former for their unreliability, and the latter for constant betrayal. The merchant republic used to be the most powerful in all of Rus', but by the 1570s, it's time had long since passed. Heavy Lithuanian taxes and soldier levies drained the wealth of the nation, it failed to successfully compete in the Baltic Sea, and numerous revolts by the Komi, Nenets and Karelian peoples weakened their fur monopoly. Alternative sources from North Vespucia were looming on the horizon... It was at this point in time, in 1572, that Kratkov's 13 000 men strong leveé from Tver, Moscow, Vladimir and Yaroslavl marched towards Novgorod, seeking either blood or allies.
The boyars of Novgorod tried to negotiate, offering goods and tribute in exchange for being left alone, but Kratkov had none of that. The ambitious and dedicated Russian "revolutionary" was not a fan of leaving some of his fellow countrymen out of this war, famously saying:
"Russia is one and indivisible. We will either all march together or die together."
The Russian army stormed the lightly defended city of Novgorod, finding allies in the form of sympathetic Volanite Russian citizens, dissolved the Novgorod veche and brought the Great Russian Revolt to the city and it's surroundings, which marked the end of the Novgorod Republic after a long, painful and agonizing decay from greatness. Ivan Kratkov ordered his soldiers to melt down and destroy the famous veche bell, hoping to sell it's materials through Sweden for acquiring modern weapons and supplies. The Lithuanians didn't really see this as a surprise - and they didn't rush to try to restore the merchant republic, anyway. They had more important matters.
The Lithuanian Regiment, bolstered by voivodeship armies from Lithuania Propria and Black Rus' as well as recruited Swedish mercenaries, and organizing in Polotsk, began a campaign towards the Russian heartland. The greatest battles of the war were soon to fire up, and at this point, who knows which side God will support?
Part 22: Retribution for Cruelty (1570-1572)
The very first thing that the freshly ascendant Queen did was try to secure the loyalty of the Lithuanian Regiment in Lida, the core of the Kingdom's armed forces. Lucky for her, the negotiations went much more smoothly than for Jonas Astikas and his magnate coup. The officers and common soldiers understood the legitimacy of the heiress of Valdislavas II, and soon the regiment joined on the Queen's side. Heavily depleted - many of the Russian soldiers deserted soon after the beginning of the Revolt - but nevertheless very important to the cause. Queen Sofija was aware that Lithuania Propria was going to be her backbone in this war - the magnates and nobles of this land did not want a free Russia nor a defeat at the hands of the Visegrad, and thus aligned with her. Sofija ordered her troops to open all of the coffers of the Treasury and began shipping her country's wealth to the West to hire mercenaries and rally any possible support.
It should be noted, though, that the Great Russian Revolt was mostly Volanite in it's nature and composition. Volanite preachers and intellectuals rallied against the Concordate of Brest and in favor of liturgy being held in national languages, and a large portion of them supported the blooming and developing idea of "nationality". Not only were Kratkov's Russians fighting against Lithuanian dominance, but also in favor of their religion. A religion that, oddly enough, separated them from the Ruthenians, who were for the most part in favor of the Concordate and Orthodox. This "Volanite revolt" was not supported by Lithuanian Volanites, by the way, but Sofija nevertheless declared the criminalization of "the heresies spread by Russian and Westerner heretics" in 1571 - for a country well known as being extremely tolerant to different faiths, this change in policy was shocking.
In the southwest, the Lithuanian-Visegradian border war was still ongoing, but slowly grinding to a halt. Matthias I feared a possible Ottoman or Austrian incursion into his lands, not to mention possible Reformist revolts that could be inspired by the French and Russians, and as such did not commit as many forces as he possibly could to Podolia. Not that his opponents could do much better, anyway, - in fact, in the chaos that engulfed the Lithuanian countryside led to the Queen only having direct control over the heartland, in Lithuania Propria and the Baltic Sea coast. The voivodes of the peripheries had the most control over the lands in question, and their goals would not necessarily align with that of the central government. In 1571, the armies of Visegrad finally broke through the defenses of Lutsk, taking control of the area and province. Fearing that his city might be next, the Voivode of Kiev, Jonušas Rudeikis, rallied his forces to engage the invaders by himself.
The army of the Voivodeship of Kiev and the reorganizing Visegradian forces met face to face in the fields near the town of Radyvyliv (Radvilivas) in Volhynia - and the fight carried a big surprise. The Lithuanian forces were mostly composed of infantry, armed with spears, swords and some with muskets, while the Triple Crown brought a mix of foot troops and cavalry, and even an artillery unit. It didn't look good for the troops of Rudeikis from the start, but he nevertheless ordered his troops to advance forward through the flat, grassy field. Visegradian troops, led by a Polish officer, Kazimierz Serebawski, let go a few cannon and musket volleys to pick off some of the advancing infantry, then moved the front lines to the side to release... something terrifying.
The Lithuanian Chronicle describes it from the perspective of a soldier who participated in the fight and described his experience to the writers, saying:
"The Hungarians and Poles suddenly moved to the side, and, and we were attacked by... it, it was an army of wings! An army of angels, moving faster than a bullet! They tore through our ranks like shreds!"
The type of soldiers known as hussars are reported to originate from bands of Serbian and Hungarian light cavalrymen serving as mercenaries or raiders in the 14th and 15th centuries, but were introduced as full-blown units in the army of the Triple Crown not long after the Polish Succession War by the famous Matthias Corvinus. While originally starting out as a light skirmish force organized in small bands for harassing the enemy, experiences in combat against the Ottomans and Lithuanians evolved these troops in a much different direction. In Poland, which was incorporated in the 16th century, hussars turned into a powerful armored cavalry force, with massive, extremely long lances and the role of tearing through enemy infantry ranks with their speed and force alone, and they proved to be effective enough to be incorporated into the standing forces of the Union of Visegrad.
The soldiers on the fields of Radyvyliv were the first to taste the power of what we now call Winged Hussars, named for the famous pairs of wings these brave and powerful soldiers would wear on their armor while charging into battle.
A painting of a Winged Hussar unit from 1601
No matter what, though, the peace on the Western Front was not going to be a good thing for Russians in the long-term.
But anyway, in Russia, the revolters led by Ivan Kratkov raised their flags - a light blue banner, some with the symbols of their city or principality, some without, some not even blue - above many of the cities in the Russian heartland, and their primary resolve was to give the unfortunate Lithuanian soldiers, voivodes or bureaucrats in the region a taste of their own medicine. The idea of "erasing X from the map" that Mykolas Glinskis proposed was etched deep into the minds of the Russians, and to them, it was only fair if they could avenge their lost ancestors with the same violence that they suffered through. In front of the burghmeister's office in Tver, over 300 wooden poles were lined up, each with a mutilated and impaled Lithuanian body, with a writing at the front: "The murderous Litvin army looks good today, doesn't it?"
Ivan Kratkov's first target was something much different, though - Novgorod. Running an appeasement diplomacy by aligning with whoever is victorious, Novgorod ended up more and more hated by Lithuanians and Slavs alike - the former for their unreliability, and the latter for constant betrayal. The merchant republic used to be the most powerful in all of Rus', but by the 1570s, it's time had long since passed. Heavy Lithuanian taxes and soldier levies drained the wealth of the nation, it failed to successfully compete in the Baltic Sea, and numerous revolts by the Komi, Nenets and Karelian peoples weakened their fur monopoly. Alternative sources from North Vespucia were looming on the horizon... It was at this point in time, in 1572, that Kratkov's 13 000 men strong leveé from Tver, Moscow, Vladimir and Yaroslavl marched towards Novgorod, seeking either blood or allies.
The boyars of Novgorod tried to negotiate, offering goods and tribute in exchange for being left alone, but Kratkov had none of that. The ambitious and dedicated Russian "revolutionary" was not a fan of leaving some of his fellow countrymen out of this war, famously saying:
"Russia is one and indivisible. We will either all march together or die together."
The Russian army stormed the lightly defended city of Novgorod, finding allies in the form of sympathetic Volanite Russian citizens, dissolved the Novgorod veche and brought the Great Russian Revolt to the city and it's surroundings, which marked the end of the Novgorod Republic after a long, painful and agonizing decay from greatness. Ivan Kratkov ordered his soldiers to melt down and destroy the famous veche bell, hoping to sell it's materials through Sweden for acquiring modern weapons and supplies. The Lithuanians didn't really see this as a surprise - and they didn't rush to try to restore the merchant republic, anyway. They had more important matters.
The Lithuanian Regiment, bolstered by voivodeship armies from Lithuania Propria and Black Rus' as well as recruited Swedish mercenaries, and organizing in Polotsk, began a campaign towards the Russian heartland. The greatest battles of the war were soon to fire up, and at this point, who knows which side God will support?
- Augenis
- Word Count: 1.6k