alternatehistory.com

Albertas Jogaila I was, much like his mother, very young when he ascended to the throne, but his young age didn't mean that he was incapable in rulership. Far from it. Mentored by the finest army generals and famous for his exceptional mind - and arrogant attitude - since his youngest days, the King operated with a simple view - the country was merely a tool for the military, a glorified regimental camp, if you might, while the Army is his weapon in his hand for personal gain. Of course, such an autocratic view of the Kingdom meant that things like "nobility assemblies as advisors to the King" or "spending time on making the lives of the enserfed peasantry better" were unnecessary.

The King was definitely not among the gentle kind.

Such a stance found him many enemies, but also many followers. The Army of the Kingdom of Lithuania was on his side, swayed with hopes of an even greater focus on their problems, needs and goals. A sizable portion of the nobility were in favor of him, too, but most of them for different reasons. Some were burning with revanchism against Visegrad and put their hopes of a victorious and glorious campaign to Podolia on his shoulders. Many reactionary magnates would have much rather preferred a nigh-absolutist regime than, say, a French-type revolution or a second Great Russian Rebellion. And what could the majority of population - serfs, peasants or poor city inhabitants - do against Albertas Jogaila I? You had to follow him, or else you won't have a good time.

However, the first years of the new King's rule weren't all that bad, mostly attributed to his inexperience in court matters and young age. However, military preparations for... something were taking place all across the Kingdom. Albertas Jogaila I was a staunch supporter of the military reform initiated during his mother's reign - after all, he was the one to push it through - and it's adaption was only hastened during his reign.

While Lithuania was regrouping after the ascension of their new King, Central Europe was falling faster and faster into the abyss of war. One of Maximilian IV's first targets was the chaos that was Bavaria. Much like Austria itself, this Duchy was plagued by religious strife and conflict, and unlike in it's more powerful neighbor, the ruling House of Wittelsbach failed, it's armies defeated by French-supported Reformists near Straubing. Bavaria joined the company of numerous other South German principalities which overthrew their Catholic rulers and brought a Reformist government, be it a duke or count of this religion, or an outright republic - in direct opposition to the Salzburg Decree, no less. This event was important, however, as not only Bavaria was the first German duchy of this size and strength to fall, but it was also right on Austria's border. To Maximilian IV, this was a threat to Austria's sovereignty, and he was ready to take action.

In 1612, the former Duke William VI of Bavaria, now just Wilhelm von Wittelsbach, fled to Austria with his family, and Maximilian IV, as the Holy Roman Empire, sent a demand to the Bavarian revolutionaries to restore the rightful monarch, to which they said no. The Austrian archduke threatened to use military force, but this immediately sparked a response from France, which stood in defense of the Bavarians. The Director of the Estates-General - more or less the highest office in Republican France and the head of the government - Maximilien de Béthune was a Flammantian with a burning heart, ambitious and zealous, and such an attitude clashed with the Holy Roman Emperor's sphere of influence. The numerous Reformist nations and movements across Europe began to band together, too, forming the Munich League, a development supported by France. Austria, meanwhile, weakened by a recently passed civil war, was in no shape to fight the French and the League all by itself - but nor was it wiling to stand back and let Reformists rip the Empire apart.

So, instead of saying "yes" or "no" in the diplomatic crisis with France and Bavaria, Maximilian IV turned to the Papacy. The Reformists may have been victorious, but they were not very numerous, and Maximilian IV hoped that a united front of Catholic nations, headed by the Pope and the Emperor, will crush the upstarts. Pope Paul V, having been appointed by the Spanish by and for the Anti-Reformation movement, was greeted by an envoy and a letter from the Emperor, written as "heartwarming" and "sincerely" as possible, calling for the Pontificate to cleanse the German lands from heresy so their children and grandchildren would find a way to Heaven. This letter was kept safe in the Papacy's archives and only recently released to the public.

Paul V agreed to the "recommendations" - an inch away from being phrased like demands - and declared the beginning of a "holy crusade against the French and German heretics", in the spirit of the numerous anti-heretical crusades that took place during the Medieval Era. An anti-Reformist coalition of crusaders began to form - Austria was the leader, but it didn't have a large amount of influence due to, as was already said, post-civil war weakness and war exhaustion. The Papacy, Spain, numerous Italian and North German states, like Milan, Brandenburg or Pomerania, and finally Visegrad all began to mobilize, and this "batch" of great powers all around France appeared quite terrifying from first sight. However, the Munich League did not back down and continued rejecting Austrian ultimatums to abide to the Salzburg Decree and to restore the Wittelsbachs in the Bavarian throne. Tensions were rising, both the hardened Anti-Reformists in Catholic states and radical preachers in Reformist nations were calling for war, and the kings and generals across Europe were willing to use military force to settle their debts, achieve revenge or spread their religion...

They asked for war, and war is what they got. On June of 1615, war broke out between Maximilian IV's Austria, the ruler of the Holy Roman Empire, and Reformist Bavaria. The latter called the Munich League to arms, pulling most of South and Central Germany to the conflict. France still demanded for Austria to back down, but this was no use, because the crusaders of Spain and the Italian states began marching north, across the Alps and the Pyrhennes, bringing this Republican giant to war and pretty much forcing it to align with the Munich League. Charles IV of the Union of Visegrad declared his nation's entrance into the anti-Reformist Crusade to secure his nation's western borders and protect them from potentially falling to Reformism. The sudden declaration of war between Reformists and Catholics not only drew numerous nearby states to war, but also gave additional motivation to the "heretics" in Austria itself. The Reformist strongholds in Tyrol and Carinthia, loyal to Prince Charles of Austria, prepared for a new campaign for Vienna.

The alliances and leagues have been drawn. The great war has begun, and not many will live to see it's end.

The first shots of the war were fired near Salzburg. Imperial forces began to advance to the East, opposed by lightly armed Bavarian revolutionary militia. Despite a few unsuccessful pushes towards Munich, the Austrians held the upper hand, now also reinforced by the massive Visegradian armies. French and Spanish border militia were clashing and skirmishing in the Pyrhennes, and both nations were trying to take the border passes in preparation to invade the other.

Despite the slow beginning of what can already be called "The Last Crusade", the future looked grim for the Reformists. A number of small Munich League members had already been overrun, and France was the only strong nation in an alliance opposing three great powers of Europe, with many more potential enemies like Sweden and England, and few allies. If nothing is done, then the Reformation might be doomed to be destroyed.

But wait! One nation to the East has been overlooked!

The Kingdom of Lithuania, still seen by Westerners as a some sort of backwater, "somewhere in Sarmatia", was not oblivious to the decades of religious tension and strife in Central Europe - in fact, it saw the potential and now real war among the Westerners as a possibility. It was no secret that tensions between Visegrad and Lithuania were high, to the point that the two enormous nations could be considered rivals. Most recently, the Triple Crown outright invaded Lithuania and chopped off a part of it's territory during the internal crisis in the 1570s, a treacherous move that the Lithuanians were still heavily bitter about. Albertas Jogaila I rode on these feelings as his fuel and support base, and now that the Czechs, Poles and Hungarians were embroiled in a war in the West, this was the perfect time to strike! Especially since the Catholics might win at any second and the chance might vanish forever...

Declaring the Peace of Lutsk to be null and void and putting forward his claim on Visegradian Volhynia and Podolia as the cause of war, Albertas Jogaila I, King of Lithuania, sent an envoy to Visegrad Castle, declaring a state of war to be between the two countries. The next week, the first blood was shed as a Lithuanian unit on the border in Podlasie moved over the border and skirmished with the Polish garrison in Plock.

With the ferocity of a mother bear protecting his children, Albertas was ready to descend on his western neighbour...