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The beginning of the Hetmanate was intense. Internal and external troubles were threatening to rip the Empire apart. However, Aleksandras Chodkevičius was nowhere near willing to let his country to collapse like that, and he'd be ranked if he didn't try anything to stop it. Chodkevičius is considered to be one of the most interesting figures of the 17th century, both in his achievements and in his origin story. The Chodkevičiai (Chodkiewicz) used to be an influential family in the reign of Albertas Jogaila I, but numerous unsuccessful business choices and rival families caused their power to decline, and by the time that Aleksandras was born, they were reduced to plikbajoriai (Lith. "bald nobles", basically landless nobility), and this energetic and scheming Grand Hetman had to both save his family and rise to the highest possible position in the Lithuanian state, even more powerful than the Emperor, all within his lifetime.

He is also popular in post-mortem portrayals because he can easily fit into obvious character archetypes. For Lithuanians, he plays the role of a dark, double-edged antihero who saved his Empire, even if it meant violating ancestral right and the Emperor's authority, such a view being the main focus of the 1997 opera "Chodkevičius". For Russians, Poles, Czechs and Hungarians, however, he's an evil scheming bastard, a villain, a cliched one even, like in the famous novel "1691". Or course, both of these views are just revisionist creations, no person in history is a cartoonish villain or anti-hero with a simple personality, but the history of Chodkevičius's portrayal is nevertheless very interesting and worthwhile to look at.

In the aftermath of the October Coup, there were a few irritated rumblings from the Lithuanian nobility, but overall, the people were content with this sudden change in government. That's how unpopular Žygimantas II was. Plus, many of the nobles figured that they'd have a much higher say in the Hetmanate than in the imperial regime, so they supported it. The Grand Hetman secured a stable power base within Lithuania Propria and Ruthenia, his rule was not instantly threatened - it was Russia and the invading Visegradian armies who were the problem. In the former, the situation was getting more and more critical by the hour, the local Russian population was preparing for a revolution, led by the charismatic Vladislav Semyonov and his "Group for Russian Liberation", while the latter was rapidly advancing into Lithuanian territory, The Hetmanate had to react fast, and so it did. The state was rapidly put to full mobilization, all of the nation's strength was being directed towards the military and it's apparatus. A mobilization of volunteer noble units, reminiscent of ancient Lithuanian military organization, was put into place, and loyal soldiers raided the Royal Palace to gather up enough loot for hiring mercenaries. Martial law was enacted all over Russia, and an extensive crackdown on Vladislav Semyonov's supporters began. Chodkevičius had enormous political capital to enact extreme measures, he was here to save Lithuania and his peers knew it.

1691 saw the beginning of a major Visegradian push towards the Lithuanian heartland. In April, forces under the Czech general Bruno Bilek captured Brest and moved on towards Gardinas, dangerously reminiscent of Matthias Corvinus's march in 1467, which was alarming to the Lithuanian army. The Galician Front was also no longer stationary, the Hungarian forces moved on and captured Lutsk from the retrating Lithuanians, an important forces in western Ruthenia. Charles VI wanted the troops in East Prussia and in Podlasie, around Brest, to connect into one united front that could push right into Vilnius, and this is why he ordered Bilek to continue pushing towards Gardinas. Time was running out. France and Spain finished their war in 1690, ending it in a French victory, and now had free reign to look east. Charles VI hoped for a single, glorious campaign to end the war right then and there, which, ironically, was the same line of thought Teodoras I used to justify his attack towards Krakow in the Polish Succession War before Czestochowa. To connect with the Prussian Front, Bruno Bilek's forces had to defeat an 18 000 men strong Lithuanian contingent near Vawkavysk, initiating the Battle of Vawkavysk. And, even though Visegrad's superiority in personnel and tactics has already been explained, this clash showed their primary weakness - arrogance. Dazzled by the numerous victories throughout the Galician War, the Visegradian officers no longer saw Lithuania as an adversary, but rather just a road to walk through, heavily underestimating their opponent. And the Lithuanians at Vawkavysk were led by Algimantas Songaila, a young, but very talented officer, son of Jaunutis Songaila and the Grand Hetman's close ally, who already had experience in fighting the Visegradian armies in Galicia and Greater Poland. In addition, the Lithuanians knew the land, they knew the terrain, and their opponents did not.

The armies were about equal in strength, but the Lithuanians had the advantage of the city's fortifications. Nevertheless, it was an incredibly close battle, taking almost three days to finish. Visegrad's forces bombarded the town day and night and initiated numerous well-planned attacks, many of which came close to actually breaking the Lithuanian defense, but Songaila's forces held out every time, and in the end, they even managed to push the Redcoats a few kilometers back. It has been said by some sources that Charles VI was so sure in his troops, that when the news of a Visegradian defeat arrived to his court in Buda, he dismissed the news, believing that it's just Lithuanian propaganda. But it was not! The Lithuanians won the battle! And even though the Battle of Vawkavysk was only a minor setback for the advancing Visegradian forces, it was a big enough victory that it reached the ears of the rest of the Treaty of Amsterdam signatories, and soon enough, diplomats from France and the Holy Roman Empire arrived in both Buda and in Vilnius, requesting an armistice to be signed before a peace treaty can finally be negotiated.

And are you really going to fight the Amsterdam System? Denmark once tried to fight the system in 1648, attacking Holstein and declining French requests for peace, and what they got was a united French and Swedish intervention that dethroned the warmonger Frederick III in two months... The two sides put down their weapons, and Aleksandras Chodkevičius used the armistice to turn his focus to another frontier, where something massive was about to happen...

In Russia, crackdowns were getting more and more successful, or at least they appeared as such in the eyes of the Hetmanate. Secret Russian student organizations in the Universities of Vilnius, Riga and Kiev were busted, leading to multiple arrests, prosecution of the remaining Volanites was getting so fierce that it was even starting to violate the laws of religious tolerance detailed in the Statute of Lithuania, and serfdom was strengthened in the countryside to prevent the peasantry from becoming a medium for Russian separatism to spread through. This all was, however, overshadowed by a single event in 1691, which went down in history by the instant.

Tver had for a very long time been the heart of the Russophile movement, as it is sometimes called in the present day. It was the largest and most Westernized city in the entire region, it used to be the capital of the short-lived Russian national state founded and destroyed during the Great Russian Uprising, and naturally it is where the Lithuanians focused their efforts the most. In the Market Square of the city, far to the side, away from the ruins of the city's Kremlin and the town hall stood a quiet, inconspicuous two-story building, mostly ignored by the masses of the city and the Lithuanian garrison. But in secret, it was the heart of the flow of illegal pro-Russian press across the city and beyond. And managing funds for arming for a potential revolution. And sending cries of help to the West. It was the headquarters of the Group for Russian Liberation, indeed. And isn't it funny that in 1691, after extorting information from a Russian student in Kiev, the Lithuanian troops suddenly kicked down the door of the building one night?

In what was dubbed as the Tver Affair, Lithuanian soldiers arrested 12 out of 25 head members of the Group of Russian Liberation, including the leader of the organization itself, Vladislav Semyonov. Most of them, including Semyonov himself, were young, less than 30 years old did not attempt to cover up their crimes and deeds, they saw no reason to. The orders from the Grand Hetman were clear - let them hang. Show the Russians what happens if they attempt to rebel. What was said, that was done. On June 23rd, 1691, all 12 captives were hanged in the Tver Market Square, the event being watched by hundreds of people. Shocked, frightened, angry. Very angry.

However, Semyonov's execution had the opposite effect - it united the Russian people. Semyonov and his peers had become martyrs, heroes who died for their land under such an oppressive regime. These youths made the Hetmanate fear. Outside of Lithuania, Semyonov's death was used as a tool by Charles VI in the peace negotiations between Visegrad and Lithuania, overseen by French and German diplomats in Lublin. The King of Visegrad successfully convinced his Westerner peers that Lithuania needed to be put in check, it is an unstable and oppressive power, and it must be contained before it "either collapses, or turns towards Europe for revenge". Despite heavy protests from Žygimantas II and Aleksandras Chodkevičius, the French and Germans were convinced by this logic, and the Peace of Lublin was made out to be harsh on the Lithuanians. Lithuania had to cede Galicia, Volhynia and Podlasie, and it was required to pay heavy war reparations to Visegrad. Even though Charles VI also wanted to acquire East Prussia, to extend the frontier with Lithuania a bit further, these wishes were not granted. At first, Chodkevičius and the Lithuanian delegates stormed out of the room, disgusted by the peace terms, but when France, Sweden and both Germanies threatened to join on Visegrad's side, the Grand Hetman was forced to give in.

Lithuania lost a large amount of territory, with Lemberg, Lutsk and Bialystok among many other lost cities, as well as over one and a half million people within the conceded land. But it had now secured it's western frontier, and could now focus towards the East, where everything was past it's boiling point...