The Lands of Germany (and Neighbors), 1651:
Things are not looking well for the enemies of Philip Sigismund and Henri II as 1650 ends and 1651 begins. Saxony, Brandenburg, and Pomerania, while forming a solid bloc in the northeastern corner of the Holy Roman Empire, is hardly a match against foes who can draw on resources from central Germany to Brittany. The twenty thousand Russian soldiers are not enough, by themselves, to address the gap.
Leopold, Elizabeth, Karl, and Wartislaw all appeal to the Russians for more military aid, but to no avail. Stephen’s withdrawal, given his control of Silesia, had cut the original land route, but the liberation of Pomerania had opened another potential corridor along the Baltic coast. But this one is simply not as good. The roads in Pomerania are not as good as the ones in Silesia, while simultaneously being vulnerable to naval attacks from the Baltic.
Furthermore, Russian resources are focused elsewhere. Both Reval and St. Petersburg have finally fallen to their respective sieges, but the war continues. Peter II of Scandinavia is not ready to give up, expecting Triune assistance in his war once Leopold and Elizabeth are dealt with. But such promises are dependent on Peter II continuing to hold the Russians until that eventuality has happened.
The fighting is a mix of two types. The first is Scandinavian naval raids on the Prussian and Russian coasts. Given Scandinavian command of the sea, with Russian and Prussian naval units blockaded in their harbors, these attacks are highly mobile and tie down a large number of Prussian and Russian troops. The second type is a vicious fluid war in the Finnish forests, which seesaws back and forth with little result other than increasing the body count. The end result is that while Moscow is willing to maintain the expedition to Germany and to send replacements as necessary, no more aid is forthcoming.
At the same time, disturbances in Central Asia are putting pressure on the southern Siberian frontier. There is no connection between the events in the Baltic and in Central Asia other than coinciding in time, but it does illustrate quite neatly Moscow’s need to look both to Europe and to Asia. These threats are not serious, but unavoidably absorb some more of Russian resources and energies.
Another possible source of aid is from Henri’s south, the Kingdoms of Arles and Spain. That eventuality has been the biggest concern to worry Henri, but his good fortune in this area continues to hold. Arletian and especially Spanish attentions had earlier been focused on curbing the Romans in Italy, and in those passing years the pro-Triune elements in the Arletian court have grown steadily in strength and authority.
Spain is a different matter, but King Ferdinand by late 1650 is dying. He is the first monarch of an administratively-united Kingdom of Spain, as opposed to a composite monarchy of Castile and Portugal. While he has a clear, uncontested, and adult heir in his son Joao, neither Ferdinand nor Joao wish to rock the boat in these political circumstances. Their concerns are sharpened by that surfeit of ‘bored, angry, learned, young men’ that is particularly bountiful in the Mediterranean countries combined with poor agricultural harvests. Grain riots in 1650 are double the average of the 1620-40 period, and some of the communes are rumbling discontent over tax rates. Now is not the time for foreign adventures.
The aid comes from a somewhat unsuspected but hoped-for avenue. Leopold had been doing his utmost in a propaganda war to galvanize the German princes and people into rising up against Philip Sigismund and Henri II. Elizabeth is much more wary of such endeavors. Given her experiences of the Constantinople mob and the Ravens, she doesn’t like the idea of appealing to the common people and encouraging them to take up arms. She prefers reaching out to established authorities as she had done in Moscow. In the context of Germany, that means appealing to the princes and other sovereign authorities, but no one else.
Leopold recognizes that won’t be enough. Those sovereign authorities are too intimidated by the pair of Emperors to rise up, especially given the current disparity of odds. After viewing the punishment heaped upon Austria, the likes of the Duke of Cleves are uninclined to stick their necks out. But the common people are less prone to such political calculations and might light a fire under the authorities to make them see things Leopold’s and Elizabeth’s ways. As a Habsburg, Leopold is quite familiar with the Bernese League and has seen such things happen before. Furthermore, that experience means that the idea of armed and organized commoners doesn’t bother him nearly as much as it does Elizabeth.
His efforts to spark such a reaction amidst the German countryside was why Leopold had been strongly reluctant to attack Philip directly. The ensuing forced requisitions would’ve done much to alienate said countryside and redirect German anger away from Philip and Henri to Leopold and Elizabeth. The result last year had admittedly been disastrous with Stephen withdrawing from the alliance. But the devastation of Austria, combined with the Imperial and Triune requisitions to sustain that attack, had further stoked that again. In addition, the sheer size of the Triune-Imperial army, while intimidating Stephen, had increased the strain of requisitions much further than usual, making it especially incendiary to the Germans who were forced to endure such harsh burdens.
The ignition comes from Nuremberg. The exact sequence of events is unsure, with some historians skeptical of the parallelism present in contemporary accounts. According to those accounts, in early May a crowd had been gathered outside one of Nuremberg’s churches (which one varies) when some of the garrison soldiers (French in some telling, English in others) got too friendly with some of the women. The enraged menfolk fell on the soldiers and slew them. With the crowd whipped up, and probably realizing that after what they’d done there was no way out but forward, the cry went out. “Death to the French! Death to the English! For the liberty of Germany!”
All accounts agree that as the cry went up, the bells tolled for Vespers.
By morning the garrison has been overwhelmed and massacred. The swift success has led many historians to expect premeditation, with an uprising planned which then just tapped into the fortuitous events in the courtyard. It is a probable, but unprovable, assertion.
If anyone had done the premeditation, it was likely Andreas Hofer. Andreas was a war veteran, missing his left arm which had been amputated after one of the battles of Ruse. That war wound, which invalided him home, meant he missed Thessaloniki. Although not titled nobility, his family was prosperous and locally prominent, giving him significant social influence in his local area northeast of Nuremberg.
Using his social connections and military experience, over preceding years he had created a local self-defense force that had largely succeeded in keeping forced contributions and military depredations to a minimum, although he had been unable to stop them entirely. As pressure mounted with worsening agricultural conditions and expanded Triune-Imperial military activity, he had been gradually expanding his network.
There is no clear evidence that Andreas Hofer had played a role in the Nuremberg Uprising, but he did show up with a substantial armed following to defend the city suspiciously quickly afterwards. Furthermore, he is extremely active in spreading the word of what was happening at Nuremberg, doing his utmost to rally aid to defend the area against the inevitable reprisal.
Philip’s and Henri’s aim this year had been directed at Saxony but the news of Nuremberg forces a radical shift. Both are well aware of Leopold’s efforts to stir up a broad rebellion against them and this is the first potential fruit of that. It must be squelched immediately before it can spread. The wiping out of a garrison by an urban mob is also a humiliation and show of weakness that must be answered promptly.
But the demand for speed runs up against the necessity for success. A rushed operation has more risk of failure, and so the Triune-Imperial response is delayed, sacrificing speed for strength. Six weeks pass before the riposte is launched, which means that when it is launched it is sixty thousand strong, but that also gives six weeks for would-be allies of Nuremberg to prepare for the coming blow.
Leopold, recognizing the opportunity, reacts with far more alacrity to the call from Nuremberg compared to the call from Stephen. He rallies his Saxon troops, appeals to Karl for Brandenburg reinforcements, and pressures the Russians for aid. Elizabeth is skeptical, wary of what she thinks of as an urban rabble, but also acknowledges reluctantly that they are in no position to be picky. Interestingly, the Russians are more enthusiastic than her, with one Russian officer remarking that ‘finally the Germans are showing themselves to be men’. Leopold can’t match the sixty thousand Triune-Imperial army, but he is able to muster forty-five thousand to march to Nuremberg’s aid.
The siege of Nuremberg is conducted by Marshal Vauban and is fiercely contested by the townspeople, led by Andreas Hofer who through sheer force of personality has made himself their commander. After eleven days though the Triune-Imperial army breaks off the attack, preferring to face the approaching Leopold away from the city, although the ensuing battle is usually styled inaccurately as the battle of Nuremberg.
Vauban is a superb siege commander but has no experience of commanding a large army in the field of battle. He does have much experience of field battles, but solely as a subordinate commander overseeing the artillery train. Thus, when he encounters Leopold on the field, he falls back on old habits, pounding the Saxon-Russian lines heavily with artillery. The barrage is fierce, but with Vauban focused here he fails to notice the Brandenburg troops under Duke Karl working around his flank, protected from view by the terrain. Until they crash into said flank, ripping it apart with solid musket volleys followed by an ambrolar charge.
Tactically the battle plays out much as Breitenfeld did, but this time the Triune-Imperial army takes much heavier losses, possibly as many as fifteen thousand casualties and half its guns, before it retreats. Leopold and Karl ride into Nuremberg as triumphant heroes; the city has been saved.
Nuremberg marks the last combat foray of Marshal Vauban. As punishment, Henri II insists that Vauban retire, but that is the extent of the demerits; Henri recognizes that overall, the Marshal has given him good service. Officially the grounds are given as ill health, which have significant truth. A year later, the Marshal will undergo a successful operation for the removal of some kidney stones.
The news of Nuremberg, of the uprising and then the successful defense of the city, finally spark a fire across Germany. Breitenfeld had been something, but now there is an example of a successful rebellion, and the battle of Nuremberg was a far greater and more impressive triumph of arms. This time, Germany responds.
