"Io Mihailŭ, Împĕratul Românilor" - A Michael the Brave Romania Wank
- Thread starter Zagan
- Start date
I.40. Ups and Downs
Zagan
Donor
If something can go wrong, it will. (Law of Gŭeorgŭe)
Ups and Downs
6 February 1628, Alba Iulia
Princess Maria of Romania was baptised by the Patriarch of Romania in the Alba Iulia Patriarchal Cathedral.
The Romanians had thus yet another reason to celebrate.
In Romania news travelled fast. The fast couriers of the Romanian Post and the Optical Telegraph System meant that local newspapers usually published the most important National news before the central newspapers arrived at the most distant corners of Romania.
6 March 1628, Alba Iulia
The Academy of Romania (Academia României) and the National Library of Romania (Biblioteca Națională a României) were inaugurated by Emperor Mihai and Empress Christine in the presence of hundreds of Romanian scholars and several high profile foreign guests such as Johannes Kepler from Germany, Galileo Galilei from Italy and René Descartes from France.
The Academy of Romania had four branches: Literary (the Supreme Forum of the Romanian Language), Historical, Scientific, and Artistic.
The National Library of Romania was imagined as a complement to the Academy and was supposed to grow and eventually contain all the knowledge of the World (at that time, it was still believed to be possible).
3 April 1628, Alba Iulia
After several years of mostly sterile deliberation, the Interdisciplinary Commission for the New Capital City of the Nation finally recognized that it was unable to reach a conclusion but provided Mihai with more than a thousand pages of written material regarding the issue.
In short, moving the Capital somewhere on the Danube presented several problems:
- It would cost a lot of money, which were needed elsewhere, especially to further strengthen the Army (the Ottomans where strengthening their army at an alarming rate under the very capable Sultan Mehmed IV*);
- It would be more exposed to a potential Ottoman invasion than beautifully sheltered Alba Iulia (the Military strongly opposed any move of the Capital until the final destruction of the Ottoman Power);
- Communication between the two banks of the Danube was quite difficult and although it was decided to rebuild Trajan's Bridge between Claudia (Kladovo) and Drobeta (Turnu Severin) the cost might have threatened the endevour.
* = not a OTL historical figure.
After hearing all the arguments of the Commission's members, Mihai decided to postpone moving the Capital until after the eventual disappearance of the Ottoman menace.
In the mean time, other important public works were given priority:
- The bridging of the Danube (Trajan's Bridge) as well as the bridging of some other smaller rivers;
- The creation of a comprehensive system of roads and canals which would greatly facilitate the movement of goods across the Country (some Roman roads were still visible but not in a good shape);
- Sanitation works in major cities, including sewage disposal systems and the building of more public baths (Roman aqueducts were the inspiration).
Naturally, such ambitious projects needed more money than available but the fact that the population was quite rich made an increase in taxes to look feasable.
As usual in Romania, taxes meant a choice: either money or corvée.
However, the tax increase was not well received and the fact that many peasants had weapons (they were also soldiers in the Big Army) meant trouble for the tax collectors.
The situation would remain tense until the resolution provided by the next war.
The Hungarian Problem
In 1627, the Great Powers restored an independent albeit considerably smaller Hungarian State in Pannonia. A year later, Romania and Germany were in full process of removing their armies and administrations from the now Hungarian sovereign territory.
Almost all the decisions of the Great Powers were based on compromise and made nobody really happy. The restoration of Hungarian statehood made no difference: Romania and Germany had to cede some territory (inhabited mainly by Hungarians) but the new Principality of Hungary had less than one tenth of the area of the former Kingdom of Hungary.
The demographic situation in Hungary was catastrophic. The former Ottoman Hungary was so depopulated that less than 200,000 people now lived in Hungary, around half of them Hungarians and the rest mainly Germans, while around 500,000 ethnic Hungarians lived in the neighbouring countries:
- almost 400,000 in Romania (up to 30% in parts of Transylvania and 55% in the Province of Tissa*);
- about 100,000 in Slovakia (almost 20%);
- about 15,000 in Germany (30% in Vierburgenland);
- about 10,000 in Croatia (neglijable percentage).
* = The territory between the Tissa, the Danube and the Slovak border.
Realistically, a Greater Hungary was completely impossible to achieve. The problem was that the Hungarians were not realists.
The Hungarian delegation at the Prague Great Powers Conference annoyed the Great Powers representatives so much that the Hungarians were not so politely invited to leave the venue.
Even after the final borders of the Hungarian State had been agreed upon, Hungarian aggitation did not cease.
If nothing out of the ordinary happened in the German Vierburgenland and the Hungarians in Slovakia and Croatia did nothing more than peacefully ask for the unification of these countries with Hungary, the situation in Romania was more tense, especially in the Hungarian majority Tissa Province. Here, Hungarian bandits (from Romanian perspective) or freedom fighters (from Hungarian perspective) engaged in acts of sabotage, attacks against the Romanian Legionnaires deployed in the Province and assassinations of various Romanian officials (A Hungarian group even attempted to kill the Emperor in Pest in 1626).
Given the circumstances, the Romanian State began to suppress the Hungarian insurgency. Several Legions were deployed in the Tissa Province placing it under direct military rule once again after less than one year of civilian rule.
Mihai had contemplated three ways of action:
1. Cede the whole Tissa Province to Hungary;
2. Wait for the insurgency to subside;
3. Deport most or all of the Hungarian population to Hungary.
Ceding the Province was vigurously opposed by the Senate because of several reasons:
- It would have been a blow to the prestige of the Imperium. It had been rather demeaning to bow to the Great Powers and cede Pannonia. Acceding to the demands of the small Hungarian Principality would have been completely unacceptable to the Romanians.
- It would have set a very bad precedent, encouraging the Hungarians from Transylvania or any other disgrunted ethnic minority to start an insurgency. The Romanian State could simply not afford being considered weak.
- The territory was important as a buffer between Hungary and the core Romanian territory of Transylvania.
- The control of the middle Danube course was desirable if not even necessary.
- A greater Hungary could only mean greater trouble in the future.
Waiting for the insurgency to subside was not a good option for two reasons:
- Romania would have seemed to lack the resolve to tackle the crisis and solve it.
- The Hungarian population could create trouble again in the future, which had to be prevented.
A mass deportation of the Hungarians seemed difficult because of several factors:
- Germany and the Pope opposed the move.
- Hungary itself was not prepared to receive such a large influx of immigrants.
- For Romania, the loss of the Hungarian population would also mean a significant loss of revenue.
- Mihai considered mass expulsion to be a rather inhumane action. He decided instead to deport only the trouble makers and, as a precautionary action, the intelectuals.
And, in that difficult situation came the Beney Affair.
18 April 1628, Alba Iulia
The Beney Affair, as it came to be known decades later, has remained shrouded in mistery to this day. The secrecy with which the situation was handled means that the historians have little evidence to reach correct conclusions and all their theories are more or less speculative.
Count Imre Beney was a Senator, representing the Transylvanian Hungarians which at that time enjoyed the status of Protected Nation.
Prior to the Beney Affair, the Romanian Secret Service* had no information on any possible links between Count Beney and the Hungarian insurgents from the right bank of the Tissa. He was even considered friendly to the Romanians and had never created any trouble in the Romanian Senate.
* = The Personal Guard of Mihai had evolved into a Secret Service during the first decade of the century.
The wife of Count Beney, Countess Anna Beney was a close friend of Princess Maria of Romania, the wife of Crown Prince Nicolae of Romania.
Mihai was not pleased with their friendship and had allegedly admonished Maria in the past: "You should be friends with fellow Romanians, not with foreigners."
Maria had always insisted that Anna was a good Romanian, although Anna's command of the Romanian language was poor.
Princess Iulia, 13 years old at that time, was frequently playing with the children of the Beneys and was genuinely considering them as her friends.
After the (equally misterious - was it TB?) lung condition of Crown Prince Nicolae had worsened in the autumn of 1626, he was admitted in the Venetian Sanatorium of Corfu, considered to be one of the best in Europe.
Because Mihai was in Prague, Iulia stayed only with her mother during that time.
When Princess Maria visited her husband in Corfu, Iulia stayed home with her nanny and started to spend increasingly more time with the Beneys.
Maria wanted to take Iulia with her in Corfu to see her father, but Mihai opposed that because Nicolae was apparently coughing a lot and he feared that Iulia might catch the disease*.
* = Yes, the Romanian School of Medicine was that advanced in 1627! Medical discoveries started being disseminated even if only hypothetical.
In April 1628, Maria was once again visiting Nicolae in Corfu and on the 18th, Iulia was supposed to be at the Beneys, playing with their daughters.
When the butler went to the Beney residence to collect Iulia that evening, no one answered the doorbell.
The butler alerted the authorities immediately.
From that moment on, things start to get blurry.
The official report stated that nobody had been found at the Beney residence, not even the servants.
No explanation whatsoever was provided for the way the Beneys were tracked and found a week later in Arad. A fight ensued in which the Count and Countess were both killed. Iulia was recovered unharmed.
The three servants travelling with them were indicted for accessory to kidnapping and attempted murder.
The trial was over in less than one day. Despite protesting their innocence, all three servants were convicted and executed. Neither Iulia nor any of the Beney children (aged 9, 11 and 14) were called in Court so they did not testify.
Years later, Iulia said that she thought she was going to Corfu to see her father. The Beney children refused to talk to the press for as long as they lived.
Mihai was so enraged that he immediately decided to solve the Hungarian problem once and for all.
Several theories exist about the Beney Affair:
- That the Beneys were actually bringing Princess Iulia to her parents in Corfu, requested to do so by Princess Maria (Maria had never declared anything on that matter).
- That everything was a plot by the Romanian Secret Service, presumably in order to make the Emperor take action against the Hungarians.
- That she was actually kidnapped and on the way to Hungary (probably in order to blackmail Mihai).
- And other more... unorthodox theories (including... aliens!).
28 April 1628, Alba Iulia
The Protected Nation status enjoyed by the Hungarian minority was revoked.
Romania delivered an Ultimatum to the Hungarian Government.
Romanian Ultimatum
I. Hungary shall solemnly declare that it has no territorial claims on Romania.
II. Hungary shall accept to settle within its borders all the ethnic Hungarians which are to be expelled from Romania.
III. Hungary shall turn over to Romania all the criminals which are plotting against Romania from within the safety provided by the Hungarian State.
IV. The Romanian authorities shall be allowed to fully investigate inside Hungary all the Anti-Romanian activities which are sheltered by the Hungarian State.
V. If these requests are not answered positively in 14 days, the Romanian Army will enforce them.
12 May 1628, Hungary
Before the Hungarian envoy managed to get to Alba Iulia and declare his Government acceptance of the Ultimatum, the Romanian Army crossed the Danube and started to advance towards Raab (Győr, the Hungarian Capital).
The Hungarian Army was ordered not to resist the invasion. It would have been pointless anyway, since the 6000 strong newly assembled Hungarian Army was faced by 40,000 battle-hardened Romanian Legionnaires.
By the end of May, all Hungary was under Romanian occupation.
The Hungarian Government issued an official protest to the Great Powers Council.
The Great Powers Council discussed the issue. A resolution calling for the Romanians to evacuate Hungary was defeated because Romania and Sarmatia voted against it.*
* = Two votes were necessary and sufficient for a motion to fall.
The Romanian Army would leave Hungary two years later.
23 May 1628, Alba Iulia
Christine informed Mihai that she was pregnant again.
The Greek Problem
From all the small States, Greece was by far the most bold, completely out of proportion to its size.
After the successful takeover of Crete, the Greek appetite for territory continued to increase. The recipe for success was simple: incite the Greek population under foreign rule to revolt against their masters, use the Greek navy to supply them with weapons, support them diplomatically and finally annex the Greek inhabited islands.
The fact was that ethnic Greeks made up the majority of the population in many foreign lands:
- Parts of Thessaly (Romanian);
- Coastal Macedonia (Romanian);
- Southernmost Epirus (Romanian);
- The Ionian Islands (Venetian);
- Salonika and the Chalcidic Peninsula (Ottoman);
- Eastern Thrace (Ottoman);
- The Aegean Islands (Ottoman);
- Cyprus (Ottoman);
- Parts of Asia Minor (Ottoman).
Most of the Greek inhabited areas of Romania were promissed to Greece in the Treaty of Platamona and the Greeks were smart enough not to press the issue anymore.
Between the other two neighbours, the Ottomans were clearly stronger than the Venetians, which had been defeated in Crete before. It was an obvious course of action for the Greek State to take on Venice once again.
The Ionian Islands were closer to Greece than to Venice and therefore the Greek Navy was confident that it could support the future Greek revolutionaries there. In the first part of 1628, the underground networks of Greek fighters from the Ionian Islands were supplied with copious ammounts of weapons and ammunition smuggled by Greek merchant ships.
In June, the Greeks simultaneously rebelled in Zante (Zakynthos), Cephalonia (Kefalonia), Santa Maura (Lefkada) and Corfu (Kerkyra).
The Greeks were rapidly victorious in the Southern islands located just by the Greek coast. Unable to hold them, the Venetians decided to leave Zante, Cephalonia, Santa Maura and Val di Compare (Ithaki) and enforce the Northern, easily defendable ones: Corfu and Paxos (Paxi).
Corfu and Paxos are situated near the Romanian Ionian Coast and at some distance from the nearest Greek Port, which made the opperations of the Greek Navy a little more difficult. They are also closer to Venice than the Southern four Ionian Islands, which made the Venetian task of defending them a little easier.
Paxos is a small island and its little Greek population could be kept in check by the Venetian authorities, but the large Greek population of Corfu was in full rebellion.
27 June 1628, Corfu
During the moonless night, four Romanian Ships, sailing in complete silence and without any lights on bord, debarked 2000 Legionnaires on the coast of Corfu, a mere 2 miles from the nearest Romanian coast.
Three hours later and still early in the morning, the Romanians took control of the Corfu Sanatorium and rescued Crown Prince Nicolae and Princess Maria. By noon, they were in Romania, on their way to Alba Iulia, safe from the turmoil which had engulfed the previously peaceful island.
By the end of the month, Corfu and Paxos were pacified and secure in Romanian hands. The Greek rebellion was over.
The Venetians protested the Romanian occupation of their islands, albeit lightly.
The Romanians replied that Romania had absolutely no intention to annex Corfu and Paxos and they only wanted to preserve the peace near Romania's borders.
4 July 1628, Corfu
The Corfu Settlement
I. Venice and the Italian Confederation cede to Greece the Islands of Zante, Cephalonia, Santa Maura and Val di Compare.
II. Greece and Romania recognize in perpetuity as Venetian and Italian territory the Islands of Corfu and Paxos.
III. Recognizing the sovereign right of Romania to maintain peace near its borders, Venice and the Italian Confederation accept the presence of a Romanian peace-keeping force in Corfu and Paxos until such time that no further possibility of a renewed conflict exists in these Islands.
IV. The temporary Romanian administration in Corfu and Paxos will send all collected taxes to Venice with the exception of a reasonable amount necessary for the needs of the Romanian soldiers.
V. Greece and Venice and the Italian Confederation will perform a population exchange in their realms: all Greek Orthodoxes from the Islands of Corfu and Paxos will be sent to Greece and all Roman Catholics from Greece will be sent to the Islands of Corfu and Paxos.
Note: And just like this, in a time span of three years, Romania had successfully "bulied" three of its smaller neighbours: Greece, Hungary and Venice. Truly a Great Power!
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Zagan
Donor
Me too!
Here you are!
Is a map necessary or are the (little) changes crystal clear?
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Ryan
Donor
not necessary but desired. never say never for a map
(especially for yours given how good they are )
Zagan
Donor
not necessary but desired. never say never for a map
Thank you. I will provide one... soon.
Your post number is... let's say interesting.
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not necessary but desired. never say never for a map
My thoughts as well. Great maps in this TL
Map #28. Territorial Evolution of Romania (1601 - 1630)
Zagan
Donor
Territorial Evolution of Romania (1601 - 1630)
Legend:
Red: Romania
Darkest Red: The Romanian Lands in 1601
1. Romanian Lands under Mihai Viteazul in August 1601, before the POD (Wallachia and Transylvania)
2. Moldavia, under Mihai Viteazul from September 1601
3. De jure Transylvanian territory under Ottoman occupation, peacefully transferred to Transylvania in September 1601
Dark Red: The Romanian Lands in 1602
4. Territory ceded by Austria to Romania in the Pressburg Peace Treaty, April 1602 (Satmar, etc)
5. Territories ceded by the Ottoman Empire to Romania in the Pressburg Peace Treaty, April 1602 (Partium, Banat, Bessarabia, Edisan)
Light Red: Romania in 1603
7. Territories ceded by Poland-Lithuania to Romania in the Treaty of Colomeea, September 1603 (Pokuttya, a small area of Podolia)
Pink: Romania in 1625
10. (including 15, 16, 17) Territories ceded by the Ottoman Empire to Romania in the Alba Iulia Peace Treaty, January 1625 (most of Ottoman Europe)
Light Pink: Romania in 1630
19. Territories ceded by the Ottoman Empire to Romania in the Adrianople Peace Treaty, November 1630 (most of Ottoman Thrace, Thasos, Samothrace)
Yellow: Slovakia, Croatia, Hungary, Greece
Slovakia
6. Slovakia in 1602, independent from Austria in the Pressburg Peace Treaty, April 1602
8. Territory ceded by the German Empire to Slovakia, 1624
11. Territory ceded by the Ottoman Empire to Slovakia in the Alba Iulia Peace Treaty, January 1625
Croatia
9. Territories ceded by the German Empire to the Croatian Revolutionaries in 1624
12. Croatia in 1625, independent from the Ottoman Empire in the Alba Iulia Peace Treaty, January 1625
16. Territory ceded by Romania to Croatia in the Prague Great Powers Conference, 1627
Hungary
14, 15. Hungary in 1627, independent from Germany (14) and Romania (15) in the Prague Great Powers Conference, 1627
Greece
13. Greece in 1625, independent from the Ottoman Empire in the Alba Iulia Peace Treaty, January 1625
17. Territories promissed by Romania to Greece in the Treaty of Platamona, June 1625 and ceded in the Adrianople Peace Treaty, November 1630 (Preveza area of Epirus, Thessaly, parts of Macedonia)
18. Territories ceded by the Ottoman Empire to Greece in the Adrianople Peace Treaty, November 1630 (Salonika, the Chalcidic Peninsula, Aegean Islands)
Ottoman Empire
20. Territory demilitarized in the Adrianople Peace Treaty, November 1630 (area between the Romanian border and the Sea of Marmara, Marmara Islands)
Venice
21, 22. Venetian territory (Istria, Southern Dalmatia, Valona exclave, Corfu, Paxos)
22. Venetian territory under Romanian occupation and administration from July 1628 (Corfu and Paxos)
.
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Map #29. Territorial Evolution of Greece (1625 - 1630)
Zagan
Donor
Territorial Evolution of Greece (1625 - 1630)
Legend:
1. Greece in 1625, independent from the Ottoman Empire in the Alba Iulia Peace Treaty, January 1625
2. Territories ceded by Venice to Greece in the Prague Great Powers Conference, 1627 (Crete, other smaller Islands)
3. Territories ceded by Venice to Greece in the Corfu Settlement, July 1628 (Southern Ionian Islands)
4. Venetian territory under Romanian occupation and administration from July 1628 (Corfu and Paxos)
5. Venetian exclave of Valona
6. Territories promissed by Romania to Greece in the Treaty of Platamona, June 1625 and ceded in the Adrianople Peace Treaty, November 1630 (Preveza area of Epirus, Thessaly, parts of Macedonia)
7. Territories ceded by the Ottoman Empire to Greece in the Adrianople Peace Treaty, November 1630 (Salonika, the Chalcidic Peninsula, Aegean Islands)
8. Territories ceded by the Ottoman Empire to Romania in the Adrianople Peace Treaty, November 1630 (most of Ottoman Thrace, Thasos, Samothrace)
9. Territory demilitarized in the Adrianople Peace Treaty, November 1630 (area between the Romanian border and the Sea of Marmara, Marmara Islands)
10. Constantinople area
11. Territory ceded by the Ottoman Empire to Greece later (Mikrasia / Ionia)
Note: Venice managed to defend its Greek Islands against the Ottoman Empire for centuries, but lost them to Greece in a couple of years. We can infer that while a Greek State did not exist the local Greek population preferred to live under Venetian rather than Ottoman rule. After the emergence of an independent Greek State, their allegiance changed.
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Welcome back, thats one of the best updates. The great powers may soon find the conference to be useless and go to war again.
Zagan
Donor
Thank you. Another update is being formatted right now and will be online in a very short time.
A serious war between Great Powers will be averted for several decades. Smaller wars like that between Greece and Venice over the Ionian Islands will continue to happen from time to time. (or wars against the Ottomans of course)
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I.41. Annus Horribilis
Zagan
Donor
The Year 1629 was really bad, but it could have been worse.
(For example, Empress Christine's survival was almost miraculous)
(For example, Empress Christine's survival was almost miraculous)
Annus Horribilis
1 January 1629, Alba Iulia
Instead of celebrating the New Year's Eve with Cristina and their young ballroom guests, Mihai was sitting in an armchair in his quarters in almost total darkness, disregarding the music coming from the ballroom.
The year that had just ended had not been a good one by any means and he did not feel he had any reasons to party.
Maybe this year will be a better one.
Maybe Cristina will give birth to a boy.
Maybe a miracle will happen and Nicolae will get better. God help him!
Maybe the Greeks will stop provoking the Turks in those Islands and Romania will not be dragged so quickly into another war.
Maybe the Hungarians will stop making trouble and we will not be forced to retaliate so harshly anymore. All those killings... It's sickening! But alas, I have no choice. Our boys are also killed and General Iosipescu has threatened with his resignation if I insist on sparing the lives of the bandits.
Maybe the Romanians will understand that taxes are necessary for the functioning of the State and will stop harassing the tax collectors.
Maybe Iulia will stop having those horrible nightmares. Thank God my wife is so nice with her! She is even sleeping with her when she gets scared and starts crying in the middle of the night! Cristina is really like a big sister to Iulia. It's so good to see them so close to each other.
Maybe God will hear our prayers. Our Father who art in heaven...
Mihai: "Yes... Cristina, is that you?"
Butler: "I am sorry to disturb, Măria Ta, I was told that you were not sleeping..."
M: "What is it? It'd better be important!"
B: "A courier has just arrived from Corfu with a letter marked High Priority."
M: "Give it to me. You are excused now."
We'd better extend that telegraph to Corfu as soon as possible.
We are very sorry to inform Your Majesty that, despite our best efforts, Crown Prince Nicolae of Romania had passed away in the early hours of the 23rd of December. [...]
Mihai could not read the rest. He wanted to pray, but no words came out of his mouth, only tears out of his eyes.
M: "Butler!"
B: "Yes, Măria Ta!"
M: "Go and tell the Empress I am expecting her here at once."
B: "Yes, Măria Ta!"
Children shall not die before their parents. Never.
Christine: "Are we going to have some fun, my darling?"
M: "Stop it! For Christ's sake, you are seven months pregnant!"
C: "I am sorry. Shall I leave you alone? You seem to be in a bad mood... Oh my God! Have you been crying?"
M: "Nicolae is dead."
C: "Oh, no, Mihai! Oh, I am so sorry. God rest him in peace! Oh... Can I do anything for you?"
M: "Yes, as a matter of fact, you can. I dread telling Iulia that her father has died. She is so sensitive and tense lately, you know... You two have seemed to be very good friends since she came to live with us. So, please, go to her room and try to tell her yourself."
C: "Sure, my darling, I will... Just that Iulia is not in her room. She is at the ball..."
M: "Excuse me? What did you say? Iulia is at the ball? Why? Balls are not for children, you know! I am sure that was your idea."
C: "No, she wanted to go, I swear. Anyway, Iulia is not a little child anymore. She is almost 14. Girls get married at this age, you know."
M: "For me she is still my little granddaughter... Does she have... Is she yet..."
C: "Yes, Mihai. She has everything a woman has."
M: "I see. Anyway, we will obviously not get her engaged today. And it is extremely unappropriate for her to party when her father has just died... Just get her out of there and tell her, will you. And please, put her in bed and stay with her until she is asleep."
Half an hour later, Mihai heard some noise from Iulia's bedroom and rushed there.
M: "What on Earth is going on here?"
Iulia (laughing): "Cristina is tickling me!"
M: "Cristina, stop that! Iulia, my dear, did Cristina manage to tell you...?"
I: "Yes, granddaddy. I am sorry that daddy passed away. Am I supposed to wear black?"
Mihai left the room without replying anything. Women will never stop amazing him!
Maybe this year will turn to be as bad as the previous one. Or maybe even worse.
He was right.
7 February 1929, Alba Iulia
Princess Maria of Romania: "Of course I am angry. That I am angry is an understatement! You stole Iulia away from me! You sent Nicolae at that God forsaken sanatorium where they did nothing to help him and in the meantime you and that woman..."
Mihai slapped her hard.
Mihai: "That woman is my wife and your Empress."
Maria: "Why did you hit me?"
Mihai: "I slapped you because you were being hysterical. It is a standard procedure. And it works. You are already better. Now go on. But please, try to be rational."
Maria: "Iulia is more close to Cristina than to me, her own mother! It is not normal!"
Mihai: "I think it is normal for a girl to feel closer to a young woman than to her mother."
Maria (yelling): "It is a plot! She took her away from me! She perverts her body and soul with her French ways! And you killed Lady Beney who was taking good care of Iulia! You are a murderer! A monster!"
Mihai slapped her again.
Mihai: "I have listened enough. Now go away and don't come into my sight ever again."
Why God? Why do I have to live only amongst women?
Please give me a son, please God. I have an odd French wife, a hysterical daughter in law, a hysterical adolescent granddaughter and a tiny baby girl. I do not want another girl. Please God, listen to my prayers! I want a male heir. Romania needs a male heir!
2 March 1629, Alba Iulia
Cristina had been in labor for three days and was completely exhausted.
Mihai was pacing the room nervously, waiting for the Doctor to come. He began to fear the worst.
Mihai: "Doctor, tell me, what is going on?"
Doctor: "Ahem... Măria Ta... The situation is not good. The Empress does not seem to have enough strength. Despite our help, she seems unable to give birth on her own."
M: "What do you mean? Are you trying to tell me that I am going to lose her?"
D: "Well, we cannot be absolutely sure, but... In fact... I don't think that she can resist another day. She is losing her strength very quickly and she lost a lot of blood. We can still wait for a miracle or..."
M: "Or what? If not for a miracle, she will die, won't she?"
D: "Or we can try and perform surgery... I am quite confident to tell you that at this moment the only hope we have lies in a Caesarean Section."
M: "Oh my God! How many Caesarian Sections have you performed?"
D: "Around twenty, Măria Ta."
M: "And how many of them were... successful? I mean, the mother survived?"
D: "The surgery in itself is not very difficult and we know anatomy very well. Even a University Student would know what to do..."
M: "How many, Doctor?"
D: "The real problems are the loss of blood and the risc of pestilence."
M: "Doctor, I command you to tell me right now how many of those 20 women survived the surgery!"
D: "One."
M: "Damnation."
************
M: "Cristina, my dear..."
C: "Take care of Marie... Make sure that she and Iulia be good friends..."
M: "You are not going to die, Cristina. We must have faith."
C: "I am sorry to disappoint you, but my body tells me that I will die tonight. I am really sorry, my dear. I did everything I could. Now I am in God's hands. I love you, Mihai."
M: "The doctors say that they could try to operate on you."
C: "Let them practice their skill then. The way I die is irrelevant. But if they do not hurry, they will have to do a post mortem instead."
M: "You will live, Cristina, you will live, you'll see. I need you. Our children need you."
C (smiling): "Sure, my darling. Now call the doctors please. And a priest. An Orthodox priest."
************
The Surgeon's Medical Notes
In the evening of the 2nd of March A.D. 1629, God has granted us steady hands and clear minds to operate on Her Majesty Empress Christine of Romania.
Being unable to give birth by natural ways and losing blood and strength, the only option remaining was to attempt a Caesarean Section, which we did.
As shown by Professor Andrei Predețeanu in his book "Hygiene and Disease", we took the utmost care in maintaining the utmost cleanliness. Every instrument used was boiled and disinfected with alcohol, the thread used was also boiled, we washed our hands with plenty of soap and our coats had been previously exposed to steam. Doctor Marin had even cut his long beard which could potentially harbour some pestilence.
The patient's abdomen had been washed thoroughly and all hair had been carefully removed. The patient had been sedated with copious amounts of alcohol.
We cut open the abdomen, performing a longitudinal section through skin, fat and muscle until the uterus became visible. My aid used retractors to allow a larger area of action. When we opened the uterus, the patient lost her consciousness and did not regain it until after the surgery was over.
We removed the baby boy who was barely alive and continued the procedure while other doctors took care of him.
The reason why it had been impossible for the patient to give birth by natural means became apparent: the uterus was almost filled with a large mass of tissue*, bigger than the baby, which was completely obstructing the passage.
Since that mass of tissue was clearly an abnormal growth and could, in our opinion, endanger the life of the patient, we have decided that the best course of action would be to remove the whole uterus.
Since that implied that the patient would not able to have any more children, we explained the situation to His Majesty the Emperor and asked for his permission to remove his wife's uterus, which he granted.
We proceeded to cut the blood supply to the uterus, carefully closing with a small knot each blood vessel as we did so, until we were confident that the organ could be safely removed.
After the successful removal of the uterus, we double checked that everything was in order, wiped the blood using clean boiled tissue and proceeded to close the abdomen.
After two hours and ten minutes, the surgery was over. The patient was given smelling salts and she woke up briefly, recognizing those present.
God could have taken the Empress to His Realms in hundreds of ways but despite all odds He decided to leave her among the living.
The patient had lost about half of her blood but her young and strong organism recovered quickly and in less than a week she was able to walk on her own.
No internal pestilence developed (which would have been terminal) and the patient was released from our care cured and healthy after two weeks.
The baby boy, whose growth had been impaired by the mass of tissue with whom he had the misfortune to share the uterus**, sadly did not survive. Despite our attempts to save his life, he died in the third day of his short life, after receiving the holy baptism.
* = Probably a uterine fibroid or other benign tumour (since Christine did not die shortly afterwards)
** = Surely not the uterine tumuor was the reason of the child's death, upon which we can only speculate.
No, I cannot mourn the death of my baby boy right now. I need all the time in the World to thank God for the miraculous survival of Cristina.
13 April 1629, Alba Iulia
Christine: "Doctor, Doctor! Someone call a Doctor!"
Doctor: "Something wrong, Your Majesty? Are you feeling unwell?"
C: "No, not me! The Emperor! While we were talking normally, his speech became blurred and then he collapsed! Do something!"
The 71 years old Emperor had had a stroke.
Fortunately, it had been a minor stroke (probably a transient ischemic attack) and Mihai survived it only to have the annus horribilis go on with the destructive Ottoman invasion, the Iulia Scandal and other misfortunes.
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great story, just i am not sure if someone can survive after losin half of her blood
Zagan
Donor
Thank you.
They had obviously neither the means to measure it exactly nor the knowledge of the exact total blood quantity. More so, the total amount of blood is very much increased during the last months of a pregnancy, so a pregnant woman has some spare blood.
Let's say it was a figure of speech.
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Posting PM on thread, as per request:
The quickest answer is that there were OTL Sino-Russian conflicts, none too large but significant to draw Korea into the conflict, from the 1630s. With TTL reforms under Gwanghaegun these Russian incursions may be unchecked, as Korea would have annihilated the Manchus by that time. But any "foreigner", whether soldier or merchant, can be viewed with hostility unless the Scandinavians are extremely nice about it.
Is that possible though? The Russians attempted that OTL several times and failed. To answer both the question above and No. 1:Zagan said:
This may come useful: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-Russian_border_conflicts
The quickest answer is that there were OTL Sino-Russian conflicts, none too large but significant to draw Korea into the conflict, from the 1630s. With TTL reforms under Gwanghaegun these Russian incursions may be unchecked, as Korea would have annihilated the Manchus by that time. But any "foreigner", whether soldier or merchant, can be viewed with hostility unless the Scandinavians are extremely nice about it.
I don't think anyone would be, particularly IOTL - I suppose this serves as a more complete answer -
I doubt Sakhalin would be of much use, unless the Koreans become a major player in the whaling industry - and whaling seems much more a Japanese field than Korean.
Here's a guy who lived in Korea during the 1650s. The way he was treated indicates that the Koreans were generally curious and weren't particularly hostile. Particularly if they're well-to-do merchants instead of raiders.
Definitely, that's the idea for Gwanghaegun - he'll be opening limited trade to the Chinese, Japanese, Southeast Asians and Europeans, in hopes that this allows a significant growth in government revenue.
Tsushima actually comes to mind, as the only maritime trade Korea had IOTL was between Japan, and that occurred in Tsushima. Another "open port" I can see is in Jindo and Haeju.
The only ones are the Portuguese, but Korea was saw much more Dutch than Portuguese interactions.
Understood. Will be doing each post as each decade to keep things simple.
Eh, I'm just busy. Another college interview tomorrow, at least it's in English so it won't be terrible.
Zagan
Donor
Thank you, all that information is important.
1. The descendants of the Vikings may be more used with the navigation in the Arctic than the Russians.
Anyway, it fits into my worldwide grand scheme.
2. Qing dinasty? Where they more or less unavoidable? I mean... should the Qing be butterflied away or not?
3. No Dutch in TTL. They were busy fighting for the survival of their state (and failed; now they are Germans)
1. The descendants of the Vikings may be more used with the navigation in the Arctic than the Russians.
Anyway, it fits into my worldwide grand scheme.
2. Qing dinasty?
Where they more or less unavoidable? I mean... should the Qing be butterflied away or not?3. No Dutch in TTL. They were busy fighting for the survival of their state (and failed; now they are Germans
)
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Qing Dynasty was avoidable of course,as with many other things.Thank you, all that information is important.
1. The descendants of the Vikings may be more used with the navigation in the Arctic than the Russians.
Anyway, it fits into my worldwide grand scheme.
2. Qing dinasty?
3. No Dutch in TTL. They were busy fighting for the survival of their state (and failed; now they are Germans
Zagan
Donor
I know... I was just wondering if what had happened in Europe (and Korea) differently from 1601 until 1644 is enough to change the outcome of events in (quite secluded) China.
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If Korea was a lot stronger,then the Rise of Qing would most likely be avoided since Korea was a Ming vassal and ally.The Koreas were also antagonistic towards the Jurchens.The two had an excellent relationship.If they went all out and helped Ming,then the Jurchens most likely will be defeated.Without the Jurchens destroying and tying down Ming armies,then the peasant rebellions most likely would have been nipped from the bud.Without Ming armies frequently being defeated,there wouldn't be a lot of deserters that resolved to banditry and rebellion either.
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