Lithuania unites Rus TL

An introduction to my timeline is the assumption that the Grand Duke of Lithuania, Jagiello, however, would take part in the Battle of Kulikovo, on the side of the Golden Horde. The battle would end then surely defeat the Grand Duke of Moscow, Dmitri, and the expansion of Lithuania permanently headed by confidently east. Let's start in order:

September 8, 1380 in the late afternoon, Jagiello and Mamai sit down to a feast of victory on the fields under Kulikov, bearing at his table for the guest of honor at the tastefully studded spear head the Bonn Dimitri. While their centurions drink beer / wine / kumys, they sober share Rus, which, bled, is not able to issue any vital army. Orda takes a Ryazan, Upper Oka Principalities, Tver and Moscow and Jagiello - Pskov and Novgorod.
* 24 XII 1380, Novgorod, Jagiello - realizing that as a Gentile is unlikely to restrain their power over eastern orthodox part of the principality, solemnly adopts Novgorod Orthodox baptism with all his court, becoming from that moment Vladimir Olgierdovitch. He assumes the title of King of the whole Russia. Consciously and deliberately set in opposition to the Kestutis and Vytautas, the ongoing paganism.
* 1380 to 1383, civil war in Lithuania. Standing at the head of the Orthodox Ruthenian Vladimir Olgierdovitch rebukes regiments Kestutis and Vytautas. Kestutis soon after the defeat dies, Vytautas flees to Malbork under the protective wings of Konrad von Zollner Rotenstein. Casus belli for the Order. At the same time ...
From 1381 to 1384, the war of Mamaia Khan of the White Horde, Tokhtamysh, supported by Tamerlane. At the end of Tokhtamysh wins.
* 1384, May, Vladimir, beaten but not defeated by the Teutonic Knights in Kaunas, waives Samogitia and adopt a co ruler Vytautas.
* 1384, July, palace coup, Vytautas goes to the dungeon for seven years. Another casus belli for the Order.
* 1384, September, again winning the Order, Vladimir waives on his behalf all the lands west of the upper Narew - Niemen - Neris - Swieta. Compensates for these losses offensive in the east. Using the still ongoing turmoil in the Horde sweeps Upper Oka Principalities, Rzhev, coming around Tver, Moscow and the White Lake.
* 1385-1400, the state of temporary equilibrium, all three countries (the Teutonic Knights, Lithuania - or rather the Kingdom of Rus' and Orda) need peace to digest absorbed prey and consolidate the acquired positions. The Teutonic Knights are still one of the two main enemies of Rus Lithuania, the second - in place of Moscow - becomes Orda.

That front is more important, where to look for victory?
 
Vladimir Olgierdovitch. He assumes the title of King of the whole Russia.
The title King is good enough for the diplomatic relations with the Western powers, Ok.
But for the internal "Russian consumption" it is no good. Grand Prince would do, meaning Great Knyaz (Великий Князь).
The nice title tsar/zar can be taken into consideration. But in the Russian mentality (of that period) it strictly correspond to the title Khan.
So taking the title tsar might be 'legally' justified by the victory over some tartar Khan.

war of Mamaia Khan of the White Horde, Tokhtamysh
Mamai was not a Chengizzid, so he didn't have any right for the title khan, actually he never claimed it.
Tokhtamysh was a full-bloodied Chengizzid (of the House of Jouchi). So he was a khan.

Sorry for my filthy faultfinding. I just couldn't resist ))

That's a good beginning of a TL, by the way.
 
Jagiello/Vladimir, as the orthodox ruler of Lithuania and Russia, is pressure from the Orthodox Church, as well as land-hungry boyars, and decides to unite under his scepter all the Ruthenian areas ... The conflict with the Horde becomes inevitable and Eastern policy extends his counsels for the future on foreground against a possible hearing with the Order. The immediate pretext of war with the Horde was to overthrow Tokhtamysh and elevation to the throne of Sarai another pet Tamerlane - Temür Qutlugh. Exiled Tokhtamysh 5 years now sat in Vilnius and inciting to war, promising territorial concessions in exchange for restoring him to the throne. Battle of the Vorskla River, fought 12 VIII 1400 r, which clashed army Rus-Lithuania Vladimir of the Tatar led Edigu, brought no decisive outcome of any party (the Lithuanian army was more than OTL and Tartars as much), but with an indication of the Tartars (suffered smaller losses). Heavily bled troops both opponents diverged in opposite directions. An informal truce lasted nearly a year, after which Vladimir began a cautious operations in and around Moscow. Anticipating that in case of failure can have on the neck of the Teutonic Knights, pulled out of mothballs Vytautas (which in the meantime is out of the dungeon and 10 years vegetated as governor for some middle of nowhere, but still betraying a clear sympathies pagan), and set him on the head caused by improvised revolt in Samogitia. Uprising succeeded admirably, and the Knights had a couple of years a lot of work at home.

Meanwhile, it was the year 1402 - and Vladimir simply horrified when news reached him about the Battle of Ankara and the forces that gathered there Tamerlane, Qutlugh's chief. He began desperate efforts for peace ... which were adopted by Qutlugh. The Lord of the Golden Horde knew then what ruler of Lithuania and Rus had no idea - Tamerlane was preparing for a new war - with China - and there is no time for warring with Lithuania. Qutlugh, left alone with Vladimir, but he felt weaker than the opponent, and willingly agreed to his peace proposals. With a moment of peace, Vladimir looked around and - taught by experience the possibility of two fronts - launched a diplomatic offensive (for which has not had time busy organizing his empire).
 
The main objective of this offensive has become a Kingdom of Poland. After the death of King Louis, who was also King of Hungary, the Polish throne fell his younger daughter Jadwiga. She married the Duke of Mazovia, Siemowit IV, who thus became the king of Poland. During the reign of Siemowit there has been a deterioration of relations with the Teutonic Order. The reason was the conflict of Dobrzyn Land, which the former king still in the fief of the Silesian prince, Ladislaus of Opole, and which is pledged in 1391 the Teutonic Knights. In addition, the Poles have never given up the dream of regaining Pomerelia, Poland, which blocked access to the Baltic Sea. Common conflict with the Teutonic Knights allowed the two countries to conclude an alliance in 1403. Since the Poles did not obtain the support of the Papal Curia (unlike OTL), they failed to resolve a dispute with the Order through diplomatic channels. Vladimir also not keen on peace, because he knew that together with Poland has a big advantage over the Teutonic Knights. Therefore in 1405 the king Siemowit and Vladimir declared war on them.

In 1406 the combined armies Polish and Lithuanian-Rus attacked the lands of the Order. During the march to the Malbork, near the village of Grunwald they barred the main force of the Order. With outnumbered army allies have had a great victory, Teutonic army was almost completely destroyed. But the siege of Malbork failed, also because Vladimir did not want an excessive increase in the importance of Poland and soon retreated to the east. The peace treaty in Torun, signed in 1407 drew Poland Dobrzyn Land, and Vladimir regained almost all the lands which in previous years took him to the Teutonic Order.
 
Last edited:
The premise of this TL, that is Lithuania uniting the Rus', is very similar to the TL I'm running right now (albeit with a different POD), but I'm not saying anything against you. In fact, I'm glad that Lithuania is getting attention, it's such an unused state in this site!

I do have some things to point at:

solemnly adopts Novgorod Orthodox baptism with all his court, becoming from that moment Vladimir Olgierdovitch.
If a Lithuanian grand duke accepted Orthodoxy, he would definitely not abandon his birth name in exchange for his baptism name, and there's a simple reason for it - Lithuanian pagan nobility saw "Orthodox gods" weaker than their own, seeing as they failed to protect their believers from Lithuanian wrath from their point of view.

Of course, through generations they would change to Orthodox names, as was the case with all Gediminids who converted to Orthodoxy.

Orda takes a Ryazan, Upper Oka Principalities, Tver and Moscow and Jagiello - Pskov and Novgorod.
Lithuania saw Upper Oka as a high priority and clashed with Moscow numerous times for domination over them. I don't see them abandoning those principalities in exchange for two republics they already dominate.

In addition, Tver was Lithuania's ally, so Lithuania would probably want influence there in such an agreement as well.

1384, September, again winning the Order, Vladimir waives on his behalf all the lands west of the upper Narew - Niemen - Neris - Swieta.
Practically impossible. Lithuanian dukes did have a habit of temporarily giving away Samogitia to the Teutons in exchange for an alliance, but giving lands all the way to Nemunas, Neris and Šventoji would mean pretty much abandoning the entire core of their state, minus Vilnius of course.

Up to the Nevėžis was already big for Vytautas to give away in 1398.

Therefore in 1405 the king Siemowit and Vladimir declared war on them.
But why together? They're not allies, there is no marriage or personal union between Lithuania and Poland ITTL to make them allies. They even follow different religions in this case, and Lithuania and Poland used to be rivals and enemies before Union of Krewo (they even went to war over Podolia).

Yes, I know that I had Orthodox Lithuania and Catholic Poland ally together against the Teutons in my TL as well, but at least I made an explanation for why they are allied...

Anyway, don't sweat it, these are just nitpicks for the most part. You're not doing bad, I can't wait to see where you'll go with this!
 
Last edited:
But why together? They're not allies, there is no marriage or personal union between Lithuania and Poland ITTL to make them allies. They even follow different religions in this case, and Lithuania and Poland used to be rivals and enemies before Union of Krewo (they even went to war over Podolia).

Lithuania and Poland have already allied against the Knights reign of Gediminas and Wladyslaw the Elbow-high. Pomerelia had a very great economic importance for the Poles (as it controlled the mouth of the Vistula) and the Lithuanians wanted to recover their ethnic lands. Both countries were in some way bound to conflict with the Teutonic Knights.

Ok, let's move on. The defeat at Grunwald broke the power of the Teutonic Order. For a long time it ceased to be a threat to the Lithuanian-Rus. So after securing the western border of Vladimir able to resume expansion in the east. The opportunity came after the death of Khan Edigu the 1419th Golden Horde was severely weakened temporarily decomposing into several smaller khanates. In 1421, he began a long war Lithuanian-Rus of the Horde. It lasted until 1432 and ended with the victory of Lithuania, which took Moscow and other Ruthenian principality controlled even by the Tatars. In the south, the expansion of Lithuanian reached up to the Black Sea, between the mouths of the Dnieper and Dniester. Homage to Vladimir lodged a Moldova. Vladimir died in 1434, leaving three sons. Authority took the eldest of them, Yaroslav (born 1398). He was faced with the need to choose the direction of further expansion of the state: to the south-east (against the Tartars), south-west (against Turkey) and north-west (against the Livonian Order).
 
At a time when Lithuania was rivaled in the east of the Golden Horde, there has been a major political change in its western neighbors. The King Siemowit still fought several wars with the Teutonic Knights, but without much success. His wife, Jadwiga, bore him a daughter Elizabeth in 1403, but the damage it had sustained during childbirth meant that she could not have more children. Burning at the stake of Jan Hus resulted in the creation of his supporters in Bohemia, which after the sudden death of King Wenceslas IV, was transformed into a long war of succession in this country. The Hussites did not accept the rights to the throne of the brother of the late king, Sigismund of Luxembourg and offered the crown of Bohemia Siemowit, but he refused, not wanting to risk a war with Zygmunt and offered him support in the fight against the Hussites in exchange for acquisitions in Silesia. An alliance of the two monarchs sealed the marriage of Elizabeth's only son Sigismund, John (born in 1409) in 1419. Siemowit live to see the end of the conflict, however, because he died in the 1426. He was succeeded by his son in law, John. At that time, Europe again threatened danger from Turkey. I asked the defeat of the Turks Tamerlane in the Battle of Ankara in 1402 and the civil war between the sons of Bayezid temporarily stopped their expansion of the Balkans and even forced to withdraw from some areas, but around 1420 again become dangerous. So when, in 1436 war ended with the Hussites, the Luxembourg attention has focused on the fight against Turkey. After his father's death and taking thrones of Bohemia and Hungary, and the coronation of the emperor, John suggested Yaroslav alliance against Turkey. Yaroslav wanted at that time to strengthen its image as "defender of Orthodoxy" (and strengthen its influence on the Black Sea), so he agreed.
 
Top