Margaret, Maid of Norway in Maps from 1480 Timeline (DO NOT POST)

1498

In this year, the Ottoman Empire completely collapsed. Bulgaria and Venice joined together in a military coalition to take down the remainder of the Ottomans. They received financial aid from Wallachia, Moldavia, and Crimea, former vassals of the Ottomans, who were all eager to bring about the destruction of their former oppressor. By 28 April, Venetian armies overran most of the remaining Ottoman Anatolia. On 5 May, Venice and Bulgaria instigated a siege of Constantinople. Sultan Muhammad and his remaining army of 15,000 men resisted heavily, managing to hold off the superior Venetian-Bulgarian force of nearly 30,000 men. As a result, the siege dragged out over many months. Finally, on December 3, a Venetian fleet managed to break Ottoman fortifications on the Golden Horn and pour troops into the center of the city, overwhelming the defenders and breaking the walls. The Sultan himself was killed and Constantinople fell. Thus, the Ottoman Empire had ended, and its control of 45 years over the old Byzantine capital was at an end. The city itself was split in two: Bulgaria annexed the European half, while Venice incorporated the Asian half.

The Kalmar Union began to disintegrate. On 19 February, a group of Swedish noblemen gathered in Stockholm and proclaimed the reestablishment of the independent Kingdom of Sweden, naming their leader, Gustavus Vasa, the new King of Sweden. The rebellion however, only controlled Stockholm at its establishment. It quickly spread throughout much of the country, gaining support of most of the population. On 25 February, Norwegian noblemen gathered in Christiania (Oslo) also proclaimed the reestablishment of Norway. King John of Denmark sent his armies into Scandinavia, attempting to reassert control. Thus a devastating civil war had begun.

Lambert O'Neill's forces defeated a British army of 18,000 men at the Battle of Dublin, capturing the historic Irish capital city. By this point, the Irish rebels controlled half of the island. This would be the greatest extent of their rebellion. Emperor Henry I of Great Britain, alarmed by the Irish victories, immediately mustered a force of nearly 30,000 British and 5,000 Normandian troops, determined to crush the rebellion. The Emperor raised taxes, established military levies, and placed experienced generals in charge of his armies. On June 3, this new army landed in southern Ireland, consolidating itself in Wexford, still held by the British government.

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1499

The army of John, King of Denmark, was defeated at the Battle of Lappland on 9 April by the forces of Gustavus Vasa, "King of Sweden". This battle proved devastating to the Danish, for they lost 10,000 out of 14,000 troops and suffered the capture of most of their guns and other equipment. With this victory, Gustavus Vasa gained firm recognition from much of the rest of Europe. Henry I of Great Britain recognized Sweden on 24 April, followed by Ivan III of Muscovy on 28 April, John Corvinus of Hungary on 5 May, Charles of France on 17 May, and King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Castile-Aragon on 25 May. By September, Sweden had definitely established itself on the European map, also gaining control of Finland. At the same time, the Norwegians defeated Danish forces near Oslo, although the struggle there continued.

The Italian sailor John Cabot approached Manuel I, the new King of Portugal (who had succeeded his father John II in the previous year). Cabot pointed out to Manuel the riches to be gained by western exploration, which could also improve Portugal's aspects in Africa and Asia. Manuel listened. Unlike Ferdinand and Isabella, he was not exhausted by the long Granada War. In fact, Portugal had acquired all of Morocco and now controlled the entry point of the Mediterranean. Money flowed into Portuguese coffers. The King approved Cabot's proposal and granted him approval to begin organizing a expedition.

Muscovy and the Crimea signed the Treaty of Tver with Hungary and Moldavia. This treaty established a general military coalition amongst the four countries. The reason this treaty was signed was that all four states desired chunks of Poland-Lithuania, the large Central European state that stretched from the Oder to the Dnieper, and from the Baltic to the Black Sea coasts. The Crimea wanted the Ochakov Bank; Muscovy wanted Kiev and Smolensk; Hungary wanted Galicia; and Moldavia wanted south-western Ukraine. By the end of the year, the states began active preparations for a military campaign against Poland-Lithuania. Secret overtures were also sent to Livonia and Ducal Prussia, urging those vassal states of Poland to rise up against their masters.

Lambert O'Neil lead his forces against the government army in Wexford, but was decisively defeated by the British commander, Sir Edmund Dudley, at the Battle of Connaught. 4,000 rebels were captured and another 1,000 killed. The British then pushed into central Ireland, recapturing much of the region and sending raids as far as Dublin. By the end of the year, O'Neil's rebellion was under heavy pressure. Despite this, he still believed that he could win, with determined effort.

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The British commander, Sir Edmund Dudley, defeated Lambert O'Neil's army at the Battle of Derry on 28 March. Over 5,000 rebels were killed, 1,000 captured, and the rebel leader, O'Neill, was himself captured. O'Neill was executed for treason, and as such, his rebellion, after three years came to an end. In the aftermath of the rebellion's destruction, British authorities in Ireland acted harshly. Dudley issued a decree which banned the use of Irish as a language and replaced it with English in the civil service and government administration. Most of the native Irish nobility lost their lands, which were given to English and Scottish nobles. Irish provinces were also reorganized, eliminating the last traces of native influence.

King John of Denmark died suddenly in his sleep on 21 April. He was succeeded by his son, Christian II, who wished to conclude the wars in Scandinavia. His son opened negotiations with Gustavus Vasa of Sweden and with the Norwegian rebels. These negotiations dragged out over many months, but a agreement, the Treaty of Christiania, was finally agreed to on 2 September. In this agreement, Denmark formally recognized the independence of Norway and Sweden, with Christian II dropping his titles of King of Denmark and King of Norway. Denmark however retained certain coastal Norwegian and Swedish provinces. Thus the Kalmar Union had collapsed after a century in existence.

On June 2 of this year, John Cabot left Lisbon at the head of a fleet of five ships and two transports. After several months, the expedition organized for the purposes of "exploration to the West" had been fully assembled, and was funded by the King. Cabot's fleet had 4,000 sailors, 500 colonists, 40 priests, and nearly 1,000 troops. Its purpose was to find new lands for Portugal to conquer and to begin colonizing and exploring those lands. Cabot's expedition took several months to cross the "Ocean Sea", in a direction never traveled before. They finally sighted land on 1 October, in the Caribbean, which Cabot believed to be the East Indies. The expedition landed on Hispaniola, claiming the coastal regions for Portugal. Thus the New World had been found. Cabot's expedition left hundreds of settlers and troops at the island, establishing a military fort and trade contacts with the natives. Cabot himself set back towards Portugal in November, although he will not arrive back until March of the next year.

Grand Prince Ivan III of Muscovy, Khan Devlet Girey of the Crimea, King Stephen III of Moldavia, and King John Corvinus I of Hungary acted on their secret treaty arrangements and declared war against the Kingdom of Poland-Lithuania in April and May. Immediately, the four monarchs flung their forces into the large and unwieldy Central European state. Tartar hordes and Moldavian cavalrymen flooded into Ochakov and the Dnieper, while Muscovite forces attacked Vyazma and Hungarian forces flooded into Galicia. The Polish-Lithuanian king, John I Albert, was able to hold off Muscovite forces, but struggled against the other adversaries. By the end of the year, large portions of Polish territory had been captured by the allied coalition. Poland lost most of Galicia, the Ochakov Bank and the Zaphorzye to the allies.

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