The Silver Knight, a Lithuania Timeline
- Thread starter Augenis
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Yes, that is how Lithuania should modernize! Forget abolishing the aristocracy, you bring equality by making everyone an aristocrat! First make it a democracy with the right to vote extended to the nobility, then give everyone some land and a noble title! BRILLIANT! AHAHAHAHAHA THERE IS NO POSSIBLE WAY THIS COULD GO WRONG!
Oh whoops, I thought the uncolonized part of northern Asia was Volga Russia (my bad)
Well, "Volga" is in the name, so it would make sense for Volga Russia to be near the Volga, not somewhere in Siberia
For the record, it's the light tan country to the east of Lithuania
Chapter 63: Elan!
Part 63: Elan! (Mar-Jun 1911)
But what the Coalition had as an undisputed advantage was superior morale. Especially among German troops, who were ready to die for their Fatherland and it's inevitable unification, even if it meant fighting the juggernaut next door. France and Lithuania, meanwhile, suffered from internal problems - many in the former were opposed to the government's imperialistic ambitions, while the latter was composed of dozens of nationalities which sought to separate from this "prison of nations".
The Western Front, composed of the borders of France and the Netherlands on one side and the two Germanias on another, was the most lively field of operations in the first months of the war. The North German army was rapidly mobilized and sent to deal with the stationed French troops within the country, which at the time were mostly limited to their bases on the coast, near major cities and along the Elbe. Even if they were presented as a major threat to North German sovereignty, when the time came for them to fight, the results were abysmal - most French garrisons were undersupplied, disorganized and manned by barely trained troops, and most of them surrendered within weeks, if not days. The major exception was the French station in Berlin, a minor town in eastern parts of the country that was turned into a French fort, which was manned by the elite 11th Chasseur Battalion and managed to endure superior German assaults until May 30th, when it finally raised the white flag after leaving over 5 000 German attackers dead in the outskirts of the fortress.
Meanwhile, the main French forces attacked German-controlled Rhineland, rolling over the light defenses in the region, capturing most of the coal-producing regions at the Ruhr Valley and surrounding areas, and finally reached the river Rhine by March 20th. The French high command, led by Field Marshal Jérôme Lazard, was confident that it could break into Germania proper and end this war as soon as it began, but this is where they were met with a surprising turn of events. Knowing that the French army which was stationed at the border could overrun Germania if sufficient preparations are not done, South Germania made contingency plans for such a conflict in advance, and one of them, dubbed Operation Faust, was enacted in the last third of March. Within about a week, almost all bridges, barges and other means of transport across the Rhine were demolished, destroyed or pulled out of the river, cutting Germania off from France with a wall of water.
Both the Germans and the French knew that this was only a temporary measure - pontoon bridges, barges and ships existed and could be used to transport soldiers across the Rhine, but preparing and manufacturing the means to move an entire army would take a long time, and time is what the Germans needed the most. For now, however, the eyes were turned towards the Alps and the Netherlands, both of whom were unaffected by Operation Faust for obvious reasons, while the rest of the front turned into a stalemate, only livened up by artillery firing at each other from across the river and garrisoned troops overlooking their opponents.
One of the many destroyed bridges in Mainz
A similar stalemate developed in the Pyrenean Front between Spain and France. Within the first weeks of the war, French forces rolled over Roussillon, inflicting heavy casualties upon the Spanish defenses there and destroying a few divisions through encirclements - however, behind it stood a natural wall, the mountain range known as the Pyrenees. Much like South Germania, Spain made plans for a potential future conflict with France, and it included using the mountain range to it's full defensive capacity. Expert, specialized and acclimated mountain infantry, supported by strategically placed artillery divisions and having the advantage of knowing the land through prepared detailed maps of the region, helped to halt the French advance. One of the earliest major battles in this front happened in the county of Andorra - formerly a tiny principality which was annexed into Spain after the Twenty Years' War - where the French 11th Army attempted to make a breakthrough. The Battle of Andorra la Vella lasted from April 21st to May 19th, and even though both sides suffered great losses, the French troops eventually pulled back after leaving over 26 000 of their own dead on the field, in comparison to 19 000 Spanish losses. The French troops dug in and fortified on the outskirts of the mountain range, and much like in the West, the front became stationary for the time being.
A front where natural barriers did not pose a problem, however, was the Eastern Front. The Lithuanians marched into war with joy and pride, ready to roll over Visegrad and raise their flag above Buda and Prague by 1912, but their dreams faced a harsh reality. Much like the other members of the Baltic-Adriatic Coalition, Visegrad had been preparing for this war for some time, and the Imperial forces faced a harsh and stiff resistance. Within the wide front, the Visegradians dug in and employed modern technology like machine guns, indirect artillery fire and reconnaissance aircraft to hold back enemy charges and leave thousands dead in their wake. However, it would be incorrect to say that Lithuania did not achieve any success in the first months, though - the Imperial forces managed to advance a few dozen kilometers across Poland, and while it may sound like little, the Lithuanians were only preparing for the actual offensive, which was set to take place in late June. The Battle of Lutsk was the most notable battle in the first months of the war - there, the Lithuanians besieged a major Visegradian salient within their territory, attacking it from three sides, with over three times the manpower of their opponent. After a month of grueling skirmishes, mass charges and trench warfare, the General Staff finally gave the order to evacuate the salient, although some defenders remained on principle alone. Meanwhile, Visegrad went on the offensive in the Duchy of Wallachia-Moldavia, a Lithuanian client state. Despite being supplied with equipment from their overlord, the Wallachians and Moldavians lacked the training and the expertise necessary to make use of it. By June, the Visegradian forces had broken through the Carpathians and began approaching the city of Craiova.
A Russian-language Lithuanian war poster depicting the Battle of Lutsk
Lithuanians did not achieve great success in the Northern Front, either. Here, their front lines with Sweden went through the Karelian Isthmus and the frozen depths of Northern Europe. The Swedish military was perhaps the smallest out of the entire Coalition, only numbering 50 000 men at the start of the war, but it was a professional volunteer army, trained to fight in the boreal forest and tundra. Lithuania, meanwhile, assigned the 4th Imperial Army under the wing of General Nikolaj Blagochevsky, and the High Command drew up orders to take the Isthmus and most of Karelia by the end of the year. This proved to be nearly impossible, as the tough weather in the region and strong Swedish resistance pushed back all Lithuanian advances. The permafrost made it tough to dig in, too, so the Lithuanians were disadvantaged. In some places in Karelia, the Swedes even managed to advance into their adversary's territory, taking over a few villages, but otherwise, the front remained static.
Despite being called the "Great European War", the Great European War was not limited to Europe - fighting took place in Africa, too, where the French protectorate, Egypt, faced off against Visegradian Tripolitania. The garrisons in Tripolitania were small and far from home, mostly composed of soldiers from the mainland who knew little about the land or it's intricacies, and the majority of the population disliked Visegradian rule - thus, it comes off as no surprise that Egypt was successful in this front, despite heavy losses on both sides. On May, the Egyptians captured Tobruk and continued advancing beyond, towards Benghazi. Skirmishes between French and Spanish protectorates in Central Africa also took place, although with no long-term results.
The first months of the war came to an end. Many, many more were left to go. No new nations joined the war in this period of time, but many were standing at crossroads, forced to pick a side sooner or later. The Ottomans were one of those nations, pressured and courted both by Visegrad and by Lithuania to join their respective sides - and the latter was ready to take up on some... unconventional methods. The VFS, Portugal, Britannia and Volga Russia also had their own dilemmas to solve.
The war on June 1st, 1911
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And I'm pretty sure I missed this by at least two pages, but we have finally passed 50 pages! Over a thousand posts have been made in this thread, which, in my opinion, is quite the achievement.
In fact, with almost a year of nearly constant work on this TL, over 60 main story chapters and a number of special chapters alongside them, I think it's safe to say that this enormous work has become one of the greatest works I've made in my life, so far. It's gotten to the point that people recognize me on other websites, especially Reddit, as "the guy who wrote The Silver Knight", and the fact that this TL has such a base of followers as to spread across the Internet really sinks deep.
Like, whoa.
I've got an interesting topic with you to discuss.
While my main focus in this TL has so far been on supranational interactions and more overarching events, like economic and technological changes, I think you've all noticed that I try to give some life to the ahistorical people inhabiting this world. When I present, say, the new ruler of Lithuania or a great person from somewhere else, I try to present their background and personality alongside their accomplishments.
In a way, it's my attempt to make up for the fact that this TL is so far past it's start date that there are no historical characters to attach ourselves to. With... sometimes good results, sometimes not very much so.
What I'm trying to get to is this... what was your favorite ahistorical character in this TL so far? It can be a ruler or any other great person, I'm not picky.
In fact, with almost a year of nearly constant work on this TL, over 60 main story chapters and a number of special chapters alongside them, I think it's safe to say that this enormous work has become one of the greatest works I've made in my life, so far. It's gotten to the point that people recognize me on other websites, especially Reddit, as "the guy who wrote The Silver Knight", and the fact that this TL has such a base of followers as to spread across the Internet really sinks deep.
Like, whoa.
I've got an interesting topic with you to discuss.
While my main focus in this TL has so far been on supranational interactions and more overarching events, like economic and technological changes, I think you've all noticed that I try to give some life to the ahistorical people inhabiting this world. When I present, say, the new ruler of Lithuania or a great person from somewhere else, I try to present their background and personality alongside their accomplishments.
In a way, it's my attempt to make up for the fact that this TL is so far past it's start date that there are no historical characters to attach ourselves to. With... sometimes good results, sometimes not very much so.
What I'm trying to get to is this... what was your favorite ahistorical character in this TL so far? It can be a ruler or any other great person, I'm not picky.
I liked Valdislavas II - its not often you see a romantic tragedy in alternate history, despite real history having quite a few examples, so its presence in this story was pretty cool.And I'm pretty sure I missed this by at least two pages, but we have finally passed 50 pages! Over a thousand posts have been made in this thread, which, in my opinion, is quite the achievement.
In fact, with almost a year of nearly constant work on this TL, over 60 main story chapters and a number of special chapters alongside them, I think it's safe to say that this enormous work has become one of the greatest works I've made in my life, so far. It's gotten to the point that people recognize me on other websites, especially Reddit, as "the guy who wrote The Silver Knight", and the fact that this TL has such a base of followers as to spread across the Internet really sinks deep.
Like, whoa.
I've got an interesting topic with you to discuss.
While my main focus in this TL has so far been on supranational interactions and more overarching events, like economic and technological changes, I think you've all noticed that I try to give some life to the ahistorical people inhabiting this world. When I present, say, the new ruler of Lithuania or a great person from somewhere else, I try to present their background and personality alongside their accomplishments.
In a way, it's my attempt to make up for the fact that this TL is so far past it's start date that there are no historical characters to attach ourselves to. With... sometimes good results, sometimes not very much so.
What I'm trying to get to is this... what was your favorite ahistorical character in this TL so far? It can be a ruler or any other great person, I'm not picky.
Queen Sofja is tempting, as I've always been fond of Iron Lady monarchs, but I have to give it to Francizek I for rescuing Visegrad from the pit of a Republicanism, disunity, and chaos.And I'm pretty sure I missed this by at least two pages, but we have finally passed 50 pages! Over a thousand posts have been made in this thread, which, in my opinion, is quite the achievement.
In fact, with almost a year of nearly constant work on this TL, over 60 main story chapters and a number of special chapters alongside them, I think it's safe to say that this enormous work has become one of the greatest works I've made in my life, so far. It's gotten to the point that people recognize me on other websites, especially Reddit, as "the guy who wrote The Silver Knight", and the fact that this TL has such a base of followers as to spread across the Internet really sinks deep.
Like, whoa.
I've got an interesting topic with you to discuss.
While my main focus in this TL has so far been on supranational interactions and more overarching events, like economic and technological changes, I think you've all noticed that I try to give some life to the ahistorical people inhabiting this world. When I present, say, the new ruler of Lithuania or a great person from somewhere else, I try to present their background and personality alongside their accomplishments.
In a way, it's my attempt to make up for the fact that this TL is so far past it's start date that there are no historical characters to attach ourselves to. With... sometimes good results, sometimes not very much so.
What I'm trying to get to is this... what was your favorite ahistorical character in this TL so far? It can be a ruler or any other great person, I'm not picky.
Interesting choice. I tried to model him somewhat after Sigismund II Augustus.
A fan of Visegrad, huh?
Well, we did sort of skip 100 years and fill it up with special chapters
Welcome back!
I do live in Prague...Interesting choice. I tried to model him somewhat after Sigismund II Augustus.
A fan of Visegrad, huh?
Chapter 64: "Are you regretting it now?"
Part 64: "Are you regretting it now?" (Jun-Oct 1911)
Anyone with a clear enough mind could see who this was targeted towards, and, unfortunately to him, Abdulmejid III, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, failed to call the Lithuanian government's bluff. Fearing that a sudden first strike could destroy his country then and there, he began looking for ways to amend the relationship between his nation and Lithuania, and in it came the July Summit, a three-day round of negotiations between Žygimantas IV's Lithuania and Abdulmejid III's Ottomans, and it resulted in the Turkish empire becoming the fourth full-pledged member of the Entente Cordiale. The Ottomans began to mobilize to take down Visegrad, while relations between the Mughals and the rest of the Entente deteriorated further than ever.
The highlight of the summer of 1911 was undoubtedly the Netherlands Offensive in the Western Front. Well aware that the Netherlands was a hole in their "water wall" that was the Rhine, the combined North and South German armies poured into the Dutch territory, with their goal being to reach the river and prevent France from sending significant forces to the right bank. While minor skirmishes between North Germania and the Netherlands started at the very beginning of the war, the small Dutch army was caught off-guard by the vast, over 300 000 soldier offensive, and within weeks, the Germans overran most of Friesland and Guelders. The Estates-General of the Netherlands relocated to Antwerpen. However, that was enough time for the French high command to take notice and transport two reserve armies into the region, which clashed with the North German 3rd Army and South German 1st Army in the First Battle of Utrecht. The beautiful, ancient city, one of the nation's main cultural and religious centers, suffered the wrath of two months of street combat, massive maneuvers and artillery fire, especially artillery fire, and in the end, the results of the battle were inconclusive. The French positions were pushed back and most of Holland had to be temporarily evacuated in danger of an encirclement, but the Germans failed to acquire most of their strategic objectives, nor did they reach the Rhine, while the French funneled more troops into the right bank. And, in addition, their victory in Utrecht created a large salient, as following offensives in Gelderland were met with failures. In late August, Field Marshal August Schnee gave the order to evacuate the Utrecht salient and dig in at a more defensible position. Germania began to lick it's wounds, while at the same time ready to give the offensive a second shot. The war in the Netherlands was only beginning.
Outside of minor skirmishes in Switzerland, where, after a short siege, the French captured Bern, not much else happened on the Western Front. However, France was planning for an offensive of their own in the following months - weather forecasts predicted that the winter of 1911-1912 will be cold enough for rivers like the Rhine to freeze over, and that was exactly what the French needed...
Dutch soldiers defending a suburb in Utrecht
In the Pyrenean Front, Spain began a major offensive around the same time as the First Battle of Utrecht took place, incited by the Germans in order to alleviate pressure from the Netherlands, and this period was known as the Roussillon Campaign. The Spanish dictatorship set the goal of their attack to be the reconquest of Roussillon - a campaign with little to no strategic benefits, mostly for bragging rights and alleviating pressure, and it went just as well as you'd expect. Both sides bled a lot of men in over a month of mountain warfare, in hot Mediterranean weather, and in the end, Spain was forced to call off the offensive, which achieved none of it's goals and did little to help the situation in the Netherlands. Static warfare began to dominate in the Pyrenees, just like in the Western Front.
An another "front" where the Entente was having success over the Coalition was in the seas. The mighty Marine nationale overpowered both their Spanish and Visegradian counterparts in naval skirmishes across the Mediterranean and the Atlantic within the time of a few months. In September 11th of 1911, the French magenta ship Charlemagne sunk Visegrad's flagman Matthias Corvinus in the Gulf of Sirte, and after a number of smaller engagements, Visegrad's sea connection to it's colonies was practically cut off. Spain fared a little better, as their navy was considerably more powerful and disciplined, but even they suffered greatly in the first months of the war. In addition, France could easily outproduce both Visegrad (who lacked as wide of a naval industry as it's peers), Sweden and Spain in naval production, while North Germania hardly had a navy to begin with, so the war in the sea was practically done for. The Entente laid naval blockades across most of Europe, and if the Coalition wanted to win the war now, they had to do it on land.
While the Entente was on the defensive during most of this period, one front where they were the ones doing the advancing was the Eastern Front. With the flanks secure thanks to the Ottomans joining the war on their side, Lithuania could go all-out against Visegrad, and amassed four new armies at the border by July. The first strategic objective of the July Offensive was to capture Visegrad's Baltic Sea coast, reach the Vistula and the Dnieper, and then defeat the Visegradians in the plains and drive them to the Carpathians, at which point, the Lithuanians hoped, the Coalition will be war weary and agree to an advantageous peace. The idea for the offensive was proposed by the Grand Hetman, Antanas Aukštaitis, who was a firm believer in the idea that this war can and will be decided with a single powerful invasion to knock the enemy out of the conflict.
How successful was the offensive? Not very. The initial phases of the attack worked great - Lithuanian soldiers swept across Pomerelia and even captured some of North German Pomerania, but the next phase of the attack - reach the Vistula and Dnieper - were met with problems. The massive size of the armies involved, the poor rail network in Lithuania and linguistic problems meant that by the time the Lithuanians reorganized and began their attack, Visegrad had plenty of time to prepare for the hit, move reserves to the front and endure the attack. After bloody battles in Plock and Warszawa, the Lithuanian 3rd Army managed to reach the Vistula in the first week of August, but in Galicia, the Imperial troops were stopped in their tracks in the Battle of Lemberg. The offensive was a failure, having only accomplished a few of it's goals out of many, and was eventually called off. Visegradian superiority in organization and in infrastructure became apparent to both sides.
Lithuanian prisoners of war, taken after the defeat in the Battle of Lvov
While this was happening, the Lithuanians were losing ground in the far North. Bolstered by fresh reserves from the homeland, the Swedish army pushed the Lithuanians out of parts of Karelia, even as far as reaching Lake Onega, and they also captured a number of towns in the Isthmus. It was a minor loss, but the Swedish media was quick to overblow it as a great victory, trying to give the people some hope in this war that many of them did not want to participate in. Outside of that and a few naval skirmishes in the Baltic Sea, not much happened in the Northern Front.
In the recently opened Southern Front, Lithuania hoped to "use" the Ottomans as a distraction during their July Offensive, but soon realized that this was not a good idea. Despite some modernization efforts in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Ottoman industry and military was not up to par to Western standards, and the fact that they started to mobilize their forces too late meant that the Turkish army was not prepared for any major offensives. The Balkan peoples were also growing unruly, tired of over 500 years of oppression, and since they lived right in-between the core of the Empire and the front lines, it was not a very good thing. The Ottoman military attempted a few minor offensives in Montenegro, managing to occupy the coast of the autonomous region and getting close to Dubrovnik, but they lost ground in Serbia, as the Visegradian border units occupied a few minor towns in Vojvodina. Despite Lithuanian demands, the Ottomans did not launch a major offensive to distract their opponent - they needed more time to prepare.
In the African Front, the naval blockade on Coalition powers made the job even easier for Egypt, and despite a heat wave and a number of sandstorms forcing both sides to cease activity in the front numerous times, the French protectorate advanced even further, successfully capturing Benghazi in late August. The tiny Visegradian garrisons were out of supplies and too small to stop the Egyptians despite their inferior armament, only delay them, thus Spain had to bring in reserves from North Africa to help. Still, the war in North Africa appeared to be going heavily in Entente's favor.
Despite a number of failures, the war nevertheless seemed to be going barely to Entente's favor - however, the balance of the conflict will be shaken up even further, as after a deterioration of the already deep diplomatic crisis between the Mughal Empire, the Ottomans and France, the massive Indian nation officially declared war on the Entente in September 14th, 1911, as well as joined the Coalition, the first independent non-European nation to do so. Along with that, they drew in their protectorates in South-East Asia. Despite being called the "Great European War", it was quick to expand to the rest of the world, it seems...
But what has been gained so far? What has been learned?
Well, one thing's for sure - both sides were here for the long haul. The era of great offensives, pitched battles and heroic commanders was over. To replace it came the era of blood, machine guns and small-scale warfare. Every inch of land was important.
In late September, already after the Mughal Empire's entrance into the war, Francois Chirac, a Romandy French politician, one of the main leaders of the anti-imperialist and anti-war movement in the Republic of France, caused a scandal. A scandal, caused by posting a newspaper article, which, among many things, hosted this immortal line:
"Almost a million casualties have already been inflicted across Europe.
Are you regretting it now?
Or do you need a million more to let it sink in?"
Are you regretting it now?
Or do you need a million more to let it sink in?"
The war in October 1st, 1911
Egypt, Netherlands and Wallachia-Moldavia are all technically fighting on a single front