Okay, so here's the deal.
In 1357, Algirdas and Kęstutis, the leaders of the "diarchy" of Lithuania, went into negotiations with the Pope and Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV on accepting Christianity and ending the hundred years' war between the Western crusaders and the Lithuanians. Of course, this wasn't out of the ordinary for Lithuania - they negotiated numerous times on Christianization before, like in 1298, 1322, 1341, 1349, etc, etc... This attempt was the most serious of the bunch, though, and it appears as if Algirdas and Kęstutis were going to accept.
Of course, accept with terms and conditions, and here were their terms:
* Lithuania annexes half of the territory held by the Teutonic and Livonian Orders in the Baltic region, the one that is on it's border and was unjustly annexed by the Teutons in the Baltic Crusade. The rest of the lands would be left for god knows whom, maybe Poland would take Pomerelia, maybe there would be secular states founded in their place.
* The Teutonic Order must move to the steppe south and east of Ruthenian territory to fight against the Tatars there.
* But the Order relinquishes all rights to the Ruthenians, and "all of Rus' must belong to Lithuanians", as Algirdas stated.
There are obvious reasons why this proposal was not accepted, but what if, for some reason, it is? Maybe with an earlier POD - for example, Kęstutis wins the Battle of Strėva in 1348, Lithuania does not appear weak to the Westerners, and maybe he even launches counter-raids to prove that the Teutons won't be able to simply take over Lithuania, thus forcing them to negotiate.
Where would the Teutonic Order reestablish itself? Somewhere along the Black Sea ceast? In Crimea? Deeper inland?
What would be the impact on Eastern Europe, and especially the southeast, of a German monastic order arriving there to fight Tatars? Would they even be effective?
In 1357, Algirdas and Kęstutis, the leaders of the "diarchy" of Lithuania, went into negotiations with the Pope and Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV on accepting Christianity and ending the hundred years' war between the Western crusaders and the Lithuanians. Of course, this wasn't out of the ordinary for Lithuania - they negotiated numerous times on Christianization before, like in 1298, 1322, 1341, 1349, etc, etc... This attempt was the most serious of the bunch, though, and it appears as if Algirdas and Kęstutis were going to accept.
Of course, accept with terms and conditions, and here were their terms:
* Lithuania annexes half of the territory held by the Teutonic and Livonian Orders in the Baltic region, the one that is on it's border and was unjustly annexed by the Teutons in the Baltic Crusade. The rest of the lands would be left for god knows whom, maybe Poland would take Pomerelia, maybe there would be secular states founded in their place.
* The Teutonic Order must move to the steppe south and east of Ruthenian territory to fight against the Tatars there.
* But the Order relinquishes all rights to the Ruthenians, and "all of Rus' must belong to Lithuanians", as Algirdas stated.
There are obvious reasons why this proposal was not accepted, but what if, for some reason, it is? Maybe with an earlier POD - for example, Kęstutis wins the Battle of Strėva in 1348, Lithuania does not appear weak to the Westerners, and maybe he even launches counter-raids to prove that the Teutons won't be able to simply take over Lithuania, thus forcing them to negotiate.
Where would the Teutonic Order reestablish itself? Somewhere along the Black Sea ceast? In Crimea? Deeper inland?
What would be the impact on Eastern Europe, and especially the southeast, of a German monastic order arriving there to fight Tatars? Would they even be effective?