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In 1698 the issue of the Spanish Succession had long loomed over Europe. During this period the majority of Europe was almost constantly at war with France and the Ottoman Empire. France was the 300 pound gorilla of the time. In the but recently finished War of the Grand Alliance (also called the Nine Years War of the Palatinate Succession) it stood alone against the HRE (with nearly all its states, including Austria and Brandenburg-Prussia), Great Britain, Spain, Sweden, Savoy and the Dutch Republic, and for the most part it had won, albeit not decisively. It was the time of the Sun King, Louis XIV, in France, and the kingdom really was at the zenith of its power. Yet in the long run, while France won nearly all wars of the time (as noted above, for Europe it was a near-constant fight against French dominance), it gained relatively little compared to what it could have, and compared to the resources invested. Louis XIV was too aggressive, and often did not even bother with the most basic formalities of the time, such as bothering with a proper casus belli. He did not need to; after all, he was the Sun King! But of course, it made France few friends.

Of course, Louis XIV did have a reason for his aggressive behaviour. As powerful as France was, she felt encircled by the Habsburgs: Spain to the west and the HREGN to the east. The prospect of Habsburg reunification (and with Charles II childless that prospect had hung over Europe for decades now) thus made France understandably nervous. On the other hand, the Habsburg position also was well understandable. There was after all a reason they had intra-married for so long: Psychologically (so to speak), they considered their domains the domains of ONE House: House Habsburg. That, in a certain sense, came even before considerations of those realms. Hence going after the territories of the other branch if it should die out was not just a matter of political expansionism, and indeed would not be seen as a matter of expansion at all – but more as a matter of defending Habsburg domains. This was also why Austria, despite being clearly in the inferior position vis a vis France, rejected time and time again all compromises IOTL, because she so strongly felt herself to be in the right.

Both France and Austria had a claim to the throne of Spain. France had the Dauphin because Louis XIV had married Maria Theresa of Spain, daughter of King Philip IV of Spain (and hence sister of his successor, Charles II). In Austria the Emperor Leopold, because his mother was Maria Anna of Spain, daughter of King Philip III of Spain (father and predecessor of Philip IV). As in such cases succession was carried by proximity of blood, the Dauphin, as the nephew of the last king, had the dynastically senior claim. However, by Maria Theresa’s marriage treaty, she renounced all rights to the Spanish Succession. Yet that was deemed invalid, as Spain never fulfilled its end of the treaty - paying her dowry. Of course, Austria insisted that the renunciation was still valid.

Thus the issue was well worth a war for both sides. Yet with the destructive War of the Grand Alliance just ended, neither side really wanted one. This time Austria showed far inferior diplomatic skills, mainly because they felt it was their God-given right to inherit all of the Spanish Empire. However, this was a prospect Austria’s allies in the wars so far, the Sea Powers (England and the Netherlands) did not like at all. For reasons of the balance of power, they wanted Austria and Spain separated. As it was, so did France. Ideally, France wanted a French or at least Bourbon Spain, but breaking the Habsburg encirclement was still better than nothing. Hence, England and France in 1698 signed the First Partition Treaty. In it, a compromise candidate was found: Joseph Ferdinand, Heir of Bavaria. His mother’s mother was another sister of Charles II, Margaret Theresa. Margaret Theresa had married Emperor Leopold, but had bore him no sons, only a daughter, Maria Antonia; she in turn had married the Prince-Elector of Bavaria. The offspring of that marriage was Joseph Ferdinand.

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It was the weakest claim to the Spanish throne, certainly, but comparatively weak Bavaria made for a good compromise candidate. In compensation, the Dauphin was to receive Sicily, Naples and Lorraine (the Duke of Lorraine would be compensated with Milan), and Emperor Leopold was to receive the Spanish Netherlands, the last remnant of the Burgundian inheritance. When the Dauphin would ascend to the French throne, his territories would of course be unified with France. Needless to say, neither Spain nor Austria were very happy with foreign powers dividing up Spanish lands. But eventually, both sides realised that they would have no hope at all in a war against both France and the Sea Powers. Hence, Charles II eventually did name Joseph Ferdinand as Prince of Asturias (equivalent to Prince of Wales in England), and heir of all the Spanish possessions. It was a futile gesture, but at least it was a gesture.

It seemed that at least for once, after all these decades of war, Europe might possible have solved a crisis peacefully. But then fate struck cruelly: On his way from Bavaria to Spain Joseph Ferdinand died. All dreams of Wittelsbach glory were smashed, as were all chances of peace, as there was no compromise candidate any longer. However, this need not have happened. Joseph Ferdinand was not a sickly child, it was just that death was quick to strike in the 17th and 18th centuries. So you can now catch your breath, as now the ATL starts: Joseph Ferdinand does not die, and arrives in Spain.

Charles II died one year, later in 1700, and Joseph Ferdinand was made King of Spain. His father, Prince-Elector Maximilian Emmanuel of Bavaria, now also traveled to Spain to be his regent, but of course there was little he could do about the Spanish possessions in Europe being partitioned. Not that Maximilian Emmanuel would have had any scruples about recklessly risking his possessions and the welfare of the people living therein, as he demonstrated by siding with France IOTL in the War of the Spanish Succession. But ITTL, the case is just too clear that he could not hope to win. Instead of blunt military means, Maximilian Emmanuel hence relies on secret diplomacy.

As noted, Austria was not pleased, not at all. It got the Spanish Netherlands, but that of course was rather meager. From the Austrian point of view, the House of Habsburg had just lost Spain, Naples, Sicily and Milan - a heavy loss. Hence it was all too willing to conspire with Maximilian Emmanuel. Both sides realised that they could not recover everything they wanted, but the French gains could yet be divided… While this sounded promising to Emperor Leopold, of course, the Spanish Regent did not restrict himself to Austria, but after a while began to play the same game with France. France was less inclined towards it, but subtle hints of “otherwise we will talk to the Austrians” helped keep the talks going.

In the end, though, Maximilian was not the master plotter he thought himself to be. He tried a bit too much, maybe, constantly keeping in touch with both Paris and Vienna. But of course, such constant communication, no matter how secret, left trails, and by winter of 1701 both sides knew about the whole affair. Not surprisingly, the winter was spent in the carrying of supplies around for the inevitable spring campaigns. Like most wars of the late 17th century, the War of the Spanish Partition is mainly fought at the German-French border, at the Rhine or Flanders. In this case, mainly the latter, as an ailing Louis XIV (who will die earlier than IOTL) wanted to have a concentrated effort to take the formerly Spanish Netherlands.

Both sides, of course, were also busy seeking allies during the winter. However, they did so with little success. William III of Great Britain and of the Netherlands had just died, two years earlier than IOTL - it was said he had a massive stroke when he heard of Joseph Ferdinand's coronation in Madrid. Seeing Louis XIV as the devil himself, he may well have hoped for a war, and so peace disappointed him. The Jacobites, of course, would later sing “Hail to the courier who delivered message and death” in the War of the European Succession. Queen Anne was quite unwilling to go to war, and the Netherlands suffered something of a succession crisis of their own. Indeed, his designated successor, William IV of Orange of the Frisian branch, was not recognised as Stadtholder-General, and the Netherlands entered the Stadtholder-less time - but this did not go smoothly, and the Netherlands were quite busy with themselves for the next two years. The hostility between supporters and opponents of the Stadtholder position built a base for the later Dutch Civil War during the War of the European Succession. Austrian negotiations with Brandenburg failed as Austria was unwilling to recognise a Prussian kingdom (Brandenburg's price in the OTL War of Spanish Succession); Lorraine/Milan had a policy of strict neutrality towards France at that time, and the other German powers were simply uninterested. Augsburg and Cologne, two bishoprics headed by Wittelsbach bishops, sided with Austria and Spain, but no other German state did. However, Savoy had cast an eye on Milan, so at least Austria would win an Italian ally.

French efforts very even more futile. Of the larger nations no state even considered fighting as France's ally, as the Kingdom was widely seen as too dominant. Nor did France manage to win any German or Italian states.

Thus the war did not spiral out of control, and thankfully for everybody involved it also remained a short war, consisting of a highly indecisive campaigning season in the Southern Netherlands, where numerically far superior French armies met far better supplied Austrian troops, and of a surpising Spanish landing on Sardinia. In this war, the actual battles were even rather secondary to the diplomatic work going on. Numerous dispatches were hastily sent between Madrid, Paris, Vienna and Naples (the Dauphin’s seat), and the negotiators knew no rest. This continued over the winter of 1702/03, and due to this frenzy activity, resumption of the war in the 1703 campaign season was avoided by the Treaty of Metz in January. To further avoid any further ambitions either side may have had on the partitioned territories, it is decreed in this treaty that they are to become secundogenitures – Sicily-Naples including Milan (the former Duke of Lorraine gains back Lorraine) for the Bourbons and the Southern Netherlands for the Austrians. Spain is the only winner in this, as it regains Sardinia, whereas Savoy, Cologne and Augsburg receive nothing at all. The newly formed Duchy of Flanders is now ruled by Leopold's second son, Charles (IOTL HR Emperor Charles VI), whereas Sicily-Naples-Milan is ruled by the Dauphin, who is to be suceeded by his second son upon ascension to the French throne.

Rather anticlimitically, this short and accidental war ended centuries of Habsburg-Bourbon rivarly. Austria and France would fight against once more, in the War of the German Alliance, but in that war Austria would even be a latecomer. The Spanish Succession had virtually dictatced European politics for decades, with it now settled practically everything was possible again, including French-Austrian détente. And that is exactly what happened, too.

But before we come to what France and Austria do, let's turn east- and northwards. IOTL, at nearly exactly the same time as the War of the French Succession another large war raged, the Great Northern War. It really was a tumultous time back then. With the start of the war fully outside the initial PoD sphere, it starts just as IOTL, but it takes a definitely alternative turn when Brandenburg-Prussia enters the war. Elector Frederick III (IOTL King Frederick I) did so only reluctantly, but the prices offered were just too high for him to ignore. Of course, his foremost project all his reign had been to gain the royal dignity. He had correctly analysed that the issue of the Spanish succession was his chance to reach it, seeing as how Habsburg had depseratly needed allies. IOTL, more or less, Frederick III got the royal crown for a corps of 10,000 men. However, here there is no War of the Spanish Succession, and Austria just was not ready to regognice a Prussian kingdom over the War of the Spanish Partition – maybe it would have had if the war had dragged on, but it did not. Hence, Frederick III was free to seek Brandenburger intersts elsewhere.

The Great Northern War started as a simple affair: 1697, a young new ruler, Charles XII, had ascended to the Swedish throne. Russia, Denmark and Saxony all had reasons to dislike Sweden, or at least territorial ambitions against Sweden. Denmark wanted to incoproate the Holstein-Gottorp lands, which were hold by a Danish sideline, but the Duchy's independence was guaranteed by Sweden. August the Strong of Saxony had been elected King of Poland in the same year, and now wanted to gain prestige in Poland by conquering the formerly Polish Livonia, hoping to hence find support to turn Poland into a hereditary monarchy. And Tsar Peter the Great simply wanted an access to the Baltic Sea. And then there was Johann Reinhold Patkul, a German Baltic noble from Livonia. He opposed Swedish centralsiation attempts in Livonia, and would hence like to see his territory in the hands of another power. It was he who had convinced August II of his plan, and so he was the instigator of the war, and the main negotiator between the three allies – and later would always keep the fires of war alive, making him so particularuly notorious. His name will appear over and over again in the history of the war. Already in 1701, he would leave Saxon for Russian affairs (not considered a big deal, after all, they were still allies), and in 1703 he became the Russian ambassador to Saxony.

In any case, in 1700 all three powers thought the ascension of a young, untested ruler to be a perfect opportunity to fulfill their ambitions. To that end they united against Sweden. Without a declaration of war Saxon troops invaded Swedish Livonia in 1700. However, it turned out to be not the quick, successful war they had hoped it to be. The Livonian nobility, though not pleased with the Swedish monarchy, did not side with August, and Poland-Lithuania felt betrayed by August's actions and declared a state of neutrality. Charles XII for his part, supported financially by France and with 25 ships-of-the-line by England and the Netherlands, immidatly landed in Denmark and besieged its capital, Copenhagen. Thus, already in the same year as the Nordic War began Denmark had to sign the Treaty of Traventhal, with which it for now left the war. And also in still the same year, Sweden won decisively over Russia at the Battle of Narva, ejecting their troops completly from Swedish territory.

This all, by the way, is OTL. As are Charles' next steps. Sweden had for all practcial purposes won, and Charles XII could have secured that victory by further pursuing the campaign against Russia. However, Charles XII fatal character flaw was that he took everything personal, he treated the entire war as a personal issue. And undeniably it had been the Saxon troops who had started the whole affair, so instead of continuing the campaign against Russia, Sweden now went out to punish August the Strong. Even though neither would gain Sweden any advantages, Charles aims were to replace August as King of Poland with Stanislaus I. Leszczyński and to invade Saxony. The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was infuriated by the Swedish invasion of its territory, seeing as how they considered themselves not to be in a state of war with Sweden – but they were now, of course. While August II was unpopular in Poland, Charles XII now was even more so.

Nontheless, August’s position became desperate, and hence he even went so far as to offer Royal Prussia to Prince-Elector Frederick III of Brandenburg. (King Frederick I in Prussia, IOTL). Already at the start of the war, Brandenburg-Prussia had been approached by the triple alliance – after all, it, too had territorial ambitions against Sweden, wanting to annex West Pommerania. However, Frederick III had as explained above other ambitions. As those now had been soundly crashed, he took up the next best offer. And that is where the ATL starts for this segment.

In 1704, Frederick III took August's offer, and set his armies to march. One army marched into Swedish Pommerania, to occupy it, while the vastly larger one, led by the Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Dessau marched into Poland. Prince Leopold, the „Old Dessauer“, was souvereign Prince of his tiny principality but he was much more known as Brandenburger (or IOTL Prussian) general, IOTL one of the best generals of the War of the Spanish Succession, and a reformer of the Brandenburger army. He and his troops met up with Saxon and Polish forces under Johann Matthias von der Schulenburg (John Matthew of the Schulenburg). Ironically, the Schulenburgs were an old Brandenburger noble family of military devotion. John Matthew, however, instead of joining the Brandenburger army, had gone freelance, and ended up in Saxon service. Given the later standing of the Schulenburgs in Prussia and England this is ironic, but more on that in later segments.

Charles XII of course could not well ignore such a troop concentration. To meet up with the Brandenburgers, John Matthew had fallen back to the west, and he and Prince Leopold had made Posen (Poznan) their headquarter for the time being. When they learned that the Swedes marched against them, the two marshalls decided to fortify the city and face them here. In the First Battle of Posen, in June 1704, 12,000 Brandenburgers, 6,000 Saxons and 4,000 Poles faced 10,000 Swedes. Now, IOTL, Charles XII's army routinely won against far superior troops, but not here. The Brandenburger troops, while not quite reaching Swedish levels, were of a better quality than the Saxon-Polish troops, and they fought on a prepared, fortified battlefield. In the end, Charles XII was able to make a very orderly retreat with relatively few casualities, but the important fact was that the so far unbroken chain of Swedish victories now in fact was broken.

And this had far reaching consequences diplomatically. Seeing that the Swedes could in fact be beat, Denmark reentered the war, five years earlier in IOTL when it took the Russian victory at Poltava for them to do so. With the Anglo-Dutch auxiliary fleet long having left the Danish waters, the Danes even managed to land in Scania, though they did not attempt to conquer it: It was a diversion, so that they could conquer unhindered Holstein-Gottorp. On another secondary theatre, Brandenburg, after the battles of Anklam and Greifwald, was now in control of (formerly) Swedish Pommerania, all of it. However, the main theate for the time being remained in Poland. John Matthew and Leopold now gave chase to Charles XII, who had retreated to Warsaw. The Swedes and the Alliance fought in August 1704 an indecisive battle at Pruszkov, just some miles west of the Polish capital. The Alliance troops were forced to retreat, but with hardly any damage. However, this allowed Charles XII to convene his charade of a rump Sejm, which under the good arguments of Swedish arms and freely distributed alcohol elected Stanislaus I. Leszczyński to be King of Poland.

However, that did not mean Poland suddenly liked Charles XII. While the Swedes manage to inflict a wounding defeat on (as usual numerically superior) alliance forces at Lowicz (yet some miles more west of Warsaw), confederations of Polish nobles raised Polish troops in support of King August II. Knowing this, and holding out for that support, John Matthew and Pricne Leopold plaid a game of cat and mouse with Charles XII, who of course seeked a decision now. Strategical manouvering all around Warsaw took up the better part of the 1704 autumn. In the course of it, an allied detachment of troops was more or least destroyed in the Battle of Radom, but it does manage to suceed in its mission, delaying Charles XII. The allied main force reached Lublin, where winter quarters were taken. The Swedes had failed to destroy the allied main force before it could unite with Polish troops.

Charles XII, as befitting to him, seeked the bold way out: With the first signs of spring in 1705, his main force left Poland to invade Brandenburg. This way, he tried to split the alliance. With Brandenburg only having the small force that conquered Swedish Pommerania between them and the Swedish army, the Brandenburger-Saxon-Polish troops were forced to bypass Warsaw in forced marches, to haste westwards. Even August the Strong saw that his position would be unholdable if not for Brandenburg. The Brandenburg forces in the March itself gave up the Neumark, which hence got utterly devasted by the Swedish forces, to withdraw behind the Oder. This had two aims: For one, Charles XII maybe could be denied crossing the river, and also small reinforcments from Saxony (but most of their forces stand in Poland, too) were on their way.

In April 1705, the Swedes tried to cross the Oder at the small village of Hohenwutzen. I would like to give an approximation for where it is, but it is more or less in the middle of nowhere. It is located just north of the Oderbruch, if that tells people something, which at that time was rather swampy. In any case, that is far more North then had been expected by the Brandenburg defenders, even though they could have expected it: The more north the crossing the longer it took for the Saxon troops to reach it, after all. Obviously, the Swedish force that had already won deicisvely over forces five times their size utterly destroys a force that is only half its size. The Battle of Hohenwutzen created a panic in Berlin, and Frederick III fled to Saxony. In Saxony itself, August II tried to reach (again!) a special peace with Sweden, but Charles XII still declined. While that had been his hope, to divide the alliance, August’s insistence on remaining, at least titulatorily, King of Poland, made any peace impossible in Charles XII’s eyes. Patkul, in the meanwhile, tried to sabotage that peace, and hence was arrested – the ambassador of an ally, nontheless! Patkul was taken to the Fortress of Königstein – not the same Königstein I am from, but Saxony’s most important fortress, where often times important prisoners were taken to.

Charles XII marched into Berlin unopposed in May. However, there he wasted valuable time with ceremonies glorifiying his victory, and Brandenburg diplomacy also finally managed to gain Hanover on the allied side. Hannover's ambition against Sweden were the Duchy of Bremen and the Principality of Verden (they gained both IOTL after the Great Northern War), but in this desperate situation, Brandenburg also had to offer the County of Ravenstein and the Principality of Minden. IOTL, Hannover (I just cant spell it with one n, it looks… wrong!) was preoccupied with the War of the Spanish Succession, not so here. And while Sweden was on the march in Brandenburg, things looked quite different in the west of the HRE, where Denmark had emerged completely victorious in Schleswig-Holstein. That, with the added desperation of Brandenburg offering such advantageous terms, led Hannover to enter the Great Northern War way sooner than IOTL.

Thus, Charles XII now had to deal with a Hannoverian force and a Saxon force (the force that originally had been planned to reinforce the Brandenburg defenders at the Oder) marching on Berlin. Trying to destroy them one by one, he set his troops to march, but the enemies did not give battle: Their mission was to delay the Swedish troops until the allied main force finally reacheed from the east. Of course, the Swedish King also eventually realised that, and in June 1705 turned eastwards, with just the same intention as Frederick III originally had – to defend the Oder. The two forces met at the river, in the Battle of Lebus and Frankfurt. Frankfurt at the Oder that is, and of course not Frankfurt at the Main, and Lebus is just some very few miles north of it. The allied forces made it apepar as if they wanted to cross at Lebus, but in fact it was only John Matthew using his Saxon troops to keep the Swedes busy. Meanwhile, with the support of Frankfurt's inhabitants, Prince Leopold took the Brandenburger and Polish forces to successfuly and with no resistance cross the Oder there. After hearing of that, Charles XII left only a small detachment in Lebus, so that his main force could engage the Bradnenburgers and Poles.

It was a decisive victory for the alliance. In the end, Charles XII was forced to flee nortwhards, and at Küstrin he crossed the Oder into the Neumark again. The Hannoverians, having done their debt, left the theatre again, but the Brandenburgers, Poles and Saxons now push into Poland again, winning (if with high casualities) again in the Second Battle of Poznan in October – for comparision, now 9,000 Brandenburgers, 8,000 Saxons and 12,000 Poles faced 8,000 Swedes and 3,000 Stanislaus-loyal Poles. This huge battle more or less dissolved the Swedish fighting force, which fled in bad order. Charles XII eventually did rally them again, but saw himself forced to seek shelter in Warsaw. In the last major battle of the campaign, the First Siege of Warsaw in November, he was able to hold the city, if barely. That also is because the Brandenburgers had seperated themselevs from the main force, to now take control of Royal Prussia as had been promised to them. On a smaller sidenote, due to Russian intervention, Patkul was relased, but he knew that he had lost all credit with both Saxony and Russia, and hence was looking for a new master…

In Febraury 1706, the situation looked bleak for Charles XII. Holed up in Warsaw, he was cut off from supplies from Sweden, wheeras August II did raise new troop. It was clear that Poland’s capital would soon fall to him. It is a certain ironic reversal that just two years ago August II had been that desperate, and that in return for lands promised, Brandenburg had helped out – because the same would now happen to Charles XII. Of course, Elector Frederick III was not the man to just break alliances. A pious, very serious and in some aspects even tragic man, he always stood to his word, and generally was too trusting for the world (which allowed fraudulent ministers to de facto reign and embezzle rdiicolously huge sums, but that is another story).

His son, however, was a different sort of man. Frederick William was a strict, cold-hearted man, suffering from porphyria and hence often has, now and then even brutal and violent, rages. He had no use for the splendour his father had built up in copy of Versailles, and instead preferred an ascetic and military life. And that man became Prince-Elector on 14th February 1706, as Frederick William II (the first to hold that name had been his grandfather, the socalled Great Elector) after his father had died (seven years earlier as IOTL – if you stand in the way of the plot, you get killed!). As he was in the middle of the war, most reforms that would make him so famous only began later on, but he immidatly did away with the court glamour, introducing a court as ascetic and military as he himself, against the grave resistance of his family. About all courtiers were replaced by military men, who now lead the order of precedence at court, and the new Elector would punish even the slughtest misuse of money – and if it was just candles burning too long.

It was no wonder that such a man would sympathise with Sweden. Charles XII, for his part, had little use in refined court style, either, and was very much more a military man, too – and the Swedish army was the best of its time. In short, Frederick William II admired the Swedish King. Still, that in itself would have meant little. Brandenburg had gained what it wanted, and Frederick William II was loath to wage war – after all, his precious army might get damaged in it! Enter, as you may have guessed, Patkul. It Is not entirely clear (*whistles innocently*) how Patkul got Frederick William II’s ear, certainly the Prince-Elector disliked that weasely courtier-type person. However, he must have seen some sense in what he hadto say, and began secret negotiations with Charles XII.

By that time, Charles XII and Stanislaus had been forced out of Warsaw, and fled to the eastern fringes of the Commonwealth. Frederick William II, or rather Ratkul by way of Frederick William II’s letters convinced Charles XII that Poland was a problem for later – after all, it also was conviently near Brandenburg-Prussia, so if Sweden and Brandenburg were to ally, they could later take August II down together. Instead, the letters argued, Russia now was the main problem. That was certainly true: Russia had recovered from the catastrophe at Narva, and had occupied the Swedish Baltic territories again. The Baltic Theatre has not been rported here, and it will not, save for the conclusion: The Russians had won and now controlled the Baltic territories. Charles XII of course knew that Patkul was behind Frederick William II, and he hated him, seeing him as a traitor (he was quartered as such by Charles sentence IOTL in 1707). Also, given his personality of course, he disliked nations changing sides during the war. Still, the arguments were convincing, and hence Charles XII eventually did cut a deal with Frederick William II: Brandenburg-Prussia would switch side, and in return gain Courland and Livonia for it. In a secret communication using… [i]alternate[/i] means Frederick William II also promised to extract Patkul to Sweden. Hence, to everybody’s surprise, Brandenburg-Prussia changed sides in April 1706, signing the Treaty of Elbing with Sweden, and declaring war on Russia. Apparently Frederick William II did try to cut a neutrality deal with August II, who would not have been, in itself, opposed to that. However, the alliance with Charles XII, who continued to occupy parts of the Commonwealth, made that impossible, and both Saxony and Poland-Lithuania hence declared war on Brandenburg-Prussia. With that change of sides complete, the combined Brandenburg-Swedish armies marched into Livonia, which became the main theatre of the 1706 campaigning season. It was a massacre. In the battles of Eleja, Mitau (those battles forced open the way to Riga), Lennewarden (east of Riga, defeats a Russian army send to relieve Riga) and Rositten (for control of East Livonia), and in the Siege of Riga, the Russian armies were completely beaten, and had to withdraw into Estonia or Russia proper.

Things looked less well in Prussia proper. Both the Duchy and Royal Prussia had of course now been invaded by Saxony-Poland, which diverted its attention between that and chasing Stanislaus. After the Battle of Ostrometzko, where the Saxons crossed the Vistula, the Prussians retreated into the fortified cities of the region, more or less giving up the countryside to the Poles. Kulm, Thorn and Graudenz were all besieged at the time, and all fall within 1706, too. However, at least this delayed the Polish advance. The Poles could use them for winter quarters, but that was about it. And it was a turbulent winter. The Polish nobles began to grow yet again dissastified with August II – poor Poland, its only choices seemingly playballs of the great powers! August II, now feeling secure as King of Poland, and due to the war actually in Poland for a change and not in Saxony, raised the ire of the Polish nobles by an outright autocratic behavhiour. It was clear that he still wanted the hereditary royal dignity of Poland, and it was just as clear that the nobles would oppose that. For that reason, in December 1706 a confederation of nobles made the so-called Wloclawek (it are names like that that make me consider using the German names exclusively…) Demands, which included such outrageous things as the King maybe not starting wars from Polish territory without the Poles permission, and maybe not giving away Polish land without Polish permission. Naturally, August II did not agree, but he could not risk outright rejecting the demands, either. Instead, he tried to ignore them for the most part.

And with the spring of 1707, he simply marched straight on further into Royal Prussia. Danzig was besieged for a short time, but the Prussians successfully relieved it May in the Battle of Praust-Land, only for that force one month later to be beaten itself and forced to withdraw into Ducial Prussia in the Battle of Dirschau. It must be noted that the Prussian force was a secondary army, with the primary army of Brandenburg-Prussia still standing and fighting in Livonia. Thus, the way to reoccupy Royal Prussia would have been free for August II – if it was not for the troublesome nobles of the Wloclawek Confederation, who had now risen in open revolt. The Saxon-Polish army left Royal Prussia, to start a race with the South Poland based troops of the Confederation that had Warsaw as goal. The Wloclawekers won the race, as August II was delayed by skirmishes, but the King than went on to win the Third Siege of Warsaw in August 1707.

Meanwhile, the Brandenburg-Prussian main force was as said engaged in Livonia, which the Russians did try to retake. The Russian spring offensive hence consisted of a doublepronged invasion. It was a rather depesrate move, as Charles XII was very successful in Estonia, and hence that invasion was the last forces Russia could spare for Livonia. The southern army was defeated at the Battle of Warkland, but the northern army was triumphant at the Battle of Schwanenburg. The Brandenburg-Prussian forces hence had to fall back to Jakobstadt, but there they won the Siege of Jakobstadt in June 1707. With that victory, the Brandenburg-Prussian position in Livonia had been secured, and Prince Leopold, who was still the supreme comamdnerof all Brandenburg-Prussian forces (and indeed would be the main executive of Frederick William II's reforms in the military), made haste to march his forces southwards into threatened Prussia – however, not before arresting Patkul (who had been with the army the whole time, in order that just that may be done) to send him to Charles XII's base in Estonia. However, doing so in his native Livonia with just a little escort, as no larger one could be spared, maybe was a bad idea. In any case, Patkul is freed fellow Livonians, and fled to the one country that would always welcome somebody who had caused so much trouble for Sweden, Denmark.

1707 ended with a larger battle, as Leopold's main force and the at that time largest Saxon-Polish army meet at the Battle of Koslau, pitting the Prince Leopold and John Matthew of the Schulenburg against each other. The battle ended as a decisive Brandenburg-Prussian victory, with high casualities on both sides, forcing both sides to disengage and rest. In contrast, 1708 would become a year of smaller engagements, all along the Prussian-Polish border. Hence, it would be futile to give a chronologcial order of battles, especially as absolutely none is any case was any decisive. No side conncetrated all too many troops in that theatre, either. August II was more worried about the Polish rebells, while Frederick William II was concerned by the War of the German Alliance that had just broken out in the west (more on that in a later segment), and of course also needed to maintain a garrison in Livonia. In short, the war between them had become very much irrelevant for either side. After all, Brandenburg-Prussia already had made its gains, and positively [i]huge[/i] gains at that, while August II now saw its chance to establish himself as hereditary monarch in Poland, so what did he care about Royal Prussia?

Thus consequently, Saxony-Poland and Brandenburg-Prussia concluded a special Peace, the Peace of Thorn, in August 1708. Brandenburg-Prussian peaces with Russia and Denmark followed during autumn. This ended Brandenburg-Prussia's involvement in the war, except for a small, amusing epilogue in 1710. It had made huge gains – Western Pommerania, Royal Prussia, Courland, Livonia, and had managed to hold onto them, too. That did not make them a great power just yet, but their success was well noted everywhere in Europe. And while Brandenburg-Prussia's star was rising, Sweden's star was falling, in the very same war. Deserted by his ally, Charles XII secured Estonia in 1708. There are some reports that after the Peace of Thorn he considered invading Livonia, but instead he chose to try to retake Ingria, including the newlyfound St Petersburg. However, that very much turned into a catastrophe. Charles XII's troops were good, were still probably number for number the best in the entire war, but they were exhausted. Different to OTL, Charles XII also had not been able to rebuild his troops with Saxon reperation money, so the situation is even worse for him. Estonia got invaded again in 1709, but the end cane in May 1710: Drawing his last troops together, Charles XII met the Russian main force at the Battle of Fellin. His hope was that his elite troops may cut through the undersupplied, unready and badly coordinated Russian masses, but this plan failed miserably. Even though more than half of the Russian troops were killed, so was Charles XII's army, the elite force with which he had scoured Poland and the Baltic.

With that, the war was finally over for him.Charles XII withdrew into Brandenburg-Prussian Livonia, which after all, still nominally was somewhat of an ally. However, Frederick William II became terrified at how that threatened his newly won territories – and at the same time delighted at the chance. For a last time, Brandenburg-Prussia changed sides again, even reentering the war to do so, and in the Battle of Lemsal took Charles XII and his remaining troops prisoners. Frederick William II managed to successfully use Charles XII as a hostage, valuable to both Russia and of course Sweden. This diplomatcially secured Brandenburg-Prussia's flank against Russia during the War of the German Alliance, though that might also have to do with that Tsar Peter the Great after all had gotten what he wanted – access to the Baltic Sea. Livonia would merely have been a bonus. Russia itself after all had been quite weakened in the war, with several terrible defeats inflicted on it, and hence it even concluded peace with Sweden in October 1710, the First Peace of Kirchholm, the place where Charles XII was under arrest.

However, Denmark did not, and during the Swedish King's captivity invaded Scania for good. Already, it had held a bridgehead on the other side of Copenhagen, due to its campaign in 1705. Held at bay by Charles XII's regentress in Sweden, his daughter Ulrike Eleanora, news of the King's capture must have been pretty demoralising, or maybe the Danes tried more now – in any case, the Danes managed to occupy Scania until 1713. By that time, Danish successes were too much even for Brandenburg-Prussia, which prefered a balance of power in its north, and hence they threatened to release and even resupply Charles XII. With that threat, Sweden and Denmark made the Second Peace of Kirchholm in November 1713, which granted Denmark Scania, including Blekinge, but without Halland. Formerly Norwegian territories were not reclaimed, either. This peace ended the Great Northern War for good, eight yeas earlier than IOTL (but then, even IOTL the war was de facto over by 1712 anyways, Charles XII just refused to give in) and without involvement of the Ottomans or other forces allied to Sweden. As Sweden had even lost Scania, it ended even more disasastrously for it than IOTL.