Part I - New Rise of Lithuania - Plater Dynasty 1399-1443
Chapter I - The Great Liberation - Mindaugas II Plater 1399-1419
Vytautas moved through Smolensk and Bryansk, crushing the rebellions and retaking the provinces. He left 5000 soldiers in charge of building a fort in Bryansk and keeping it from rebelling again. With the remaining 17.000 men he moved with haste to Bessarabia, which had been eaten up by the monster that is Golden Horde. In Bessarabia, he was joined by his cousin, Władysław II Jagiełło and together they started laying siege. In the meanwhile, Švitrigaila has finally found what he was looking for; the perfect canditate for King of Lithuania.
Mindaugas Plater, an honourable and intelligent nobleman from Trakai, was Švitrigaila's discovery. From his mother's side, he was claimed by many to be a decendant of Mindaugas himself. Although his lineage was unclear, he came from a family of nobles where all the men of the family had served in the military for decades. He was personally trained by his father, Gediminas Plater, who had served as a captain in the Polish Army. Mindaugas was particularly intelligent, had superior tactical knowledge and was an expert horse rider and swordsman. While he certainly was no public speaker, and possessed next to no political skill, Švitrigaila was confident that he was the one who could rally all the peoples of Lithuania and lead them towards a glorious future.
Švitrigaila gave Mindaugas an army of 5000 men, and requested him to aid Vytautas on the battlefield to prove his worth. Mindaugas arrives in Bessarabia, and almost immediately the Polish-Lithuanian forces, numbering 36.000, are attacked by 20.000 enemy soldiers, with 15.000 more on the way. Together the three great military leaders are able to defeat the more seasoned forces of the enemy and send them fleeing towards Podolia. Eventhough the fleeing army is joined by 15.000 fresh soldiers in Kursk, Vytautas, Mindaugas and Władysław II Jagiełło manage to turn the tides of the war by chasing the heathen army all the way to Mogilyov, where the remaining enemies are slaughtered on the battlefield. The epic battle did not come without a price, however. Władysław II Jagiełło has died on the battlefield. Filled with grief, Vytautas sends the Polish army away, carrying their dead king with them. On the body of the dead king, he places a sealed letter, informing the regency council of the heir to the throne that the personal union has been dissolved. In the same evening, celebrating their victory by the camp fire, Vytautas announces that Mindaugas, hereon known as Mindaugas II Plater, is the new king of an independent Lithuania. There was much rejoicing.
Mindaugas and Vytautas are confident that after the annihilation of 35.000 tatar soldiers will be enough to bring Golden Horde to the negotiation table. They send an envoy to Sarai, with orders to offer peace with tribute from Lithuania. Mindaugas and Vytautas set camp in Kiev, where the wounded are taken care of and fresh soldiers arrive to fill the ranks of soldiers lost in Mogilyov. It is summer and a great time to prepare the army for the coming winter. It is a difficult task to find able soldiers in a war-weary country that is ravaged by poverty and hunger, but Mindaugas needs to find 10.000 more soldiers for both his, and Vytautas' armies. It has been slim pickings, only a few join. Vytautas and Mindaugas lead their armies to fight rebellions in newly established province of Bessarabia and Novgorod-supported uprising in Polotsk. While the Lithuanian armies is around half of its usual man-power and divided in two, Novgorod uses this opportunity to declare a war! Few weeks later a message arrives from the prince of Ryazan that he has joined Novgorod and is also in war against Lithuania.
In the battlefields of Bessarabia, a messenger arrives. Mindaugas urges Vytautas to make way towards Ryazan and claim all their lands for Lithuania. Immediately after quelling the rebellion, Vytautaqs moves to Ryazan to lay siege to their provinces. While laying siege in Kasimov, Vytautas receives envoy from the Horde, they accept Lithuania's peace offer on the condition that Lithuania will pay 0.8 ducats per month as tribute, the Golden Horde give their word not to invade for at least 5 years. The war against Novgorod is fast, Ryazan was not prepared for a war and their army of 5.000 men is destroyed in a single battle. Their garrisons are also not prepared for a long siege and surrender quickly within a few weeks due to lack of food and water. The prince of Ryazan, unable to come to terms with the loss of his lands and his own stupidity of waging a war, unprepared against a superior enemy. He hangs himself in his chambers in Ryazan before Vytautas reaches inside the city walls. The council of Ryazan surrenders to Vytautas without haste, pledge their allegiance and accept full annexation by Lithuania. Vytautas makes his way towards Novgorod through Muscovyte lands and starts laying siege in Vetluga. A message from Mindaugas arrives before Vytautas is able to conquer the city. Novgorod has lost and has accepted to cede Kholm to Lithuania.
Months later Mindaugas, Vytautas and Švitrigaila meet in Vilnius to discuss internal affairs and their vision for Lithuania. It has been 5 years since their quest for Lithuania's independence had started, and now they are sitting down with their new king and feel very excited for the future prospects for Lithuania. After all, in a few short years they had been able to fight of the Golden Horde and conquer Bessarabia, Tula, Ryazan, Kasimov and Kholm. They all agree that the most important focus should be on stabilizing the newly independent nation and preparing for an invasion by the Horde scum. Next two years go without a major incident, with Mindaugas II and Švitrigaila focusing on internal affairs and Vytautas travelling up and down the country side, fighting of rebellions and instilling people with a sense of security and stability.
In July 1407, news arrive at the court about great turmoil in the west. Teutonic Order has gotten into a conflict against France, Bohemia and Austria and their armies have been completely defeated. Švitrigaila, who is devious and greedy, convinces his king that now is the time to invade Teutonic Order and take back the ancient lands of their people; Wenden, Samogitia and Memel. While Mingaus finds it unhonourable to invade a country at its weakest, and not being able to feel the thrill of a challenging battle, he had to agree with Švitrigaila that this would be an excellent opportunity to reclaim their lands and weaken the threat of future invasions by the Teutonic Order. In late July 1407, Mindaugas sent an envoy to Ostpreussen declaring war and in August he swiftly moved small armies all over the baltic provinces, laying siege. Without an army to speak off and sieges ongoing in all their cities, Teutonic Order surrendered in the Spring of 1408 and offered to cede Memel, Samogitia and Wenden to Lithuania. The members of the royal court were estatic. In less than 10 years, Lithuania had added 8 provinces and stabilized the country substantially. There was a sense of invincibility among nobles and peasants alike. People were happy and eager to join the unbeatable armies of Mindaugas and Vytautas. Many a child dreamed of fighting alongside their king against the immense armies of the Golden Horde or subjugating their old rivals in the north and west of the country.
While Lithuania was doing better than in years and confidence was high, a terrible tragedy loomed ahead. Vytautas was almost 60 years old. He was slowly losing his vision and his cognitive abilities had been deteriorating. While training his men in Kursk and scouting the eastern borders, he was despicably ambushed by Golden Horde in the forests of Podolia. Badly wounded, he was able to gather some of his men and retreat to Kursk where is army of 15.000 men awaited him. Once Mindaugas heard the news, he was devastated and furious, he immediately sent a call to all provinces, asking for all able men to join in their crusade against the eastern heathens. Many men joined his army, eager to fight alongside their fearless king and avenge their duke. Mindaugas knew that he was facing a much more well prepared and larger army that in the previous war, so he knew he had to employ a strategy of occupying provinces swiftly and moving on away before facing their armies. While the Golden Horde launched all its forces in provinces previously held by Ryazan. Mindaugas sent a message to Vytautas and adviced him to employ the tactics of the previous war, avoiding large battles, but rather flanking smaller armies and recapturing occupied provinces. He himself would move to Cherson with haste and claim it for Lithuania. Lithuania's sneaky strategy once again proved successful, the smaller and faster Lithuanian forces where able to move from province to province without facing the vast armies of the horde. The war lasted less than a year, and while Lithuania had taken Cherson and occupied Zaporochia and Crimea, Golden Horde was only able to continously occupy Kursk.
Facing rebellions and wars on all fronts, Golden Horde was offered peace against tribute and the war ended after 2 years of fighting. However, things went from bad to worse when Novgorod declared war, declaring reconquest of Kholm as their casus belli and bringing their new ally, Muscowy with them. Luckily, Novgorod had been warned against starting any wars by Burgundy and Castille and their western provinces fell within a few months of the start of the war. Muscowy proved to be a bigger challenge, however. Luckily, Mindaugas' wife Natalia, daughter to the king of Tver, was able to convince her father to join the war against Muscowy. With the help of Tver, Mindaugas and Vytautas were able to destroy the Muscovite armies and occupy all their provinces. Once again, the Novgorodian backstab proved unsuccessful, ending with their forced conversion Catholism and the annexation of Vyazma and Murom.
Once again, peace was achieved and the glorious nation of Lithuania had overcame another major obstacle. Mindaugas had been king for 17 years and during his reign Lithuania had almost doubled in size. He and his allies had been able to remove the threat of Novgorod, Teutonic Order and Muscowy. Poland had been reduced to a few provinces by Bohemia and Hungary, both of which Lithuania had royal marriages and excellent relationships with. Only the Golden Horde remained. A constant threat, never stopping, never yielding.
