The War of Religion

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Here are my ideas, to be read in conjunction with the stuff on the other german threads.

Wars of Religion
* indicate events written or events to be written

1419
The hussite Regency rule Bohemia, after the executed Jan Hus inspires an anti-papal insurgency. Anti-protestant fervour will dominates Bavarian, Hungarian and Polish relations* with Bohemia until 1500.

1530
Saxony's Elector Frierich the Sanftmutige's intentions turn not so sanft, as he uses the opportunity of religious dispute to goad* arch-catholic Brandenburg into open warfare*, with the aim and ambition to expand Saxon frontiers. Altmark comes in on the side of their protestant ally.*

Incensed at the herecy not only developing in Swabia, but also spreading through the Holy Roman Empire the Wilhelm IV claims a holy war upon Karl I, and uses the opportunity to lay claim to significant portions of Swabian territory.* Since the impact of religious changes upon the political landscape are not yet certain at the time of the Bavarian intention for war, their appeals for help* in this "holy crusade" fall generally on supportive but disinterested ears in the Papal States*, The Order*, Burgundy* and Hungary*. Thus this war is then limited to a direct confrontation between Swabia and Bavaria and their allies, and the subsequent loss of manpower and production hurts both nations for the next decade. Wilhelm IV toys with the idea of expanding his crusade if at first successful*, but eventually runs out of money*.

1532
At the 1529 Hansetag an upheaval in Hanseatic politics reveals the staunchly catholic Heinrich Pleskow as the new heriditary ruler of the League*. This ushers in the most aggressive (and eventually inept) period of the League's short history, and Pleskow uses the distraction of the Bavarian/Swabian war to attack Hannover.*

Protestant Gelre reopens some old wounds in a long standing trading war with the League over merchant leases in the dutch provinces, while the League is distracted over their Hannoverian problems*. Eventually the Hanseatic traders are expelled*.

1549
Heinrich Pleskow II of the League declares his protestant faith*, and risks a showdown with the Tuscan traders. The Firenze traders use the religious dispute to formally leave the League.* (If they don't turn Protestant, then the Koln traders leave.*) (Similar decisions if Hansa choose the Parliament rather than the Pleskows, their weakest moment in their history, turning Reformed in 1559.*) From here the Pleskows become less aggressive militarily and weaker administrators, prefering disengagement over confrontation.

1553
Hansa release Hannover and Altmark as Vassals*, taken in religous confrontations under Heinrich Pleskow's father. They immediately form an alliance* in self protection against the threat of catholic reprisals.

1560
The First German War of Religion
Hannover, recent converts to the protestant faith* and Vassals of the Hanseatic League suddenly find themselves defending their limited lands against soldiers of the Princedom of Munster after a matter of honour involving unpaid dues from an earlier war. They are allied to Altmark, and their combined forces begin to tip the scales of the war in favour of the Altmark/Hannover alliance*. Brandenburg weigh in*, after watching fellow catholics suffer longer than the King of Brandenburg's priests are willing to bear. Suddenly it becomes a war with significant religious dimensions. Hansa break off relations with both Hannover and Altmark in an attempt to avoid being dragged into the war, suffering poorer relations with all protestant nations*, and they in turn break their Vassalage.* As the catholic forces begin to look ominously strong, Saxony joins in on the side of the protestants. Within weeks, catholic Lorraine/Luxembourg,* protestant Hessen*, catholic Bavaria* and protestant Swabia* are involved and the conflict threatens to spread to Hungary* and Burgundy*.

1572
The Second War of Religion
This second war is a deliberate act of the Emperor* to both uphold the catholic faith in his perceived realm of the germanic states, and to assert his authority among the german people. Styling the conflict as a true Holy War, the Bavarians appeal for help in this crusade as Holy Roman Emperor is supported by the pope*, and the larger catholic states*, and indeed welcomed by Burgundy*, the Order* and Hungary*, all of whom have designs on smaller german states. The 'holiness' of this war gives these nations - particularly Bavaria - a political claim on most of Germany.

This long war involving many separate alliances has many casualties, even among the victors. Falls in food and goods production combined with some poor weather, drops the capacity of the germanic states to sustain their own people*, let alone trade along the important river routes. Nations lose important explorers, colonists and missionaries* and the survivors return to lick their wounds.

This is a crusade for both Swabia and Bavaria and perhaps also the Order, and at the end one of them is left standing in posession of the victory "conditions" they agree to in taking on the "crusade" at the beginning of the Wars. Victory means VPs, alliances, prestige, trading rights and religious dominance and perhaps also the formation of a unified Germany. But failure has an enormous cost in all of that plus lost cores, and this crusade is not something taken on lightly. So conditions could exist where either or both Bavaria and Swabia are crusading against no-one but the clock, as they attempt to gather control of the critical provinces and conversions by 1590.

If Bavaria isn't Holy Roman Emperor, then they get the support of the pope, but not of the catholic majors.

If Bavaria or Swabia get only minor support and - importantly in Bavaria's case - not from the Pope, then they are still offered the chance at declaring a Holy Crusade, but at a relationship and BB cost, and don't gain the cores.

If neither Swabia or Bavaria attempt the crusade, then a peaceful negotiated accord (the Peace of Mecklenburg) is moved forward.

1576 - 1578
A general famine across most of eastern germany, through to Poland, the effects of which are worsened considerably if the 1572 war is in progress.

1590
The Peace of Mecklenberg, in which the major combatants, exhausted by war and famine, attempt to put the religious elements of the war behind them.







Some ideas from Incompetent as yet undeveloped by the team.

- Lots of random turmoil events. In the provinces where the fighting is heaviest, population and tax value will automatically be sacrificed as thousands of volunteers join armies to defend the faith, and in many places tax value will be turned into manpower. By the time the dust settles, the HRE will be quite a bit poorer than when it all started. To reflect the military build-up of the period, Bavaria and maybe Swabia will get conscription centres while the war lasts, to be removed again when it the fighting stops.

- A theocratic Calvinist revolter state will potentially form in the northwest of the HRE; the name 'United Provinces' has been suggested by mikl, but we could give it a suitably religious name, eg 'New Jerusalem' or 'Kingdom of God'. As soon as it forms, Calvinists will flock to it, leading to population changes. Many of these will leave for the New World, say Argentina, and out of sheer necessity the revolter will be a frantic coloniser, with the possibility to move their capital to America when their survival in Europe looks doubtful. If the Calvinist state is conquered by Bavaria, many of the Calvinists will be massacred, leading to further province damage. Bavaria will get cores on any province in the HRE which comes under this revolter's control, but in the Low Countries it'll probably lose those cores again when the war is over.

Then there's other powers to consider:


the TO:
The Order will be an enthusiastic supporter of the crusade, and will want to dive into the eastern part of the HRE to confront the heretics. In fact they could even ally with Bavaria by event, as they're likely to be Bavaria's strongest supporter. In return for its support, Bavaria will acknowledge the Order's claims on Danzig, and may also give some of its eastern claims, eg in Brandenburg, to the Order (if it has any), as Bavaria is no longer in a position to 'liberate' such places itself.

Burgundy:
From what I've seen of MattyG's plans, Burgundy is likely to be a moderate Catholic power. I can see 3 possibilities, depending on Burgundy's geographic and religious orientation:
- Western oriented (ie with French culture): Burgundy stays out of the whole mess. Even if it does turn ultracatholic, any religious fury is likely to be directed at Brittany or Occitania.
- Eastern oriented, tolerant: The people of the Bavarian Netherlands seek Burgundian protection, and Burgundy duly accepts. Cores for Burgundy on Artois, Brabant and the like, and the ability to assimilate them quite quickly into Burgundian culture.
- Eastern oriented, intolerant: the Burgundians join the war on the side of Bavaria. Their motivations, however, are mostly selfish, as they want to take some of the Rhineland provinces off Swabia, and Bavaria may need to bribe them into action by giving Imperial support to their somewhat dubious claims on eg Alsace. They'll get some cores with BB, but only if they convert the ex-Swabian provinces to Catholic will they have a chance of assimilating them, and even then only much later, after the Edict of Tolerance. Intolerance is probably a bad plan for an eastern-oriented Burgundy, as they're meant to be rather cosmopolitan.

Hungary:
Hungary is likely to be having religious issues of its own, so it probably won't get too involved. However, a Reformed Hungary might get into a bit of a scuffle with Bavaria if it thinks it can use the 'defending the faith' card to lay claim on a few border provinces.

[UNQUOTE=Incompetent]