On the Triune kingdom, I kind of seeing it as mirroring the OTL UK where people just use England and Britain as interchangeable terms, ignoring that England is just one part of Britain, I'm guessing when most people think of the Triunes, they're thinking of the French half.
If I can take the analogy further, France is to the Triune what England is to the UK, the bit that most people associate with the country, England is to the Triune what Scotland is to the UK, important but is always second place in the imagination of foreigners to the nation and Ireland is Wales, both the smallest and least populated parts, with both not having much prominence.
That’s a good analogy. England under the Triunes is bigger than Scotland in the UK and London itself has a lot of clout because of its size as one of the biggest cities in Europe, but the concept is the same.
I wonder, will TTL Eastern Europe have ethnolinguistically neat borders in modern times, based on this border? If so that'd be a hell of a feat. Someone TTL should really write an alternate historical fiction about a Queen-Dowager Alexandra accidentally dying around this time and the nobles producing a Poland-Lithuania Commonwealth, complete with Liberum Veto, leading to a chaotic border situation. I think AH!AH.com would produce a lot of fun stories with this.
On that note Germany might become the new Balkans of Europe going by its current trajectory though. A Dutch-Dano-Franco-Germanic mess that gives nationalists conniptions whenever they look at a map.
I wouldn’t say ‘neat’. After all, Galicia just got rolled into the Vlach Kingdom and it’s not populated by Vlach-speakers. But I’m planning on much more stable frontiers going forward compared to OTL. (Just look at Poland’s border throughout history; the country literally moves.)
Hm, essentially TTL's partition of Poland. I see that Poles had little chance to defend against all its neighbors, but those do seem as large concessions. What is the (estimated) % of ceded territories in relation to prewar territory and population?
Btw, I've recently been to Krakow. Magnificent city, gained much more respect and love for polish kingdom.
I’m not sure about population since I don’t have OTL figures to use. Size-wise I’d say around a third (I’m eyeballing the 1634 map). It’s a big chunk of territory certainly, although most of that is from Casimir’s conquest spree so it’s only been Polish for 20 years at most.
I’ve never been to Poland but would like to change that. When I was younger, I used to think my family was descended from Polish immigrants. (Actually Slovak.)
Seems to me quite low. And probably a good thing for Poland in the long term.
It certainly could’ve been much worse. Core Poland is untouched; avoiding a TTL Deluge is a victory all by itself.
Sounds like the dilemma Elizabeth will face in the coming update. To cede Austria to the Hungarians so they can focus on not losing the entire Western and Northern HRE. Austria is also a very recent gain for the Wittelsbach so it’s a logical choice.
That point is going to be coming up shortly.
I won't underestimate TTL's Poland. It is smaller than IOTL, but has rich Silesia and entirety of Pomerania (it seems so from the map posted somewhere in the thread) and judging from the fact that Piasts are still in power, nobles don't have much say in the matters of country. On the other hand, this Russo-Lithuania has already shown the symptoms of the same disease that finished PLC IOTL - magnates not controlled by a central government and basing their power on the titles bestowed upon them by a ruler of foreign power (for example Ivan Sapieha and his connections to Demetrios III) and inability to defend it's own territory by themselves and instead bitching out for help to Rhomania.
Combined with
@HanEmpire 's judgement of Germany as a "Balkans of Europe"
this fact could mean that Poland could evolve into ITTL counterpart of kingdom of Prussia - aggresive, hyper-militaristic state which expands on it's neighbours cost. If German statelets seem that weak, a sane ruler of Poland, preparing to revenge on Lithuanians and Rhomans could try to obtain former Polish lands in the eastern HRE - Further Pomerania, Lusatia or even Berlin area - they all were under Polish control at some point and if there is that much instability in Germany, can be easiliy regained. Also a question to
@Basileus444 - which Piast line is currently in power in Poland? Silesian (eldest in dynastic right, but IOTL they lost rights to Polish crown despite lasting to 1675), Cuyavian (one of the youngest in dynastic right, but united Poland IOTL, Władysław the Elbow-High and Casimir III the Great came from this branch), Mazovian (descended from the brother of founder of Cuyavian, ruled Duchy of Mazovia up to 1525)?
Poland is still an important player even after this. It’s not on the level of the big players, but it’s a solid second-tier power.
The Cuyavian line is in charge. They united Poland the same as OTL and have ruled as the monarchs ever since.
Pomerania is alive, united and kicking while Silesia is fully under the control of the ascendant kingdom of Bohemia. In essence, this makes Poland a fully Catholic and Polish state (save for any East Prussian remnants), weaker yet stronger.
Wow, not even massive butterflies can separate the Poles from their one true opponent ITTL apparently
Sabaton have their basis for their hit coming up soon
"Then the winged hussars arrived
Coming down they turned the tide
Cannonballs are coming down from the sky
Janissaries are you ready to die?"
Yeah, only instead of relieving the Siege of Vienna they will be about 2,300 miles southeast participating in the Siege of Baghdad. Might be an even more epic song after this is done.
Hah! I can see that as a reverse situation from Vienna, unless of course this siege of Baghdad has the Romans take the city, get besieged by the Ottomans then the Polish hussars coming in. And I concur, it seems in one way or another, the Poles and the Turks always seem to butt heads even in this timeline, probably a way to correct what should have been in OTL.
What we have here, is the real reason why that proviso was included in the treaty…
The Poles lost a hell of a lot of land. With the reversal of conquests and loss of Galicia (by which I assume
@Basileus444 meant the Bukovina region) Poland has lost some 1/3 of its territories. If it wasn't for the fact they were recent conquests this would've toppled the dynasty.
As it is the Poles need a victorious war to make up for their lost prestige, something to bolster their flagging national pride. A quick conquest of Silesia to unify the Pole-ish peoples could do the trick. They could even go the Serbian route and embrace the idea of a great West Slavic Empire as a rallying cry for the nation. The Zapadoslavian Union of Polish-Czech-Slovakian-Silesian-Kashubian-Moravian-Sorbian fraternity.
I’ve been picturing Galicia as comparable to the medieval Principality of Halych.
The problem with pushing to unite the West Slavs is that attacking Silesia is attacking part of the Kingdom of Bohemia. Attacking Presporok (Slovakia) means an attack on its Hungarian overlord, which risks invoking the Belgrade Pact as has been mentioned.
Looks like Demetrios III is a big fan of soft power diplomacy, at this rate he'll be guaranteeing the borders of half of Europe.
It'll be interesting to see how Odysseus will balance this approach to his (presumably) brutal war of conquest against the Ottomans.
Demetrios III (mostly) prefers the soft touch.
Odysseus does not take after him in that regard.
After how the Macedonian campaign ended, and with how the Ottoman war re-up will end, I imagine he will be the very scary stick. Even the Tribune's I imagine will take pause.
What I'll be curious about is how the Spanish will act with Ody occupied with the avenging of his father.
I have some ideas for the Spanish…
I think it's a great reversal. I don't think we've had an Emperor so involved in Latin and European politics since Andreas Niketas, which is great. An involved and assertive Rhoman Empire is a complete turnaround. Rather than ignoring the Latins as best they can, being present to establish a persistent status quo is a better diplomatic approach. It isn't expansionistic which would be threatening, but it means they can ensure the current setup and future setup doesn't harm them, at least in theory.
The whole Jupiter and Saturn analogy from a few updates ago really plays into this, if the Roman system is stronger, then Saturn must move, or risk being consumed. In this case, soft power being between the Romans and Triunes. We could be looking at potentially Continental System politics eventually if this gets economic.
Slain would be the decider there, and could allow them and the Accord (mostly Spain) to play both sides to it's advantage.
We’re going to be see a lot of soft-power jockeying between the Triunes and Romans in the future. Spain and the Accord is definitely going to be a wild card here.
I think it includes the entire region of Polish Galicia. But is it wise for Poland to betray the last of her allies (Bohemia and Austria)? Slovakia means taking up arms against Hungary which will bring in the entire Belgrade Pact into the fray and Poland risks going the way it did in OTL (full partitions).
That is the serious risk. On the other hand, Brandenburg is a Wittelsbach possession and they’re rather busy right now.
This sounds pretty peak Roman, not gonna lie
That was the intention.
Wait what? The Scots have to know the second they declare independence a 100,000 man Triune army marches up from England looking to take them over. The only reason Scotland isn't a member of the Triple Monarcy is because they are members of the EAN. Giving up that protection means there's nothing stopping the Triunes from taking them over.
Too cushy for too long, people have become ungrateful and illogically prioritize something against their interests. It happens all the time, and I don't think Scotland would see sense until they face a Triune invasion and are saved by the EAN. Right now, as allies, Scotland's just a friend and wouldn't really see the Triunes as an enemy.
I understand history (OTL and TTL) is full of people doing stupid stuff in the short term that screws them over long term. It just strikes me as extra stupid in this case. Your logic is sound though.
I’ll be going into more detail in a later update, but it’s mainly due to a growing Scottish disillusionment and alienation with the EAN. Malmo is very far away and concerned with other things. The Scots don’t care about who controls Pomerania but they do care about paying taxes to fund an army to attack it.
How long have these countries been under empire of the north rule
Scotland has been in personal union with Norway for about 200 years, and part of the EAN for about a century.
Did Vlad Dracula or any ITTL counterpart of him exist? Really curious about this
Yes he existed in the same period as Andreas niketes
If I can recall what I read from the first thread of AoM, he served as regent for Andreas and married his daughter to him in return for his support against Andreas' sister. Man talking bout Vlad and Niketas sure brought back nostalgic memories when they were the main focus. I guess this is how the Rhomans must feel ITTL about the years when Andreas I ruled.
There was a Vlad Dracula during the reign of Theodoros IV and the early years of Andreas I, although he was personally nothing like the OTL figure. It was fun looking back and seeing how people’s opinion of him changed as he went from the Son of the Dragon and a skilled general in his own right to Andreas’ Regent who forced him to marry his daughter in exchange for his political/military support.
Fun times. I love the idea of revisiting and redoing that period, not changing anything but making it more detailed. That’s the part of the TL that lends itself the best into becoming a book in my opinion.