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Ah, the old approach of giving away Freiestadte rights in return for political influence.

No doubt, Brandenburg will soon try to pass a reform within HRE, strengthening the position of Emperor.



More of a diplomat than a warrior, we're sure that Hochmeister Heinrich V will do his best.



Bavaria, the tiny, shrunked Bavaria, had enough guts to almost singlehandedly win against Bohemia, and have them give independence to Kingdoms of Silesia and Sieradz.

Unfortunately we soon lose our claims to Kalisz, bleh!

Sieradz, however, is still a core. We're going to war, my brothers! To war!



Hochmeister Heinrich V has decided to call in favor from Austria and have them join the war, if only on paper.

That alone must've scared Bavaria away and abandon their newfound vassal ally.



The wind is blowing in strange directions, as heresies are popping left and right and Orthodox landlords keep regaining their territories against Golden Horde.

We adopt Unam Sanctam to show the Pope that we're the true Christians... and to help us wage war against the infidels.



Rather than annexing Kalisz, Hochmeister Heinrich decides to make them a vassal.

This time we have less administrative hassle, plus no Polish rebels to deal with (and they pop up in Krakow, Podlasie and Torun with annoying frequency).



We've been conceding defeat to preserve manpower and time for the past twenty(?) years or so.

No more - Hochmeister Heinrich has decided it is time to punish the nomadic heathens accordingly!



Battle of Kursk is one of the most successful ones in the war.

Not only we beat the Golden Horde thoroughly, their Khan dies shortly afterwards! Rebels and pretenders eagerly spring up across the steppes.



Another big battle is at Bogutjar, where we annihilate one of their armies in totality.

Our vassals, as well as Castille and France, take this as a cue to march forth into the vast steppes and start besieging the territories en masse.



Yes, yes, sure thing, we can join the war.

It brings Pommerania and Holstein into the conflict, but that's nothing our fleet and the 3rd Army can't handle.



Look at those numbers.

The nomads are broken!



All this conquering and exploring of steppes, and we then receive new maps at the dawn of new century.

Turns out Golden Horde had much more land than we've previously thought.



In short succession, Brandenburg revokes military access treaties with us, and then insults us to destabilize our relationship.

Our armies have been hastilly recalled west, and our envoys are riding east to conduct peace with Golden Horde.

A greater problem and even greater conflict might arise soon - Hochmeister Heinrich is pretty sure it's all about ownership of Hinterpommern.



We force Golden Horde to cancel vassalships of Ryazan and Smolensk.

Meanwhile, we get access to Galloglaigh infantry, but it has terrible defensive stats. We will stick to Man-of-Arms infantry for now.

We're building up numerical strength, and just before Christmas we got 2nd insult from Brandenburg.



IT BEGINS.

It seems that Golden Horde has picked a fight with way too many people at once, ha!



One by one, our detached Banner Army is capturing Horde's territories.

Their main armies are probably fighting Ottomans, the most powerful of Horde's neighbours at the moment.



Hochmeister Karl Alexander wastes no time to use his influence with the Pope to excommunicate Polish King!

Not only are their our enemies, King Stefan is also relative to King of Bohemia, Fridrich Falcky Podebrad. We need to keep both as weak as possible.



Not long afterwards, our relationship sours even more by an event.

We then proclaim that Baltic provinces are no longer part of the Holy Roman Empire. Estland will follow soon, albeit Riga is an autonomous territory in this regard.



Loan gets repaid; this will help our economy recover somewhat.

Meanwhile, our strategy of capturing Golden Horde's territories is slowly paying off.



Finally, a second idea. As shown by previous wars, fighting spirit is what we have - manpower, however, is always on short notice.

Hopefully this will help us alleviate that problem.



I've moved our main Army here just in time to prevent a total disaster.

The beaten up nomadic troop we chase all the way to Cherhassk.



Hard times give rise to hard men!

Hochmeister Wolfgang decides to prolong the war with Golden Horde for a while longer.



A field battle between us and the new Golden Horde's Khan, as previous must've died in one of the fights.

We win it, but the beaten up army manages to escape as Hochmeister Wolfgang and rest of brothers get lost a bit in Bogutjar.



A revolt in Torun almost succeeds because Poland, in the last moment, blocks the passage of Hochmeister Wolfgang's army!

Shortly afterwards, we decide that nothing else to be gained from fighting the nomads, and force them to concede defeat.



We sell Polotsk to, well, Polotsk. It's Orthodox province inhabited by Byelorussian peoples.

Our vassal will make better use of it, for sure. 200 Ducats don't come easily for the Order, too.



Just as we enter the war to help Austria against Milan (a symbolic gesture), we gain 4 cores across the border!



Southern provinces of Lithuania are revolting and switching over to Ukraine.

We might as well capture annex them in entirety - of 3 remaining provinces, only Podlasie isn't our core.



Volhynia went to Ukraine and then we annexed Lithuania.

All according to the plans, just like Hochmeister Wolfgang desired, haha!

Of course we're not fighting Bohemia right now.

But in few years, the treaties they have with our friends should expire. Then, we can strike at them!



The early expiration of treaties with Nomads is really painful thing this early.

But! Austria and Brandenburg decide to contribute to the war by donating us 8 ducats monthly.

We can raise a mercenary horde and mayhaps win against the Nomads with our own cavalry masses.



Both our mercenary cavalry and troops from Pskov arrive in time to help us defeat the initial attack!



A deja vu for our Brothers, but once again we chase the Mongols back and forth between Estland and Livland, before the Livland's swamps become the nomads' mass grave.

We dismiss the mercenaries afterwards. They're useful but, boy, are they costly.



It's time to stop bothering ourselves with Mongols, however.

Hochmeister Konrad called for less combat-minded brothers to settle in Polotsk area and bring civilization to the Byelorussian peoples living there.



Polotsk province has defected to us, but the war is not over.

Smolensk is the Horde's vassal, and therefore provides connection to our lands.

Konrad VI, seeing that Austria and Brandenburg continue to support our cause with money, decides to not send envoys to the Khan just yet.



It seems that innovative approach of Konrad VI does not go well with all of our Brothers.

The revolt that does rise in Polotsk is easily squashed, thanks to the coincidental presence of Novgorodian troops that were en route to wage war against Ukraine. Talk about luck!



We cancel military access treaty with Pomerania in last minute, but it still a stability hit.



Alright, even without our involvement, they've got this.

Turns out Austria became Holy Roman Emperor when we weren't looking, and can roll out a huge army if need arises.



Wunderbar!

Once again our little vassal, Pskov, helps out - they've taken Hinterpommern for us, and due to how war is going for Pomerania, they've agreed to hand it over.

Keeping it will be tricky, however, for its a sanctioned territory of Holy Roman Empire.



Brandenburg and Holy Roman Emperor go to war against Bohemia and France.

And we didn't get an invitation :C



Brandenburg breaks the alliance, but Austria and Novgorod sign one with us!

Unfortunately, Master Esteban, after nearly fifty years of working for Teutonic Order, passes away. He will be remembered!



And so, fifty years of our leadership over Teutonic Order have passed.

We've won some, we've lost some, we gained some provinces, and friends (though these come and go as they please).

What's next in store for the Hochmeister Konrad and his Brothers?

Why thank you, Hungary. It *might* help us somehow.



Turns out, the Golden Horde nomads are made of vellum!

The army in Samogitia was routed to and destroyed at Kurland.



Similarily, the siege in Pskov was lifted, and then Lithuanians showed up at Polotsk to help us deal with the horde.

The main army in Livland continues to pose a definite threat.



We had no choice but to strike them. And we won!

We've routed them to Estland, then back onto swamps of Livland, where the infidels were obliterated!

Golden Horde as a whole is experiencing a cascade of rebellions. Quite probably their Khan died during the war with us, but the exact moment eluded me.



Men-at-Arms will extend our staying time on the battlefield!

Shortly afterwards, the Golden Horde offers to concede defeat. Konrad V, not being greedy, accepts the terms.



As we're recovering from the war with Golden Horde, positive events keep popping up.

Like this centralization tax, for example.



A new Hochmeister leads the Teutonic Order!

He isn't a great commander, but he is faithful servant of the God at least.



A new war, this time with Poland!

Brandenburg started it, Bohemia got involved, and they asked us to come help.

Hochmeister Konrad VI has a bold plan to take the city of Plock and add it to the Order's territories.



Brandenburg got Poznan and we've got Plock, just as planned.

We pull out from this war and deal minor damage to Golden Horde's units.



We cannot wait anymore!

Hochmeister Konrad buys services of two thousand mercenary cavalry, and off we go!

Two weeks later its evident we're getting an asskicking.

A new Master Recruiter is hired to expand our manpower a bit.



What Bohemia did could be summarized as 'Unfortunate Series of Calls for Arms'.

We ditch the Emperor before it gets even worse, and concede defeat to the Golden Horde.



Fortunately, the leader of the war we were in, Hungary, is pretty chill.

They accept the white peace Konrad VI offered them.



Prince-Elector of Brandenburg, Friedrich Wilhelm I von Holstein - no doubt happy that we didnt join the war - offers us an alliance, and Konrad VI accepts graciously.

All brothers within the Order are sure this is the start of a profitable, long-lasting relationship!