THE GREAT NORTHERN WAR
Out of the darkness and haze of the Volga basin, they emerge. A hundred thousand hooves pound the ground with primal rhythm and the earth shakes. Ethereal plumes, extending like celestial wings, are set against the sky. Their resplendent armour gleams like a thousand suns.
They have come.
The Winged Hussars.
The Great Northern War (more commonly known as the War for
@Dr. Dwayne's ass) begun in August 1681 with the invasion of the vast Russian steppes. The two alliances were evenly matched at onset. The Russo-Dane alliance boasted slightly more infantry, a much bigger navy and larger army reserves, while the Polish-Lithuanians possessed more artillery and twice as much cavalry.
The war goal of the campaign, Moskva, was situated right on the long land border with Lithuania. While dangerously exposed, the Russian capital possessed a mighty level 7 fort. In order to win the war, the Danes would need to mobilise, link up with the Russians and secure the besieged city before
@Dan over ran them. He sent 75,000 cannons to bombard Moskva into submission, while the rest of his army pivoted towards St. Petersburg in anticipation of the Danish advance.
Russo-Danish co-ordination was flawed at the start. Despite possessing an overwhelming naval advantage, the Russians were caught in the Baltic sea by Dan and
@maniak refused to help Dr. Dwayne. Instead of sallying from Gotland to aid his ally, the Danish fleet sailed past and towards Finland to launch an amphibious assault on Riga.
The Poles were prepared for this however. Waiting until the Danes had fully disembarked, the Poles threw their heavy cavalry at the surprised Danes and slaughtered them on the beaches. The Danish fleet retreated without attempting to evacuated the trapped army.
The besieged defenders of Moskva held out for 10 months, buying the allies invaluable time to assemble. In June, Dr. Dwayne had begun gathering his armies and arrived in Tikvhin, with the rest streaming in from the far East . His navy was yet again caught in the Gulf of Riga and battered and his army defeated at Ingermanland as a Danish detachment nearby ran away. There was no sign of the promised Danish armies. What was maniak doing?
Well, it looks like he decided to focus on SilentWitness' arch enemy Utrecht instead, but was taking some heavy losses in the process. By October maniak had lost 96k troops to Utrecht's 82k, despite having 3x the larger army. Divide and conquer isn't necessarily a bad tactic, but the Danes were in a race against time here and I don't think maniak realised the stopwatch had started. The Danes should have been in the Russian steppes. Instead, maniak found himself on the naughty step for dicking about in the Dutch poppy fields.
Sensing the lack of co-ordination, the Polish zerg swarm begun to roll across Russia. Keen observers will also notice that the Poles caught the Russian fleet at sea for the third time. And for the third time, maniak refused to help them. Had Great Shakesey sold him one of his caribbean cruise tours?
Here's another Russian retreat and one for the Russian tugboat voyeurs.
The battles between Dan and Dr. Dwayne were tense and hung in the balance as the Russian reinforcements streamed in from China, but he kept routing them from the field.
With the war raging on for 4 years and Finland now in flames, maniak panicked and decided to march on Poland and besieged Poznan. Which is rather ironic, because it feels like his strategy up until now had been to do the Poznan - that is to say, he had turned his back on Dr. Dwayne.
maniak soon came to his senses when the Poles begun marching triumphantly through Scandinavia.. The Russian armies were shattered in the field and its navies at the bottom of the sea, waiting for millionaires with joystick submarines to visit them in a few centuries time. He couldn't stop the Polish war machine. maniak asked for terms and they met.
"We humbly submit to you, your grace" whispered maniak, ashamed.
Dr. Dwayne sprang forward, prostrating himself on the floor before Dan.
"My savour, my Prince!" Dr. Dwayne cried, kissing Dan's feet. "you have saved me from the evil maniak"
Dan looked Dr. Dwayne up and down, then back at maniak.
"Err.. yeah, no thanks. You can keep him"
Dan turned around and left.
Despite possessing over 40% warscore and clearly winning, Dan decided Dr. Dwayne wasn't worth emancipating. He took the Danish gold and left. Dr. Dwayne remains in a personal union under maniak.