Chapter 45: Power Rising

“In construction, the only project that goes exactly according to plan is the lunch break.” — Sandra “Square” Rodriguez.

Rome, Papal States. July 1076

Matilda was learning the unique ropes of ruling over the Kingdom of Italy with Beatrice by her side, acting as her confidential adviser in ruling and life. Even though Matilda and Gregory had been married for only three months, Matilda had already gathered many of the reins of power. She did that by working behind Gregory’s back and directly with Sextus.

While Matilda couldn’t rule in her name, per her wedding contract, she quickly found she could effectively rule through Sextus. Sextus was happy to have Matilda as a mistress because she knew what she was doing. Many of her unofficial commands would increase Italy’s power by increasing food and industrial production. Excess food and wine would be traded throughout the Mediterranean basin for silver. That silver would be used to buy metals unavailable in Italy. Those metals would be used to power Italy’s war machine.

Italy’s war machine would be called on soon. Henry IV was furious that Matilda had stolen Florence from him, even though Henry didn’t get much from the province. Henry feared that if he let Florence go, other cities would follow suit, and if there was one thing that pissed a medieval ruler off, it was the threat of losing control of the land.

To that end, Henry sent an extremely threatening letter to Pope Gregory and Matilda explaining in detail what would happen if Florence wasn’t returned to the empire. While the letter spooked Matilda, Gregory stood firm. He knew Henry couldn’t fight in Italy while he was committed to the Polish Front due to a lack of troops. German casualties in Poland were high. They lost roughly 1,000 men per month not only from fighting but also from the diseases that ravaged German Army camps.

Through his intelligence network running out of the many churches throughout the empire, Gregory estimated it would take several years before Henry was strong enough to be a threat. Even though he had time, Gregory wasn’t going to waste a moment of it. Besides, Henry IV wasn’t the only threat to Italy.

To the East were the kingdom of Croatia and the Serbian state, plus the Byzantine Empire. While the Byzantines were weak, Croatia was under the rule of a new king, Demetrius Zvonimir. While Demetrius Zvonimir was a good friend of Gregory, the coast was littered with islands that made the area perfect for piracy. If the pirates attacked British shipping, that would draw Marion’s attention to Gregory’s backyard, something he would rather avoid at all costs.

To keep piracy in check, Gregory decided to invest heavily in the Italian Navy. The navy would have two major bases, one at Taranto and the other north of Rome in the province of Florence. From these two bases, the navy could keep the pirates in check and escort merchants through pirate-infested patches of ocean.

Serbia was a different problem for Gregory. The Principality of Serbia collapsed 100 years before and was vassalized by the Byzantines. However, they were too weak to prevent piracy, and many local officials ignored it as long as they got paid. Many officials also invested in the raiders that preyed on Italian shipping.

Gregory’s major eastern headache, though, was the Byzantine Empire. While the empire was currently in a slump, if a strong emperor came to the throne, that slump would be reversed. Another reason for the empire’s fortunes reversing would be if the Seljuk Turks provoked the British. Gregory was under no illusion the British would sweep the Seljuks from any battlefield. However, the Seljuks had the Byzantines against the ropes for the moment, which gave Gregory some breathing space.

Frankfort, Holy Roman Empire. July 1076

In Frankfort, Henry was furious at his cousin’s betrayal and the letter not doing its job. His latest intelligence suggested the Italians were preparing for war on land and at sea. If the Italians were not enough, the Poles were stubborn and refused to sign a peace treaty even though he offered generous terms. In essence, the terms were a return to the status quo and a guarantee of the pre-war borders.

King Dobrosław Zima of Poland refused the terms because he believed he could recapture all the lands Henry had captured over the last several years. The problem was the reality on the ground didn’t match his delusion. The Polish troops struggled to hold the Germans back since they didn’t have advanced firearms or artillery.

While the Poles struggled to hold the Germans back, General Roon was running out of trained troops. His green troops had trouble fighting as cohesive units, which reduced their combat effectiveness. The troops had trouble forming cohesive units because training had been reduced to keep up with casualties.

By this time, only a few men who had been in the army at the beginning of the war were still alive. The ones that were still alive had been promoted and were officers. Men who had lost arms or legs were sent back and received jobs training new soldiers.

General Roon had been planning his new offensive for two months with the goal of ending the war. Their objective was Krakow. If they could capture the city, the Poles would be forced to sue for peace. Or at least, that was the theory.

The German offensive kicked off on 1 July with an artillery barrage of a Polish fort southeast of Breslau. To reach Krakow, General Roon had to capture the fort to keep his supply lines safe. The defenders had built the fort over the past few months to keep the Germans from reaching Krakow. Instead of the wood or stone forts of the pre-war forts, this fort was built of dirt backed with tree trunks. To help keep attacking infantry at bay, rows of sharpened stakes were driven into the ground outside the fort.

At sunrise, the artillery opened fire, and General Roon watched the cannonballs break up the sharpened stakes. Unfortunately, the balls buried themselves in the dirt walls without causing much additional damage. The attacking infantry would suffer heavy casualties if the walls were not broken down.

Several hours later, the walls were beginning to look ragged, and the German infantry began assembling. Due to the type of artillery, the artillery had to cease fire before the infantry could attack. General Roon kept the artillery firing until the last second.

As soon as the artillery fire stopped, whistles were blown to signal the advance. 5,000 German infantry with fixed bayonets advanced at a fast walk. They had to cover almost 500 meters before they reached the walls. The artillery had broken most of the sharpened stakes, but a few were left.

The bombardment had been reasonably effective, and the infantry advanced three-quarters of the way before the remaining Polish troops opened fire. When the Polish troops began firing, the German troops returned fire. German troops used muskets like the rest of Europe, except British troops, who mostly used single-shot bolt action rifles. So, after firing their shot, the Germans charged to use their bayonets. When the Germans fired, they forced the remaining Polish troops off the wall just long enough for the Germans to get to the walls.

As the Germans crested the wall, the Poles fought back with everything they had. While the Poles fought bravely, they didn’t have much chance as the Germans poured into the fort. After only half an hour, all the Poles were dead or in captivity. In total, the Poles lost 500 soldiers, while the Germans lost 245 dead and another 165 wounded.

General Roon walked the fort after the battle and wondered at the futility of it all. Looking at the dead, General Roon felt much older than he was. He swore the men he was getting killed were getting younger with every battle.

After the battle, General Roon didn’t have time to waste as he needed to keep going, and the day after the battle, the German Army moved out, heading toward Krakow. After only a week, General Roon was looking at Krakow’s city walls. The Poles had gambled on their fortress, holding the Germans longer, and they couldn’t get reinforcements into the city. To keep them from getting time, General Roon ordered an immediate assault.

A German assault was the last thing the Polish commander had expected, and he wasn’t ready. His troops weren’t either, and the Germans scaled the walls before the Poles could react. To scale the walls so quickly, they used grappling hooks tied to ropes with knots to aid climbing. Once enough troops were on the walls, one gate opened, and other soldiers poured in.

The Battle for Krakow was over in one afternoon as few Polish troops were in the city. It didn’t take long for General Roon to learn why. The Polish king wasn’t in the city. According to the Polish commander, King Zima was in Kyiv trying to rally support for the war.

Taking his objective but missing the Polish king, General Roon sent a message to Emperor Henry asking what the next step was.

Back in Frankfort, Henry was furious they missed King Zima, but he couldn’t blame General Roon. Catching a king is difficult when he’s not where he should be. Missing the king meant the war would have to go on, but the question was, where next? Henry looked at a map of Poland and quickly decided their next target was Warsaw.

Although Warsaw was a small settlement compared to Krakow, it was the last Polish settlement of any significance not controlled by the Germans. Henry fully intended to annex all captured territory west of the Vistula River, which ran through Warsaw. As for the Prussian tribes, he would keep constant pressure on them to slowly conquer the region. Since Prussia was a land of thick forests and bogs, trying for a quick victory was worthless and would tie up the German Army at a time when Henry needed them elsewhere.

King Zima wasn’t in Kyiv when Krakow fell; he was at the head of a large army of Kyivan mercenaries and criminals. To add to his strength, King Zima offered to remove all criminals from Kyiv’s dungeons and turn them into soldiers.

For Sviatoslav II, this was an excellent deal. He got rid of the criminals filling his dungeons and young, restless men who would inevitably end up there. Additionally, he received one ton of gold and silver coins as compensation for weapons and training.

Hearing of the fall of Krakow, Zima headed for Warsaw. Warsaw could not be allowed to fall, no matter the cost, and using a forced march, they arrived a week after General Roon took Krakow. Once in the town, Zima set out to turn it into an impregnable fortress. To do that, King Zima ordered every civilian within 40 kilometers of town to aid in its defense. Additionally, all buildings in the same zone were destroyed, and all food that couldn’t be brought into the city was destroyed.

To build the fortifications, trees were cut down and driven into the earth to form a solid wooden ring around Warsaw. Once the tree trunks were buried solid, the earth was mounded on the outside to protect the wood against cannonballs. At the base of the earthen wall, a trench was dug deep enough for water from the Vistula River to flood the trenches, effectively making the fortress an island.

General Roon arrived a month after King Zima and saw he didn’t have a chance to take the city by force. Polish troops in the now small city numbered about 25,000 men, and the Germans didn’t have the strength to take the city by force. For this reason, General Roon ordered a line of contravallation built to keep the Poles in the city and a line of circumvallation to protect his army against Polish reinforcements.

While the Germans dug in, the Poles constantly harassed them with lightning-swift cavalry raids that usually killed a few soldiers and set building back by a day or so. Although the Poles slowed the construction work, they paid a heavy price for it since every raid cost them men and horses. Even with the constant raiding, the Germans completed their line of contravallation by mid-August and settled down for a long siege.

One positive effect General Roon’s victories had was they kept the German aristocracy from revolting. As long as the army was winning, the rebellion couldn’t gain the support of nobles sitting on the fence. Henry used this time well to continue rebuilding his army after the core had been destroyed by fighting in Poland. When Henry found extra money in his budget, he poured it into the continuing modernization of the Holy Roman Empire.

Paris, France. July 1076

Henry wasn’t the only European power rebuilding his army. Philip was busy rebuilding his, too. For Philip, the goal was simple: build a strong enough army to conquer Burgundy. To that end, Philip also engaged in espionage. Burgundian nobility chaffed under Henry and his commoner wife, especially since his “real” wife had been from Savoy.

While the Burgundian nobility disliked Philip for his invasion, they hated Henry. Under Henry, their importance and power were drastically reduced to the point where most of the former elite had no power. Under these conditions, Philip found a receptive audience for his message. If the nobility aided him in conquering and keeping Burgundy, he would return most of their former power. The Burgundians could see Philip rebuilding France’s aristocracy, so they hoped he was telling the truth. What they did know was that under Henry, they would never reclaim their former power.

To aid in taking Burgundy, Philip sent envoys to Italy and the northern Italian States. If he could get help from the Italian States, it would greatly aid Philip. Henry didn’t have the strength to fight a three-front war, especially with the casualties he suffered in Poland.

Toward the end of July, Philip received news of the German victories in Poland, and he knew he would have to make his move soon. If he didn’t, he would lose the opportunity of a lifetime. He doubted there would be a kingdom strong enough to defeat the Holy Roman Empire once they defeated Poland.

While Henry was preparing for war, Bertha was recovering from giving birth to their latest child. Their newest child was a girl named Constance. While Philip wasn’t the happiest about having a girl, she would be valuable for making a political marriage later in life if she lived that long.

Even with the medical advances coming out of Britain, the child mortality rate in France was running at about 60%. For comparison, the child mortality rate in Britain was 15%, although it was higher in Ireland due to a smaller healthcare footprint. Even Ireland’s mortality rate was 35% lower than that of France, at 25%.

Thanks to Philip’s annoying Marion and constant saber-rattling, Bertha was no longer welcome in Britain even if Philip would allow her to go, which he wouldn’t. Philip was petrified that Marion would take Bertha and his newborn child hostage to give her more leverage.

Bertha couldn’t figure out why that was important because the two monarchs were not negotiating anything. Even if they were, Marion had so much leverage over Philip that she could name her terms, and he would have to accept. Through her spies, Bertha knew Philip was eager to restart the war with the Holy Roman Empire over Burgundy. Her only guess was Philip feared Marion might interfere on the side of the Holy Roman Empire to keep Philip from becoming too powerful. It was also well known that Marion had a much better relationship with Emperor Henry than King Philip, even though Marion had saved Philip several times over the years.

What Bertha knew was that her life would have been better if Mahaut had been with her. In Mahaut, Bertha had found a kindred spirit. However, the girl was gone. After safely delivering young Louis to his parents after the Franco-German War, Mahaut left and returned to Britain. In Britain, she had found a paradise where she could be almost anything she wanted. After living a life of intrigue and political jockeying, she found herself a handsome factory worker for a husband and happily settled into a simple life. She worked part-time as a bookkeeper when they needed extra money for something.

New Cork, New Ireland. July 1076

While Europe was embroiled in war, Toirdelbach had a fight of his own to deal with. The Lenape Tribe was tired of the Irish constantly murdering their warriors and taking their women as sex slaves. They found that war with the Irish was far more difficult and deadly than war with other native tribes. When fighting other native tribes, war was usually confined to killing some warriors in one or two small battles and taking opposing members as slaves. While the battles were brutal, being hand-to-hand, they seldom were large or long-lasting.

When fighting against the Irish, the Lenape found war was now total and very costly. When the Irish were able to take cover, the natives suffered horrendous casualties due to the Irish firearms. Native bows and spears required years of practice to be used effectively, while anyone could use a firearm effectively with only minimum training. This allowed Irish women and children to easily defeat the most formidable warriors.