Chapter 5: Does War Ever End?

“The best fortress which a prince can possess is the affection of his people.” – Niccolo Machiavelli.

Rome, Italy. April 1078

Matilda’s decision to invade and take Corsica was forced when Genoa openly sold captured Italian sailors and merchants. Now that she had decided, it was time to determine the best way to carry it out.

The Italians could attack Corsica, hoping Genoa and Pisa would do nothing. However, Matilda knew the Genoa consul and the Pisan oligarchy and knew they would never tolerate her taking Corsica. They hated her as much as she hated them. Another path was to take Genoa and Pisa first, then hit Corsica. Doing this would expose them to the possibility of a two-front war, where they would be caught between the other northern Italian states and Corsica. Option three was to attack Genoa, Pisa, and Corsica simultaneously with the objective of knocking them out of the war before their allies could muster to their aid. This path had merit, but the Italians would be in trouble if one of the attacks failed. This left option four, which was to attack Corsica with part of the army while reserving the bulk of the forces to ambush the allied counterattack.

Of the options, number four sounded the best. It would only commit part of Matilda’s troops while keeping most of them close at hand until they saw how the allies would react. In the end, Matilda went with option four and began preparing accordingly. Her agents began feeding false information to the enemy while the Corsican invasion force loaded their transports with troops and supplies.

It took six weeks to ready the invasion force and two days to sail to Corsica with the objective of landing at Ajaccio. Once Ajaccio fell, the remainder of the island wouldn’t be far behind because a significant percentage of the island’s population lived in the town.

On a calm, clear morning, the Italians disembarked their ships and headed for shore. They had caught the Corsicans by surprise, so the conquest of Ajaccio was swift and bloodless. Some of the town watch got roughed up, but none died, which was important since they were more likely to support the Italians if none of them had been killed.

General Alfonso Calabrese, the Italian commander, had 8,000 troops under his command and figured this would be enough. Only about 30,000 people were living on the island, and about 7,000 lived in Ajaccio.

It took a few days to secure Ajaccio, but once that was done, Alfonso sent companies into the countryside to set up fortifications so they could control the island. His cavalry units rode to the various pirate nests to clear them before they had a chance to escape. In the various nests, the Italians found massive amounts of loot; gold, silver, slaves, gems, and rich clothing. With the army safely ashore and not meeting any significant resistance, most of the navy withdrew back to the mainland, where they were sure to see combat. The part of the navy that stayed behind worked to secure the seas around the island.

As Matilda thought, Pisa and Genoa mobilized their forces and concentrated them for a direct drive on Rome. That was fine with Matilda since she had predicted the enemy commanders would follow that course of action. If she had been in their position, it is what she would have done.

Three weeks after Corsica fell, Genoa and Pisa attacked. Unfortunately for them, they couldn’t convince any other Italian states to join because Italy hadn’t directly attacked them. Matilda’s staying on the defensive had caught the allies off guard as they expected her to attack immediately, which would draw in the other states. But when she didn’t attack, Genoa and Pisa lost support.

The Italians waited until the Allied army was at their most vulnerable before attacking. They had 9,000 troops compared to the Allies, who had 13,000. While the Allies had a numerical superiority, that didn’t extend to the quality of the troops or officers. The Italian Army was well-seasoned, fighting from cover, and using firearms. The allies were strung along a narrow road; many soldiers had never seen combat and were armed with pikes, swords, or bows.

The battle, if it could be called that, lasted less than an hour and led to the complete destruction of the Allied army. On the Italian side, three men were dead and four wounded. The three dead were from muskets bursting or friendly fire. The descendants of the Romans had finally mastered the tactic with which Hannibal had defeated them so many times, the ambush.

As the Italians walked the battlefield, they collected everything of value before stacking the dead like cordwood. After being searched, the bodies were taken by some of the few prisoners captured and buried in mass graves. All the steel collected was sent back for recycling while the rest of the loot was divided amongst the army.

Once the dead were taken care of, the wounded were cared for by a couple of inexperienced surgeons, and if the prisoners died, who cared as long as the doctor learned something. If they died, they joined their comrades in the grave, while the ones who lived would be sent to the mines.

Pisa was first on the list because it was between the Italian Army and Genoa. News of the defeat hadn’t even gotten back when the Italian Army arrived outside the city walls. The city guard barely managed to close the gates to the invaders.

It didn’t matter because the Italians brought up their artillery. Pisa’s walls had never been designed to hold against gunpowder artillery, and although they had been maintained, they crumbled in the space of one afternoon.

Even with their walls destroyed and their army gone, the stubborn old men who controlled the city refused to surrender. They had hoped to have enough time to get their treasure out of the city, but it was not to be because as soon as the Italian commander saw the city wouldn’t surrender, he ordered a general assault. With no walls or army to stop them, the Italian Army swept through the city.

What followed was worse as far as the city’s wealthy were concerned. The Italian Army was forbidden from looting the homes of the poor or artisans, so they had to focus on the wealthy. Usually, in the disorganization of the celebration, some wealthy could hide. That wasn’t the case in Pisa because the army first rounded up all the affluent residents. Since the lower classes were grateful to the victors for sparing their families and homes, they had no trouble identifying anyone from a wealthy family who was missing.

Once all the wealthy families were gathered, they were forced to watch as the Italians systematically carried away everything that could be carried and a few things that couldn’t. Merchants had to watch as all their trade goods were confiscated, while the elites watched as items that had been in their families for generations found new owners.

As bad as it had been for the families to watch their wealth being taken, what came next was worse. The males and females were separated while all the children under ten were taken. The young children would be placed with Italian families who had no children or couldn’t have any more.

Once the children had been led away, the real horror began. It started with the women being auctioned off to the men of the army with the provision that any girl who hadn’t reached puberty yet couldn’t be touched until she did. Until then, she could do household chores. To keep things fair for the soldiers, each man could only buy one woman and couldn’t buy another until everyone in the army had one. For the most part, the pre-pubescent girls were bought by men with families. Many didn’t wish to see the girls hurt, and the men’s wives could always use more help around the house.

For the rest of the women, it quickly became a tradition for the winning soldier to take her on the stage before everyone. To further drive the point home, the woman’s husband or father would be forced to sit before her and watch as she was taken by her master. Some of the troops also forced mothers to pleasure their daughters while their daughters were raped. Then, they would do the reverse. The goal was to completely shatter the city’s spirit to resist.

Once all the women had been auctioned off, it was time for the men. Instead of being auctioned off to the soldiers, they were sold to mine and farm owners as slave labor, with the money being divided equally amongst the soldiers.

One thing Matilda learned from watching Marion was that it was always a good idea to take care of your soldiers first and treat them respectfully. Respect and loyalty down, respect and loyalty up. Matilda was one of the few rulers who had figured that out, along with Emperor Henry IV and Queen Ingegerd.

After four days, the Italian Army marched out of Pisa and headed toward Genoa. Behind them, new city administrators began rebuilding the city, now a part of Italy. By this time, Genoa was on the verge of civil revolt as the wealthy were fleeing the city. However, they couldn’t leave by sea because the Italian Navy had the harbor blockaded and had captured everyone trying to escape that way. The regular sailors in the Genoa Navy had refused to sail their ships out of port. News of what happened in Pisa had reached them, so they knew their families and possessions were not in danger.

By the time the Italian Cavalry arrived at the city gates, the civilians living in the city had control and opened them. The Italians were mugged as the city celebrated. Many young, single women threw themselves into the arms of surprised Italian cavalrymen, kissed them firmly, and tucked a flower into their uniform before getting out of the way for another woman. When everyone calmed down, many cavalrymen were deeply embarrassed by how sticky the front of their pants had become. There also wasn’t a man who didn’t have a kilogram of flowers in his uniform.

The celebration renewed when the rest of the army arrived, and the cavalrymen were thrilled to watch as the infantry and artillerymen soiled their pants. Many cavalrymen had smirks almost permanently fixed on their faces by the end of the festivities. As the festivities continued into the night, many private celebrations continued in the beds of the city’s single women. Any man who wanted a sizzling-hot bed to sleep in could get one without too much trouble.

It took several weeks to round up the elites who had escaped and were still around. Most elites escaped to Milan or Venice, where they spread rumors about the worst behaviors of the Italian soldiers. The remaining cities quickly banded together and began forming an allied army. It would take some time before they could challenge the Italian Army, but the cities hoped to get help from the emperor.

Frankfort, Holy Roman Empire. April 1078

Henry IV had far more significant problems than his Italian possessions being captured by Italy. In Burgundy, his army and the French were locked in a stalemate along the Isère River, with the French to the south and the Germans to the north. With the area’s terrain and lack of French engineering support, they couldn’t advance any further. The situation wasn’t much better for the Germans as they couldn’t get much more than replacements, and they needed reinforcements if they were going to drive the French out.

The situation in Poland was worse because they were fighting an insurrection. There, the Polish continued to revolt, but when a strong German unit entered the area, the attacks either stopped or focused entirely on the German unit. Many of the smaller units were slaughtered, and by this time, the Germans didn’t leave their bases without having at least a battalion. When a unit was ambushed, the troops always fought to the last man because they knew their life in captivity would be short and extremely brutal. It was far better to die in combat than at the hands of the rebels.

When the Germans would happen to catch a rebel, they often, instead of killing them, shipped them and their entire family to a German mine where they would be worked to death. The situation was similar in Prussia, where the native tribes didn’t like the German settlers taking their land.

As bad as the situation was in Poland and Burgundy for Henry, it was worse in southern Germany with the noble’s rebellion. Around Vienna, there were enough aristocrats furious with Henry’s reforms that they could form an army large enough to challenge him. At the beginning of the rebellion, the rebels were leaderless, but it didn’t take long for a strong leader to emerge.

Werner I, Count of Klettgau, started high in the Alps Mountains at Hapsburg Castle and was just as furious with Henry’s reforms as the rest of the nobility. They had been ordained by God to rule the lesser humans, but Henry’s reforms had upended the natural laws. Werner heard of the brewing rebellion in Vienna and moved to the city as the uprising broke out. It didn’t take long for Werner to gain the largest following amongst the rebelling nobles and was voted into power over the rebellion.

Once Werner had gained power, he began working to set up a functioning government. It was one thing to win the war against an oppressive government; it was another to win the peace, and Werner knew he had to win the peace.

When the noble army first met Henry’s volunteer regiments, the battle was a tactical draw. Both sides had high morale but little experience in modern warfare. Since the nobles were mostly mounted, cavalry played a significant role in their battle strategy. For infantry, the nobles hired mercenaries. The volunteers didn’t have many cavalry forces as Henry’s trained cavalry were needed in Poland and Burgundy.

The Holy Roman Empire’s nobles were not so hidebound as to discount firearms. In fact, they embraced them as many cavalrymen carried multiple handguns along with their swords. Their mercenaries carried a mixed bag of weapons, while the volunteers carried the standard German infantry firearm, a rifled musket with a bayonet.

The opposing forces first met outside of Linz, with both sides having flanks anchored on the Danube. The nobles aimed to capture Linz while the volunteers were there to stop them. As far as numbers go, there were 8,300 volunteers to 13,700 nobles. The nobles had a significant advantage in cavalry, although the volunteers had picked good ground to do battle, which negated most of the nobles’ cavalry advantage.

Most noble officers wanted to use a cavalry charge, which they believed would break the volunteers without problems. Their greatest fear was that the volunteers would break before they could reach their lines. Thankfully for them, Werner was in command and had no such delusions.

Since neither side had artillery, Werner began the battle with an infantry assault. When the nobles’ attack was in range, the volunteers opened fire. Thanks to their lack of experience, almost all their shots went wild. As the nobles advanced, they crouched to make themselves smaller targets, and when the volunteers fired again, the nobles dived into the dirt, thus keeping their losses to a minimum.

As soon as the volunteers began reloading, the nobles were on their feet and charging, only to dive into the dirt when they fired again. By this time, some volunteers were becoming nervous while their officers had to adjust their tactics on the fly.

The officers had the front rank of men fire while the second rank held their fire. As they had before, the nobles dived into the dirt when the volunteers fired, but when they stood back up, the second rank fired, catching the nobles by surprise and costing them valuable manpower. By this time, the nobles were within 100 meters, and the volunteers’ shots didn’t go wild. The nobles returned fire, and the two sides began a slugging match.