Regnum Aeternum Lituaniae

Regnum Aeternum Lituaniae (Lat. "Eternal Lithuanian Rule") is an alternate history timeline exploring the scenario of Vytautas the Great, Grand Duke of Lithuania, winning the Battle of the Vorskla River in 1399.

Historical background
After Jogaila, known to the rest of the world by the title of "Wladyslaw Jagiello", accepted the Polish crown and married Princess Jadwiga, he faced a challenger in his homeland Lithuania on the form of his cousin Vytautas, son of Grand Duke Kęstutis, whom Jogaila deposed and killed in 1382. After a ten year long struggle, Vytautas and Jogaila came to an agreement, wherein the son of Kęstutis would rule Lithuania as a viceroy of the King of Poland.

Vytautas was ambitious and confident, and despite officially serving his cousin, he ran an independent foreign and domestic policy. In our universe, he obtained glory and eternal fame, as well as the title 'the Great' due to winning the Battle of Grunwald in 1410, defeating the Teutonic Order once and for all - but ten years prior, he suffered a major defeat in the form of the Battle of the Vorskla River, where the might of the Golden horse defeated the alliance of Lithuanians, Poles and Teutonic Knights that he led in order to seize control of the steppe. This defeat marked an end of Lithuanian eastward expansion, forever denied Vytautas the chance to be crowned King, and directly contributed to Moscow's rise to be a regional hegemony thanks to Lithuania's weakness.

So what if he won?

Part 1: The East is Ours
1399: The crusader alliance of Lithuanians, Poles and Teutonic Knights defeats the armies of Edygu and Temur Qutlugh in Vorskla. Lithuania seizes most of the territory of the Golden Horde and installs Tokhtamysh as a Lithuanian vassal in Sarai.

1402: Vytautas defeats a rebellion in Smolensk. Moscow is directly responsible for the rebellion attempt. Vytautas, feeling insulted, declares war on Moscow.

1403: Muscovite armies are easily destroyed and most of the territory of the principality is annexed. The rest is divided between Lithuania's allies, Tver and Ryazan.

1405: Vytautas marches to Novgorod, reinstating Lithuanian domination over the Republic that was present during the reign of Grand Duke Algirdas. The Knyaz of Novgorod shall from now on be the Grand Duke of Lithuania.

1407: With most of Rus' under Lithuanian domination, Vytautas proudly declares himself to be the King of Lithuania.

Part 2: The West is Also Ours
1409: A rebellion in Teutonic Samogitia leads to the region returning back to Lithuania after 10 years of Teutonic rule. Thinking that Lithuania instigated the revolt in the first place, the Order declares war. Jogaila, even if he's bitter about Vytautas becoming a king, agrees to support his cousin to regain Polish territory.

1410: Jogaila dies in the Battle of Grunwald, but Vytautas successfully leads the Polish-Lithuanian forces to victory, even capturing Marienburg. The Teutonic Order is partitioned between Poland and Lithuania.

1411: As Jogaila was childless, the szlachta gathers to elect a new King, and they pick Vytautas, King of Lithuania. Poland and Lithuania are once again reunified, but this time with Lithuania as the senior partner.

1430: King Vytautas the Great dies, leaving both of his kingdoms to his son, Mykolas.

Part 3: Meet the New Boss
1431: Mykolas I is crowned King. He is a very capable ruler.

1434: Mykolas I unites the two kingdoms of Poland and Lithuania into one, the Lithuanian-Polish Commonwealth (LPC). It is vast, powerful and stretches across all of Eastern Europe, from Gdansk to Nizhny Novgorod, from Novgorod to the Black Sea.

1435: Novgorod, Tver, Ryazan and other Russian principalities are integrated into the LPC. Mykolas I leads an invasion of the Livonian Order, conquering it. Latvians are assimilated into Lithuanians.

1437: Mykolas I releases an edict of tolerance, approving Lithuanian, Polish and Russian as official languages of the Commonwealth. The first written texts in Lithuanian language appear, sparking a renaissance in Lithuanian culture and society, and a renewed interest in using the Lithuanian language.

1443: The Pope calls for a crusade against the Ottomans. Hungary and the LPC join forces against the Turks.

1444: Mykolas I wins the Battle of Varna, kicking the Ottomans out of Europe. The Byzantine Empire regains some territory in Thrace and Greece, but becomes a Lithuanian protectorate and puppet state. Hungary annexes most of the Balkans.

Part 4: New Religion
1517: Martin Luther releases the 95 Theses, creating the religion of Protestantism.

1525: Žygimantas II, King of LPC, becomes interested in Protestantism, and declares it to be the state religion, although Catholics and Protestants are tolerated. Most of the population converts to Protestantism.

1530s: Lithuanian culture reaches a new high, and they begin assimilating Poles and Russians into their population due to Vilnius becoming a center of reformation and a major culture hub.

1540: By now, Sweden, Denmark, Hungary, Scotland, Ireland and most of Germany have become Protestant as well. The Catholic nations, led by France and England, begin planning a counterattack against the Protestants. They are joined by the remnants of the Ottomans in Anatolia, who want to regain lost territory.

1545: Fearing Catholic aggression, Žygimantas II creates the Kaunas League, an alliance of Protestant nations in Europe.

1555-1585: The Thirty Years War. At first, the Catholic nations hold an edge, England unites the British isles and the Ottomans storm the Balkans, taking over the Byzantine Empire and destroying it at last. However, Žygimantas II's successor Algimantas I introduces sweeping army reforms, introducing discipline, a general staff and pike and shot tactics into the Lithuanian army, which helps them overwhelm the Catholics. By 1583, Lithuanian troops cross the river Seine, and the Catholics are forced to sue for peace. The HRE is turned into a Protestant nation, Lithuania annexes a bit of territory, but the Ottomans retain control of Constantinople. England does not sue for peace, they cannot be reached because of their navy, and they decide to move on to North America.

1590: Algimantas I crowns himself Emperor, becoming the first leader of the Imperial Commonwealth of Lithuania-Poland-Russia (ICLPR)

Part 5: Revolution
1750s: Lithuanian inventor Kristijonas Donelaitis invents the steam engine, starting the Industrial Revolution. He himself commented: "eik tu, šūdvabali, kur šūdvabaliai pasilinksmin" on the rise of industrialization.

1760s: By now, England dominates all of North America, and this land gives them a lot of power in the world. ICLPR and England are the two great powers of Europe, vigorously competing everywhere and fighting proxy wars. Lithuania is amazing in land warfare, but their sea capability is awful, while England is a giant at sea, but their army is small, so neither nation can touch the other.

1770s: Around this time, Lithuania finishes colonization of Siberia and begins pushing through Central Asia towards India, an English colony. Major wars keep happening between France and the HRE, instigated by the Great Wars in order to increase their spheres of influence.

1789: A revolution finally begins in France, and the French, led by Napoleon Bonaparte, throw off shackles of English domination. A war between England and France begins.

1790: English dominated Spain and Italy push into France, but this is where the ICLPR steps in, providing troops, supplies and resources to France.

1792: By now, France has pushed the invaders out thanks to Lithuanian help, but they cannot attack Spain or Italy because of mountains. Lithuania pressures the HRE - which is now a united Protestant state and the third strongest nation in Europe - to help the French. HRE reluctantly agrees, taking over all of Italy, but England lands troops in Spain to prevent them from being conquered.

1793: A reluctant peace treaty is signed, but tensions remain high. France becomes a democratic republic and aligns with ICLPR, but the HRE, which reforms itself into the German Empire, is bitter with the Lithuanians bossing them around and decides to instead align with England.

The current powers in Europe:

ICLPR - Controls pretty much all of Eastern Europe, the Siberia and Central Asia. Absolute monarchy, but very tolerant to all faiths and cultures. Rivals with England, is the leader of the Lithuanian bloc.

England - Controls all of the British Isles, all of North America, India, Australia and most of Africa. The UK was never founded, but England has been reformed to a democratic federation under the King, with colonies having representation. Rivals with Lithuania and leader of the English bloc.

German Empire - Constitutional monarchy and controls all of the HRE (Greater Germany). Allies with England.

France - Democratic republic, allied with ICLPR.

Hungary - Somewhat authoritarian, but not absolute monarchy, long standing ally of ICLPR.

Spain - Authoritarian monarchy, English puppet state.

Italy - Authoritarian monarchy, English puppet state.

Turkey - Military dictatorship and successor to the Ottomans. Aligned with England.

Greece - Theocracy and successor to remnants of Byzantium. Aligned with ICLPR.

Sweden - Constitutional monarchy, neutral.

Denmark - Constitutional monarchy, neutral.

Part 6: Prelude to Armageddon
1870s: The Scramble for Africa begins. England obtains the biggest share, almost half of the continent, while the rest is divided between France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Sweden. Obviously, the Lithuanian bloc is angry.

1880s: Major economic recession begins across the world. Most of Latin America liberates itself from Spanish rule and becomes a federal radical democracy, the so-called "United States of America" with a capital in Mexico City.

1890s: ICLPR creates the Eastern Alliance, which is joined by Hungary, France and Greece. England forms the Global Defense Treaty with Spain, Italy, HRE and Turkey. Lithuania and England butt heads in Asia, especially in China, which they try to divide into spheres of influence, but cannot decide on who gets which share.

1890s: The Joseon Dynasty begins a rapid modernization program, becoming one of the first modern states in Asia, the Empire of Korea. It annexes the splintered and divided Japanese statelets, which it rules like a colony, and begins inroads into Manchuria and the rest of China.

1901-1904: Lithuania, feeling that it's sphere of influence is threatened, attacks Korea, but in a surprising turn on events, the Korean-ICLPR war is won by Korea, which promptly annexes Manchuria and Shangdong. This severely hurts Lithuania's prestige and gives England the confidence that the Eastern Alliance can be beat.

1904-1909: The new emperor, Mykolas IV, starts his own modernisation program, rebuilding the army to the most modern standards, and introducing constitutional reforms to give his subjects more democracy. As the ICLPR is rapidly modernizing, England must hurry - it makes a non-aggression pact with the USA to secure it's flanks and begins to mobilize.

1910: A Franco-German border clash turns into a full war between the Eastern Alliance and the Global Defense Treaty.

1911-1915: After four grueling years of war, the Eastern Alliance stands victorious. Germany held out on the continent for two years, but they were eventually overrun by a two-time war. Spain and Italy held out for longer thanks to British assistance, but this plan came to a halt when President of the USA, Teodore Rusevelto, attacked British North America. Korea declined a chance to join the GDT, remaining neutral, and in the end, England was forced to sue for peace, ceding a large chunk of North America to the USA and a number of colonies to France. Germany was dismantled and many of it's territories, as well as all colonies, were annexed by France. The ICLPR gained control over Constantinople, now renamed to Vytautamiestis ("City of Vytautas") and complete domination over all of China. It was the war to end all wars... or was it?

1915-1918: Major postwar economic downturns shake the Eastern Alliance, and France leaves completely. The ICLPR is most very stable. In England, meanwhile, an extremist politician by the name of Edward Wood, Lord Halifax, forms a new ideology - "Imperialism", focused on territorial conquest, revanchism, corporate economic and extreme nationalism. It grows very popular in defeated England.

1921: Lord Halifax and his Empire Party win the 1920 election, gaining near complete control of the Parliament and swiftly reorganizing the nation into the world's first Imperialist state, the Empire of Britannia. Halifax claims the title of "Commander-in-Chief" and sets a goal of restoring English glory and gaining revenge on the Lithuanians...

TO BE CONTINUED.

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