First Baltic War (Abrittus)

=== The First Baltic War === It took place between 850 and 854. Although only little territorial adjustments immediately resulted from it, its long-term consequences for the development of the Baltic region and Scandinavia were far-reaching.

Firearms reached Scandinavia and the Baltic region in the 800s (Sørstad alliance), 810s (Agder, Viken, Denmark, Geatland, Vineta) and 820s (Svearike-Sjonarike, Courland, Karmøy, Trøndelag). Throughout the first half of the 9th century, the kings of the Svear in Uppsala had to witness a consolidation of Danish-Geatic-Sørstad hegemony Understandings between the Sørstad allies and the Frisian Hanse, forged with Celtic help, meant that almost no port towns were outside the reach of this duopoly. Uppsala felt itself with its back against the wall.

Under these circumstances, king Gustav I forged an alliance with Hening, King of Saxony. He set Denmark-Geatland an ultimatum: Should they not have lowered their customs claims for the Kattegat passage by 30%, opened the port of Älvsborg for Swedish ships and guaranteed a safe, pirate-free passage through the Kattegat to Celtic Jutland with a member of the royal family as hostage in Uppsala by the spring aequinox in 850, then Sweden would enforce its free Kattegat passage.

The Danes and Geats had no intention of complying with the ultimatum. Thus, in the morning of April 22nd, 850, Swedish troops marched into Geatland, while simultaneously, Saxon troops landed on Western Danish islands. Denmark-Geatland was evidently over strained with fighting on two fronts: While they were able to stop the Saxon advance in Fyn in May, they could not push the Saxon army back off Ærø and Langeland. After Swedish divisions defeated the Geats in the battle of Skara and marched towards the Kattegat coast in June, the Danish-Geatic king Harald had to ask Norwegian allies for help. On June 6th, the kingdom of Agder joined the war on Harald's side. Moving 16,000 soldiers to Geatland, Agder's assistance came just in time to confront the Swedes in late June, who had lain siege on Älvsborg, which could not have withstood the cannons and the food shortage very much longer. The fights for Älvsborg continued intensely for 13 days, until the Swedish troops withdrew and dug themselves in in the hinterland on July 10th.

Both Harald and his opponents, Gustav and Hening, had tried to win the support of the Celtic Empire, or at least the Frisian Hanse, whose ships were the only ones in the Baltic endowed with Greek fire, but Celts and Frisians remained neutral, the latter selling weapons to both sides which the former had manufactured.

In late July 850, the Saxons launched a new offensive in Fyn. On August 8th, Gudme fell into the hands of the Saxons and was plundered and burned. Harald knew he needed more forces than he had to stop the Saxons in Denmark and push back the Swedes in Geatland. He sent military attachés to Vineta, which had always been neutral in any Baltic Sea battle so far and never deployed troops outside the Slavic-speaking lands of its network of trading towns.

But the town councillors of Vineta´s vece knew that the moment had come for their city to assume a more direct role in the greater Baltic picture. While two divisions of Harald's army, together with soldiers from Agder, launched an unsuccessful attack on Swedish positions in September, Vineta gathered a small part of its mercenary force and prepared a strategy for intervention. On October 1st, 850, Vineta´s professional soldiers marched into the Obodrite Kingdom, which was Saxony's vassal, who had also deployed troops in this war. On the same day, Harald's navy, together with Sørstad mercenaries, defeated the Saxon navy, which had tried to move troops from Langeland to Lolland. Throughout October, the Danes pushed the Saxons off Langeland now, while on the continent, Vineta's soldiers laid siege on Sverin. Sverin falls to Vineta in November and is plundered. The king and his court escaped to Liubice. In December, Vineta consolidates its control over Polabia, while a Saxon counteroffensive secures Langeland. New Saxon attempts to land on Denmark's main island, Sjælland, fail, though. In Sweden, short skirmishes bring no territorial gains for either side.

851 begins with a new Vinetan offensive into Wagria and the siege of Liubice in February. The town falls into Vineta´s hands in March. Instead of plundering the port town, Vineta decides to re-establish its independent urban structures and make it into an ally. The royal Obodritic family is killed, except for Radomir, the dead king's extremely unpopular cousin, who flees to Hamburg. Vinetan negotiators catalyse the establishment of a Liubician vece and seal several contracts. New mercenaries from among Liubice's middle classes are being trained for an effective defense of the town and perhaps later participation in Vineta's campaign, as the main body of Vineta´s deployment withdraws.

In February 851, the king of Viken joins his neighbours' side against his other neighbour, Sweden. With fresh troops, a new offensive pushes back Swedish positions for more than 50 km. The battles cause great numbers of casualties.

In the meantime, Radomir meets the Saxon king Hening and reminds him of his duties in protecting his vassal. Hening agrees, especially since the loss of the Obodrite ally impedes Saxon access to the Baltic Sea even further. Saxony withdraws almost half of its troops from the Danish archipelago and prepares an offensive on its new Eastern front. As a consequence, Langeland and Ærø fall back into Danish hands and Danish troops manage to land in Fyn, too, attacking the remaining Saxon forces from many sides.

In May 851, Saxony launches its attack on Vineta's positions close to the Elbe-Delf-Stignica border. Vineta is prepared and manages to hold the lines for a whole week until the Saxons withdraw and regroup. Another offensive in August brings the breakthrough, though. Vineta's troops withdraw into strategically most relevant and best fortified positions, while Saxon troops clear (and plunder - strategically unclever but necessary since the ethelinga leadership reaches the limits of their financial reserves for this war and a war tax has not yet passed the Thing) the rural areas of Polabia and Wagria. In September and October, Sverin is besieged and finally abandoned by Vineta´s small defensive troops. The Saxons install Radomir is King of the Obodrites in Sverin. Liubice, which has not yet come under Saxon control, does not accept Radomir's suzerainty and rallies his opponents.

Almost all sides being financially and militarily exhausted, the war takes a break during the winter of 851/2. Only Liubice, parts of Geatland a couple of Danish isles are currently not in the hands of those who had controlled them in 869. The war could have stopped here - but the Swedish leadership had not yet given up on their claim to free access across the Kattegat, the extremely unpopular Radomir was bent on regaining Liubice - and, most importantly, the Celts did not yet it consider a quick end to this war as crucial for their interests.

While there were no major hostilities in Scandinavia in 852, the war raged on on the continent. In March 852, Saxons and Radomir's knights tried to reconquer Liubice once more, and they had to give up after six weeks once again. Saxony decided to strike at the heartland of Liubice's supporters in Vineta and marched into Liuticia with a large army, whose deployment strained the Saxon's means severely. Vineta, on the other hand, still had ample funds left, but no sufficiently great army at its disposal. New divisions were built under pressure, and their cooperation with the self-confident professional mercenary units did not always go well. Nevertheless, Vineta's colourful alliance of Slavic defenders was able to defeat the advancing Saxons in a great battle at Spandow (OTL Berlin) in August 862, which went down into the history of the Northern Slavs as the great heroic defense of their homeland.

But many towns, which belonged to Vineta´s alliance, and their surrounding lands in the West were still controlled by Saxons and had to suffer from plundering and a cruel treatment of the civilian population. Vineta asked Danish King Harald to return the favour and attack the Saxons to provide relief.

Harald waited so that the yeomen in his army could complete their harvests (which the Liuticians suffering under Saxon rule couldn't, but neither could many Saxons), and gathered his troops in late October. They landed on Fehmarn in November 852 and dug in. So far, Saxon King Hening did not consider it necessary to move his troops from Venedia to the Baltic coast, especially since Vineta still had not given up Liubice. The Danes fortified Fehmarn, and in December, they moved on into Albingia, attacking Saxony's heartland.

Now, Hening was compelled to withdraw his troops from Venedia. But they came too late. The Danes crushed the Saxon defense lines in a series of successful battles near Pinneberg, and on Winter Solstice in 852 (two days before the few Christians celebrated Christmas), the Saxon capital of Hammaburg was attacked by Danish longboats sailing up the Elbe and by Danish troops, too. After five weeks, the fierce Saxon resistance was broken. The Danes hoisted their flag over the palace of the Saxon king, who had fled with his entire court and government to Bremen.

The Saxons withdrew troops from anywhere else (Denmark as well as Venedia) in order to restore control over Hamburg. It took the Saxon army five weeks to eliminate all Danish presence in and around Hamburg, and then another two months to push them off Albingia. During this time, the Danes restored control over all Danish isles and fortified them, while Vineta sorted its Liutician territories out. After a last skirmish in Anglia in June 853, Danes, Saxons and Venedians negotiated a separate ceasefire.