War of Luxembourg Succession (The Kalmar Union)

War of Luxembourg Succession Battle of Han-Nålene Beginning: 4th April, 1723 End: Place: Low Countries, Rhineland, Taino Sea, India, Southern Africa Outcome: Treaty of Kales Combatants Pro-William II Luxembourg Pro-Sigismund & Jóhannes Vinland France Denmark Anglia Brittany-Maine Aquitaine Burgundian Mercenaries Commanders Strength 150,000-250,000 Dutch/Germans 100,000-150,000 French, 100,000-150,000 Danish, 75,000 Vinlanders, 75,000 Aquitainians, 75,000 Breton, 25,000 Burgundian mercenaries Casualties and Losses

The War of Luxembourg Succession was a short but wide-reaching war in the early 18th century. Chiefly it centred on the issue of who should succeed the childless Henry XI to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and its wealthy lands in the Low Countries.

Causes

Though Charles III of Luxembourg had had seventeen children with his three wives, the number of his direct legitimate heirs had narrowed considerably following his death. By January 1723 only 7 grandchildren survived; the reigning Grand Duke Henry XI, 27 years old, childless and only just married to his second wife, and his cousins; William II and Susanna by his aunt Louise; Sigismund, Eleanore, Jóhannes and Eyfinna, Queen of Vinland, by his uncle Jobst. Henry's only child, John, had died on Christmas Eve 1722 and he was now being pressured by his advisors to name an heir. Sigismund, technically next in line, was wrapping-up his affairs in Vinland and waiting for the winter ice to retreat before crossing the Atlantic to present himself to the lords in Antwerp. But he was a virtual unknown. Meanwhile William, had his own powerbase in Nassau and was beginning to whip up support. Jóhannes, the other male potential heir, was married to (minor) Anglian royalty and began petitioning the Witenage and Regency Council to support his elder half-brother.

On April 4th Henry was dead too. William was quickly proclaimed the new Grand Duke and was rewarded (after a delay for the news to travel across the Atlantic), with a declaration of war from Vinland. Whilst the Leifian country was smaller in terms of population, and its distance meant it could hardly expect to land a full-blown invasion army, it was rich, confident and looking to prove itself beyond the occasional war with relatively small states on the Leifian plains. Luxembourg had the pre-eminent navy in Europe but Vinland had built up a considerable fleet that was more than capable of challenging and disrupting Luxembourg's trade. And whilst the various countries and lordships which made up the Grand Duchy had no elective rights it was clear different regions supported different candidates, raising the prospect of a civil war.

Grand Duke William II

Whilst Flanders, Luxembourg and Nassau backed William, Holland supported Sigismund, perhaps remembering his father's kindness during the Dutch revolt of 1680. Eager to cut Luxembourg down to size France declared for Sigismund too, as did Denmark.

Anglia's involvement was almost a given seeing as it was already at war with Luxembourg. The Luxembourg-Anglian War (1723-1738), really a series of three shorter conflicts and primarily naval in nature, had kicked off in February, though initially the pro-Sigismund/Jóhannes faction tied their aims into Anglia's broader goals.

Austria and the Catholic powers of Europe were busy at each other's throats in the opening moves of the Austrian Civil War and had little to say to the matter. The Protestant German states, with certain exceptions, tried very hard to keep out of either war.

Taino Sea

Almost immediately the Vinlanders took to capturing Luxembourg shipping in the Atlantic and Taino Sea. More cynically it granted amnesty to various pirates and urged them to plunder Luxembourg vessels. Many former pirates would receive complete pardons after offering up part of their plunder to Vinlandic authorities. The Danish-born pirate Bartholomaeus Dyppel even received land and titles for his efforts during the war. There would be a single naval battle at Waitukub which saw 6 Vinlandic Ship-of-the-lines severely cripple 4 Luxembourg equivalents. Thereafter Vinland and its allies would have the Taino Sea to itself as Luxembourg kept its fleet in the Wessex Channel to stifle any attempt by Anglia to break out.

With this freedom Admiral Pjetursson soon started operations to capture the Luxembourg-run islands in the Taino. Waomoni would fall in August 1723, Ichirouganaim in October. The Kalina Islands would be more troublesome and the Vinlanders were repelled twice over the winter. There would be no plans to invade mainland Guyana; there was wariness about how many men would be lost to disease, and anyway, the plans for the European campaign were coming to a head.

Europe

Sigismund crossed the Atlantic reaching Copenhagen in September 1723 to talk with Harald V of Denmark. There he issued a 'coronation oath' setting out the war aims. He could hardly give away Luxembourg territory to France or Anglia as that would have made his position untenable but he recognised Anglia's rights over Fryslân, proclaimed the freedoms of the cities (hoping this would push the Dutch into full revolt) and promised France that his Luxembourg would seek no more land on the Rhine. And then he promptly died, on 3rd December, of pneumonia.

Jóhannes Jobstsson, Prince of Vinland and Earl of Teesmark, and challenger for the Luxembourg throne

Jóhannes was already on his way to France via Man when the news reached him. In early February 1724 Jóhannes slipped into France, meeting with Queen Catherine II in Paris where the French and allied army was slowly coalescing. There he reiterated Sigismund's war aims and waited for a Vinlandic company to arrive. and in the meantime hoped the Dutch would revolt though this hope would be for nothing. Some 24,000 Vinlanders were carried that year across the Atlantic by Vinland's extensive fleet of requisitioned cargo ships, along with 6 months worth of provisions, shielded by almost the entire Vinlandic fighting fleet. William was far more concerned with the 120,000 or so Anglia had under arms and had his own fleet blockade the Anglian coasts allowing the Vinlanders trouble-free passage to the sole French port of La Rochelle. The cargo ships and their crews then were freed to go about their usual trade. Meanwhile Admiral Pjetursson, was wary about sailing the navy through the Wessex Channel to meet the Luxembourg force, probably wisely, but this meant it could not help the Anglians break their blockade.

Catherine II

Without the Anglians the allies still had a formidable force. The Vinlanders were mostly infantry but about 3,000 or so were the crack dragoons used to fighting on the Leifian plains but were not against adapting their style to a European theatre, and their quickly mythologised reputation gave them an extra edge. On top of that Jóhannes hired the services of about 20,000 Burgundians. Catherine II had some 120,000 men under arms, and with Brittany and Aquitaine, could count on a total force of 200,000. To the north-east Denmark was rapidly gathering another 100,000 men, mostly North German mercenaries particularly from the Brunswicks. William could count on a number which would match the two forces being raised but, crucially, had the issue of the Dutch cities which were close to rebelling meaning he could not rely on taxes to keep the army in the field indefinitely. A quick victory was required.

Both the French, Vinlanders and Danes agreed to concentrate on the coastlines rather than the Rhineland to try and encourage the Dutch leaders to revolt against William; the force under d'Allone (rumoured to be Catherine II's secret lover) and Jóhannes skirted the Normandy borders and aimed for Brussels whilst the Danes invaded Fryslan. This would also hopefully deny the Luxembourg navy a safe Channel port, which would assist Anglia to breakout.

The War in Europe

The fortress at Chimay was quickly reduced by the French guns, but Malbode with its extensive fortified lines held up the advance. With the French settling down for a potentially exhausting siege the more nimble Vinlandic force set about looking for a fight. It would find one at Han-Nålene where it hoped to capture the castle but actually stumbled upon a 60,000 strong Luxembourg force coming up from Champagne to join William's main army gathering in Flanders. Whilst a messenger was sent swiftly to the French positions, the Vinlanders formed up and began bombarding the Luxemburgers. The famed Leifian dragoons split into small groups and began picking off targets to the flanks and rear then disappearing, which confused and demoralised the men. It was a masterful ambush; much of the baggage train was destroyed or captured along with an impressive amount of the Luxembourg artillery. 45,000 Luxemburgers would stagger away from the encounter whilst the Vinlandic loss had been much less severe.

It was however the high-point of the campaign. Denmark had entered Fryslân but found itself on the receiving end of William's main (and much more disciplined force). Meanwhile Jóhannes failed to convince d'Allone to lift the siege of Malbode and head northward to try and press their advantage. He would capture various smaller castles around southern Brabant but would eventually have to let the Burgundians return home as his funds ran out waiting on a French breakthrough. When Malbode did fall in May 1725 d'Allone forgot the original aims of securing Flanders and instead took the army into the Rhineland for the summer's campaigning. This diversion certainly caused William some issues but eventually patience back in Paris wore thin and a direct confrontation with William's forces was sought.

The city of Mons was taken in November just before winter really set in. In the spring the grand aim was to take Brussels but this ran straight into the massive fortress of Chanoy where the diminished Champagne army had now recovered and was back up to full strength. Unwilling to let them escape the combined army settled down for a long siege. This dragged on long enough for William to force the Danes in the North to retreat back to Jever (supposedly causing Harald V to have a near-fatal heart attack at the news) before resting and heading south to break the siege.

India

As soon as word reached him from Isafjordhur that war had been declared the Governor of Fort Andyra had begun petitioning the King Venkata IV of Gingee for a war against Luxembourg-held Ksheera Puri and their Indian allies Mandapati. Normally the Gingee kings were happy to oblige with Vinland's aims but this time Venkata IV stalled, probably sensing he could drive a hard bargain. With trade disrupted anyway thanks to the massive effort to transport the army across the Atlantic the governor had little bargaining power and war would not begin until the European conflict was almost over.

Indianavik

The Vinlandic outpost at Indíanavik on the southern coast of Africa had been an afterthought of Vinlandic merchants eagrly breaking into the Indian Ocean trade routes. Its backers had originally planned a grander rival to the Dutch Cape Colony to the west but circumstances meant it never fulfilled its potential. Though the Cape Colony was technically independent of Luxembourg its governors needed little encouragement to snuff out the potential competition and sent a small armed militia to seize the poorly defended port. It took little more than 3 hours of fighting before the outpost capitulated.

Retreat and Peace

Whilst the fight in the Low Countries was coming to a head the Vinlandic navy had sailed around Britannia linking up with the Danish fleet. This finally allowed the Anglian fleet to leave port. A minor engagement in April 1726 was a pretty even match before the Luxembourg fleet retreated but this was enough to land a portion of the army at Jever taking over Fryslân's occupation from the Danes.

The Battle of Chanoy on 24th July 1726 was not the decisive engagement either side wanted. The day-long ordeal just sapped manpower from both sides without providing a knockout blow. D'Allone only pulled back as he mistakenly believed one of his regiments had been lost in one of Chanoy's myriad water defenses as darkness fell. William took the advantage though and pushed the French and Vinlanders back to the French borders but it was an orderly retreat, the Leifian and Aquitainian dragoons constantly harassing the advancing Luxemburgers.

It was, ironically, only at this point that the Dutch cities went into full revolt. This forced William into an uncharacteristically aggressive move and he quick marched his army to Verdun where the allies were camped. This battle was much more decisive and D'Allone had to abandon the field after three hours of fighting. Jóhannes, to his credit, stayed the course and after another three hours fighting was allowed to march unassailled from the battlefield by a magnanimous William.

With the fighting more or less completed Eyfinna's diplomats quickly settled with Luxembourg, agreeing the swift return of all seized property and a modest delivery of cargo vessels as a good-will gesture. The Cape Colony refused to evacuate Indíanavik however and eventually Antwerp would pay a token sum for Vinland's loss. It was never the trading and supply hub its founders had wished it to be anyway. Much of its small remaining population was relocated to better farmlands in the Cape Colony, whilst in time the abandoned dock and stone houses would become the kernel for the imiHlubini city of Gqeberka.

France too got off lightly, William needed to head north to deal with the Ducth revolt and the Anglians, no territory was demanded and token reparations to repair Malbode were paid quickly.

Effects

As a side-show of the Luxembourg-Anglian War the effect of the war was limited. Luxembourg quickly regained control of its territories, though would have a torrid time pacifying Holland, and at least did not have to face France on the battlefield for a few more years.

Jóhannes threw himself into Anglia's separate war efforts, becoming, for a brief period, governor of Anglian-occupied Fryslân. Whilst both Anglia and Denmark semi-seriously continued to support his claims to the Luxembourg throne the matter was dropped from Anglia's war aims.

Across the Atlantic in Vinland the failure of the wider campaign was downplayed and instead the various singular victories over an European power were promoted. Han-Nålene especially, was singled out as proof a small professional army could get the better of a larger undisciplined one, a notion which would colour Vinland's military outlook for a generation. Eyfinna commissioned a set of huge paintings commemorating the events of war, now forming a very impressive tableau in the National Gallery. Several European states took notice of Vinland's belated entry into European war with interest, no longer writing off Leifia as a backwater; vital in building the alliance which would defeat Mexica in the forthcoming War of the League of Arcachon (1743-1752).

In Denmark the failure was blamed squarely on Harald V (now conveniently dead) and his moribund administration. His son and successor Christopher V was eager to use the war's failure as a stick to grasp absolute power in the kingdom. It would not be long before the country was in civil war.

The war rumbled on in India however, under the guise of the Gingee-Mandapati Wars, and it was an open secret that Vinland (and France) campaigned alongside Gingee against the Luxembourg-backed Mandapati. Though Gingee would prove victorious, changes to Ksheera Puri's status was off the table and in fact only hastened the territory's move to full-blown independence from which would strengthen Luxembourg's hand in India in the long-run.