SAXONS

The Saxon Confederacy have the Power of Honour.

National bonuses

• Logistics Corps : Receive a free Supply Wagon each time a new Siege Workshop is built.
• Military Self-sufficiency : Supply Wagons can heal nearby units.
• Heirs of Rome : Siege units 25% cheaper, 50% faster.
• Master Artisanship : Start with Sawmill. Receive Woodworking upgrades for free.
• Golden City : Woodcutters' Camps hold +2 workers. +10% Commerce Cap on Timber. 

Units and structures

UU gallery:

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Structures:

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Wonders:

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Leaders

Widukind; Hessi; Banzleib; Egbert of Saxony; Theoderic; Albion

Settlements

History

The Saxons were were a Germanic tribe which inhabited Denmark, northern Germany, and the coasts of the Netherlands and Belgium. Much later, the Saxons eventually settled in England and northwestern France. The Saxons were one of three tribes which later became known as Anglo-Saxons. While different parts of Germany have been referred to as Saxony at one point in time or the other, northwest Germany is considered to be the place of their origins. Eventually, while the Saxons who migrated to the British Isles would found the kingdom of England, those who stayed behind were conquered and subsequently absorbed into the Frankish empire, with their lands reorganised as the historic Duchy of Saxony. 

The Time of Troubles

The Saxons were first mentioned in 130CE, with reference to the "Saxones" tribe north of the Elbe River. Originally from along the northern European coast, their name is derived from their characteristic weapon, the 'seax' dagger. During the early stages of the Roman Empire, the Saxons were fragmented and tenacious, gradually spreading across Europe with no singular leader. After the Romans pulled out of Britain at the beginning of the 5th century CE, many Saxons settled there in their stead, laying the foundations of what would eventually become England. 

Those who remained on the continental mainland came into contact with the Franks, who went on to shape their destiny significantly. United under Clovis, the Franks brought much of Gaul under their control. This included Saxon tribes who, although subjugated, were able to remain largely independent, separated from their Frankish overlords and foes by the Harz and Hesse mountain ranges. While most of the other tribes adopted Christianity, the Saxons still fiercely defended their pagan beliefs, upholding them despite determined advances from the Christian Franks. 

Two priests - both named Ewald - were sent to convert them to Christianity, but they were instead brutally murdered, dismembered, and cast into the Rhine. The Saxons also raided their neighbours relentlessly, further drawing the ire of their western overlords. From 772 to 804, the Saxons were conquered by the Franks during Charlemagne's Saxon Wars. 

The Romanovs

Upon Michael's passing away in 1645, the tsar was succeeded by his young son Alexis. After initial difficulties, the Tsar won a victory for Russia with the Treaty of Andrusovo, which saw several territorial gains for Russia at the expense of the Poles who they had been at war with. Unfortunately, serfdom became a legal reality during his reign in order to prevent the lical peasants from running away and bankrupting the agrarian Russian economy. Alexis did encourage trade and links with the West (Europe) and thus expanded Russian influence and interest into that sphere. In 1676, Fyodor III succeeded his father Alexis to the throne of Russia. Despite increasing protestations from the clergy, Fyodor continued to emphasis building up relations with Russia's neighbours in Europe, but it was not until the arrival of Peter I (Peter the Great) by 1696 that Russia began opening up to Europe. He took a tour of Europe and returned full of new ideas. The turning of the tide came atPoltava in 1709, when Peter's new army managed to turn back the invading Swedes. Russia made several further territorial gains by the end of the war. Peter also worked on internal reforms and modernised the Russian army along European standards amd also began the construction of St Petersburg, one of the greatest cities in Russia.

Upon his death in 1725, a series of successions followed — Peter the Great had left no clear idea as to who was to succeed him after his death. It was in 1762 that stability and strong leadership was again brought to Russia with Catherine II (Catherine the Great). She began an aggressive expansionist policy that brought large territorial gains for Imperial Russia. After several Russian campaigns against the Turks, Frederick the Great of Prussia brought up the Polish question to divert further Russian expansion in the Balkans against the Turks. Russia actively participated in the first and second partitions (dismantling) of Poland, gaining large chunks of land as a result. Catherine continued the modernising and social reforms of Peter the Great, and was herself a skilled diplomat. During the end of her reign however, the populous ideals of the French revolution caused her to become increasingly defensive and conservative in her policies, and many of the liberal reforms she instituted early in her career were reversed and again the peasantry grew further towards distress. In 1812, Napoleon invaded Russia with a force of over half a million men. Marshal Kutukov of the Russian forces knew he could not defeat Napoleon's massive army head on. So he conducted a defensive campaign, raiding the French Forces whenever the opportunity presented itself. By the time Napoleon made it to Moscow, he has lost two thirds of his forces, and found the city deserted and devoid of supplies and even shelter. The Russians were still not ready to surrender, and waited for Napoleon to grow tired of waiting in Moscow for peace terms, which never came. Napoleon was forced to withdraw empty handed, unfortunately by then winter began to set in. His already withered forces were forced to endure a long match through a vast land battered by the Russian winter, and pursued by the Russian forces. By the time they returned to France, only 10,000 troops remained. Ironically, Russia emerged as more powerful and respected as a result of this invasion then she had been previously been, but there were storm clouds hovering on the horizon.

Decline of the Tsardom

"What is going to happen to me and all of Russia?"

— Tsar Nicholas II Romanovich

The Russian crown since the time of Ivan the Terrible enjoyed near autocratic rule over the nobility, largely at the expense of the ordinary peasantry. By the mid-19th century, this form of control over the people was no longer tolerable. Despite repeated military successes agains the Turks and the Persians, as well as the successful deterrence of further British progression into central Asia, conditions in Russia for the common peasant was so poor that political unrest began to build up. In 1825, a palace coup by some 3,000 soldiers was brutually put down. Next was a popular uprising in Poland, which again was thoroughly routed. Meanwhile, the tsarist government vaccilated between liberal reform and repression, all to no effect, although serfdom was finally abolished by the Emancipation Act of 1861 but this in turn merely crippled the country's growth further by destroying the sole source of effective labour in all Russia. Terrorism as well as anti-Semitic pogroms and persecution increased in intensity and sanguinity - the tsar Alexander II was killed by a bomb planted by anarchists in 1881.

Fall of the Empire

Prior to his death, Alexander II had been planning to convert Russia to a constutional monarchy, but his assassination ended any chances of reform - the last tsars to follow him all strengthened autocratic rule and repression further in an attempt to protect themselves, but to no avail. By 1868, a new nation, Japan was looming on the horizon in the north Pacific. Territorial ambitions bred tensions which led to overt military conflict, which resulted in the Treaty of Portsmouth in 1906, forcing Russia to cede Manchuria and part of the strategically located island to Sakhalin. A decade later, the Russians were drawn into the First World War, and again found itself unprepared in many aspects for modern warfare. Despite the Russian tsar personally joining the fight with his men against Austria and Germany in Poland, Russia continued to suffer defeat after defeat and the reactionary government eventually led the long-suffering people of Russia to finally revolt in 1917, resulting in the fall of the tsardom and the death of the tsar and his family, along with civil war throughout Russia between a variety of pro-tsarist, republican, communist, and anarchist factions as well as intervening expeditions sent by the foreign powers.