KukriKhan again:


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Wladeslaw II reigned for 47 years (1101-1148) in Greater Poland. During this time, he operated on a shoestring budget, carefully improving his base economies (farming and trade) and security (border forts, churches, urban militias). Rather than amassing a large military force, Wlad2 worked his alliances to prevent incursions into his nation, keeping the HRE, Byzantines, Novgorads, and Hungarians close-at-hand, and spurning alliance offers from the French and Turks, who warred on his neighbors.

By the mid-1130's, Poland had saved up enough cash to think about expanding. Kiev, as predicted, had fallen to our allies, the Byzantines; so Wlad2 looked North instead. A bribery mission in 1135 to Livonia failed, so having quietly assembled a sufficient force in Lithuania, the good King sent his trusted brother Casimr to lead an expedition of liberation there.





Meanwhile, Wlad2 developed ports and shipyards in Lithuania & Pomerania, to eventually take advantage of trade opportunities with his Danish, English, German & Spanish allies.

All of these efforts were just beginning to bear fruit when the long-lived King succumbed to illness in 1148, at age 74.





Wladeslaw II's reign was characterized by a slow, steady build-up of resources, to enable his successors to fight the eventual, inevitable wars that would likely follow his time on the throne. His 6 heirs were all 4- and 5-star commanders, spread throughout the realm. His ships and influence reached as far west as Leon, unopposed by any other naval force. History will designate him Poland's Great Builder.