User blog:Jeremiah Garland/The Siege of Kiel (1745)

On August 14, 1745, on order by King Antonius I of Prussia, General Jéremia Garlandeir, Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Prussian Army, crossed over from the Prussian-controlled province of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, into the independent duchy of Holstein. Holstein, a long time rival of the Prussians, was met with silence when, before the day was over, their capital, Kiel, fell to a Prussian army 6,500 strong under the command of General Garlandeir. In all, approximately 900 Prussian soldiers were killed in the Siege of Kiel, and 2,200 Holsteinian defenders were also killed. The city of Kiel itself remains "in-tact and preserved" says General Garlandeir, despite heavy cannonfire from the Prussians on the city during the seige. King Antonius himself, as well as the Prussian prime minister, Premier Johannes Pistole, are due to arrive in the city late afternoon tomorrow to personally oversee the northern Germanic duchy's official annexation to the ever-growing Prussian Empire. King Antonius has ordered that the reigning leader of Holstein, Grand Duke Heinrich von Ahlefeldt, be sparred, and is temporarily but under house arrest alongside his family in the nearby city of Glückstadt.

With Holstein now under Prussian command, a garrison of 8,500 soldiers has been commisioned to the region. During the same declaration, an additional garrison of 12,000 troops has been stationed in the Prussian-controlled region of Saxony, due south of Brandenburg, in fear of eastern invaders.

Prussia's closest ally and fellow coalition member, the Tsardom of Russia, has sent a diplomat from St. Petersburg to set up a minor satellite embassy in the recently-conquered Kiel, and a dispatch of 800 Russian grenadiers have also been sent to set up a military outpost along Holstein's shores. The Kingdom of the Netherlands, another Prussian ally and, together with Prussia and Russia, the final member of the First Triple Entente, has also been invited to set up stations in the region. Due to Holstein's location (with British-controlled Denmark to the north and the disputed kingdom of Hanover to the south), trade has flourished, also due to Kiel being one of the largest and most significant ports on the Baltic Sea.

Until a grand duke is assigned to the region, Jéremia Garlandeir will assume the temporary position of Governor-General of Holstein, and will oversee the provisional government.