Eric Flint Wiki
Register
Advertisement
1636: The Saxon Uprising  
The Saxon Uprising
Author Eric Flint
Language English
Series 1632 series
Genre(s) Alternate History
Publisher Baen
Publication date March 29, 2011
Preceded by 1635: The Eastern Front
Followed by Ring of Fire III

1636: The Saxon Uprising (2011) is a novel by Eric Flint in the 1632 series. It is set between November 1635 and March 1636 and is a direct continuation of the story started in 1635: The Eastern Front.

Plot[]

After Gustavus Adolphus suffers a head trauma in battle, he becomes unable to continue to rule. The Swedish chancellor Axel Oxenstierna uses this opportunity to try to reestablish the power of the nobility in the United States of Europe. He keeps the USE army occupied fighting against Poland and reinforcing Bohemia, leaving Swedish forces and the various provincial forces as the only professional soldiers the the country. He uses this advantage to 'bully' Prime Minister Wilhelm Wettin into co-operating with him. The province of Hesse-Kassel, which has the strongest provincial force, decides to stay neutral in the conflict -- intending to use its soldiers solely to keep peace within its own borders. Bavaria invades the Upper Palatinate and the only soldiers able to meet them are the Thuringia-Franconia National Guard and one battalion of USE forces. After the Prime Minister discovers that Bavaria invaded after promises made by the Swedish Chancellor, he confronts Oxenstierna and is arrested and removed from office.

Meanwhile General Banér has taken his army and laid siege to Dresden, the capital of Saxony. Ernst Wettin is the official Imperial Administrator, though the city is effectively under the control of Gretchen Richter and the CoC. They enter into an informal alliance with the rebel forces in the Vogtland in order to protect as many people as possible from the butchery caused by Baner's men in Saxony.

Rebecca Stearns and the Fourth of July Party keep control of the CoC and act in a restrained manner. This undermines the legitimacy of Axel Oxenstierna and the Crown Loyalists gathered in Berlin. Princess Kristina and Prince Ulrik travel to Magdeburg, arriving in an airplane and receiving a big fanfare, which further undermines the Swedish Chancellor.

Mike Stearns takes this opportunity to lead his Third Division from Bohemia into Saxony to break the siege of Dresden. He meets General Banér in battle during a snow storm, which his troops are more prepared to fight in, and defeats the Swedish general, breaking the siege of Dresden. Banér is killed in the battle.

Gustav Adolphus regains his wits soon after that, and Axel Oxenstierna's uprising ends when he is shot dead by Erik Haakansson Hand. Wilhelm Wettin is released from custody and reinstated as Prime Minister.

Advertisement