Strategic Axis with Austria

Before the Independence in 1569 Mikolaj the Black, named king as Mikolaj I, had become Prince of the Holy Roman Empire and befriended the Habsburg ruler of Austria, the Emperor Maximilian II. Maximilian was as sharp a politician as Mikolaj and profited on weakening Poland. Now Mikolaj's position was very bad in the 1570s he had to fight broad factions of Magnates in what could be described as a Civil War and defend his borders from Polish acts of revenge or even a re-conquest. He had to do what served independence best and that was to strike a deal with Maximilian. A Military Alliance was signed on 3rd February 1570 and Mikolaj's eldest son married Elizabeth of Steiermark. This alliance actually kept Poland from attacking even if local border incursions were regular. With the ascending of Rudolf to the Habsburg Monarchy the relations became wary and the alliance fell, but at that time the relations with Poland were at least acceptable.