Hello and welcome to the history of the Germans.

Episode 4, a foe wherever you go.

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Last week, we watched Otto's astounding recovery from disaster at the Battle of Andernach in October 939.

Otto has now successfully broken the rebellion of his brother Henry, who was supported by a powerful

alliance of the Dukes of Franconia and Lothringia, some Saxon nobles and a number of

senior bishops, including the primate of Germany, Archbishop Friedrich of Mainz.

Otto beat them all, not by superior tactics or exceptional bravery or military might, no, by

sheer unbelievable luck.

In both key battles, Burton and Andernach, Otto's troops were seriously outnumbered.

By September 939, Otto's fortune had sunk so low, he talked about seeking an honorable death.

And that makes the final success at the Battle of Andernach nothing showed of a miracle.

In the perception of the times, this added up to exactly that, an act of God confirming

beyond any doubt that Otto is the rightful king.

And even beyond the immediate impact on Otto's reign,

it sanctioned the constitutional reform of Henry the Fowler,

that the kingdom should no longer be divided between the sons of the previous king.

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