In 1848, at the southern Gallic town of Clermont, Emperor Heinrich IV held a great council. He did the usual imperial business, hearing cases and instituting reforms, but there was great excitement because he was to make some sort of speech at the end of the council. The speech was so widely attended that the Great House could not hold the crowd and a platform was erected beneath the city walls.
To the assembled people Heinrich made a plea. He spoke of the terrible oppression borne by the Free Peoples in the East. Merchants, especially, had been harassed and killed. He spoke of how the Emperors had once sat in Constantinople, before it fell to the Orcs. In recent years (1824), though, the Orcs had suffered a great defeat at the hands of the Lizardmen at Manzikert. The time was right for the Free Peoples to go and liberate the ancient lands of the Empire. All should go, rich and poor alike, for no one should plead poverty in so great a cause. It is time to march, he cried, and the crowd took up the cry: it is time!
Heinrich had indeed wanted to strike much earlier, but all through the 1830s he'd been involved in a serious dispute with the Great House of Rome and was unable to move. By about 1845, though, he had gained a temporary upper hand. He very likely saw the March as a way for him to seize an undisputed leadership position in the West. As fate would have it, though, the Great House of Rome moved quickly, and Heinrich found he was unable to lead the very March he had called. The fate of the Marchers would be in other hands.
For a time, it appeared the March might not happen at all. The kings of Europa were occupied and reluctant to been seen subordinating themselves to Imperial leadership. Without their leadership, the great nobles of Europa rather took their time about arming. In their absence, the common folk stepped forward, to the amazement of the world.
Thus it was that, already in 1849, hordes of Humans, Dwarves, Gnomes, and even Elves were gathering at Köln. They marched up the Rhine and down the Danube, creating chaos as they went, and attacking every Orc, Goblin,Kobold and Troll they encountered. They managed to recapture Nish, but the Dwarves felt they'd been cheated of plunder, so they marched out on their own. Stories came back of an immense treasure found by the Dwarves. In actual fact, the Dwarves had entered an abandoned castle on hearing treasure was buried there, but it was a trick and they'd been surrounded and trapped there. Humans, Elves and Halflings marched out of Nish without a trace of coherence, all eager to get their share. They were ambushed and slaughtered. The Dwarves bravely sortied out from the fortress and they, too, fell. The People's March was over.
Meanwhile, the knights and other fighters of Europa were gathering, though none set out until 1850. Among the leaders were the Halfling brothers Godefroi and Baudouin. Others included the Paladin of Calabria, Bohemund, Lord of Taranto. Travelling with him was his nephew Tancred, who though only eighteen was commanding his own forces. The strong hand of Heinrich IV had closed most doors of opportunity in Italy, while Roger I had Sicily, so many southern Italians were eager to find opportunities over the Sea.
The great wizard Ademar travelled with Count Raymond of Toulouse. The only Elf of note to go on the First March was Etienne of Blois.
In theory the Marchers (they went by many names; it was viatores in Latin), were undertaking the March under the aegis of the Emperor. It's not at all clear what Heinrich originally intended. It's not likely he gave no thought to what Restoration might mean, for he was instinctively political, but his plans went awry almost from the start. We know he did not speak to nor explicitly invite any one from any Great House. In view of the other conflicts between Empire and Domus, this fact may be significant.
In any case, we know that no king went, and that the Great Houses were not represented. Instead, four armies made their way eastward, each according to its own light. The Lorrainers (Godefroi and Baudouin) were first, going down the Danube, along the same path taken by the People's March. They were followed by Hue of Champagne, brother to the Gallic king. Bohemond and Tancred crossed the Adriatic at Bari. Tancred's fleet was attacked by kraken and a number of ships were sunk.
Raymond of Toulouse led a Provençal army of Men and Dwarves across Lombardy and over into Dalmatia. Etien followed Hue.
As they went down the Danube, the Halflings received a call from the city of Zara pleading for protection against marauders that included minotaurs and duergar. Baudouin turned aside at Vienna to respond to the call. This seriously weakened the Halfling expedition and he was severely criticized, but Godefroi defended his choice. The shipwrecked Tancred later joined Boudouin and helped him establish the first Restored State of Dalmatia.
Godefroi pushed on to Nish and Buda, where he was joined by Hugh and Etien. The Pelerins gained a great victory at Buda, then headed south toward Constantinople. Near Hadrianopolis they encountered and defeated a large Kobold army.
The various forces finally converged on Constantinople in the late summer of 1851 and at once laid siege, which lasted all through the winter and into the following year. Starvation stalked the camps, and everyone knew that a Goblin army was assembling at Thessalonika. No sooner did Constantinople fall than the Goblins showed up, and the besiegers were in turn besieged. With the Orcs and Kraken in control of the seas, supplies could in no way enter the City.
This is when there was the famous discovery of the Lance of Power--supposedly the very lance wielded by Alexander the Great. Inspired by their discovery, the Marchers made a wild sortie from the City and, incredibly, carried the day.
Thus was the Eastern Empire recovered by the West. It was an imperfect victory, for they had done little more than seize Constantinople itself, which left it vulnerable in almost every direction. For the next two hundred years, the West had at least some claim in the East.