"btw, I gave you cores on four of the provinces you need to form the Netherlands...
Hint hint wink wink nudge nudge."
Hint hint wink wink nudge nudge."
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I think having high prestige helps too? I looked at the modifiers on the wiki but there's no surefire way to ensure you get it.It is a privilege for those who got 9 diplomatic skill or got the mission to reunite the Netherlands.
Yeah was pleased til I realised Brabant had guaranteed everyone.. You'll see in the next updatewow that was one hell of an event! 4 cores!!!
Haha that's true I'd planned to do it by PU which was the reason for the high prestige but I didn't need to thankfully.
Absolutely. Certainly made life easier in regards to unlawful HRE provinces. Burgundy makes it a bit tougher though..
Yeah you wouldn't believe but I've played a bit ahead and I got it again! This time I had no boundaries on rivals so just 10+ prestige.
Sorry guys, been working many hours so not much opportunity to play. Gonna try and put out an update tonight though. Having trouble remembering to screenshot decisive moments in the campaign. Does anyone have any feedback or criticism on the way I'm writing? Don't want it to be too boring or bland.
Having been busy myself, I just finished reading your impressive work. I always like the Dutch, they've proved a serious challenge for me on the few occasions I've played them. After France's defeat at the hands of the Burgo-Austrians, the situation will become even more challenging with the bonus of added "opportunities" to exercise your claims and perhaps more.
You should claim Calais (Dutch: Kales) to your Great Dutch Rijk as well, the Calais region was dutch-speaking during the early medieval period and probably still during the 1400-1500 hundreds.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/Kaartfransvlaanderen.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/Kaartfransvlaanderen.jpg
Thank you for your kind words. I really enjoy playing them, as their sliders lend very well to my playing style which is economically focussed as opposed to blobbing throughout the world. Looking back at the HAB-Valois treaty, the French got off easily, losing vassals they had cores on, so I think it might actually consolidate France more quickly than otherwise. That worries me greatly as FRA loves to go after my rich provinces and my Navy and small but highly drilled army won't be enough to hold back the waves of French infantry. I suppose I will have to engineer an alliance with the Spaniards or the Emperor, or failing that the English to do some heavy lifting for me. Ideally, I'd love to see the Emperor and France go at it for several rounds so I can consolidate underneath their noses, and so they hate each other forever and ever, distracting them from me.
I have thought about it before, but I don't particularly want it as it is non core, a FRA/ENG/BUR core, Cosmopoiltane culture and would see the Major powers eyeing off more than what is lawfully theirs (i.e. the Greater Netherlands!) However, if geostrategic and political circumstances align, I will not hesitate to strengthen my own position at the expense of other regional powers. For the moment though, such ideas are beyond my reach.
Great to have you on board!
I'll have an update by the end of the week, another 60 hour week starting in 60 minutes!
It's always tough writing when you have so much other work to do. Good show writing another section!
just caught up with this, really enjoyable read, and it'll be fascinating to see you carve out a Dutch state
Chapter Three: Een bloode hond word zelden velt
Fortune favours the bold
Fortune favours the bold
Uniting the lowlands was not as simple as annexing each of the minor counties in turn. The larger two, being the Prince Bishopric of Liege, and the Duchy of Brabant, sought hegemony in the region, proclaiming guarantees and defensive alliances with the Counts of Frisia, Guelderland and the Bishop of Utrecht. So too were the German princes of the Holy Roman Empire on the far side of the Rhine involved, including the Spiritual Electors of Cologne and Trier, as well as the counts of Münster, Oldenburg, Braunschweig, Lüneburg, Anhalt and Cleves.
Astute in his plans, Eberhard recognised the biggest threat to his ambition was the field army of the Duchy of Brabant, and the Bishopric of Liege. In order to assure their dominance over lowland affairs (while dynastic disputes kept Burgundian eyes away), had promised military aid to any defensive campaign in the lowlands. Eberhard saw opportunity in this though. While the minor Lords and Bishops were guaranteed, the Duke and Bishop were deeply distrustful of one another, and arrogant in their assumption of hegemony had only concluded a unilateral defensive agreement against Burgundy. This was the wedge Eberhard decided to exploit, isolating the Duke of Brabant.
The Arms of the Prince Bishop and Duke, as well as the complex diplomatic situation
Reminiscent of Alexander millennia before, Eberhard took to solving this Gordian Knot via simple solution; with a sword. However, he employed the strategy of another General from antiquity to achieve his aim. Having first read Gaius Julius Caesar’s Commentarii de Bello Gallico as a youth, he was deeply intrigued by Caesar’s diplomatic manoeuvring amongst the Gallic tribes to ensure Roman domination. Specifically of course, this meant Divide et Impera, a maxim not lost on the impressionable young man.
Caesar’s diary of the Gallic Wars, and the Legend of Alexander and the Phrygian Gordian Knot
A minor Noble Godfried Loewen had seized the Duchy for himself, murdering Duchess Jeanne in the process. His malevolent tendencies and reputation for brutal and cruel suppression as he sought to centralise power for himself ironically led to another uprising two years later in the Brabant area, while Godfried was in Limburg. Another pretender, Jean Leschwein, revolted thereby isolating the Duchy as it descended into civil war.
September 1422; Eberhard had raised a host of 7000 men for his invasion of Brabant. This was easily managed through “donations” from the burghers of Amsterdam and Middleburg who were promised lucrative licences for the cloth industry in Breda and Brabant, and the ironworks in Limburg. Riding at the head of the army of three thousand mounted knights and four thousand men at arms, Eberhard formally declared war on the Duchy, the casus belli being his legitimate and rightful claim to the province of Brabant itself, and secondly, that by familial link to the murdered Jeanne, he was rightful ruler of the country, and that both Loewen and Leschwein were usurping his legal title.
Eberhard’s Steward meets with an Amsterdam Burgher
Abandoned by Allies to its fate, the usurpers battle unaware of their coming destruction
October 1, 1422: scouts reported that Loewen and Leschwein had met in battle at the gates of Eupen. Eberhard did not hesitate, his two enemies turning on each other and ignoring the menace of the Hollandish army positioned on the western border. Advancing on the Duchy’s capital, des Hertogen bosch (literally: The Duke’s Forest*), Eberhard detached a host of one thousand to besiege the city, positioning his other six thousand men to the south east so as to intercept the retreating army from the battle of the two usurpers, as it came to be known. Ten days later the remnants of Loewen’s army were routed towards Leuven in the Brabant Province, and Eberhard manoeuvred to set an ambush some miles from the city.
October 18, 1422: Eberhard arranged his men at arms across the road and fields leading to Leuven where Loewen sought safety in the city walls that were still loyal to him. Illustrating a tactical proficiency that contrasted with his lack of military experience, Eberhard sent two thousand cavalry to encircle the retreating army, holding one thousand as a mobile reserve behind his entrenched men at arms. At the sight of the disciplined ranks of footmen, and the appearance of the cavalry on their flanks and rear, the peasant army of Loewen fled, only his household guard staying by his side. Eberhard allowed the fleeing remnants to scatter, and the brutal encirclement and slaying of Loewen’s guard commenced. Loewen soon capitulated, pitifully throwing himself at the feet of Eberhard begging for clemency, but perhaps reminded of Jeanne’s brutal murder, Eberhard dismissed the pleas, and the self styled Duke who had reigned for barely four months was beheaded then and there. Not wasting time, Eberhard began the siege of Leuven, awaiting an attempt by Leschwein to attack, allowing van Oranje to employ his favourite tactic, a brutal counter blow.
Loewn’s Army Routs
The clash of Eberhard and Leschwein was soon to come, due to the reckless arrogance of Leschwein as a commander. Eberhard had carefully invested both -s Hertogenbosch and Leuven with lines of circumvallation and contravallation, a tactic inspired by Caesar’s Siege of Alesia against Vercingetorix. Splitting his infantry into two between the major cities, Eberhard encamped between the two cities outside of Tilburg with his cavalry, ready to fall upon the rear of any attempt to lift the sieges of the cities.
Positioning of the Dutch Armies
1 May, 1423: Leschwein ponderously moves towards –s Hertogenbosch, Dutch scouts shadowing the armies progress from Limburg. Eberhard decamps, aiming to envelope Leschwein in a decisive encounter.
11 May, 1423: Unusual for late spring, a cold and rainy day sees several skirmishes as Leschwein is perplexed at the contravallation employed outside the city. The muddy ground prevents the manoeuvrability Eberhard desires, and Leschwein is able to withdraw in relatively good order back towards Limburg, neither commander being able to clearly seize the initiative. Both see around a quarter of their forces missing, captured or slain. As the siege still progresses and Leschwein withdrew, it is a minor tactical victory for Eberhard, and a larger strategic one. However, the dangerous splitting of his forces could very easily have turned to disaster had Leschwein arrived earlier, and he mere hours later.
A minor tactical victory, the siege not being raised
16 May, 1423: Outside Maastricht, Eberhard reaches the Meuse River before Leschwein, holding the bridge there, cutting both his enemies line of supply, and retreat. The result is ignominious for Leschwein. After an attempt to punch through the Dutch line fails, Eberhard’s cavalry falls upon the flank of the rebels, rolling up the line, the ill-disciplined rebels fleeing en masse, thousands slaughtered. Leschwein’s body is never recovered.
Following the skirmish of 11 May, the 16th sees Leschwein’s army defeated in detail outside Maastricht
Detaching cavalry to support the ongoing sieges of –s Hertogenbosch and Leuven, Eberhard is readily reinforced by more Men at Arms, besieging Maastricht itself.
Under total siege, the cities fall quickly, the provinces of Breda and Brabant fully under Dutch control by July 1423, and Limburg January 1424.
Brabant is wholly occupied within two campaign seasons
Holland c. 1424
Count Eberhard I van Oranje (ADM:7 DIP:9 MIL:5)
Treasury: 13.6 million pfennigs (136 ducats)
GDP: estimated 42.1 million pfennigs (421 ducats)
Army: 3,000 Cavalry (Latin Knights), 4,000 Infantry (Men at Arms)
Navy: 8 Carracks, 4 Cogs
Discipline: 108.0%
Tradition: Army:10.60% Navy:0
Prestige: Third (64)
Reputation: Honourable (0)
Legitimacy: 100
*The Duke being Henry I, Duke of Brabant
Excellent going so far I'd say. taking advantage of enemy infighting, well done.
Now on to form the Netherlands!
Now on to form the Netherlands!
I would say your best strategy would be to annex them whole, although I'm not familiar with the mod you are using. Once their gone, the other Dutch minors will be relatively defenseless. You don't have to worry about illegal provinces, because once you form the Netherlands, you'll insta-core them.
Feedback:
I just need to edit the pictures together for the next chapter and make sure there are no little mistakes I've missed.
Would you guys prefer two medium chapters or one long one?
Thank you for commenting! I saw the province Brabant fall to rebels and mobilised straight away, with the MP changes I'd found countering Brabant difficult in other games because they like to take Grand Army as first NI. The Rebels did the heavy lifting for me, it was simple to position my army for an end of the month morale wipe. There will be time for that soon enough, as the next update will show.
I don't want to give anything away, but I didn't annex them immediately. I'll explain why and how I came to that decision after the next chapter, but my thought process was very similar to yours. Thank you for commenting too!
good to see an update
we need more!
I just need to edit the pictures together for the next chapter and make sure there are no little mistakes I've missed.
Would you guys prefer two medium chapters or one long one?
Chapter Four, Part One: Grutte Willem
Big William of Frisia
Big William of Frisia
The Frisians were unique in all of Western Europe, as they did not adhere to the feudal system. Instead, Frisian Freedom, the absence of one true sovereign, meant that the aristocracy did not develop until the late thirteenth century, and more importantly, these “nobles” were only first among equals, power ebbing and flowing amongst them in incessant, internecine warfare. With the Frisians fraudulently claiming that Charlemagne had granted them their freedom from all bar the Holy Roman Emperor, the anarchy was construed as against God’s will. Feudalism was intrinsically linked to Religion, in that every man has a master, the highest being God himself, the existence of the Frisian Freedom scandalised Europe.
Eberhard’s campaign of 1424 against the Frisians was a culmination of 400 years of warfare between the Counts of Holland, and those who contemporary Dutch chroniclers referred to as the wild tribesmen of Frisia. The least dubious of all Hollandish claims to Frisia was that the Dutch Counts were legitimate heirs to Gerolf, Count in Friesland (c. 850 – 895). He is traditionally seen as the founder of the House of Holland, but doubts exist.1
Gerolf's son, Dirk I of Holland, Founder of the House of Holland
Several Dutch invasions were mounted in the following centuries, none successful. Floris V invaded the Frisians in 1282, finally crushing all resistance in 1289. After his death in 1296 though, most of West Frisia revolted by 1299 and the Counts of Holland also assumed the title of Count of West Friesland. However by 1327 the Count lacked any real authority in the area, but with William IV of Holland, known as a true Knight Errant who had fought in Granada, the Holy Land and in three Prussian Crusades, hostility was inevitable. On the 26th of September 1345, he was ambushed disembarking from his ships at Warns and was slaughtered in the field. As he not yet 30 and had no heir, Holland was plunged into turmoil, the Hook and Cod Wars resumed as the county reverted to Louis the Bavarian, Holy Roman Emperor. In such a circumstance, no new attack could possibly be made, and the issue of Frisia faded but was not forgotten.
William II of Holland, "The Crusader" whose tactical errors at Warns in 1345 cost him his life
The truce signed in 1348 was to last almost fifty years, until Albert I of Bavaria and his son and heir William of Ostrevant a committed Hook struck at the Frisians. Reconciling in 1396, Albert decided to invade Frisia to distract from internal turmoil and to heal the rifts between the Hooks and Cods. So too, he wished to counter the advances made by the Bishop of Utrecht, Frederik III van Blankenheim who in 1395 had captured Coevorden, and was threatening to steal Frisia from under Albert’s nose. After a campaign of only ten days and one battle at Schoterzijl in which the Dutch were victorious, Albert returned to Hainault. Nothing was gained save for vengeance for Warns in 1345. As Hainault was annexed into the Burgundian domain in 1401, the endemic warfare between the two lessened for some years.2
No Hollandish influence could be further extended into Friesland for some years until Eberhard’s star was ascendant. As de jure “Count of West Friesland” Eberhard had clear desire to also be de facto leader, supplanting the strongest of the Frisian Chieftains, Willem Lodewijk van Leuven, known as Grutte Willem (“Big William” in West Frisian)3.
A contemporary of Willem, Peter Jacobusz van Bolsward, left the following description of the man:
A tower of a fellow as strong as an ox, of dark complexion, broad shouldered, with a long black beard and moustache. A natural rough humorist, who through unfortunate circumstances was recast into an awful brute. Out of personal revenge for the bloody injustice that befell him with the killing of kinsfolk and destruction of his property he became a freedom fighter of legendary standing.
A tower of a fellow as strong as an ox, of dark complexion, broad shouldered, with a long black beard and moustache. A natural rough humorist, who through unfortunate circumstances was recast into an awful brute. Out of personal revenge for the bloody injustice that befell him with the killing of kinsfolk and destruction of his property he became a freedom fighter of legendary standing.
A Saxon Mercenary band in Dutch service during Albert I’s invasion plundered Kimswerd, Willem’s village. Notorious for violent and excessive force, these particular mercenaries were known to extract payments from local villagers when their official pay was in arrears. As Kimswerd and his own estate burned, Willem’s wife Rintze was raped and murdered before his eyes. Seeking revenge, Willem took up arms. Gathering many to his cause, Willem formed the Arumer Zwarte Hoop (The Black Gang from Arum), soon rose to be the most powerful chieftain amongst the Frisians, exacting a horrible revenge upon the leader of the Saxon Mercenaries, apocryphally tearing him apart limb from limb. Reputed to be so strong to be able to bend coins with thumb, index and middle finger, and fuelled by such terrible atrocity, the tale is believable.
As his status as a fearsome chieftain was solidified in Frisia itself, Willem began to prey on shipping travelling towards the Baltic sea, in 1415 capturing 28 Dutch ships alone, earning him the nickname “Cross of the Dutchman”. Combined with his familial claim, however shaky, to the Countship of West Frisia, and the threat to Dutch commerce in Frisian Piracy, Eberhard had casus belli beyond any doubt.
Holland c. 1416
Count Eberhard I van Oranje (ADM:7 DIP:9 MIL:5)
Treasury: 13.6 million pfennigs (136 ducats)
GDP: estimated 42.1 million pfennigs (421. ducats)
Army: 3,000 Cavalry (Latin Knights), 4,000 Infantry (Men at Arms)
Navy: 8 Carracks, 4 Cogs
Discipline: 108.0%
Tradition: Army:10.60% Navy:0
Prestige: Third (56)
Reputation: Honourable (0)
Legitimacy: 100
1: The usual source which is quoted in this instance, is Melis Stoke, a chronicler in the service of count Floris V of Holland, but although he tries to back up the Hollandic claims on the Frisian territories, he lacks sound arguments. He suspects the counts of Holland obtained their rights as heirs to one Gerolf, Count in Friesland (the operative word here being in), who had been count of Holland during the Franconian period, which was at that time a part of Greater Frisia, but even there he has to admit it is only as suspicion.
2: In OTL, the Friso-Hollandic Wars continued until 1524 when both came under Habsburg rule
3: The in-game ruler of Friesland is Willem Lodewijk I van Leuven, and the Frisian Freedom is represented by max decentralisation but really myself, nor EU3 mechanics can do this pocket of Europe justice. I have taken massive poetic licence and inspiration from Pier Gerlofs Donia, a Frisian Freedom Fighter.
4: Sorry for the lack of gameplay in this update, which I decided to split into two chapters, firstly because of the uniqueness of Friesland, and my original post had well over 20 images and several thousand words.
My home was robbed tonight and my laptop stolen, so for now this AAR is over. Thank you all for reading and the comments, I do believe my next one shall be about Ireland.
I'm sorry to hear that, this AAR was getting pretty interesting. Hope you will manage.