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Scandinavia is not in a good position, although the potential PU with Varangia is a good thing. Still, they're now trapped between the RCU and Poland...
How productive would an attempt at cooperation between Scandinavia and the Poland-Spain-Ottoman alliance be? They'd be united in hatred of the RCU, but I doubt such an alliance would long survive the republicans...
How long will it take for the Stockholm Thing to get rid of the monarchy or make it completely ceremonial?
How productive would an attempt at cooperation between Scandinavia and the Poland-Spain-Ottoman alliance be? They'd be united in hatred of the RCU, but I doubt such an alliance would long survive the republicans...
How long will it take for the Stockholm Thing to get rid of the monarchy or make it completely ceremonial?
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It won't actually be a PU in game-terms, I just need an in-universe explanation for why I'm finally annexing my vassal after so long (the actual reason will be clear in a few updates).
The Ottomans are allied with me, not the Trastamaras. I think that's both unlikely and unnecessary in the 50-odd years of game-time left- France is actually the weakest of the three power blocks.
That may happen after the end of the AAR, but I have no plans to change government types- Between Swedish events and Scandinavian ideas, it's fairly easy to get 100% max absolutism, and I wanted to take advantage of that (maybe if I completed the "Stormaktstiden" mission, I could be a republic with near-100% absolutism, but that requires controlling more of Prussia). At one point, I was actually planning to go Revolutionary, but it turns out that would mean losing Caroleans (and I ended up less powerful then I expected, so I can't risk losing any alliances).
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Chapter 53- The Arc Powers
Chapter 53- The Arc Powers
An unspoken but ever-present aspect of the power-sharing agreement was the need for a unified course of action in the face of the powder keg that was the Eastern Europe, and particularly the Baltic, in the late 18th century. All three European power blocs- the house of Trastamara, the RCU, and the loose alliance of Turkey, Scandinavia, and Bavaria-Gelre (which some now called the “Arc Powers”, as the unification of Bavaria and Gelre meant that on a map of Europe, they somewhat resembled the shape of a letter C)- had a presence there, and the borders were long and arbitrary. An up-and-coming officer in the Norse army named Edvard Unfeldt proposed the construction of a mighty fortress to hold the panhandle of Trusolsnd, as all of Scandinadia’s Polish possessions (which were only just starting to see the first few conversions to Asatru) would become one big salient in the event of a resumed war with the Trastamaras. The Stockholm Thing approved the proposal, but Agafya also promoted Unfeldt to Captain of the Aft Lines. This was somewhat controversial, and the office had not been vacant, but she managed to convince the Stockholm Thing that Johan Galt had been an overcorrection, and was in fact overcautious for the role.
Fig. 1- Castle Malbork, now a museum.
(OOC- I regret not noticing how widespread the Trastamaras were until quite late, both because I wrongly assumed that the Polish-Spanish alliance would never recover from the War of Portuguese Succession and because there's a non-zero chance that the narrative climax of this AAR ends up being a big war with them, and I haven't been building them up much until now)The early 1770s also saw several experimental forms of industry in Scandinavia, as a land route to Turkey through Bavaria-Gelre facilitated more international trade. The early steam engines of the day were still inefficient and costly to use, leading some in Gotland to experiment with dual-use furnaces for boiling water and working glass. Though this never caught on, Mogilev was the site of a more enduring innovation- the continuous paper-making machine. The inventor of the latter, Radoslav Aladyin, was infamously rejected from the Norse army by a recruiting officer who believed that he ‘lacked initiative’. This apparently rankled him enough that he named his workshop “Initsiatyva”. The Initsiatyva Printing Company still exists, and (somewhat appropriately) is now best-known for publishing trashy science fiction.
Fig. 2- ‘Ocean Planet’, published by Initsiatyva in 1983. Author T.U. Gustavsson hated this cover so much she named a minor villain in her next book after the artist.
In 1774, the Danish Integration Council reared its head again, starting a major riot in Aarhus. This seems to have been triggered by an incorrect report that Norse military units stationed in the city had agreed to defect to their cause.
Fig. 3- letter to DIC leader Gustav Sandels purportedly from an officer in the garrison promising support.
Edvard Unfeldt, eager to prove that he deserved his position after the slight controversy of his appointment, had a very productive few years, producing both a field-guide for identifying points in fortifications vulnerable to bombardment and a series of surveys of Scandinavia’s road networks, the latter of which was later released to the public in the form of publicly-sold maps.
Fig. 4- the “Unfeldt Official Atlas of the Norse Realm”
In 1774, French geologist Marc de Chambly first presented his theory that the earth was very slowly expanding. The head of the Natural Sciences Council, Serge de Saint-Malo, not only dismissed the theory off-hand, but suggested that Chambly’s theory was in some way a result of insecurity about his diminutive stature. Chambly, understandably upset, then proposed another theory that Saint-Malo’s brain was gradually contacting, which resulted in Chambly being blacklisted from the Natural Sciences Council. Unable to work in the RCU and desperate to continue his work, Chambly took up a job at the University of Skane, where he continued to seek proof of his expanding earth theory. He never found it, but did discover some valuable metal deposits, and re-examination of his data over a century later would lead to the theory of plate tectonics.
Fig. 5- Painting of Marc de Chambly and his eventual wife Ingrid. Both stand at about five feet and three inches tall.
In the mid-1770s, a series of RCU-backed revolts broke out in Norse Varangia and Latvia, seeking unification with the metacommunes of Lithuania, the Baltic, Russia, and Siberia (the latter being something of a legal fiction, as the Khans of Kazan had largely been allowed to hold sham elections and maintain their power structures as long as they remained obedient to Paris). The lack of competent leadership meant that the Army of Sweden, under Olof Ebbesen, was able to consistently outmaneuver them, but the pattern of RCU meddling in Norse lands was becoming quite clear.
Fig. 6- Official RCU map of Eastern Europe, 1775. Norse-controlled land beyond Lake Ladoga is marked as merely “Norse-occupied”.
This demanded retaliation, and, along with rumors of continued RCU expansionism in Italy, was enough to convince Bavaria-Gelre and Turkey to join in a war of vengeance in 1776. The objective was nothing less than establishing all of Varangia and the Baltic as rightfully Norse lands with no RCU presence.
Fig. 7- Order of battle at the start of the Great Northern War
There was initially a fair bit of popular enthusiasm for the war- due to the conflict between Jeanne de Blois and her internal enemies had brought the backroom dealings that decided the true distribution of power in the RCU to public visibility, leaving both monarchists and democrats convinced that the RCYU was not the future. However, Norse high command was not certain of victory. The geography of the Great Northern War made it fairly clear from the start the general shape that the conflict would take. The RCU’s eastern possessions, though vast, were largely on open terrain, and had indefensible borders, on top of being largely surrounded by Scandinavia and Turkey. The French core, however, was strong and concentrated, and far from all attackers, save for Bavaria-Gelre, which was relatively weak, somewhat isolated from its allies, and plenty strung out itself. The question was what would happen first- Scandinavia and Turkey winning the Eastern front and turning west to reinforce Bavaria or Bavaria collapsing and the RCU beginning to defeat the Arc Powers in detail.
Fig. 8- Map of the combatants in the Great Northern War
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I like Initsiatyva's ultimate fate. It's hilarious.
The RCU scientist discussions are great. They're truly the highest quality of discourse. ROFL.
Good luck in the Great Northern War!
Why are the Scandinavian Revolutionaries specifically Danish in-universe? Or are they just called Danish by the central Scandinavian government?
The RCU scientist discussions are great. They're truly the highest quality of discourse. ROFL.
Good luck in the Great Northern War!
Why are the Scandinavian Revolutionaries specifically Danish in-universe? Or are they just called Danish by the central Scandinavian government?
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The Revolution has spread to Denmark, but not much into Scandinavia Proper, so "Scandinavian Revolutionaries" fairly consistently pop up in Denmark (it has spread to the Eastern European mainland that I control, but rebels there tend to be some flavor of separatists). I have interpreted this as it being a fairly local movement,
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Chapter 54- The Great Northern War, part 1
I think this might be the first war I had to split up. It's probably the biggest yet, and There's a noon-zero chance it ends up being my last major war of the campaign,, so I think that's probably okay.
With the stakes clear to everyone, the initial attacks on the RU’s eastern provinces were rapid. The Norse took the key strongholds of Pskov and Bezhetsk in June of the war’s first year, and Varangian levies were laying siege to Tver and Moscow by summer’s end. The Ottomans matched the pace, having fully overrun Crimea and even moved into Red Ruthenia. This likely would not have been possible had the Polish Trastamaras tried to make trouble, but they were surprisingly cooperative- assured that his local enemies were busy fighting themselves, King August took the opportunity to deal with the problems of the colonial empire he had gained in the War of Portuguese Sucession. He even allowed the Turks to pass through Poland to flank the RCU. This also meant that Bavaria was no longer cut off from her allies. Since the fortresses on the Rhine valley were holding out, some Bavarian troops were even sent east in hopes of ensuring that reinforcements would arrive sooner than later, once the fighting in Lithuania was done.
Unbeknownst to the Norse, however, at the time of the invasion, the RCU Army of the Alps had been deployed to Tartary to deal with a local uprising. Their commander, Georges de Bonnefoy launched a counter attack on Starodub and sent messages to the armies of Kazan and Lithuania, hoping to get behind enemy lines and cut off the Norse army in Russia. Bonnefoy, a true believer in the RCUs cause, assumed that Varangia would at the very least be uncooperative with either side, and possibly even be persuaded to join him. In this, he was wrong- Norse Varangia had historically been kept on a looser leash then French Russia, and the (mostly-Asatru) population did not expect that the RCU would be any better. Word of his attack had reached Olof Ebbesen before the armies of Lithuania and Kazanis could join the attack, and the Siberian Camnpaign ended before it could gather any momentum.
By the end of the 1776 campaign season, all of Tverland had been retaken, and even the city of Moscow was under siege. The Turks were storming across Ruthenia and even Lithuania Proper. The Stockholm Thing was confident enough to worry about making sure that Estonia would be able to handle all the commerce that would surely be flowing through it once all of Varangia was Norse.
Then winter came.
The winter of 1776-1777 was brutal in Eastern Europe. Temperatures are estimated to have stayed at or near thirty below freezing for most of January, and snow piled three feet deep. Two of Scandinavia’s top military leader, Karl Johan Schlentz and Knut Af Gennas (both of whom were by this time fairly elderly) simply froze to death. Progress slowed to a crawl, with even the hardy Norse unable to do anything but huddle in tents, out of the wind
Worse still, RCU morale still remained high! Though the east was overrun, the RCU, for all its claims to universality, was in practice a French-led state, and France had not been touched. But they had been in Ruthenia and Tartary long enough to know what would happen next. Spring would not restore mobility due to the region’s brutal mud season. The Norse and Turks would remain literally bogged down while the RCU had time to push into Bavaria, which had milder winters and not much of a mud season.
The French were, however, surprised by how their enemies responded to this novel strategic situation. As Spring came and the roads turned to mud, the Norse armies moved further north, attacking Nizhny Novgorod and Kazan City, where the ground remained frozen. While to a Frenchman, anything below freezing was extreme weather, the Norse were accustomed to fighting in the cold, and sought to minimise time spent in the mud by operating fighting where it was not the mud season. This naturally proved a hard-sell to the subtropical Turks, and while some of them trusted the experience of their Norse allies, others were too cautious after the hard winter and stayed where spring would come sooner. Fortunately, there were by this time no large intact bodies of RCU troops anywhere on the Eastern front large enough to take advantage of this division.
Kazan City fell that summer, but by that time, Norse manpower reserves were running low, and the Kazani royal family had long-since fled to Paris, where the RCU leadership was keeping a close eye on them, so they dared not consider discussing surrender.
Nonetheless, the fall of Kazan was a cause for optimism in Stockholm, with all sorts of writings being translated en masse into Polish and Latvian in large numbers in anticipation of access to untapped markets on the south shore of the Baltic after the war. Pontius Gathenheim’s protégé, Jonas Sluska, threw himself into translating scientific literature into Latvian to distract himself form grief at his mentor’s death.
By autumn of 1777, The Norse and Turkish armies were moving southwest, hoping that this time they would be in milder climes during the harsh months- where they were now needed. The RCU in Eastern Europe had had entirely fallen, but the Bavarian lines in Gelre had collapsed, and RCU troops were now invading Bavaria proper.
Still, the distance was great, and the key city of Landshut fell after a gruelling winter siege. Such was the brutality that the RCU showed in the sack of the city that it is said that many in Poland were completely disillusioned with Christianity upon hearing that the French were not punished by heaven for treating their fellow Christians thus. The French armies had already dispersed after the sack of the city when the Norse arrived in spring. Olof Ebbesen, now the last of the Norse generals remaining from the start of the war, could only avenge the fallen.
Chapter 54- The Great Northern War, part 1
With the stakes clear to everyone, the initial attacks on the RU’s eastern provinces were rapid. The Norse took the key strongholds of Pskov and Bezhetsk in June of the war’s first year, and Varangian levies were laying siege to Tver and Moscow by summer’s end. The Ottomans matched the pace, having fully overrun Crimea and even moved into Red Ruthenia. This likely would not have been possible had the Polish Trastamaras tried to make trouble, but they were surprisingly cooperative- assured that his local enemies were busy fighting themselves, King August took the opportunity to deal with the problems of the colonial empire he had gained in the War of Portuguese Sucession. He even allowed the Turks to pass through Poland to flank the RCU. This also meant that Bavaria was no longer cut off from her allies. Since the fortresses on the Rhine valley were holding out, some Bavarian troops were even sent east in hopes of ensuring that reinforcements would arrive sooner than later, once the fighting in Lithuania was done.
Fig. 1- Initial invasions on the Eastern Front
Unbeknownst to the Norse, however, at the time of the invasion, the RCU Army of the Alps had been deployed to Tartary to deal with a local uprising. Their commander, Georges de Bonnefoy launched a counter attack on Starodub and sent messages to the armies of Kazan and Lithuania, hoping to get behind enemy lines and cut off the Norse army in Russia. Bonnefoy, a true believer in the RCUs cause, assumed that Varangia would at the very least be uncooperative with either side, and possibly even be persuaded to join him. In this, he was wrong- Norse Varangia had historically been kept on a looser leash then French Russia, and the (mostly-Asatru) population did not expect that the RCU would be any better. Word of his attack had reached Olof Ebbesen before the armies of Lithuania and Kazanis could join the attack, and the Siberian Camnpaign ended before it could gather any momentum.
Fig. 2- the Battle of Starodub, as depicted by modern historical re-enactors
By the end of the 1776 campaign season, all of Tverland had been retaken, and even the city of Moscow was under siege. The Turks were storming across Ruthenia and even Lithuania Proper. The Stockholm Thing was confident enough to worry about making sure that Estonia would be able to handle all the commerce that would surely be flowing through it once all of Varangia was Norse.
Fig. 3- Letter from Karl Johan Schlentz to Queen-Regent Agafya. "This is going so much better than last time”
Then winter came.
The winter of 1776-1777 was brutal in Eastern Europe. Temperatures are estimated to have stayed at or near thirty below freezing for most of January, and snow piled three feet deep. Two of Scandinavia’s top military leader, Karl Johan Schlentz and Knut Af Gennas (both of whom were by this time fairly elderly) simply froze to death. Progress slowed to a crawl, with even the hardy Norse unable to do anything but huddle in tents, out of the wind
Worse still, RCU morale still remained high! Though the east was overrun, the RCU, for all its claims to universality, was in practice a French-led state, and France had not been touched. But they had been in Ruthenia and Tartary long enough to know what would happen next. Spring would not restore mobility due to the region’s brutal mud season. The Norse and Turks would remain literally bogged down while the RCU had time to push into Bavaria, which had milder winters and not much of a mud season.
Fig. 4- reconstructed temperatures for winter of 1776-1777
The French were, however, surprised by how their enemies responded to this novel strategic situation. As Spring came and the roads turned to mud, the Norse armies moved further north, attacking Nizhny Novgorod and Kazan City, where the ground remained frozen. While to a Frenchman, anything below freezing was extreme weather, the Norse were accustomed to fighting in the cold, and sought to minimise time spent in the mud by operating fighting where it was not the mud season. This naturally proved a hard-sell to the subtropical Turks, and while some of them trusted the experience of their Norse allies, others were too cautious after the hard winter and stayed where spring would come sooner. Fortunately, there were by this time no large intact bodies of RCU troops anywhere on the Eastern front large enough to take advantage of this division.
Fig. 5- a road in Ruthenia in April
Kazan City fell that summer, but by that time, Norse manpower reserves were running low, and the Kazani royal family had long-since fled to Paris, where the RCU leadership was keeping a close eye on them, so they dared not consider discussing surrender.
Fig. 6- The Khan (officially ‘Regional Director’) of Kazan in Paris, sketch by a local street artist
Nonetheless, the fall of Kazan was a cause for optimism in Stockholm, with all sorts of writings being translated en masse into Polish and Latvian in large numbers in anticipation of access to untapped markets on the south shore of the Baltic after the war. Pontius Gathenheim’s protégé, Jonas Sluska, threw himself into translating scientific literature into Latvian to distract himself form grief at his mentor’s death.
Fig. 7- Transcript of Jonas’ Slushka’s eulogy fpr Pontius Gathenheim
By autumn of 1777, The Norse and Turkish armies were moving southwest, hoping that this time they would be in milder climes during the harsh months- where they were now needed. The RCU in Eastern Europe had had entirely fallen, but the Bavarian lines in Gelre had collapsed, and RCU troops were now invading Bavaria proper.
Fig. 8- Occupations, autumn 1777
Still, the distance was great, and the key city of Landshut fell after a gruelling winter siege. Such was the brutality that the RCU showed in the sack of the city that it is said that many in Poland were completely disillusioned with Christianity upon hearing that the French were not punished by heaven for treating their fellow Christians thus. The French armies had already dispersed after the sack of the city when the Norse arrived in spring. Olof Ebbesen, now the last of the Norse generals remaining from the start of the war, could only avenge the fallen.
Fig. 9- The Sack of Landshut, painting by a survivor.
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Bavaria must be liberated! And, after that... how long will it take France to fall?
Invading Russia in winter is always a risky proposition. It seems to have worked out decently for the Norse here, though. The harsh Scandinavian winters probably helped.
Invading Russia in winter is always a risky proposition. It seems to have worked out decently for the Norse here, though. The harsh Scandinavian winters probably helped.
The Revolution is currently failing, will France-Lithuania be resurrected in the event of the monarchy being restored?
Chapter 55- The Great Northern War, part 2
This game isn't great at simulating logistics, but the fact that much of the coldest parts of OTL Russia are controlled by either Bukhara or me make it a bit more plausible
I have no idea, especially as the fact that Lithuania is still somehow a subject of France is likely a bug. Honestly, I'm not sure if I want the monarchy to be restored- I think it would mean the end of the revolution (so less unrest for me), but also the end of France being diplomatically isolated. Anyways, here's teh next part
Chapter 55- The Great Northern War, part 2
The war that had once spread across Europe had now compressed down to a narrow area in southern Germany. Bogged down in partisans and still far away from France, the Norse struggled to both keep their armies at strength and define themselves ideologically. Pure valour could only take one so far.
Fig. 1- Propaganda poster for the Bavarian integration council, seeking to shift blame for the devastation in Ingolstadt. ‘The King would rather bring in heathen vikings to ravage our lands than heed the voice of the people!’
After being caught off-guard, the RCU regular army had retreated to France to regroup, and they had not had time to properly occupy Bavaria Proper, so by the end of summer 1778, the entire region was liberated from RCU control. Fighting moved west to Swabia and the Rhineland, lands that had long been divided between Bavaria and France (and now Bavaria-Gelre the RCU).
Fig. 2- Troop movements, summer 1778
By that time, the conflict had become so chaotic that some Gelrean troops had ceased to obey orders from either side, and fought everyone in hopes of declaring an independent Friesland. The orders from Stockholm were clear. We have conquered Varangia, now settle things so that we can start profiting by this.
Fig. 3- Records of a warehouse in Riga full of Multilooms intended to be shipped inland, but delayed by the fear of enemy troops.
Spurred by this, Olof Ebssen gathered the Norse army together, marched into Swizerland, and attempted the war’s first incursion into France.
The Rcu was ready, and had their entire army in position to repel the invasion. The Norse did not even reach the pre-war Bavaria-RCU border.
Fig. 4- The Battle of Zweibrucken, Diorama in the Paris War Museum
The rest of the 1779 campaign season was fairly low-intensity. The RCU mostly kept their armies in occupied Gelre and did not seek to pursue the Norse, while the Arc Powers regrouped in Bavaria Proper, waiting for the Turks to arrive in force.
Fig. 5- Troop movements, summer 1779
The big events in that year were diplomatic. After the death of the Holy Roman Emperor Friedrich of Bayreuth, the catholic elector-princes decided that rather than risk Germany being either dominated by Landreyite Bavaria (at the cost of ceding part of it to their heathen allies) or gradually gobbled up by the RCU, chose to throw in with what they viewed as the only properly Christian power-block in the world at the time. The RCU was majority catholic, but on paper devolved all religious matters to the local councils and in practice was non-denominationally Christian and responded to all commands from the Pope with vague silence. The letters of Jeanne de Blois, made public a century later, reveal that there was real discussion of creating an antipope in Avignon, but it was concluded that it was impossible to simultaneously have him have any legitimacy at all, retain any control over him, and credibly promise their few Asatru citizens in Varangia and many Asatru potential citizens that they would not be force-converted.
The decision of the Electors was conclusive. They not only appointed Carlos IX of Spain as Holy Roman Emperor, but the Kingdom of Poland was added to the empire. The House of Trastamara was now far and away the most powerful family that had ever existed. As part of this increased Christian unity, the Knight Hospitaller declared that they would no longer be taking part in the Great Northern War.
Fig. 6- Coronation of Holy Roman Emperor Carlos/Karl, official painting
Winter of 1779 saw the Norse push slowly into the RCU- occupied Rhineland. A quick advance was impossible due to the sheer size of the French army, meaning that the Norse dared not disperse too much, for fear for being defeated in detail. They were instead reduced to marching in one massive column and sieging down cities one at a time- especially as, just before spring, forces had to be diverted to deal with another uprising by the Danish Integration Council. Still, the front line slowly, gradually, moved forward. They were far enough south now that winter operations were possible.
Fig. 7- approximate extent of the siege camp around Heidelberg. It is estimated that the outer half of the forces gathered there were not actually providing any significant contribution.
So slow was progress that it took until 1780 for any Arc Power armies to reach French Switzerland, even though the decision was made to secure a beachhead there before kicking the RCU out of their captured strongholds in Western Gelre and the Bavarian Rhinelands. Consequently, the general attitude in Paris was that, despite the many losses so far, they were still in a reasonably advantageous position.
Fig. 8- Map known to have been used for tracking the situation in the Paris war-room. Note that this focuses on the perceived front-line around the Rhine, and does not extend to Eastern Europe
(OOC- I misclicked and overwrote the picture that’s supposed to go here. This is the best I could find, but I suspect that the original showed what I’m describing better. Sorry.)
(OOC- I misclicked and overwrote the picture that’s supposed to go here. This is the best I could find, but I suspect that the original showed what I’m describing better. Sorry.)
In August, however, there was a sudden development. Despite Zweibrucken finally falling, Bavaria, seeing that simple geography (specifically, the fact that it was at the end of a long panhandle right against the French border) meant that Gelre would likely not be liberated for years if their allies would not move north except as part of an advance on Paris and weary from having been on the front line of the war for nearly five years, (with the capital of Munich having been sacked several times) sued for peace, offering the RCU minor but significant concessions in the Rhineland. RCU leadership, under pressure to provide some sign of concrete gains, agreed.
Fig. 9- the First Treaty of Luxembourg
The other Arc Powers had not been involved in these negotiations at all, and the war was thrown into a state of uncertainty. Scandinavia wanted to keep pushing to Paris, for maximum gains in Varangia, and perhaps even a reversal of the Bavarian concessions. However, Padishah Mustafa III wished to continue negotiations, weary of a distant war, particularly with the Trastamaas stronger than they had ever been. With the RCU advancing on Norse-Turkish positions in the Rhineland and uncertainty whether the Ottomans would stand and fight, the Norse agreed, and general peace talks began- in Luxembourg, officially a continuation of previous negotiations.
Fig. 10- Troop positions as of the ceasefire
The eventual peace deal that emerged from these negotiations could still be describes as a significant Norse victory, but it was not as complete as had been hoped. The RCU returned the gains in prior French wars against Scandinavia (including Osel and French Varangia), and also ceded the city of Moscow. However, the Pskov Corridor and the RCUs Baltic port of Mitau remained in the RCU
Fig. 11- Land ceded in the Second Treaty of Luxembourg. Additional Norse wargoals are outlined in blue
Attachments
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Now Poland is in the HRE? It's a good thing there's less than 50 years left otherwise Scandinavia would be in trouble.
Slowly, slowly, I've been inching forward to catch up with this one after many weeks. Glad I finally was able to finish just as this huge war is at an end.
So are you saying this version of your game is bugged and that is why France retains its hold on Lithuania?
Glad you got at least something from that war.
So are you saying this version of your game is bugged and that is why France retains its hold on Lithuania?
Glad you got at least something from that war.
Chapter 56- Unity?
Chapter 56- Unity?
The war was over, but the returning Norse troops were not necessarily well-pleased with their victory. Many of them had spent much of the war marching through the Varangian back-country, and they had not liked everything that they had seen there. Outside of the big, modern cities like Holmgard, it was like stepping back in time 100 years. Thralldom was still legal, there was no Thing, and the elderly Thane of Varangia ruled as an absolute monarch. Even after the French had been driven out, pro-RCU groups like the Decemberists and the Soviet Union (the former being mostly Asatru, the latter mostly Christian- French-style phony ecumenism was a lot less appealing in a region with a recent history of religious war) not only remained intact, but spread into parts of Vanangia that had never been under RCU control. And this regime, to a much greater extent than the Norse realm, was what had been expanded by the war- which had been conducted by the regent, Princess Agafya of Holmgard! Many began to claim that the entire war had been fought under false pretenses.
Fig 1- Editorial cartoon from a reijkavik newspaper, 1780, depicting Agafya and her brother Vasiliy sitting beside a cake cut in three pieces, with one (offered to the viewer) being just a tiny sliver. The caption reads “We baked you something.”
Agafya heard of these rumors, and went into damage control like nothing the world had ever seen before. She made a statement reiterating that she (and not Vasiliy the younger) was the heir to Varangia, and that it would eventually pass to Arch-King Gustav, but that due to the inevitability of the inheritance, that the process of extending Norse laws and institutions into Varangia would begin ahead of schedule
Fig. 2- Transcript of Agafya’s ‘Better name’ speech. “I estimate that a united StockHolmGard Thing could be functioning within twenty years, by which time we will have come up with a better name”
It seemed that Germany was no sooner at peace than another war broke out. A Prussian nobleman, suspecting that with Poland now essentially invulnerable and Scandinavia apparently regularising its realm, the Jarldom of Prussia might not last long, rose up in revolt. Furthermore, Bavaria tried to prove that, despite losses to the RCU, it and not Spain, was the true hegemon of Germany by forcibly annexing Franconia.
Fig. 3- War of German Unification, initial combatants
In Spring of 1781, Olof Ebbesen made the bizarre decision to lead an army to put down a revolt in Sweden’t only remaining African colony entirely overland
Fig. 4- Actual route taken by Ebbesen. Really.
(OOC- I was expecting it to automatically transport on a ship. I have no idea why I have access through both my biggest rivals)
(OOC- I was expecting it to automatically transport on a ship. I have no idea why I have access through both my biggest rivals)
But perhaps he was simply reading the signs. Not long after, as part of the promised slow integration of mostly-landlocked Varangia, an announcement was made that funding would be redirected from the navy to the army. When some sea captains complained of insufficient resources, Agafya supposedly told them to “Tough it out”
Fig. 5- military budgets of Scandinavia, 1781 vs 1782
For all that the end of the Great Northern War had caused internal disruption in Scandinavia, to the rest of Europe, it looked like an unambiguous Norse victory. The Pope swiftly abandoned the War of German Unification for fear of being pillaged, by the unstoppable Vikings- for there were by this time no majority-Christian cities in the Norse realm directly ruled form Stockholm (save for Lauenberg, where dwelt an exceedingly pursuasuve Protestant holy man named Christoph Gruber). The loss of Russia also spelled the end of Jeanne de Blois’ time in the sun, with opposition congealing around a young, dynamic politician named Francois de Montfort, who after a few years of backroom struggle solidified his position as the Paramount Leader of the RCU.
Fig. 6- Shrine to Odin in Tuscany, built in the late 18th century by converts who believed that Christianity was failing.
Montfort, however, managed to integrate a surprising number of De Blois’ hardliner allies, citing the defeat in the Great Northern War as proof that everyone was conspiring against the RCU, so they could not risk any disunity
Fig 7- location of foreign sympathisers considered potentially recruitable by the State Security Council
(OOC- I’m including this because somebody made a comment the revealed that I hadn’t really said or showed anything about the spread of the Revolution)
(OOC- I’m including this because somebody made a comment the revealed that I hadn’t really said or showed anything about the spread of the Revolution)
One person who was not pleased with the integration of Varangia was Jarl Friedrich Albrecht von Sulzbach of Prussia. If the internal structure of the Norse Realm was being open for renegotiation, who was to say that his autonomy was likely to last, especially as Poland was going from strength to strength, using the Portuguese navy to colonize the Uttermost Southeast, thus making it seem unlikely that the rest of Prussia would be liberated any time soon.
Fig. 8- Jarl Friedrich Albrecht of Prussia. Note the lack of any clear religious imagery- he was keeping his options open.
With the revolt in Africa put down, Ebbesen was ordered to return to Europe and aid the Bavarians in their war in Germany. An order he followed- exactly the same way he had gotten down there.
Fig. 9- Olof Ebbesen, as depicted in a cartoon in a North African Spanish newspaper. “Germay is HOW far?”
The mockery that this apparently aquaphobic Viking was receiving was enough that an expansion of the Norse navy was immediately approved.
Fig. 10- Recruitment poster in Estonia- the Kingdom needs men with some sea-legs!
Between heavy militarisation, modernization in Varangia, and trade with the Turks, the copper mines of Falun now surpassed any other mining complex on Earth!
Fig. 11- the deepest shaft of the Falun mine known to have existed in the 18th century
And the Scandinavian army was building itself up indeed- they had barely managed to defeat the RCU, in the event of a war with the much-stronger Trastamara bloc, no-one was quite sure what the outcome would be.
Fig. 12- Summary of Norse military procurement, 1782
Thanks for the latest chapter. Seems it is time to take stock and build up the military in this post-war era... until the next inevitably begins.
Outstanding story! I started reading a while ago and finally caught up now.
Somewhat inspired by this I've started a Norway campaign. In my game Sweden is absolutely dominating northern and eastern Europe and I was forced to exile myself to Canada.
Somewhat inspired by this I've started a Norway campaign. In my game Sweden is absolutely dominating northern and eastern Europe and I was forced to exile myself to Canada.
There is! I've discovered it by accident: Let it go!
I love to find achievements unintentionally.
For context, this is only my third game of EU4 and my first one with all DLC, so I'm still figuring things out.
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A couple months ago I finally fired up EU IV, thinking I should try a Norse run - but promptly gave up since the game was so complex and messy now compared to before.
But then earlier this month I figured to give it another try (and the first try had taught me I could get a military leader for free through one mission to ease the problems with another mission, and also the lessons of 'wait until you have gotten the necessary relations before starting all freedom missions at once' and 'make sure to insult the pope properly at once, because insults have a cooldown') and so started a Swedish run where I went for religious ideas, that statute of limitations thing and played a while.
Until 1470 when I realized that 'since my monarch isn't 5/5/5+ I need to be a sinner or a scholar' - oops..
But then I happened to end up with a save just one month before my ruler got their third trait - coinciding with a moment where AE and the like meant I'd need to take a decade of cooling my heels. "Excellent" thought I, rerolled my ruler trait a couple time to become a scholar and then set out to fast forward a decade (thinking that with religious ideas active it'd be something like one in six to fire).
Well, turned out that I was also rolling for Burgundian inheritance, because on my fourth run that one fired with Sweden as beneficiary and thus the entire game got swapped into a "I guess this is it now".
So Norse Sweden will have to wait, instead my current run became a go for the achievement "Lion of the North" which I snagged in 1562 after speedrunning the league wars, and now the rest is just fooling around and learning some more of the mission tree to help me out come the Viking era (which I guess I'll try to get to fire earlier by savescumming my monarch at the actual press of 'become independant' button).
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