Chapter 65: No Place for Small Countries (1765-68)
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The Mexican War of Independence against Portugal
The War for Independence from Portugal that Mexico had begun in August 1760 had rapidly brought the rest of the Portuguese American colonies into the fight against their colonial master. Only Portuguese Australia had remained loyal to the Old Regime. Aragon had sided with its ally Portugal, while Britain threw its support behind the independence movement.
Mexican infantry on the attack against Portuguese-Australian positions in Eastern Australia, c. early 1765. [Leonardo AI, Phoenix 1.0]
Already in some trouble and unable to make any serious inroads back into the Americas, the Portuguese cause had been dealt an apparent death blow in December 1764 with the entry of the massive Revolutionary Turkey against them, commencing with a ground invasion of Aragonese North Africa and naval operations in the Western Mediterranean.
By March 1765, 40 battles had been fought in the war on land and at sea, while Turkish and British blockades were in force. The Turkish invasion of North Africa was gathering pace, while Australian had been invaded by Revolutionary and British forces at a number of points. The Portuguese cause was apparently hopeless after over four years of warfare where they had been almost completely on the defensive.
By August that year, on the fifth anniversary of the war’s start, large Turkish armies were swarming across North Africa while Aragon back-pedalled and was subject to heavy Turkish blockades of its home coastline and the British did the same to southern Portugal.
Less than two months later, the British had also joined the North African invasion and were advancing along the coast, west from Tunis. It appeared the main Aragonese army in Africa had been either destroyed or evacuated by this time.
At the end of January 1767, the Turks had invaded Aragon itself from the north as the overall Portuguese position deteriorated further. No large Aragonese army was seen to be ready to defend the homeland: it still had a large fleet at sea, but it was dwarfed by the nearby Turkish fleet.
Less than a month later, Aragon had been forced out of the war, losing land in Africa to Turkey as part of the peace deal. Their armed forces had not been completely destroyed (good news for Friesland, who remained allied to them) and the Portuguese could still muster significant numbers. But even a fraction of Turkish might, let alone the British and array of powerful independence regimes, would be enough to doom Portugal’s ambitions to retain its huge American empire.
At the end of the year, large sections of Portuguese Australia remained under occupation and Portugal itself had been invaded by the Turks even as the battles raged at sea. After the peeling off of Aragon early in the year, Mexico’s allied front had substantially rebuilt its bargaining power in the war.
This pattern would continue through to August 1768, with the war still continuing eight years after its start.
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Other Foreign Wars and Diplomacy
Although Turkey had declared its own revolution ‘won’, revolutionary sentiment still steadily spread outside its borders, having followed the Turkish incursion into Aragonese North Africa by March 1765. The only place outside this region the revolution had spread to was in a couple of small, isolated pockets in Bengal.
The spread of the revolution within Friesland (where such thought was cautiously welcomed) and the rest of the world will be reviewed again as at 1771.
Frisian counter-espionage operations against France uncovered a network in October 1765, but this only reduced their estimated strength in Friesland to 75 operatives.
From September 1766 to April 1768, Russia fought another lop-sided imperialist war, this time against the last remnant of Transoxiana, which was fully annexed.
In Europe, things remained largely peaceful, though the once-powerful Switzerland was further reduced when Trent, backed by Austria in what would otherwise have been an even match-up, grabbed Wälsh-Bergen after war that lasted from September 1766 to January 1768. Along the way, Swiss ally Ulm lost its capital to Austria in an earlier settlement.
A war that had dragged on since December 1761 ending in Japanese victory when they ended up claiming a single province in the north of their Home Islands in January 1767. A long conflict for a small reward.
Even without a dedicated counter-espionage team, a Franconian spy network was discovered in March 1767, bringing its strength down to 25.
In East Asia, Japan in April 1767 decided to take advantage of the chronic weakness of the Shu Chinese Empire, which had been devastated by two large losses to Russia in recent years and was now in trouble against Ayutthaya, which was challenging it for the Mandate of Heaven.
Back on the Frisian border, the government of its old enemy Cologne (now just two provinces) was overthrown to become a Revolutionary Republic in June 1767 but remained within the anti-Frisian coalition.
Following their defeat in the Mexican Independence War, Aragon asked Friesland in December 1767 for some military assistance in the form of nearly 9,000 soldiers in return for diplomatic favours. Given the maximum manpower reserves (now 241,000) and monthly recruitment of 2,130, this request was (for once) agreed to in the hope it might speed up the recovery of an important ally.
In April 1768, four wars continued to be fought. Three of them have already been discussed: the Deccani-Atjehan conflict, of close interests to Frisian ambitions in Sumatra, will be discussed separately below.
At that time, Friesland was once again ranked fifth among the world’s great powers, as their other competitors had all embraced industrialisation by then. Turkey remained the clear top hegemon, with Russia a strong second. Next came a group of four relatively close powers, including Friesland, with Aragon a significant way back leading the ‘bottom quartile’ of the ‘G8’.
Russia’s gobbling up of small bordering countries continued in East Asia as well, when the remote state of Kamchandals was attacked in August 1768. Its annexation would not even take a year to complete.
Aceh and Malacca
The Deccan Empire had declared war on Aceh in May 1764, dragging in Malacca, Pattani and Pahang to help their defence. This had interested Friesland, which had long-term designs on expanding in Sumatra and had begun preparations to intervene against Aceh, while using diplomacy to try to shift Malacca, the major local power in that region, away from its alliance with Aceh.
By May 1765, a year of the conflict had seen the Deccani making relatively slow progress. The Andamans had been occupied but Friesland had limited and intermittent visibility of other Deccani movements through passing Frisian and subject trade protection fleets.
In August, Friesland withdrew its diplomat from Malacca for re-briefing. By October he was back in country, having changed the mission from relation improvement to currying favours in order to later build trust.
A sighting was made of two large Deccan armies (around 90,000 men each) working their way down the Bengal coast (modern day Thailand) towards Malaya. No attempt was (or would be) made by the Deccani to directly invade their war objective in Aceh at the tip of northern Sumatra.
A massive Deccani army was making its slow progress towards the Malayan peninsula in the first half of 1765. [Leonardo AI, Phoenix 1.0]
Between April 1766 and September 1768, the Deccan tide began to sweep over Aceh’s allies. Pattani was besieged in April 1766 and peaced out by 7 June 1767. They then worked through Gerik before engaging in a large battle against Malacca in Penang a week later, which saw one of Malacca’s two major field armies completely destroyed.
Another major battle was fought in Kelantan in July, with Malacca’s other field army and a contingent from Pahang also destroyed, rendering both virtually defenceless from that point onwards. Kelantan and Perak had been occupied by the end of August 1768 and the massive Deccan fleet was lurking off Singapore.
As that was happening, Frisian preparations for their own adventure were gradually coming together. Their two FEI colonial armies were posted at the northern and southern ends of their Sumatran holdings, as was the main FEI battle fleet. On 21 August 1766 the new fortress in Pagarruyung (on the border with Aceh) was completed.
In June 1768 an assessment was made of war prospects against Aceh. At that point, Pattani had pulled out of the Deccan war but remained allied to Aceh and Malacca had yet to lose the crushing Battle of Kelantan. Three mothballed forts on the coast of south-east Borneo were brought back into full operation that day.
On 9 July, a mercenary army was raised in Pagarruyung to begin training up, which it had largely completed two months later. In the event of war, it would lead the advance to take the main casualties of attrition or battle, with the Frisian regulars as back-up.
And in early September the battle fleet split from the transports to head north, ready for interdiction and blockade duties. All was in almost in readiness should the President ‘pull the trigger’.
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Domestic Affairs
Given the extension of the period of (comparative) peace in the Federal Republic beyond 1764, much of the focus and occurrences in Friesland remained at home and in the colonies. With manpower reserves high and increasing unrest in Niger, a rebellion was provoked in Yola in July 1765 to bring these trouble-makers out into the open so they could be crushed.
The increase in numbers this provocation caused was of little concern to the Frisian Niger authorities. The battle to destroy the rebels lasted only two days.
There was a good deal of activity on the religious front during these years. A scandal in early May 1766 was caused by the supposedly allied Scandinavians bribing a Frisian cardinal to defect, simultaneously causing a damaging rise in corruption.
While offended, the Federal Republic’s otherwise strong and long-lived alliance with its northern neighbours was not seriously endangered. Especially not while the anti-Frisian coalition remained unaffected.
Military research had recently been boosted and the offensive ideas group completed, allowing military technology to come ‘up to speed’ by June 1766. With the development of cuirassiers, shock and manoeuvre were increased and improved cavalry and infantry organisation became available.
Cavalry was updated first, so both arms were not undergoing reform and reorganisation at the same time. Latin Chasseur regiments were chosen.
Cultural life and national prestige were also enhanced with the hiring of a court painter in June 1766, with President Jongstra’s strong negotiating skills allowing a significant of the cost.
In the colonies, the Frisian Company in the East Indies was renowned for its buccaneering commercial methods. Frisian factors were given full reign to exploit this, though the current corruption levels might have benefited from a crackdown. It seems the President was quite happy to see shady practices flourish if the economy benefited.
In Niger, another revolt was provoked in October 1766, this time Kanem Bornuan separatists were the victims of another harsh crackdown by star general Geldulf Sems.
Diplomatic technology advancement had come back in reach by early 1767 and this was used to introduce midshipman cadets into the Republican Navy. Morale was boosted and the additional maintenance impost was easy enough for the rich Frisian economy to manage. Being so advanced in diplomatic development also meant Frisian trade and anti-corruption capacity would be boosted for decades to come.
In February 1767, the infantry was also reformed, with impulse infantry adopted to give offensive operations a small boost compared to the more defensive infantry square formations.
From January 1765 to August 1768, the Frisian armies in Sumatra would see five new infantry and five artillery regiments added as the force limit increased over than time.
More technological advances, this time in administration, came in March 1767 with the Rights of Man being embraced in revolutionary-leaning Republican Friesland. With the heavy focus on diplomacy and espionage, that ideas group was adopted, while being ahead of its time again allowed Friesland bonuses for many years to come, this time in productive efficiency and anti-corruption efforts.
In April 1767, Friesland’s considerable influence in the Vatican allowed a Papal Blessing to be granted to benefit army morale and boost national prestige. Just the following month, a new Pope Innocentius X was elected – a pro-Castilian candidate.
After staying out of the last election, with a new blessing in place and some influence still retained, a strong play was made to make Friesland a leading early contender to control the next Pope.
From June 1767, another large building program was begun to help use the massive treasury savings (over 34,000 ducats). Directed at military expansion, two new conscription centres and nine grand shipyards were commenced. Then in August, three town halls, three stock exchanges 14 cathedrals were commissioned – in all available provinces except the isolated outposts of Thubaqt and Grain Coast.
October saw the end of the last Landtag law for the Quartering of Troops. From those available this time, President Jongstra chose to introduce a bill to reduce trade regulation so as to boost trade efficiency and power.
With 70% initial support in the Landtag, only another four members had to be ‘persuaded’. As usual, this was done in a way that avoided impacting the military as far as possible. The positive effect on trade income was soon clear.
More building was funded in November 1767, with seven counting houses started (again, in all provinces available except for Thubaqt and Grain Coast). These were all upgrades from existing improvements. Even after all this recent spending, the Frisian coffers still held over 30,000 ducats.
In December, a new cardinal in Utrecht brought Friesland’s loyal Princes of the Church back up to four. Although by then, the Curia itself and other Catholic powers had come in to influence the next Papal selection, diluting Frisian influence from its early high point.
At home though, the Clerical Estate saw its influence decline.
By February 1768, the Frisian economy was still generating healthy surpluses but the growth in corruption was eating into revenues. Despite this, a full effort on anti-corruption policies had seen this brought back considerably under control just two months later, with cost reductions adding 60 ducats to the monthly bottom line.
Image: a Frisian official weighs up the pros and cons of accepting a ‘confidential management overhead for miscellaneous services rendered’ from one of the many Frisian trading magnates in Leeuwarden, February 1768. [Leonardo AI, Phoenix 1.0]
In April 1768, a review of the Republican Navy showed it was the second largest in the world as measured by overall ship strength, though it had the best morale of any navy. However, its fourth ranking in heavy and light warships and the recent boost in force limit generated by the completion of the new grand shipyards allowed a wave of new construction.
Fourteen new vessels were commissioned. Overall, the navy would build 20 new ships from 1765-68, all in Europe: 13 three-deckers and seven heavy frigates.
In May 1768, cutting edge Frisian economic thinking led to Hendrik Stijl writing the seminal work
The Wealth of Nations. Frisian prestige was boosted enormously by seeing the work spread throughout the world, bringing many benefits to the Federal Republic across the board.
Next, with the Coalition still fully in force, Frisian expansionist ambitions would now be turned to Sumatra, where local developments seemed to be leading to a major colonial adventure. After all, many of the other great powers seemed to be doing the same and Friesland did not want to miss out!
