Battlefront II - AAR thread

[Fredrik82]

Battlefront II - AAR thread

A small AAR reward you with a small exceptional year (-1 inflation and +100D). A big AAR reward you with a big exceptional year (-2 inflation and +200D). Or you can choose a small/big gift instead of 200/300D.

After 1600 the sum of money will increase with 100D, after 1650 it will increase with another 100D and finally after 1750 it will increase with another 100D.

Example 1:
year: 1601.
Big AAR
Reward = -2 inflation and +300D

Example 2:
Year: 1651
Big AAR
Reward = -2 inflation and +400D

Small AAR:
Role playing, you cover the current session time line fairly and use atleast two pictures that is relevant to the AAR. One screenshot counts as ½ picture.

Big AAR:
Role playing, you cover the current session time line with an excellent description and empathy (feeling). You use atleast four pictures that is relevant to the AAR and a text below it that describe the picture.
One screenshot counts as ½ picture, if using them, the required numbers of pictures decrese to three.

Extra reward:
If the GM fall in love with the written AAR an extra reward will be given to the writer. The extra reward will be increased amount of cash.

It will be me or HG that read them and give out the rewards. The GMs decision is final and cannot be changed. We read each others AARs. HG and me cannot recive "Extra rewards".

Note that it is only the contents of the AAR and not the length of it that counts. Spelling does not matter either.

Rules

* The AAR most be posted before Saturday 16.00CET. So everyone got 6 days to finsh there AAR.
* Only one post per AAR is allowed.
* Only AARs are allowed in the AAR thread, replys etc will be posted in the main thread.
* All non RP will start with "OOC"

*Tips*
* One picture tell you more then one thousand words
* Use http://www.slargos.se to upload pictures and other stuff.
* http://sv.wikipedia.org is the best place to find pictures and facts that you are looking for.
* CTRL+C and CTRL+V is boring, use your own words
* Only write AARs if you feel like it, if you dont, do it another week when you do feel like it.
* If you are short on time, write the AAR some each day. Just be finish before saturday...
* Use the "F11" button constantly in game, screenshots are the best and easiest way of writing AARs.
* Make notes during and after session, if you got a short memory like me
* Consider yourself as your nations king/queen/emperor when you write your AAR, i promise i pay your shrink bill if you somehow replace it with your private life
* Have fun and read others for inspiration.
* Quotes and historical letters etc make the AAR look alot more professional.

I'm sure everyone is capable of atleast writing one small AAR per week, as this is voluntary, no-one is forced to write them.

 

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The Ottoman Empire 1492 - 1507​

Wake up children of the Ottoman Empire, wake up and listen to my all cunning words. For I am Beyazid II the Just, son of Mehmed II the Conqueror, and Sultan of All Muslims. For too long did our ancestors crawl in the shadows of Asia, but no more! Thanks to my great father, the City of Men's Desire is in the hands of Allah. The gate to Europe stands open! Our chests are filled and our janissaries are better trained and more numerous than ever. Let those who blesses our supremacy prosper in peace, and let those who refuse it tremble in fear, because to them we will bring nothing but death and destruction. For that is the will of Allah, and so shall it be. I am Beyazid.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

January 1492, Topkapi Imperial Palace, Constantinople

The Sultan stood staring out of the tower window. His two sons, Ahmed and Selim had been summoned for their daily lessons.

Beyazid: Tell me Selim, what is the heart in all great Empires?

Selim thought intensively, what is the answer his father want to hear?

Selim: The Army father, the army is the heart; With it one can control and rule all.

Still looking out of the window, the Sultan smiled. He knew what Selim would reply before doing it.

Beyazid: Incorrect Selim, altough the capability of using military force is indeed an important part, it isn't the foremost. Ahmed, what is your idea?

Ahmed knew his father, much better then his brother. He had long been watching, listening and memorising every way Beyazid ruled. For he knew, the day would eventually come, the day when his father would step down from the throne. Whatever his own ideas was, he wouldn't say them. He gave the Sultan what he wanted to hear.

Ahmed: Tolerance father. Tolerance is the only thing that can truly unite people. Respect towards everyone, wether they are muslims, christians, turks, arabs or greeks.

Beyazid once again smiled; this time out of satisfaction. Ahmed was the perfect successor to himself, not like the warmonger Selim. Altough he was without doubt one of the most ferocious fighters in Beyazids own Jannissary guard, Selim was a general, not a Sultan.

Beyazid: Ahmed, Selim, that is all.

Beyazid hadn't looked at his sons once during the lesson. Nor did he say wether Ahmed was right or not. His silence was enough; enough for his sons to understand. Beyazid would never step down in favour of Selim...

Fool! Selim thought. The army, was that the best reply he could think of?!...Anyhow, he himself knew, when the time would come, tolerance wouldn't decide the fate of the Ottoman Throne; But the cold steel of the Kilij blade of the Jannissaries.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Internal Affairs
Beyazid's reign was actually described in one word by Ahmed pretty well; Tolerance. The Sultan respected all religions and cultures. However, as a true muslim himself, he funded successfull conversions of christians. More and more began to realise that the only true way was to follow Allah. Islam spread; Greece, Serbia and Bosnia; everywhere the words of the almighty had great success.

Peacefull conversions throughout the Balkans.

The blessing of Allah in all its glory; However Beyazid was clever enough to realise that even a Holy Empire need a good finance. A new tax system was introduced all over the Empire. This would bring great wealth to the states economy. Much of the money went to military research, and this would soon result in groundbreaking inventions. The Ottoman Cannon, The Basilic, were largerly improved to add a good accurracy to its already devestating firepower.

Sketch of the new improved Basilic

The Political Situation
Is the Ottoman Empire the ONLY Sunni Muslims of capability? The muslim holdings in Iberia are gone. The Infidel have even set foot in the lands of Islam itself; Tangiers is now a Portugese city. The once so powerfull Golden Horde, the very ancestor of the Mongol Empire is crumbling; Christian Muscowians are becomming increasingly aggressive. Surerly they all need a leader; And the only Empire powerfull enough to assume that leadership IS the Ottoman. Actions towards christian Europe must be taken, the realms of Islam must remain strong. For that is the will of Allah, and so shall it be.

The Hungarian War
Hungary. Vast plains of the East, Europes own backyard. Much blood have been spilled in these lands, and much more is to come. When everyone of our muslim brother fails against the christians, We will stand victorious. We will be the light for them to follow; the perfect example. Christian Europe's crimes towards muslims can no longer be accepted. Muscowites are slaying our brothers in the north. Iberians are murdering our people in the west. This is our revenge. With the Quran in one hand and with the sword in the other, we will bring civilization to the savage lands of the Magyars, and do what the Mongol Empire could not; We will strike at Hungary, victoriously!

The Ottoman invasion force consisted of around 80 000 troops total. In Serbia stood the main force, the Imperial Army ready under General Karim; 35 000 men. In Bulgaria stood Beyazid's own army, comprising of around 25 000 men. And in Kosovo awaited 15 000 reserve troops to fill out the lines of fallen heroes.

And so it came to pass, that Karim's army marched over the danube, into Banat. The question now wasn't IF the hungarians would fall, but rather when. Despite several warnings to the Holy Roman Emperor, the Infidel in Austria decided to aid their allies, evening up the odds against the Ottoman forces. At first Karim saw a great success, assaulting his way in Hungary, but was eventually routed, and forced to retreat. The Imperial forces of the Emperor under von Frundsberg recaptured lost hungarian provinces, and even entered the Ottoman homelands!...but there he came no longer. The Habsburg army got thrown out of Turkish Balkans, and lost a descisive victory Hungary. The Emperor accepted peace. Banat and Wallachia was sceded to the Sultan.

Unfortunately, the savage Austrians got their hands over all of our paintings over the situation and of course burned them to hide their huge failure. Anyhow, a recreation of the ending situation have been made, and it looked something like this;

The annexation of Crimea
Meanwhile war raged in the Balkans, Poland had took the oppertunity to gain some lands from the Crimean Khanate. The Sultan discovered this first after the peace deal with Austria. Hardly anything of this once powerfull muslim force was left, only Crimea itself. Beyazid understood that he immidiantly had to take the remainings of the Khanate under his protective wings. After a fast negotiation with the Khan, Crimea was annexed by the Ottoman Empire.

Crimea, now a Ottoman province

The Swedish-Muscowian war
The lands of the Golden Horde was apparantly not enough for the Prince in Moscow. This time he set his eye on the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth. Together with their friend Sweden, the Muscowites charged into this huge nation. Beyazid now saw a great oppertunity to crave revenge on Muscowy for destroying the Golden Horde. He now ordered General Karim to march to the Poles assistance in Krakow.

Sweden, suspecting nothing attacks the Polish forces in Krakow, finding more then double the ammount of troops then they had expected

The battle was disastrous for the poor nation in the north. The remaining forces had to run, fleeing with ships back to Sweden. Meanwhile, Karim's army was already on its route to throw the Muscowians out of Lithuania...

 

[feanor73]

Brandenburg AAR

As I took leadership of the poor and lonely Brandenburg in a world of giants, I had to figure what to do with it with the set of rules allowing one minor max.

I so chose to go annexing some evil minors plotting against our wise leaders to reach a more viable state fast.
With the help of our good allies Denmark, we could so expand a bit, but unfortunately only Scots who decided to meddle in german affairs for mysterious reasons refused all offers of peace making the war continue.

As we were hoping for a close cnclusion of peace, a whole bunch of minors dowed our country and with their tech superiority and huge number of troops were able to take several of our provinces.
Our joint counterattack with denmark is now underway but prussian landscape and finances are now in a poor shape.

On a more technical note, I think I deserved the benefit of military tradition as even against minors, I was in war since the beginning without any interruptions.

 

[Fredrik82]

France 1492 - 1507

France 1492 - 1507

Charles VIII, king of France 1483-1498

Charles VIIIs vision was a united France with all french speaking people ruled by a french king. The mainland of France was more or less free from english occupation that just a few decades before occupied big parts of France . Only the province of Calais remains in english control. Negotiations with the english to give back this french land to its people was therefore a top priority.

"My dear king, the english seems to be willing to give up there claims on Calais for an agreed amount of Ducats. I advise his Majesty to accept this generous offer."

French Ambassador in London

The League of Cambrai
King Charles decieded to get involved in the fate of Italy. The main reason for this was to prohibit eventual Habsburg occupation of the italian peninsula.
For this France openly support venetian claims on the italian peninsula and we will make sure that they remain under italian control.

Ludvig XII "The peoples father", King of France 1498 -

March 3, 1499. A report from Spain
"Sire, our spies in Spain report severe military build up by the Spanish not far from our borders. I suggest that we preper for war and start to recruit new troops immediately to meet this possible spanish invasion." - Minister of Defence

March 14, 1499. The decleration of war
"Sire, spanish forces have crossed the border into Languedoc and is now besiging the city of Montpellier. Our main army awaits your orders outside Paris. What's your orders Sire?" - Minister of Defence

"Let the spaniards suffer attration, avoid battles until we have equipped our armies with rifles and pistols. The spanish army is much better equipped with superior military technology, i will not let my army be slaughted like cattles in a decisive battle. Minister of science assured me that the French army will stand ready for a counter attack within a month now." - Ludvig XII

"My lord, the city of Montpellier has fallen and Languedoc is now under Spanish control. The Spanish army is now moving towards Lyonnais, whats your orders Sire?" - Minister of Defence

"Sixty thousand cavalry units from the north will intercept the spaniards while the infantary army will simultaneously attack from the west. Reserve troops will stand ready in Bourgogne to move in if necessary." - Ludvig XII

"My lord, our army have won a decisive victory and the spaniards are utterly beaten. The spaniards is now retreating to Languedoc, shall we pursue them?" - Minister of Defence

"Order General Foix to assemble a cavalry army and pursue the spaniards, i want the head of that spanish general. Show no mercy, slaughter them all" - Ludvig XII

"My lord, general Foix reports that the spanish army is completely annihilated, none of them survived. This is a historic victory only worthy a great king. Vive la France!" - Minister of Defence

October 2, 1499. Peace negotiations
While French troops marched towards the spanish border, the spanish king was eager to quickly negotiate a peace. Ludvig claimed the land of Roussillon and 300 ducats to cover the cost of the war for France. This money have not yet been payed however...

November 18, 1500. The war of liberation
"fellow countryman, it is now time to liberate our brothers and sisters in Artois and Franche comté. The habsburg occupation of this land will now end, no more oppression towards the French people will be tolerated." - Ludvig XII

France declered war upon Austria shortly after this announcement. The wise Austrian archduke decieded not to follow Spanish fate on the battlefield and therefore acknowledged French claims on these lands.

French political map

Bearn, Savoy, Piemonte, Bern and Lorraine is claimed by the French kingdom

 

[Van Engel]

Chapter 1

The game was Battlefront 2, the game year: 1492 and somebody actually thought it was a good idea to put me in Sweden. So after some “threats” from Denmark to stay a Danish vassal I got to work. First on the list was to sort out diplomatic relations with Sweden’s neighbours. Poland offered to split the Teutonic Order between the two countries and at the time this seemed like a good idea. Although Lithuania was sieging two of the three provinces, it didn’t matter much to me since I had all those nice random leaders…
One year later when my stability had finally reached –2 I declared war on the Teutonic order and gave them a right thrashing. Lithuanian sieges were taken over by my leaders and the loss to winter was minimal. Within short time, the order was in flames and I demanded the two Urgic provinces.
After this bit of aggression, I turned my attention to less interesting stuff, but just as important, the Swedish economy. This being absolutely in ruins. Unfortunately there wasn’t much to be done, except try and tech up a bit, since there wasn’t any stability offering my traders. Having got the boring stuff out of the way, it was back to international diplomacy, this time working against Poland, with a sneaky plan.
Well I knew Poland kinda didn’t like Muscowvy and I knew this could be used to my advantage, so feigning to be a Polish ally, I prepared to Invade Poland with Muscowvy. Basically, three armies, one large one of 15 thousand men, and two smaller ones of roughly 7 thousand men each. The larger one would siege Danzig, whilst one of the smaller would siege Memel, and later on the minimal forts across Poland. The other army would stay in ships, in support.
The plan was going well, Danzig, Memel and a few other Polish provinces were under Swedish control, until Polish troops formed up in their Capital. Unfortunately I hadn’t realized yet that the Ottoman Empire had joined in the war and the join repelling of my forces in Krakow was unexpected. My men were pushed back into the transports in the Baltic whilst Polish provinces were recaptured. Men were trained and retrained on the Swedish mainland, for this was going to be one hell of a slog…

This was Van Engel, Ace Gamer, signing out.

 

[Seen]

The Annals of the Kalmar Union 1492-1507

King Hans looked once more out of his castle. Looking over the sund he thought about his ancestors. All great Kings that made Denmark the greatest and oldest Kingdom of europe. He realised times where changing, "new monarchs" where rising everywhere. Wannabees, he thought. What if even the dukes of the eternal Union would think they where actually "kings". None of that! Under his rule the Kingdom would not crumble! So on the domestic front a dictate was send to all dukes in the realm to ensure the kings wishes. The most formable duke , the one from sveadland, apperently coughed wenn he heard it, but did not oppose. The king, now with internal rest in his realm looked over the border. The kingdom would not crumble, no, it would actually regein some of its former glory!

Plans where made to ensure that the ancient claims on Holstein, Bremen and Oldenburg where ratified and acknoledged by its "rulers" and by other major powers. To ensure rest and prosperity in the holy empire the King decided a alliance was to be formed with the prince of Brandenburg. This alliance soon would proof a solid one, though right from its birth war would not stop and is still raging in 1513 . But with this came good warexperience and bravery that will benefit the nation in the future as well deter rebellious dukes...Also the Alliance while a bloody one, proofed solid and the allies grew very close to each other. No betrayel would be found here while BBs forces helped crushing the Hannover exciles,

and the danes trew the agressive warmongerous german minors countless times out of the princedom. Also the good King realised that Denmark was and always shall be seafarring nation. Tales of rich lands reached even the cold north and the king realised that would Denmark want a chance to survive in the bloody times ahead, it would need to get its fare share of this "new world" . Alas, no Dane proofed brave enough to explore uncharted sea, and things werent about to change in a reasonable time. So this asked for more drastic steps. A expeditionary force was send for a surprise attack on Tago who was almost totally occupied by spanish warmongers. The general had to act fast or there would be no maps to capture at all. To bad the evil greedy Spanish King didnt want anyone else to gian acces to the portugeese discoveries and pressured the portugese to "join" in its alliance and war was declaired on the honourable Kingdom of the Danes. A big battle at Tago followed

The first battle was losed, but the brave Danes returned to fight this evil king and won! Of course the king realised that this batteling of the giant would not work in the long run and was forced to accept peace. So Denmarks long term plans layed in ruins and was bound to slide in the shadows of europe. At least we where able to help our good allies with the retreated army

Not happy with the way things where going but unable to turn things in his favour the war in the empire continued. More and more minors dowed our good ally and of course the Danes proofed a loyal ally. This however ruined the danish economy and inflation was rising, trade hardly expanding and a secret ghost fleet of two warships destroyed a large fleet of the Danes. In the end the of this annale the ancient lands where solid in the hands of the king, but the economy had to be a top priority in the following years. Dreams to play a part in the colonial race layed in shambles, but maybe there still was a honourable part of the ancient Kingdom to be played in europe ...

 

[unmerged(7276)]

Word was received from the Swedish embasador of an issue of grave importance. The polish empire was planning a military strike on the state of muscowy. This was intended to humiliate and possibly even destory our people and to expand the borders of their slave state – Lithuania. Our Swedish friends offered to assist us in a pre emptive strike on the polish. With some hesitation we agreed and plans for invasion were drawn up. The war went very well at first. Our Cossack shock cavalry performed well and several provinces were captured. In the west the Swedish campaign was also making progress with danzig and pozan under siege. However, things quickly turned for the worse and the growing ottoman empire joined the war on the polish side. They forced Sweden out of Poland and sent limited cavalry forces north to engage us. In the end we were only able to secure limited land gains from the war.

The next years were spent colonising our northern borders. Several improvements were made to our tax infrastructure along with some reforms to the army. Many of our more militant boyars were however pushing for another attack on the polish. How could we be safe when the ever expanding Turkish and polish empires encircle and close us off? The final straw when when turkey and lithunia annexed land next to our eastern border and totally cut us off from the east. Poland had also annexed the state of ryzan which we had long considered our rightful territory. New plans were arranged to attack and war was declared. This time things did not go so well. The superior polish technology ensured several defeats on the plains of Lithuania. Sweden faired little better. Their Baltic invasions had gone very poorly. They were repulsed from memel and then all the way up the coast. Our luck was soon to change though due to an unexpected development. A monk by the name of luther had been causing quite a storm in the west with new religious ideas. This new protestant religion was causing serious problems for the polish as their Baltic possessions rose up against the king. Even with Turkish allies killing off rebels, the polish were in serious trouble. They eventually signed a separate peace with us to focus on internal matters. This left us free to concentrate on the kingdom of Lithuania. Fearing the infamous muscowy cavalry, the turks dared not intervene. Massive terrirory gains were made. In response to the fall of the Byzantine empire and the rise of the muslim heathens. Moscowy have now taken up the mantle of protector of the orthodox faith. The kingdom of Russia is born...

In this same year another more disturbing birth has occured. A human child... http://www.xs4all.nl/~kvenjb/madrus.htm

 

[unmerged(11216)]

The Ottoman Empire 1507 - 1530​

...and the war over Lithuania raged on. General Karim was ordered by Beyazid to send home his remaining infantry, comprising of around 4 000 men. Karim now possessed 18 000 cavalry. This army rode in quick paste all across the great plains of Lithuania, and sabotaged Muscowian siege operations. Beyazid had these forces remain in Lithuania, with the thought that the Poles eventually would arrive and defend their vassal. It was then to a great surprise that the new Polish king, Zygmunt the Old, signed a seperate peace with the Grand Prince in Moscow, leaving Lithuania virtually undefended. Beyazid immidiantly ordered Karim to return home, for if the Poles didn't want to defend their commonwealth, so wouldn't he. In 1509 the Ottomans signed a white peace with Muscowy. Lithuania lost two provinces.

Beyazids last campaign
The Sultan was getting old. Still he was determined to commit one last campaign. The Astrakhan Khanate, a remain of the Golden Horde, was apparantly not strong enough to prevent Russian expansion in the Muslim lands east of the Caspian Sea. Beyazid realised, being the protector of all Muslims, that he had to establish an Ottoman buffer in these regions. The weak Khanate could do nothing to repell the Turkish forces. Astrakhan was sacked, and the province of Orenburg was sceded to the Sultan. That was it for the Sultan. He now left the military life, and permanently resided in Constantinople.

Beyazid's last campaign

The Siege of Cairo
Meanwhile Beyazid was fighting far up in the north, his son, Ahmed was having his own plans of glory. Some ten years earlier, the Empire had established control over the rich trading city of Alexandria. Beyazid had assigned Ahmed as Bey here, thinking that it would be a good practice for him before he would become Sultan. To be certain that himself would inherit the throne after his father rather then Selim, Ahmed would give Beyazid a great gift; The lands of the Mameluks, and foremost, the title of Caliph, a title with great prestige descending back to the days when Christian Europe laid at the mercy of Muslims hordes threathening in every corner. Taking ducats out of Alexandrias own treasury, Ahmed raised an 13 000 men strong army and marched towards the great city of Cairo, the capital of the Mameluks. It was a risky campaign indeed, if he failed he did not only risk Alexandria, but also his future ambitions to become Sultan. Fortunately for Ahmed, the Mameluks was weak from years of internal struggle, and he could establish a siege of Cairo relatively easy.

Cairo, right before the surrender of the city, and the entire nation

On January 17th 1511, after almost eight months of siege, Cairo surrendered, and so did the entire Mameluk nation. Ahmed had put the stakes high, gambled, and won; Now himself signed the peace deal annexing the Mameluks into the Ottoman Empire.

Father, appologise me for taking the matter in my own hands, but I am still pleased to give you my great Sultan, not only Egypt, Syria, Judea and Aleppo, but also the title of Caliph. Allah blessed us, and because of that I can rejoice over that the Ottoman harmony now will reign in these lands.
/Your son, Ahmed, Bey of Alexandria.

Why should I appologise ambition? Why should I appologise genuine ideas? No Ahmed, you have nothing to appologise over. I am now Caliph, as well as Sultan, and I have you and Allah to thank for it. You, my son, will make a great Sultan, and I eager for your arrival in Constantinople; For here I will pour gifts on you. Because, Ahmed, I am not Sultan for long, I am not Caliph for long, for you will soon be.
/Beyazid II, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, and Caliph of the Muslim world.

Selim stared at the copied letters. So it was decided; Ahmed would be the next Sultan. Altough he had always known it in his subcouncious, now when it was definite he felt empty. And angry. He would not give up the throne without a fight.

The Struggle of the Successors *
Shortly after Beyazid's arrival to Constantinople, a large revolt rose in Thrace. 16 000 Selim-loyal men was marching towards the City of Men's Desire. Beyazid was determined not to give the throne to Selim. With his battle hardened men from the Astrakhan war he put down the revolt, and Selim was forced to flee to Crimea. Ahmed, recieving word of Selim's revolt, immidiantly set sail with his army towards Constantinople.

Beyazid had hoped that the internal struggle within the Empire would go unnoticed among the other major powers, foremost one; The Habsburg nation of Austria. He was hoping for too much.

The Frundsberg Campaign
In august 1511 a 35 000 men strong cavalry army under Imperial General von Frundsberg crossed the Danube into Serbia. These were followed by several siege armies. Frundsbergs were riding straight for Constantinople. The Austrians had taken advantage of the worrying Ottoman situation; They wanted revenge for the loss in the Hungarian war. Beyazid had practicly nothing to repell this force with. He ordered Ahmed together with his newly arrived army, comprising of around 17 000 men, to flee Constantinople into Asia Minor. The Sultan knew he was far from strong enough to face the Imperial Cavalry under von Frundsberg. The entire Balkans now stood undefended; There was nothing between von Frundsberg, Constantinople and Beyazid, who had stayed in Constantinople, determined not to surrender the city.

Constantinople under siege, while the small Ottoman Army under Ahmed can only watch

And when all was darkness, relief for the Empire would come from an unexpected way...

The Enemy of my Enemy
In January 1512 a large force landed near the Ottoman temporary capital Bursa. Ahmed, undoubtly thinking that it was von Frundsberg, immidiantly mobilised his army. No wonder it was a great surprise to him when the troops closing in on Bursa marched under the banner of the Ottoman Empire. Selim had returned to claim the throne, along with 35 000 Elite Spahi cavalry. Ahmed refused Selim's offer to surrender himself. The Spahi, the mounted janissaries, made the process short. After seeing them cutting down the first lines, the rest of Ahmed's force surrendered, and gave Ahmed to Selim, who didn't doubt a second; Ahmed was executed, and the only one now who had claims on the throne was Selim, except of the Sultan himself.

The Sacking of Constantinople
After over one and a half year of siege, von Frundsberg's expertise on the area finally started to show its effect on the great walls of Constantinople. Beyazid held out to the end. He refused to be remembered as the Sultan who lost Constantinople to the Christians. Beyazid garrisoned himself inside the Topkapi palace. The Austrians stormed it. The Sultan and his janissary bodyguards fought until the last man. They charged right into the overwhelming austrian force. Beyazid II the Just, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, died in the hopeless struggle.**

Selim's Revenge
When Selim recieved the word of Constantinople's fall and his father's death, he had already landed in Macedonia. He could now announce himself as Sultan, but refused to do so, quoting, "Not until every christian infidel had been speared on the walls of Vienna" . Selim was a brilliant commander. Along with his Spahi horde, he cleansed the Balkans of the sieging austrian armies, leaving von Frundsberg's force without reinforcements. In an desperate attempt to reach Hungary to regroup, the "Invincible" Imperial Cavalry von Frundsberg ran into Selim's superior force in Serbia. The Austrians fled the battlefield across the Danube into Banat, but was hunted ruthlessly by Selim. General von Frundsberg desperately tried to organise his troops to put up an defensive line, but it was too little time. The Spahi Cavalry, by the order of Selim, spared nowone. When the sun rose on february 27th 1514 the plains of Banat bathed in blood. Constantinople were already under Ottoman siege. The entire Christian invasion force had been slayed, together with von Frundsberg himself. Selim did not doubt a second what to do. In march he crossed the Danube, into Hungary. Now with a new nickname, Selim Yavuz, Selim the Brave. However the Christians would henceforth call him Selim the Grim.

Selim's Revenge; The Battle of Banat, none were spared...

The Second Hungarian War
Hungary stood practicly without defense. Without the Emperor to protect them, they had nothing. Selim swarmed the plains; but he tried to cause as little damage as he could, showing his goodwill to the Magyar people. After sacking all of the major cities, Hungary accepted direct annexation into the Ottoman Empire. The Emperor had not only been humiliated, but also lost entire Hungary. That was the will of Allah, and so did it went.

Hungary is annexed into the Ottoman Empire

Selim I Yavuz
After years of internal struggle and great wars, the Ottoman Empire were finally stable again, united under one man; Selim I Yavuz, after holding a ceremony in the great Mosque in Constantinople. Despite his father's doubt, Selim appeared to be just as good in financiall matters as in making war. He recovered the Empire fully, and improved its economy. Though his reign was not to last for long. In september 1520 Selim Yavuz died because of sickness, caused by the last eight years spend on horseback. He would forever be remembered for his actions for the Ottoman Empire.

Selim the Brave

Selim's son now rose to the throne. Surerly Suleyman cannot outdo the accomplishments of his father...or?

(*=Based on the actual struggle of the throne between Ahmed and Selim)
(**=Beyazid commanding 1k was killed by Frundsberg's army in Thrace)

 

[Fredrik82]

Diplomatic map over Europe year 1530

 

[Fredrik82]

France 1507 - 1530

The Age of Exploration​

The rumours of Spanish expeditions to this new world "America" caused the French to launch there own expeditions to this new world.
Rumours of spanish ships returning home from America with full of gold and other riches enticed the french to preper for there first expedition.

A man named John de Verazzano, an italian explorer that wished to lead a French expedition to the caribean was picked for the job by the king, François I.
France need an outpost in the new world in order to colonize more efficently. This was the main objective in this expedition.
The second objective was to explore the coast from south america through spanish mexico and along the english coast up to the canadian mainland.

Captain John de Verazzano leaving Normandy in France for
the new world in january 1522. Four ships awaits departure.

"My lord, This is a perfect time for explorations. We see no indication of any wars breaking out in Europe, peace in Europe will give us the luxury to focus on our expeditions"
- First minister

François I, king of France.

Four months after the departure from Normandy, April 3 1522, Captain Verazzano finally encountered an caribean island, Puerto Rico.
After being compelled by the impetuos violence of the winds in the Atlantic ocean only three ships remained. The whole expedition was in danger when Verazzanos fleet encountered a hurricane on the 24th of February from which they luckily escaped unhurt.

Puerto Rico found, the Verazzano expeditions first discovery.

Captain Verazzano with fifty men formed a landing party in order to claim the land to the French crown. Savages who lived on the island was spotted on the shores. They were amazed by the mighty French war ships that lie at anchor outside the coast.

Natives of Puerto Rico worshipping the column bearing coat of arms of the King of France erected by Captain Verazzano. (This natives was later slaughted in order to protect our children from when they form into blood thirsty vampires on the nights).

Saint Barthélémy
The first settlers arrived a few months after the discovery of Puerto Rico and formed a new colony, Saint Barthélémy. A French conquistador was later sent from France with orders to establish more colonies on the adjacent islands.

In the meantime Captain Verazzano continued with the second objective.

Captain John de Verazzano to His Most Serene Majesty the King of France, writes:
"Since the tempests which we encountered on the northern coasts, I have not written to your most Serene and Christian Majesty concerning the four ships sent out by your orders on the ocean to discover new land, because i thought you must have been before apprized of all that had happened to us, i proceed to give your Majesty an account of our discoveries.
On the 17th of last January we set sail from a desolate rock near the island of Madeira, belonging to his most Serene Majesty the King of Spain. Sailing westward with a light and pleasant easterly breeze, in twenty-five days we ran eight hundred leagues. On the third of April we reached a new country, which had never been seen by any one, either in ancient or modern times. At first it appeared to be very low, but on approaching it to within a quarter of a league from the shore we perceived, by the great fires near the coast, that it was inhabited. We perceived that it stretched to the south, and coasted along in that direction in search of some port, in which we might come to anchor, and examine into the nature of the country, but for fifty leagues we could find none in which we could lie securely. Seeing the coast still stretched to the south we resolved to change our course and stand to the northward, and as we still had the same difficulty, we drew in with the land and sent a boat on shore. Many natives who were seen coming to the sea-side fled at our approach, but occasionally stopping, they looked back upon us with astonishment, and some were at length induced, by various friendly signs, to come to us. They go entirely naked, except that about the loins they wear skins of small animals like martens fastened by a girdle of plaited grass, to which they tie, all around the body, the tails of other animals hanging down the knees; all other parts of the body and the head are naked. Some wear garlands similar to birds feathers.
The island is free from rocks and bold so it is not dangerous for navigation, thus it is a perfect place for a colony. We saw in this country suger growing naturally, the taste of this is very sweet. We will bring some with the returning ship to his Majesty King of France.
The Spaniards have sailed here before, further beyond the equator. France is the first European country however that sat foot on this land. I hope more clearly and more satisfactorily to point out and explain to your Majesty personally when i return of the great extent of that new land, or new world, of which i have been speaking. In a short time, i hope, we shall have more certain knowledge of this new world, by the aid of your Majesty, whom i pray Almighty God to prosper in lasting glory, that we may see the most importent results of this cosmography in the fulfilment of the holy words of the Gospel."

On board the ship Dolphin, in the port of Saint Barthélémy in Puerto Rico, the 8th of july, 1524.
Your humble servitor, Janus Verrazzanusus

François I, was so amazed by the letter and realized that this new world is an enormous discovery and that France must be a part of it. We already know that the English, Spaniards and the portugese has started the colonisation of this new world. François was not satisfied with only one puny island, he wanted more, alot more.
The king himself traveled to Madrid to meet the Spanish king. After some talking it was decieded that portugese Brasil and other spanish settlements in south america will be sold to France. France also bought the rights to annex the inca empire. Thus all of south america is now under French influence.

 

[Seen]

The Kingdom of Denmark

1508-1530

​

War, Depression and End of the Kalmar Union​

​

King Hans, now a old man looked back at his life. Did he achive in his dreams? He did incorporated what was rightfully Danish in northern Holy Empire. He also faithfully helped his friends and allies in times of need. What did go wrong? He totally failed in his plans for a greater New Denmark overseas. First the Spanish intervened and years later, out of nowhere the evil doge slaughtered a army under his own command! He felt life slipping....hopes where set on his son, Christian II would bring greater glory to the kingdom than he did...

Christian II immidiatly ordered a large scale offensive against the rebelling german princes. The everlasting ally Brandenburg was being overrun once again and even Jutland was overrun by Scotisch rebels.

Glorious victory over victory was achived. But alas, now that the princes had tasted of victory against there rightfull rulers they united and all joined in the war. Scotland was peaced out, but the war was just beginning it seemed.

His father already made a agreement about the spoils of Portugal, but another nation was worried about what for trade advantages the Danes would get if they would get the maps. the infamous surprise attack on the siegers in Tago will go in infamy and never to be forgotten, But christian wouldnt give up his fathers dream. He , already in war, didnt mind to stay in war for as long was needed to aquire his rightfull maps. After 5 years of inactivity on the venetian front peace was forced upon them by the pope, now Danes could finally take control of Lisboa. The day was ours!

On the other front things where looking less bright. United the princes showed great ability to make considerable gains. Brandenburg even had to accept the humiliating peace from mere Saxony, now the greater power in the realm and direct advesary of Denmark.

But the Danes would not rest before our friend was set free, even if we had the choise (which we didnt...) Meanwhile a strange message came to the king of a great plague that had invaded the royal treasurer. He had something called Lagbugionus, and this had made him totally crazy. Without seeing most of the money the state now had a tremendious burden of debt. Waging war was now impossible, as was anything else. For years the King kicked the poor sick soul until all life was out of him. Luckily his diplomats were more subtle than he since the support of England was gained in this long and tiresome war! With the help of the great general Norfolk the minors where finally kicked out of Danish territory. Even Brandenburg used the opportunity to trow of the Saxon joke and joined the war again.

But this couldnt prevent what was bount to happen thanks to the evil disease, the state finances after many years of inactivity, collapsed. now the armies of the realm where deeply troubled, unable to achive a single victory on their own now. And if that wasnt worse enough, stability in the realm and economy where on the lowest point ever!

During this time Sweden also betrayed his souvereign and rebelled. With no means to subdue this traitor the King had no option than accept it. But militairy with this new help Victory was only to follow shortly. But Saxony remained the most stuborn of the bunch and even wenn totally occupied they refused peace.

But after a small payment Denmark finally, after almost 30 years of continious war, was at peace!

Deeply shocked by his failure Christian fled the country. The new king Fredrik I improved at the best of his abilities the scatered economy. Also the new faith was finally accepted as the only official religion in the kingdom. Peace was to be in our time! But alas, rumours are spreading that the count of Sweden is looking greedily over the border. Will Denmark never know a moment for peace and prosperity so it can dedicate itself to its only real passion, sailing the seas!?

.

Time will tell...

 

[unmerged(7276)]

much of the following text is taken from an excellent history sourse on the interenet. I could never improve on it and so just pasted it in.

In the year of 1533 a new ruler was to take the russian crown. The boy, ivan grozny, aged 3 years, was to become the greatest, and most vicious of all russian monarchs. Ivan was only 3 years old when his father died. His uncle Yuri challenged his rights to the throne, was arrested, and imprisoned in a dungeon. There he was left to starve. Ivan's mother Jelena Glinsky, assumed power and was regent for five years. She had Ivan's other uncle killed, but a short time afterwards she suddenly died, almost surely poisoned. A week later her confidant, Prince Ivan Obolensky 1, was arrested and beaten to death by his jailers. While his mother had been indifferent toward Ivan, Obolensky's sister, Agrafena, had been his beloved nurse. Now she was sent to a convent.

Not yet 8 years old, Ivan was an intelligent, sensitive boy and an insatiable reader. Without Agrafena to look after him, Ivan's loneliness deepened. The boyars alternately neglected or molested him; Ivan and his deaf-mute brother Yuri often went about hungry and threadbare. No one cared about his health or well being and Ivan became a beggar in his own palace. A rivalry between the Shuisky and the Belsky families escalated into a bloody feud. Armed men roamed the palace, seeking out enemies and frequently bursting into Ivan's quarters, where they shoved the Grand Prince aside, overturned the furniture and took whatever they wanted. Murders, beatings, verbal and physical abuse became commonplace in the palace. Unable to strike out at his tormentors, Ivan took out his frustrations on defenceless animals; he tore feathers off birds, pierced their eyes and slit open their bodies.

The ruthless Shuiskys gradually gained more power. In 1539 the Shuiskys led a raid on the palace, rounding up a number of Ivan's remaining confidants. They had the loyal Fyodor Mishurin skinned alive and left on public view in a Moscow square. On December 29, 1543, 13-year-old Ivan suddenly ordered the arrest of Prince Andrew Shuisky, who was reputed to be a cruel and corrupt person. He was thrown into an enclosure with a pack of starved hunting dogs. The rule of the boyars had ended.

By then, Ivan was already a disturbed young man and an accomplished drinker. He threw dogs and cats from the Kremlin walls to watch them suffer, and roamed the Moscow streets with a gang of young scoundrels, drinking, knocking down old people and raping women. He often disposed of rape victims by having them hanged, strangled, buried alive or thrown to the bears. He became an excellent horseman and was fond of hunting. Killing animals was not his only delight; Ivan also enjoyed robbing and beating up farmers. Meanwhile he continued to devour books at an incredible pace, mainly religious and historical texts. At times Ivan was very devote; he used to throw himself before the icons, banging his head against the floor. It resulted in a callosity at his forehead. Once Ivan even did a public confession of his sins in Moscow.

In 1547 Ivan was finally crowned Tsar of all Russians. He had taken methodical and meticulous care in preparing for his coronation. Later, when he decided to choose a wife, Ivan had eligible young Princesses and daughters of noblemen presented to him in a kind of 'Miss Russia Contest'. He instantly fell for the beauty and charm of Anastasia Romanovna and married her. By all accounts Anastasia had a quieting effect on Ivan. He called her his "little heifer" and they were to have 13 years of wedded bless. Anastasia bore him six children of whom only two survived infancy.

In the first years of his reign Ivan was advised by three devote men: Alexej Adasjev, the priest Silvester and the metropolitan Macarius. Ivan reformed the government and reduced both corruption and the influence of the boyar families. He also reformed the church and the army, creating an elite force, the Streltsi. Subsequently, Ivan conquered the Khanates of Kazan and Astrakhan near the Wolga River. In 1558 he conquered the Baltic cities Narva and Polotsk and started trading directly with England.

In the midst of these wars, in March 1553, Ivan had fallen ill with a high fever. During his illness Ivan demanded the Princes and boyars to swear an oath of allegiance to his baby son Dmitri, but most were unwilling to do so. Ivan recovered, but he never forgave the treachery of those around him when they thought he was dying. Henceforth his policy was to set up a strong centralised state and to oppress and destroy his enemies within it. A few months later the Royal couple was visiting a monastery to give thanks to God for Ivan's recovery, when a nurse accidentally dropped Dmitri into the river. The baby drowned.

The Russian Empire 1530 -1559

The polish had long been bitter enemys of the russian peoples. Ivans view was simple. There could be no settlement with these dogs while such large amounts of russian land were occupied. While poland was clearly no match for the russian armies there was 1 problem. The ottoman empire was a close ally to the poles and the sultan had said on many occasions that he would support them. Despite this the russian army, supported by swedes declared war on the poles and their lithuanian slaves. The russian cossacks ran over the poles quickly while good progress was made by the swedes in the south.The sultan of turkey was busy fighting persia, however that war was soon to end. The sultan joined poland and a bitter war took place. Many losses on both sides however the russians held their ground. The cossacks were far superioir to the sultans tartars on the plains of crimea.

Treachury was afoot though. The swedes signed a sep peace with the polish alliance and joined them in attacking the russians. This dispicable act would not go unpunished. Our troops headed north and expelled the purtid swedes from russian land. Fighting the turks, poles, lithuanians and swedes was considered a little too much by the russian boyars however and so a moderate peace was signed. The polish refused at first but soon gave in to 3 provinces and a large ammount of gold. Revenge against the swedes was now at the front of ivans mind.

Several years of economic growth followed. Taxes were collected and infrastructure was repaired. Prudent economics allowd the russian coffers to grow large. Next would come another attack on the lithuanians. The poles could not resist this time as they were fighting the austrians in the east. The sultan gave up his support for this lost cause and instead joined in the rape of lithuania. Angered by this ivan decreed that the turks would pay.

After annexing much of lithuania a diplomatc mission was sent to the archduke of austria. A deal was made to attack the turks on 2 fronts. The war went according to plan. The famous russian cavalry slaughtered the turks on the plains of crimea. This valuable trading post is now under russian control.

 

[King John]

When I took the throne after the reign of the regent Elijah, I decided Spain had colonized enough. We have Mexico, that's great. I don't want gold inflation though, and I don't want high stab costs or to mess around with converting half a continent. The whole point of it is to make money, not to spend money! The New World is so overrated. I thereby declared that no further expeditions into the New World would be funded by the royal treasury.

However, in foreign affairs Spanish claims to these places were taken extremely seriously. It is an expansive and *potentially* lucrative tract of land, after all, even if I place little value on it. The French certainly didn't. They offered to buy South America, and agreed to pay 4500D for it. I couldn't refuse, even if payment was going to take a while.


With colonialism out of the way, the only things to do were to send merchants out and go a notch to innovativeness every ten years. That's the best way to get and stay ahead in tech. I also built some refineries for this, which have over the decades brought me about halfway to trade 5. I focused mainly on infra, and made it to level five a little before the end of the session.

Not much happened really, which was kinda disappointing-). I made it to LT 14 and was ready to fight, but it made more sense to wait until France paid the rest of my money still, so I just sat around and powerteched most of the session. And then Venice converted to reformed...

Venice hardly ever converts to reformed. I've never seen it happen. The obvious reason is that converting all those provs is a pain, but the other reason is that none of its neighbors, Austria, France, and of course, Spain, want to see Italy turn into a den of heretics. When Venice converts, it forces other catholics to either take action immediately to protect those catholic provs, or give up the idea of ever controlling them themselves, as they won't be worth it to take after they've become reformed.

That was the way I felt. Seeing those missionaries persecuting the poor catholics just stirred my fighting spirit. I ordered my Italian contingent into position, and DOW'd the heretic rogue nation . The heresies in Marche were immediately suppressed, the minimal fortress taken in an assault. I fought and won a battle, then took Siena. The Italian fleet tried to cut off my reinforcements, but my little flotilla defeated them in home waters.

French opportunists then took advantage of their fellow catholics by entering the war. Unless the French plan to go reformed, I don't think it's a good policy for them to support reformist nations in catholic territory, but I at least am ready for the fight now. Infra 5 and enough money in the treasury to last until I get trade 5 will ensure that Spain doesn't suffer economically, and Bazan will keep the waves open to my troops.

 

[Elijah]

The Birth of a Free Nation

The Birth of Free Holland

The States General of the United Provinces of the Low Countries, to all whom it may concern, do by these Presents send greeting:

As it is apparent to all that a prince is constituted by God to be ruler of a people, to defend them from oppression and violence as the shepherd his sheep; and whereas God did not create the people slaves to their prince, to obey his commands, whether right or wrong, but rather the prince for the sake of the subjects (without which he could be no prince), to govern them according to equity, to love and support them as a father his children or a shepherd his flock, and even at the hazard of life to defend and preserve them. And when he does not behave thus, but, on the contrary, oppresses them, seeking opportunities to infringe their ancient customs and privileges, exacting from them slavish compliance, then he is no longer a prince, but a tyrant, and the subjects are to consider him in no other view. And particularly when this is done deliberately, unauthorized by the states, they may not only disallow his authority, but legally proceed to the choice of another prince for their defense. This is the only method left for subjects whose humble petitions and remonstrances could never soften their prince or dissuade him from his tyrannical proceedings; and this is what the law of nature dictates for the defense of liberty, which we ought to transmit to posterity, even at the hazard of our lives. And this we have seen done frequently in several countries upon the like occasion, whereof there are notorious instances, and more justifiable in our land, which has been always governed according to their ancient privileges, which are expressed in the oath taken by the prince at his admission to the government; for most of the Provinces receive their prince upon certain conditions, which he swears to maintain, which, if the prince violates, he is no longer sovereign.

In accordance with these Precepts, the Dutch states declare their independance from the Hapsburg yoke, and have duly elected Wilhelm av Oranje to be our new leader and Stadtholder of the Realm.

Prince William I , "William the Silent"

"Speak softly, and carry a big stick."​

 

[King John]

The Spanish monarch would like to know on behalf of his Austrian cousins, what greivance the Dutch self styled monarch has to consider such bonds broken between the Archduke and his Dutch subjects.

It is true that the Austrian crown granted certain priviledges to the Dutch citizenry, namely a system of self government, but this proclamation sounds like treason. Certainly the psuedo king of Holland will recant these statements and return to governing the Dutch provinces as a prince of the Hapsburg Empire?

 

[Elijah]

Consulaat Generaal

These mist covered mountains
Are a home now for me
But my home is the lowlands
And always will be
Some day you'll return to
Your valleys and your farms
And you'll no longer burn
To be brothers in arms.

Through these fields of destruction
Baptisms of fire
I've witnessed your suffering
As the battles raged higher
And though they did hurt me so bad
In the fear and alarm
You did not desert me
My brothers in arms.

There's so many different worlds
So many different suns
And we have just one world
But we live in different ones.

Now the sun's gone to hell
And the moon's riding high
Let me bid you farewell
Every man has to die
But it's written in the starlight
And every line on your palm
We're fools to make war
On our brothers in arms.
​

It is not strife that we seek with Phillip II or his Austrian kindred, but merely the right of self-determination and the right of free peoples to determine their own path, and follow their own faith without fear of iniquity. We do apologize if our joy at our newfound freedom rings out as a challenge, but it is the nature of the freshly emancipated soul to cry out in exhuberant victory.

We reiterate that it is our heartfelt desire to live and let live with all our Christian brethen. So is it said, and so let it be.

The free traders of the Netherlands​

 

[King John]

My apologies, if I have misread your intentions. As long as the Dutch remain loyal to the Hapsburgs, i.e. remain as Austrian vassals, I have no ill intent for Holland.

 

[Van Engel]

Extract from the ‘Mad Prince’s Diaries – 1530 to 1550ish’

Well where do I start? After vowing to never fight Poland again… I joined a war with Russia against Poland and Lithuania with the aim of taking Kurland and/or Danzig. The war went well, Swedish superior troops smashing apart Polish men in bloody battles seeing the Polish cream of manhood slaughtered.

Russia was doing the same thing to the Lithuanian men and then shortly afterwards, the Turks who joined the war on the Polish side thinking they could save Poland. Of course only one country could do that. Sweden. I was talked into swapping sides in the war, for a bit of cash and Kurland. This seemed a good idea at the time, realizing this would be a great chance to actually beat Russia and take some of those Ugric provinces in Western Russia.
The Turks sent the money, and Kurland was handed over. The Russian throne was claimed and they were banned from our alliance, we joined the Polish as quick as possible, redirecting our superior troops over the Russian boarder, taking the White Sea colonies and Ingermanland. Unfortunatly our new Polish allies didn’t realize the sacrifice we had taken and accepted peace with the Russians, meaning our conflict with Russia ended without gaining jackshit and losing a whole lot of money, stability and most important, honour. Russia’s reaction to our treachery was “scumbag”. Well I realized we were in deep shit.
Luckily the ‘deep shit’ didn’t come and still hasn’t come. During the time after the war, we improved the Swedish economy, finally getting high enough stability to send merchants to the nearby trade centres of Danzig, Moscow and Copenhagen. Sweden was injoying this time of peace, and many technological steps forward were mad, bringing the quality of the Swedish Royal navy and army to a standard on a level with the rest of Europe.
This period of peace was broken however in my absence….

Extract from the ‘Period of Elijahian Expansion’

“Ok when I say ‘charge’ you take your cavalry and charge at those infantry sitting behind that hedge, ok?”
“Uhm… My lord…”
“Just call me Eli”
“Ok, Eli… is it a good idea to charge through a bush?”
“Yes, yes, just get on with it!”
“But sir…”
“Do I need to explain ‘Da Plan’ again?”
“Would be nice sir!”
“Well, we take our men on the horsies over there, you see them? Well we take them, and we kill the Danish. Got it?”
“Well I wouldn’t call it a masterpiece of tactical thinking, but anyway I’ll have a go”

Elijah on the right, explaining Da Plan to one of his officers

The battle was a complete victory for the Swedes, with the main Danish army in…

Blah Blah Blah <text missing> Blah Blah Blah

… and Skane was handed over to the Swedish, the new uprising Supahpowah!!?!?!**

**Oyes and btw somewhere in there Memel was taken from the Polish​

 

[Seen]

Dear mom,

It has been 3 long years since we left you alone in our beloved Svaneke, and happy to tell you we are allright. It has been a small miracle but we are, so dont worry. Hivenøs is fishing for our dinner since the army, altough giving us enough clothing, is a bit cheap on rations. And the cloths are a hell to wear. First they send us to this stange land 'Africa'. I dont really understand what our king wants to do here...for us it has been nothing but fighting against weird black people. It looks like they use shoepolish every morning and forget their hands and feet. Dont understand why, must be some pagan ritual.

we are mostly outnumbered 3 to 1 or somethimes even 4 to 1. They fight brave but without order. Also wenn beaten they immidiatly are very obidiant, as if we where of blue blood. And you know Hivenøs, he immidiatly abuses it. He let them stand on their hands and trow blunt spears at each other. A well, it keeps morale up i guess. They helped us a with hunting.

After some months there was great rumoil in our camp. Something big was comming up, that was for sure. Some whispered we would go and meet the fabel christian land of Etheopia. Of course we all thought as one of the first christian nations they have already learned so much more about the holy script than we have and are at least one step ahead of us. And clearly a lot of steps ahead of those heretic popewhiners, but i dont have to tell you that. But we where shiped and headed south. We where all very excited, so excited that some of us fell overboard. Your most reckless son Hivenøs did as well....but dont worry! His feet where luckily stuck in some ropes and he was pulled safely back onto the ship again. And then, the fighting started! This nation was clearly more civilised than those black ones, and they look a lot like some people we met wenn we sailed for Dakar. Still we took them by surprise and easily took the fort.

And our fleet outmanouvered them easily. At least, thats what i thought. Wenn we embarked again and sailed even further north a huge fleet took us by surprise and our ship got seperated from the others. To make matters worse we got in a terrible storm.

Wenn things got quite again we looked for land of course. But there was no in sight. After weeks wenn we where almost out of water we found land. It was a strange land, but i think this is what the portugese call "india". Its riches are untold but we where only intrested in survival. Of course Hive immidiatly ran onto the beach and shot a cow. Altough maybe logical in our state this was the stupidest thing he could have done. For some reason the small natives crowd who curiously was comming towards us now began to scream and cry. Within minutes there where a couple thousands of them and we had to get away faster than you can say buttercooky. We sailed futher north since in the few minutes we did communicate with them we heard of a civilised people that invaded a big harbor north. We figured that would be our main force taking the capital of the people we fought earlier in Zanzibar. but alas, it where strange peope who apperently pied in the wind, since they where yellow and had there eyes closed all the time.

They where unfriendly to say the least. We tried to sell them butter cookies in return for some food and water. But instead they dressed up in a dragon suit and spew fire at us! We hurried away and got lucky again, a friendly native gave us a map back around this "india" and even found a fresh well and loads of food!

Back in 'Oman' we heared that the Swedes have invade you. We you are alright and Hivenos sends kisses. Of course our great fleet will stop them invading Svealand but do be carefull and lock the door. Hivenos is calling and i have to get back into fighting as well. Dont worry again, these heatens are worthless in battle, as we hope those coward Swedes will be too.

Dont forget to put that lilly for both of us on fathers grave.

Hope to see you soon,

Your beloved son,

Seenøs

 

[King John]

Spain 1559-1580

Spain started out at war with Venice and France. I had to retreat back to Naples and more or less hide from the French and Italians there the rest of the war. Bazan won a few naval battles but lost the rest, and came out having lost more ships than Venice and France. The war on the Iberian-French border didn't go so well either, but because of the threat of Austria (before we rehosted, Mulli's connection didn't really allow him to fight properly), the French and Venetians finally agreed to peace for Venice to convert back to catholicism, probably something Persival didn't mind at this point since he had no reformed provs after losing Istria.

After the war, I finished researching trade 5 and then started teching land to get to lvl 18 before France. Fred became concerned when I reached 17.

"I can't pay you back when you're powerteching like that", he said. So I agreed to mint for a year.

After the minting I finished teching, and had the money, along with France's last payment of 1500D, to fight another war. I spent much of it building a great fleet of 450 galleys, which was unnecessarily large at the time but came in handy later.

Before this I talked to Venice about shifting alliances. I promised him Milan, Rome, gold, and maybe other French Italian provs. This besides having to face the awing power of Farnese. The Venetians wisely entered into a secret alliance with Spain.

The French declared DOTF when it became apparent I would have LT 18 before them, so I had to fight at a morale disadvantage. But with LT 18, naval superiority and better leaders, prosecuting the war was not too difficult. I landed Alba with some infantry in Provence, took the prov and then chased the French fleet around when it had to leave the port. Alba then moved to Piedmonte and did the same thing, and there was a lot of defensive action in that area. French forces tried to kick my little army out, but never could.

Farnese boarded another fleet with 40k cav, and waited off the coast of Lanquedoc for a clear target. Eventually some frenchies appeared, and he pounced on them. Lost the battle, but inflicted heavy casualties and was able to appear again not long after with better luck. There was a lot of fighting around this area as well that generally favored Farnese.

All in all, the war was a huge success for Spain. After a little over a year, Venice joined the battle reinforcing Alba's thinning Alpine Army. Farnese eventually routed the French southern army completely, and pursued it all the way up to Orleans, where he was about to destroy the French recruitment camps, when terms were accepted. Roussilon and Piedmonte to Spain, and Milan to Venice.


At the end of the war, I had a lot of money. Spain minted as soon as it got LT 18, so I started to build weapons manus now, continuing to mint. I ultimately built 5 weapons manus, which later increased my support to about 155k, which then further increased to 162k when I went a dp click toward land.

Now I was ready for another war, but it wouldn't be against France. The Turks expressed concern over my gigantic fleet, and they were going to be justified in their concern because I attacked them not long after. I wanted to find some of their ships before DOWing, and eventually came across a small warship fleet off the coast of Alex. With 240 galleys, I dowd and sunk them immediately, then dropped Alba off in the Nile Delta with 30k inf.

My big 240 galley fleet moved north while my other 160 galleys, organized into seperate fleets in order to keep my army organized into different groups. I left a small blockade force off the coast of Alex to make Drake think my main fleet was still there. It went north and encountered the Ottoman Fleet off the coast of Morea. Bazan won very quickly, and pursued north winning another battle.

In the south again, the Turks tried with a 30k army to kick Alba out of Egypt, but he was covered by a 40k cav army that landed in Egypt during the battle just before the shock phase. The Turk army was annhilated completely, and Egypt fell. Alba now moves west while my fleet keeps the waters open and covers against further Turkish counterattacks.