Blocking the Gate of Europe: Hungary

[bluelotus]

All right, this is going to be a tribute to my beloved homeland that I have been thinking of making for a few years by now. Thing is with Hungary in Eu2 (and FfG) is that the game will either go pretty ugly or pretty sweet really fast. Hope it will be the latter this time. Game is played with vanilla For the Glory with Very Hard/Aggressive settings.

Blocking the Gate of Europe: Hungary​

So here lies the Kingdom of Hungary just between Austria to the West, Bohemia to the North-West, Poland to the North and the Ottoman Empire to the not so distant East. Wars can turn pretty nasty in this situation but there are also loads of room for expanding. At start I move one step towards centralization and put all investments into researching infrastructure despite the fact that my starting army is numbering 60,000 people and I have 50 ducats in my coffers. Investment readjusting is scheduled really soon.

The Kingdom of Hungary in 1419​

Here is the diplomatic situation at start. Hungary and Croatia are at war with Venice. To be fair, this war is only good to get rid of some of the starting troops for cheaper maintenance cost. There are hardly any ways to secure Dalmatia this time as the Venetian navy will block any ways into Veneto and I will most likely suffer some defeats against the Venetian army so even after capturing Dalmatia I will not have enough war score to claim it.

The sides in the Venetian war​

Nevertheless, I get the troops moving and in a couple of months they reach Croatia and some regiments immediately ordered to march onwards to Dalmatia to engage the small garrison there. At that time only 3,000 Venetian were besieging my neighbouring province, Istira, but Venice dispatched an additional 16,000 to join them. As they would probably arrive before me, my army is taking up defensive positions in Croatia and Dalmatia.

Troop movements in early 1419​

Roughly a month later I order my army to attack the 19,000 Venetians in Istiria. Perhaps a bit premature move, but the order has been given before I reconsidered it. The Venetian army proves more than a match to my bigger army and I suffer a defeat and retreat to Croatia. I repeat this move a couple of times until I can achieve a victory finally by November. During the series of battles King Vaclav IV dies and I get a claim on the Czech throne. Perhaps I can use that casus belli a bit later, maybe after Venice has been dealt with.

The Adriatic campaign​

After the victory in Istria there was a lengthy stalemate until June of 1421 when 6,000 Venetian routed my 10,000 man (on 50% maintenance). Shortly after I commence two attacks on the province and the Venetian army perishes. The first tax collectors are being built during this time, one by one, every time the treasury breaks the 50d limit. The budget was balanced on a bit more than an income of 0 and the rest going to infrastructure research. In 1424 I get the option to hire a foreign drill instructor but he is just too expensive at this time. 1426, and it is time to ignore corruption. By 1427 I manage to promote tax collectors everywhere and I can begin to invest everything into infrastructure. In the eve of 1428 I started doing some diplomacy around, Bosnia and Ragusa are in an alliance that expires in 1430. As a preparation to bring them under my influence I sign royal marriages with them. Also, in 1428, I manage to end the Venetian war with a white peace. As I said earlier, it really was only useful to reduce the maintenance cost and for a bit gold from looting Dalmatia for almost 10 years. Later on, I bring my vassal ,Croatia, formally into my alliance and I sign a royal marriage with Bavaria. 1429 brings another DP click and it goes towards centralization, again. In 1430 I manage to add Bosnia and Ragusa to my alliance. Afterwards, being a good Christian I took a look at the religious map and decided it is high time to do something about my Eastern borders.

Religions in the region​

 

[unmerged(94521)]

Sweet!

I have never actually played Hungary. I always just assumed that they would be destroyed by events, rather like the Timurid empire :-S

 

[coz1]

Nice. Hungary can be fun, though I seem to recall they get fairly screwed by events.

Good luck!

 

[MichaelM]

I'll be watching this. I like Hungary, but I don't think I've played them either.

 

[bluelotus]

Thanks for the comments. I guess I will update this after Wednesday as my exams will be over after that.

About events: one can fairly avoid them buy taking one of the triggers out. Like 'exist = HAB'.

 

[bluelotus]

Blocking the Gate of Europe: Hungary​

As you can see the Orthodox countries to my East have formed an alliance making it easier for me to pick on them. Before June I sent my cavalry of 18.000 to Bosnia and I notice that Serbia only has 7.000 people in arms. I have an additional 15.000 infantry placed in Croatia, for reinforcements, and in Ruthenia and Transylvania for defence. I raise my maintenance and issue a declaration of war against Serbia on the 1st of June, and as expected Wallachia and Moldova joins the fun.

The Orthodox alliance and the Hungarian positions​

Kosovo moves its remaining army just into the hands of my cavalry who had defensive bonus on plains. Pretty ambitious move by Serbia and rather deadly. Ragusa moves in to occupy Kosovo and Bosnia sends their army to Serbia making me suffer attrition. Meanwhile the Wallachian and Moldavian troops evade my border armies and start marching to Bosnia through Banat. In October as the siege of Belgrade progresses I get 'Indulgence Peddler in your Domain' event making me lose 1 base tax in Istria and Pest. I am not too happy with it. In November I suddenly manage to capture the province. However, Ragusa gave up the siege of Kosovo and Bosnia is still besieged. I can't afford to move into Kosovo now, nor would I want to capture it anyways, so I move to intercept an army of 12.000 Moldavian in Croatia. Their army is mostly destroyed with me taking minor cassualities.

First months of the Serbian campaign​

A month later I mange to intercept a mixed army from Wallachia and Moldova in Serbia and my cavalry destroys them. At the same time I move my 5.000 infantry from Transylvania to help out the Bosnian siege of Wallachia, but it seems it was a mistake as the Bosnians managed to lead our combined armies to lose against 3.000 fresh Wallachian recruits. In May I attempt to break the siege of Bosnia with my cavalry but after heavy causalities on both sides my army is forced to withdrawn. I try again two more times but I am not successful. Bosnia fell, and Moldova made them their vassal. As my army retreats to Croatia I began to recruit more men into my cavalry. The Moldavian army follows mine but is defeated and they have to flee towards Pest. This gives a great opportunity for me to get to Banat with my reinforced army before them, gaining defensive bonus enhanced with the enemy crossing the Danube with a full cavalry army on plains. Needless to say, the Moldavian army was destroyed pretty quickly. Meanwhile, Ragusa proves to be an effective ally as they took over Kosovo and annexed Wallachia. God bless the merchants

The loss of Bosnia and the Spring of 1432​

So, only Moldova remains and I send my 7 thousand infantry into their capital so start besieging. I see them gathering an army of about 20.000 in Bujak when it turns to July and after half a year it turned out that we are enjoying an Exceptional Year giving me a joyful -2 inflation along with +100d. Moldova sends their army against my now reinforced 20.000 and I manage to rout them, only to be routed half a year later. This cat and mouse game goes on for a while but then Moldova decides to go and try to free Wallachia from Ragusa. I immediately take the opportunity and swarm both of their provinces from Ruthenia, laying siege on both Bujak and Moldova.

The final offensive against Moldova​

By this stage the war has been on for more than four years and the peasantry started disapproving this whole adventure in the name of Catholicism so they decided to take arms up just in the damned mountains in Carpathia and Ruthenia along with giving me -3 stability. Luckily, winter strikes and the peasants of Carpathia decides to go back to their warm little dwellings instead, leaving me to put 'only' Ruthenia down. In April 1435 I am finally able to dictate peace to Moldova, taking their 73d for my remaining allies and making them my vassal. After Moldova I make a separate peace with Serbia to allow Ragusa to take Kosovo. They dull deliver taking Kosovo for themselves and making Serbia their vassals by November, 1436. In 1437 János Hunyadi shows up as a general ensuring that Hungary is not going to rest for long.

János Hunyadi​

 

[coz1]

Exciting update! Nice to have those "harsh" winters, eh? Helps a lot.

 

[blsteen]

Interesting, planning on moving against the Turk next or Wien?

 

[bluelotus]

Exciting update! Nice to have those "harsh" winters, eh? Helps a lot.

Yeah, winters can be quite amazing, especially with FtG as you don't suffer harsh attrition in enemy provinces if you manage to besiege/assault it successfully.

Interesting, planning on moving against the Turk next or Wien?

As the Turks are rather weakened at the moment, an Italian minor is controlling Thrace, I will make sure that Austria won't stick around to trigger my game-ending event of the 1540s.

 

[blsteen]

As the Turks are rather weakened at the moment, an Italian minor is controlling Thrace, I will make sure that Austria won't stick around to trigger my game-ending event of the 1540s.

wise indeed...

 

[HMAS-Nameless]

Long live the Magyars!

 

[Enewald]

Proceed you may. We don't have that many FtGaars here.

 

[bluelotus]

Don't worry it is not dead, I am just taking my time being bored in these gap days between my last exam and moving into my new flat. Guess I can find some time later on today.

 

[bluelotus]

Blocking the Gate of Europe: Hungary​

Just before 1438 Sigismund of Luxemburg has passed away. His successor was Albercht of the Hapsburg house, hopefully the only Hapsburg king of Hungary. In the following year nothing mentionable has happened, apart from a boundary dispute which got resolved by Albercht's diplomatic moves and thus increased stability in the kingdom. 1439 brought a new step towards centralization. Also, on the same day, the royal marriage between Austria and Hungary was broken by the Hungarian side. A couple of months later 10,000 cavalryman has been ordered to be trained in 'Magyar' as a preparation for any possible conflict. In November, Albercht died and his successor was Ulászló the First from the Polish Jagiellon dynasty. His first step as a king was to order Hunyadi to finsih the job in Serbia. The war was swift and by early 1441 Serbia was part of Hungary. During the siege of Serbia an interesting opportunity arose for Hungary. The following maps speaks for themselves:

Austrian situation
​

Ottoman situation​

Since the Ottomans were the weaker target and because Byzantine is still in Italian hands, Austria was picked as a target. One can never start weakening Austria early enough if Austria historically took you over. So after placing the troops into proper positions war was declared against the arch-duchy in April, 1442. The first campaign was into Steiermark, the main objective of the war, but after a couple of months of siege the Hungarian-Croatian army was eventually routed back to Hungary. The Venetian armies invaded Istiria and the Bosnian and Ragusan armies marched into Dalmatia. By July the Austrian situation turned dire, with Hungary laying siege over Wien, a mixed army of Croatian and Moldavian soldiers were besieging Steiermark and Tirol and Ostmarch in Bavarian and Czech hands. Wien fell to the Hungarian armies in March and Steiermark soon followed it. However, the Venetians, after taking Istria, have entrenched themselves into Croatia (Krain). In September 1444, Austria was seemingly retaking Ostmarch so Hunyadi was dispatched with a Hungarian army of 28,000 to route the Austrians.

Initial attempts in Austria​

For some reason the Hungarian morale broke way too early despite inflicting way more serious causalities on the Austrian army. Nevertheless a month later Hunyadi orders an attack again, that time destroying the remaining Austrian army. Meanwhile the main Austrian army reached Steiermark and laid siege to recapture it. In January the Hungarian army was besieging Salzburg but at the same time the Austrians were besieging Steiermark and the Venetians making good progress in Krain against the Croats. The Croat army was stuck in Veneto and could not help the situation. The race of sieges has begun in January. Krain fell to the Venetians in March. And Hunyadi managed to make Salzburg surrender by September. After Salzburg fell the Czech managed to make a peace with Austria and as a consequence both Tirol and Ostmarch returned to Austrian control. Seizing the opportunity, Hunyadi arrived in Ostmarch on the first of December.

Campaign of 1444-45​

On the same day scouts have spotted the Austrian army from Steiermark marching towards Salzburg. After half a year and a harsh late-winter in February Ostmarch fell to Hunyadi. During the same period the Austrians did not manage to make progress in Salzburg. After grabbing reinforcements from Presburg Hunyadi attacked the Austrian army in Salzburg and thus delivering a devastating victory to the Hungarian Kingdom. On the first of September it was decided that the army has to split different regiments rode to Tirol and Steiermark and also a few were ordered to pillage the already controlled zones of Austria.

Occupied Austria​

Later in September the last bastion of Austria, Tirol, fell to the Hungarian led coalition of Moldovians, Ragusans and Hungarians. In the same month Hunyadi managed to get into Veneto and took over the siege from the Croatian armies. 1448 started off with a revolt and the destruction of the Hungarian garrison in Ostmarch. A couple of weeks later the nobles though it is a good time to demand their old rights back but V. László thought differently (Ulászló passed away in 1444 but I didn't have a picture of that). With the reduced stability it was decided that peace should be concluded with Austria. The peace deal, concluded in August, can be seen on the following map.

Austria submitting to Hungary (1448)​

 

[Enewald]

That was an swift solution to the Habsburg problem.

 

[unmerged(65186)]

Hungary! I ever so love my little first AAR country. Which is why, my good friend, you have been showcased XD Congrats.

 

[bluelotus]

That was an swift solution to the Habsburg problem.

Indeed, though they are the Habsburgs, who knows if they will sit tight?

Hungary! I ever so love my little first AAR country. Which is why, my good friend, you have been showcased XD Congrats.

Thanks, good to have you on board.

 

[bluelotus]

Blocking the Gate of Europe: Hungary​

The following years were mostly dealt with the European reaction to the defeat of the Hapsburgs. The first reaction came from Moldova, one of our vassals of the time. Encouraged by the Hapsburg defeat they declared war on Tuscany causing most of Italy and the Duchy of Athens declaring war on Hungary. The Greeks were quick to invade Kosovo and Hunyadi was forced to leave the Hungarian coast unprotected to help the Ragusans. Hunyadi arrived in late September but was driven back by the fierce Greek defence. However half a year later Hunyadi managed to completely break the Greek lines and crushed their army. Kosovo was relieved and the route to Athens was free.

The Southern campaign​

A year later Athens was captured by Hunyadi and as a respond Brittany declared war on Hungary. This time the vassals were not called upon so Hungary faced England, Brittany, Burgundy and Normandy alone. Roughly a month later Bohemia decided it is high time to duke it out with the Magyars for the regional leadership and declared war as well. Bavaria, Mainz, Würzbürg tagged along on the Czech side. This time, the assistance of the vassals were needed and all of them joined along the Hungarians (with the exception of Austria as they were not called). However, along the news of the Czech aggression there were brighter news. Tuscany offered 132 ducats to end the Italian war. The deal was quickly accepted, as being surrounded by enemies is not a comfortable position at all. With the newly gained money Hunyadi's army was reinforced an he manoeuvred into Pressburg on the 8th of December. By that time, the Moldavian armies were bravely marching into Bohemia proper. On the other hand, the Czech and German armies were besieging Salzburg with 40,000 soldiers. Hunyadi rested his troops for a month and the Bohemia campaign begin in January. In February he was already under Prague with his cavalry. As the Czech troops were rallying in Erz, the Serbian peasants rose up in a rebellion, giving a blow to the national stability by two points. Exactly a month later 15,000 Englishmen landed in Istiria and began a siege. In the Austrian parts of the kingdom Salzburg was about to fall. The Czech army soon began marching to relieve Prague but to no avail, the Hungarians, strengthened by a small detachment of Moldavian troops, triumphed and in half a year the Hungarian flags well all over the castle of Prague.

The situation in 1452 and the Battle of Prague​

Sadly enough Hunyadi had to cancel any further offensives in Bohemia as the Germans were advancing into Steiermark, having taken Salzburg around the time the Czech army suffered a devastating defeat in 1452 near Prague, and the English troops were pillaging Croatia. The first contact with the English was in April, when Hunyadi destroyed their army harassing the Croats. After that battle he was basically forced to restore order in Serbia, as Belgrad were under rebel control. It was during the siege of Belgrad when the Czech envoy arrived to Buda with a peace offer for the whole alliance. The peace was accepted because the kingdom was under heavy pressure from the German armies from the West. To celebrate the newly gained peace, Ragusa declared war on Venice. Quickly enough, the Venetians joined the weakened English armies in Istiria to get the siege going. A couple of days later a detachment from Brittany arrived to strengthen their positions. As the Hungarian armies took up defensive positions in Steiermark and Croatia, Bosnia attacked Ragusa in 1454. After swift reorganizations, Hunyadi took most of the army into Bosnia and aimed on taking out the Bosnians quickly before the Venetians and the English could launch an offensive into Hungary proper. Hunyadi was very determined and pursued a cruel and effective siege. The Bosnians were forced to give up in half a year and they agreed to become a client state of Hungary in March. However Hunyadi could not return to defend the kingdom as Ragusa was in deep trouble after the Bosnian offensive, rebels took over Kosovo and were besieging Ragusa. As the siege of Kosovo carried on in 1456, interesting news arrived to Buda.

Troubles in England​

 

[Enewald]

What happened to England?

 

[HMAS-Nameless]

wow looks as tho England has a serious civil war goin on