FAL said:
Just for the record, not a single Venetian soldier squared off with any Congolese tribesman so I would suggest you tone down your rhetoric somewhat, dear king of England
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Just for the record, not a single Venetian soldier squared off with any Congolese tribesman so I would suggest you tone down your rhetoric somewhat, dear king of England
Sweden 1488-1519
Consolidation was the name of the game for much of this period. The 3rd Nordic war was soon finished. Instead of taking yet more provinces from Denmark, we decided to vassalise them instead. This was because we wanted to keep our bad boy level down to a reasonable level – little did we know at the time how bad that would turn out to be.
Almost immediately afterwards, Bohemia and her allies declared war on us. This was somewhat fortuitous for us, as we desired to establish a buffer zone of vassals on the Baltic Sea, and they had all the provinces we wanted. The only real downside was that we were still recovering from the Danish war. As a result the war went longer than we would have liked, but we took everything we wanted in the end. The realms of Stettin and Holstein were created, acknowledging Swedish overlordship, by paying an annual tribute to us. Pommern also declared war on as us at the same time as well, but there was little we could do except getting ducats out of them, which was helpful in the war effort.
There then followed a long period of peace. During this time, an explorer offered his services to us – he wanted an expedition to find a NW passage to China. Now that we were at peace, we accepted his offer to find the passage. At once he set off and started discovering new lands SW of Greenland. Almost immediately we sent trading posts to the area, followed shortly by one or two colonies.
Towards the end of the peaceful period, we decided to try and diplo-annex Denmark, However, we were given a very nasty surprise when they not only declined, but also cancelled the vassalage. This was a serious setback as we planned on unifying Scandinavia by this time. But there was little we could do about it for now, as we were becoming concerned about events abroad. Although we had stayed on the sidelines as Brandenburg (with French help) defeated many of the HRE minors, and take a couple of provinces, we were more concerned when Muscovy began taking provinces from Poland, especially when she took the Livland COT from her. Worse still Muscovy had also bought the Astrakhan COT from the Ottomans.
Domestically, we made several changes – we decided to be more aristocratic, and promote more serfdom. However we were also slightly more centralised, slightly less innovative, and slight less mercantilistic. Technologically, we progressed well. We managed to get to infra 4, which meant we could promote legal councillors (although we did not do that). Land income also increased from 2 to 5, enabling us to assault fortresses.
Although this was good, it was not as much as Muscovy’s who now had a big land tech lead. This was a very troubling development, but worse was yet to come. After refusing to grant MA to her regarding getting to the last Lithuanian province, she declared war on soon after. Unfortunately for us, the war went badly as the land tech difference enabled Muscovy to go on a blitzkrieg offensive against us in Finland. In the end we decided to accept the offer of ceding Viborg and Nyland to them. But we will not forget this – until now we had given them the benefit of the doubt. Not any longer, in future we will be a lot more suspicious of their aggressive nature.
MOSCOWY
1488 - 1519
A federation is about to be born.
The Tzars ambitions to unite all Russians under one country and under one ruler is about to happen. This struggle has been a dream for all Russians for exactly one hundred years now. The path has been long and bloody, but finally after one hundred years a Russian federation is about to be born.
The Lithuania conflict.
Lithuania has been a arch-enemy towards the Tzar for a very long time. They have together with the Poles oppressed and treated the Russian people as slaves for a very long time. First when we are united we could prevent this kind of behavior, it was time to liberate all Russians.
The well trained Russian army under the command of the great Tzar himself utterly crushed the remaining parts of Lithuania. Fortunately the Poles understood our cause and accepted the doom of Lithuania.
The fall of Lithuania and the rise of Russia is now a fact.
And anyone that got plans to destroy this dream, of a free Russia will join the faith of Lithuania. Never more will we Russians accept to be treated like we were before under Lithuanian oppression.
Scandinavian agression.
The Tzar always takes a threat seriusly, and he do not take a no very lightly. The Swedish attempt to slow down the Russian cause is unacceptable, it was very clear that the Swedes wanted us out of the Baltic sea. It was necessary to deal with this threat directly. We could not afford to hesitate, so the Tzar acted as soon as possible.
A Russian army of thirty thousand troops crossed the Finnish border shortly after, the decleration of war was simultaneously delivered to the Swedish diplomat in Moscow. The plan was to take Finland within a year, and send looting parties to northern Sweden. The Russian fleet was not ready to fight the superiur Swedish navy, So any naval battle was avoided if possible.
The Russian navy main task was to transport a second army to southern Sweden and hopefully force the Swedes to wave the white flag.
Fortunately for the Swedes, this was exactly what happend. After the fall of Lund and Finland under Russian control the Swedish king accepted peace.
Nyland and viborg hoisted the Russian flag, a big day for the Tzar that was given a hero's status through out the Russian empire.
Things started not so great for the OE. While the wars against the central asian and Indian nations went slowly, they went on okay. People grew tired of the war, but stability was high and so that mattered little.
Then some stupid underling decided to implement a new tax. It would boost income by the smallest fraction of fractions, but it angered people greatly and caused a revolt in Constantinople itself! Stability went down, causing unrest throughout the Empire. Despite the continuing successes, the winter and low support provinces of Tibet had slowed the army to a crawl, and it was decided to make peace, merely taking off with some ducats. The vast Mongolia had been vassalised at least, and the Sultan vowed to return one day.
The insignifcant Mughal Empire had been vassalised before the troubles, and the Sultan embarked on setting out the Empire into an orderly state.
The hated Qara Koyunlu were intergrated into the Empire, and attempts to convert started in the shiite heresy provinces. Soon after Bukhara, and the great COT of Samarkand were annexed, bringing great wealth to the Empire.
Much time was spent waiting for the OEs reputation to improve in the world, with little going on apart from the completion of a long ago started deal with Venice, with the ceding of Rhodes to venice, and later the return of Zeta and Morea. Both provinces were converted to the true faith quickly, and a refinery built in Morea.
Trade was advanced much in the OE, setting the Empire back greatly in its land technology once again. Luckily the OE is mostly caught up now, and is debating if it should use its large army for any purpose. It has CBs against many and is debating if it should use them.
Inflation went up over the years, but the OE had its first deflation, and was ever so happy. Much was done with the cash minted, so the inflation was well worth it.
Colonisation has proceeded, with great leaders exploring new lands for the Sultan, and helping colonise them. The Sultan expects many to be rather puzzled once they see his great colonial empire.
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-3BB please
Then some stupid underling decided to implement a new tax. It would boost income by the smallest fraction of fractions, but it angered people greatly and caused a revolt in Constantinople itself! Stability went down, causing unrest throughout the Empire. Despite the continuing successes, the winter and low support provinces of Tibet had slowed the army to a crawl, and it was decided to make peace, merely taking off with some ducats. The vast Mongolia had been vassalised at least, and the Sultan vowed to return one day.
The insignifcant Mughal Empire had been vassalised before the troubles, and the Sultan embarked on setting out the Empire into an orderly state.
The hated Qara Koyunlu were intergrated into the Empire, and attempts to convert started in the shiite heresy provinces. Soon after Bukhara, and the great COT of Samarkand were annexed, bringing great wealth to the Empire.
Much time was spent waiting for the OEs reputation to improve in the world, with little going on apart from the completion of a long ago started deal with Venice, with the ceding of Rhodes to venice, and later the return of Zeta and Morea. Both provinces were converted to the true faith quickly, and a refinery built in Morea.
Trade was advanced much in the OE, setting the Empire back greatly in its land technology once again. Luckily the OE is mostly caught up now, and is debating if it should use its large army for any purpose. It has CBs against many and is debating if it should use them.
Inflation went up over the years, but the OE had its first deflation, and was ever so happy. Much was done with the cash minted, so the inflation was well worth it.
Colonisation has proceeded, with great leaders exploring new lands for the Sultan, and helping colonise them. The Sultan expects many to be rather puzzled once they see his great colonial empire.
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-3BB please
Venice had been at a crossroads, trying to carve an empire for itself colonially despite its lack of explorers. Spirits in Venice are boisterous now though as a way was found. Because of the entrepreneurial spirit of the Venetian merchants and mariners and also thanks to the help of the Ottoman Sultan, Italian cities are now springing up in India and China.
Before we could embark on those expeditions though some situations in Europe still had to be resolved. First at hand there was the issue of Austria invading our ally’s sphere, namely French West Africa. Faced with the prospect of Venice standing by France, as an ally should, Austria caved in to the demands without firing a single shot. The Franco-Venetian alliance had proven itself again.
However not all was well as France didn’t seem to appreciate the Venetian efforts, without whom Austria would not have given in, which had given it the odd 4 gold provinces and a COT, and made the procuring of Piemonte for Venice costly, burning even a TP of ours in the process! The Venetians were not happy with this treatment. Friction came between us and a rift occurred between the soon to be former allies. A cold war ensued with powerblocks being formed on both sides and the Alp region becoming the most fortified in the world. However recently a detente has been reached again, which will hopefully continue as we happen to like our Latin brothers but we had to give an account of what happened.
Our dealings with the Ottoman Empire, our good friends and current allies, then again went very differently, relations are at an all time high, the Sultan has proven to be an excellent ally. First of all Rhodes was procured from then, with Zara and Morea going the other way soon after as had been agreed upon long ago. Turkish maps were then procured which helped us on our way to really break into the colonial scene.
Our relations with other neighbouring powers are all relatively good and a lot of NAPs could be established. Especially the relation with England has blossomed to the point they were invited to our alliance. Austria all of a sudden proposed itself to sell us Switserland and this time we reached an agreement so now the Alps of Helvetia are part of our noble Republic.
But the colonial scene is where the most action was. First of all a battle plan was devised to capture the COT of Calicut in the south of India, along with the island of Ceylon. This plan was well enough executed and soon Venice had a strong foothold in India from where it could expand further into India, as had been planned. The establishment of trade posts and gradual colonisation followed in Indian coastal areas. Venice finally was a full grown colonial power.
Meanwhile investments were being made to keep Venice at the forefront of Europe when it came to military technology, which proved to be successful, Venice still leads the tech race. More forts were erected and trade was being kept up though this proved to be harder by now due to the low stability in our realm (it proved to be more difficult than anticipated to quell the unrest of the new heathens in our empire). Our reputation taking a beating along with the increased competition (from eg Portugal) were factors too. Investing in stability is our top priority next session.
However to return to the colonial adventures of Venice, we were not finished yet. We had heard tales of a rich and fabled island of the coast of China which we just had to conquer. The island of Hainan had both a trade center and a gold mine, a major boon for any economy. The war went well enough again and the Venetian goals were reached however we also ended up with the province of Liao which was everything Hainan was not. This would hold us back a bit as conversion efforts were not going well. Still, a COT and a gold mine is not to be sniffed at. To protect these new sources of income, construction of a warship fleet was started.
Before we could embark on those expeditions though some situations in Europe still had to be resolved. First at hand there was the issue of Austria invading our ally’s sphere, namely French West Africa. Faced with the prospect of Venice standing by France, as an ally should, Austria caved in to the demands without firing a single shot. The Franco-Venetian alliance had proven itself again.
However not all was well as France didn’t seem to appreciate the Venetian efforts, without whom Austria would not have given in, which had given it the odd 4 gold provinces and a COT, and made the procuring of Piemonte for Venice costly, burning even a TP of ours in the process! The Venetians were not happy with this treatment. Friction came between us and a rift occurred between the soon to be former allies. A cold war ensued with powerblocks being formed on both sides and the Alp region becoming the most fortified in the world. However recently a detente has been reached again, which will hopefully continue as we happen to like our Latin brothers but we had to give an account of what happened.
Our dealings with the Ottoman Empire, our good friends and current allies, then again went very differently, relations are at an all time high, the Sultan has proven to be an excellent ally. First of all Rhodes was procured from then, with Zara and Morea going the other way soon after as had been agreed upon long ago. Turkish maps were then procured which helped us on our way to really break into the colonial scene.
Our relations with other neighbouring powers are all relatively good and a lot of NAPs could be established. Especially the relation with England has blossomed to the point they were invited to our alliance. Austria all of a sudden proposed itself to sell us Switserland and this time we reached an agreement so now the Alps of Helvetia are part of our noble Republic.
But the colonial scene is where the most action was. First of all a battle plan was devised to capture the COT of Calicut in the south of India, along with the island of Ceylon. This plan was well enough executed and soon Venice had a strong foothold in India from where it could expand further into India, as had been planned. The establishment of trade posts and gradual colonisation followed in Indian coastal areas. Venice finally was a full grown colonial power.
Meanwhile investments were being made to keep Venice at the forefront of Europe when it came to military technology, which proved to be successful, Venice still leads the tech race. More forts were erected and trade was being kept up though this proved to be harder by now due to the low stability in our realm (it proved to be more difficult than anticipated to quell the unrest of the new heathens in our empire). Our reputation taking a beating along with the increased competition (from eg Portugal) were factors too. Investing in stability is our top priority next session.
However to return to the colonial adventures of Venice, we were not finished yet. We had heard tales of a rich and fabled island of the coast of China which we just had to conquer. The island of Hainan had both a trade center and a gold mine, a major boon for any economy. The war went well enough again and the Venetian goals were reached however we also ended up with the province of Liao which was everything Hainan was not. This would hold us back a bit as conversion efforts were not going well. Still, a COT and a gold mine is not to be sniffed at. To protect these new sources of income, construction of a warship fleet was started.
Archduchy of Austria
1519 -1550
1519 -1550
To avoid war with France we ceded the gold provinces in Songhai. This was a hard bash for our colonial ambitious. Afterwards our relatives in Spain gave us their maps because it was necessary that all Habsburg ruled countries colonize to hold pace with France. Therefore we colonized the rich island of Haiti and ground some bases on the north coast of South America. Furthermore we conquered Zanzibar from Oman in order to support our efforts to raise our trade income. Additionally the province has a good strategic location. Subsequently we sent our merchants in the centers of trade in Asia. Nevertheless our trade performance is still poor.
In the meantime Brandenburg hurt to the second our agreement in conquering Wurzburg. But also Austria expanded his territories, namely the Archduke became King of Bohemia and King of Hungary by heritage and we decided to rule these new realms as a part of Austria from Vienna. Unfortunately these times were plagued by religious tumults and heretics like Luther and Calvin who found also in Austria some followers. The clergy insisted to take drastic steps. Consequently the many introduction of the Inquisition emptied the treasury. Hence we decided to sell the Swiss to Venice for 1500$. May be we sold these provinces under their worth but we had to reduce the amount of heretics to decrease our stability costs.
On the European scene the powerful alliance between France, Venice and Brandenburg fell apart and France joined our alliance. Moreover we had and have good relations with all other neighbors Nevertheless we equipped our army with new fire arms in order to scare potential enemies. Additionally our finance experts worked out an efficient bureaucracy which could only be started to implement because of lack of money.
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gift to the state pls
Sweden 1519-1550
The last great war with Denmark (the 4th Nordic war) was the dominant event during this period. That, plus the rise of Gustav Vasa as our new King, who replaced the council of ministers that had ruled Sweden since leaving the Kalmar Union 100 years earlier. However both the war and the succession proved not to be smooth transition. But before both events, we had an even bigger transformation. For Martin Luther in Germany was spreading a new heresy against Catholics, or so we thought. But the more we heard about it, the more we liked it. Indeed the new ‘heresy’ proved so popular, that most of Sweden and Finland adopted it very quickly. Only in the remote areas of Iceland, Lapland and Greenland did the Catholics cling on to their beliefs. Faced with such an overwhelming majority in favour of Protestantism, plus the fact that it seemed an improvement to Catholicism (why should the Pope have the power, when it would be better suited for Kings to impose their views on the population).
At first the war with Denmark went well as most of the provinces were taken with ease. However internal tensions within Sweden meant that the war was prolonged for longer than was necessary. Worse, much of the fleet was sabotaged by rival factions. Eventually, Gustav Vasa was able to control the country, and the 4th Nordic war came to a swift conclusion with Denmark virtually ceding the entire country other than Copenhagen to us.
After the last great Nordic war, there was much peace. This was largely due to 2 reasons. Firstly Sweden had poor military techs compared to our neighbours (especially the newly declared Russia). This therefore caused the second reason for the peaceful period – despite Russia taking a couple of Finnish provinces, we wanted a stable border there, so that Denmark could be taken with ease. Hence a NAP was signed with them. Further south, we wanted to make sure our holdings in Germany (especially the COT, but also the vassals) were secure. Luckily, we were able to get a NAP with Brandenburg and her overlord, France, whilst maintaining the status quo. Fortunately events turned out well for us, as Brandenburg and Poland were pre-occupied with another war amongst themselves, in which several German minors broke away from Brandenburg.
Meanwhile, domestically, we focused on military tech, which went up from 5 to 13, and more importantly, enabled us to overtake Russia. We also managed to research trade level 3, which meant that we could now monopolise COTs, especially ours. We also became even more free trade, a bit more centralised, and more serfdom. Finally, a diplomatic breakthrough was achieved when Denmark agreed to be at first vassalised and then annexed by us, all through diplomatic channels. Scandinavia was once again united, but this time under a Swedish flag.
England 1519 – 1550
Henry VIII
In the year 1519, England's influence in Europe began to wane, as a result of England being non-allied for decades. To solve this matter, Henry entered an alliance with France and Venice, at an invitation by the Doge. However, soon the French monarch became to pressure England to leave the alliance again! Despite them clearly not being the alliance leader. That was quite uncomfortable to witness. In the end, it was France who left the alliance, frustrated, and soon two powerblocks in Europe formed with the Venetian-English-Ottoman-Brandenburg alliance at one side and the French-Spanish-Austrian alliance at the other hand. England was content with this status quo, but noticed France gaining more and more power and wealth after they forced Austria out of the lucrative gold mines of Western-Africa.
Despite Henry wielding the most untrammeled power of any British monarch, there was still an entity that was more powerful: The Pope in Rome.
In 1521, Henry had earned the title of Defensor Fidei from the Pope, for his hard work in converting the heathens in Kongo. Relations with the Papacy reached an all time high at this point, but it would soon detoriate again, leading to one of the most dramatic moments in English history.
When Henry wanted to divorce from one of his tiresome wifes, the Pope said 'No, my dear' and gave him the cold shoulder. Was that how the Pope treated his Defensor Fidei?, Henry wondered.
Why was he then in the position that he had to submit to the will of the Holy Father? It didn't profit him in the slightest way. And Luther, despite all his faults, had some good points too!
So, he called the famous theologian Thomas Cranmer for advice. And it was Cranmer who explained to Henry that there was not a logical reason to keep the bounds with the Papacy, bounds that he could easy break. "It isn't worth it if you have to live with a child-bearing inexperienced woman, with plain looks only. A King deserves better!", Cranmer said.
So, Henry broke with Rome and formed the Anglican church. The Act of Supremacy declared that the King was "the only Supreme Head in Earth of the Church of England" and that was that.
Of course he got excommuniced, but the money from confisquating the church's properties softened this pain somewhat.
Henry then united England and Wales into one nation, expanded his trade income, send some settlers to the darkest of Africa and as a final act, send an expedition force to crush the nation of Zimbabwe.
Under the "Act of Succession" in 1544, Henry's only surviving son, Edward, inherited the Crown, becoming Edward VI. Edward was the first Protestant monarch to rule England. A new future arrived for England as a protestant nation. Africa had much to offer, gold mines, tobacco, sugar, slaves and unexplored territory. The friendship with Venice and the Ottoman Empire was strong and England was still on speaking terms with France.
So far, so good.
The Long And Unholy Peace (1519 - 1550)
When in 1515 King François I rose to the throne France had become a mighty country indeed. It´s army was strong, it´s economy prospering and all in all, it was felt, that fortune was shining benevolently on this magnificent country. Contrary to his predecessors, King François I was a firm believer in the blessings of peace. Thus in the following decades France focused on it´s internal affairs and ignored most of the tidings outside of it´s realm.
François Great Economic Reform
Beginning in 1530 François initiated a massive manufactory building programme. All in all another 4 refineries were constructed adding substantially to the tradeefficiency of the french merchants as well as providing some of the best wines worldwide.
Also, per law and decree, François empowered the french Burghers and other plutocratic elements while at the same time ridding himself of the decadent and tiresomly arrogant french nobility. Soon, France was the most progressive and liberal of all countries with a bustling middle class all working for the good of the nation...
Wild Umslopogaas And The Venetian Crisis
Some time in the 1530s a wild and brave warrior offered his services to the french King. This man, Umslopogaas, came out of the heart of darkness itself. Somewhere in the teeming djungles of Afrique Centrale Francaise
he had appeared, mysteriously, wielding a gigantic axe and daring anybody to try and slay him. While many feared him and his savage temper François immediately noticed the adept tactical genius this man posessed. Hence, he was given a commision as a general in the french army and in the following years, through bravery and weirdness this gentleman of the rather peculiar sort increased his influence and leverage with the King quite substantially...
Umslopogaas was no friend of Venice, however. He felt that France was not treated with the respect it deserved by the Doge. Also, he had the suspicion that Venice was not being completely honest with France and was, in fact, keeping vital information from them, as no decent ally should. Then, when Venice invited England into it´s alliance without even notifying France beforehand, Umslopogaas emotions flared and exploded. He eloquently convinced François to leave this alliance and pursue a new and bold policy of bravery.
Soon thereafter François I. died and a new King arose, King Henri II.
King Henri II., really a friend of Venice and a firm believer in the Latin Brotherhood Of Venice and France, tried a new approach with the Doge and was able to negotiate a detente with this gentleman.
Hence, a new era of cooperation with the ancient and noble italian Republic was commenced, much to the joy of Henri II.
During all these dramatic events France had not been able to concentrate fully on it´s friend and ally, Brandenburg. Thus Brandenburg had been forced to fight a merciless war with the cruel king of Poland. This situation was absolutely unacceptable for Henri II. Thus he began to make plans for a new and chivalrious crusade...
Deflation please.
Archduchy of Austria
1550 – 1574
Although the borders of Austria didn’t change due the pacific policy of Austria, the country developed enormous. The converting of heretics proceeded moderate. Moreover we built up our colonies in the Caribbean. Consequently our small colonial empire became more important as in Maracaibo a new centre of trade was established which made us able to control the trade in the Caribbean Sea. In order to support our development in becoming a trading power we also made achievements to improve our trade efficient. Additionally our finance experts worked out again a more efficient system of administration. As a result, all other expenses were stopped to implement this new system. The regional nobles were largely disempowered and replaced through governors who were directly responsible to the archduke. This allowed restricting uncontrolled growth of coinage and thus the control of the volume of money in circulation which made inflation combating possible. In the meantime our friends in Poland were attacked by French and Brandenburgian soldiers which displeased us a bit but our hands were tied due our agreement with France. Suddenly our peace was disturbed. Sweden dared to declare war upon our allied England simply for greedy interests. Immediately our army were mobilized and marched through Brandenburg in order to conquer the German provinces which were occupied by Sweden …_________________
gift to the state pls
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"We have done it Commandant, Joachim Nestor's escape from our grip and the subsquent destruction of most of the realm by the Poles has been reversed. We are back on track."
With a final nod to the man at the other end of the communication unit Kleiger sagged back in his seat.
He had done it, Brandenburg was again under their control and the damage wrought by the rebellious Elector had been undone. Nestor had freed himself from the grip of Himmler's potion and had wracked the country with civil strife as he declared war on Poland and destoryed much of the bueracry with executions. The war with Poland had been lost of course, they were too strong and mighty for Brandenburg to fight but more than that the german statelets had taken the chance to declare independence under Polish protection.
He remembered the midnight commando raid upon the Electors palace, done soon after, him and his partner had scaled the walls and got to the Elector's bedroom, where they injected the drug directly into his veins, making him a bumbling fool, but one who would obey us again.
And so the damage was repaired, French support was asked for and the French armies overran Poland as Brandenburg once more got rid of the independence of the German Princedoms as they swore themselves to the drooling Joachim Nestor as his vassals. Then followed a period of reconstruction of Brandenburg as legal councils were built and we waited for Nestor's son to grow to inheritable age so he could be put on the Brandenburgian throne and the final intergration of the german minors could occur.
Yes it had been repaired, but the time lost could prove crucial....
-3 BB
With a final nod to the man at the other end of the communication unit Kleiger sagged back in his seat.
He had done it, Brandenburg was again under their control and the damage wrought by the rebellious Elector had been undone. Nestor had freed himself from the grip of Himmler's potion and had wracked the country with civil strife as he declared war on Poland and destoryed much of the bueracry with executions. The war with Poland had been lost of course, they were too strong and mighty for Brandenburg to fight but more than that the german statelets had taken the chance to declare independence under Polish protection.
He remembered the midnight commando raid upon the Electors palace, done soon after, him and his partner had scaled the walls and got to the Elector's bedroom, where they injected the drug directly into his veins, making him a bumbling fool, but one who would obey us again.
And so the damage was repaired, French support was asked for and the French armies overran Poland as Brandenburg once more got rid of the independence of the German Princedoms as they swore themselves to the drooling Joachim Nestor as his vassals. Then followed a period of reconstruction of Brandenburg as legal councils were built and we waited for Nestor's son to grow to inheritable age so he could be put on the Brandenburgian throne and the final intergration of the german minors could occur.
Yes it had been repaired, but the time lost could prove crucial....
-3 BB
An Empire Under The Sun (France 1550 – 1574)
Another era of peace for France. These were times of joy and bountiful play indeed. The people of France enjoyed the fruits of their labour while in the entirety of europe there was peace and calm.
Substantial aid and relief was sent to Brandenburg, which had after a short reign of terror by the mad Joachim Nestor been restabilized by the admirable rulership of Kleiger, Chiefprotektor of the Reich. Joachim Nestor's legacy was harsh, however. Many small earldoms and statelets had foolishly declared their independence in Brandenburg´s long and terrible war against Poland and the King of Poland had - even more unwisely - decided to ally with these unlawful and rebellous elements. Nestor himself had, for some queer reason, been lobotomized and reduced to a blubbering oaf and even though he still had nominal command of all affairs of the state he was, in reality, a mere puppet of Kleiger, who used him sometimes as a medium to reach the more simplistic folks of his realm and sometimes as a scarecrow in the imperial gardens.
In any case the french military ataché to Brandenburg, General Umslopogaas, soon urged Kleiger to wage another war on Poland, this time of course with french assistance. Umslopogass desired to rectify the mistakes of the past and to effect the desired border with Poland through honest and honourable all out combat. Kleiger enthusiastically agreed to this proposal as it was exactly what he had had in mind himself and hence once again french and brandenburgian troops marched into Poland, fought their way to Crakow and Warsaw and stormed these two capital cities. With the french flag again flying in Warsaw the polish king had no choice but to surrender back Küstrin, Bautzen and Breslau. A brief episode of righteous violence in a so calm and tranquil epoche.
Meanwhile in France the people were increasingly dismayed at the conduct of King Francois II., who - rather than interest himself with manly matters such as waging war and fighting - had turned quite feminine as well as pale and spent his days combing his hair, torturing his nose with ever new attacks of soc. fashion and practicing a peculiar kind of dance he called "Moonwalk". He had easily caved in to venetian pressure which had embittered many decent folks who were of the opinion that Venice was neither amicably inclined towards France nor to be trusted...
All in all there were hopes that this weird man would soon step down and France could once again benefit from the strong leadership of a noble and capable monarch...
Francois II. had, in his younger days, done one thing right, however :
He had constructed two royal Wharfs, enabling France to construct a serious fleet which soon numbered more than 100 warships. This was seen as a step in the right direction, though which direction this exactly was, was essentialy unclear...only time could tell.
Deflation please.
With India becoming more and more a Venetian domain, the time had come to incorporate the lands held by other Europeans in India into that domain. Luckily Portugal was most amenable and Goa was sold for a nice price to Venice to then be swiftly built up to a full fledged colonial city by Venice. Over the years Bombay, Madras and Pondicherry were also brought up to full fledged cities, every time the natives being incorporated. At the same time it was time to divest ourselves of some assets in Africa near the Kongo area, a few TPs were given to England.
In Europe meanwhile Bosnia was attacked together with the OE with the catholic provinces eventually ending up as a vassal to Venice. A bit more than a decade later, these would be incorporated completely into the Venetian realm. Stability was the main focus for the administration and soon Venice would itself from the depths of -3 stab at the lofty heights of +3 stab, which greatly benefited the Venetian traders. A few new refineries xure helped with that too.
Soon after that though internal turmoil and schemery erupted in the Ottoman Empire. A deranged advisor, with A and I as his initials, had managed to seize control making the OE plummet deeper than it should on the list of nations, not a good thing for us but so far no one has managed to take advantage of the situation. The OE left our alliance but we hope to have them rejoin us soon once the evil A.I. has been ousted.
Many conversion programs were undertaken but most proved fruitless. However bit by bit success was achieved though at great cost. The Hindus in Calicut were converted to Catholicism while half of Switserland converted too. The Buddhist in Ceylon however refused any attempt at conversion. Our reputation also improved rapidly in the world and trade was booming even more. Another few new refineries helped with that for xure!
Time had also come for the 2nd Chinese war, Venice had to establish near full control over the lucrative Chinese trade area. Chinese armies were numerous and fought with great valour but in the end the technological superiority of Venice overwhelmed them. They had to accept near Venetian control of their trade. Taiwan was also colonized as well as Luzon to complement our holding in China. Venice now had 2 key theatres of operations in the colonies, namely India and China and Venice would look to expand those internally and build those up instead of looking to get into other ventures.
When news reached us that the nation of France was constructing 2 shipyards, Venice could not be left behind so a 2nd shipyard was constructed too and the navy was further expanded. A new expansion program is upon us in the very near future. The Venetian navy must stand strong to defend its far flung empire. The army meanwhile was in the capable hands of Bragadin, the main exponent of the long standing Venetian tradition of siege experts.
Venetian tech was still in great shape though many other nations managed to close the gap when it came to trade tech. However in naval tech Venice was still leading the pack by far as many investments were made in that area, totally in line with the navy first policy of Venice. As not only the navy but also trade was being encouraged it should come as no surprise that more plutocratic ways were being promoted by the Doge. Venice had become a very rich nation and trade flowed freely but the old competition was closing the gap and new competitors were rearing their head ... Still for now, this has been a golden age for Venice.
In Europe meanwhile Bosnia was attacked together with the OE with the catholic provinces eventually ending up as a vassal to Venice. A bit more than a decade later, these would be incorporated completely into the Venetian realm. Stability was the main focus for the administration and soon Venice would itself from the depths of -3 stab at the lofty heights of +3 stab, which greatly benefited the Venetian traders. A few new refineries xure helped with that too.
Soon after that though internal turmoil and schemery erupted in the Ottoman Empire. A deranged advisor, with A and I as his initials, had managed to seize control making the OE plummet deeper than it should on the list of nations, not a good thing for us but so far no one has managed to take advantage of the situation. The OE left our alliance but we hope to have them rejoin us soon once the evil A.I. has been ousted.
Many conversion programs were undertaken but most proved fruitless. However bit by bit success was achieved though at great cost. The Hindus in Calicut were converted to Catholicism while half of Switserland converted too. The Buddhist in Ceylon however refused any attempt at conversion. Our reputation also improved rapidly in the world and trade was booming even more. Another few new refineries helped with that for xure!
Time had also come for the 2nd Chinese war, Venice had to establish near full control over the lucrative Chinese trade area. Chinese armies were numerous and fought with great valour but in the end the technological superiority of Venice overwhelmed them. They had to accept near Venetian control of their trade. Taiwan was also colonized as well as Luzon to complement our holding in China. Venice now had 2 key theatres of operations in the colonies, namely India and China and Venice would look to expand those internally and build those up instead of looking to get into other ventures.
When news reached us that the nation of France was constructing 2 shipyards, Venice could not be left behind so a 2nd shipyard was constructed too and the navy was further expanded. A new expansion program is upon us in the very near future. The Venetian navy must stand strong to defend its far flung empire. The army meanwhile was in the capable hands of Bragadin, the main exponent of the long standing Venetian tradition of siege experts.
Venetian tech was still in great shape though many other nations managed to close the gap when it came to trade tech. However in naval tech Venice was still leading the pack by far as many investments were made in that area, totally in line with the navy first policy of Venice. As not only the navy but also trade was being encouraged it should come as no surprise that more plutocratic ways were being promoted by the Doge. Venice had become a very rich nation and trade flowed freely but the old competition was closing the gap and new competitors were rearing their head ... Still for now, this has been a golden age for Venice.
England 1550 – 1574
Edward VI
After the "Act of Succession" in 1544, Henry's only surviving son, Edward, inherited the Crown, becoming Edward VI, the first Protestant monarch to rule England.
His first important deed was to finish the started war with Zimbabwe. New soldiers were recruited in England and send as an expedition force to Africa. The war lasted for another year, but ultimately Zimbabwe had to yield and the realm was added to the English empire.
Unfortunately, Edward VI was an extremely sickly child and was dying in early 1553. But he was enough master of his own destiny to have concerns about the succession. Having been brought up a Protestant, he had no desire to be succeeded by his older half-sister, Mary. But the Duke of Northumberland symbolically stole the crown from him and gave it to his daughter-in-law, the Lady Jane Grey!
This lead to a protestant rebellion in 1554, with her ultimately being executed, with her successor being Mary.
Mary I
Mary would reign till her death in 1558. Although Mary enjoyed tremendous popular support and sympathy for her mistreatment during the earliest parts of her reign, she lost almost all of it after marrying Philip, after which she came known as 'bloody' Mary. During Mary's five-year reign, 283 individuals were burnt at the stake, but protestantism continued to spread through the British isles and ultimately only in Ireland the majority was catholic.
Mary's persecution of Protestants led to the English people reviling her. The new queen would be Elizabeth, and it was during her reign that England truly could prosper after the troublesome years under Mary.
Elizabeth I
During the reign of the Virgin Queen, England gained stability, deflated and expanded trade income colossal. New explorers were send to Asia and found enormous wealthy provinces and centers of trade there. A rich gold mine in Indonesia was found and many settlers were send to East-Africa.
The brave explorer Frobisher was send to a daring expedition to find out if the rumours about a continent called 'Australia' were true.
Soon, news would reach London that there indeed was a colossal new continent at the other side of the planet, leading to a renewed spirit of colonization in England.
Elizabeth was a woman of peace, but it turned out that war would soon pay the fair British Isles a visit. For it was Sweden which, greedy for the English maps of discovery, suddenly declared war, without a casus Belli! Sweden send a large army and surprisingly landed in Scotland. This army quickly marched to London and only a hasty recruited army of mercenaries could prevent ultimate disaster for England. The Swedish army was stopped cold in the tracks of a frontal assault on the walls of London!
After the first panic was over, a large English army of more than 60,000 soldiers crushed the Swedish force, embarked and sailed to Sweden itself. They succeeded in conquering the former Danish island of Sjaelland, which was soon added to the English crown.
After this unfortunate event, the Queen strengthened the walls of London and ordered a large warship fleet to be build. She vowed that this would be the last time a foreign army would set feet on her island.
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Things started moving for the Glorious Ottoman Empire, with great plans set in motion. Its long time vassal of Mongolia was made ready to annex quickly, and the task would be completed in months.
At this point the great Ottoman ruler left for parts unknown leaving things in the capable hands of the man known as A.I.
Disaster struck. Upon being asked if he wished to complete the annexation of Mongolia, A.I. sat there dribbling. This continued for some time. The occasional pronouncement would go out to colonise Ottoman Africa further, and the occasional army movement into siberia. The reason for the army movement was unknown, but tens of thousands died, allowing the Empire to claim third place in the competition to see who could get the most troops to die out of battle.
The great leaders of the Empire came, sat there, and died under the watch of A.I. Much opportunity was lost. It is hoped the Empire will do better under the watchful eye of the one named 'Seen', and if it does not pain is likely to come.
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-3BB methinks. Anything people think I should add?
At this point the great Ottoman ruler left for parts unknown leaving things in the capable hands of the man known as A.I.
Disaster struck. Upon being asked if he wished to complete the annexation of Mongolia, A.I. sat there dribbling. This continued for some time. The occasional pronouncement would go out to colonise Ottoman Africa further, and the occasional army movement into siberia. The reason for the army movement was unknown, but tens of thousands died, allowing the Empire to claim third place in the competition to see who could get the most troops to die out of battle.
The great leaders of the Empire came, sat there, and died under the watch of A.I. Much opportunity was lost. It is hoped the Empire will do better under the watchful eye of the one named 'Seen', and if it does not pain is likely to come.
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-3BB methinks. Anything people think I should add?
A Storm Breaks....(1574 - 1599)
For an unaturally long time peace had reigned in europe. It was a foul, sick and unholy kind of peace, however, as there were many tensions between the powers - which were not allowed to surface and be dealt with.
Under the rulership of King Francois II. France had been repeatedly bullied by the sinister Doge of Venice. The Italians - it seemed - believed they were the true masters of europe. Their arrogance seemed to know no bounds, alas, it was hard to endure. The people of France felt insulted by this disrespectful treatment and being emotional and passionate in nature they clamoured for war. King Fracnois, however, knowing that France was still weak and needed time to grow stronger adopted a flexible and accomodating policy. It was essentialy appeasement in preparation of rough action. The people sadly did not understand this approach, however, they grew resentful of the seemingly weak king...
The Spanish Crisis & the Mohawk Ruse
King Francois maybe greatest achievement was the success in luring the Doge to believing that France was about to attack Spain. Though the King had seriously considered a colonial venture against the Spaniards it was never a high priority and, really, the King rather prefered to simply buy the respective territories of Spain. Adding to the confusion, the King´s agents spread wild rumours of impending doom and of vast french attack fleets ravaging the Americas. These actions became known as the Mohawk Ruse, as the Mohawks, a native indian tribe in the northern americas, were chiefly employed in disseminating this misinformation.
As foreseen the Doge, seemingly drunk and crazed with power, intervened and demanded that France immediately cease these hostile operations, threathening with war and generaly prooving once again his insensitivity to the feelings of the french soul. Grinding his teeth, Francois complied with this ultimatum, secretly vowing that one day France would have its revenge. Though France was humiliated, a war had been averted in which - at the time - France would most probably not have prevailed.
Roi Henrie IV turns the tide...
Soon Francois died and a joung and energetic King rose to the throne, a brave and chivalrious warrior who should soon be known and feared as Roi Henrie IV. Being both a capable administrator and adept diplomat as well as fiercly talented in the arts of war (he had been educated in younger days by the grim old Zuluwarrior Umslopogaas himself) he managed to vastly increase the fighting capabilities of the french army.
Then, when in 1585 the famous venetian Fieldmarshal Bragadin died, preparations were immediately started for a punitive expedition into Austria and Venice. A complex attackplan was drawn up with the brandenburgian Markgrave, money was minted, fortresses built and upgraded, a massive force mustered and then strategically deployed in the agreed theatres of operations. It was decided that the mainthrust of the initial attack would be concentrated on Austria as this way the tactical cooperation between Brandenburg and France would be optimized.
All in all France had about 500.000 men under arms, the 1st army, under the command of King Henrie IV himself, 130.000 strong with orders to invade over the Rhine and smash deep into southern Germany via Stuttgart, the 2nd army, led by General Martineaud, 100.000 in numbers and with orders to advance from Berlin into Bavaria via Nürnberg and finaly the 3rd army, commanded by General Wonko, 100.000 strong, with a defensive formation in the alps to deal with a possible venetian counterattack. Another 150.000 troops were held in the strategic reserve to allow flexible reinforcement in all theatres.
The Brandenburgians valiantly mustered another 250.000 soldiers; their theatre of operations was mainly in the Ruhr-Area as well as in Silesia.
These troops had been recruited by 1587. It was prudently decided, however, to wait another 2 years to replenish the manpower reserves...
Operation "Kaiserschmarrn"
April 1st, 1589, 05.45 am :
"Kleiger!"
"Yes?"
"Unleash Hell!"
On all fronts the cannons started to fire with a deafening roar and with a trump that shook the earth thousands of men began invading Austria.
Caught by surprise, it seemed, and shocked by the very scale of the attack
Austria was unable to muster an effective counterforce in the initial phase of the war, while Venice was far away and hence forced to watch, impotently, still needing crucial time to move it´s sluggish forces northwards and across the Alps.
Within 5 months the french forces had united at Augsburg and conquered most of (austrian) southern Germany. Several austrian detachments had also been defeated and / or routed. In the meantime brandenburgian forces had occupied several provinces in the Ruhr Area and stalled an austrian counteroffensive in Silesia.
Serious ammounts of venetian forces now begain arriving in the battlescene, which led to a tactical retreat of King Henrie IV to unite with reinforcements pouring in from France.
These venetian armies were then defeated one after another, though meanwhile Austria had managed to retake several bavarian provinces. Once the venetian counteroffensive had been brought to a halt, the french offensive was recommenced with Henrie IV´s goal now Vienna itself...
Sadly, by some bitter fortune, King Henrie IV got shot by an austrian sniper as he bravely led the assault on Munich. After his demise, a deep loss was felt in all of France, especially so in the armed forces. Henrie had been a brilliant tactician and without him the french offensive capabilities were considerably more limited. Only General Martineaud now remained, a capable albeit definetly not brilliant leader (General Wonko had died in the Alps, it was rumoured that he had drunken an ungodly ammount of Wine and subsequently was shot while attempting to storm Genoa all by himself).
Hence it was decided to forcepeace Austria out of the war, which lay bleeding, in agony and awaste. At first the Archduke stubbornly refused to sign a peace, though he hurt his country severly with every refusal.
The austrian stability subsequently dropped and once it reached - 3 revolts broke out in all of this wartorn realm. Finaly, exhausted, the Archduke accepted and peace was signed. The demands had risen with every austrian refusal so now, in the Peace Of Stuttgart, Erfurt and 3 other provinces in the Ruhr Area had to be handed over to Brandenburg.
After the peace had been signed, the Archduke was seen lost in thought and reading the last dispatch King Henrie IV had sent him (in an attempt to keep Austria neutral) before war had been declared :
"There are times, dear sir, when misguided morality can be much more fatal than honest greed!"
With Austria having peaced out, the focus now shifted to Italy. Intense fighting errupted in the Alps and western Venice. Initialy things looked good here as well....but with the entrance of the Ottoman Empire into the war and facing general exhaustion in France it was decided that enough was enough....for now. A White Peace was signed though it was felt by all that this truce was merely an intermezzo in the coming inferno and the question of european hegemony would be passionately answered on the bloodsoaked battlefields of the future...
Deflation Please.
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Tales from Fort Bob:- Part 1
"See here my son, this city is the best place in the world, do you know why?"
The blonde boy shook his head, as he sat on his pa's lap, looking into the sunset over the Great Lakes.
"Because it was built from the ground up by Germans ma boy, none of this existed 5 years ago, but then the first brave settlers arrived here, and over time they used their hands and the tools God gave them to make a home for themselves. There were troubled times, floods and droughts, but they perserved, and more of us arrived from Europe, your mother and I were just one of many couples enticed by the wide open spaces of the American frontier"
"But pa, there are other people out here too, people who speak funny"
"That is true, we have the Spanish to the west and the south, although they are only traders and they are friendly enough for the most part, always ready to hand out some of the Waccy Baccy to us, to the north are the Swedes, we get on well with them, they buy our firs and our wood. And to the East are the English settlers in their cities, I never liked them personally, too arrogant and uppity for my taste. Seem to think they should own everything.
Anyway I can't be sitting here all day, we need to finish building the fort, it'll stop bears or natives from getting into our lovely city, they might scare your mother and we don't want that do we?"
Little Frederick shook his head earnestly, and set off back to his house, leaving his pa building the strong ramparts of the new walls of Fort Bob. On his way back he considered the city that still had the smell of freshly cut wood. It had everything, he decided, a park for him and his friends to play in, a school that taught real stuff, like hunting and fishing, not the intricacies of the latest German poet. He sighed contentedly and headed for the park to play soldiers and natives with his friends.
"See here my son, this city is the best place in the world, do you know why?"
The blonde boy shook his head, as he sat on his pa's lap, looking into the sunset over the Great Lakes.
"Because it was built from the ground up by Germans ma boy, none of this existed 5 years ago, but then the first brave settlers arrived here, and over time they used their hands and the tools God gave them to make a home for themselves. There were troubled times, floods and droughts, but they perserved, and more of us arrived from Europe, your mother and I were just one of many couples enticed by the wide open spaces of the American frontier"
"But pa, there are other people out here too, people who speak funny"
"That is true, we have the Spanish to the west and the south, although they are only traders and they are friendly enough for the most part, always ready to hand out some of the Waccy Baccy to us, to the north are the Swedes, we get on well with them, they buy our firs and our wood. And to the East are the English settlers in their cities, I never liked them personally, too arrogant and uppity for my taste. Seem to think they should own everything.
Anyway I can't be sitting here all day, we need to finish building the fort, it'll stop bears or natives from getting into our lovely city, they might scare your mother and we don't want that do we?"
Little Frederick shook his head earnestly, and set off back to his house, leaving his pa building the strong ramparts of the new walls of Fort Bob. On his way back he considered the city that still had the smell of freshly cut wood. It had everything, he decided, a park for him and his friends to play in, a school that taught real stuff, like hunting and fishing, not the intricacies of the latest German poet. He sighed contentedly and headed for the park to play soldiers and natives with his friends.
Tales from Fort Bobart 2
The cannon thundered from the fort, causing devastation to the incoming English redcoats, Frederick cocked his musket and sighted, seeing a tall officier shouting encouragement to his wavering soldiers.
As the bullet passed through his head the troops lost their weakened nerve and fled, throwing their weapons down in a scramble of out musket range.
Taking a look around Frederick saw that the entire English attack was faltering and retreating, but the high road to the forest was still motionless. The cavarly would not be coming home, the last message reported them sighting a british deployment area, and the intention to attack and scatter the newly formed militia being formed there. That was over 3 months ago and hope had been given up on them, including many of his boyhood friends.
He remembered them looking so brave and noble in their cuirasses and on their wild mustangs, to a man American born and bred, the first generation of citizens born out here in the wilderness.
Still memories could not be allowed to distract him from te task at hand, and distractions now could prove fatal, he as Sergeant was responsible for this section of the stockade and he would be damned if the enemy would break through here. But the British were indeed falling back, and the city would remain free for a day longer.
But the cost was already far too much, in fact looking over his troops he saw no one without injuries, and his command of 100 men had been reduced to 17 over a year of seige and assualt.
On the plain before him he could see the British diplomat riding towards him, as he had done once every sunday for the past year. First he had been friendly, after this was rebuffed he had become threatening and demanded, citing dire consquences for the inhabitants if the Fort did not surrender immediately. Scary at first, but after having been repeated for several months it did lose its sting.
Idlly contemplating whether killing the diplomat today would be good, Frederick saw that the fancially dressed nobleman was bearing a white flag. Listening to the banter among the remains of his men "Have they surrendered at last?" and "Oi, mate your pants are on that stick" the nobleman shouted up to the Fort.
"We congratulate you on your bravery, but you have not got a chance of surviving this seige, we will wear you down eventually. I request to speak to the commander of the fort"
Waiting for Captain Unterflusse to get up and shout at the man Frederick started reloading his musket in case of a night attack.
No reply came from the Captain's wall, and the shout of "He is dead" came across the battlements. Frederick paled, with the last officier dead it meant he was now in charge of the entire city and its inhabitants.
Stepping up Frederick gestured for the diplomat to give his offer,
"The Kingdom of Britain and its Empire demands the surrender of Fort Bob, in return we promise no attacks on its defenders and inhabitants, and its running will be left to its officals, a small british garrrision shall be left, but you shall not be subect to Her Majesty unless demanded for in a formal peace treaty"
It was a good offer, far better than the unconditional surrender demanded at the start, and Frederick was enough of soldier to understand that he could not survive these attacks for ever, attrition had taken its toll, but German pride is not something easily lost.
"We accept your offer, I surrender the garrision under those terms" spoke the teenaged Sergeant. For although pride and honour is important, the lives of his men was far, far more important, and he would do anything to preserve them...
600 ducats (state gift btw )
art 2The cannon thundered from the fort, causing devastation to the incoming English redcoats, Frederick cocked his musket and sighted, seeing a tall officier shouting encouragement to his wavering soldiers.
As the bullet passed through his head the troops lost their weakened nerve and fled, throwing their weapons down in a scramble of out musket range.
Taking a look around Frederick saw that the entire English attack was faltering and retreating, but the high road to the forest was still motionless. The cavarly would not be coming home, the last message reported them sighting a british deployment area, and the intention to attack and scatter the newly formed militia being formed there. That was over 3 months ago and hope had been given up on them, including many of his boyhood friends.
He remembered them looking so brave and noble in their cuirasses and on their wild mustangs, to a man American born and bred, the first generation of citizens born out here in the wilderness.
Still memories could not be allowed to distract him from te task at hand, and distractions now could prove fatal, he as Sergeant was responsible for this section of the stockade and he would be damned if the enemy would break through here. But the British were indeed falling back, and the city would remain free for a day longer.
But the cost was already far too much, in fact looking over his troops he saw no one without injuries, and his command of 100 men had been reduced to 17 over a year of seige and assualt.
On the plain before him he could see the British diplomat riding towards him, as he had done once every sunday for the past year. First he had been friendly, after this was rebuffed he had become threatening and demanded, citing dire consquences for the inhabitants if the Fort did not surrender immediately. Scary at first, but after having been repeated for several months it did lose its sting.
Idlly contemplating whether killing the diplomat today would be good, Frederick saw that the fancially dressed nobleman was bearing a white flag. Listening to the banter among the remains of his men "Have they surrendered at last?" and "Oi, mate your pants are on that stick" the nobleman shouted up to the Fort.
"We congratulate you on your bravery, but you have not got a chance of surviving this seige, we will wear you down eventually. I request to speak to the commander of the fort"
Waiting for Captain Unterflusse to get up and shout at the man Frederick started reloading his musket in case of a night attack.
No reply came from the Captain's wall, and the shout of "He is dead" came across the battlements. Frederick paled, with the last officier dead it meant he was now in charge of the entire city and its inhabitants.
Stepping up Frederick gestured for the diplomat to give his offer,
"The Kingdom of Britain and its Empire demands the surrender of Fort Bob, in return we promise no attacks on its defenders and inhabitants, and its running will be left to its officals, a small british garrrision shall be left, but you shall not be subect to Her Majesty unless demanded for in a formal peace treaty"
It was a good offer, far better than the unconditional surrender demanded at the start, and Frederick was enough of soldier to understand that he could not survive these attacks for ever, attrition had taken its toll, but German pride is not something easily lost.
"We accept your offer, I surrender the garrision under those terms" spoke the teenaged Sergeant. For although pride and honour is important, the lives of his men was far, far more important, and he would do anything to preserve them...
600 ducats (state gift btw
)
Archduchy of Austria
1574 – 1599
We finished the implementation of the new centralistic administration system and continued with the converting of colonies into cities. In the meantime, the rulers of Austria, Brandenburg and Russia came together to negotiate about the partition of Poland. Unlike, the negotiation with Russia was rapidly finished after Austria had disclaimed one province, the negotiation with Brandenburg preceded very tough. Brandenburg was very greedy and wanted 9 provinces whereas Austria should get only 6 provinces, which was unacceptable. We believed that the Polish question will end in a war and insured already the support of our allies and fortified our colonies and the border to France and Brandenburg as ultimately Brandenburg backed down which avoided a war. Nevertheless, we didn’t trust the elector of Brandenburg and as a consequence we declared country war upon Poland, at the first. Consequently, the resistance was very strong and caused many looses under Austrian troops. The advance was very slow so that Brandenburg already had declared war and affiliated some of his claimed provinces in a peace treaty. Finally, Austria signed peace in which we got 5 of our 7 claimed provinces. Only Russia hadn’t conquered her claimed provinces until then, due to the fact that he was busy with a war against Sweden. Afterwards, excellent ministers in the government triggered a new wave of inquisition over the Archduchy and chief judges were introduced in the provinces. Suddenly Venice called to honor our alliance with him and demanded to declare war upon France. 3 years ago we had been happy that war was prevented and now it happened anyway
. Expeditiously, it was clear that Austria should be the main battle field of the war. This made us a bit mistrustful because it seemed that the French made a trick in order to bleed us in spite of the NAP. We were shocked that the strong fortified cities on the border of France fell how houses of cards and an incredibly amount of troops expanded in our heartland. Hastily we built more troops and began to organize our defense. Our troops in the colonies got the order to attack French colonies while in Europe we were overextended and didn’t know what we should do at first. Finally we decided to split our army. One half made short attacks on Brandenburg which brought only little success. In the meantime, the other half tried to threw back the French invaders with the help of Venice. England said that he would attack also France in the colonies but he didn’t succeed while Austria already occupied 4 colonies. In fact, it seemed that England was not willing to participate a lot in the war although his Queen had good military skills. Finally England boosted his attacks and invades Brandenburg but it was already too late. The French, religious motivated troops have been irresistible and have been already occupied a lot of Austrian cities. Additionally Austria was already much destabilized so we had no other option as to cede 4 provinces to Brandenburg. Now Brandenburg isn’t a small princedom any more but rather a large electorate which is already a serious threat for Austria, without French help.
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I will take the money, pls.
A tale for deflation!
Poland was a nation rife with turmoil and an obvious price for its neighbouring predators. Plans were made to divide the poor nation. Venice would rather have seen Poland live on but if that wasn’t possible then the best to hope and aim for was a fair division of the spoils, a goal which we would consider reached satisfactorily.
Venice during this period continued its naval expansion program. Many new warships were built in the Arsenale and naval technology and tactics were researched vehemently. Our great admirals were most pleased with this development. The blue water fleet soon equalled the Mediterranean galley fleet in numbers. However not all money went to the navy as many forts were also erected in the areas that were not in the previous cold war zone with France.
Colonisation efforts were also maintained and soon many full blown Italian cities had sprung up in India. Italians had really made India their 2nd home! Some other small parts of the colonial empire were upgraded and invested in but the main work was done. A new path for Venice would have to be chosen in the future … The Filippines was the area of choice, as was well known, but the Dutch imposed on us there regardless anyway.
This cold war with France had lasted too long the Venetian Doge deemed and olive branches were sent to France, who also declared their interest in repairing relationships with their latin brothers. Little did we know at that time that all the time the French were scheming to hurt the Venetian nation and severely hurt the Austrian one. Agreements and talks were going to be damned, France was to wage war!
Despite having an NAP with Austria, our ally, France staged a large invasion army on its border and got its ally Brandenburg to do the same. NAPs don’t mean anything to this nation. The DOW was dispensed to Venice simply because France had a CB on us and not on Austria but soon after the DOW France’s goals and target was clear, the dismemberment of Austria.
France wil claim it had to DOW Venice because it was “manoeuvering” against France but considering how Venice didn’t attack France when it had religious wars, Venice had a CRT edge and better leadership and so forth, we find this claim rather ludicrous. Unlike France we mean it when we say things like trying to repair friendships.
Now Venice claims to have had an NAP with France, France will assert it did not. However for Venice weaselling out on one on a technicality and backstabbing one after falsely pretending to be friendly is far worse than being an outright enemy. However, the NAP with Austria was rock solid. Of course, France will claim it didn’t attack Austria, they DOWed Venice, but I wonder how betrayed eg France would have felt had I signed an NAP with it and then just attacked his ally, Brandenburg or his ai vassal Köln? NAPs mean nothing if such behaviour is allowed. Furthermore, France could have sent a WP to Austria straight away but of course that didn’t happen, Austria was the target all along. The NAP with Austria was just to lull them into a false sense of security before the invaders would pounce and take advantage of them.
The French using surprise and treachery were successful in obliterating the non suspecting Austrians and managed to snatch 4 provinces from it before forcing it out of the war. After that the Venetians and England held strong and warded off further French attacks, taking various French colonial holdings, the French navy not even daring to leave port, till a white peace was reached. Ottoman troops didn’t play much of a role in this war, they arrived just at the end when the status quo was already reached, but next time the surprise wouldn’t be there anymore.
This continuous French aggression made Venice and its allies grow stronger. If the big offensive alliance of France was ever to be stopped, we would have to establish and stick to a powerful defensive alliance to counter it, lest we get taken out one by one. France has left us with little other choice. It is unite or be eaten. As France’s alliance expanded as ruthlessly as they were untrustworthy, we would have to be merciless in return to stop them. One thing is for xure though: they need to be stopped, one way or the other and somehow I don’t see the solution coming from France.
Poland was a nation rife with turmoil and an obvious price for its neighbouring predators. Plans were made to divide the poor nation. Venice would rather have seen Poland live on but if that wasn’t possible then the best to hope and aim for was a fair division of the spoils, a goal which we would consider reached satisfactorily.
Venice during this period continued its naval expansion program. Many new warships were built in the Arsenale and naval technology and tactics were researched vehemently. Our great admirals were most pleased with this development. The blue water fleet soon equalled the Mediterranean galley fleet in numbers. However not all money went to the navy as many forts were also erected in the areas that were not in the previous cold war zone with France.
Colonisation efforts were also maintained and soon many full blown Italian cities had sprung up in India. Italians had really made India their 2nd home! Some other small parts of the colonial empire were upgraded and invested in but the main work was done. A new path for Venice would have to be chosen in the future … The Filippines was the area of choice, as was well known, but the Dutch imposed on us there regardless anyway.
This cold war with France had lasted too long the Venetian Doge deemed and olive branches were sent to France, who also declared their interest in repairing relationships with their latin brothers. Little did we know at that time that all the time the French were scheming to hurt the Venetian nation and severely hurt the Austrian one. Agreements and talks were going to be damned, France was to wage war!
Despite having an NAP with Austria, our ally, France staged a large invasion army on its border and got its ally Brandenburg to do the same. NAPs don’t mean anything to this nation. The DOW was dispensed to Venice simply because France had a CB on us and not on Austria but soon after the DOW France’s goals and target was clear, the dismemberment of Austria.
France wil claim it had to DOW Venice because it was “manoeuvering” against France but considering how Venice didn’t attack France when it had religious wars, Venice had a CRT edge and better leadership and so forth, we find this claim rather ludicrous. Unlike France we mean it when we say things like trying to repair friendships.
Now Venice claims to have had an NAP with France, France will assert it did not. However for Venice weaselling out on one on a technicality and backstabbing one after falsely pretending to be friendly is far worse than being an outright enemy. However, the NAP with Austria was rock solid. Of course, France will claim it didn’t attack Austria, they DOWed Venice, but I wonder how betrayed eg France would have felt had I signed an NAP with it and then just attacked his ally, Brandenburg or his ai vassal Köln? NAPs mean nothing if such behaviour is allowed. Furthermore, France could have sent a WP to Austria straight away but of course that didn’t happen, Austria was the target all along. The NAP with Austria was just to lull them into a false sense of security before the invaders would pounce and take advantage of them.
The French using surprise and treachery were successful in obliterating the non suspecting Austrians and managed to snatch 4 provinces from it before forcing it out of the war. After that the Venetians and England held strong and warded off further French attacks, taking various French colonial holdings, the French navy not even daring to leave port, till a white peace was reached. Ottoman troops didn’t play much of a role in this war, they arrived just at the end when the status quo was already reached, but next time the surprise wouldn’t be there anymore.
This continuous French aggression made Venice and its allies grow stronger. If the big offensive alliance of France was ever to be stopped, we would have to establish and stick to a powerful defensive alliance to counter it, lest we get taken out one by one. France has left us with little other choice. It is unite or be eaten. As France’s alliance expanded as ruthlessly as they were untrustworthy, we would have to be merciless in return to stop them. One thing is for xure though: they need to be stopped, one way or the other and somehow I don’t see the solution coming from France.