Chapter 72: War and Rebellion (1786-87)
While war with former ally and now implacable foe Franconia raged abroad, tensions on the streets of the Frisian Republic’s heartland also reached fever pitch. In this contemporary painting from 1787, armed rebels take to the barricades in the streets of Amsterdam while Republican troops are forced to confront them. [MS Copilot]
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Colonial Revolts and Foreign Wars
An earlier revolt in Madura by Sundanese separatists in December 1785 required the shipment of one of the armies in Sumatra back to Java to put it down. L.v. Bengkulu had landed in January 1786 and by early February were ready to attack across the narrow strait to the island of Madura.
The battle to restore order lasted only three days and was a walkover under the expert leadership of General Thiadulf Banda.
Not long after, Persia declared war on the depleted and fragmented remainder of the once-powerful Delhi and its two small Himalayan allies. Given the disparity in strengths, Delhi’s eventual defeat was expected to be a formality.
In parallel to the Frisian-Franconian War, Franconia was also sorely beset by large Turkish armies. And another Papal ally (and friend of Friesland) Aragon was also caught up in that conflict, where in April 1786 one of their armies had run into a huge Turkish army of 180,000 men in Mainz.
Western Franconia was certainly a crowded locale at that time, with similarly large numbers of Frisian, Scandinavian and Bavarian troops also ranging around.
By February 1787, the Turks were generally well on top of the Papal alliance and had won the majority of the 37 field and naval battles. Meanwhile, the partly intermixed Frisian-Franconian War was moving more heavily in favour of the Federal Republic, as we will see below.
Then Austria declared war on Saxony, Franconia’s minor ally against Friesland, in April 1787, removing a pest small enough to pose no threat anyway. At the time, a Franconian army was trying to retake Frankfurt from Bavarian occupation.
In Africa, a short-lived rebellion in Yawuri by poorly equipped tribesmen was easily put down by L.v. Idah in early May just under a month after it broke out.
While by mid-July, Turkey had increased pressure further on the Papal Alliance, occupying a significant amount of territory in eastern Franconia.
The Frisian-Franconian War: January 1786-February 1787
The war was still in its early stages when the Frisian swing into the south-west of Franconia culminated in a great battle at Zweibrücken on 20 January 1786. Despite a river crossing and good defensive terrain, the well-drilled Frisian armies outnumbered their adversaries by 2-1.
After some heavy initial skirmishing, the Franconian army was over-run and wiped out within eight days.
The fighting at the front, despite its early successes and on top of previous recent wars and rebellions, led to the desertion of some disillusioned officers in January and increased inflation a few days later.
After these initial sieges and battles, Franconian total casualties had climbed rapidly and their morale was already starting to sag. And the first Turkish incursions into the east had started to bite.
By May, western Franconia was awash with Frisian and allied armies and six provinces in the south had already fallen to Frisian occupation.
He may have started the war, but President Siemen Martena would not live to see the end of it. After 14 years at the top, he passed away on 10 June 1786. His great legacy was the great addition of land in Africa following the Frisian-Air War.
Once more, the lottery was trusted and the burghers of Leeuwarden were well pleased with the result, as Reginhard Sems ascended the Presidential Chair. Suitably enough for the times, he soon showed his skills as a martial educator.
The primary objective of the invasion, the fortress of Westfalen, surrendered to Frisian occupation on 28 August 1786. This would begin to swing the war increasingly in Friesland’s favour, in addition to the fall other provinces to that point, the victory at Zweibrücken on 28 January and a Bavarian victory at Regensburg on 6 March 1786.
By the end of October, the two main remaining Franconian field armies had attempted to escape the furnace in Franconia by striking north towards Denmark. Unfortunately for them, they were confronted by a number of approaching Scandinavian armies that would soon force them away again.
They had returned south by February 1787 to see what they could do to stave off the wave of enemies engulfing their homeland. Their task would be an extremely difficult one.
This would result in their investment of Frankfurt, which they would try to regain from the Bavarians.
Diplomacy, Espionage and Domestic Matters
The main new initiatives during the period were missions to improve of relations with Hindustan and Great Britain. The latter was completed after a year, but that to Hindustan had run into a problem early, though it continued in October 1787…
The Emperor of Hindustan berates a Frisian ambassador and his entourage, 1786. [MS Copilot]
… being Hindustan’s selection of Friesland as a rival in July 1786. It seemed this antagonism stemmed from their recent takeover of most of the Malayan peninsula, which led to them desiring a swath of Frisian East Indies provinces in Sumatra.
Though a little concerned about the burgeoning influence of the Burgher Estate, economic policy was pushed to allow their influence to further increase in January 1787 to further rein in mercantilist policies. The alternative would have been to see a considerable slide in the loyalty of the dominant estate in the Federal Republic.
Poland, one of Friesland’s allies in the war against Franconia and an active one at that, had its government taken over by radical republicans in March 1787. But relations with Friesland remained strong and the alliance in place.
From April-July 1787, the African provinces won in the war against Air began to be fully integrated into the Frisian Republic, which eventually resulted in the state’s previous over-extension disappearing. Though there would be one more rebellious episode left over from that period that has not yet been mentioned …
Only one building project was begun during this short period, new training fields in Upper Guelders, in June 1787.
The current ten-year Quartering of Troops regulations expired in October 1787. The new debate in the ever-growing Landtag was over a bill to reduce trade regulations. This time eight MPs had to be ‘encouraged’ by various pledges to get the vote through. The costs came in diplomatic power, ducats, prestige and some gain in influence by the Clerical Estate.
Some of the money lost in recent payouts and war costs would be recouped in December 1787 when the National Bank of Friesland paid a very large dividend to the government.
The Frisian-Franconian War: April-December 1787
Just before Frisian over-extension abated, a last rebel hurrah literally resounded through the streets of Leeuwarden and Amsterdam on 3 April 1787. The largest single rebellion in Frisian history broke out, with a total over 160,000 peasants taking up arms in two of the Republic’s greatest centres.
This came at a time when the entire Frisian leger in Europe was committed in Franconia. In reaction, three mercenary companies were immediately hired, though it would take some of them weeks to muster and then organise for combat. The walls of Leeuwarden should be strong enough to hold out for many days yet, but there were no such fortifications in Amsterdam.
Three days later, two of the armies in southern Franconia were summoned back home as the mercenaries gathered, taking care not to disturb any of the major sieges then in progress.
By 18 May, the Scandinavians had reacted to the rebellion in Friesland itself, having attacked with over 60,000 men with another 50,000 rapidly approaching from the south. This left only the 70,000 rebels in Amsterdam, where four Frisian regular and mercenary armies totally 100,000 had muster just south of the city and were approaching it to attack. This meant the last mercenary company that had just arrived could be disbanded: the allied intervention showed they would not be needed after all.
Those Scandinavian reinforcements would arrive in Friesland on 21 May. On 2 June, two more Scandinavian columns were approaching and by the 8th, a massive 230,000 men had destroyed the leaderless rebellion there.
And on 22 May, General Sibraht Jongstra led the Frisian army to the attack against the mob in Amsterdam. His inspirational leadership saw a rapid victory with relatively few Government and mercenary casualties as the entire rebel force was wiped out in just six days of urban fighting. The other two mercenary companies were soon also disbanded.
As the two regular Frisian armies moved back to the front, on 13 June yet another large Scandinavian army struck the Franconians in Frankfurt and would overwhelm the Bishopric’s forces a few days later.
By the end of November, no more Franconian troops were left in the field, with only a small Saxon army remaining, which had stayed well north for the entire conflict and was probably evading Austrians at that point.
By mid-December, President Sems was contemplating the formulation of a peace ultimatum to the obviously vanquished enemy, most of whose territory was occupied by either Frisian and her allies or the Turks. But he would never do so: after only 16 months in power, he died in his sleep on 14 December 1787. The messenger who came to deliver the good news about the National Bank dividend found the President cold and past caring.
This election proved one of the few occasions where the leadership of the Republic was faced with two mediocre candidates and one outstanding one. The vote was rigged in favour of Sikke Jousma, a very talented and multi-skilled politician.
Within two days, he had reviewed the progress made since the last major assessment back in August 1786. It was significant and showed that there was little more to be done after the inroads by the Frisian alliance and the Turks all across the Bishopric.
When it came to the proposed settlement, Friesland would have been happy to demand Frankfurt for Bavaria, but the Revolutionary Bavarian government was not interested (due to its isolated situation and the inability of Bavaria to core it).
And including Fulda in the list of demands would have exacerbated aggressive expansion (and over-extension) again and, most significantly, likely prompted Austria to join a new coalition against Frisian expansionism.
The terms were adjusted, with reparations sought instead of Fulda, but a sizeable chunk of western Franconia still demanded. There would still be some aggressive expansion and over-extension but any coalition was likely to be manageable and should not (it was hoped) include Austria.
The final settlement did reward Poland, who would get to keep the two provinces they had occupied in eastern Franconia. Allied and Frisian casualties had been heavy but quite manageable for the Republic, whose recruiting base remained strong.
And Frisian reach into the rich lands of western Germany had been significantly increased.
Measures were immediately taken to begin reducing the over-extension that would once more irritate the government and provisions would need to be made to have forces ready to quell new rebellions in the conquered lands over the next few years as they were integrated into the Republic.
The great regional adversary of Franconia had been crippled and was still at war with the Turks. Friesland maintained its place in the top four powers of the world. And the aggressors in the three remaining extant wars would all likely win them in due course.
