Chapter 43: Revolutionary Developments (1710-12)
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Debate at Home, Dissension Abroad: March-December 1710
In March 1710 Friesland found itself in a period of continuing peace and rebuilding of its military. After the trials of the African campaign during the recent war with Granada, a fortress began construction in Gabon on 17 March (Level 8, 542 ducats, 27 months). And an upgrade to conscription centre in Bonny (135 ducats, 10 months) would further increase the land force limit. A few weeks later, another artillery regiment began training in the Java.
In a nasty turn of events, the great port and trading hub of Amsterdam was struck with a severe case of influenza in April. After much debate, the Government imposed strict quarantine to prevent its spread.
But these ill effects were somewhat offset a few days later with an ‘agricultural revolution’ in Den Haag with benefits for the whole area of Holland.
[Note: with these and other event decisions I take, happy to hear any views about whether I might have chosen differently.]
The long and destructive Russian revanchist war against Poland saw the Commonwealth further eviscerated in June 1710 after seven years of bitter fighting, following the Ottoman take-down in 1706. The Poles were rapidly being reduced to a rump state.
In July, the Government chose freedom of movement and expression over court-centric elitism in letting a famed minstrel perform wherever he so chose to within the Republic.
There was less happy news in August when Persia decided – for reasons that perplexed the foreign minister – that they now viewed Friesland as a rival. Worse was that they counted the Deccan Empire among their allies.
Less than a year into the reputed Age of Revolutions, the Frisian government was reviewing its mechanisms and the splendour they may bring to the Republic. And as a republic they considered themselves to be something of a trendsetter in this new world of political agitation. With a large capital and a powerful subject (ie New Friesland), Frisian prestige was already growing. But they wanted even more …
… and so on 20 August 1710, the Constitution was changed. The old Diet was abolished, to be replaced with a fully-fledged Parliament.
This new body would be known as the Landtag and Frisian politicians were soon working out what this meant for their public discourse and policy debates. With military reform in mind, the Potestaat called for a debate on whether to extend officer commissions for the Leger and the Navy.
And the Landtag would need to be filled, though the Government prevaricated a bit in deciding which provinces should be awarded the nine seats initially available. The decision was taken out of their hands when the capital province of Friesland demanded the first seat for themselves. Given the productivity, tax and manpower benefits of such recognition, the other eight seats were allocated in October to the premier provinces in Low Country Friesland.
As the Landtag met for the first time, the representatives of three provinces were influenced to support the Government agenda. Each demanded different concessions in return for locking in their support. More of this horse trading (some said pork-barrelling) would occur in the future, as the mechanics of the new body became more familiar.
In East Asia, Japan enforced a punishing peace on the rump Wu state on the day the Landtag was first meeting in Leeuwarden.
Back at home, the promotion of settlement growth by Johan Kooistra in Oldenburg saw its base manpower increase by 1 in late October – a welcome thing for the expanding Frisian army. That day, rumours coming from Dai Viet indicated they would be embarking and a new war of aggression, against their smaller neighbour Lan Na. Sure enough, early the next year that imperialistic war would be launched.
As more powerful countries embraced the Enlightenment, they overtook Friesland in the great power pecking order but the Republic remained firmly within that elite group of nations.
And in terms of reputation through the historical ages since the mid-15th century, Friesland had become one of the most renowned nations in the world during the Age of Absolutism – as a Republic! The other two powers to have made a great leap during that age after slow starts was the burgeoning Deccan Empire and resurgent Great Britain, which had bounced back from a disastrous period when it was simply the Kingdom of England.
Of some interest, France for some reason seemed to have lost a little momentum of late. Which was moderately good news for the Frisians. However, the Ottomans were a Juggernaut and Russia went from strength to strength.
The Frisian economy remained strong and its treasury in a large monthly and overall surplus. From April to December 1710, savings grew by around 1,500 ducats and the monthly balanced improved on increased trade and production.
With inflation persistently high, the Government intervened to reduce it.
[Note: is this something that’s worth doing, or is it a bit of a waste for my admin points at this stage?]
Over the last almost five years, the Leger’s artillery building program had seen Royal (or should that be Republican?) Mortars replace the Coehorn, with 18 new regiments added as the sustainable army base increased from 178 to 189. Despite the extra units raised, the manpower reserve had grown to almost 57,000 after the lows reached in the Granadan War.
The Navy had seen the biggest growth in capital ships, with ten new two-deckers commissioned. The archipelago frigate had replaced the chebeck in the in-shore arm and a couple of new transports had been built. Friesland retained its ‘two fleet’ policy in Europe and the FIE, with its sustainable limit now sitting at 224 vessels.
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New Enemies: January-June 1711
By January 1711, Castile’s colonial war against Kutai and Lanfang had been going for two years and remained evenly matched. Castile had mainly prevailed on the battlefield and in a blockade of Kundian, matching Kutai’s continued possession of its capital and a swathe of conquests in the on Borneo and the Spanish Moluccas. Unfortunately for Kutai, Castile’s wider lands were vast, so these creditable gains counted for little in the wider scheme of things.
Friesland built another artillery regiment in Bonny for its Guinean colonial army a few weeks later, but this was a mere precursor for diplomatic developments in the East Indies. Those truces with Lanfang and Kutai, among others, formally lapsed on 4 February 1711.
The army in Demak ceased drilling and as many as could be fitted aboard the East Indian fleet took ship – for Borneo.
As they prepared to sail, Friesland considered hiring its first mercenary company: the appropriately name Kutai Company, which would appear in Borneo. But this would take the Leger temporarily but substantially over its sustainable force limit. In the end, the hire was not made.
As preparations gathered pace in Borneo, for reasons best known to themselves Poland confirmed their antipathy to the Frisian Republic by naming them a rival. One would have thought they had enough powerful enemies already. In a case of tit-for-tat diplomacy, Friesland switched its own enmity from Switzerland to Poland to ‘return the favour’.
The combined army in Borneo was in position in Katapang on 8 April after the second consignment of 8 regiments arrived from Java. This signalled the Frisian intention to go to war to start expanding their position in Borneo, long restricted to just two provinces.
The army was ready to march by early May, when the latest Frisian imperialist colonial war was declared. Kutai was preoccupied and would not come to Lanfang’s aid but the long-time Frisian punching bag of the once formidable Sunda would support their ally. The Mother Country could expect some support from the nearby Frisian Australia.
It so happened that the Frisian FIE trade protection fleet (the 4th, under Hendrik Ripperda) was passing Lanfang’s 2nd Fleet in the Karimata Strait on the day the war began. The flagship
Frijheid led the way into a one-sided engagement.
The main FIE battle fleet (the 3rd) led by Eilert Riemersma was immediately despatched to improve the odds even further, bringing both capital ships and galleys specifically designed for these archipelagic waters.
By 13 May two of Lanfang’s ships had been captured and the rest sunk, with Riemersma learning a valuable new skill from his experience.
On 18 May, the 2nd Army in East Java was ready to march on the familiar Sundanese province of Kediri. Three days later, as Leger van Surabaya approached Pontianak, a large Castilian army was spotted besieging Kundian to its north.
It transpired that the Frisian army arriving to besiege Pontianak on 31 May was just large enough to maintain a full siege line
[NB: something I only specifically realised today after reading @jak7139 's EU4 tutorial AAR]. The fortifications were formidable, so an artillery barrage was ordered to progress the siege a little further, to create a breach.
The early days of the war showed the main trend for the campaign in Borneo that would persist from this point: Lanfang had no field armies available and the Frisian casualties would be through siege attrition. That part of the war would be a waiting game – a very long one, as it transpired.
There would be more manoeuvre in the fighting with Sunda. By 22 June Sunda had arrived in Flores (as had often been the case in past wars) and the FIE battle fleet was on its way over from Borneo. Flores fell to Sunda on 19 July.
The War Continues: July 1711 to May 1712
The Frisian 3rd Fleet had arrived in the Strait of Lombok on 1 July to start their blockade of the archipelago and Kediri was occupied on the 9th, after which they began their island-hopping march east to Sumbawa.
Back at home, Friesland proper remained peaceful and prosperous, with the invention of the flying shuttle boosting productivity (and with it local unrest from displaced workers) in Amsterdam.
A skirmish was fought in Sumbawa against a small Sundanese brigade in mid-August, with the entire enemy force destroyed within three days. The province was occupied by the end of September.
The crossing to Flores was completed a month later – by which time the main Sundanese army has crossed over to East Timor. Friesland was happy to let them stay there as they retook Flores by 9 December.
At the same time, a Sundanese cavalry regiment had been raised in East Java and sent to break the occupation of Kediri. With the main armies on distant island, two line regiments instead began training in Eastern Java to deal with this new irritation. And a review of the situation in Pontianak showed an assault at this stage would have been a hideously expensive failure.
Tunisian separatists in the enclave of Thubaqt were becoming troublesome by December 1711. Friesland had no time or desire to send troops there and instead instituted harsh measures to contain the unrest.
Kediri was retaken by the Sundanese cavalry on 30 December, with the new local Frisian regiments still some way off being ready.
In the wider world, great powers continued to gobble up small neighbours. On 6 January Russia invaded the small Asian enclave of Khalkha and would fully annex it by the end of June.
In Europe, the spare Frisian diplomat Ernst Kiestra was sent to improve the poor relations with neighbouring Brunswick on 8 January as the separate mission to shore up the Scandinavian relationship progressed well (+169 opinion).
The two new regiments in Java finished training on 1 March and were ordered to concentrate in Surabaya. They would strike Kediri on 24 March and destroy the Sundanese cavalry there by 3 April.
It seemed the Clergy was unhappy with the new policies of the Republic and demanded a change in direction in April 1712. Trading off their very high loyalty, the government rejected these demands, losing some Papal influence but gaining prestige.
In Java, the reoccupation of Kediri was completed on mid-May and the small brigade headed east to confront a new Sundanese artillery regiment that had been raised in Malang. Despite some heavy casualties suffered during an initial bombardment, the gunners were overrun and destroyed by 6 June.
Friesland remained at peace at home but the colonial war in the FIE was not proving to be as short and sharp as had been hoped with a long siege ahead in Pontianak.
The Ottomans are worryingly close to Scandinavia. Will they fight, and will Friesland be forced to defend?
