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The siege of Aachen by Friesland began in December 1728.
[NB: this and all additional artwork below via Playground AI, some (like the one above) with reference images to kick them off and some without.]
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Pressure Builds: January-September 1729
The latest Frisian war of expansion fell into familiar patterns of 18th century siege warfare from early 1729. In mid-January the main Frisian battle fleet joined the blockade of Bremen. In time, the frigates of the Lübeck trade fleet would return to their normal duties.
The same day, with the Grand Company fielding just three regiments of artillery for the siege of Aachen, the word went out for more guns from Friesland’s foundries. Four new regiments were put under construction on 19 January.
Meanwhile, the company of condottieri Cologne had hired from Münster at the end of December had not even made it out of their own country when they were struck by the recently called Franconians, who outnumbered them with 19 to 11 regiments.
By 19 January the battle was well on the way to being won. No doubt Münster would regret hiring out their men only to see them cut down before they could achieve anything. Elsewhere, five Frisian armies went about the business of siege and occupation across the lands of the enemy alliance, from Aachen in the west to Saxe-Lauenburg in the east.
Far away from the ravages of war, Frisian missionaries brought the True Faith to the last colonial province in Borneo to be converted, taking the Republic back to 100 percent (official) adherence to Catholicism.
After six victories in the field, the Aachen alliance could field about 70,000 troops in total. They had taken losses, but still had enough troops on the prowl to require tidying up – a task Friesland now left to its allies as they stuck to siege work.
As Ravensburg was occupied and L.v. Oversticht moved on to besiege Paderborn in mid-February, opening with another big cannonade to breach the walls, a Bavarian-led army of over 100,000 men confronted a Cologne army of around a quarter its size. Another major friendly victory would soon be notched up.
Looking to minimise the loss of Frisian reserve manpower, another mercenary company was hired in March 1729. The Flemish Company was chosen because it had more artillery regiments under its command than all the alternatives. Both the fee and monthly maintenance charges could be quite easily afforded by the Frisian treasury.
The routine siege work continued through to early June as the Frisian Company worked itself up to battle readiness and the new artillery regiments finished training and gathered in Aachen to bolster the modest artillery train of the Grand Company.
Another three regiments began training the same day, which would eventually bring the Aachen siege battery to a total of 10 regiments.
By 22 July the Flemish Company had occupied Berg and would then swing across northern Franconia to eastern Cologne.
Göttingen would be occupied by Franconia on 7 September as Friesland’s allies ensured no significant enemy field armies were left in Germany to cause any problems.
Elsewhere in the world, one major war in the Far East ended with Russia annexing Korchin and taking eight provinces from Korea on 16 September 1729. The Shu-Shun war continued, with the Shu well on top against the Shun and their Japanese allies.
In Eastern Europe, the Ottomans continued to fight Lithuania – which had been occupied some time before – and their major ally Scandinavia, which had now begun to deploy some major armies into the region.
Closer to home, Wolgast looked to be well ahead in its nationalist war against their fellow Protestants in Bohemia.
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The Fall of Aachen: October 1729 to February 1730
When advisor Fedde Kooistra died in early October 1729, it opened the way for the appointment of a renowned theologian, Gerrit Galama, who would be able to balance the cruel tendencies of the recently elected Potestaat, Albrecht Banda.
On 15 October, the latest round of three new artillery regiments had been completed and added to the siege battery supporting the Grand Company in Aachen, increasing the pressure on the defenders.
Then just three days later Paderborn fell, further advancing the cause as Cologne – the largest member of the opposing alliance – was brought to heel.
The rest of the sieges progressed, while in Bremen the Flemish Company replaced L.v. Latgalia in the siege. However, all the artillery regiments of the regular formation were left behind to support the siege of the most stubborn of all the enemy fortresses.
The next major city to fall was Köln in November, a major blow to enemy morale. L.v. Goslar’s artillery train – 14 regiments – was also detached and sent to reinforce the siege of Bremen.
Soon after, Lauenburg surrendered after 11 months of siege as the grinding business of contemporary warfare played out across northern Germany.
By early December, the entire enemy alliance (including Genoa, which had been fighting a land and sea war against Aragon during this time that we have not covered here) had only one artillery regiment left in the field as the morale of its constituent nations crumbled. They had lost over 150,000 men, almost exclusively in one-sided field battles.
By mid-December, the support battery in Bremen numbered 23 regiments, adding to the seven of the Flemish Company to create the largest single siege battery that Friesland had ever assembled.
Elsewhere in Europe, Savoy’s ally Tuscany came to white peace terms with Switzerland, but the main war still dragged on – though not for much longer, as it transpired.
On 2 January 1730, the Swiss conceded to Savoy, surrendering two border provinces to the victor. Friesland could at that point have called their ally Savoy into their own war but that hardly seemed necessary.
The more so when Zwickau was occupied by Friesland a few weeks later.
Then on 25 February 1730, Aachen fell after a long siege of 431 days. While this was a great boost to the war effort, it was not enough to force Aachen itself to surrender, while the other principal Frisian objective of Bremen still resisted.
While the Grand Company was disbanded, the war would continue.
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End Game: March-July 1730
By the end of March, Friesland’s best siege general – and an expert forager renowned for keeping more men alive when in foreign lands – took over the siege of Bremen. It was slowly progressing but remained hard work despite the blockage, huge siege battery and now expert siege leader.
Despite this, the use of mercenary companies for the two main sieges and the judicious employment of the Leger during the war had ensured manpower reserves had not deteriorated, now approaching 67,000 and with 1,478 men added each month: as at early May only 240 were required for replacements.
Even in those ‘enlightened’ times, things such as passing comets could still generate mass hysteria, one such episode lowing the stability of the Republic on 4 May 1730. This would be remedied a few months later, with the government acting to restore the customary full stability in mid-July.
Even as this low-key war went on, the government embarked upon a new program of grand banquets to highlight the grandeur of Frisian high society to the rest of the world. The extra diplomatic capacity gained and another diplomat who had been waiting for reassignment were sent to improve relations again with Britain (always a likely future alliance target) and Bavaria (to keep that alliance healthy).
At the end of the month, Cologne had had enough of their disastrous support for Aachen, seeking separate terms in which Franconia would be happy to receive territory while Friesland’s rewards would be mainly monetary – and would not bring too much aggressive expansion penalty.
[Note: these were terms that Cologne sought and as a bit of an RP thing I tend to accept these if they seem reasonable, though it’s not an ironclad rule.]
Then on 8 July 1730 the much-awaited fall of Bremen finally came after 565 long days of intense siege. Another six days passed until a diplomat could be recalled and sent on the mission to impose terms on the enemy, who indicated they were now prepared to surrender unconditionally.
Had they been prepared to incur the diplomatic wrath it would have entailed, the Republic could have taken Lauenburg in addition to Aachen and Bremen, the main targets of the war. But this was deemed too risky, so the terms demanded in the end saw Aragon rewarded for their hard work with Corsica instead, with all the remaining cash Aachen was able to pay thrown in.
With no real choice in the matter, these terms were accepted on 14 July 1730. Total Frisian losses in the campaign, which had started in December 1728, were just over 39,000 – the bulk from siege attrition; a comparatively modest amount for the times. Especially when two great ‘jewels’ were added to the Republic’s heartland.
A missionary was immediately despatched to begin the expensive process of converting Aachen from its vile Reformed heresies. Work simultaneously started in Bremen to bring it into the political structure of the Republic. More would be done soon to ensure this major port became a real powerhouse within the great Frisian trading empire.
And an initial survey of Aachen showed it was well-developed and had become a major centre for coal mining – a highly lucrative resource in this period that would lead to the coming industrial revolution.
The Flemish Company was disbanded, finally removing the financial drain of both mercenary hire and force limit excess charges from the Frisian budget bottom line. After the recent addition of territory, this left the Leger only two regiments over its limit.
[Question: does the general force balance of 98 inf, 37 cav and 91 arty now seem about right for this period?]
Internationally, the Ottoman-Lithuanian war was in its fifth year, with the Turks once again having absorbed a huge amount of casualties and exhausting their manpower reserves. Scandinavia still field a considerable army which had deployed throughout the northern Baltic states and even one force south towards Lithuanian holdings and having suffered far fewer casualties.
The whereabouts of the bulk of the Ottoman army was unclear, but they still maintained a considerable edge in the overall balance of the war. [Noting the above map is from the perspective of Friesland’s Scandinavian ally.]
In the Far East, the lands of the Shun had been completely occupied and the Shu Emperor was therefore well ahead in this great war that had also started back in 1725. It was Shun’s Japanese allies that still kept the war going, where the balance of forces remained comparatively close.
A big problem for the Japanese going forward may be the Shu naval preponderance. It remained unclear whether a Shu invasion of Japan proper would be required to end this latest attempt to reunify China.
In the reckon of the great powers of the day, Friesland had slipped from fifth to seventh in the pecking order. Part of this had been expected, with the Deccan Empire finally having adopted the Enlightenment.
More surprising was the elevation of Castile to just above Friesland, even though the latter boasted more development. Some penalty was being applied to the Frisian score but it was unclear why, given it had long embraced the Enlightenment with only two obscure colonial provinces.
[Note: I was wondering whether it might relate to the two new provinces not having been cored yet, or some other issue. If not that, I did have a look around and couldn’t determine exactly what it was that was that was decreasing the score.]
@Bullfilter I've fallen a bit behind and needing to catch up, hopefully today or tomorrow. Looking forward to exciting updates!
Brandenburg, in my game, hasn't used mercs in some time, partly because I realized the effect upon Professionalism, which I'm actively attempting to cultivate now. The mercs are still tempting, because of their separate manpower pools, but if I use them again it will be in certain judicious ways.
It is an outcome to be fondly wished for. We need something like the French loss in the Seven Years War of OTL (mid 18th century) to drain the French treasury and prestige, ultimately setting them up for the convulsions of the 1790s.
best would be france ferrying their troops there, then losing their navy to them leaving their army stranded there and their clay unprotected in Europe
one issue I have with literally all modern Paradox game is the 3D maps. I LOVED the 2D of the earlier games and this just seems to be a chaotic mess (which also coincidentally works up my over-a-decade-old-ex-work-laptop-I-now-use-personally. I would've paid for an update that made the map of the EU4 into EU2 style of the map.
Had they been prepared to incur the diplomatic wrath it would have entailed, the Republic could have taken Lauenburg in addition to Aachen and Bremen, the main targets of the war. But this was deemed too risky, so the terms demanded in the end saw Aragon rewarded for their hard work with Corsica instead, with all the remaining cash Aachen was able to pay thrown in.
With no real choice in the matter, these terms were accepted on 14 July 1730. Total Frisian losses in the campaign, which had started in December 1728, were just over 39,000 – the bulk from siege attrition; a comparatively modest amount for the times. Especially when two great ‘jewels’ were added to the Republic’s heartland.
That's true with most things. Thankfully, Paradox finally added the long-requested feature of allowing you to at least look at the DoW screen without a diplomat. That way you can see how the alliances stack up.
Becoming Emperor isn't available for republics since the position is hereditary. Electorship, though, is on the cards. You'd either have to kill one of the current Electors and hope Austria gives you the title. Or, you force vassalize an Elector, then ask Austria via decision to transfer the title to you. Both options require the Emperor to like you.
Yes, your professionalism does take a pretty big hit when hiring mercs. That's why players ideally like to burn their professionalism for manpower first, then hire mercs.
Regarding the discussion about potentially getting rid of an idea group, Mercenary Ideas removes the professionalism decrease for mercs. It also allows them to drill.
[Note: these were terms that Cologne sought and as a bit of an RP thing I tend to accept these if they seem reasonable, though it’s not an ironclad rule.]
Just FYI, the peace option to pillage a state does give AE. And, can sometimes hurt your main war aims by giving you more AE than you can afford. Like with the final peace:
Had they been prepared to incur the diplomatic wrath it would have entailed, the Republic could have taken Lauenburg in addition to Aachen and Bremen, the main targets of the war. But this was deemed too risky
That extra AE given to you by Cologne prevented you from seeking a larger peace with Aachen. You were afraid of the potential coalition, so didn't seek more. But if you were worried about a coalition, then the extra 9.9 from pillaging Cologne should've been unacceptable.
Looking at the screenshot from your comment feedback, your combat-width is 40 and your cav-to-inf-ratio is 50%.
The ideal combat/siege-focused army (not garrisons) for a Western power in this period should be (inf-cav-art) 40-2/4-40. Usually, those stacks are split in half but kept next to one another due to supply limits. Garrisons, even if they don't have as much artillery, should only have 2-4 cavalry in them.
The 2-4 number for cavalry is if you have any ideas, policies, etc. that boost cav. I don't think you do, so having two units per army is probably a safer assumption than having four.
Regardless, you have way too much cavalry. Having any more than 10 regiments at this point isn't worth it. Those remaining twenty-seven units should be converted (sooner rather than later) into infantry or artillery. The Twenty-seven infantry or artillery would deal more damage at this point (and the infantry are cheaper so would save you money). The artillery, although more expensive, make up for it with higher damage and with faster sieges.
[Note: I was wondering whether it might relate to the two new provinces not having been cored yet, or some other issue. If not that, I did have a look around and couldn’t determine exactly what it was that was that was decreasing the score.]
Great War! Got goals (Aachen/Bremen) quickly. Franconia very good ally. Someone quit giving the Syndic tankards of beer and give a poisoned chalice of wine. On cavalry, which @jak7139 covered excellently, they cost 2.5 times the cost of infantry for fewer pips and the pips are shock which comes after the infantry/artillery fire phase. Thanks
I expect the impending war with France will increase your great power standing, if you can prevail. Hoping so. Looking forward to it!
Forgive me for not remembering this -- Franconia is an ally, yes, and not a vassal? Do you worry that you might end up fighting them at some point? I guess probably unlikely this late in the game.
@jak7139 is there an approximate military tech level where you/we find cavalry become less useful in combat? I was advised that I probably need more cavalry in the early game because they have good relative combat pips. But at some tech level there's a tipping point. I see with Maurician Infantry and Gallop Cavalry I have 7 combat pips for infantry, 9 for cavalry (with quite a few more maneuver). That still seems like cavalry can be dominant, but it's waning.
That’s right, an ally. Haven’t had any vassals so far, just the two colonial subjects. Hope not to fight them, but in a one on one (problematic of course) I think we’d take them down
@jak7139 is there an approximate military tech level where you/we find cavalry become less useful in combat? I was advised that I probably need more cavalry in the early game because they have good relative combat pips. But at some tech level there's a tipping point. I see with Maurician Infantry and Gallop Cavalry I have 7 combat pips for infantry, 9 for cavalry (with quite a few more maneuver). That still seems like cavalry can be dominant, but it's waning.
Tech 16 (around 1609) is a big upgrade for artillery and is when you should start slowly phasing in more artillery (limited by how much you can afford, don't go overboard if you can't handle it). The reason tech 16 is so huge is that it gives +1 artillery fire damage. At tech 16 (for Western countries), your artillery has 8 pips, your infantry has 12, and your cavalry has 10. So, yes, cavalry is still decent at the start of the 17th-century, but by the middle of it and into the 18th, you should've moved to artillery/infantry-based stacks. Tech 17 also gives your cavalry a boost to their shock damage, but shock damage will eventually be superseded by fire damage.
An important note about artillery: artillery fighting from the back row only do 50% damage. If artillery is in the front rank, it will apply its full damage, but take double. Artillery also transfer half their defensive pips to the units in front of them during a battle.
We drove through and back through Frisia today going to Groningen for a day trip. Absolutely stunning countryside. Couldn't take a photo but I wish I did.
Brandenburg, in my game, hasn't used mercs in some time, partly because I realized the effect upon Professionalism, which I'm actively attempting to cultivate now. The mercs are still tempting, because of their separate manpower pools, but if I use them again it will be in certain judicious ways.
Here, I've probably (and will probably) not manage the professionalism mechanics as well as I might have, but will try to bear them in mind once I'm through the next phase of things. For now, I'm more interested in using them to shield my manpower reserves.
@jak7139 is there an approximate military tech level where you/we find cavalry become less useful in combat? I was advised that I probably need more cavalry in the early game because they have good relative combat pips. But at some tech level there's a tipping point. I see with Maurician Infantry and Gallop Cavalry I have 7 combat pips for infantry, 9 for cavalry (with quite a few more maneuver). That still seems like cavalry can be dominant, but it's waning.
Tech 16 (around 1609) is a big upgrade for artillery and is when you should start slowly phasing in more artillery (limited by how much you can afford, don't go overboard if you can't handle it). The reason tech 16 is so huge is that it gives +1 artillery fire damage. At tech 16 (for Western countries), your artillery has 8 pips, your infantry has 12, and your cavalry has 10. So, yes, cavalry is still decent at the start of the 17th-century, but by the middle of it and into the 18th, you should've moved to artillery/infantry-based stacks. Tech 17 also gives your cavalry a boost to their shock damage, but shock damage will eventually be superseded by fire damage.
An important note about artillery: artillery fighting from the back row only do 50% damage. If artillery is in the front rank, it will apply its full damage, but take double. Artillery also transfer half their defensive pips to the units in front of them during a battle.
best would be france ferrying their troops there, then losing their navy to them leaving their army stranded there and their clay unprotected in Europe
one issue I have with literally all modern Paradox game is the 3D maps. I LOVED the 2D of the earlier games and this just seems to be a chaotic mess (which also coincidentally works up my over-a-decade-old-ex-work-laptop-I-now-use-personally. I would've paid for an update that made the map of the EU4 into EU2 style of the map.
Yes, it's one of the reasons I tend you use larger scale overviews more and use all that highlighting and labelling in my battle maps: otherwise it can be quite hard to follow what's going on, on what it is I'm referring to in the descriptions.
That's true with most things. Thankfully, Paradox finally added the long-requested feature of allowing you to at least look at the DoW screen without a diplomat. That way you can see how the alliances stack up.
Becoming Emperor isn't available for republics since the position is hereditary. Electorship, though, is on the cards. You'd either have to kill one of the current Electors and hope Austria gives you the title. Or, you force vassalize an Elector, then ask Austria via decision to transfer the title to you. Both options require the Emperor to like you.
Ah, right, makes sense. Heh, the Emperor hates my guts and has for a long time now. The days are numbered that his dead hand shall rest on the tiller of the Frisian ship of state! Long Live Frisian Freedom, including from the Imperial yoke!
Yes, your professionalism does take a pretty big hit when hiring mercs. That's why players ideally like to burn their professionalism for manpower first, then hire mercs.
Regarding the discussion about potentially getting rid of an idea group, Mercenary Ideas removes the professionalism decrease for mercs. It also allows them to drill.
Just FYI, the peace option to pillage a state does give AE. And, can sometimes hurt your main war aims by giving you more AE than you can afford. Like with the final peace:
That extra AE given to you by Cologne prevented you from seeking a larger peace with Aachen. You were afraid of the potential coalition, so didn't seek more. But if you were worried about a coalition, then the extra 9.9 from pillaging Cologne should've been unacceptable.
Ah, OK, though not too much damage done in this case. That was about the size of peace I wanted anyway - so long as I got Aachen and Bremen, that was the main aim. Will try to be more savvy on this in the future.
Looking at the screenshot from your comment feedback, your combat-width is 40 and your cav-to-inf-ratio is 50%.
The ideal combat/siege-focused army (not garrisons) for a Western power in this period should be (inf-cav-art) 40-2/4-40. Usually, those stacks are split in half but kept next to one another due to supply limits. Garrisons, even if they don't have as much artillery, should only have 2-4 cavalry in them.
The 2-4 number for cavalry is if you have any ideas, policies, etc. that boost cav. I don't think you do, so having two units per army is probably a safer assumption than having four.
Regardless, you have way too much cavalry. Having any more than 10 regiments at this point isn't worth it. Those remaining twenty-seven units should be converted (sooner rather than later) into infantry or artillery. The Twenty-seven infantry or artillery would deal more damage at this point (and the infantry are cheaper so would save you money). The artillery, although more expensive, make up for it with higher damage and with faster sieges.
Didn't check that again before playing the next session, but I think it was either very temporary or a display bug, so didn't really worry about it after that.
On cavalry, which @jak7139 covered excellently, they cost 2.5 times the cost of infantry for fewer pips and the pips are shock which comes after the infantry/artillery fire phase.
They should have more value in some kind of recon/screening capacity (as they did in OTL all the way through to the Napoleonic period and even up the the American CW), but I guess that's not really part of the mechanics?
Many thanks! Yes, Aragon has controlled Sardinia since the game started, as had Genoa in Corsica until 13 July 1729, when Aragon occupied it a year before they were given it in the peace settlement. They had been fighting separately with Genoa the whole time, I just didn't bother covering it in the narrative due to space considerations.
We drove through and back through Frisia today going to Groningen for a day trip. Absolutely stunning countryside. Couldn't take a photo but I wish I did.
A big episode here with much happening. All bar one of the illustrations via AI, all Playground except for one from Bing, which is the diplomat delivering a note to Songhai in an inset.
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Domestic Issues: July 1730 to November 1731
The peace treaty with Aachen of 14 July 1730 saw it and Bremen annexed by Friesland. The next period focused on absorbing those new territories into the Republic, ensuring the resultant animosity from many neighbours and other members of the Holy Roman Empire (HRE) and continue to rebuild the Frisian manpower reserve.
On 21 July, a rebalance of the Frisian Leger commenced, with 20 cavalry regiments disbanded (12 in Europe, 6 in the FEI and 2 in Guinea). [NB: it was only at that point I realised that in EU4, unlike some other Paradox games, you don’t get any manpower refund, apparently due to past geographical disband/rebuild exploits. So 20,000 manpower effectively lost there.]
To bring the Leger back up to its force limit (it had been 2 regiments over) 6 new infantry and 12 artillery regiments began training, which would lead to a new balance of 104 infantry, 17 cavalry and 103 artillery regiments.
In early August a large amount of ducats was spent up front to hopefully save more in the longer term (given the size of Friesland’s trade economy).
And the growth of the Republic led to a demand by the citizens and burghers of Stade being granted a new seat in the Landtag, bringing it to 14 members.
In terms of new targets for colonial expansion in Africa and employing similar diplomatic tactics to those that had been used in Europe recently, Friesland decided that Songhai would be the best ‘collateral target’ to get at Air: an ally of Air (who would likely come to their defence) and Kong (who would not).
Four new conscription centres were started in European provinces on 26 October for around 1,100 ducats. Later that year, a little extra development in Bengkulu allowed construction of a new furnace to begin, the first in the Republic. And by that time, all the newly recruited regiments had deployed.
By January 1731 Friesland was still not in a position to withdraw from the HRE, which would have led to the as-yet ‘un-cored’ Aachen and Bremen being released. It would take some time yet for this to be achieved, especially as Aachen was still being converted to Catholicism before coring could begin.
In July, four new great frigates were laid down in European ports, which would still leave space for 10 more vessels to be constructed within the naval force limit. The next month, the new conscription centres were completed, with another six infantry and one artillery regiments beginning training, with two more cavalry regiments having been recently disbanded as well.
As eyes turned to preparations for war against Songhai and Air, potential ally Aragon still had a truce in place with Songhai until October 1732. Then on 16 November Bremen became a core part of the Republic: just Aachen to go now.
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Diplomacy and Foreign Affairs: July 1730 to August 1731
In the immediate aftermath of the war with Aachen, as mentioned earlier the impact on relations through aggressive expansion on neighbouring countries was significant, adding to the ‘unlawful territory’ effect on HRE members. And it was clear that the hate from France was very deeply entrenched – principally based on French greed for Frisian land, at home and in new Frisia.
On the diplomatic front, the focus switched to shoring up relations with Bavaria, part of a program that would go forward in the next few years to ensure the ally network was tended to carefully.
In the Far East, the Shu emperor won its war with Shun and Japan, bringing another large slice of Chinese territory into their burgeoning empire. And now giving them a direct border with Russia for the first time.
The other long-term Frisian colonial target of recent years was Demak. A claim would be available soon but even then, Malacca’s likely defence of Demak due to their trade league links was a significant discouragement. And it was not a relationship Friesland could exert influence on to end, unlike an ordinary alliance.
The inevitable aftermath of the recent annexations saw the Austrian HRE Emperor issued a standard unlawful territory demand regarding Bremen on 8 October 1730, adding further to the malus held by HRE members [typically, from -65 to -90]. As the year ended, small Bohemian ally Thuringia sued for peace with Wolgast, with the latter pillaging it and forcing reparations.
When the relationship with Aragon was improved as much as it could, the charm offensive was shifted next to Savoy, where their opinion of Friesland had slipped into negative sentiment recently.
Also, the previous ‘blip’ in the Great Power stakes had been corrected, with Friesland back into sixth place in the pecking order by April 1731.
At that time, the relationship with Britain had been maximised. Even though there was ‘room’ for one more alliance arrangement, the other relationships of both countries precluded an immediate alliance being accepted.
Sacrificing the Savoy alliance (which Friesland would have considered) would not quite be enough: Friesland would have had to ditch Scandinavia, which they were not willing to do at this point. So the outreach moved on next to Franconia, to shore up that long-term relationship.
Austria concluded its war with Strasbourg on 12 July 1731, fully annexing the west German state which did not quite share a border with Friesland but brought in close.
The claim on Pajang was lodged against Demak in September, even if Friesland wasn’t yet ready to act upon it given Demak’s supporting relationships.
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Path to War: September 1730 to May 1732
The preparations for war with Songhai and, through them, Air kicked into gear on 2 September 1731 with the hiring in northern Guinea of two mercenary armies: the Asafo Company (24/0/6) and the Dahomey Amazons (11/1/3) at a total cost of around 2,300 ducats in hiring fees and monthly maintenance of about 60 ducats.
The main combat battle fleet (32 three-deckers, 2 great frigates and 20 archipelago frigates) set sale from Friesland to Bonny four days later. No transports were sent: they would remain at home.
As both mercenaries and fleets assembled and readied themselves, Air concluded a favourable separate peace with Tunisian ally Morocco on 10 December, taking two border provinces for themselves and granting another to Songhai. Their war against Tunis itself continued strongly, having occupied large swathes of Tunisian territory.
As the year ended, the Frisian battle fleet arrived in Bonny, ready of necessary to deal with the 15 warships Air had at port in Benin on the Gulf of Guinea. By 2 January 1731, both the mercenary armies had finished being raised but were still working up to full morale. The same day, diplomat Sikke van Uylenburgh was recalled from far Demak, a trip that would take another 53 days.
When he arrived home on 25 February, he was set to re-creating the spy network in Air, in anticipation of the intelligence gained being used in the imminent war. The Dahomey Amazons were ready for combat but the Asafo Company still had some way to go to be ready. Air was fielding 76,000 troops but had no manpower reserve left in their war with Tunis [+46% warscore].
A week later, the Asafo Company was ready and four Frisian armies (two mercenary, two regular) were in position. A diplomat was briefly recalled from Bavaria and delivered a short and sharp communique to Songhai on 4 March 1732: it would be war!
The two mercenary companies and an advanced division of 5 regular infantry regiments would make the initial advances into Benin and Idah. L.v. Calabar and Inhambane started moving up behind them in reserve, having stayed back to avoid overcrowding and attrition during the build-up. The battle fleet blockaded Benin.
By 4 April the major fortress in Ife was also under siege with Benin occupied by the 21st, which would soon force out the Air fleet trapped there. Idah fell four days later.
Air’s leaderless fleet, with three capital ships and 12 frigates, had no chance against the Frisian mariners led by crack admiral Friso Jongstra that included 20 vessels with the advantage in coastal waters. Two frigates were captured and the rest sent to the bottom of the Gulf of Guinea in four days. The fleet and its prizes headed back to port for rest and repair, with no more blockade duty to do.
The Asafo Company began the siege of Wukari, the other Air fortress blocking further inland progress, on 8 May. They would eventually need some artillery supplementation to help make more progress against the substantial fortifications.
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Diplomacy and Foreign Affairs: November 1731 to September 1733
Shu formally integrated their small client state Liang into the growing Chinese empire on 1 November 1731. Were they coming to the limits of their natural expansion without taking on more powerful adversaries?
Wolgast reached a white peace with Dithmarschen on 9 February 1732, leaving Bohemia still entangled with their adversary: each held some of the other’s territory, with Wolgast having a clear advantage in battles fought, less so in terms of territorial gains.
A short nationalist war launched by Tuscany against Ferrara saw Bologna ripped away from the latter after less than three months. Ferrara had only gained Bologna in October 1724 and held it for less than eight years.
Friesland’s truces with Bohemia and Switzerland expired on 1 July 1732, though this would have little near term significance, especially given the hard times both had suffered since their disastrous defeat by Friesland and Franconia.
The diplomatic outreach continued in August, moving from Bavaria to Brunei as the allies were kept happy.
When the job was also finished in Franconia the next month, Gerulf Galama was kept at home though he really should have been employed again at that point – an oversight by the Potestaat).
The Russians decided to pounce on the rump Shun state in September 1732 while Shu would have been bound by a treaty. This was likely to spark border tensions between the two at some later point.
Then a couple of weeks later, the tide had turned decisively against Bohemia, forced to concede five provinces, tribute and reparations to the victorious Wolgasters in a big boost to the latter’s territory.
When relations with Savoy were fully boosted on 2 January 1733 [to +93 net], that envoy was also recalled and not given a new assignment yet. In the East Indies, France forced another peace on a small Aceh-Malaccan ally when they pillaged Demak in March.
Big news closer to home came in September, when the ever-aggressive Ottomans declared war on Tuscany. The Turks had not fully recovered their army strength to previous levels after the punishing war for Lithuania and only had a small manpower reserve available.
Tuscany could muster a smaller but significant army; however it was their powerful local ally Savoy (a Frisian ally) who muster a far larger force. The Ottomans would no doubt have the weight of power eventually, but this would not be an easy struggle for them.
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The Songhai-Air War: June 1732 to September 1733
By 13 June 1732 the mercenary leader of the Dahomey Amazons – a siege expert (three pips) had arrived in Ife to take over the siege and relieve the regulars there, who left their siege train but then withdrew to the reserve in Ondo.
In something of a setback, Air reached peace terms with Tunis on 22 June, taking a couple of provinces in the north. More important was that their army would now be released to concentrate solely on the war with Friesland.
In response, Friesland spent another 1,750 ducats hiring the large Independent Army (39/2/4, 50 maintenance) the same day. They had deployed in Bonny by 13 July and began working up to battle readiness in reserve.
In late August, four artillery regiments were detached from Ife to support the Asafo Company in Wukuri, where the siege was making very slow progress [still only -78%]. They had arrived by the end of September – and so had the first Air army to appear in the south.
The Independent Army was moved up to Idah in a blocking position. They would be prevented from advancing any further by the forts of Ife and Wukuri. By that time, the remaining regular troops – without their artillery, which was support the sieges – remained in reserve in the combined L.v. Calabar at Ondo.
A few days later, some of the military points being saved were spent in a bombardment in Wukuri to breach the walls in the slow-moving siege. By then, Aragon could have been called into the war, but this was not done yet [mainly because I hadn’t noticed the change in status!].
On 13 October, Aragon launched an imperialist war to take Tlemcen, which was supposedly being guaranteed by Air. Air did not defend them (perhaps understandably), though (unwisely) Morocco did; they were now at war with Aragon, Castile and Portugal.
Blocked in Idah by a larger force, Air’s 5th Army in Pindanga skirted around the north of Ife through Nupe in Songhai and then north out of sight to Yawuri from 26 October to 4 November. Their objective was unknown and they were soon out of Frisian visibility. Five days later, a bombardment was finally ordered in Ife as well: the sieges were simply taking too long as many Frisian troops stood idle, hemmed in by the stubbornly held forts.
Air’s objective was understood when their 5th Army arrived in the Frisian outpost of the Grain Coast on 13 March 1733, occupying it a month later. This was basically ignored, as it did nothing to shift the dial in the balance of the war and Friesland preferred to see them on some distant and unimportant flank.
The appearance of Aragonese troops chasing a small Moroccan force in northern Songhai in late June 1733 alerted the Potestaat to the potential to call them into the war, which was done on 30 June. To that point, casualties for both sides (not counting any mercenary losses) had been very low by the standards of the time.
When Aragon’s army defeated the Moroccans on 14 July, Friesland asked them to invest Gao, the capital of Songhai and notional principal war objective. Of course, this would be completely ignored for the rest of the war! Instead, by 13 August they were besieging the fort at Dendi: better than nothing, anyway.
That day, Ife fell to Friesland, though the neighbouring fort at Nupe in Songhai would continue to block access to the interior. Instead. The Dahomey Amazons (less the extra artillery train) was sent on a lengthy and risky end run through Castilian, Aragonese, Kong and Moroccan territory to try to reach Gao, relying in part on Aragon’s presence in Dendi to protect them.
By mid-September, the fall of Ife had just turned the war slightly in Friesland’s favour. The Independent Army was now able to move up through Ife to invest Nupe, where they would be joined by one of the siege trains as the Amazons kept marching west.
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Domestic Issues: February 1732 to September 1733
Heresy was expunged from Aachen in early February 1732, allowing the process of coring to begin – which would take another 18 months. The increased Papal influence from this allowed a Blessing for the Potestaat to be requested, improving army morale [+10%] and yearly prestige growth [+1] for the next 20 years! An excellent war-time boost.
Then in late March, the much-discussed switch was made in national ideas, with exploration abandoned to begin developing offensive ideas.
Three months later, a new diplomatic idea was adopted to assist with the current Frisian charm offensive with their ally base.
With mercenary and army maintenance costs mounting and not wanting to encourage heresy, in August the large bequest of a wealthy merchant was ploughed into the state treasury.
As the year 1732 ended, the treasury held 24,600 ducats with a monthly deficit of -45. By far the largest demand was of course army maintenance, which with mercenary salaries and force limit penalties exceed 360 ducats a month, almost exactly the same as trade income. Tax, production, gold and tariff income was not quite enough to match administrative, fleet and fort maintenance costs.
In May 1733, Frisian splendour was such that a new ability was available: anti-revolutionary zeal was chosen to try to ‘future-proof’ the Republic’s subjects (current and potential) from the threat of revolution currently spreading throughout the Ottoman Empire into Europe.
Then the big moment the Republic had been inching towards for centuries was realised when Aachen became a core province on 7 August. Frisian Freedom would be unleashed as they withdrew from the old Holy Roman Empire.
Six days later a new Federal Republic of equal international status was declared. Long live the Federal Republic of Friesland!
This soon saw a cultural union spread across all of the Republic’s German provinces, with all of them (or practically the three other than Frisian which still held any sway) becoming accepted.
The same day, in the spirit of the martial challenges they were likely to meet in keeping their Republic, a new offensive idea was adopted: good old-fashioned bayonet charges would fire up the troops in the field and put fear into the quivering enemies of the Republic!
AuthAAR’s Endnote: There will be a separate annex to this chapter issued soon to cover the Ottoman-Lithuanian War over this period in some detail, given its size and significance to Friesland (between their biggest ally and the world hegemon) and the rest of Europe.
By mid-September, the fall of Ife had just turned the war slightly in Friesland’s favour. The Independent Army was now able to move up through Ife to invest Nupe, where they would be joined by one of the siege trains as the Amazons kept marching west.
Then the big moment the Republic had been inching towards for centuries was realised when Aachen became a core province on 7 August. Frisian Freedom would be unleashed as they withdrew from the old Holy Roman Empire.
The same day, in the spirit of the martial challenges they were likely to meet in keeping their Republic, a new offensive idea was adopted: good old-fashioned bayonet charges would fire up the troops in the field and put fear into the quivering enemies of the Republic!
They should have more value in some kind of recon/screening capacity (as they did in OTL all the way through to the Napoleonic period and even up the the American CW), but I guess that's not really part of the mechanics?
[NB: it was only at that point I realised that in EU4, unlike some other Paradox games, you don’t get any manpower refund, apparently due to past geographical disband/rebuild exploits. So 20,000 manpower effectively lost there.]
By January 1731 Friesland was still not in a position to withdraw from the HRE, which would have led to the as-yet ‘un-cored’ Aachen and Bremen being released.
Sacrificing the Savoy alliance (which Friesland would have considered) would not quite be enough: Friesland would have had to ditch Scandinavia, which they were not willing to do at this point. So the outreach moved on next to Franconia, to shore up that long-term relationship.
Just a quick public service announcement: not only is it the northern summer holiday ‘slow season’, but we are in the process of buying, selling and then moving house over coming weeks. Things are at 100mph so the various AARs will be on the slow burner for a while. Normal transmission will resume in due course!
I love how Austria demanded that you return Bremen and then annexed Strasbourg soon after. The sheer hypocrisy is amusing - I guess that's a privilege of being the Holy Roman Emperor?
Congrats on freeing yourself from the clutches of the Empire! Long live the Federal Republic!
What territory will you demand from Air and Songhai?
How long will it take the French to declare war on you now that you have no imperial protection?
@Bullfilter apologies, I've been catching up on this slowly these last couple weeks. Caught up again, and glad for the hiatus to do so, though sorry to hear of your injury and other troubles lately!
I notice Wolgast has more or less taken the place of Brandenburg in your playthrough!
OK, looks like AAR's back on the menu, boys! I have a little window of time now to regain a semblance of normal life (even as we are in the process of selling our current house then probably moving into the new one in November). Got back to a cricket practice on Sunday too.
Anyway, on to comment feedback from way back in last month, then the promised mini-chapter on the big Ottoman v Lithuania and Scandinavia war.
I love how Austria demanded that you return Bremen and then annexed Strasbourg soon after. The sheer hypocrisy is amusing - I guess that's a privilege of being the Holy Roman Emperor?
@Bullfilter apologies, I've been catching up on this slowly these last couple weeks. Caught up again, and glad for the hiatus to do so, though sorry to hear of your injury and other troubles lately!
I notice Wolgast has more or less taken the place of Brandenburg in your playthrough!
Chapter 53A: The Ottoman-Lithuanian War (1730-31)
Note: As promised, this separate annex describes the events of the Ottoman-Lithuanian War, of some interest to Friesland due to the involvement of their major and long-standing ally Scandinavia. Including this amount of detail in the main chapter would have blown out its length, but I still wanted to tell the story.
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By November 1730, Lithuania proper had been fully occupied by the Ottomans, though their Russian enclave remained free and the Scandinavians had arrived in force, taking some Ottoman Russian provinces nearby. Scandinavia appeared to have put a very large amount of troops in the field that were now in or approaching eastern Lithuania. The main visible Ottoman army was in the vicinity of Scandinavian Livonia.
A good part of eastern Lithuania had been liberated by late December, while the Turks had occupied the rest of Livonia and another Ottoman army was entering southern Finland. The Scandinavian army had broken into a number of medium sized armies and seemed to be ranging around unhampered for now. But hundreds of thousands of Ottoman soldiers remained unaccounted for.
In March 1731 more Lithuanian territory had been freed as the main Scandinavian army moved to secure the west of the country. But in the south-east, Ottoman armies had closed up with the separated and isolated Scandinavian armies. The period of Lithuanian resurgence inspired by their ally’s rescue mission was now in danger.
The entire Scandinavian 5th Army (43 regiments) had been destroyed in south-east Lithuania by the end of March and it was now the turn of their 6th Army to face the wrath of the Ottomans. What started as a relatively even battle in late March turned into a rout by 10 April as a second Ottoman army reinforced, with Fokke Ebbesen retreating towards Zhytomir.
By the end of April the 6th Army had also been defeated as the Ottomans began retaking Lithuanian provinces. The Scandinavians had withdrawn back to Livonia, where they were trying to retake their own lands currently being occupied by the enemy.
To that point, the Lithuanian-Scandinavian alliance had lost 428,000 men (most in land battles) while the Ottomans had lost 666,000 (mostly through attrition). The trend of the war had once again tipped in their direction after a brief Lithuanian resurgence. But the Ottomans still fielded over 850,000 troops in total, despite their losses.
While the main Scandinavian army continued to work north liberating Livonian territory, the 6th Army had been operating independently in western Lithuania but was once again cornered and this time destroyed at Palenké on 17 May 1731.
In late July, the Scandinavians managed to turn the tables on the Ottomans in Narva, when their main combined army defeated a smaller Turkish force that had strayed too close.
Although the Scandinavians had managed to concentrate almost 200,000 men in Livonia by mid-September, the war was lost: Lithuania surrendered on 16 September 1731, leaving them with just a single province. The once significant Eastern European power had been virtually eliminated as the seemingly unstoppable Ottoman juggernaut continued its path of aggressive expansion.
