European Warmongers I - AAR

[Aladar]

- Cultural Rule: Any nation that control 75% of a culture for 30 years may claim that culture as state culture, but a nation can claim only ONE (1) culture. Plan it carefully as a culture gained by this way will not be removed in any case; Japanese, Han, Mongol, and Cantonese can't be claimed. Persian can only be claimed by OE or Mughals after 1650. The burden of proof in this matter lies on the players.

- A nation that controls a province for 60 years, which isn't his core, and has a state culture, will get a core on it, if he can post province ID and a name. Further, the core province MUST have the same religion as the country. Provinces with COLONIAL culture cannot be claimed.

- At the end of each session, a nation can claim ONE (1) province as a new core province. The core can be placed on any land province in the world, regardless of ownership. To be able to claim it, the player will have to put together the name and the ID of the province.

- AAR and intense diplomacy are highly recomended. Don't let the game die during the weekdays. For claiming a reward, player must write at least 10 understandable sentences about what happened with his country in the last session. It is important for AAR to be continuing overview of history (even short) rather then list of highlights that happened. Cumulative rewards are non existant. Each player who writes an AAR at on later than sunday 18.00 CEST the following sunday, will be able to choose one of these rewards:

- 0,50 deflation
- 0,50 x YI (max 1000d)
- -2BB
- +1 stab

And in 1650 we change to present prizes:

- 1,0 deflation
- -4BB
- 1 x YI (max 2000d)
- +2 Stab

 

[Aladar]

English AAR 1453 - 1470

Henry VI ruler of the lovely isle in the north sea, received word from his spies in Burgundy, that an attack from France on Burgundy was eminent. Forces were at once dispatched to the northern part of Burgundy.

Arriving in the fall of 1453, France was already invading. Forces under Rawlinson, Shuker and the famoues general Warwick landing in the north, and soon after the provinses of Groeningen, Zwolle and Amsterdam fell.

The foul King of France did not like the great victories of England, and ambushed Shuker in the provinses of Zeeland. Outnumred the army was destroyed by the frogmaster Richemont. Death to the frogs.

In 1456 Burgundy offered us the 3 northern provinses, and to get rid of the foul King of France, we offered the froginfested provinse of Calais for peace. The King of France was tricked and accepted this offer, not seing the provinses for what it really was - frogland in the first place.

In the meantime Ireland has accepted to become vassels of England. The scots did not have the same wisdom, so they had to be convinced by force. The highlands are rocky thou, and many a scotsman can hides under a stone. Hence it took several attempts to catch them all and siege there provinses. In the end however, they saw the wisdom of living under the english yok....i mean protection.

Henry VI died soon after, leaving the throne to the more peaceloving Edward IV who ruled England with peace and prosperity till 1470. He did however see fit to invite several italian drillmasters, who over the have turned the english trops into the finest troops in the world.

Ontime reward: -0,5 deflation
AAR reward: -2BB
Core on Iceland

 

[unmerged(14689)]

Sweden 1453-1470

At the start of the session, the possibilities for Sweden were vast. Both Denmark and the Teutonic Order were ripe for the picking and in order to strengthen its position in the Baltic as soon as possible, the Swedes wasted little time to take action.

Denmark, an ally at the start, was chosen as the first target, both due to its proximity and wealth. With two good siege leaders, Skåne and Akerhus were besieged while the Swedish navy was sent out to clear the Baltic Sea of Danish presence. The Danes did not put up a lot of resistance on land, but at sea, the Swedes had to be more careful. However, it was not long before the Danish navy, or at least what was left of it, had been locked up in various harbors, unwilling to show itself. Smart move.

With Swedish armies now roaming the Danish lands with impunity, peace was soon accepted in exchange for Bergenhus, Fyn, Skåne, Gotland, Jämtland. I missed Gotland in that peace offer, thus losing my CB on Denmark... o

Peace had been declared in 1457, but already the troops were placed in position for a new war, this time on the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea against the Teutonic Order. Since the German Knights had only a small force in their capital province, it was decided to cripple them immediately, by covering all their provinces and destroying their defense force in Curonia. They never had a change and when peace came, they were left only with their capital.

Next stop: Denmark again. Because I lacked a CB, my stab loss was substantial and just in the war, I got a -3 stab event... :wacko: The Danes didn't even put up a fight and Sweden walked away from this 2nd Danish War with Jylland, Slesvig, Trøndelag and Eidsiva. A Baltic empire was starting to take shape...

After this success, the Swedes, again, turned to the Teutonic Order. A mercy force (to put them out of their misery ) was gathered with the goal of sacking the capital and force-vassalizing the German knights. All went according to plan, when news reached the siege armies that Muscowy and it's array of cowardly buddies (Novgorod, Pskov, Tver and Ryazan) had declared war!

Undeterred, the Swedish siege army finished the matter at hand after which the Teutonic Order was vassalized. This success, however, couldn't hide the fact that Sweden now was in serious trouble. Muscowy's lackeys were sending huge stacks of men over the border and although some efforts were made to stop them, the numerical advantage of the hordes was just too big. The Baltic States and Vyborg are now under immediate threat of occupation, but the Swedes will not give in. The hordes shall not prevail, civilization will!

Yes, a bit of propaganda, so what? You should've seen the huge AI-stacks at and over my door step!

On time and AAR bonus: -BB
Core request: Sjælland, 307
Leaders: Generals as many as allowed

 

[unmerged(36826)]

France was freshly invigorated by its victory against England in the Hundred Years War and the ambitious King made ready to launch a fresh war, to subjugate the Dukedom of Burgundy and so destroy the last remaining claimant to hegemony over the french people.

The war proceeded well at first, despite the Burgundian's many allies sending hundreds of thousands of men to fight off the french Richemonte, Dunois and Jean Bureau showed their mettle once again by driving the burgundians north in a headlong retreat. However it was not going to be that easy as the King of England, little more than a babbling fool, decided to take advantage of the imminent burgundian defeat to seize the entire lowlands.

The King could not allow this and after much negotiation and seige stealing on both sides Franec had had enough and declared war on the english. Richmonte annihilated a sizeable army in flanders as another english general and his retinue were seized by Dunois's forces.

Following these defeats the English somehow still managed to persuade the burgundians to sign a peace for the 3 provinces they controlled to french amazement. Calais was offered in exchange for France letting such provinces be, and with the german and burgundian armies regrouping it was accepted.

The peace allowed Richmonte to use his full force on the germans, after the burgundians had folded to french demands for vassalage, and the Palatinat, Cologne, Lorraine and Strassburg were all overun and made subjects of france.

Next was the southern alliance of Anjou and Savoy, the rich lands of House Anjou in Maine were taken along with most of Savoy and vassalage over Provence.

Peace was then the order of the day, with trade and investment in infrastructure taking priority along with efforts to centralise the government.

AAR: 533 ducats
ontime: -2BB
core: 374 (strassburg)

 

[unmerged(53580)]

So, my lord prince, today we will go over the remaining years of of Friedrich II's reign, Margrave of the electorate of Brandenburg. As you no doubt remember the first 13 years of his reign was a time of peace, some economic reforms where made, diplomatic ties established and so on, you no doubt remember that an alliance with Poland, Saxony and Hessen where formed at the point we left, in may 1453, this alliance will become significant later, but the time of carefull courting and negotiation was at an end, it was now time for Friedrich to conduct diplomacy at the point of a lance, and Hannover to the west was the first target. Under leadership of Merrel and Puscat, both siege experts, and Merrel in particular was a very able at leading devastating charges with his hussars. It did not take long before Hannover was brougth to it's knees, Friedrich could add Braunsweig and Luenenburg to his realm, while Hannover was allowed to exist as a free city under the protection of the margrave, but had to pay monthly tribute for that protection.

Merrel and Puscat did not rest for long, the Brandenburgian armies was bolstered by new recruits, and the second objective was at hand, breaking the power of the hanseatic league, but first we need to mention that diplomats where sent to Kassel, where the court of Hessen accepted the generous offer of protection by Brandenburg, a tribute to Berlin had to be payed off course, but that was eagerly accepted. Puscat's invasion of Meclenburg was repelled at first, but the second march ended in a complete obliteration of the duchy's forces at the hands of Puscat. Meanwhile, Merrel's hussars teared the armies stationed in Holstein to shreds on the plains outside Hamburg, and laid siege to the city itself, not long after Friedrich could ride trough the gates and receive the keys to the city, with Hamburg the margrave established control of the important trade route from Germany to the north sea, and with the defeat of Bremen a year later, Merrel's accomplishments again, and the city becoming a protectorate of Brandenburg, just as Hannover had been for a few years now, all shipping on the Elbe could now be taxated and controlled.

While Bremen, Mecklenburg and Holstein fell easily, Pommern was a thougher nut to crack, Puscat could not defeat them, and even Merrel had problems with their guerrila tactics in the marshlands, but they where grinded down and obliterated eventually, the war ended with the incorporation of Vorpommern and wismar into Brandenburg, while Lubeck got the same status as Hannover and Bremen had, and the remains of Pommern became a vassal of Brandenburg. Shortly after Puscat showed that he had diplomatic talents as well, when Poland, with the assistant of Brandenburg as an ally, invaded Prussia, the situation migth perhaps best be described as overkill, but what the Polish had intended to annex became a protectorate of Brandenburg instead.

Brandenburg was clearly developing into the dominating power in northern germany, and even though Saxony was an ally, it became clear that they envied their northern neighbour and where plotting to seize the hegemony for themselves, off course that was not something Friedrich could accept, and the other members of the coalition agreed to kick them out and let Brandenburg dispose over them as they pleased, Poland considered Brandenburg as a more usefull ally than Saxony (next lesson you will learn that it was a severe misjudgement on Poland's part), and Hessen would support whatever move Friedrich made. So the stage where set for the struggle over supremacy in northern germany, Saxony launched, arrogant as the where, invasions into Braunschweig and Brandenburg-proper, laying siege to Berlin itself. But the countermeasures where fatal for them, Puscat routed the force surrounding Berlin south into wittenberg, but the 35thousand saxons that went into Braunschweig was another matter, from there, only a rumour came, a rumour about the horror of thundering hooves, short after it's arrival, Merrel came with his Hussars, obliterating the remains of Saxony's army that recently had been chased from Wittenberg by Puscat, within months Saxony was overrun, occupied, conquered and reduced it to a mere shadow of it's former self.

As we are nearing the end of Friedrich's reign, a new conflict erupted in eastern europe, the massive alliance of Bohemia and Hungary along with a couple of other countries in the baltics came into conflict with Austria, after a brief consultation, Poland and Brandenburg decided on a joint operation against them, Hessen, Hannover and Bremen decided to send their forces for support as well, with Poland invading in the south and east, mainly against Hungary, the smaller german states in the west, and Brandenburg lead by Puscat and Merrel (though he received a fatal thrust of a lance early in the campaign, and died as he would be remembered, spearheading a spirited charge on horseback), Silesia fell, and Bohemian forces where pushed further and further back. In 1470 Albrecht Achilles inherited the throne in Berlin, as Praha was running short of food besieged by Puscat and the forces that had tripled Brandenburg's size in 15 years of succesfull military campaigns.

AAR: 313,5d
Core: 1946 (Warszawa)
Leaders: Generals, Generals, Generals as many as I am allowed to have

 

[bluelotus]

Castilian AAr 1453 – 1470

As 1452 passed and the New Year came Juan II the Second was thinking about expanding his country in Iberia. He quickly claimed whole Iberia, except Portugal, Sardinia, Sicily, Malta and Naples, and waged war on Aragon and their vassal Naples. Unfortunately Juan was very old by that time and he forgot to claim the islands of Baleares. Due to this mistake he soon had a heart attack in 1454. But before he died he could see his marvelous plan succeeding in Aragon: within a few weeks all of the cities on Iberia became under siege.

After the first cities fell on the mainland, the Castilian armies started an island hopping maneuver, they seized The Baleares, Sardinia, Sicily, Malta, and eventually the Iberian armies have ended up besieging the castles of Naples. Meanwhile in Madrid, as I wrote before, Juan met his end. His successor was Enrique “El Impotente” the fourth. There was only one reason of people calling him that way. He was stupid. As hell. In fact his skills was so low that if Juan hadn’t written his famous “How to not f*ck up my work” book, Castile would be a vassal of Navarra now. But since he wrote it, Castile could continue her progressing smoothly even with her dumb king.

And so when El Impotente saw that the war with Aragon is going good, he read the 2nd chapter of the Book, and by the god he followed the instructions and waged war against Granada with freshly recruited troops. The new armies fought well and managed to occupy the Islamic country before they could set up an acceptable defense grid.

Eventually the first set of wars ended with peaces concluded in late 1461 and in the spring of 1462. Gibraltar was taken from Granada, Naples got reduced to its capital, and Aragon could only hold Aragon, the Baleares, and Sardinia according to the treaty of Madrid. A few later the expansion continued into Italy. Castile moved against the Papal State and managed to secure every Papal territory except Rome up to River Po.

Between the new Italian conquests and the next set of wars against Aragon-Naples the CEF (Castilian Expedition Force) got the task of dealing with plenty of Austrian rebels. After this ridiculously easy task for the well trained Castilian Army Mr. Impotente waged war once again against Aragon. This time at the end Aragon got reduced to their capital and got vassalized by Castile. Apart from this not much has happened to Castile.

Short live the Impotent!

Ontime reward: -2BB
AAr reward: -2BB
Core: Lisboa 441

 

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Muscowy, Chapter I: 1453-1470

Grand Duchy of Muscowy gains supremacy among the Russian states and scatters the Mongolian hordes. The Russian Alliance stands in unified defence against the Swedish aggressors.

The era began with great diplomatic victories, as the Muscowian Grand Duke Vasily II Temny united the independent Russian states of Novgorod, Tver, Pskov and Ryazan under Muscowian leadership. The biggest factor leading to this unification was the threat posed by the growing Swedish aggression in the Baltic region and their obvious indifference towards the sovereignity of their neighboring counties. A widespread rumour says that the Swedish warmongers even tried to secretly negotiate about the partitioning of the free state of Novgorod between them and Muscowy.

According to the same sources, the noble Muscowian Grand Duke refused to even listen to such low offers of betraying his fellow Russians, and that it was as a countermeasure to these offers when he formed the Russian Coalition. Thus, it was above all a defensive alliance. Constant diplomacy led to the further strengthening of the Russian cooperation, as all Russian states one by one acknowledged the Grand Duke as their supreme ruler and began paying taxes for their status as vassals.

After a period of peace and inner development, Muscowy decided to strike back at the weakened Golden Horde on it’s eastern doorstep. The Mongolians put up a fierce fight, with winter claiming many casualties to both sides, but after a couple of years the enemy’s defense was broken and one by one the forts well before the victorious Russian armies. However, after Russians breaking the backbone of the enemy, Ottomans in the south decided to reach their greedy fingers for a slice of the shattered Mongolian empire too. With their superior military technology, the Turks insolently rushed over and claimed for themselves lands right before the Russians’ noses and captured the rich province of Astrakhan at the Caspian Sea.

The Russian command was deeply insulted by such shameless greed, but saw it wiser to at that moment refrain from waging war against the might of the Ottoman armies. However, these events would not be easily forgotten by the Russians, and many predicted that a large future bloodshed between the Russians and Turks was inevitable.

The Turkish expansion wasn’t the biggest threat, however. As Vasily III rose to leadership of the Russian people, he was deeply concerned by the Swedish attempts to annex Teutonic Order to herself, right at the Russian doorstep. As it was clear that there would be no limits to the Swedish greed if they were let free hands on their smaller neighbors, Vasily rallied the Russian Coalition in common defense to suppress the Swedish king’s uncontrolled lust for power. On September 23 of 1468, war was declared. The following day all of Muscowy’s vassals announced to join the war: the Coalition stood strong and unified against their common enemy.

In the darkness of New Year’s Eve of 1470, one could see a faint red glow in the western horizon. It was caused by the Swedish forts on the border burning as a continuous chain from Viborg to Riga. After several disastrous defeats, the Swedish forces were retreating everywhere. So far it seemed the Swedish army was no match to the might of united Russia.

On time reward: inflation -0,5 (I was on time at Fnuco’s game. You can’t blame me for being in wrong game, since in our thread it said Fnuco will host.)
AAR reward: inflation -0,5
Core: Sarai, ID 458

 

[EarendilHE]

History of the Ottoman Empire 1570


In 1453 the Ottoman Empire was about to annex the Byzantian Constantinople. It was only a shadow of his past glory, but still
it showed what can be achieved by Sunni Muslims.

After this success the sultan Mehmed turned his eyes towards the east. After short wars Dulkadir was annexed and Georgia lost half of its provinces. Then unsurprisingly the shiite alliance consisting of Persia and the Mameluks took the liberty to invade Anatolia. Soon the invasion was stopped by superior forces by Mehmed. A white peace was signed with Persia.
Mehmed advanced against the Mameluks first to Syria and the Lebanon. then further to Judaa, Sinai. Around the holy city of Jerusalem the last opposition by the Mameluks were captured or completly destroyed. After few months Mehmed made his first steps in Cairo. Alexandria and some more provinces were under turkish rule from now on.

A time of peace and prosper started. The conversion of the Balkan were continued and investment in infrastructure were made.

But Mehmed always had global glory in his mind. But who would accept his and his sons greatness, if not convinced by force.
So another war versus the Golden Horde, which was already in war with Muscowy, was started. Quickly Astrakhan and the capital was occupied as the entire southern provinces. It was forced by Mehmed to sign peace for all occupied provinces. Same happened with the vassal of the Golden Horde, Crimea. Mehmed soon realized that other Khanates had joined. Nogai, Sibir and the Khazak Horde were vassalized after uncounted days of war. Though the most important event was the securing of the trade centre in Khanty and the surrounding provinces.

ontime:bb-reduction
aar: 653,45 ducats
core: samara (1571)

 

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Austria 1453-1470

The Austrian position was feeble and it had nothing to base its future conquests upon except its diplomatic might. The Austrians could project a power they did not really have, and it was this appearance of hegemony that made it forge a German alliance together with other small principalities.

For the Germans, the enemy lies South. War on the Italians seemed to drag out forever, but the Austrian military machine was gearing up for war. During a stalemate on the Italian front, Bavaria and Wurtemburg were vassalized. A quick war was planned against The Palatinat, but due to diplomatic misunderstandings they were spared the brutal peace they had coming.

Impossibility to reach the Venetian islands saved the Italians, and peace was made for lands around the Adriatic, and the Papal states, a venetian ally, was stripped of two provinces. Austria was at peace, a state that could not go on for long.

War was declared on Hungary, and as 1470 drew closer, the ably led Landsknecht regiments were sieging city after Hungarian city, while fighting off they annoying allies in Bohemia and Croatia.


ontime: 0.5 x YI
AAR reward: 0.5 x YI
core: 325
leaders: same, 2 generals.

 

[Aladar]

English AAR 1470 - 1493

In the year of the lord 1470 time had come for the danish king Christian I to part with the isles north of England. Edward IV had heard rumors of great whiskey being produced on those isles, and being fund of whiskey this was more than enough reason for war.

The aging general Warwick was sent to Copenhagen with the message of war, and started sieged the city at once. However he was bit by a rat when visiting a swedish brothel in Malmø, so he died soon after leaving the army to do the sieging by themselfs.

Once Copenhagen and Olso had fallen, the isles north of England all fell without trouble, and in 1474 Nuuk, Faeroer, Orkney and Iceland was seded to England.

In the meantime Portugal had landed armies in the lowlands, fighting the Burgundians. When Austria inherited it all in 1477, Portugal however kept the provinses of Gelre, clearly a provinses with the english king had a claim on.

1478 came and war on Portugal was decleared. Madeira and Gelre was seded in 1482 and Portugal agreed that English ships could patrol their habours.

Later that year the Austrian king saw the wisdom in united a larger part of the lowlands under english rule and in 1483 seeded Zeeland, Brabrant and Breda.

Peace was now restored in the commenwealth and a great shipbuilding project was begun. Since then Henry VI took over the whiskey celler of Edward IV, and hasn't been seen ever since.

Ontime reward: BB-reduction
AAR-reward: BB-reduction
Core: Holland 339

 

[EarendilHE]

History of Ottoman Empire 1470-1493

The sultan was asked by the Swedish king for doing him a pleasure. Sweden was in danger because the Russian hordes had crossed the border. Though they were not well equipped, the Swedes couldnt withstand much longer.
So the current war with the Mameluks were ended as soon as possible with gaining Syria and Aleppo. Then the armies went north to Crimean provinces and Astrakhan. All in all 140000 men in arms. There was nothing to do for Russia than giving away Samara and another province with muslim inhabitants after few years of fighting.

Later the sultan decided to declare war on Austria to stop its current expansion on the balkan. As expected the war developed successfull at the beginning. Even Vienna, the Austrian capital was fallen. Though the Empire had high losses due to wrong combination of infantry and cavalry. A majority of infantry had permanent to fight versus cavalry. And then it happened: The sultan was killed on the battlefield. Mehmed was dead...30 years of reigning were ended. A sad day for the Empire! To make it short (the chronist is tired of writing all the day ;-)): The OE gained parts of Hungary for a short time, but in the end it all was lost to Austria.

But there was something good by that "loss", Russia dowed the OE to profit due to the high war exhaustion and the reduced turkish. It ended again with a victory for the OE. Russia had to give up Donetsk and Curona to Sweden.

ontime:bb-reduction
aar: bb-reduction
core: persian capital (id later)

 

[bluelotus]

Spanish AAr 1470-93

In 1470 El Impotente still had an unfinished job in Italy. Naples. So he ordered his Italian army to force-vassalize them. An so they did. And from now on I hopefully quit writing short few word sentences. Hopefully. This was the last offensive manouver of Enrique because from that point he ordered his steward to save up the census money for dear manufactories. Finally in 1473 he could order to build four wineries. Histroians said this was good for the country in several ways. First, unlike his name, this decision was not an impotent action. Secondly in December, 1474 he drank so much one night that he fell into the sea near Valencia. His successor was Über Isabel the First.

Isabel's first action was to improve the stability of her country, closely followed by the task of improving her relation with Aragon. Due to her actions Castille could diplo-annex Aragon in the late 1470s and could vassalize Navarra in the same time. We can connect an other great thing to her name, in 1476 Castille offically became Spain! Viva Espana!

The remaining years to 1488 was rather silent, the only thing that Spain did was helping Austria with taking care of her rebels and to diplo-annex Navarra. In 1488 however some evil machine put all Spain into deep sleep, except of course her rebels. We will see if Spain can wake up from this mysterious sleep-state. (understand as CTD after 22.30 and ghosting.)

Core : 434 (Porto)
On time reward: 550d
AAr reward: 550d

 

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Sweden 1470-1493

At the start of the session, Sweden was still at war with the Eastern hordes. After a few lucky victories by the hordes, the Baltics were deemed lost by the Swedish leadership and no attempts were made to reclaim them. Instead, it was decided to hold Vyborg at all cost. A mighty army was moved into the province and strong back up forces were positioned further inland. Wisely, no attempt was made by the Russians to breach this Swedish wall of steel.

If the Russians now hoped to be able to sit out the war and force Sweden to some kind of peace that would involve giving up land, they were dead wrong. Their blatent aggression had been noted by the whole of Europe, but especially the Porte was much displeased. In defence of Sweden, the Sultan's armies moved north and quickly ravaged the soft Russian underbelly. After some diplomatic skirmishes, peace was agreed upon; the Ottoman Empire gained two Russian provinces and Sweden gained a white peace with Muscowy. The war with Novgorod and the other smaller Russian principalities still wasn't over though and Sweden managed to take Ingria and Kexholm from Novgorod, which more than satisfied the Swedish King; finally a secure border in the East. The war, in all, had been quite a success in the end due to intervention by the Ottomans. Just too bad that Muscowy had been able to annex Sweden's vassal the Teutonic Order...

That was something to worry about later, though. With his army close to being rebuilt, the King now turned to Denmark again. War was declared and Denmark's provinces were besieged. Winter and a large Danish force in mountainous Finnmark proved quite costly, as did sailing to Greenland with a fleet of galleys ( ). Still, the war was a big success: Akerhus was added to the Swedish Empire and the rest of Denmark was vassalized.

However, there were bigger wars out there. A vicious war between the Austrians and Ottomans had been raging for a few years now and after initial successes, things didn't look good for the Ottomans. Muscowy saw this as an opportunity and declared war on the Ottoman Empire. Remembering the time when Sweden was aided by the Ottomans in its darkest hour, the King didn't hesitate for a moment and declared war on Muscowy.

The target was Curonia, which Muscowy had captured in the earlier war. A rebel army there was chased away and soon the province fell to Swedish troops. Sweden's entry into the war had little impact, though, since the Ottomans were turning the tide in the south by themselves already. Peace was declared in exchange for Curonia to Sweden and Donetsk to the Ottoman Empire.

After this, Sweden focussed on the economy, with trade level 3 being reached in 1490. Soon after, Sweden's first monopoly was established in Skåne. Stability issues had plagued Sweden in the past 40 years (Two times being at -3 is not funny! ) and so a manufactory was built in Stockholm to please the masses. With peace secure and an economy on the rise, Sweden's future looked bright indeed.

On-time: Cash
AAR: -BB
Core: Podlasie (288)
Leaders: Generals

 

[unmerged(14689)]

The Treaty of Vyborg​

The King of Sweden and the Grand Duke of Muscowy, acknowledging their common interest in peace and prosperity for all northern peoples, hereby make the following announcement to the world:

The province of Samogitia will be sold by the Grand Duke to the King of Sweden for a sum of 200d plus an undisclosed extra sum to be paid within two (2) years after January 1493.

Both powers agree to not attack each other or engage in any hostilities for the duration of the next session, since the northern snow has soaked up too much of the blood of our fine soldiers already.


Signed
The King of Sweden

OOC: Please edit Samogitia (289) to Sweden and 200d from my treasury to Muscowy's.

 

[unmerged(62774)]

The Treaty of Vyborg​

The King of Sweden and the Grand Duke of Muscowy, acknowledging their common interest in peace and prosperity for all northern peoples, hereby make the following announcement to the world:

The province of Samogitia will be sold by the Grand Duke to the King of Sweden for a sum of 200d plus an undisclosed extra sum to be paid within two (2) years after January 1493.

Both powers agree to not attack each other or engage in any hostilities for the duration of the next session, since the northern snow has soaked up too much of the blood of our fine soldiers already.


Signed
The King of Sweden

OOC: Please edit Samogitia (289) to Sweden and 200d from my treasury to Muscowy's.

Signed with blood
Grand Duke of Muscowy

 

[unmerged(53580)]

In 1470 Albrecht Achilles took the helm of the growing Margravate, and he shared the ambitions of his predecessor, first thing he did was to personally assume control of the siege of Praha, doing something Friedrich II never did, personally taking the field. Now it should be mentioned that due to the prowess of Puscat and Merrel, Friedrich had no reason to. Bohemia was forced to give up Lausnitz, Liegniz and Oels to the elector prince.

Poland on the other hand didn't get anything out of the war and blamed Albrecht to only care about himself, and sell out his allies, and indeed, the Polish military migth never truly recovered from that war, despite beeing on the winning side, as a consequense the relationship between Brandenburg and Poland went sour. In the end, war was inevitable, Albrecht and his officers did the first moves, the polish forces was ill prepared, and under superior leadership, a series of devastating defeats outside warszava lead to a total victory for Brandenburg, not even large forces sent from the lithuanian planes had any chance of breaking the disciplined german ranks, and where easily dispersed for the winds. Poland was sealed off from the balitcs, as Albrecht took control of Podlasie, Warmia, Prussia and kujawy in the war. It was also a heavy blow that effectively sealed Poland's fate, in 1483, six years later, Albrecht Achilles could march into Warszawa, having faced little opposition and forced Poland to pay tribute to Berlin.

In 1486, Albrecht Achilles passed away, setting the stage for Johann Cicero, one of the best diplomats of his time, while the growth under Albrecht was not as impressive as the one Friedrich II could show to, Albrecht had definately consolidated Brandenburg's military migth. Now Johann Cicero had one task ahead of him, add diplomacy as a valuable item in the margrave's toolbox. Hannover was persuaded to peacefully become a protectorate answering to Berlin (they had been forced to at the hands of Friedrich II, but cancelled that relationship as Albrecht took the throne). Lands such as Hessen, Bremen and Mecklenburg was peacefully incorporated into Brandenburg, and rebels in Saxony was supported, leading to a new dynasty, sponsored by Johann Cicero took control and renamed it the duchy of Anhalt, Johann Cicero immidatly took the newly formed state under his protection.

A deal with England left Münster and Oldenburg unprotected, and Brandenburg's hussars, seasoned veterans with successfull battles in Poland and Bohemia on their reputation made short work with the forces the two german principalites could muster, Scotland and Ireland of all nations decided to send a small expedition force to help out, but their efforts where ultimately futile, Oldenburg and Münster had no other choice than to bend knee to Johann Cicero.

On-time: -2BB
AAR: -2BB
Core: 292 (Lublin)
Leaders: Max generals please

 

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Austria 1470-1493


The small yet ambitious Duchy of Austria still had to prove its worthiness to the major players on the European scene. To do this, the war against Hungary had to be finalized in a satisfactory fashion. And with the whole of Hungary under Austrian military occupation, the terms dictates were most appropriate. Southern and Western Hungary were entirely annexed to the Austrian lands, in order to cut the Ottomans from conquering the area themselves. Now, in order to do that, they had to declare war on us first.

And it was precisely that which happened not long after the peace with Hungary. All Austrian income was put into researching new ways to counter the Ottoman threat, and the army was kept small, so paying the soldiers' wages would not interfere with military research. Despite that, we failed to reach a parity with the Turks on military level, and when the declaration of war came, it found the Duchy not only underdeveloped, but also undermanned.

There was no time for despair, however, and the Austrian army retreated from Hungary, letting the Turkish armies siege the walls of the fortresses, tactic which proved not so successful when the Ottomans stormed city after city. A defensive line was held at the banks of the Danube, where countless infidel armies met with the decisive courage of Austrian soldiers. It was in one of these battles that the sultan himself, Mehmed the conqueror of Constantinople, was killed.

Morale boosted from such a feat, the Austrians followed the Turks in a forced march across Hungary, which would have ended in military annihilation for the heathens, when the Ottoman high command realized its potential disaster and decided to declare war on the remnants of the Hungarian state. While doing so, Austrian armies could not follow the enemy on Hungarian soil, due to the truce still in effect. Meanwhile, the constant ebb and flow of war saw Austrian armies push all the way to Transylvania, then retreat again behind the protective shores of the Danube.

With precious help from our Spanish brothers, numerous armies were raised and mercenaries were hired, but in doing so, the Duchy faced a possible Bankruptcy. Provinces in the Lowlands had to be sold to the crown of England, in order to continue funding the war effort. But the Ottoman armies were occupying Hungary, and from there could launch a strike at the heart of the Duchy any time. In fact, in one of these counter-attacks, Vienna itself was taken by an army ably led by none other than Gedik Ahmed.

When the truce with Hungary was over, the Austrian high command decided to declare war on Hungary, in order to pursue the Ottomans in their enclave. Perhaps the shock of it made the Sultan hastily and surprisingly annex vast Hungarian lands. On the other hand, since reinforcements for those armies were not arriving from their homeland, it might have been thought that local regiments could be persuaded to fight for the Porte.

The move proved to be an uninspired one, as now the Austrian cavalry roamed the plains of Hungary killing every Turk in sight and occupying their cities. In the meantime, the Balkan front was also liberated, in part due to the German allies: the Bavarians and the Salzburgians, who had a combined force of nearly 50 thousand souls brought to the region. With Austrian forces threatening to cross into Rumelia, and the Russians attacking the Turks in the Pontic Steppes, the Sultan had no other choice than to take the Austrian peace offer. The Hungarian lands of the Ottoman Empire passed to Austria, where they would remain.

It was business as usual for the next years, as Bavaria and Wurtemberg peacefully joined the Duchy, and several German princes swore loyalty to the Duke, now acclaimed as a Champion of Christendom. The Italian princes would soon follow, and when Germany and Italy will be pacified, there will be time to deal with the Turk again, and he shall pay for its devious attack of Austria.

In international affairs, we salute the Iberian search for the new world, although we fear for them falling off the edge of the Earth. Our prayers are with them. The northern conflict between Sweden and Russia was solved, unfortunately, due to Ottoman pressures, and we do not look kindly upon the Swedes for collaborating with an enemy of the faith. Russia was found to be a worthy ally in the East, sharing with the Duchy the common hatred towards Muslims. Military experts are sent to Muscowy to help reform the Russian army, although Austrian land warfare technology is not the highest, either. But fortune tellers say that one day a mighty warrior will come, and he shall lead Austrian armies to greatness.



AAR reward: deflation
Ontime cookie: deflation
Core: PID 1923
leaders: generals and 1(one) admiral

 

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Muscowy, Chapter II: 1470-1493

The not-so-successful Empire

The war with Sweden went with ease, and soon the Muscowian warflag was waving above all of the Baltic forts. The situation stabilized with the Baltics under Muscowian control but a strong Swedish defense force in Vyborg preventing the Russians advancing any further.

However, after an initial success the Muscowians were in deep trouble. Carelesness for the southern borders proved catastrophical, when the Ottomans suddenly declared war on the Russian alliance. Muscowy ended up in a weary two-front war, with overwhelming Turkish armies advancing from the south at great speed while the bulk of the Russian army was fighting the Swedes.

Muscowy was at the brink of a total collapse, and was forced to accept a humiliating peace with her both enemies. Important provinces had to be ceded to the Ottomans in the east, while in the north Muscowy had to betray her vassal Novgorod by leaving them fight the Swedish army alone.

Revenge was sworn after this disastrous war, and after some period of peace a chance to strike back on the Turks showed up. The Ottomans were doing badly against the noble christian armies of Austria, so this time it was thought victory would be quick and easy. War was declared, and many provinces were recaptured from the heathens.

However, something went terribly wrong again. Russia lost the war catastrophically once more, and areas had to be ceded again both to Ottoman Empire and Sweden in the north. Very little knowledge of what precisely happened in these dark days of Russian military history is left, since all historians daring to talk about it have lost their heads.

This being the case, most today’s historians have lost hope of ever getting to know any rational reasons to the Russian slaughter. The most common explanation is the Devil itself helping the infidel Turks to victory by making their armies totally invisible from their enemies.

After two wars went horribly wrong and Russian pride badly shattered, the Grand Duke realized that Russia couldn’t endure constant two-front wars without help. As soon as possible, a military alliance was formed with Austria, who shared a common enemy in the Turks. Also peace in the north was ensured with a non-aggression pact with the Swedish crown.

During these times the small Russian principalities of Ryazan, Pskov and Novgorod were fully annexed to the Muscowian Duchy, making the Russian states fully united. The other success to shed light on this dark age was the successful war with Lithuania. After a relatively short and easy war, about half of Lithuanian lands were annexed to Muscowy.

On time reward + AAR reward: 1 x YI = 746 d
Core: 284
Leaders: Max generals please

 

[unmerged(40258)]

a quick note, before i forget or lose my notes:

The provinces of Nuertingen (1931), Breisgau (1930), Dalmatia (365) and Zeta (362) have been owned by Austria for over 60 years, and are german (first 2) or slavonic (last 2), therefore state culture, and are both catholic.

So please Core them.

 

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French AAR 1493-1512

Plague, famine, civil strife and corruption had marked the previous 20 years in France, the debilitating illnesses amongst the Royal Family had left the realm directionless and the petty border lords had taken the opportunity to resist french rule and the perfidious English had taken the claimed french lands of Holland and Belgium.

But France was still a power to be reckoned with, as the world would soon see, first the statelets of Strassburg and Cologne felt the wrath of Foix and La Palice and were brought back into the warm, loving embrace of La France. Soon after the remains of the Austrian netherlands were peacefully handed to their rightful ruler, Le Roi. The celebrations in the new provinces were marked by the movement of a large number of firearm equipped soldiers towards the english border.
War when it broke out came as no surprise either side of the border, and was started with near total french success, the 2 french field armies of 25,000 men advancing past Amsterdam without any enemy contact.

First contact when it came, went badly for france however, the english army numbering 30,000 cavarly and 30,000 infantry shattered La Palice's force before moving back to sea. However evidence of such a counterattack started Foix's army of 40,000 cavarly moving north to deal with them. In the event he never saw combat as La Palice, fresh with new volunteers drove the english army from the field and took the remaining forts by assualt as the english attack on Flandern failed with heavy casualties. Such a turn of events convinced Henry VII to surrender the 3 provinces asked for and would later lead to the remainder being sold to the french government for a sizeable sum.

Internally the princedoms of Bourbonnais, Lorraine, Orleans and later Cologne and Strassburg were moved into the french realm in every regard to the joy of many. This joy was celebrated by the drinking of plentiful French wine from the newly constructed wine refineries, the finest and most varied wine in the world (Russian White Bear excepted)

French merchants mastered the art of monopolies, and even that of trade embargoes whilst still moving towards free trade to the happiness of Le Roi who enjoyed seeing everyone consume the finest french cheeses and snails.


Core = Chambery 405
AAR reward = 1170 ducats
Ontime = 0.7 deflation

And please delete the war between Provence and Brittany