France

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France Grand Campaign Hard Normal

I am and will be the King of France for the next 300 years. Being a King is being the spirit of a country. the spirit will only be limited by my abilities, and the strengths of my country.

Charles VII.

So I am an average diplomat with a touch for the good touch for money but my strength lies in the military where I am very good. I start my reign with causa bella on three countries and only a stability of +1 so I know where I am going to attack. I have three enemies to consider and they are Henry VII England, Ferdinand and Isabella in Spain and Rene II of Lorraine. I have an the talented General Foix in the field and so I waste no time and declare war on Spain. My miserable little allies of the Papal States and Parma will do me no good but I do not need them. I send Foix into Artois in the middle of winter but he knows I have no patience. He assaults and takes the province in May, losing 3000 men. I am already recruiting replacements for the upcoming sieges, so it bothers me not. They die for France and me. What more could a soldier want?

Isabella

I send Foix on to Hainaut and send his replacements into Flanders so soften it up for him. I dare not risk another assault for if it failed my plans for a quick conquest will fail. I must have the rich province of Flanders, more to take from the Spanish treasury that to add to my own. My patience runs out as reports of two massive Spanish armies are moving north through the heartland of France. I was not paying attention and did not move my southern army against them and now, outmaneuvered, I must act. "Assault immediately!" I write on a note and Foix does and barely takes the province in September. 6500 men have dies in my little war so far.

Flanders is softened up by Foix’s replacements but I cannot wait the six months necessary for the city to fall. As soon as Foix arrives, he knows to assault and the city falls easily to my massed armies. Can I take another province? Rich Dutch provinces lie undefended to the north but the Spanish ambassador arrives with an offer of Antios and Flanders. I ponder the attrition the Spanish would suffer in the coming winter but realize I have what I wanted. The agreement ends my first war and 6500 men lie in their graves proud of what they did for France.

It is no time to get drunk and carve more notches in my bedchamber. The royal marriage with Lorraine has ended and my stability is back to +1. I raise 19,000 men and split them between Genera; Foix and General Nivernaus and station them outside Lorraine. In January, I declare war. The surprising Lorraine army attacks before I can and thrown back Nivernaus but they lose half their men and try to lay siege to a province of France! The sheer arrogance! While Nivernause recovers, Foix lays siege to Lorraine. Nivernaus makes short work of the remnant of the Lorraine army and goes on to lay siege to Alsace. Lorraine had no alliance and no friend seeks to help them in their distress. By August, Lorraine is annexed and part of my empire. 11,000 men died to bring me that honor.

Rene II

I cannot wait for another war. I have my mistresses dab gunpowder behind their ears, I am so turned on by the struggle! Another country for which I have causa bella claims to own a province on the European mainland next to my very border! This is an affront to the honor of Frenchman everywhere. But I know the English will not give over Calais just because I overrun it. I must do more and I do so hate the English. I order transports constructed and my new port facility in Flanders serves me nicely. What is this? A brilliant young Admiral has taken charge of my 10 ship fleet in Normandy. Polin is his name. he will have to do great things for my next plan to succeed.

Henry VII

The transports are ready and already 12,000 men lie stinking in their holds waiting for my order to come, In February 1495 I give that order and declare war on England. Admiral Polin guards the transports and I send an army across the Channel while Foix invaded Calais. I see no reason for an assault as the English could hardly field a descent army on the continent on such short notice. My troops are still off loading at Brest when my fleet is ambushed by 28 English Man o’ War. I don’t think I breathed as I received reports of the battle at sea. But Polin really is a genius. He defeats the English fleet at a loss of only two ships and my troops are safely on English soil. I waste no time in ordering another 12.000 men across. I dare not risk my men on assaults as I do not know how long Polin can work his magic.
In June, Foix takes Calais and the English sue for a white peace. I have an English whore brought to me and give my answer to England with her bent over my map table. Another English fleet tries to stop my transports and with just 8 ships Polin beats them back and sends them running up the Thames. My second army crosses and I send them to lay siege to Wessex. Suddenly the English have landed 17,000 men in Normandy commanded by a General Norfolk and are marching around France like this was The 100 years War! I send Foix after them but he end up chasing them around until they arrive back where he started.

Battles on land and sea

Foix catches the English army laying siege to Calais and so soundly beats Norfolk that the English army disappears. At the same time, Palin, with only six ships, takes on an English fleet of 10 and narrowly beats them. Now I know I am pressing my luck. I have all the shipyards in the Channel start building. Palin has bought me time and two armies of 8,000 men each are on English soil. Brest had fallen and I send that army into Wales. In hindsight, that was a mistake. I knew the English were raising armies. I could have met them while they were untrained and slaughtered them like sheep.

Now the English want nothing to do with the continent and try to save their skins by offering me Calais. I have the same English whore brought back to me, treat her to a night of royal delights and then send her away without payment! The English, however, have scraped together 24.000 men and are trying to take back Brest. I could combine my armies and destroy their army but that would mean wasting half a year of hard sieges. I wait as the English retake Brest and I send my hard fighting fleet to port. By the middle of the year, Wessex falls and Wales is a mere three months away. The English sit afraid in Brest while I wish I had sent Foix across the Channel. Then the offer comes for peace. The English will give me Wessex and Calais. I would have like a bigger hold on that green island but I have 34,000 troops there and that could spell a dim future for Henry VII.

I accept the peace deal, give the deed to one of my better houses in Paris to the English whore and see that my only causa bella is with Spain. A treaty blocks me from war there and my low stability blocks me from war elsewhere.. I am a man who loves the fight and I will have to seek it out. Right now my provinces will pose little danger of revolt but tax men need to be hired and war exhaustion could soon force my armies to stay within my borders. I am going to have to build a strong navy if I intend to expand my hold on English soil. What’s a monarch to do?

 

[Lord E]

I love the story
It is always nice to read narrative AAR, I think they are the best.
you have played very well and I like the pictures you have putted out. This was exellent!

 

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Been a long time since i dropped by here (converted to EU2 recently). Looks like were recruiting a new crop of writers since a bunch of us left, which is good.

Good luck to you flip0009, but trust me, you have it much easier than France in the EU2 GC, where you start in the middle of the 100yrs war! I'm so scared (cause i'm convinced EU2 is so different then EU1) that I won't even try yet!

 

[Lord E]

Well Snow King I guess it is a problem to start as France in EU2, since you start with a small country and huge English armys in and around France. But I think you shud probably try it, it is possible you will like to start in the small and then get big by beating the English and uniting France.

 

[Lord E]

I am looking forward to the rest og this AAR, flip0009, hope it comes soon

 

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For those worried about playing France in EU2, you can always just play in the 1492 scenario. Same set up as in EU1, but withall the cool new EU2 features.

 

[Lord E]

Okay, BarristerBoy that is a good sudjection!

 

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Austria 2

Charles VIII.

Enough of this waiting for stability. My country is completely Catholic, war exhaustion is gone and I want to fight! I have constructed four armies for my next war. 34,000 men in Wessex on the English mainland, Troyes with 20,000 in Lorraine, Foix with 29,000 in Flanders and La Palice with 27,000 men in the south. In March 1498 I summon the Spanish ambassador and announce that our countries are once more at war. I send Foix into Zeeland as I hear the news that The Palatinate and Helvetia have also declared war. They will rue the day they dared to make war on Charles VIII! I send Troyes into The Palinanat with the intent of annexing that miserable place. I order La Palice from the south to storm the gates of Helveta to annex the mountains also. Open the gates of hell and unleash the dogs of war in the Second Great Franco-Spanish War!

In April, 1498, I die.

Louis XII

I ascend the throne of France to find war raging all around. The worst news is that France’s most able general dies in Zeeland. I am left with only La Palice as the rest of my generals have not proven to be of any real skill. Boissen, at the back of 24,000 men losses to a Palatinate army of merely 2500 although they were led by Von Strickland who lived up to his high reputation. I have an ill feeling about this war and try to wrap it up quickly. The first assault in Zeeland fails with only 519 soldiers left to defend the city. later, perhaps a bit prematurely, I order another assault and it fails when on 38 defenders live! Finally, Zeeland falls in the third assault in October. I move that army onto Holland and they begin the siege. Charles told me before he died that he wanted the three rich Dutch provinces. I stick to his plan. But now I see this is going to be a long war.

La Palice dispatched a paltry 4,000 defenders in Helvetia and the idea of a quick annexation pleases me. I order him to assault and he manages to carry the city for France. Helveta, still with a strong army in the field is laying siege to Savoy, my ally, and so rejects my request for annexation. I send La Palice to rescue my ally and convince the Helvetians that annexation is the only option. La Palice wins the battle in Savoy but dies trying. My last able general is gone. Now I must win this war on numbers alone. Helveta then accepts my offer of annexation but that brings Portugal, England and Navarre into the war. Oh, did I mention Milan was at war with us also? They are so many, I forget all the details sometimes. I send my Armee du Midi on to Milan.

My Armee du Roi finally put down the tiny Palatinat army and is laying siege to Pfalz. I think another quick annexation would be nice to teach these little countries who dare to attack France a lesson. The assault fails but only 1175 defender remain.

Spain seems to have taken an exception to my annexation of Helveta and is sending armies there like salmon running upstream. While Armee du Midi is laying siege to Milan, I pull Armee du Roi out of Pfalz after they take it and send them to rescue the new French citizens of Helveta. He loses as he seems to do a lot. However, he has diminished the enemy. When he defeats two small Spanish armies as he waits in Alsace, he dramatically improves in strength and I send him to Helveta again. This time he raises the siege

I send a new untried army, the Armee du Royal, in French Comte to roust out the mere 2,000 Spanish soldiers there and they are soundly beaten and then beaten again as the little army goes on the offensive. Milan falls and accepts annexation but that brings Bavaria, Austria, Venice and Wertemburg into the war. My, it seems I am getting very much outnumbered. In December, Holland falls and I move that army into The Hague.

Meanwhile, in England, I have but Bristol under siege and have taken it away from the islanders. They look to have only a paltry 7,000 men against my 24,000 so I attack that army in Kent and I am beaten so badly only 8,000 return to Wessex. On top of that, 15,000 Portuguese soldiers arrive and boot me out of Wessex like a cur. I have just 2,000 men who can only look on as Wessex crumbles under siege. I have neither the navy or the armies to send to their aid. I have more pressing problems elsewhere. The tiny little nation of Navarre is rampaging in my undefended south and has assaulted and overrun one province and is about to take another. The good news is Pfalz fell in Oct of 1500, I beat a large Spanish army in Milan to relieve a siege and French Comte falls to my lumbering army of infantry.

I am now no longer on the offensive. I control the three rich provinces and I send out armies to lay slow siege to the many Spanish provinces along my border but that is only to insure that I will get what I want. I have already written off Wessex. When French Comte fell, I only had two armies in the field each with about 25,000 men. I still want to absorb The Palatenat so the army grinds away there until I order two assaults which work because I have begun sending out more cannon. But The Palatenat will not accept annexation. Savoy is keeping the Austrian busy in Tyrol while I defeat small Bavarian armies in Helveta. I want to broker a separate deal with The Palatenat and then deal with Spain.

I raise an army to go south to deal with Navarrre which has two provinces and is close to a third. I eventually take every Spanish province but one north of the Iberian peninsula. England, however is stymied. The Portugese have control of Wessex. They have no chips to make a deal. My advisors think I should give Navarre three provinces! When I refuse, revolts break out. I put them down as quickly as I can and then manage to wear the Navarre Army down by losing to it so many times with my own green armies that I can retake a province or two. I turn down my advisors three times during that time and put down three revolts. Then, like a bolt from the blue, after five years of grinding warfare, England offers a white peace! I jump on it. I get Wessex back, Navarre goes home. Wurtenberg wants 16 Ducats for peace. Sure! Why not? Not two months later, Austria wants 2 Ducats for peace. You bet!

The war is finally over! My stability is shot at -2 but France is four provinces bigger. It is going to be a long time before either I or France will be going to war. If I had stayed in Wessex after taking Bristol I might have got another province from England. There was no way I was going to get three provinces from Spain. It would have been nice to annex The Palenaten but that would have brought the rest of Europe into the war. Still, I got two nice provinces, very rich provinces in the north and Helveta and Milan in the south. Give me twenty years to get stable again, and France is in a nice position to fight a really big war.

Now: Manufactories, Tax Collectors and a Trader or two.

Francois I

But peace did not come. It has been an unending fifty years of war in which France has sacrificed over 1.5 million soldiers. Oh, yes, we are victorious for the most part but lately, I have been giving back hard won provinces just to appease my enemies so that I can find some peace. France has not been able to afford the promotion of a single judge to slow the revolutionaries and increase production. Every ducat is necessary to put down revolt and fend off every other country who constantly attacks. Twenty years of war gives France only a few months of peace before the next war begins. I stare at the map of France and see how she reaches from Iberia to Mantua to the North Sea with most of England ours and I despair. I need every ducat just to fight and cannot bribe my enemies or develop my country. I do not wish to proceed with this unremitting struggle. I look at the map and know it is wrong. France is the wrong shape. But what can I do?

It is late one night and I am so depressed I cannot even drink the fine wine every king must drink so that he be called a king. In my sealed room, I feel the air still and look up to see the ghost of my ancestor, Charles VII, the great military leader who started France on this militant crusade to put all of Europe under our thumb. His pale ghostly face seems to reflect my own despair. He sees the error of his ways. Perhaps it is all the men who died to bring the rich Dutch provinces into the Empire only to see their lives wasted to the inevitable uprising no amount of armies could hope to quell. Our eyes meet in a communion of despair and then he disappears.

It is the very next day that a shabbily dressed rogue walks into my dressing chamber. How this man got by my guards is unfathomable but in my despair, it seems I do not care. He holds before me a tin cup with what smells like sewer water stinking inside. He says not a word but points at the portrait of Charles VII. I link the vision of the night before with his appearance, and despite the smell, I take his tin cup and drink. “To the end of Gotterdamrung” he whispers and I swallow the last drop.


Charles VII

I am poised to invade the Spanish provinces of the Netherlands when something stops me. it is as if a cold icy touch from the distant past or perhaps the future warns me not to proceed. For the first time in my reign, I turn down the prospect of war and wait. When I die, they put on my tombstone that I left France at peace. What irony.

Louis XII

I have spent years promoting Tax Collectors in every province of the Empire and the empire is running as well as it can. There is no chance of revolt anywhere and our stability is as good as it can get. I recognize that the time is ripe for a quick successful war when Spain joins the other ruffians of Europe in battling the Turk. I declare war and invade French Comte. The Hessians and the Palatinate declare war, as they always seem to do but I have an army ready with only the intent of defending France. They are good soldiers but not the best. I had my army in French Comte well prepared for siege with many cannon They take it quickly. Spain seems not to want this province and quickly offers it up for peace. I take the offer and all armies invading France quickly retreat. The war of 1510 went well.40,000 men died in the war but only 128,000 have died in all the wars of France since 1492. When I look at the map of France I am satisfied
Judges need to be installed and that is expensive.

Francois I

It is five years of making sure I have judges in every province of France, continuing the practice of Louis XII. Along the way I make sure I have four strong armies ready for the next war. If things go well, I will just repeat the tactics of the war of 1510. In 1521, I declare war again on Spain. My intent for this war was only to quickly snatch Luxemburg and be done with it and find peace by the next year. However, my enemies saw things quite differently. Hessen, The Palatinate, and Helvetia join with Spain and a year later England and Navarre also attack. There are a host of other countries involved but only these sit on my border and can actually field sizable armies. The rest are too far away and small armies from sea are easy to deal with inside my own borders.

I take Luxemburg quickly enough but as I move that army to defend other provinces, it is taken back. The whole war inside France is a series of wins and losses but my overall intent is much clearer than my enemies who take a province and then leave it undefended while I quickly reclaim it. I catch a sizable Navarre army untrained and destroy it completely and then quickly annex Navarre into France. While Spain marches around my country aimlessly, I take Gerona. In England, I wait and fend off attacks in Wessex. Eventually, Spain is worn down and cedes Luxemburg and Gerona and all the strong armies of the small countries retreat. Time now to put my attention toward England and I invade Cornwall and then Kent with the intent of just taking one of those provinces for my own as the English have a sizable army in Bristol which could doom Wessex if I am not careful. Then, out of nowhere, the English cede both Cornwall and Kent to me. I accept immediately. Only Helvetia remains in the war and I take back the province she took from me and then invade. I could have annexed the Swiss but I heeded my advisors and only demanded her treasury. 270,000 men died in the War of 1521 but France holds three provinces on English soil, Navarre and two more Spanish provinces. The war lasted 10 years but the settlement leaves me with a +3 stability.

Five years later, after a constant buildup of my armies in England, I declare war even at a -2 to my stability. The English have hardly an army on their soil and no real ally. I march everywhere but The Marches and Cornwall and in just 2 years, England cedes Bristol, Midlands and Lancashire to France. 50.000 men died in the English War of 1535 but England is nearly cut in half. She will be hard pressed to put together any sizable army in the future.

Four years later, despite a stability of just +1, I decide it is time to attack my old enemy Spain once more. My plan is to take four provinces in Iberia and settle for two. perhaps some consideration should have been paid to diplomacy but I plunge into war anyway. My only ally refuses to aid my attack and I decide to make Savoy pay. I declare war while I still have the Causa Bella and my stability sinks another notch. England, with new allies, again seems eager to fight even though she has little in the way of armies. The Scots and the Poles bring men into the fray but I am well equipped to counter the attacks and the uprisings. Seems everyone wants to be a protestant now and revolts spring up. My attacks in Iberia go well at first but I have to pull armies to the north to defend against the horde of little counties falling on unprotected provinces. It is a long nasty war where I throw unready armies at smaller foes just to see their men die, knowing they cannot replace dead soldiers as quickly as I can. Spain retakes all its provinces but sends their armies north again so I retake what I had before. Eventually I wear everyone down and demand Aragon from Spain and she accedes to my demand. Not what I wanted but Savoy has presented an opportunity for an annexation which will not perturb Europe too much. Savoy is tough but when Spain is forced out of the war, I concentrate too many troops for her to defend. Savoy is then annexed. In England, I finally route the Poles and Scots, take Yorkshire, Lincoln and Anglia and she is forced to give me Lincoln and Yorkshire. There is not too much left of England now and after taking all of Helvetia's treasury again, the war is over. 430.000 men died by the time it is over in 1547 but France is far ahead in the game and is now able to place colonies in North America as maps were confiscated in a sea battle.

 

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hi flip,

what surprises me is the numerous wars against tiny states that I often encounter as allies of AI-france: Helvetia, Savoy.
I dont recal reading about allies?

How does that come? Didnt you create an alliance around you?

 

[Lord E]

Starting to colonise North-America is smart.
You are now at a point in the game where many contries in Europe don't like you and will take every opportunity to declare war on you.
Sow it can be smart to slow down wars in the old world and start focusing on the new world.

 

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sorry

Citizen Paul,

I did not bother with any alliances until the Netherlands came about and joined a small one of Hessen and Baden. I decided to just be on the defence against the small countries and concentrate on Spain and England.

Lord E,

That was the plan, to colonize and go for trade points.



I did not finsih the game as I had effectively won it by 1570. I fought one more war against the only causa bella I had in the Netherlands and between Hessen, me, we annexed it. That war led to three more provinces in Iberia and the annexation of Scotland and all of England but Anglia and Ireland. I ran the game out until 1650 or so just colonizing and exploring and building manufactories. I had a manufactory in every province and had to pay 12,000 ducats for the last one. I was earning 300 plus a month then. I explored everything there was to explaore and had a trade or colony going in every green provcince. I had 3 times the game points as Spain.

It would have been nice to go power mad and conquer all of Europe but that would mean a slow clock and micromanaging a dozen wars as everyone was -200 to me. Ot I could have bought everyone off and added diplomatic points. Anyway, the game was over and without the challenge I lost interest.

 

[Lord E]

To bad it is over
I think you wrote very good, and I am looking forward to more AARs from you!

 

[Lord E]

By the way, your Austrian AAR is also very good (I might have said that before) and since your french is over I am looking forward to the rest of the Austrian one.