Round XXXII (1620-1629): Southern Chaos
Ray: GOOOOOOOOOOD Evening everyone and Welcome to "BIG RULER". I'm Ray Porter, and I am here with George I. Joe and B. Rene Daid to help you all follow that alternative history! This season, we are following
Savoy. Last time, Vittorio Amedeo I "the cruel" fought half the other nations, leaving his country full with rebels and in an horrible state to his cousin. Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome Eugenio I de Savoie,
Imperator Romanus Sacer, Re d'Italia, Rei d'Aragó, König von Bayern, České Královem, Erzherzog von Österreich, Herzog von Köln, Herzog von Fürstenberg, Duc de Lorraine, Graf von Hohenzollern.
Eugenio: Good Evening Ray.
Ray: Eugenio... You find your nation in a terrible shape. Moreover, Hungary, Norway and Poland have been integrated into Italy, and the population there do not recognize Italy as a legit ruler. These new lands have to be defended against Russia and Sweden - for the two most powerful, while Italy's late expansion made every one eager to attack you... What are your plans?
Eugenio: Well, it doesn't look good. In the next days, my objectives are clear: we will create Marches-like Kingdom in Poland and Hungary, to border Russia. These vassals will work as buffers, between us and Russia. In addition, I will cede land to existing vassals and partners near Croatia and in the North Sea. That way, all the other nations will see us as valuable partners, while we will have less illegitimate land to defend.
Ray: This sounds like a nice plan for the first weeks of you reign... What about the second step?
Eugenio: Well, the nation is is in bad shape internally. I will cut spendings to invest on research, as all other European nations now are more advanced than we do, and work hard on having both native populations and foreign nations recognize our legitimacy on our lands.
Ray: This sounds reasonable. I have the questions for your then: how will you cut spendings, and aren't you worried this relative pacifism would upset some people at the court? The third one is -and this has been asked by a lot of viewers lately-, do you have any plan to clean your borders shapes?
Eugenio: Well Ray, your three questions actually are the same. I spent a lot of time with my uncle Ferdinando. His strategy was to conquer more land to clean the borders and therefore disband troops. I like this idea.
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Ray: Let see how Eugenio handles his first week as king of Italy.
George: He was not kidding when he said he would create Marches. In the first hours of his reign, Danzig, Pommerania, Riga, Livonia, Moldavia and Halych-Volhyna are released.
Ray: This is a large chunk of land that Eugenio gives away. He his now considered as a more than valuable partner by all nations, and before he can release more vassals or sell them some land, he'll have to appease his court....
George: You are right Ray. War is declared on Selimbau, which controls the Sumatra province of Bengkulu. Srivijaya choose to defend its ally.
Ray: This is an interesting perspective here. Selimbau is quickly annexed, but what about Srivijaya ? What would you do George?
George: This is tricky indeed. Legally, Eugenio has no right to conquer any land from Srivijaya since the war was against Selimbau. However, Eugenio is willing to reduce his borders, and the one with Srivajaya is large. Any conquest will be very expensive in terms of international relations, but Eugenio still has a few provinces to sell... If I were in charge, I would conquer some land so that I can annex Srivajaya in a second time...
Ray: What about the huge infamy about conquering Srivijaya land right now?
George: It will be burn selling lands and releasing Romanian vassals. The war with Srivijaya is already on... You could probably get more territory elsewhere but this would mean negotiating a peace, declaring a new war... It would not be a good strategy.
Ray: You were right George. Srivijaya only keeps its capital and its provinces on the Borneo island. The gained infamy is quickly burned by releasing Wallachia and Transylvania as vassals, and starting selling provinces to Austria, Serbia, Livonia, Halych-Volhyna...
George: This step of the Marches creation is the longest, because you need a lot of diplomat to negotiate the treaties.... Eugenio feels he can pause this in October 1620, and he attacks Hejaz.
Ray: Meanwhile, Eugenio brings Italy to the path of religious tolerance. He actually takes his independence from the pope. First, the Orthodox faith is now tolerated in Italy, while Eugenio now declares that the clerics have to be sentenced under secular justice. This highly upsets the pope, and fortunately Eugenio can count on the support of the Jesuit order, which fights clerical corruption in Dijon and Hungarian Bihar.
George: This can only leads to two paths: a war against the Pontifical States, or the capitulation of the Pope, who will now have to allow Eugenio to control his clergy how he wants.
Ray: And the latter occurs.
George: While focusing on internal affairs, Italy still is at war in Arabia. Italian armies are progressing quickly, and the peace is signed in June 1622, resulting in large progress for Italy.
Ray: as soon as the war is over, Eugenio makes a step toward a reconciliation with the pope, enacting Sunday Schools.
George: After selling some more land, Eugenio selects a new target: Kanem Bornu. War is declared in May 1623. I think, after Hejaz and Srivijaya, that Eugenio tries to fully control the physical entities bordering Italy: Sumatra, the Nafud desert, now the Sahara...
Ray: Do you think Eugenio is going for North Kanem Bornu?
George: Probably. This would make sense, as it would connect his East and West African holdings, which would ease armies transportation between the nDongo and the Mutapa borders. This is why his troops went North first. Look at the situation in December, with nearly the entire nation under control.
Ray: I see the idea, but I'm missing the logic. This would create a huge border with Kanem Bornu, way larger than it used to be.
George: Not necessarily. There still is a Kanem Bornu enclave in the Borno province, West of the Lake Tchad. This enclave, which used to be Kanem Bornu's capital, creates a very large border by itself. There will be more than enough garrisons from there to redeploy along the new border. And here we are, in June 1624 peace is finally signed, with a third large victory on a third continent this round.
Ray: This easy victory conforts Eugenio in is dream of neater borders. In September 1625, the truce with Srivijaya ends. The small nation, now mostly based in Borneo, is attacked.
George: This will ensure Italian control of Sumatra, since there is only one non-Italian province on the island, owned by Champa, controlled by Pegu. Moreover, this will give Italy a foothold on Borneo.
Ray: Is it so important?
George: It is. See, the Northern part of Borneo is controlled by Cirebon, the new regional power, which controls entirely the Java island. If Italy wants to fully control Indonesia, it has to be done in that order: Sumatra, Borneo, then Java.
Ray: While this war is going, Eugenio integrates Pisa into Italy. This is done in January 1626, bringing two core provinces into the Kingdom. And in April, Eugenio convinces the senate that the Dorn province of Kirenga will soon defect to Daxia, and therefore it is not worth fighting for. The senate agrees and... ho... this will please you George.
George: What?
Ray: The senate asks Eugenio to fully annex the Andean state of Aymara!
George: This is a nice mission, and Eugenio gladly accepts. In July 1626, he attacks Aymara, and its Chimu ally. The opportunity is too good for the Chichimecs. Seeing here the opportunity to take down their arch-rivals, they declare a separate war on Chimu. While heavily outnumbered, Italian armies quickly progress into Peruvian territory thanks to their technology.
Ray: Still, Eugenio is concerned with Internal affairs. In June 1627, he is alerted by the Jesuit order to the inhumane treatment the slaves of Kpo have to endure. As a result, Eugenio I became the first ruler in modern history to abolish slavery. While this only concerns the province of Kpo and not the entire nation, this brings Eugenio closer to the Jesuits.
George: The summer will see Eugenio report the capitulations of Aymara and Srivijaya. Both nations are immediately annexed.
Ray: Oh, I see that the senate now asks Eugenio to conquer Chimu. Isn't that great?
George: Well... Eugenio is at war with Chimu, but because of alliance mechanisms. Italy attacked Aymara, not Chimu. Conquering Chimu now will be very bad for Italy's international policies.
Ray: Dear viewers, we have to specify one thing. This season, we used the EU3MEIOU engine to create this alternative reality. Unlike other engines like HOI3, this simulator hardly allows a ruler to change his war goal once a war is started.
George: This is not very important. Eugenio can't annex Chimu on this war, or this will be terrible for his relations with the other nations. Moreover, if he did such thing, he will not be able to get territorial gain from Yemen or Mutapa, while both declare wars in October, with nDongo's help. The best thing to do is to sign a truce, which is done in March 1628.
Ray: You are right George, this was the best thing to do. What about the defensive wars against Yemen and Mutapa?
George: Well, they are similar to the previous ones: Hejaz warned Yemen and joined Italy in the fight. In Africa, Italy slowly progresses into Mutapa and nDongo territory, facing very little opposition, while nDongo quickly seizes Aragonese Africa.
Ray: Eugenio needs to bring peace back to Italy, or it might bring other nations into the fight.
George: Indeed. Peace with Yemen is quickly signed, and the next Yemen war will be the last one.
Ray: This highly upsets Hejaz, who was negotiating a peace on his own, hoping for territorial gain. The sultan is so upset that in September, he declares war on Italy.
George: This forces Eugenio to quickly sign a peace with Mutapa, with limited territorial gain, as capturing land in Arabia, cleaning the peninsula, is seen as more important by Italian diplomats.
Ray: It probably is. After six months of war, in March 1629, how is the war?
George: Well, as expected, all Arabian land of Hejaz is under siege, since Yemen gave Italy the right to transit through their territory. Yemen and Hejaz have been fighting one each other for so long, it is no surprise both of them are on the verge of being wiped out now. However, Hejaz holdings in the Zanzibar straights still stands. The war will probably be ended soon.
Ray: It probably will George, because Italy is going to face the largest opponent of its history soon. Italy just took control over Shanghai. As a result, Song declared war.
George: This might be bloody... Song has a huge army in China while Italy's is spread through the world. I wonder how Eugenio will manage to defeat Shanghai in these conditions.
Ray: Well this is why you should not miss the next episode of BIG RULER!
George: Ray, before we end this round, let me show you the final map, with the work done in Europe for Marches building.
Ray: Thanks George. See you next time folks in BIG RULER.
