The Empire Strikes Back - a Byzantine Megacampaign (Part 2)

[Idhrendur]

Alexander Goes to War

While the Regency Council ruling for Alexander did not have the authority to start wars, they had the authority to respond to their allies. Norway had been a warmonger in Southeast Asia for several years, and finally they provoked a larger war.

While XI. Legio moved against Khmer and Wu, the war against Sennar was won. Hopefully there would soon be peace so the Empire could be divested of those lands.

The bold charges by the Imperial cavalry had proven decisive on the battlefield for some time. So they were given better armor and the horses that could carry that weight, making them that much more a shock on the battlefield.

As well, a greatly skilled engineer was found in Italy. When given charge of the Imperial Corps of Engineers, he significantly improved their capabilities.

The Royal Mortars had proved the value of mobile artillery, so the Legions developed and deployed new 'flying artillery' cohorts that were even more mobile and destructive on the battlefield.

Scarce had peace been made in east Asia when Russia drew the Empire into a war against Adal, Ethiopia, Bavaria, and Switzerland (although Ethiopia immediately agreed to a white peace).

IV. Legio, XIX. Legio, XXII. Legio, and XXIII. Legio moved to attack in Europe.

Bavaria was distracted by a war with Hungary, but once they had won it, they attacked XXII. Legio with forty thousand of their own men. When XXII. Legio repelled that attack, they had little time to recover before a second assault of forty thousand men wiped them from the map.

The other nearby legions broke their sieges as soon as they received word, moving to avenge their fallen brethren. Within a few months, they had destroyed the entire Bavarian army.

The war dragged on as the legions sought to convince the besieged lands of their enemies to surrender. As they neared complete victory, Alexander came of age (naming a young cousin heir).

Alexander took a swath of Bavaria in retribution for the defeat of XXII. Legio.

From Adal he took more of south Africa and forced them to give up their claims to many of the lands they had once held.

During this last war, Norway had again attacked a minor south-east Asian power and drawn the Empire into the war. Alexander took most of Java from Mataram for the Empire's part in the war.

This left Alexander with a terrible reputation as a warmonger (in this, he took after his namesake). So he freed the La Plata region of South America, which had also been clamoring for more independence (and being distant, was nigh ungovernable).

For the next two years, he focused on land swaps between various states, for the purpose of drawing world borders as the Empire had long desired them. While he did this, he began a propaganda campaign to change people's interest from exploring the world (it had already been mostly explored) to pride in the locally drawn cohorts of the legions. Many cynically-inclined people saw through the propaganda, but enough money poured into supporting local causes soon restored stability in the Empire.[1]

The land swaps badly hurt Alexander's prestige (as the court could only ever see it as selling lands), so once he had adjusted borders to his liking, he declared war on Kanem Bornu, who was defended by Mali. March of 1777 saw Kanem Bornu completely annexed. August of 1778 saw Mali give up more land.

Under Alexander's administration, the Empire had entered a new renaissance of development. It seemed that new innovations in all areas of life arrived yearly[2]. And so it was that the Legions became even more drilled and disciplined.

The legions were sent to war against Gondar, with Adal coming to their defense. It took little time for Gondar to agree to give up Geizra (they later suffered a complete economic and political breakdown, ceasing to exist as a nation).

Adal then gave up the last of southern Africa under their control.

Alexander was living up to his namesake.

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[1] I switched Quest for the New World to Espirit de Corps.
[2] I guess the Empire can into space. I was starting to think it would be impossible, but the techs got cheaper. Who knew?

 

[Idhrendur]

Megas Alexandros

While the Alexandrian Renaissance slowed in its inattentiveness, it was still rapid. The legions took advantage of advancements in explosives to begin retaining units of grenadiers. And the imperial cavalry mastered the art of mounted skirmishing with firearms.

Alexander quickly tired of peace, and made war on England while his other existing truces were valid.

The Legions used their experiences in fighting this war to again adjust their tactics, not even waiting for the war to be over (drilling in the new square formations no doubt alleviated the tedium of sieges).

After quite some time besieging various English fortresses and hunting down English armies, peace was made, England giving up lands in the Pacific Northwest and Africa, as well as freeing New England.

But it was a short-lived peace, Alexander focusing again on Africa. But this time, the rulers of most of India joined in Mali's defense.

The difficulty of keeping the Legions supplied in Africa and India led to purposeful efforts in improving the ability to forage locally. Simultaneously, a grand prize was announced for methods of truly preserving food for long times.

Mali had built truly impressive defenses, so it took five years to bring them to heel. Most of their outlying territories were taken.

Once that was done, Deccan was quick to agree to a harsh peace: they freed almost half their lands to local control. The locals given control were favorably those who were not Muslims (there still being a great fear of Muslims in the Empire, even three centuries after the Timurids had ceased to be a threat).

Even as the legions marched home, Alexander declared war on Novgorod-Seversk, annoyed at the existence of minor states between Russia and Ukraine. However, Russia did not seem to see that this would be a war in their favor, and joined the defense of the little nation.

Finland escaped from the war only giving up claims to territories they did not hold. Novgorod-Severesk was absorbed (and then sold to Russia). Russia gave Kola and Karelia to Scandinavia in a separate peace.

Before the war was done, Adal moved to conquer the last province held by Swahili. Ethiopia came to Swahili's defense, and the Empire immediately supported Ethiopia.

During this war, the navies of the Empire insisted on a little of the support that the Legions received. A naval provision system was therefore developed.

Eventually, Novgorod was annexed (also later to be sold to Russia). Once this was done, Russia agreed to give up their claims in Eastern Europe.

Before the war with Adal had ended, Alexander declared war on England, hoping to remove them from any lands but their Brazilian ones.

Shortly after this one of Adal's provinces that had been occupied by the legions defected to the Empire. Adal soon after agreed to peace, giving up any claims to lands ruled by the Empire.

The war with England dragged on for years as the legions did their best to force the strong English forces to surrender. Meanwhile, Alexander behaved true to form and declared war on Mali as soon as the former truce ended. The war with Mali was won before the war with England was (their fortress-cities in eastern Siberia holding on for years).

While waiting for Gizhiga to fall to XI. Legio, the Empire was dragged into yet more wars: a Scandinavian adventure in India, and to defend Gotland against Denmark.

In 1808, the last English fortresses fell (and their navy made a last-ditch strike near Gibraltar, again smashing the fleet protecting the Mediterranean). England was forced to give up all lands outside of South America, and gave up claims on all lands they had previously lost. They were now just a regional power.

When Denmark surrendered in 1810, they were forced to free Werle and Holstein, while Deccan merely gave up some claims.

After only a year, Alexander again demonstrated his restlessness when he declared war on Bavaria. Peru, Baden, and Sanaa came to their defense. While IV. Legio lost the opening battle of the war, it was quite successful in harming the Bavarian ability to make war.

Baden was completely annexed (and then swiftly placed under German control). Sanaa gave up all of their lands away from their home territory and gave up claims to provinces within Arabia.

Peru gave up some claims in La Plata. Bavaria was forced to release several states.

In June of 1815, Alexander declared war on Mali, bringing to its end the last of the slave selling states (it was annexed in September of 1818). But to Alexander's dismay, there were still slaves being sold. While the Empire had been focused on what they thought was the source of slaves in West Africa, they were really being sold by Kongo. Alexander demanded the annexation of Kongo, and the trade was fully ended by October of 1818.

In December of 1820, Alexander finally died, seemingly of old age (though later events throw the official diagnosis into doubt). Konstantios XIII rose to the throne.

He appointed as heir his brother Andronikos—later known as Andronikos the Mad—thus setting into effect the events of the 19th century.

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And that's it for EU3! I'll do some summary posts while I work on the conversion. Is there anything you'd like to see mentioned or addressed?

 

[Idhrendur]

1821 Update

The Empire's borders had not changed appreciably in the last 70 years.

In Africa, much has changed. West Africa had been organized as a series of vassals to the Empire, except for most of the coast, which remained under direct Imperial administration. South Africa had completely fallen to Imperial control, though the Somali beeralayda (farmers) were chafing under the Imperial rules. There was even talk of a mass migration into the interior of Southern Africa. In eastern Africa, Gondar and Sennar had completely collapsed, most of their lands now ruled by Ethiopia. Adal had recovered some of the Swahili lands they had ruled off-and-on for centuries, with Ethiopia having inherited the rest. Adal's long attempts to gain control over the Tanganyika Territory had finally failed, though they still maintained control over Madagascan affairs. Mutapa, despite a lack of modern organization, had held on to their territory.

In South America, La Plata and Colombia had gained self-governance from the Empire. Peru had negotiated with Russia to regain their coastal provinces as well. England remained primarily Brazilian, with Anglo-Saxons in the northeast and in most positions of power through out the nation.

North America was largely split between Canada in the north (including territories on the western coast), Mexico in the south and west, and the USA in the east. New England was a small Iroquois-dominated nation freed from English control and nestled between Canada and the USA. Alaska was split between the control of Russia and Peru, neither of which had much more than loose claims to it.

Europe had begun to solidify its borders. In the east, Russia bordered Livonia and Ukraine, and controlled Finland, a convenient border-state between them and the united Scandinavia. In the west, the German lands were being slowly united, though Denmark still stood strong, and both Scandinavia and Hungary were poised to expand into the more disorganized parts. Hungary had bought the Transylvanian region from the Empire, who recognized that the people there would be more happily ruled by a culturally similar nation. Poland stood proud and stable between Livonia, Ukraine, Hungary, and the German territories.

Central Asia was dominated by Russia in the north, with Khiva ruling the various Altaic peoples to the south. Under the Roman aegis, Persia ruled in the land of ancient empires, with Iraq ruling Mesopotamia. Likewise, under Roman guidance, Hedjaz ruled most of Arabia (Saana controlling the north-eastern area). East of Persia and south of Khiva were Baluchistan and Khorisan, the first of the Muslim states.

In India, Deccan's attempted defense of Mali against the Empire had proved disastrous. They had been split into several states, which were given to Hindu rulers whenever possible. The subcontinent had been nearly united under Deccan's rule and was mostly Muslim. Now it was embroiled in civil wars, wars of conquest, rebellions, and religious turmoil.

Southeastern Asia was also in chaos with the collapse of Wu authority in that region. Resurgent Buddhist states struggled against both new-found Confucian states and Polish colonialism.

Eastern Asia was dominated by the Ming, who had nearly reunited their old Chinese lands that had for centuries fallen away. To their north, the Manchu remained quiescent, though coveted the bit of Korea not under their control. Even further north, Russia and Iraq competed to settle the steppes. Japan was ruled by the Tachibana Shogunate, who had nearly quashed all resistance to their rule.

Oceania was mostly covered in Imperial colonies. But Iraq, Hedjaz, and Persia had all planted colonies. And Makassar did it's best to unite local peoples against Imperialism from the west.

Internally, the Empire had learned better provisioning both for the Legions and the navy. As well, the Legions were now formed as local regiments, better improving the ties between the soldiers. More government power was focused on protecting trade, and the Legions had further insisted on having quality soldiers instead of more soldiers (not that the Empire had any shortage of soldiers).

The world had changed much in the past 400 years.

There were now 92 well defined states (if some were fighting for their very existence against aggressive neighbors), where before there had been 161 proto-states, territories, and Empires waiting to fall apart.

Orthodox Christianity had become the dominant religion of the world, with almost everyone in Europe, central Asia, north Asia, Oceania, Africa, and the Americas practicing some form of the faith. Islam had been pushed into India (where it almost entirely replaced Hinduism) and Indonesia. Confucianism and Buddhism competed for the souls of east Asia, while Japan continued to practice Shinto.

The 'Persian plan' as applied in Persia, Mesopotamia, Arabia, and the Russian steppes had led to a burgeoning of nationalistic thought. In many regions, a united culture had formed around the states that had pacified large territories. In others, such as Germany, or in the former colonial territories in the Americas, a nationalism around the existing culture led to the formation of new states. The next 100 years were bound to be dominated by the forces of nationalism.

As best as historians could guess, this had been the world in 1408.

And this was the world in 1821.