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OE

on-time: - 3 badboy
 
deflation.
 
The Great Northern Conflict
=====================

The build up on the Swedish-Russian border was incontrovertible and some preparations were made to meet it, but the previous war with sweden still hadn't fully recovered as a massive amount of funds still needed to be invested in Russian infastructure in terms of fortresses, governors, and tax baillefs.

However some troops were raised, cannons constructed, and diplomacy hastily conducted but the Swedes attacked before Russia was ready and with King Karl the XII leading the Swedish armies the initial resistence was cut through like a hot knife through butter.

The call for Austrian aide went by at first unheaded and a bitter fight ensued as Russians were called out of patriotism to defend the rodina from the foreign invaders.

The enemy had tried to siege the capitol now located at St. Petersburg named after our great and glorious Czar but fortune held and so did the city walls.

Finally in the spring with the melting of the snow passes Austrian armies led by the best Austrian generals marched to fight on Russian soil along with their Russian comrades and the fight went on with Swedish for a few years, one by one the Baltics fell and were liberated from their Swedish oppressors.

Finally in the end the Swedish lost the heart to continue the fight and ceded the provences of Podlaise, Livonia and estonia to the Russian Crown.

And so ends the foruth conflict between our nations.

With the war over and with peace restored to the Great Russian People, the soldiers could now once again put down their guns, unlimber their cannons and return to their fields, to their trades to rebuild destroyed lands and to enrich and build up the nation.

Tax collectors, Tsarist Governors and baileffs, were appointed to run the affairs of the newly acquired lands and much was done to tame the wild siberian Yakuts lands and even a skirmish or two was fought with the Mughals to the south of Russia.

Russian mercantile guilds were established and licsnced to encourage the transsiberian fur trade, to conduct trade in Samarkland, and to seek out Chinese trade and cooperation.

With the Swedes forcible expelled from their trade posts in Yakutsk fur trappers and colonists (mostly old guard baltic aristocrats and other dissidents) were sent to stake out a new life for themselves in Shakalin, and a commision has been started to study the prospect of North American trade.

To the south the Czar wished to se ancestral lands held by the Ottoman Turks traded make to Russia so negotiations have taken place and agreed that at a cost of 7500 ducates a provence Crimea will be transfered to Russia and much money will be raised to cover this.

And so ends this tale.

aar reward money.
 
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Archduchy of Austria​
Austrian%20Flag.gif
1700 – 1715​
Unfortunately, the English party was able to emerge victorious in the internal conflict at the Brandenburgian court. As that wouldn’t be enough the Elector had the nerve to proclaim that he transformed Brandenburg into a new kingdom called Prussia without the accordance of the Emperor. Unfortunately, Austria hadn’t time to react to that cheekiness as the Tsar of Russia called Austria for help in his defensive war against the evil Swedish. Consequently, von Mercy was sent into the east while Prinz Eugen maintained in North Germany in order to defend potentially attacks of England or Prussia. After the first effort to conquer Podlasie had failed the second effort was better prepared. From several provinces Austrian and Russian troops marched in defeating the Swedish defender and conquering Podlasie. In the meantime, all Swedish armies at the Baltic retreated or were defeated and so von Mercy advanced further taking one city after another. After the southern Baltic had been under Russian control the united Russian-Austrian army advanced towards north where it was beaten by Karl XII at Curonia. However, this was only a short stop in the Austrian-Russian advance. Reinforcements were sent from the Austrian heartland and the army was equipped with new weapons, the best in whole Europe, and so in the next spring also Curonia, Livland and Estonia fell in Russian-Austrian hands. Meanwhile, Russia was also able to reconquer its capital and so Sweden was finally beaten resulting in ceding Estonia, Livland and Podlasie. The only misfortune in this war for Austria was that Prinz Eugen was sitting bored in North Germany during the whole, waiting for the English attacks which never had come. After the war the Austrian administration focused again on the economy. New manufactories were built and the trade intensified. Furthermore the Hungarian border to the Ottoman Empire was further fortified as we saw similar attempts from the Turkish administration.

On-time cookie: deflation
AAR reward: 1500d
 
AAR Prussia 1700-1715

Early 1700 the dream of Friedrich, duje of Brandenburg, was fulfilled. He was crowned king! Celebrations were organised all through the new kingdom and everybody seemed happy. Except the Austrian party at the Prussian court. The English party had convinced the King that it wouldn't be fit for a king to give up the claims that no duke had given up. So the Prussian government decided to stay in the English alliance.

This didn't have any immediate consequences for the Prussian foreign policy. The Austrians did interfere in the Swedish-Russian war, but the Prussians decided to stay out. Without the English they were wary to attack the Austrian-Russian alliance, especially as the best Austrian general, Prinz Eugen, and a major part of the Austrian army were in unknown places (well, Eugen's whereabouts according to Prussian intelligence: 'We don't know exactly where he is, but he's not fighting Swedes!')

The Prussians did react to the great investments the Austrians did in their army and Prussia was one of the first countries to discover the newest military doctrines. Still the Prussians were in no position to help the Swedes, so they could only watch the Swedish losing their main Baltic holdings.

In 1713 the still very happy Friedrich I died, leaving the kingdom to his able son, Friedrich Wilhelm. The new king soon came up with a wave of reforms. He concentrated more power in his own hand and reformed the army, making it one of the finest in the world, if not as big as some others. Still for a country the size of Prussia the army was very big.
 
OE 1741

on-time: bb reduction

plz edit 4k to my treasury because ive built a cc 2 times in a single province (lag)
additionally i had to take 8 loans * 300d...so 4k seems not too high...
 
ontime- deflation
aar: money

The Rise of the Russian State: 1715-1741
The era of Russian palace revolutions

After the conclusion of the Great Northern Conflict Russia was without any serious external threats, while the remaining regions of the Baltics still remained in Swedish hands the Czar was willing to let this transgression slide in favor of political stability and reform however this peace domesticaly was short lived.

When Peter changed the rules of succession to the throne after he executed his own son, Aleksey, who had opposed his father's reforms and served as a rallying figure for antireform groups. A new law provided that the tsar would choose his own successor, but Peter failed to do so before his death in 1725. In the decades that followed, the absence of clear rules of succession left the monarchy open to intrigues, plots, coups, and countercoups. Henceforth, the crucial factor for obtaining the throne was the support of the elite palace guard in St. Petersburg.

After Peter's death Catherine I seized the throne. But when she died in 1727, Peter's grandson, Peter II, was crowned tsar. In 1730Anna Ivanovna, whose father Ivan V had been co-ruler with Peter, ascended the throne. The clique of nobles that put Anna on the throne attempted to impose various conditions on her. In her struggle against those restrictions, Anna had the support of other nobles who feared oligarchic rule more than autocracy. Thus the principle of autocracy continued to receive strong support despite chaotic struggles for the throne.

Anna died in 1740, and her infant grandnephew was proclaimed tsar as Ivan VI.

During the rule of Peter's successors, Russia took a more active role in European statecraft but choose not to be too active as a result of the various Spain-Porto vs France wars which contiued to destabilize Europe. Also a long term goal of the Russian Czar was fufilled with the purchase of Crimea peninsula from the Ottoman Turks.

Manufactories were constructed, rebels crushed and the colonies now in far far eastern siberia were being constantly expanded and the Russian grip consolidated on the Region.

Fiscal responsibility and financial reforms allowed both the significant fighting of inflation and the construction of a small but potent Russian baltic Fleet.
 
AAR Prussia 1715-1741: king Friedrich Wilhelm I, trader and builder

After his first efforts to increase the military strength of the realm immediately after becoming the ruler of the kingdom, Friedrich Wilhelm concentrated on peaceful measures. Trade was encouraged and money was invested in expanding the existing forts.

Prussia didn't join in the attacks on the Dutch, which lost most of its territories to the French, Swedish, Austrian and English attacks. It did join Sweden when it was attacked by the French, but, apart from one army joining the fleet, nothing happened. The Swedes decided that Prussian help wasn't needed afterall. Which may have been caused by the fact that the Spanish launched their long-awaited attack on France. Friedrich Wilhelm was a bit surprised the French declared war on the Swedes when they could have expected an attack from the Spanish.
All in all, the French lost a lot of territory to the Spanish, English, Swedish and Portuguese, which was followed by a long period of anarchy.

Actually the ambition to fight wars in the first place was something Friedrich Wilhelm didn't understand and if the Austrian government hadn't had the peaceful (and quite inactive) rulers it had in that period, the Prussians may very well have been in serious trouble. But with the peace lasting till his death, his goverment turned out to be one of the most succesful in the history of the realm. Prussia was richer than it had ever been.

It even joined the newly developed fashion to build conscription centers to increase the army. Friedrich Wilhelm wasn't really enthusiastic, but the crownprince, the later Friedrich II, managed to convince his father.

In 1740 Friedrich Wilhelm died, after a reign which had given the Prussians the longest period of peace they had had in centuries. The new king, Friedrich II, wasn't like his father. A great general he was and after the first few months of government it was clear that Prussia's era of peace was coming to an end.

On time reward: deflation
AAR reward: Cash
 
AAR Prussia 1741-1757 First part of the reign of the warrior king Friedrich II

The new king of Prussia, Friedrich II, was the most gifted ruler the country had ever had. Apart from a great ruler he was also the best general of his age. Had he been ruler of major european power he may have been one of the most succesfull rulers Europe had ever seen. He was however only the ruler of the small kingdom of Prussia, which had been losing territory to the Austrians for centuries and was no more than a minor player in European affairs.

Friedrich's father, Friedrich Wilhelm I, had opted for a peaceful coexistence, but Friedrich's ambition was even bigger than his talents and he decided to try to take back some of the territories that should have been Prussian.

After negotiating with the English and Swedish kings and the Ottoman sultan, the attack on Austria was prepared and launched in 1746.

The Prussian armies marched into Austrian territory and had reasonable success. General von Schwerin was the leader of the eastern strike-army, which captured several provinces. Friedrich himself was the leader of the western strikeforce, which was initially halted by the larger Austrian armies.
However, the English attacks in northern Germany and the Ottoman offensive in the Balkans soon made sure the Austrians couldn't stop Friedrich from capturing several provinces as well. Of course reinforcements made sure Friedrich had to retreat to Prussian territory quite often, but the Prussians did manage to occupy several areas of the gigantic Austrian realm.

The war seemed to go as Friedrich had hoped for, but of course that wouldn't last. The English signing a peace-treaty with the Austrians was something that wasn't completely unexpected. The Austrians accepted the loss of more areas than was expected, but Friedrich thought the Prussian-Ottoman armies were enough for the task still at hand. The Russian attack on the Ottomans was not expected however...

The Prussians joined against the Russians (though they didn't have the armies to do much), as did the Swedes and the English.
But as the English and Swedes weren't figthing the Austrians anyway, the only disadvantage was that Austria could recover their lands in the Balkans and send more men against Prussia. This did mean Friedrich had to retreat to Prussian lands more often than before, but the war still seemed to be going well. Of course the peace between the Ottomans and Russians basically put the Prussians in the same situation as before the Russian intervention. While officially at war with both Russia and Austria, there were in fact two wars;
the war of Prussia and OE vs. Austria and the war of Sweden and England vs. Russia.

The Prussians and Ottomans were slowly beating the Austrians and Friedrich was already getting happy, thinking the Prussians had finally managed to beat the Austrian menace. But when minor powers get too ambitious, large powers may decide to end these ambitions...

As soon as the Russians had accepted their loss against the Swedes and English, the Spanish decided to end the only war that was still going on. They issued an ultimatum to the sultan that he should peace the Austrians without any territory changing hands. The sultan accepted of course, but also thought he had to include the Prussians in the peace-deal, suddenly ending the war for the Prussians as well. Of course it is doubtful the Prussia would have survived the attention of the complete Austrian army, but Friedrich did know Austria was weaker than ever before. Still, in 1752 peace was signed and Prussia's efforts were all in vain. Friedrich's ambitious plans had cost the Prussians a fortune in money and men and they had all miserably failed.

On-time reward: deflation
AAR reward: Cash
 
OE 1757

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