Austrian AAR 1359 - 1378
Submission of the Swiss
The propaganda was unbearable. The Duke of Austria, Rudolf IV der Stifter, had been officially and personally insulted. With a great army standing fully armed and ready in Breisgau, Austria's fortress to control Swiss raids, he did not hesitate to declare war. The only thing that stood in the way was the Alps, and Rudolf was not going to be hindered by a few mountains.
The campaign was initiated on a cold day in August 1359, and the small Swiss militias were quickly overwhelmed by the Austrian general Durning and his large army (mostly made up by Swiss mercenaries). The Swiss ally, Tyrol had been attacked from the East, the heart of the Austrian duchy. Commander of the forces were Mats SX VI, son of Mats SX V, a noted Austrian general who did great things in the South German War and the Hungarian war of 1351, when the kingdoms of Bohemia and Hungary were made vassals to the Duke. SX VI was not his father, but he had no issues with the pesky Tyrolians, who had to give up their sovereignty within the year.
In the West Alps, Durning was besieging the fortifications of Bern and Zurich, only to learn that the city of Genéve had joined the federation, and Swiss troops were being recruited! Durning himself travelled with a large portions of his veterans to the city formerly under the governship of the Savoyan duke. The process was short and decisive, and the war was over.
No more would the Swiss be able to slander and insult the monarch of monarchs, the Austrian Duke. A new government was set up in the Swiss Alps, and it saw to it that all anti-Unionists were followed, prosecuted and ultimately silenced. In Wien, Rudolf IV enjoyed his new conquests, and knew he had all his borders secured.
Up the Rhine
After a couple of years sitting in Wien and drinking wine, fresh out of the Tyrolian plantations, Rudolf became bored. He knew there were a large confederation of free states North of Pfalz, along the shores of the Rhine, all the way to the Lowlands. The count of the Palatinate was constantly raided and harassed by plunderers from Nassau, and in Cologne the Archbishop was taking himself liberty after liberty, without any rights or permission from the Pope. When the second messenger in one week came from Pfalz with requests of action against Nassau and her allies, Rudolf had had enough. He was an old man, but he was not indecisive and calm. He immediately wrote an angry letter to the Archbishop of Cologne, and slammed his seal on to it. It was time for war.
In Pfalz, Durning stood ready with an army worthy his abilities. In May 1364, it marched straight to Nassau. There were no defenders, and the city was besieged. Durning then marched straight for Alsace, where the count of Nassau had situated himself, on the cost of a former Austrian vassal. Durning had come to reclaim the land, and he did so with a vengeance. Nassau was now only months away from ending up in the Austrian sphere, and there was nothing to do about it. Her allies? They were only Cologne, and the Archbishop was defeated time and again in Westfalen by Mats SX VI, who soon took the city.
Suddenly, the formerly friendly nation of Hessen decided that Austrian aggressions in the Rhine area was not to be accepted, and they promptly joined the war on the Archbishop's side. It was a foolish act, and it would come to show. For the Archduke flexed his diplomatic muscles and the ally from the East, Hungary, immediately sent and army of no less than 30,000 men to aid Rudolf. The Hessians had nothing to answer against such a force. Soon they were overrun and forced to cede Darmstadt and Würzburg.
Durning had made Nassau a humiliated nation, and it was no longer of any threat to the Duke, or to anyone else. But someone else was. The King of France had entered the Lowlands and subjugated the free states. He had then declared war on the Rhine counts, and was sending his Field Marshal to crush the German states. This could not be tolerated. Rudolf sent a diplomatic envoy to the King, proclaiming "Germans ruled by Germans". From Paris came nothing but fine words.
So Rudolf acted! War was declared, and Austrian troops attacked the cities of Trier and Kleves. But even Durning was not enough. The French troops took Trier right in front of Austrian eyes, and made it a vassal to the French Crown. Rudolf was powerless. At least the Archbishop of Cologne was put to place, he thought, as he watched the former sign the peace treaty.
The Austrian rule now stretched from Transylvania in the South-East, to Luxembourg in the North-West. Rudolf could now die a happy man.
A new Duke
Albrecht III ascended the throne. It was clear he was not his father, the Stifter. He was a greedy man, and would not let his vassals keep local power. On the very day of his coronation, upon meeting his closest advisors, he slammed his fist into the table and roared "Reign them in! Reign them all in!". The future path of Austria was clear; rapid increase of centralized power. But was Albrecht the man to this? Only future will show...
Reward: Deflation.
If we're issuing ontimes for that session (I didn't think we were): cash.
