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Syt

Holstein's Envoy in Vienna
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Jan 26, 2001
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The following years under the rule now of Rudolf II brought a flurry of activity in Austria. Spain had taken Milan and Helvetia from France. Austria built up its army, seeking to reclaim the territories it had lost in the peace of 1535.

Venice stacked an army of 95,000 men in its town, almost equalling the number of citizens with the number of mercenaries. Austrian merchants were not permitted to trade. However, the time for attack had not yet come. Venice was bonded with Spain and Naples in a military alliance, and so Rudolf took his time to improve his army till that alliance would expire.

In september 1589 the time was come. Rudolf had ordered his troops, some 80,000 men, into Styria. However, due to poor planning and logistics, their number dwindled to 69,000 before any war was declared. When the messenger brought the note from Rudolf to the Venetian Doge, Austria's allies, Hungary and Saxony joined the alliance leader in her cause. A joint force of Hungarians and Austrians thwarted the resistance of Venice and layed a brief siege on the trading capital of the Adriatic Sea. It lasted only until january 16th, 1590, when the city magistrate toppled the Doge and handed the city's key to the Austrian general. Venice became a part of the Austrian territory again.

Quickly Austrian traders established a monopoly in Venice. New gold found its way into the Austrian coffers. However, this went to the expense of the trading exploits in other markets, especially in Isfahan.

Rudolf II looked further east, to the still rebelling islands of Crete, with its prosperous sugar exports, and Cyprus, foothold in the eastern Mediteranean. In 1598 the both islands were parts of Austria again. However, the English brothers-in-arms of Austria went to war with France. Saxony decided not to join in the war, neither did Hungary. Rudolf saw the chance to re-conquer the little isle of Corfu and the province of Mantua. Other French provinces were far away, so little resistance was to be expected. However, the siege of Corfu at least lasted till 1602, full 30 months.

England searched conquest in Holland and Belgium. However, Belgium belonged largely to Spain still, and France had conquered provinces from Holland. Austria went to secret peace negotiations with France and the war tired kingdom of the west agreed to leave Corfu and Mantua to Austria. England didn't object - they didn't expect Austria to ship troops to France through waters controlled by unfriendly powers. A few months later they met peace with France, too.

Austria went back to securing and fortifying its realm. Rudolf built fortresses and sent a few colonists to the territory of Belle Isle in Newfoundland. The colony had grown to over 1000 now, and the first regiments of troops were raised in the New World.

Diplomatically, Rudolf was successfull in securing Austria's borders. He vassalized Saxony in 1607 and Bavaria, which had conquered Wurttemburg and Thuringia till then, in 1610. However, both countries denied to join Austria. Hungary (their last two kings were Emperors of the Holy Roman Empire), still a vassall of Hungary, also defied annexion.

Mathias followed Rudolf onto the throne in 1612, but his reign was not too remarkable. In 1619, Ferdinand II settled on the Austrian throne and set once more new goals for the Empire that was threatened to fall into stagnation once again. Turkey was mired in little wars on its borders. The smell of decay emenated from 'the sick man on the Bosporus'. The only quiet front were the Balcans. Ferdinand II decided it was time to change this.

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Attrition is not a strategy. Attrition is the apparent lack of strategy. (Sun Tzu)