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Countined timeline from 1492-1570. This is not a new game, but a continuation of the same GC game.

1570-90.


1570-80. The Ottomans sound a death knell for central and eastern Europe.

The Ottomans declare war on central Europe. In their drive for domination of the region, Austria and Poland (separately) wage unwinnable wars agains the Turkish co-alition.
The Austrian-Turkish war of 1570-1 begins in Sep of that year, overwhelming co-alition armies strike from their already established positions in central Europe taking Krems (an 89,000 army) in December of 1570. In April of 1571, between 67 and 80,000 men lay siege to a hopelessly unprepared Vienna, but despite this it takes them nearly 2 months of hard siege to capture the capital. In the settlement, following the Austrian capitulation, the Turks demand Ostmarch and Carniola and 239d in indemnities, which they recieve. The Ottmans together with their allies have now created a wedge in central Europe between Hungary and Austria, reaching up to the frontier provinces of Bohemia along the Danube river.

In 1578-79 the Ottomans declare war on an unprepared Poland. Polish armies hold the fort in Bessarabia soundly defeating several major Turkish armies on 3 occasions in the first 6 months of the conflict, however with their moral dropping and Poland weakened from an earlier civil war (1573-76) in which the Poles were forced to (temporarily) accept Ukranian independance the Ottmans drive this advantage home. By early 1579 the Poles are retreating on the entire front, the Ottomans driving into Bessarabia, Podolia (unable to conquer the territory), Krementjug, driving further north as far as Vorones, Lipetsk and Belgorod. The Ottomans continue demanding completley unacceptable terms to the Poles, however by the peace of Nov 1579 the Poles are forced to hand over Bessarabia and Krementujug to the Ottoman alliance. Poland has had a bad 10 years, and is in a problematic position with the Ukraine also being independant, and a possibility of the Cossacks allying with Turkey is very worrying. To this end the Poles sign a military alliance with the Persians immediately after the end of the war. Persia, meanwhile is the only power that is still independant in the middle east, the rest being under control of the Ottoman alliance (Georgia, Algiers, Hedjaz, etc).

1573-76. Civil war breaks out in Poland. A large amount of soldiers rebel in the Ukraine (close to 80,000 men, taking with them over 120 artillery pieces. The Poles shocked by this surprise action making lightning cavalry strikes into the territory surrounding Kiev giving the Cossacks and traitors serious problems and causing unbelievable slaughter in short time. By 1576, with the Ottoman storm gathering momentum and shortage of cash, the Poles are forced to agree to peace terms with the Cossacks. This is seen as a temporary gesture until the storm can be weathered. The Cossacks territory is severly restricted, and they are limited to the control of Kiev and surrounding territory only.


1572-79. Third Swedish-Danish war. The Swedes declare war on Denmark, hoping for a final victory. The English again back up Sweden, whilst Muscovy surprisingly, sides with the Danish. This leaves Sweden fighting a two front war for several years. Between 1572-74 the Swedes main armies are concentrated on battling the Russians. Both sides have mixed successes in this conflict, though the Muscovite skirmishing cavalry regiments do pillage as far as Swedish Narvik with some success. This however is temporary. The Muscovites temporarily also storm Navara successfully, though they are thrown out only several months later, in July of 1573. The Swedes not venture into Onega and in August of 1573 they storm the capital of the provinces, Kargopor. The Swedes are very sure themselves and seem like they want to attack right into Moscow (which would have brought Poland into the conflict, if she wasn't involved in a bloody civil war ..argh!), so the Muscovites relent handing over Kargopor and the whole of Onega territory to the Swedes, in August of 1574. Muscovy is in trouble, and if the Swedes and Poles decide (and are able) to take advantage of her weakness again, it will very surely lead to a partition of the country between the two. Swedish armies now move in force into Denmark, where Danish attacks have had little success in storming the splendidly fortified Swedish cities. In early 1576, an English expeditionary force lands in Jylland, the Danes are totally unprepared for this attack and Aarborg falls in March of 1576. The English now make a dash for Copenhagen, however the Danes offer them Aarborg (Jylland), and the English happily accept. Interesting, no? :) The Swedes make a final peace with Denmark in August of 1579 taking Jamtland. Over the course of these 3 wars, Denmark has been reduced from a minor super-power, to almost complete partition. I doubt they'll be able to handle another war, even with Muscovite help.


1574-78. Dutch independence war. The Netherlands emerges from the devastation and instability in the last 20 years from Spanish NW European provinces (Hague, etc) and declares itself independant. This causes the Spanish to declare war on the Dutch, which lasts till 1578. The Spanish are unable to successfully land any strong armies in their territory, whilst the Netherlands gets full support from France and her allies. Spain must accept that her territories there are lost. Former Austrian provinces of Artois and Luxemburg are taken by Dutch authorities as well, the Austrians are unable to do anything about it except protest.


1580. Hessen annexes Kleves.


1580-1581. Poland still weak from its last civil war / wars with Turkey is invaded by the Golden Horde, in July 1580. Several weeks later, Iaroslav, capital of the Palatinate of Kazan falls to the Horde. However, the Poles now gather larger forces and strike back under Zamoyski annihilating a 45,000 man Horder army at Boutjar which leads to the storming of the city in Jan of 1581. Several weeks later the Poles storm Saratov, another vitally important Horde fortress / city. Initially, what was looking like a possible defeat now turns to a victory as Saratov is handed over to the Poles in the peace of March 1581. In July of 1581, the Poles feel so sure of themselves that they declare war on Kiev (Ukraine) which has been independant for several years now. 32,000 Cossacks are defeated by 25k Poles near Kiev, which leads to a siege of the city, lasting only several days. In August, 1581 Kiev is brought back into the fold.


1582-86. Polish-Persian-Turkish war. The Poles prepare large forces for a war with the Ottomans, who have taken large areas of Poland in recent wars. War is declared Dec 1582, Persia invading Ottoman middle eastern provinces, whilst Algiers and Tripoli support Turkey.
Jan, 1583, Ochakov is re-captured by the Poles, followed by Poltava. In the east, Persian forces are temporarily successful in storming Baghdad, although they soon are forced to retreat due to Ottoman re-inforcements. For the next year, Poltava / Bessarabia / Krementjug swap hands, the war leading to quick battles of attrition. Meanwhile, members of the Polish Sejm gather their forces in revolt over not being consulted over the Turkish war. Battles break out all over Prussia, western Poland and the former Order provinces. In June 1584 the Turks, short of supplies and men offer Poltava back to the Poles. A cease-fire is signed.
For the next year, various factions battle for control of Poland, the rebel revolt leading to unprecedented chaos. In the fall of 1585, the Polish government is broken! The chaos seems to ease, however for a very high price: Parts of former Prussia / Order and Kazan re-emerge as independent. The Poles have no choice but to acknowledge these huge changes. A much smaller, yet independent Prussia and Teutonic Order immediately sign a military defensive alliance with Sweden, England and Netherlands, just incase the Poles are willing to do battle. In the east, the Muscovites, ever patient take this opportunity to declare war on the newely independent Kazan (formerly Palatinate of Kazan). The capital is taken by Muscovite forces, and Kazan now folds under the domain of the Tsars by Sep of 1585. What a shock! The Persians continue to wage war against the Turks, however, by March 1586, the situation is looking rather bleek for the over-extentended Persian troops who have spent too much time trying to re-take Baghdad. Turkey offers the Persians peace, in return for taking Kars and Azerbadzjan. The Persians agree to this, and the Turks celebrate a great victory, which more than makes up for the loss of Poltava to the Poles.

For the next part I'll deal with several countries who have ascended into greatness, whilst two others have become reduced to pawns.

Muscovy

1585-1590. Muscovite-Horde war. Muscovy now goes on a war rampage, and its policy of 'gathering of the lands' starts to take shape. The Muscovites declare war on the Golden Horde, in Sep 1585, however despite relatively weak Muscovite armies, difficulty of supply and Polish loans to the Horde, the war drags on for nearly five years. In July, there is a cease-fire and the Muscovites demand and recieve Bogutjar and Kysbychew, a crushing victory (though costing the Muscovites, thousands upon thousands of dead), leavint the Horde control of its capital and surrounding area. Another reason why this war takes 5 years to reach a conclusion is because the Danish involve the Russians in an exceedingly long war against the Swedes from 1587, which I'll talk about later. The Muscovites, way over-extended, are forced to cede the massive (yet relatively empty) province of Kola to the Swedes in Nov of 1588. Whilst Muscovy is definately not a major power yet, (most importantly because of her exceedingly weak, yet numerous armies) she is taking steps. Though Sweden has taken much western territory from her, as well as the Poles (as noted in the other timeline), she has rebounded to take less profitable areas to the SE (Kazan, Golden Horde).

* Also, Crimea declared war on Astrakhan, together with the Turks and some other allies, in 1586, and Poland took advantage of the chaos there by storming Donesk, its western most major city. In April of 1586, the Poles are allowed to take posession of the territory in exchange for a ceas-fire, Astrakhan fighting for its life against the Crimeans and Ottomans. They do so with marvelous resilience. Crimea is unable to penetrate any of the major fortress of 'khan, and neither can her Turkish allies. A cease-fire is signed in Sep, 1587 with return to status quo. Quite a surprising result..


Sweden

The 4th Danish-Swedish war 1587-91. The Destruction of Denmark.

In 1587, the Danish in a last desperate attempt to recover power declare war on Sweden. Russia is brought into the conflict, as are England and the Netherlands in support of Sweden. In May 1588, Visby is laid siege to by combined English and Swedish armies, however, despite this it never falls to their armies. The Swedes are able, with Dutch and English support to carry on a war at two fronts and take Kola from the Muscovites in the cease-fire of Nov 1588 (paritially due to Muscovite intervention in the Horde at the time), almost confirming the complete destruction of Denmark three years before the end of the war. Trodenheim is taken by the Swedes in April, 1589, whilst the Dutch lay siege to the capital of Denmark, Copenhagen in Feb 1590. Relieving Copenhagen, and at the same time dooming Denmark to defeat, the Danish offer the Dutch the princely sum of 250d in July of 1590, to cease the siege of Copenhagen, which the Dutch agree to. This however makes Denmark completley bankrupt, with most of its major cities under Swedish occupation. Despite this, in a final defiant push, the Danish re-capture Trodenheim in Dec 1591. In the negotiations Vestfold is annexed by the Swedes, leaving 'independent' Denmark, a mere scrap of territory in Scandinavia (recaptured Trodenheim), and its capital Copenhagen. Over the last 80+ years Sweden has turned itself into a major power, defeating and virtually completely annihilating Danish independence and making major inroads into western Russia taking vast territory there too. Virtually all of Scandinavia is now under the rule of the Swedish King. Together with the Dutch and the English (as well as the resurgent Prussians and Order), this alliance has now become the 2nd most powerful alliance in the game.


Turkey

1588-1592, the Turkish-Austrian war. This leads to almost complete succumbing of the Austrians to the rule of the Ottomans. Linz is taken in Nov, 1588, though the Austrians, through minor victorious are able to persuade Hedjaz for peace in exchange for 37d, in July 1589. Georgia follows suit, in June 1590 in exchange for 107d indemnities. Tripoli and the Crimea follow suit. It seems the Turkish allies weren't too keen to continue the war. A major reason for their withdrawl was the inability for their combined armies to capture Vienna, despite having close to 30k soldiers laying siege to it for over 6 months. Nevetheless, Innsburch (Tyrol) is occupied by the Turks in 1590. What happens next is totally unexpected. The Venetians declare war on Austria, claiming that since Austria has basically ceased to function as an effective state, the Venetians will take the province of Styria under their wing, in Nov of 1591. Taking Graz in Styria almost without any opposition in Feb 1592, they demand that (whats left) of Austria agrees formally to cede the territory. The Austrians refused, which forces the Venetians to invade central Austria, laying siege to Vienna in May of 1592, whilst around them, the Turks pillage whats left of the countryside. After only 9 days of siege, the Venetians accomplish what their Turkish allies couldn't in nearly 6 months. They capture Vienna. This leads to an almost complete partition of Austria in the cease-fire of March-April 1592. During diplomatic proceedings, Turkish and Venetian envoys demand large areas of territory in exchange they are willing to provide autonomy to three remaining sections of Austria. Peace is signed, the Ottomans taking Salzburg, whilst the Venetians taking Styria. Austria has ceased being a power as of this moment. Although its three remaining sectors are independent (Tyrol in the west), which is almost completely split off from Vienna and Odeburg in the east. The Ottomans can now at will engage into Hungary / Bohemia, or perhaps attack Venice and go for Rome.


* French-Spanish war of 1588-1589. France is supported by Milan, Sicily and Persia. A combined army of 162,000 French/Milan soldiers cross the Spanish frontier in October of 1588 and captures Perpignan within hours of laying siege. The Spanish are completely outnumbered, and a decisive battle is fought below the walls of Perpignan on Nov. 15th, 1588. A desperate 34,000 man Spanish army is confronted by 164,000 French/Milani soldiers on the fields below the city. With the space of several hours, the Spanish are utterly, utterly annihilated. Close to 30,000 Spanish casulaties, most of them KIA. The rest apparently taken into captivity. A shocker of a battle, which completely opens up the whole of Northern and central Spain to the French onslaught. Pau is taken by the collosal French monster in Dec, 1588, the French/Milani forces look set to completley destroy Spanish power. To my complete surprise, the French agree to deal with Spanish envoys. Whether it was a bribe, traitorism or whatever you'd like to think, the peace-settlement is an insult .. 250d in indemnities and the occupation of Saragosa by a French garrison. What a collosal blunder! The French may have just lost their only easy opportunity of seriously weakening Spanish power for an extended period of time.


Sapura
 
WOW - how did Spain get away with that one?

and how on earth did England get her 'little piece of Denmark'?

Its a cracking timeline sap, my first read here for 3 weeks, reminds me why I keep coming back :)

one question...is Poland normally this racked by civil wars?
 
Thank you very much, Sapura. Excellent. You have officially convinced me to get a copy of this game even if I have to swim the Atlantic to get it.

Until then, I will have to play some games of Ultimate Risk as a substitute.
 
Whitey,

Some of the reasons why Poland was so wracked by civil war was because I dec war on Turkey when we had a treaty together: bad, bad way of causing instability. However, I had to do it, because Turkey would have attacked me like it did Austria.. and you know what happened to Austria :( From stability of +3, decreased to -2 on dec. of war, and that caused the fall of the govt.

England got her little piece of Denmark because actively joined the war with Sweden. Aarborg was fairly defenseless and so it fell quickly. The Danish obviously didn't expect the poms to join in an active war, they merely though of it was a symbolic support of Sweden.

Sapura
 
Heheh, marvellous timeline Sapura!

You do such great things while I'm away getting pick-pocketed and burglared in Amsterdam... ;)

Once again I am salivating over this game. Mjum, to partition Denmark... Yummy.

Now, if only Johan and the team could finish this beauty up before the north pole thaws. :)
 
Yes, I've been waiting for you to get back!

Which places did you visit? Hmm, love your rendition of the 2nd Polish war, where did you get the figures from, the Swedish General Staff? ;)

Anyways, I've 'corrected' you a tiny bit on some of your points :)


Yes, Denmark .. lovely area to partition ..

Sapura
 
Which places did you visit?

Copenhagen, Lubeck, Berlin, Leipzig, Prague, Vienna, Salzburg, Belfort, Paris and Amsterdam.

I would have gone to Krakow and Budapest, but we had to cut short the trip by a week. Also, the car rental company was not happy about us going to Poland. Anyway, everything was fine till we got to Amsterdam where they managed to steal money (250 guilders) right out of my wallet somehow. The next day we discovered that the car had been broken into and we had lost 30 CDs, my Ray-Bans and most of our souvenirs. Pretty shitty end to a trip, eh?

Hmm, love your rendition of the 2nd Polish war, where did you get the figures from, the Swedish General Staff?

Heh, actually no. At least not directly. I tend to rely on modern authors. However, troop figures are always risky, and there is no way to discover the actual truth beyond eye-witness accounts (which are most often completely wrong anyway).
 
Copenhagen, Lubeck, Berlin, Leipzig, Prague, Vienna, Salzburg, Belfort, Paris and Amsterdam.

I would have gone to Krakow and Budapest, but we had to cut short the trip by a week.

An intensive few weeks then, I'm sure you have quite a few interesting stories to tell :) Sad that you didn't check out Krakow / Warsaw and Budapest.


Also, the car rental company was not happy about us going to Poland

LOL, I can imagine why. Car stealing is ridiculously high there ... :(


The next day we discovered that the car had been broken into and we had lost 30 CDs, my Ray-Bans and most of our souvenirs. Pretty shitty end to a trip, eh?

sh*t is not the word, I would have been hell pissed off. Sounds like not only eastern Europe is full of car thieves. 30 cd's <shakes head> my God! :(((((

Sapura
 
Sapura-
It appears that you've held back the Turk juggernaut for now. At this point, can an you begin to cobble together an alliance, like you did in the Venitian campaign to hold back Turkey? I'd imagine that in addition to your already proven treaty with Persia you could add Venice and possibly some other minor powers for additional firepower. At any rate good luck with this, and feel free to incorporate your response to this in your next chronological post, if appropriate. I appreciate you mentioning the size of armies in this thread.

Also, you stated to your response in Whitey that you had to pre-emptively attack Turkey because you knew that they were about to attack you. Could you fill me in more on your strategy here because the stability hit (and resulting civil wars) seem like a pretty severe price to pay. Is it something to do with 'bringing the war to the enemy' and pillaging his provinces rather than visa-versa?
 
Very nice Sapura. Very much appreciate your commitment to bringing us this. I am really enjoying seeing how things are playing out. You need more friends, the big northern alliance is pretty scary and that southern alliance which borders you isn't very plesant to think about.
 
Jim & Dragon,

Could you fill me in more on your strategy here because the stability hit (and resulting civil wars) seem like a pretty severe price to pay.

Yep, it was a very severe price to pay, and logically I would have rather relinquished control of some of the s.e'rn provinces of Poland to Turkey than go through that civil war which gave back independence to a smaller Prussia / Teutonic Order / Kazan. The last which was promptly swallowed up by the Russians.. then they ate up the horde. So yes, it was not the best strategy in hindsight, but I'm only discovering this now.


Is it something to do with 'bringing the war to the enemy' and pillaging his provinces rather than visa-versa?

However, I was not all to sure that I would withstand a really ferocious attack by the Ottomans when they did declare war -- that is were prepared. I was NOT at all happy about seeing Turkish armies at Krakow, near Warsaw or anywhere near there. There was a high possibility of this occuring, so I decided to attack pre-emptively. A price was paid however .. and now those damned Prussians / Germans are in an alliance with the Dutch / Swedish and English till 1608 -- wonderful.

An alliance to the north, .. an alliance to the south and a resurgent and more aggressive Muscovy to the east. A good position to be in? Nope! :) Persia, despite being rather big and rich just cannot hope to fight the Ottoman alliance in the middle east. They have NO other support, and even with me they would most probably be severely defeated.

Think about this:
Swedes have basically paritioned Denmark, whats their next goal: Russia and Poland.

Turkey has basically partitioned Austria, whats their next goal? Bohemia, Hungary .. Poland.

Muscovy has expanded massively in the last 10 years at the expense of the Horde, Kazan and Astrakhan. Who's their next target? Yes you gussed it. I've put myself in quite a bit of a mess and if they all decide to invade me within a short time, its bye bye birdseye. :(

Even with an alliance, Hungary hates me .. so does Bohemia. It would require a lot of cash / state gifts to turn the tables. The German principalities are fighting between each other -- sorry co-operating :). The French are intermmidently busy with the English (who have recovered most of their country in the north from French occupation) and the Spanish to the south. Doesn't leave many decent options does it?

Sapura
 
How about an alliance with Spain? As someone else suggested, Venice?

Definately time to build up internally. Stability obviously is a sore spot among your people. Some diplomacy with Moscow might be a good solution for you. Moscow is not part of one of the Grand Alliances and is in the middle much the same as you are. The other plus with Moscow is that they really hold no fondness for the Northern Alliance who is holding territory of theirs.
 
Don't feel sorry Marc, although I would lie if I said I thought it could have happened anywhere... We should just have been more careful.

I really liked Amsterdam up until that point. We went to the Rijksmuseum to see the works of the old masters, watched MI2 in the Tushinsky Theatre and bought some really cool stuff, especially at 'Chimera Fantasy'. (Although most of what we bought was later stolen.)

It seemed as if the liberal solution to the drug problem worked quite well, and I have nothing against prostitution in principle, but then we got burglared by what was in all likelihood a drug addict. What can I say?
 
Still it was sad....drug related crimes are really less and less frequent in Amsterdam the last years, due to the drug policies, but like every big city it still happens, especcially to tourists who let down their guard for a second or two :(

That shop is indeed fun, if it is the same shop i think it is. If you need anything special replaced from that shop, i could get my GF to go there and buy what you need, and you could send the money, or we coild act as a go between for a mail order directly to the company...

Anyway, glad you enjoyed some of your visit!!

mARC
 
That shop is indeed fun, if it is the same shop i think it is. If you need anything special replaced from that shop, i could get my GF to go there and buy what you need, and you could send the money, or we coild act as a go between for a mail order directly to the company...

Thanx for the offer! If you could get me their e-mail or snail mail address, it would be a great help. (I really want to own that cool Desert Dragon statuette.)
 
Well, the snail addy is the following...

Chimera Fantasy Giftshop
Damstraat 32
1012 JM Amsterdam

I'll call them soon to check if they have an email addy and do mail ordering.
BTW, it was indeed the shop i thought it was..one can spend hours there, just looking at stuff.

Marc