• We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.

unmerged(13)

Banned
Jan 12, 2000
2.125
0
Visit site
Part 7 AAR – Austria. The 2nd Austrian – Polish war. Russia lends a hand. (1647-1649)

 October 8th, 1644 we left the alliance with Turkey, Denmark, Crimea & Hansa finding out that Crimea is really an independent vassal of Turkey and that the Turks have been secretly discussing a possible alliance with the French. Probably against us.


My fears are confirmed when Turkey allies itself with France and Prussia, basically sealing me in from the south, west and north. I suspect the architect of this alliance is France who is still extremely hostile towards me. An alliance such as this would keep me in line for quite some time. In fact an offensive war against me against such an alliance would probably seal my fate. Prussia to the north, bordering Austria with over 80,000 man on standby. The French to the west with their massive forces and of course Turkey to the east bordering me along stretches of occupied Hungary. Angered by this double dealing my envoys make protests to the Turks in Budapest and we immediately cancel all our diplomatic ties with this country.

 Paid off a loan from the bank in July, 1645
 Between 1645 & 1650 I increase my army tech 3 times.


After leaving our previous alliance our diplomatic service turned eastwards, past Poland into Russia with whom we have always had a fairly decent relationship – and royal ties as well. Discussions take place about a possible alliance in the future (between 1644-45) and they seem quite keen because their main target is Poland. The Russians knowing well that we harbor grudges against them warm up to the idea of an offensive alliance to take on Poland (who is without allies at this moment) within the next few years. To prove that we are genuinely interested in this alliance we offer Russia several low interest, long term loans to help them financially in building stronger fortresses.

On October 2nd, 1646 Vienna and Moscow enter a military alliance. This sends chills down the back of sharp-eyed Polish aristocrats as well as the king.

During the next 6+ months I move my forces under Papenheim and Gallas into north eastern Austria bordering Krakow and Posen provinces of Poland. Two armies: one under the Field Marshal is in excess of 75,000 men (over 110 artillery pieces), the smaller one in Moravia under the command of General Gallas is counted at over 20,000 men.

 On March 23rd 1647 Austria and Muscovy formally declare war on the Polish Commonwealth. We do not give a reason why, the purpose is very clear to the rest of Europe: the submission of the strongest eastern European power of the 17th century Europe. We have no wet dreams about a possible destruction of this country because we both know that although its finances are in shambles it can yield a potentially massive standing army of some of the best soldiers in all of Europe. Russia is interested in Polish provinces north of Lithuanian. Possibly Kurkland, or Polish Livonia. Austria, however, is interested in the densely populated and very rich provinces of western Poland. Possibly Krakow or Posen.

 Our armies move into battle.

 On June 21st the Generals army reaches the outskirts of Krakow and immediately joins battle against a 20k Polish army stationed there. The battle goes well to begin with, however a rogue shot from a Polish musketeer hits the General in the face. Gallas dies instantly. This causes a total drop in formation and concentration of the army at the worst possible moment. The Generals’ subordinates however handle the situation well and manage an orderly retreat back into Moravia assailed almost the entire way by Polish cavalry units. Definitely not a good start to the campaign.

 On August 3rd the Field Marshal arrives in Posen, his 75,000k army decimates a 20,000 man Polish army, forcing them to flee for their lives after a few short hours. The Austrians however lose close to 8,000 men dead and wounded during the battle, along with some of the precious siege pieces.

 The result of that is a plea from Poland asking for a white peace. We refuse asking for a secession of the Polish city of Posen. As well as the immediate handing over of Polish Livonia to the Muscovites. These conditions are totally unacceptable to the Poles and the war continues.

 As this is occurring in the west of Poland, Muscovite armies assault the Commonwealths’ northern and eastern borders. Polish Livonia is under siege by a large Russian army, whilst small Polish cavalry units battle out in the wastes, east of the Ukraine against similar sized Russian units.

On January 1st 1648 (after a brief few months of quiet on the western front) the Field Marshal finally captures the city of Posen. Meanwhile a large Polish army of 91,000 men crosses the Austrian border just north of Posen and assaults Breslau (in Silesia). After 17 days of murderous assaults the city falls to this overwhelming army. After capturing Posen, Papenheim immediately orders his army to move west and help out the stricken Silesian province.

On February 15th 1648 the F.M encounters the lead elements of this massive Polish army. 90,000 Poles battle 41,000 Austrians outside of Breslau. Battle is both close and bloody. However the Polish numerical superiority (curiously made up of 99% infantry only) begins to take the advantage. The F.M refusing to retreat orders to continue the battle. By the end of the day ¾’s of his army is annihilated. The Poles themselves lose over 15,000 men dead and wounded. The Austrians retreat back into occupied Posen after this shocking loss, the annihilation of Austrian infantry by the Polish musket.

 Muscovite forces capture Dorpat in Polish Livonia in February.
 After the loss of most of his army, the Field Marshal receives an envoy from Russia asking him to move onto Krakow where a large Russian army is laying siege to the city. They require assistance. In May Papenheim arrives at the walls of Krakow, barely on its last legs fighting off a 45,000k Russian army. 20,000 Austrians join the battle immediately and a few days later the city falls to the allied forces. There is no mercy shown to the Poles in the streets for the first few hours. The Field Marshal now moves to recapture Breslau (again) learning that the massive Polish army has moved back east to deal with other Russian forces.
 Later on the 40,000+ Russians who captured Krakow with the F.M are annihilated in Podlasia by 56k Poles in July of 1648

At this point there is no clear winner in this war. Sure the Poles have lost some provinces to the allies. Most importantly Livonia, Krakow & Posen, however they still have large forces and reserves. Hetman Zolkiewski is yet to be beaten on the field by the allied forces, his army making waves against every army they encounter; however they cannot be everywhere at once.

Zolkiewski and his 55k Polish army moves into Posen (after dealing fairly successfully against Russian forces in the east past the Ukraine) and they begin a siege to re-capture this city in September of 1648. While this is happening, west, just across the border Papenheim is busy slaughtering the Polish garrison in Breslau. On October 10th 1648 he re-captures the city with his exhausted army.

 Promoted to Duke, November 1648. Addressed as “Your Grace”
 Papenheim now decides to force his tired army to move east, again and hopefully get to Posen and successfully relieve the Austrian garrison holding for dear life against Zolkiewski.
 A month after re-capturing Breslau, The Field Marshal reaches the city of Posen on November 11th. He immediately attacks the Polish army of 45k men (who are extremely exhausted after unsuccessful assaults) with his 20k men and in a space of 2 hours forces them into a retreat. Amazingly so he is successful in relieving Posen despite very small chances of him succeeding (or getting to Posen in time before it is recaptured).
 The allies are slowly taking the advantage over the over-stretched Poles. However we have suffered serious casualties in the conflict and Austria is beginning to grumble under several unsuccessful revolts in our national provinces. Time is growing short, finances are low and manpower is almost exhausted.

On February 1st 1649 Papenheim captures the city of Lublin (Podlasia), neighboring Posen. He does this with little resistance both on the field as well as inside its walls. The Polish army that retreated from Posen in November of last year is sitting idle in Warsaw, just north of our forces. Zolkiewski seems to be resting them, however time is growing short for him. His reason for resting there is probably because of several Russian armies descending on Lithuania from the east having flooded the north-eastern provinces of Poland. The Hetman wants to make sure Warsaw is not taken, as that will spell almost immediate defeat. To the east small Polish armies are sitting idle unable to deal effectively with the allied forces. The main remaining Polish army, under Zolkewski, in the whole of Poland is waiting in Warsaw.

 Salzburg weapons manufactory burns down to the ground, February 1649.
 Kharkov (an eastern province) is captured by the Muscovites in March of 1649.

Austria is conscripting massive reinforcements in Silesia (10k men and 30 artillery pieces), however we have won this war. The question is, do I make peace now and make demands to the Poles or do I risk waiting for this reinforcement for several months?

 Brest-Litowski (Pripet Marshes) to the east of Podlasia is captured by the Field Marshal on May 19th 1649 with few losses. Polish field forces are thinning.
 City of Riga (Kurkland) is captured by Russian forces after a bloody 12 month siege. The Muscovites slaughter the population in a fever of bloodlust for costing them so many dead.
 Austrian and Russian forces are now all over Poland.
 The Austrian reinforcements dodge small Polish cavalry units on their way to Podlasia to rendezvous with the Field Marshal.
 In June 1649, Russian forces move into West Prussia (and begin assaulting Thorn). Most Polish cities around the radius of Warsaw are in flames, or under allied occupation. To the east the battles seem to have died out, the Russians not making too much progress against the swiftly moving Polish & Cossack cavalry forces, however they have managed to occupy several small areas / cities.
 The Field Marshal now decides to bring an end to this war (which the allies have won anyway) and to move his army (together with reinforcements) on Hetman Zolkewski and his slowly growing army in Warsaw. On October 21st 1649 both armies join battle (32k Austrians & 30 artillery pieces vs. 48,000 Poles under Zolkewski). The battle is long and hard, Zolkiewski has only been beaten once so far in this war and this was only due to the surprise attack by the Field Marshal to relieve his garrison in Posen. The battle lasts 3 days, both forces unwilling to make a decisive move. On the evening of the 3rd night a tartar contingent along with Ukrainian Cossacks storms the main encampment of the Austrian army. They are beaten off, however the Poles immediately order a charge on the tent, the Polish musketeers converging on both flanks. The extremely tired Austrian army (that has seen most of the action against the Poles than any other Austrian contingent) is cut to pieces as the light cavalry units converge on the position, whilst the Polish infantry closes in on the flanks in a pincer movement. During the chaos that follows, Papenheim and about 7,000 of his men escape this pincer and manage to retreat from the vicinity of the battle. Zolkewski has again annihilated an Austrian army. The Poles taking close to 15,000 captives, the rest dying from wounds or being KIA.

Both sides are now totally exhausted. The Russians are still strong and still moving in on more territory. Despite Zolkewski’s triumph in Mazovia he doesn’t have the forces to wage war against the Russians. The Polish King orders an immediate resumption in peace talks to which the Austrians agree despite Russian protest (who want the whole country in flames).

On October 22nd 1649 peace is signed between the allies and Poland. Poland is forced to seed Kurkland along with surrounding areas to Russia. Whilst Austria takes Krakow and its surrounding lands. The Poles are extremely angered at the loss of Krakow. (Once the seat of power in Poland) and before the city officially receives the Austrian troops, the Polish citizens (together with elements of the army) strip the city and surrounding areas of all its wealth leaving behind it a virtual ghost town.

Whilst Polish power has not been definitely curbed, they have been seriously crushed in this war losing some valuable territory and many troops. However the allies have lost almost 3x the men in this war, due to many sieges as well as the several major battles that were lost against the army of Zolkiewski. Russian / Austrian forces were no match on the field against well led Polish armies however, despite this we did have an advantage in field artillery and were able to capture many less defended (but vitally important) cities. Krakow, Dorpat, Posen most importantly.

End of Part 7
 
Dragon, DK,

You really had it in for Poland, didn't you Sap . You're just lucky that the Franco-Prusso-Turkish alliance didn't attack you while you were invading Poland (or were they involved elsewhere?)

At the time they were very quiet. But I'm sure it would have been very interesting had they invaded either Poland or Austria during the war. Would have probably errupted into a huge European conflict


Jim,

So sad that this was the last installment of the Austrian Chronicles. Can you provide a summary of the winners, sorted by VP?


Heh, I'm sure they'll be other writers sending their aar's in, Sarges for example.

I can't quite recall the numbers. Though Spain and Turkey were first. Followed by France and then Austria. Btw, colonial nations have received revisions in latest patches. VP received from colonisation has drpped about -20, whilst victory through war has increased +10. IMHO, its a good move.

Sapura
 
not that I have played but I am not sure I like the victory point change. Isn't this a game where you are incented to expand overseas as opposed to beating up on you neighbors? Is this not the Age of Exploration? I might agree that if Sapura builds a Greater Poland that he deserves kudos and he probably should have been rewarded with the victory in the game depending on how large the Spanish overseas posessions were. However the victory point change seems to condone an European conquest strategy rather than pushing the European nations to explore and expand.
 
However the victory point change seems to condone an European conquest strategy rather than pushing the European nations to explore and expand.

Hmm, we only know that the criteria have been tweaked, since expansion through war paid off too little. We do not know the resulting war/colonialism quotient.

IMO, wars on the continent were just as important as the colonialism, so a player choosing that strategy should be equally awarded...

/Doomie
 
I would agree that wars on the continent were important but don't you think that overseas expansion paved the way for the great powers of this time period and beyond? Spain, France and England being the big winners here. I would agree that maybe a minor adjustment would be helpful because I do believe that if Sapura's Poland or Graham's Ottoman's did not win they should have depending on how huge the overseas possessions of others were. Both the Ottomans and the Poles were wildly successful.
 
don't you think that overseas expansion paved the way for the great powers of this time period and beyond?

Yes and no. Certainly yes in the case of the British Empire. But don't forget the other really big winner of the period: Russia. Russia expanded almost exclusively through war and--virtually alone among the great powers--managed to hang on her gains.