A Greater Netherlands - IN Brabant AAR

You can only ask for what the AI has in the bank though, so most times its just 50-100 gold. The African and American countries don't have anything to spend money on, so they're rolling in it by the time you get to them.

However, I had something like 45% warscore blockading all of Swahili's provinces, so they probably would have given me anything to get off their coast.

With Pomerania firmly in Dutch control, Frederik began to plan for a final blow to the Ottomans. Leaving a small Swedish/Polish garrison force to protect Danzig, he moved the Dutch army back to Antwerp for rest and refit. The Royal Army had lost over one-third of its strength in the course of the Baltic campaign, and the kingdom’s reserves were nearly depleted. The next year was spent consolidating broken regiments and bringing the army back to fighting strength, as well as constructing new ships to transport an expedition to the Mediterranean.

Finally, by spring of 1548 both the army and navy were ready. A fleet of 43 vessels carrying 12 regiments set sail for the Levant. In order to permanently end the Turkish spice trade, it would be necessary to destroy the key Egyptian ports which were used to distribute Eastern goods throughout the Mediterranean. Chief among these was Alexandria, the central hub for East/West trade since ancient times.


The formidable Turkish Mediterranean fleet was still intact, but faced with the approaching Dutch armada the Sultan wisely chose to leave his ships guarding the Dardanelles to prevent an attack on Constantinople. Admiral Daendels sent a covering force to the Aegean to keep the Turkish fleet bottled up, while the main force continued onward to the Nile Delta.

The Dutch fleet assaulted Alexandria’s harbor directly, with its men-of-war exchanging fire with the Citadel of Qaitbay at the harbor’s entrance. Caught unprepared, the two Janissary regiments guarding the city were unable to prevent Frederik’s army from capturing the harbor, and quickly surrendered the Citadel after the Dutch unloaded siege guns from their transports. Frederik demolished the fortress by detonating its gunpowder stores, and spent five days razing the harbor district. It would take years for the port to recover, meaning that the Empire’s Eastern trade route was shut down for now.

By this point the Holy Roman Emperor, Albrecht V of Austria, was growing concerned over the war on his doorstep. On one hand, Albrecht was a staunch Papal supporter, and had campaigned mercilessly against the Justifiers and Adelerists within the Empire. In 1520 his predecessor had declared evangelism a capital offense on Imperial lands, and stripped the Archbishop of Cologne of his Electorship when he converted to Justification. Frederik’s victory over Catholic France had sent shockwaves through the Emperor’s court, and spurred Albrecht to begin a military buildup against the League of Darmstadt.

On the other hand, the Ottoman Empire was a threat to the entire West, regardless of denomination. The Pope had called two crusades against them in the 15th century, to little effect. The League’s victories over the Turk had brought them widespread support and popularity throughout Germany, and even the Lion of the Church King Frederick II of Great Britain commended Frederik on his success. By driving the Sultan’s forces from Pomerania, the League had accomplished the Emperor’s job while costing him nothing. If he sided with the Ottomans now, Albrecht risked the condemnation of the Electors.

Albrecht needed to end the war quickly, before the League gained even more power and influence. Therefore, in July 1548 he called for a peace negotiation in Prague, to be mediated by himself. King Frederik readily agreed, leaving his army in Alexandria to attend. Sultan Osman II begrudgingly agreed to send his son Ahmed Osman, after Albrecht threatened to intervene with Imperial troops.

After three weeks of deliberations, Albrecht was able to get both sides to agree on a treaty, the Peace of Prague. With the Emperor unwilling to see the United Kingdom gain more territory within the Empire, Danzig and Polish Pomerania would fall under Swedish administration. The Ottomans would be allowed to retain control of Rostock, but were forbidden to maintain a military fleet in the Baltic. The Dutch would agree to not interfere with Ottoman traffic in the Red Sea or Western Indian Ocean.


An important clause within the treaty also established an official policy of “Cuius regio, eius religio” within the Empire. Territories within the Empire would be allowed to choose between the Catholic or Justifier faith, based on the decision of their monarch. Notably absent was any mention of the Adelerists or radical Justifiers such as Anabaptists, which received no Imperial protection.

The Peace signaled a major rearrangement of European politics. The League of Darmstadt, under the United Kingdom and Sweden, had become a major power. The Ottoman Empire had finally received a resounding defeat, which its neighbors were quick to notice. With the sack of Alexandria, the Dutch had opened a new, unexplored market to the East. Interesting times were ahead for the Continent.

Note - I cheated a little bit to arrange the Peace. I had completely beaten the Ottomans, with their 50,000 man army stuck in the Balkans and only 2,000 in all of the Middle East, but for some reason they thought Danzig warranted 60% in peace negotiations . I didn't feel like spending the next five years besieging all of Anatolia for them to settle, so I loaded as them to settle for my peace, and turned around and edited the save to give them to Sweden.

Anyways, coming up, burning down the Baltic, the Dutch East India Company, and a Merchant Prince.

EUROO7 said:

And the turk is driven back!

Now, a time of peace throughout the United Kingdom!!!

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Bah! Peace is for the weak! The League victory and Ottoman defeat caused a major shift in European politics. Some major wars of the next twenty years:

The Småland War
The Polish Troubles
The Austrio-Muscovite War
The Orissian Empire
The Conquest of Peru
The Balkan Rebellion

EDIT - Not necessarily all wars that I participated in

Ladislav said:

im not sure what provinces changed hands during the war. the pommeranian coast went to sweden. but alexandria remained in turkish hands? did you scorch it? can you scorch occupied foreign territory or only your own provinces? thanks

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The war ended with Warmia, Danzig and Hinterpommern going to Sweden. The "Cuius regio" decision was just to work in the historical Peace of Augsburg , since the League of Darmstadt is supposed to be a successful Schmalkaldic League . And the sacking of Alexandria mirrored the historical Battle of Diu, and helps to set up the upcoming Dutch expansion into the East Indies. History is fun! :rofl:

The war with the Turk left its mark on King Frederik. Already in his late 50s at the start of the war, campaigning across Poland and Egypt made him feel the weight of his years. Having brought glory and victory to both the United Kingdom and Justification, in 1552 he decided to abdicate in favor of his grandson, Prince Frederik Hendrik. Throughout his administration, F. Hendrik’s main goals were to establish Dutch dominance of worldwide trade and improve the Kingdom’s overseas colonies.


One of F. Hendrik’s first acts as king was to publish the Statute of Monopolies, abolishing the establishment of monopolies within the Seventeen Provinces and condemning government interference with trade. The act reversed decades of mercantilist policies in the United Kingdom, and opened the Dutch markets to freer trade. Notably, the Statute did not limit the Crown’s ability to grant monopolies in the United Kingdom’s overseas colonies, such as the West India Company.


F. Hendrik pursued a steady reform campaign in Dutch America. The authority of the Dutch West India Company was gradually reduced as the Crown took over management of the colonies. Governance of the western colonies was placed under the Amerikaraad, a council appointed by the States General with a Royal Chairman. In 1561 the King decided to confer citizenship to the native inhabitants of Nieuw Brabant, which had largely been converted to the Dutch Church and intermarried with the Dutch colonists. They would finally be allowed to own property, receive representation in trial, and serve in the Kingdom’s army and navy. The same rights would be extended to the inhabitants of Zapotek fifteen years later.


The economy of the American territories began to mature as they were incorporated into the United Kingdom. During the 1560s the Amerikaraad and West Indies Company promoted the development of molasses distilleries around the Nieuw Brabant capital of Campeche to process the region’s sugarcane crop for shipment to Europe. As Campeche grew into the main port for traffic with Europe, it became a major trading center in the New World.


Ominously, the League of Darmstadt’s victory over the Ottomans had upset the balance of power in Europe. King F. Hendrik recognized that perilous times were approaching, and early on began a program of military buildup. A new State Arsenal was established in Limburg to produce arms and supplies for the undertaking ahead. In addition, the Royal Army was expanded from the 15 regiments remaining at the end of the Danzig War to 34, divided into the 20,000 man Army of Brabant and 14,000 man Army of Flanders. The new force would hopefully be able to defend the Provinces from attack while simultaneously engaging the enemy on their own territory. Backed by the veteran Royal Navy, F. Hendrik’s military prepared for the coming conflict.