The Heirs of Caesars: Habsburg AAR

Amric, your wish is my command Although Venice might take awhile. Spanish mountains? The AI have to be smart enough to wait for me in the mountains

TreizeV, thank you and Nappy will be Austrian - I own Corsica

R.F.A, Burgundy will do even better in the next installment, keep on reading.

Judge, the only reason I protect them is to satisfy my own sense of perfection. Austria looks better this way, when it is not stretched all the way to Thrace.

The reign of Joseph I: 1705-1711

When Joseph came to rule the Empire he was already old - his father, Leopold I of Austria, held the throne for far too many years. Feeling a bit ashamed and sorry for his son, Leopold let him handle the reigns of power at the start of the great conflict between the Holy Roman and Spanish empires.

The war started with Prince Eugene invading Spanish France. Von Starhemberg and his army were ordered to board Imperial Mediterranean Fleet at Piemonte. Spanish unleashed hordes of soldiers on French Berri, while English brought some 30,000 men to southern France - mainly for protection of Gascogne. While French, Burgundian, Breton and some Austrian troops tried to held northern flank, Prince Eugene defeated two Spanish armies the size of his own and, after capturing Cevennes and Guyene. invaded Spain itself.



Some time before that von Starhemberg landed in Catalonia and immideately proceeded to march on Madrid. By June 1703 Madrid was held by Imperial troops. Phillip of Spain refused to talk of surrender.



Imperial Navy returned back to Ligurian sea, where it tried to protect the shores of Italy from English attacks. However, in the course of the next six months it was beaten severely by the combined Anglo-Spanish fleets and retreated to Corsica, which was soon besieged by the enemy. Sardinia was soon captured by the English too.

Another front was open in the northen Germany, where English took Vorpommern. France made peace with Englad, ceding three provinces in the New World.

In 1705 Leopold I died and Joseph assumed full control over Austria and the Empire. Soon France sues for peace, ceding two provinces in the Carribean to Spain and Portugal. Burgundians continue to attack Spanish in the southern France, while Bretons capture Bretagne from English and invade the enemy island itself.

By 1706 most of Spain is held by the Austrian garrisons. Prince Eugene and von Starhemberg are unstoppable. English are fought in the northern Germany, Vorpommern is liberated and Spanish continuosly fail to defeat Austrian defensive force in Sicily. Only Austrian navy fails to deliver victory... it might have won 1 battle out of 10. Rather sad story. These defeats will eventually prompt the Emperor to separate warships and tranports in two different forces. The number of warships, however, was dwindling. At least, Corsica was liberated.

In 1707, with all of Spain under Austrian control, Joseph I settles for peace with England - the province of Bretagne goes to the Duchy of Brittany. A month later Spanish King is forced to cede Limousin and Auvergne to Burgundy - a compensation for the loss of Berri and Orleans - and acknowledge himself a vassal of the Habsburg family. Both Bourbons - one in France, one in Spain - serve the Emperor in Vienna.

The vassalship serves Spain better - after numerous wars with Maya that continued since the time Cortes failed to conquer this civilization Spanish are finally able to annex the country.

In 1710 the Ottomans declare war on Hellas.

In 1711 Joseph I dies, leaving Austrian and Imperial thrones to Karl VI.

R.F.A, Karl VI is thinking to claim whatever lands were ruled by Charlemagne, as technically Holy Roman Empire is the heir to Charlemagne's empire. So, this means that Burgundy might have to be... eh... canceled.

Anibal, thank you, I just had to punish them if I wanted to role-play. That's besides the fact that France should be in my area of influence now and four Spanish provinces and two English in France seemed like six thorns in my ass

Anibal, I have played till 1740... some of the questions are rather irrelevant now *flashing word "hint" all over the place*

EDIT: And now I only have three thorns in the French side of my butt, while there's more than plenty on the other (German) side of it

BRAVEn, how far north are we talking about ?

Let me explain why I chose to expand in Italy first.

First, I played Austria before and always went with usual strategy: ally with Southern Electors and push north, while annexing your allies diplomatically. This time I wanted to do something different.

Second, I was not sure whether I could keep good reputation for long (which I did), so I decided to conquer Italy first, where neighbors are beyond the sea. This way I would have my back to the wall (sea in this case) when the world would attack me. It did not happen, for which I am thankful.

Third, I wanted to fulfill the dreams of many HRE Emperors, staring with Barbarossa, who neglected Germany to fight in Italy. I figured once I take Italy out of the picture, I can concentrate more on the Empire itself.

The reign of Karl VI: 1711-1740

He was a true namesake of Karl V the Great and Karl the Great. Enough said. His descendants would dub him 'The Conqueror'.

He inherited Austrian and Imperial thrones in April of 1711. In less than two years he declared war on Venice - with a goal of conquering the city of Bremen - a Venetian ally in the northern lands of the Holy Roman Empire. No small challenge it was for both cities were supported by Poland and Hungary.

The Venetians did their best to seek out and destroy Imperial navy. The Austrians did their best in avoiding them. Seeing their strategy fail the merchant republic invaded Austrian islands of Corsica and Sardinia. The Emperor crushed the Venetian armies in Italy and started the siege of the city.

In the north the heavy fighting broke out between Polish and Imperial armies. The conscripts of Bremen were crushed rather earlier and the fall of the city did nothing to inspire the Poles.

Combined armies of Poland and Hungary mounted a successful offensive into Bohemia. However, once they captured the province of Silesia, their desire to fight melted away. With Imperial armies on the move from Bavaria, the enemy broke into small divisions and set out to raid Austrian lands - the decision that cost them the campaign and the war.

In March of 1715 Hungary paid 50,000 ducats for peace. Imperial Northern Navy landed 3,000 men in Narvik, forcing Bremen to sue for peace and cede this Scandinavian province to the Emperor. Seeing this, Sweden immideately declared war - Narvik was theirs by right and they would not tolerate the Emperor and the Pope in their northern lands. Brandenburg joined the war on the side of Sweden.

Muscowy declared war on Poland, easing the pressure on Imperial armies. Poland did last a little longer, but had to capitulate in the face of a large-scale invasion into the heart of Poland, paying 200,000 ducats. Soon the peace with Venice was reached. The republic paid 300,000.

Meanwhile, the forces of Brandenburg suffered one defeat after another. Soon Brandenburg had to pay 90,000 ducats and cede the province of Brandenburg to Austria. After losing several small expeditions on the shores of Pomerania, Sweden too accepted peace and pay minimal tribute.

The year was 1717, the war that lasted four years just ended. But Karl VI was not about to stop. Swiss found themselves the next target of the Emperor's greed. They fought bravely, invading and capturing the province of Savoy. However, as soon as they did it, three Imperial armies cornered them there by taking positions at France-Comte, Bern and Piemonte. Faced with starvation, half of the Swiss army attacked the Imperials at France Comte and died fighting for their freedom. The other half was annihilated a month later by the Imperial army from Piemonte. They failed their comrades, refused to attack and died like rats under the boots of the Austrian landsknechts.

In spring of 1719, after the capture of Bern, Swiss federation was no more.

Few months before rather disturbing news came from the north - Bremen was annexed by the Muscowites.

It took the Emperor couple of years to prepare his armies for the next round of conquests. When the time came he promptly declared war on Muscowy. As the ruler of Holy Roman Empire it was Karl's duty to protect its borders from foreign powers. As the conqueror, he saw a chance to add yet another Imperial province to his domain.

The war lasted three long years. The battles in the northen Germany were easily won - Muscowites had to retreat across hostile Polish lands and all perished to a man. Imperial navy, rather weak in comparison to England's and Sweden's, ruled the seas when it came to challenging small Russian naval force. Couple of engagements in Narvik sent Muscowites back where they came from and by 1523 Austrians landed in Kurland, taking the fight to the enemy.

During this time, Sweden declared war again and Brandenburg followed... again. Not a wise decision for the Swedish ally. It was conquered and annexed in a matter of months. As for Sweden, the Emperor chose to cede Narvik to get Swedes off his back. Fighting the Czar was not a walk in the park and the province of Narvik had no value to the Empire. Thus came the first Austrian defeat in nearly two centuries. Even then, it was more of diplomatic victory as it allowed Austria to secure her northen border.

The Czar capitulated in 1724, ceding Bremen. His country was attacked by the Khanates to the east and south and he had no desire to fight hard for some German cities. Still, it gave the Emperor a right to boast that first Rome had defeated the Second and the Third - one Muslim and another Orthodox.

The big news during the war was the annexation of Hungarian lands by Polish crown. Now one big Catholic state spread along the eastern border of the Empire. Karl was curious whether he should befriend it or vassalize it and then befriend it.

In 1726 the Turks declared war on their Muslim brothers in Bulgaria. The outcome was rather obvious - Bulgaria ceded Rumelia and Macedonia. These two provinces were conquered previously from Turks by the Austrians. The land was fertilized with Austrian blood. Karl VI would not be the Emperor if he let this conquest of the Ottomans last.

But this could wait another couple of years. In the meantime, Karl VI started negotiations with his vassal, Duke of Burgundy, the goal of which was to incorporate the Duchy into the Empire. When it happened in 1727, Karl VI claimed the Holy Roman Empire a descendant of the Charlemagne's Empire of the West and himself a rightful ruler of all lands north of the Pyrenees and west of Poland.



In May of 1729 the Ottomans continued their jihad against the Christian nations of the Balkans by declaring war on Hellas. In June of 1729 they found themselves at war with the Holy Roman Empire as well. A bit more than they bargained for. Karl VI ordered Pope to call for a crusade and took up the sword himself.
From that point to the time of his death in 1740 he would spend his time in Turkey, fighting the infidels.

For eleven years combined armies of the Empire and Kingdom of Hellas fought the infidel, finally capturing all the Ottoman lands in the Asia Minor. Turkish Sultan fleed to Rhodes, where he locked himself up in the citidel that was built by the Knightes of Rhodes and protected himself with 40,000-strong army. Imperial navy failed to break the Ottoman navy, while Turkish pirates sank 22 Austrian transports in what was a pathetic attempt to sneak 10,000 crusaders on the island. Meanwhile, Turks continued to assault Sicily from what remained of their empire in NorthWest Africa.

In 1740 all of Turkey was occupied by the Imperial forces and Empire's vassals. Karl VI traveled to Sicily and defeated several Ottoman armies, when a random Turkish bullet killed him at the walls of Messina. His daughter Maria-Teresa became first Empress in the history of the Empire.

A year later Maria-Teresa would make peace with the Ottomans, receiving Rumelia and Bujak and leaving the enemy at the mercy of their archenemy - the Greeks. At the time of the peace the Kingdom of Hellas held Adana, Smyrna, Macedonia and Albania and was besieging Constantinople itself. The Kingdom of Serbia declared war on the infidel Bulgars. With little luck they would change the map of the Balkans forever.

TreizeV, no mercy to French Or should I really wait for Napoleon?

R.F.A, Poles are not as scary as English, who beat me by 6 in land tech and 10 in naval tech. BB was about 40... I guess... It got so somewhere after 1700. Before it was around 15 and before 1650 I kept good or honorable reputation.

Judge, Poles should have been next, but I wanted them as a bulwark against the Russians. However, they do have a handful of my core provinces, so I might just give it a try late in the game (gives me a chance to get close to Ukraine too )

Amric, there is but one problem with Spain - she is my vassal now. Dammit, I thought they'd break it off as soon as the war is over, giving me a nice casus beli on them. No such chance. Also, they do have a nice navy still, which is very valuable when it comes to fighting English. I think I'll make Spain my ally.

As it stands in 1741, England is my biggest threat. Poles are occupied with Russia, Ottomans are an annoying nation, but I learned to deal with them England is allied with Venice, Provence, Sweden and Portugal. When it comes to fighting on lands, in the words of Jim Morrison: 'they've got the guns, but we've got the numbers'. Austrian armies know no rivals, Austrian generals are superb and plenty. It is a different story on water, as the next installment will show.

I offered them annexation after 20 years... bastards refused (ok, I admit, I had hopes), and did not break the vassalization. Not that I am too upset about it - they do make a nice ally, you know