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unmerged(17489)

General
Jun 7, 2003
2.475
7
After much reading I have finally decided to try to write my own AAR :D. Wish me luck :)

navarra.jpg


Country: Navarra
Scenario: 1492
Settings: Very Hard/Furious
Version: 1.07 with latest beta
Goals: Beat up France and Spain (and maybe Portugal too, we'll see)
 
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Good luck, tough settings and choice of country, interesting to follow this one:)
 
Chapter 1 - So it Begins...

It was the first day of the new year of 1492 and Juan II d'Albret was looking over his city. The first pale sunlight was touching the roofs, white of snow, with the background of the mountains of the Pyrenees. It was a wonderful sight, worthy a painting, Juan thought. Snow was a rare sight in Pamplona, and therefore it was even more appreciated when it fell.

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Juan could see it all from the eastern balcony of his castle, on the highest ground in Pamplona and his personal servant, Antonio, stood behind him waiting for a sign that Juan either wanted to have a conversation or wanted him to bring something to him. He was dressed with spanish fashion, beutiful clothes, worthy of a kings servant.
- It's a wonderful morning Antonio, don't you agree?, Juan said. Obviously it was conversation he wanted and Antonio replied as the experienced servant he was.
- Yes, my Lord. God is perhaps showing his thankfulness to You.
- Maybe he is Antonio, perhaps it's a sign.
- A sign, my Lord? What do you think the Allmighty wants to show you?
- I don't know Antonio, I don't know. I have just had these strange dreams lately. Dreams of navarran soldiers lining up, like if they were in for a battle, and me in the front line, speaking to them loudly.
- And what do you tell them?
Juan was quiet for a moment, trying to recall.
- I speak about basque glory, about how Navarra maybe will be attacked, and how we must stand strong. My dreams are about war Antonio, but I don't know who
- I think we are safe. Our only neighbours are France and Spain and the spanish king is only having his eyes westwards at the moment. I have heard rumours he has sent ships over the edge of the world, trying to find a way westwards to India.
Juan raised his eye brows
- What about the french king then? He has occupied the northern part of our country
- The french king should be pleased with Béarn and the ties between the french kings dynasty and yours has been very good lately.
- Your words are like this morning, beautiful and true enough, but what if big chunks of rain clouds darkenes the sky?
- I don't see any clouds my Lord. Do you?
Juan smiled
- No Antonio, I don't, but we would better be prepared if they come.
- You are the king my Lord, but let me at least advise you on asking the Allmighty before doing anything
- You are right Antonio, as always. Stay here, I'll go to the church alone

The basilica of Pamplona was large, and only a stonethrow from the Castle d'Albret. It was built here in 1397, and in it El Noble Charles III, so far the greatest king of Navarra who also began to build the cathedral among all other things he did. Juan entered through the large wooden doors into the great hall of the cathedral. A monk quickly came up to him.

- Greetings my Lord, my name is Carlos. What business brings you here to Gods house?
- I wish to pray Carlos. I have questions, questions that need answering
- I am sure he will have answers to them Juan II d'Albret, king of Navarra and Béarn. Do you wish to go to a little more private place than here? I know a kings words may not be for every man to hear, especially not when they are directed to the Lord himself
- Yes please Carlos

PerfectMary.jpg


Carlos led Juan in to a lot smaller room, with only a great portrait of Saint Mary on the wall, and a carpet on the floor. The walls were of stone, same as all of the basilica was.
- I will leave you here now. May God have answers to your questions and may he remove eventual hinders and bring light on your future ruling of Navarra

The monk left and Juan fell into praying quietly before the portrait
 
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Hey, Flame of Udûn!

A fine start, a fine nation and the finest settings!

:rofl:

What's your goal? To become France? Quite impossible on the 1492 scenario. Even quite impossible to survive, having Super-Spain and Super-France wanting to make NavAARran juice with your fellow people and nobility!

Go on!
 
Chapter 1 - Part II

"Creator of the World, My Lord and only God, hear my pray. I have been having strange dreams lately. Dreams of an army of young basque soldiers, lining up for battle. I do not see the enemy, but I fear it's a foe far beyond the power of my army, even if it consisted of all men in Navarra. I talk to them, telling them things I do not believe in myself, about how the blood of our enemy will colour the grass of Navarran land and I see in their eyes they do not believe in me either. They are frightened, it's horrible to see an adult man fearing for his life. Please Lord, give me a sign, is this you who are putting these dreams into my mind? Is it the french or spanish armies who are beyond that hill? Is this what you want me to do, get Navarra into war?"


When Carlos saw Juan step out of the praying room the king looked worried. Juan went with fast steps out of the church without saying a word
"Oh God what did you tell my king? What burden have you laid on his shoulders?" Carlos thought

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Juan went rapidly to his castle. The sun was still shining but Juan didn't take notice of that. He felt dissapointed, he had waited a half hour for the sign that never came. Antonio saw the mood he was in and didn't say anything when opening the door for his master. Quietly, he just followed him up to the balcony again where Juan stopped, staring empty, out over the city.
- Perhaps you want your breakfeast señor? Antonio asked carefully but he got no answer. It was about noon now.
Then suddenly Juan felt a raindrop at his cheek and shone up. He had not noticed the growing dark clouds before but now they were there, about to unleash a heavy bunch of rain over Navarra
- This is the sign Antonio, Juan said quietly. Navarra is going to war.
 
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Chapter 1 - Part III

- The clouds are coming from the north, it's France who is after us, Juan thought loudly. There is no way we can take on France alone. We need an alliance
- With Spain?
- Yes, that would be the most logical option Antonio. Announce that I want a very skilled diplomat to travel to Madrid, trying to join the spanish alliance with England. We need to act swiftly. Then I want you to tell some officers to come to me here at my castle. I want to have a meeting with them. Don't answer any questions they may have. Tell them they will get to know at the meeting. Let's have the meeting in a month, February 1st. Understood?
- Yes, señor.
- Then hurry, there is no time to lose.

Only Antonio and Juan himself knew the kings plans and Juan wanted to keep it that way. Who knows where french spies could be listening. Therefore Antonio and Juan pretended like nothingusual had happened and like ti was any other day, but rumours said that you could hear Juan reading books inside his bed room and that what he was studying was warfare.

February 1st, the meeting started. The generals had been there for some ime and was very eager ot find out why they were called.
- Gentlemen, welcome to my castle in Pamplona, the capital of the proud basque kingdom of Navarra
- Thank you, but why have you brought us here my king? a brave but obviously impatient general asked
- Navarra is going to war, Juan said calmly
- To war? Who could possibly want to attack us?
- I have forseen that Navarra will have a war against France, no matter who starts it. We need to mobilize and a diplomat will be sent to Madrid to ask for an alliance soon
- Is it really smart to attack France sir? From what source have you seen this? a young man said
- What's your name general?
- My name is Octavio señor. Octavio de Toledo
- Do you question my word, Octavio de Toledo?
- No, I just thought that...
- I am the king of this country. I know how to defend myself and my country, understood?
- Yes, my king
- Good, then we may proceed. What's the status of our army right now?
- We have 4000 cavalry and 2000 infantry standing. Also, we have 30 artillery pieces to help us siege. If you want more we need to buy foreign grain to feed them with and that could be expensive.
- Good, that should be enough for now. We'll pray to God our alliance proposal to Madrid will be accepted. Oh by the way, I will command the forces myself and I'm studying hard to learn the art of warfare right now. Gentlemen, any questions?

The next three hours were spent answering the questions of the generals. Obviously they were not too pleased with what they had heard but almost all of their cquestions were answered with "I am the king, I do what I find best for my country" or "Do not have doubt, God is with us". After the meeting an exhausted king of Navarra got to his bed, reading more books
 
Hope Madrid is friendly or else you will have som problems against the might of france..... I'll keep on reading
 
Chapter 2 - Answer from Madrid

April 1st a young man was sent to Madrid. His name was Alejandro and he was from Andalusia. Juan thought king Fernando would look more kindly upon the proposal if there was a spaniard proposing it. With him, he had 100 infantry, taken from the Navarra Regiment. Juan really didn't want him to get ambushed by the many rouges at the streets in northern Spain and the navarran army was a bit too big for its country anyways.
It took a whole month until the answer arrived and Juan was very nervous. After all the answer would kinda determine Navarras future. A war against the huge kingdom France would be 100 times harder alone. Juan spent the time on his studying of warfare. He had been kinda good, at least theoratically, the five months he had studied and was fully capable of taking command of an army. He didn't have the experience that is required though but he was still fully convinced that he was the one who were gonna lead the Navarran army to victory, as he had forseen in his dream.
May 3rd a letter arrived, bearing the sigill of both his Majesty Fernando and her Majesty Isabella.

1492 - 04 - 20 Madrid
Most respectful and rightful king of the basque kingdom of Navarra and Béarn Juan d'Albret,
I have had dscussions with my allies England and Naples and we have come to the desicion that Spain and her allies hereby accepts your request of joining the alliance. I hope you will get out as much of it as we do.

Written in Madrid by her own hand
Isabella of Spain
and
Fernando, king of Spain and Granada


The day after the arrival of the letter a party was held in Castle d'Albret that which liking had very seldom been seen within its walls
 
Chapter 2 - Part II
On October 23rd Juan sent a declaration of war to Paris and he and his army consisting of 4000 cavalry and 2000 infantry together with 30 artillery pieces, made of navarran iron began the long and dangerous march over the Pyrenees. It was even harder because of the 30 artillery pieces they brought with them, though Juan felt like they were necessary. His strategy was simple, use the artillery to bring down a lot of fortresses swiftly while the spaniards (hopefully) are doing the really big battles.

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It took them a month and about 100 men (which indeed was a small amount, taking into account the many dangers there are having 6 000 men marching through a chain of mountains in October) to do the crossing and when they finally reached Pau, the capitol of Béarn they immediately started sieging. The population of Béarn was mainly basque so the population looked friendly upon the invadors, seeing once, not too long ago, the land was owned by Navarra, and still the population thought they were more navarran than french.
Juan thought it would take about nine months to bring down the fortress and prepared himself for nine months of boredom, but when only two months had passed he was nearly killed by boredom. There was absolutely nothing to do in his little tent, set up only for him, except studying warfare in the books he had bringed with him until he knew every single word of them.
Suddenly though, something finally happened that wasn't expected by the king, one of the outposts came running like a madman.
- Señor! I see soldiers at our western flank. It must be past 30 000, and they carry the banner of Spain!
- Splendid! 30 000 men? That must be almost the whole spanish army. How long do you think it will be before they come?
- At most 15-20 minutes.
- Let us go out and welcome them then! Antonio! I want my best clothes for this ceremony
The ceremony was short, it was nearly midnight, and the spanish soldiers quickly made themselves comfortable. The spanish commander immedietly recognized Juan as a leader of the siege cause eventhough he had a lot smaller army and not was nearly as good at commanding he had higher rank, being a monarch.
A month more was spent sieging and only one minor dispute with a smaller french army happened during this month. That month Juan spent to prepare an assault at Pau, cause with the new 30 000 infantry it shouldnt be hard at all.

January 18th Pau was assaulted and the spaniards did it excellent and Juan and his officers started to discuss what to do next. The spaniards had left them, going eastwards towards Guyenne.
- I think we should follow the spaniards Lord, they will be able to protect us if the french army shows up, an officer said. Remember, we haven't seen it yet, who know where it's hiding
- France is not only at war with us. The northwest italian countries had declared war upon them and our ally England is invading from the north, another man said. I don't think we have anything to fear. Gascogne is a much richer province too. If we can get it, France will get really worried about us.
- But what if the french army is near Gascogne. Why would we take that chance?
- We will have to take chances if we want to win this war, Juan finally spoke. God is with us, we will move northwards

Said and done, Juan started to move his army northwards, towards the rich french city of Bordeaux and started the siege there. The province of Gascogne was surrounded from any direction by the river Garonne to the east and north and the Bay of Biscay to the west so Juan felt fairly safe there, it would take some time for the french to cross the river and then he would have time to leave. Nine months it took him to bring down that city, thanks to the artillery and in October 1493 an offer of peace came from a France in deep troubles.
During the war lots of things had happened that Juan was unaware of by this time. France was on its knees, its army was almost killed and her and her allies were invaded from every direction. The Papal States had a tough time facing Naples, Tuscany, Genoa and Modena at once and France was full of spanish armies moving from Paris to Languedoc. Also Bretagne was invaded by England and was almost entirely occupied.
All this made France give up all the land southwest of Garonne to Navarra, and pay a nice sum of money in indemnities, which Juan split with his allies which had helped him a lot. Spain also got Picardie for its great help, both taking down the french armies and helping a lot with the assault at Béarn (why Ferdinand wanted Picardie Juan had no idea of but what can you expect from a man looking for a western way to India?)

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Please tell me you sent more than just cannon to siege Bearn with? Good stuff and the writing is improving. Keep up the good work!
 
Nice!

Allying with Spain is simply vital for you. Or with France, could also work. Anyway, the mighty kingdom of NavAARra is expanding! Yes, show them your power!
 
How many of you thought this AAR was dead? :p
I've been busy but now I'm back! :D
Chapter 3 everyone

Chapter 3 - Years of Peace

The people in Gascogne wasn't, like the more basque people in Béarn, as happy with their new leaders and it didn't get better when Juan began the year of 1494 with promoting the bailiffs in the three largest cities in Navarra: Pamplona, Pau and Bordeaux, to tax collectors. Everywhere on the streets in Bordeaux you could hear people whispering and even more so at the countryside in Gascogne. They didn't dare a revolt though, they knew the army of Navarra had forced the french king to give up two provinces to a little one province minor and that was respect. Juan of course knew this, but he couldn't do much about it. As long as they paid their taxes there was no idea of killing the resistance with force, it was better to let the time get them used to the new government.
Juan thought he had now fulfilled what he was supposed to do or at least done a large part of it. Noone thought that little Navarra would beat up huge France so he had done the impossible, with the help of God (and Spain). Navarra was three times the size it had only 2 years ago. Juan couldn't deny that he was feeling a bit proud over himself. Now he intended to finish his reign over Navarra in peace.
This was what he was thinking, when slowly eating his breakfeast in the old mayor of Bordeauxs house, now working as a temporary residence for the king. It was very nice decorated with various french art on the walls and wonderful carpets from the Far East on the floor. The old mayor was definitely a rich man, though right now in prison, waiting for his most likely death penalty and all what he owned confiscated by the crown of Navarra.
Juan walked out in the sun and Antonio of course followed him.
- I hope Navarra will be in peace in the future Antonio, he said. I have accomplished my mission now don’t you think?
- Yes, I think you have done what God wanted you to do, My king. May Navarra stay in peace until our death.
- Amen

The next year Juan got married to a girl named Aná and they got a child the year after. It was a girl, whos name was Carmen and it was already decided that she would be married away to the crown prince of Spain, Carlos I, when she got 15. That was one of the parts of the alliance agreement that Alejandro had created and that helped Navarra to win the war.

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Carmen growed up as a beautiful girl, just as her mother with black long hair and at her fifth birthday, the first at the new 16th century she got to know what future was planned for her. However, she was still too young to understand what this meant to her so she didn't take it very hard. Carlos was 10 years old when 1499 became 1500 so there was a little difference in age, especially so during this stage of their life. Therefor, both Juan and Isabel and Fernando thought it would be best to keep them seperate until the wedding, where she would be 15 and he would get 21.

At the same time the resistance in Bordeaux was still active and once they actually rised against Juan, who beat them down without mercy.
- Without any exception, revolters must be handled with sword and shield, he said to Aná before riding down the hill shouting "for Basque" loudly. If you don't, they will without a doubt raise up against you again.
The battle went swiftly (Juans leaderskills had improved a lot lately with the experience of his little adventure in France) and the rebels were all killed and the leaders head, his name was Antonio Beaskoetxea, was put up on a pole in the centre of Bordeaux.
 
Good job whacking those rebels! Glad to see this one going forward again! Keep up the good work!