The Democratic BAR: Your vote counts

[size=+1]1603 Report (December)[/size]


Economy
Stability +3
Stability cost = (estimated at about 2000D/level)
Treasury = 1217D
Inflation 3.5%

74 merchants in CoTs (+5). 7.6 merchants/year
4.8 settlers/year
Trade efficiency is 78% (first nation). Production efficiency is 79% (first nation)
Trade agreements: Portugal

National
Monarch Marino Grimani
Administrative Average (6)
Diplomacy Average (5)
Military Average (5)

Technology + % of next level (estimated date, current investment)
Land 17 + 55% (1611, 20%) [No Bonus]
Naval 16 + 2% (1619, 15%) [No Bonus]
Trade 7 + 42% (1613, 35%) [No bonus]
Infrastructure 7 + 0% (1869, 0%) [No bonus]
Minting 30%

Manufactories:
Refinery in Crete (finished in 1456)
Refinery in Morea (finished in 1478)
Refinery in Napoli (finished in 1495)
Refinery in Cyprus (finished in 1602)

Provinces of wrong religion: Orthodox (Trabzon) Muslim (Alexandria, Cataract, Nile, Delta, Egypt).

Military

Leaders:
None

Army 80k infantry, 27k cavalry, 108 artillery
maintenance cost at 50% is 7.8 D/month
Army support limit = 126 000 (27,000 from trade)
Cost of army units:
Infantry 17D
Cavalry 30D
Artillery 24D

Navy 37 warships, 104 galleys, 24 transports
maintenance cost at 50% 3.8 D/month
Navy support limit = 280
Cost of naval units:
warships 43D
Galleys 9D
Transports 12D

Manpower pool = 66 (32,000/year)

International

1) Standing
Allies: Savoy, Jerusalem & Parma
Bad Boy 26.9/44 very bad reputation
Permanent CB: Genoa, Burgundy, Netherlands, Bavaria & Dauphiné
Temporary CB:

Countries with permanent CB on Venice:
Hungary, Ottoman Empire, Papal States, Spain, Savoy, Bulgaria, Austria


Dark Green represents countries with > +150 relationship to us. Light Green represents countries with +75 to +150 relationship to us. White countries have -75 to +75 relationship to us. Bright red countries have between -75 and -150 relationship to us, and dark red countries have < -150 relationship to us.

2) Neighbours and near-neighbours by areas (allies). Underlined countries have land/strait border to Venice:

Italy:
Papal States
Venice (Savoy RM MA, Jerusalem MA, Parma)
Spain RM MA (Portugal, Wallachia)
Genoa
b]North[/b]:
Switzerland
Bavaria (Dauphine)
Danubian:
Austria MA
Hungary
Balkan/Carpatian/Asia minor:
Bulgaria
Bosnia RM
Transylvania (Sweden)
Poland (Brandenburg, the Knights, Ireland, Courland, Denmark)
OE (Yemen)
Mediterranean:
Tunisia
Marocco
Tlemcen
Black sea:
Russia (Berg)
Uzbek
Kara Koyunlu (Baluchistan)
India:
Vijayanagar (Rajputana)
Mysore
Other:
France (Burgundy)
Netherlands
Oman (The Hedjaz)

3) Vassalages:
Papal States, Bulgaria, Jerusalem, Parma and Austria are vassals of Venice
France is a vassal of Burgundy
Genoa and Portugal are vassals of Spain
Bavaria is a vassal of Austria
Brandenburg and Courland are vassals of Poland

4) Changes in our area:
None

Senator Cornaro,

I'll try my best to shed some more light into the international situation. The dark grey country bordering us and the Ottoman empire is indeed the Black Sheep Confederation (Kara Koyunlu). In fact the Ottomans have stabilized their situation, and due to their European technology, the Black Sheep Turks could become their victims, if they were not so fixated in recovering their lost splendor from us. Although the Ottomans are going to lose Serbia due to their inability to put any troops there, they have showed their capacity to ferry troops to Rumelia in case of war with the Balkan nations.

Hungary has entered a decadence. Surrounded by very agressive nations with superior technology (Austria, Wallachia, Transylvania, Poland), they are in a languid state that could precede their slow extinction, although they could just vegetate if left alone. They must have bad relations with all their neighbors, and are unable to find allies.

Poland has profited a lot from being in the biggest alliance and has shown to be a ruthless country in dealing with defeated enemies, I believe they are about to incorporate even more provinces from Transylvania. However strong they are, their situation is very delicate and made worse by her bad reputation. Being located between a hard place and a rock, should she find herself in a tough spot, she will be immediately gang attacked by Austria and Russia, that could very well decide her partition. The Polish alliance is also very heterogeneous, which makes it also volatile. Brandenburg is a crucial ally, that if decides to change sides could leave Poland really exposed.

But Russia has not been seriously at war with Poland yet. They have reached the Black sea by annexing Crimea, a popular revolter that springs back to life from time to time. The opportune conversion of Kaffa, will make our province less desirable to Russia, which is a good thing. Being Orthodox, it was acting as a magnet to Russian aggression.

The Netherlands are very large indeed. The Dutch are not following their traditional policy of keeping to themselves, and have successfully expanded during the terrible Franco-Burgundian crisis. But these days they appear to mind more for their overseas emporium, in which they must definitely have an advantage over us. That colonial orientation seems to have them uninterested in having allies. Burgundy might decide to take her revenge one of these days.

The Genoese appear to have abandoned the game of nations. Voluntarily subdued to the Spaniards by Andrea Doria, they are outside of their alliance, out of reach from everybody by our capsule surrounding them. They will neither be annexed, nor will be attacked by anybody. In their limbo, they are even out of reach to us as it would require huge resources to conquer them, and they can only be force-annexed after two wars, since their vassalage to Spain cannot be lifted. We could have tried to have the Spaniards try to break the vassalage, but the issue was rejected by the Consiglio, interested in bigger and better things at the time.

Regarding your economical proposal, I don't think we need to mint any more than we do. The rebuilding of the fleet goes slowly because it is the fourth priority in our expenses list. But as conversion attempts take a long time, and gifts are required less often, we will find the funds for the approved expenses down the list. Should we find ourselves suddenly at war with a maritime power, the Signoria would have a free hand to expend any required funds to achieve our military goals, and the Arsenal of Venice is capable of producing over 60 warships in just three months.

Doge Marino Grimani

King Barbarigo,

Calm the fears of your Muslim supporters. Venice has only the cleanest intentions for Jerusalem. I will send you a cavalry regiment to help in the defense of the Holy places. Together with the new fortifications built, they should protect the Kingdom of Jerusalem from our common enemy.

I also remind you that the increase in fortification will help a conversion attempt of Judea, that could greatly stabilize your kingdom.

Doge Grimani.

Senator Gradenigo,

You have been missed. Your votes also. It is in controversial issues, like joining the Habsburg wars of religion, where votations are always narrowly disputed. However, our alliances are reviewed every ten years, and the Austrian Habsburgs are going to be available for as long as they remain our vassal. You will undoubtfully have the opportunity to try to convince your colleagues on this and other issues.

Doge Marino Grimani

Norrefeldt said:

I share your worry for our reputation, perhaps we should consider raising Aristocracy? [-0.7BB in 5 years! Arrghh. ]

Click to expand...

Well, Venetian diplomacy was world-wide famous, yet all our Doges seem to be of the Autistic type. It is costing us a fortune to have a few friends. Perhaps they are not adequately rated in that respect. Many Doges were able diplomats before being elected.

Senators,

Boris Godunov, who took the throne of Russia after murdering the last of the Riurikovich, who enslaved the serfs of his country, has declared war to us.

The threat however appears not to be dire, to the point that Fodoroni has only recalled The Greek regiment to the front. The Russians do not appear to be well prepared for the campaign, and they have internal problems, as manifested by rebels controlling the nearby province of Donetsk.

We have also raised the level of readiness of our troops elsewhere. Our allies, Savoy, Jerusalem and Parma have not been asked to participate, as most of the fighting will be done in the Northern shores of the Black sea. The senate must decide what we should do with this new enemy, that has not been taken into account in our recent meetings.

I also have to inform that our conversion attempt failed in Trabzon. The troops of Colonel Cuthbertus III quelled the resulting rebellion. A new attempt by our bishop there has been financed.

We will also have to review our trading policies. After sending a single merchant to replace a lost one, France decided to close her markets to us. This is the third market closed to our merchants, and we are loosing a lot of revenue.

Your Doge

Senators,

This campaign against Russia is going to be so easy as to barely deserve a war report. Boris Godunov was crazy declaring war to us in the midst of the severe problems that are plaguing his country.

In the summer of 1604, a man declaring to be the assassinated son of Ivan the terrible, Dmitri Ivanovich, supported by Poles, Russian exiles, German mercenaries, and Cossacks, invaded Russia capturing several provinces. Why would Boris declared war to us while fighting an internal rebellion of such magnitude is beyond me, but he is going to pay dearly for his mistake.

While recruiting some more troops for Carlec's regiment defending Kaffa, I ordered Colonel Mikael Gatt to embark his regiment in Roberto Contarini's fleet in Smyrna, and invade defenceless Crimea province. The adjacent Russian province of Donetsk is in false Dmitri's hands, and the Russian army is nowhere to be seen, distracted probably by the many rebellions in the country.

Soon the situation worsened for our enemies. In April 1605, Boris Godunov died, and the cause of the false Dmitri acquired a lot of momentum. Boris' son, Fedor II Godunov did not appear to control the situation, and two months later he was killed by the boyars, that proclaimed the false Dmitri as their Tsar. The fact that Dmitri is a Catholic, and that the boyars are conspiring against him from day one, could continue to play in our favor.

However at the end of the summer, a small Russian army coming from the Baltic, managed to disembark in Piemonte. However we were not caught unprepared, and Arturo Gandolfi's regiment quickly defeated and later exterminated the invaders, while Admiral Almoravid found the Russian fleet and inflicted upon her a great defeat.

Just before the winter, Crimea was conquered by Mikael Gatt. He is awaiting there the coming of Spring to renew the campaign. The false Dmitri is already trying to bail out of the war declared by Boris Godunov, and has offered 71[,000] ducats as war indemnities. I think I could conquer the entire country in a few summer campaigns fighting mainly Russian rebels. Such is the situation in Russia. Clearly they are living a time of troubles.

The sickness of our Doge, said to be in his dead-bed, forces me to inform about matters usually dealt by the Signoria, but I must kept myself busy during the Russian winter pause. Marino Grimani's condition, together with recent troubles with the Church of Rome have triggered a wave of obscurantism. Our great morale and stability, should however allow us ride this wave without much trouble.

Respectfully,

Capitano Fodoroni

Senators,

Marino Grimani has died. I, Leonardo Donà, have been chosen as your new Doge.

Some of you know me from a long time, for those that do not know me, suffice to say that I have an ample career at the service of Venice. I am a laureate at the Universities of Padua and Bologna in philosophy and morale. Bailo at Costantinople, podestà of Brescia, savio del consiglio ducale, provveditore generale per la terra ferma and ambassador to the Holy See with Sixtus V.

However my strong sense of the independence of Venice from the Church, has taken me to defend that we have jurisdiction over Church members that have committed civil crimes. I have therefore supported the law established by my predecessor Marino Grimani that allowed the incarceration of two priests. The Pope has given us 24 days to release them to Church authorities and submit, or we will be excommunicated, and Venice will be placed under interdiction. No mass will be celebrated by priests. No sacred sacraments will be given. No one will be buried on Church grounds until we accept to submit to the Pope. I have asked the advice of Paolo Sarpi, a priest and Venetian patriot well renowned by his theological expertise and he had accepted to protest the Pope's decision if we so decide.

A special election will immediately be held over this issue. I just want you to consider that the choice might not be a simple one. Stability is not such a decisive factor, since we are at maximal stability, while our innovativeness has to be considered also. In 1609 we will be reducing our innovativeness by senatorial decision. Current basic taxvalue in Veneto is 24.

your Doge,

[size=+1]Election 68. War against Russia[/size]

State what we should request at the peace table
A. Only ducats
B. Crimea to be released as vassal
C. Crimea to be kept by Venice
D. At 1BB per province take the whole damm steppes

[size=+1]Election 69. Paolo Sarpi[/size]

A. Turn to Paolo Sarpi, do not compromise (Stab +2, Inno +1, BTV Veneto +2, relations PAP -100, FRA +100, SPA -50)
B. Turn to Paolo Sarpi, but compromise with Rome (Stab -1, BTV Veneto -2, relations PAP +30, FRA -30)
C. Submit fully to Rome (Stab -2, Inno -1, BTV Veneto -5, relations PAP +100, FRA -50, SPA +50)

[size=+1]Election 70. Closed Markets[/size]

One by one the markets are being closed to our merchants. To Liguria and Flandern, closed a long time ago, now Île de France has been added to the list of closed markets. I need information on how to deal with this issue. Trade agreements cost -1% trade efficiency, so they can be compensated by one refinery. From the following list of countries with a Center of Trade or more (now or in the future), that are likely to ban us:

-Spain (SPA)
-France (FRA)
-England (ENG)
-Denmark (DEN)
-Poland (POL)
-Genoa (GEN)
-Burgundy (BUR)
-Netherlands (HOL)
-Austria (HAB)
-Russia (RUS)
-Malacca (MLC)
-Oman (OMA)
-Ottoman Empire (TUR)

Divide them into the following groups:

1. Countries that we specifically do not want a trade agreement because we will want to use the CB.
2. Countries that we have no particular interest in having a trade agreement with them and we rather be banned.
3. Countries that we should try to have a trade agreement to avoid being banned in their CoT/s.

Portugal (POR) is already in group 3, but you can also vote having it changed. If not mentioned, it will count as group 3.
If another country is not mentioned, it will be counted as group 2.
Other Arab, African and Asian countries are a lot less likely to ban, so they are not mentioned, but feel free to give your input.