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40 Years On: Friedrich von Manstein's Brandenburg

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Hmm nice AAR, your doing well, maybe its time to go for Bohemia you can gain quite alot from geting them pending on thier alliance they have etc....

Also to who ever said go for Mecklenburg as theirs a posiblity to get a CoT, well yes thiers a CoT but problem is that its Mecklenburgs Capitol so you cant take it unless its the only province left then you can annex hehe.
 
So does his successor not quite cut the mustard?

A rather reflective period.
 
Wow. Sounds a bit like Pax Brandenburgia coming there, with the good relations, and the expansive empire, and even the access to the sea!

Wonderful foundation for a grand German empire.

Great stuff, Coz!

Rensslaer
 
chasing after your AARs is like chasing after Dennis the Menace, just discovered this one and read it through. very good stuff :D
 
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That's an impressive Brandenberg you have there. Annexation and aggrandisement never were Hohernzollern weaknesses though, were they? Country looks to me about twice the size that your admin ought to be able to cope with.

The biggest danger seems to come from within from the Emperor's brother Georg. A fully fledged civil war has not yet been described in an EUIII AAR. I'm sure whoever wins will take up the reigns again of an expanding Brandenberg.
 
So a great emperor dies while his best son is sent away. Well I guess we can just hope that the son that did inherit the throne will do well also, but from the last lines I guess that he wasn’t the clever and smart man his father had been. Maybe he even destroyed your relationship in the empire or even worse start a civil war…
 
Interesting. Wonder how teh new king might be.


Taking Lübeck shouldn't be too hard with some bribes and such. It's a vassal you know.
 
Very well written narrarative. Good job setting up the future and will you attempt to unite all of Germany? Will you plan to colonize.

Good luck
 
Fb-fb:

Sapphire - Actually, I am just 40 years into it. It seemed like a good time to start the AAR and see how it went. I plan on continuing once I catch up, but I may have to change a few things around.

KonigMaximilian - Thanks for reading. As for Bohemia, I admit, I am a little reticent to deal with them just yet. I was hoping to build up a bit before I did so. Besides, Palatinate is more of an attraction currently. As for Mecklenburg, I am hoping to diplo-annex if I can get relations up.

stnylan - Yes, Johann Cicero I was not quite what I was looking for, but moreso, the actions of his reign just kind of worked out to roleplay it a bit. ;)

Renss - Yes, I was very happy to finally start work on a navy.

Duke of Wellington - Yes, I got cores on Luneberg and Mecklenburg after having kept them so long. I got the core on Bremen as an event, as well as a few others that gave me a CB on Cologne, Munster, Palatinate and Hesse. Not bad.

Grundius - Not quite. Wait and see. ;)

Myth - Thanks for reading. Hope it keeps your attention.

Chief Ragusa - Indeed, it's not hard to roleplay such with them, is it? As far as admin goes - actually, it's been fine. If I was lacking talent, it was on the diplomacy and military front, though thankfully never at the same time. And as for a civil war - again, not quite. You'll see.

J. Passepartout - See above. ;)

Lord E - Warm...you are getting warm. It's coming soon.

Snake IV - Indeed. But I've had a few setbacks.

Wenis - Thanks. I would surely love to unite Germany at some point, but all in good time. And I would certainly love to colonize even if just a little to play around with that feature. That was one of the reasons I was so happy to take Bremen.

Thanks for reading everyone! I really appreciate your comments. Yet again, I hope to have an update up later in the day that should fill everyone in on just what Friedrich von Manstein meant above.

And if you have any questions regarding gameplay that I have not made clear enough, please feel free to ask and I'll answer as best I can. Until later...
 
* * *

BrandenburgLogo.jpg


* * *​

Upon taking power, the first thing our new Emperor did was to decree his own brother an outlaw in not just our lands, but also the entire Empire. As you can imagine, this did not sit well with the other princes, and certainly not the electors. I have it on good authority that during these months, the Prince Georg did travel from Bremen to Hesse, where he resided only for a short amount of months before accepting the personal invitation from the new Elector in The Palatinate, Alexander Siegmund I. There he was to remain, unknown to our liege Lord, but preparing for the day in which he might return home.

As well, our vassals stood up and took notice when Emperor Johann demanded far more tribute and lessoned his own gifts of good will. Obviously Hesse was less than enthralled with their new Lord, and neither were Mecklenberg and Friesland. In fact, the people in the realm were unhappy; even though the Emperor continued the building projects his father had begun. There were to be no uprisings, for fear that they might be brutally crushed, but Emperor Johann Cicero I was not well liked.

JohannCiceroI.jpg

Perhaps this is why that soon after taking his crown, the Emperor was tested by Clemens August I of Cologne. It is not known who started it, but within months, Cologne and Burgundy were embroiled in a deadly war to the south and Clemens August asked for his alliance partner, and Emperor, to honor his pledge. There was little thought given as to our readiness as Johann Cicero was eager to prove his forces on the field of battle and thus he readily accepted. In fact, there was some good reason to think we might be successful given that Burgundy was already involved in a number of altercations with various countries in and out of the Empire and they held prime land just to the south of Hesse, namely Mainz.

In the first stage of the war, Brandenburg forces poured down through Cologne with the 1st Army settling in at siege in the town of Mainz as the 2nd Army guarded the path to our own country in Nassau. The siege of Mainz went quite well, with only a few attempts to break it. And Cologne forces had been successful at taking Luxemburg, which also belonged to the upstart Burgundians. And perhaps it was this that settled our Emperor in deciding to move a bridge too far in stage two of the war.

BurgundyWar.jpg

Once Mainz had fallen, or was near to, the 3rd Army poured down through Hesse into Ansbach and began attempts to take that town. We remained well guarded, both in Mainz itself and still Nassau. But the numbers of Burgundian troops attempting to stall us continued to rise. And their great numbers of footmen seemed to overwhelm our still considerable cavalry. Even hiring several gangs of mercenaries to bolster our forces could not keep them from coming. Perhaps it was their superior generals. Perhaps it was the terrain. And perhaps it was the stab in the back we received from our supposed allies, Cologne.

Settling for peace before the true fight had ended, no land changed hands between Burgundy and Cologne. Burgundy instead wisely paid them off so that they might utilize all of their strength against our own. And this they did. Even after Ansbach had fallen, our forces had quite the time attempting to flank the Burgundian armies. Eventually, they had pushed us right out of Ansbach and not terribly long after so too Mainz. The situation had rendered our forces so meager that we were scarce able to field a regiment larger than 300 troops. This, as one might understand, made achieving success near impossible.

When, in 1485 and almost three years after the start of the war, a Burgundian ambassador traveled to offer terms of paying some few ducats for peace, the Emperor grudgingly accepted as he sneered that “those lying dogs of Cologne will pay for their treachery!” It was a peace favorable to our land, but it was not peace to be proud of. And none were. There would still be little fear of great revolt, but the risk was there and more and more considered their liege Lord no great man. Nor did I.

The Emperor remained undeterred. He would spend the next three years of his reign planning for his revenge. He never once lowered the maintenance on the army, but rather recruited more regiments and allowed those already standing to fill out again. He would hire three generals to assist in leading his army, the greatest being Stefan Breisen. And he would think of nothing other than how he might lay his enemies low. His chance did finally come.

I recall arguing forcibly against any such endeavor as we remained on some slight good terms with Cologne, having still a royal marriage and they still behind our Lord as Emperor. But Johann would hear none of it and threatened to have me locked in the darkest of dungeons were I to open my mouth any more on the subject. And so it was that in the early spring of 1488, Emperor Johann Cicero declared war on Cologne, dropping our stability to the lowest point it had ever achieved, and none lower could it fall.

I recall hearing von Derfflinger say it should be little trouble as Cologne was still smarting not just over their losses to Burgundy those years before, but also a brief war with Austria which stripped them of Nassau. I was sure that act had come as a warning towards not just Clement August but so too for us. And the opening stages of war were not entirely without gains. Lippe was invaded first, being so close to our lands and cut off now from the main Cologne lands of Trier and Koln. That siege was to last very shortly and soon it was in our hands. Our forces were quick to descend down through the Austrian lands of Berg and Nassau to meet the greater of the Cologne army. Then, horror of horrors and blessing of blessings, Johann Cicero I met his final fate. In not but a skirmish not too many miles from Koln, he was struck with an arrow under his helm and lay on the field bleeding. Not a man would come to his aid.

Here we were in just late April of 1488, leading a rather successful war when the world crashed down upon us. The Emperor had no child of age to follow him and the only other viable candidate was in exile. The Empress was quick to form a Regency with herself at the head in the hopes that the Empire might be convinced of the heir’s worthiness. But it was not to be. The electors gathered upon hearing the news and they almost to a man voted Alexander Siegmund of the Palatinate as the new Emperor. Even our vassal Friesland threw off their bondage and signed a pact with Brittany in alliance. The troops were demoralized. And the risk of revolt was now considerable. Years of hard work and great diplomacy had gone by the wayside at the hands of a greedy monarch and his dreams of revenge. I could think of him lying helpless and dying with no one to save him, and though it be not Christian, I could not but help smiling. It quickly turned down, however, as I considered what might happen next.

knight.jpg
 
Now that was one heck of a bite in the backside, coz. How'd you find yourself in that little spot of discontent? And more importantly, will you be able to regain the Imperial Crown?
 
coz1: ...Not a man would come to his aid...I could not but help smiling. It quickly turned down, however, as I considered what might happen next.

aye, troubled times are ahead ! ! :(

so, does brother come to the rescue? ? :D

excellent AAR ! ! glad i found it ! ! :cool:
 
Poor Johann Cicero.

Not :D

Brandenburg's in for a rough haul I think.

EDIT: Whoa! Just found this.

coz1 said:
So as long as I had my own vote and at least two others, I was sitting pretty, especially manpower-wise as you can imagine.
Click to expand...

I thought you couldn't vote for yourself, that it was taken out in the beta stage to prevent electors constantly voting for themselves and preventing a clear succession. I seem to remember that from Mr. T's Saxony AAR
 
Fb-fb:

Duke of Wellington - He certainly did. Here I thought I could weather the storm and then... :eek:

Draco Rexus - Well, I must admit to having much the same feelings as player as Johann had as Emperor. Cologne peacing out really pissed me off. Had they stayed in the war with me vs. Burgundy, we could have easily beat them down. But once it was just me (at lowered stength) and Burgundy alone, the war was lost. Revenge was needed, but perhaps I should have tempered myself. :rolleyes: I think I can get the crown back, but only time will tell.

GhostWriter - Wait for it...I will say he is definitely involved. Glad you found this too.

CatKnight - I recalled that myself, but I believe they changed that once more in the 1.1 patch. All I know is that I always have my shield next to my spot as elector. I kept Palatinate in my corner (even after they won it themselves - heh!) and usually had one or two others which helped me keep it.

Snake IV - You are absolutely right about that. And frankly, it was stupid of me to have done so vs. Cologne considering I already had three generals, though truth be told, none of them were really good. For all the wars I have fought, none of them have lasted very long and so I have been woefully short on tradition.

To all - I may or may not have another update today. It's a long day and I may not get home until late. We'll see. Either way, we are just about up to the time I stopped playing in game so this weekend will require another playing session (yes! :D ) and then I'll know far better how well I can do to regain the crown.

Thanks for reading and commenting all!
 
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