Fools of Damnation: The Orthodoxy War

[Vladislav]

I'm proud to present my very first AAR, representing the culmination of all the expansion I have done with my Byzantine Empire as I prepared to take down the Russian goliath with a colossus of my own. This AAR takes place between the years 1719 and 1721, ending with the war itself. Oh, and I'm playing on all the default settings, vanilla IN. I hope you all enjoy the story.

Fools of Damnation:
The Orthodoxy War

PROLOGUE

1399 AD - 1719 AD

From the brink of defeat, the Roman Empire was resurrected by the Grace of God and banished the infidels from its lands. In time, the Empire reacquired its historical possessions through the blood of countrymen and foreigners. This was a golden age for the Empire, and all of Europe watched in awe as the Emperor reestablished the Empire as the most powerful force in the region, rivaling even the mighty states of France and England.

However, this sincere respect would be replaced by fear and hostility as the Emperors sought to spread the boundaries of the Empire even farther. The cities of Italy fell to Byzantine forces, and even the Pope was chased from his lands and into Germany. None dared face the Byzantines, who had allied with the cunning Austrians in order to secure their dominance over Central and Eastern Europe.

There was, however, a contender...

The Kingdom of Bohemia, which had for a century spread its borders at the expense of Hungary and Poland, maintained a bitter peace and an uneasy rivalry with the Byzantine Empire as both sought to dominate the Balkans. However, the last King of Bohemia died without an heir. News of this event spread throughout Europe and into Muscovy, where the Muscovite Grand Prince--second cousin once removed of the late Bohemian king--was proclaimed the new king of Bohemia, doubling the size of his demesne. He would later declare himself King of the Muscovite Empire.

This led to an era wherein much of Europe--and indeed much of the world--was divided up and dominated by the dual Orthodox empires of Muscovy and Rome. By the dawn of the 18th century, the colonial possessions of Castille had torn apart the shackles of imperialism and declared independence. Brazil, Chile, and Louisiana became lands of freedom from the tyranny of kings, while Europe still bore the burden of imperial repression. In order to escape certain destruction, the Portugese government moved to America, from which they could expand their borders freely into uncharted territories in the Americas and Asia.

The Byzantine Empire, after subduing the kings of India, turned its eyes back towards Europe. The Kingdom of France would soon be reduced to a shadow of its former self as Byzantine soldiers razed the countryside, sowing salt into the fields, confiscating farm equipment, and burning cultural and scientific literature.



Meanwhile, the peoples of New France in North America broke apart from their illiterate overlords and began a new life of communal living and democracy, forming the United States of America.

Many times had the electors of the Holy Roman Empire, bitter towards the iron grip with which the Byzantine Empire held Europe, elected the King of Muscovy as Emperor. Ivan VI was the last King of Muscovy and first Tsar of Russia. Meanwhile, In the Byzantine Empire, a regency council had ruled since the death of the last Emperor until his heir, Andronikos XI, was fit to take his seat upon the throne. The nobles of the council fostered in the young heir a deep resentment of the Russian Tsar. Upon Andronikos XI's 17th birthday, he was granted the title of Absolute Emperor of Rome. By this time, Ivan VI of Russia had died of an intestinal worm and been replaced by his prodigious son, Pyotr I.

One day, years later, Andronikos fumed upon his throne and then summoned his court. In the midnight hours in Constantinople, they devised a plan that would ultimately result in hundreds of thousands of deaths, all in order to shift the balance of power between the two mightiest empires the world had ever seen. Like two caged creatures who had grown too large for their habitat, they would be forced to turn on one another if they wished to grow further.

Next:
Chapter 1: Goliath vs. Goliath; Andronikos's Gambit

[Mike von Bek]

Very nice, very nice indeed! Even knowing how the war ends, Im still curious to see it play out.

Oh, and this seems dreadfully apropros, no?

Blood and destruction shall be so in use and dreadful objects so familiar
That mothers shall but smile when they behold their infants quarter'd with the hands of war
All pity choked with custom of fell deeds: And Caesar's spirit, ranging for revenge,
With Ate by his side come hot from hell,
Shall in these confines with a monarch's voice cry 'Havoc,' and let slip the dogs of war;
That this foul deed shall smell above the earth with carrion men, groaning for burial.

[EUROO7]

I remember that screenshot from the Strange Screenshots thread.

Great to see an AAR the Byzantines!!!

[comagoosie]

Great to see you start an AAR.

I like it, btw. I can't wait for a more detailed showdown between you two.

[Scorpi]

Nice, looking forward to the epic battle.

[phillosopher]

Very nice... I am watching closely...

[asd21593]

Interesting

Good luck!



asd

[camo]

I love the start so keep it up and good luck ! ; D

[rcduggan]

King of the Muscovite Empire? Shouldn't it be either "Tsar of the Muscovite Tsardom" or "King of the Kingdom of Muscovy?"


Also, how did France become a tribal federation?

[Vladislav]

rcduggan: You're right. There are a couple of inconsistencies in the prologue, but that won't be relevant to the rest of the story. And I have no idea what happend to france; some kind of revolution, I guess.

By the way, before the next chapter, here's my Roman Empire on the eve of the war:

Chapter 1
Goliath vs. Goliath: Andronikos's Gambit
March, 1719

Andronikos had been serving as Emperor of Rome for several years now, and he had a firm grasp of the practicalities of governing a massive empire such as his. His right hand was the esteemed Georgios Phrangopoulos, a theologian with few peers. Georgios fully supported the emperor's plan to unify all lands currently under the influence of the Orthodox Church, thereby unifying the Church itself. Along with him were two diplomats: Aineias Paraspondylos and foreign-born Luis de Meneses, who had fled to the emperor's court due to religious persecution. Their efforts in polishing the empire's image were extremely valuable, especially considering its rather heavy-handed treatment of the conquered ("We're not sowing your fields with salt, it's, er, special fertilizer crystals"). Though they were less than enthusiastic about another war that they would need to cover up, the emperor's word was final.

Emperor Andronikos had made several public proclamations questioning Tsar Pyotr's piety; these words reverberated throughout both kingdoms, disturbing relations between the Russian and Roman peoples. Furthermore, Andronikos withdrew his tentative support for the supposed Holy Roman Empire, forbidding any of the conquered territories in Germany and Italy to participate in its administration. By now, relations between the Romans and Russians were at their lowest in history.

One dreadful night, in the cover of darkness, special agents of the emperor's Secret Order set fire to a cathedral along the Roman-Russian border, leaving behind evidence framing Russian agents in the arson. Word quickly spread throughout the country and the rest of Europe, and though the plot had been uncovered by Russian agents, the damage had already been done. Anti-Russian sentiment was inflamed even further throughout the massive Roman Empire.

And thus, on the third of March in the year of our Lord 1719, Emperor Andronikos XI issued the following proclamation: "Henceforth and forevermore, let it be known that all diplomatic ties with the Russian Empire are eternally abolished. A state of war now exists against the Russian Tsar, who is unfit to rule a Christian state. It has been said of the one and only Church that there is one body and one head: the Russian Empire remains an extraneous body that must be carved away."



Tsar Pyotr was outraged. Though Russia had been prospering during his reign, relations with their dearest ally had plummeted like a stone sinking into the Baltic. Immediately, he sent envoys to his remaining allies in Finland, Norway, and Great Britain, who mobilized their armies and prepared to strike back against the encroaching Roman forces.

The Romans had nearly penetrated the Russian border before envoys returned from the capitals of the Roman Empire's allies, bearing good news. The Roman vassals Brandenburg and Saxony had already mobilized, and Galicia (which the Empire had liberated decades prior) threw in its full support.

While the Russian alliance technically possessed a larger army than the Roman alliance (480k vs 410k), the Romans possessed the advantage of months of preparation. The war had been planned for months in advance, and all 200,000 men who were to be sent into Russia had already been amassed at the border. Russia's armies, meanwhile, had been taken completely off guard. Indeed, Old Bohemia (which was separated from the rest of Russia by Rome and its vassal Lithuania) was almost completely defenseless, garrisoned only by a few regiments who feebly attempted to quell nationalist Croatians in the south.



Farther east, Roman forces held the border against the bulk of the Russian army.



In the west, Roman troops held the empire's English possessions against attacks by the sizeable British army. Fortunately for the Romans, much of Britain's army was busy quelling patriot revolts in Canada.



Much of Rome's success in the war can be attributed to its long history of successful military campaigns and the strategic masterminds that these produced. The military academy in Constantinople produced such great generals as Iason Phocas, whose name soon became synonymous with "death" to the Russian army. While Emperor Andronikos XI was not the brilliant strategist that his rival Tsar Pyotr was, he was a competent tactician in his own right.



The dominos had already begun to fall. Roman forces encircled Russia's greatest cities in Old Bohemia, ravaging the countryside and terrorizing the local populace. However, plans rarely come to pass entirely as they should. There were other factors at work, and these would test the true mettle of the young Roman Emperor...

NEXT:
Chapter 2
Europe is on Fire: the World Strikes Back

Here's a preview:

[comagoosie]

you do have a lot of good generals.

And what is with all the warning, you aren't stupid enough to declare yet another war?

[Mike von Bek]

And so it begins... thats an awful lot of warnings, but thats also an impressive array of generals. Onward, Christian soldiers!

[Enewald]

Yay, another Rome aar!

Rome and Moscow are allways fighting in IN... both are orthodox superpowers...

[jpj1421]

Yay, another Rome aar!

Rome and Moscow are allways fighting in IN... both are orthodox superpowers...

Heh, that's one way to handle the relations between the two. My way is to send my armies into the Ottoman Empire and force them to release the Byzantines, then ally them.

[asd21593]

Goliath against Goliath

That never turns out well, this'll be messy!



asd

[General_BT]

Yay! Another Byzantine AAR! This sounds like it'll be an epic war for the ages...

[Vladislav]

Update tomorrow. Too lazy to type the next chapter today.

[Qorten]

Russia doesn't look that impressive compared to the magnificent Byzantine Empire. Unless they happen to have any somewhat powerful allies of course. Haven't had the time to read it all through yet. Actually I'm very surprised Russia even formed when starting in 1399 scenario. In my games Muscowy and Novgorod always get steamrolled by the Golden Horde, which stays around strong enough usually to bother the re-appeared nations once the inevitable revolts occur in tribal governments.

[Vladislav]

Muscovy always seems to do well in my games. I once saw a massive Golden Horde blob, but it got taken apart pretty quickly and reduced to a couple provinces.

[comagoosie]

Muscovy always seems to do well in my games. I once saw a massive Golden Horde blob, but it got taken apart pretty quickly and reduced to a couple provinces.

Maybe Muscovy is good because on Lucky = Historical, they get the lucky tag