The HAARd Way - Friesland AAR

History_Buff: France is really going down hard, so I think it would be best to take what I can from them and leave Austria alone for the moment. Having Burgundy reform France is a good idea, hopefully I can get the AI to cooperate on that.
JDMS: Theoretically, yes. They have the largest navy in the world and significant holdings in the Far East and Africa. However, that large empire means their navy is scattered so I could easily land 20K in London within a week if we end up at war. So in reality the biggest threat they pose is seizing one of my colonies if I’m not paying attention.
morningSIDEr: Actually all Pagans except the Mesoamericans are no longer outright annexable, so it’s reasonable that Oyo lasted so long. If you’ve seen the strange screenshots thread you’ll know that it doesn’t last though. I’ll do what I can to keep the other major powers stable until 1821, unless they end up like France, so while things might not be peaceful they will be restrained.

Chapter Thirty: The Humiliation of France

The island of Timor was chosen to be Friesland’s headquarters in the East Indies for the time being, due to its relatively friendly native population and isolation from the British colonies in the Philippines and the organised locals such as Brunei.



It took some effort to establish the outpost so far from the homeland, but after the first expedition was lost the second was able to pick up the remains of their equipment and finish the job. It would be a while before the colony was completed and further expansion could begin as there were still colonial efforts going on in New Friesland and Frisian Panama.

In Europe, the war between Burgundy and France finally reached a conclusion, although it would not provide any respite for France with Britain still on its shores.



They were forced to concede more land as well as grant independence to the Imperial Duchy of Auvergne and the oppressed Bretons. Brutal suppression had led to half of the traditional territory of Brittany being cleansed of its rightful inhabitants and it was only right that the survivors around Vendee and Armor be liberated in compensation.

Other nations were expanding their control overseas instead of in Europe, including a surprising feature.



Castille finally annexed the Incan Empire in their search for gold to fund their massive Mediterranean empire. In Africa, the French colonists conquered by barbarians found themselves an unlikely liberator in the tiny Basque nation of Navarra. Basque settlers were even appearing in Guatemala, in the divide between Portuguese Mexico and Frisian Panama. Hendrik sent words of congratulations to the Basque King, as the achievements of such a small nation were a reminder of his own country’s humble beginnings.

The parade of pain continued for France as Aragon declared war on them over trade restrictions. Of course, in France’s state they weren’t in any position to enforce the restrictions but it was cause enough for the Aragonese to take their piece of the pie.



France was forced to give up its claims to south-western France and empty out its treasury, which only made things worse as the British continued sweeping through their countryside.

Hendrik was glad to see that his old enemy might be defeated once and for all, but he didn’t last long enough to see the coup de grace delivered.



He passed away peacefully in his sleep; his last days spent making peace with everything he had done to boost the power of the nation, whether through violence or diplomacy. The Imperial Crown passed smoothly onto his son Siemen I, who was not yet old enough to take the Frisian throne fully and so had the Noble’s Council act in his stead.

The Portuguese were an interesting case, as their colonial empire was now larger by orders of magnitude than their territories in Europe. Apparently the fairly smooth integration of the Central American civilisations into Portuguese society only continued to skew things in favour of the lands across the sea.



The Portuguese King officially moved his capital to Mexico, a move which surprised many in Europe and especially Castille.

The Castillians had had their eyes on Portugal for a long time, especially as Aragon was getting stronger with each war it won against France and so less viable a target for conquest. Claiming that placing their capital in Mexico made the original Portugal ‘a colony’ and thus open to seizure, they declared war the moment the Portuguese king left Iberian shores.



Unfortunately they didn’t count on the Portuguese expecting that move and stationing a sufficiently large army to fend off their hastily assembled force. With Aragonese help they delivered a crushing defeat to the Iberian superpower and forced them to release the Inca and some of their North African territory.

Somehow, Lithuania believed it could reclaim some glory by conquering the Latvians of Riga once again. With both Friesland and Russia coming to the small nation’s aid, the war didn’t last very long.



Ever wary of Russia, the Noble’s Council only demanded that Lithuania give up its claims to Latvia and pay reparations rather than anything more devastating. Luckily most of the Russian army was stationed in Central Asia fighting the tribes there, so they weren’t able to completely steamroller the Lithuanians and secure their own peace first.

Tensions continued to flare along the Calvinist French border as refugees poured in from the beleaguered France and incited rebellion amongst the locals.



With missionary efforts focused overseas, it would be a long time before this region would calm down if at all.

By now, Siemen was ready to take the throne and not a moment too soon. As he had been prepared from a very young age to take control of Friesland’s armies, he was eager to take them to war. Just such a chance had caught his attention in the last year before his ascendance; a direct insult to the sovereignty of the Empire that could not be ignored.



Sweden had annexed the City-State of Venice. The floating city had been a haven for commerce and free enterprise within the Empire and seeing such a valuable asset in the hands of an outsider could not be tolerated.

Castille was the only major nation to answer Sweden’s call for aid, and they were punished by the seizure of some of their colonies in Panama before agreeing to a ceasefire to deal with their internal strife. Sweden wasn’t so lucky.



Two full-size Frisian armies cross from Denmark and pillaged their way towards Stockholm. With a far-flung empire to defend, the Swedes could not react in time and were forced to surrender Venice back to its rightful rulers and pay reparations for the brave Frisians who had died as they tore apart the Swedish heartland.

Elsewhere, rebellion in the Kongo continued to be troublesome.



The natives were getting more organised, including fielding cannon that were believed to be supplied by Aragon. No proof could be found though, so nothing could be done for the moment.

The final organised defence of the natives of New Friesland was not nearly as deadly though, as the Viceroy ordered them annexed immediately.



The newly minted Army of Texas was happy to do so, removing the last thing that stood between Friesland and dominance of all of North America. The Army was then deployed to the Portuguese border. With their capital now in the Americas, it seemed likely they might make a push to secure their hold on the continent.

Despite Siemen’s war-like inclination, he did appreciate fine art.



A statue of his father, Hendrik II, was produced that showed him standing victorious on the walls of Paris in one of the many times he had taken the city. Such a fine statue was to be given pride of place in the royal palace in Groningen, although it was debatable whether it was really what Hendrik wanted to be remembered for.

It was especially fitting with the events going on in France. They had seemed on the rise after coming out of their Civil War, but that had reversed and now the culmination of their downward spiral had finally arrived.



The north of the country was completely occupied for the British and a British administration had even established itself in Paris as they settled in for a long occupation. The last vestiges of the French government had fled south to the only unoccupied regions of their country, Provence and Languedoc. Interestingly, this region was also technically part of the Empire and so Siemen had valid reason to go to war with them. It looked like they haven’t quite fallen all the way just yet...

To be continued...

I acknowledge that it gets less interesting this late in the game, so from now I’ll try to include a reader-interaction bit at the bottom of each update to make things different and possibly harder for me.

Siemen I plans to invade southern France to liberate the Imperial territory there, but what is his final goal?
Option A: Annex the territory to Friesland. Glory to the Emperor!
Option B: Release the Duchy of Provence. It’s what his father would have done.
Option C: Conquer it and give it to Burgundy. They’ve been such loyal allies after all.

Looks like option C got the most votes, thanks for voting. I’ll be keeping up a rapid update schedule for the next few days as I have a break from studying.

Chapter Thirty One: Brawn Without Brains

Two Frisian armies deployed to the southern Burgundian-French border, while another moved to the border with Baden.



For some reason the central German state was supporting the French, a fact they would come to regret as they were swept aside and forced to pay concessions. Siemen I himself lead the Army of Flanders as it marched into Provence and retake it for the Empire.

Southern France fell without incident, but the French were unwilling to give up any more land than Provence itself for some reason. Seeking more victories to persuade them, Siemen ordered his army to cross Aragonese territory to attack Navarra.



On the way, news came of an Aragonese attack on the Duchy of Auvergne. With his army already inside their borders the following war didn’t last very long at all.

Looking for more ways to push his war aims onto the French, Siemen ordered the Army of Manhattan to be sent to Greenland to conquer the French outpost there. However, the soldiers ended up finding a very surprising opponent.



The French King, a brilliant general, had fled to the frozen wastes of Greenland to make his final stand. Unfortunately, despite catching the French king off guard with their initial attack, he was able to rally and outright destroy the Army of Manhattan.

As the Roorda Fleet could only move colonial armies individually, Siemen realised that taking Greenland was probably not worth the risk of losing more of his forces. He sent a message to the cold northern lands offering peace.



Provence was taken, but Languedoc was left in French hands. The lands of Provence were then passed on to the Burgundians, who Siemen reckoned could make better use of a port on the Mediterranean coast.

To the east, a major war had broken out with Russia on one side against the combined forces of Sweden, Lithuania and Castille. Russia’s immense size turned out to be its biggest weakness as it was unable to devote enough forces to any given theatre to completely hold back its enemies as each of them had significant forces on the border.



They were forced to grant independence to the Byelorussians of Polotsk, a humiliating defeat for what had been the up and coming Eastern power.

Siemen was a great believer in might makes right, and as Friesland had one of the largest armies in the world it should use that right to continue expanding its power. The problem was that, while he had a keen tactical sense, Siemen had no real idea of how to run the internal or external affairs of a country. Instead of seeking an easy target that wouldn’t cause much of a stir, he instead ordered the Viceroy of India to acquire some more land from the natives by any means.



An unprovoked attack caused much upset amongst the general population. It took a lot of effort from the Common’s Council to appease the merchant class and keep too much damage being done to the stability of the country. In the course of this, on particular minister on the council excelled himself and almost single-handedly managed to calm the guild’s and bank’s worries.

Of course, there were other reasons for this invasion besides a simple land grab. Aragon was continuing to expand its grip on north-western India and Siemen couldn’t sit by and let the Iberians get away with that.



The Indian nation of Kandesh was completely annexed. This unprovoked conquest caused uproar amongst the peoples of Europe. Long gone were the times when the conquest of heathens could be ignored, as people began to acknowledge that even these primitives had the right to not be brutally absorbed without due reason.

Siemen’s reputation as a ruthless warmonger carried far and wide, and soon nations from across Europe were covertly funding rebellion in the length and breadth of the Frisian Empire.



While the rebellions were not a threat to the Frisian army, they created an undercurrent of fear amongst the ruling elite of Friesland who worried about an outright revolution.

Siemen continued to prove his lack of insight into running a country, as he pushed for further conquests.



The city of Luneburg was independent despite being rightfully Frisian territory and isolated entirely by it. This obviously couldn’t stand.

Frisian forces moved into Luneburg and Thuringia, winning easy victories against the forces there. After storming the city that was formerly the Emperor’s capital, it was annexed into Friesland. Siemen had wanted to press for more but a more important matter came up.



Lithuania had invaded and forced vassalage on the people of Mazovia, and Siemen himself lead the Army of Brunswick across the Empire to deal with the upstart Baltics.

In New Friesland, news of the war starting had barely reached the Army of Texas before they were set upon by the Portuguese king. He had eagerly been awaiting a chance to take the lands bordering Mexico and now had his chance.



The Army of Texas was caught off guard and routed. (What is it with Portugal and wrecking my colonial armies?) The Armies of Florida and Illinois were diverted south to deal with the Portuguese king and recapture any colonies he managed to seize. Clearly something would have to be done to boost the colonial army’s strength now that Portugal’s heartland was right on their doorstep.

The British had finally come to terms with France after years spent occupying their lands.



The north coast was completely taken to cement British hold on the Channel. The French King finally returned to his capital, but it now sat at the heart of a beaten and irrelevant nation that could only continue to serve as a place for larger nations to fight over.

Ever since his foolhardy annexation of Kandesh, the Noble’s Council had begun actively plotting the downfall of their king. Clearly he needed to be replaced by someone actually capable of running a country. Siemen’s infamy had caused the electors to shy away from nominating Friesland so it seemed that the Imperial crown would pass to someone else should Siemen die, and that was the only thing that kept an outright assassination attempt from occurring. The news of Portuguese victories in New Friesland was what finally tipped the scales in favour of that.



Siemen was attacked by one of the mercenaries he had picked up while travelling through Northern Germany on his way to fight Lithuania. The assassin was killed by the royal guard, and subsequently a clique of Catholic zealots angry at having a Protestant Emperor was blamed, rounded up and executed for the assassination. The Noble’s Council got together and elected the next king from among their number. There was no time to risk a foreign king coming in when the stability of the country was in jeopardy. Sibraht von Hohenzollern became the new king, and the Imperial crown went to Burgundy instead.

Sibraht was very skilled which would be needed in the coming years to deal with the many rebellions sure to come, but at the same time he was little more than a puppet of the council.



He was able to make some minor concessions to make peace with Portugal, but only after the lost colonies had been retaken. Lithuania also got off with a ceasefire as there was no longer any responsibility for Friesland to defend the Empire. Burgundy was now the Emperor, and the influence they had gained from that along with Friesland’s own waning power allowed them to shake off the Frisian control that had dominated their politics for decades.

Sibraht and the Noble’s Council had a lot of work ahead of them. Despite Siemen’s death the rest of the world still viewed Greater Friesland with disdain and its own populace did not trust the legitimacy of an elected King.



The road to recovery had only just begun now that the source of their problems was finally out of the way. Siemen I, last of the von Luxemburg line in Friesland, would go down in history as a madman thirsty for blood. Sibraht and his backers could only hope that they would be looked on more favourably.

To be continued...

I try to RP a little with Siemen and everything goes to hell. At least I know it won’t be boring. I should point out that Sibraht being elected is just flavour, I’m still a Monarchy.

Sibraht and the Noble’s Council will be working to secure Friesland’s reputation and stability for the time being, but what will they do once the crisis is past?
Option A: Retake the Imperial Crown. It rightfully belongs in Frisian hands!
Option B: Focus on the colonies more. Europe can be left to its own devices.
Option C: Rebuild Frisian trade. Let us return to the glory days when Europe was filled with our wares.

Just a quick update to show a bit of what I've been working on for post-1821 content. Since the current format won't really last at that point as EU3 can't model Vicky and HOI stuff in-game, I'll be taking things a different direction. This is only a basic example of what I plan to do, hopefully the finished product will look better.

If you're worried about spoilers then don't click on the link.

Example of what I might be doing after 1821 (I chose the region in question to test because I don't expect any major boundary changes there, places like Europe will have to wait until 1821 has passed to be completed).

morningSIDEr: Well, with CS leading them it makes sense that Oyo ends up annexed by a nation like Navarra. Maybe congratulations were a bit too much.

B takes it. I’m glad voting has turned out to be this well-received, as it means that post-1821 content should be just as successful. In case you hadn’t guessed, I’m planning to have the history of Greater Friesland in the Victorian era and beyond guided by you, my readers.

I should point out that I had a strange glitch (check the tech support forum for details) that forced me to revert to the old autosave before Siemen died, so we now have a different king. I’ll update the previous chapter shortly to reflect that. Other than that I did everything I could to keep things the same as before, including losing the Army of Texas, so there shouldn’t be any other problems.

Chapter Thirty Two: Frisians in Every Corner

The consensus amongst the Noble’s Council was to continue expanding Friesland’s horizons into distant lands. There was little it could do in Europe as long as it was loathed for the actions of its previous king and so the only choice was colonisation.



Sibraht ordered a second national bank established in Amsterdam to be paired with the Bank of Groningen. Together they could help finance Frisian colonial efforts. At the suggestion of the council he also sent a team of pioneers to the islands of Hawaii. Having a base in the middle of the Pacific would surely be a major strategic asset.

With Friesland no longer in the top spot and Burgundy still untested, tensions flared within the borders of the Empire.



A massive war broke out between the feuding Italian states that saw territory swap hands in both directions between Milan and the various smaller city-states. Most notable was the vassalisation of Savoy, an elector. With this key Burgundian ally now supporting Milan it was unlikely that another election would see the crown move on again.

To avoid another debacle like the previous war with Portugal, something would have to be done to bolster the colonial army in New Friesland. Eventually, a solution was settled on.



For the first time in centuries a full-size Frisian army was deployed to the colonies and stationed on the border with Portuguese Mexico. It was an unprecedented move that saw a large increase in the militarisation of the Texan region.

While most effort was abroad, there was still the issue of the lack of legitimacy that the von Hohenzollern dynasty was seen with in Friesland. The direct election of the King by the upper nobility was unheard of and was a major sticking point amongst lower-ranking nobles and the merchant class.



To solidify his position Sibraht spread his family members through the Empire to give his bloodline some foothold in the politics of Europe.

The Roorda Expedition, a name that had been little more than a title for a very long time, finally got put to its proper use as the force was deployed to Hawaii to ‘pacify’ the natives ahead of the Frisian colonists arriving.



Immediately after putting the locals in their place, the Expiditiion and more importantly the Roorda Fleet that was carrying it were called back to Frisian Panama because of a situation that had come up.

Burgundy had finally made its move on the Duchy of Bar. Naturally this didn’t last long, but for some reason the Emperor made the Duke swear direct fealty to him rather than just annexing the territory he had every right to.



This would bring in Navarra, which was suspected to be the nation behind the many infiltrations that had sparked rebellion in all corners of the Frisian Empire. France was in to poor of a state to come to Bar’s aid, so this left Navarra leading the alliance defending it.

It wasn’t nearly as easy as anticipated though, as when the Frisian army arrived in the Basque homeland the encountered something unexpected.



The Navarrans had built forts which were larger than even the largest forts within Greater Friesland. The fact that their cities could not be stormed combined with the appearance of a large army storming its way through the Ashanti and Cameroon regions were enough to make Sibraht accept the Navarran offer of white peace. The country still couldn’t afford a drawn-out war.

With the natives no longer an issue, the colonisation of Hawaii went smoothly. The next goal the Noble’s Council set for Sibraht was to fix relations with Aragon so they would have an ally against the other Iberians.



Frisians could now be found in every region of the world. Europe, America, Africa, Asia, the Pacific were all within reach of the influence of Greater Friesland. Truly it was an Empire on which the sun never set.

It had been decades since the land had been conquered from the Ottomans, but the Frisians and Austrians in India continued to dispute the exact location of the border.



Fed up with complaints, the Viceroy of India declared that all of Austrian India was rightfully Frisian territory. This did much to harm relations which had been doing well in recent years.

Wars continued in Europe, this time at the expense of Lithuania.



They lost land to Austria, Luneburg, Sweden and even some of the minorities within their borders. It seemed that their extended, multi-cultural empire was finally falling apart.

Elsewhere, Aragon made yet another play for the Duchy of Auvergne which brought the Burgundian Emperor and France to its defence.



It was a shame to see them doing something so stupid after Sibraht had devoted so much time and money towards making them allies.

Colonialism continued apace, and word came from Frisian Panama that they had managed to cut off an attempted Castillian attempt to sneak around and settle inland of the Frisian-held coast.



With the completion of the colonies in Texas as well, the borders of Frisian holdings in the Americas were effectively completely secure. AS well as that, a significant amount of the ill will built up by Siemen had drained away already, so it seemed the time had come to take a more aggressive stance on colonisation.

To be continued...

There are plenty of opportunities to grab land and expand the Frisian Empire. Which one should it be?
Option A: Austria. They hold our rightful land in India, but relations are the highest they’ve been in a long time. Is land worth the price of a lost friendship?
Option B: Castille. Their holdings in South America are vulnerable, but they are guaranteed by Austria so a war with them may not be a simple smash-and-grab.
Option C: Aragon. Their Indian holdings are a juicy target and they are stuck in a war with the Emperor. It would mean the end to any overtures of friendship though.
Option D: East Africa. The pagans there remain unconquered, and they have valuable gold mines. However, the number of available missionaries has really dropped off so it is questionable whether the area could be converted and pacified properly.