Chapter 8: The Liberation of Croatia
May 15, 1845: Ottoman armies arrive in their jump-off points on the Ottoman-Austrian border and on the Wallachian-Austrian border. The navy begins to set sail to pick up irregulars from the Tripoli garrison and to blockade Austrian ports. Generals have been assigned.
War is declared! Our armies move to occupy Dalmatia (where the occupying armies can be protected by a screening army in Bihac) and Sisak. Our war goal: Acquire Croatia (which will cut them off from Dalmatia)
May 16: We did not call our allies, lest some of them decide not to get involved. Moldavia and Wallachia join (calling satellites does not cost diplomatic points), as do Greece (Maybe) and Two Sicilies (Very Likely). France, the Papal States, Sweden, and Sardinia-Piedmont make it clear they will not get involved (Unlikely, France is Very Unlikely), so they are not called. In the east, 3 armies of 2 brigades each begin occupying.
June: A Bavarian army suicidally attacks an army twice its size, dug in, in the hills. Death ensues.
Austria and Bavaria mobilize - now Austria has 30 regiments and Bavaria has 12. They started with 21 and 5 (yes, Bavaria can mobilize almost as much as Austria. Fear them.)
June 14: The Austrian 3rd Army shows up - 5 brigades. I immediately begin moving regiments to create an encirclement around Sisak, where the Austrian army has decided that attacking a +3 defensive general in the hills would be a good idea.
June 27: The Austrian 3rd Army surrenders after being shredded. If only every battle went that well... Somehow, in destroying 5 brigades, Austria is down to 23 left. Not sure how this math works, unless some Austrian mobilized brigades were killed off offscreen (possible).
July 17: The Bavarian 3rd Army pops out of the fog of war at a very inconvenient moment - my brigade in Karlovac has no general (I didn't have enough to go around, and can't get away fast enough. Nearby armies are directed to their defense, which leads to a mauling of both the lone brigade (which had several days of being torn apary alone) and the Bavarians. My attempt to encircle falls short (twice), and the Bavarians are chased east to Bjelovar and wiped out in August, at a cost of a couple more thousand Ottoman soldiers. Brigade count: Austria 20, Bavaria 4.
August: With the Bavarians dispatched, the Ottoman armies split up to move back to friendly territory to reinforce and avoid attrition.
In the east, the Austrian 1st Army pops out of nowhere to savage 1 Ottoman occupation army and the Wallachians in separate battles. Only the late intervention by Kamil Pasha with 4 brigades turns the tide and sends the Austrians running. After a couple of months, the Austrians are wiped out.
September 9: Baden joins in the fun, deciding bringing 3 brigades down the Dalmatian coast while 6 Austrian brigades decide to see if the second time is the charm in Sisak.
September 29: Baden has lost in Senj and opts to retreat south (away from any possible help). The Austrians are in a familiar position: encircled and getting pummelled.
October 18: Musa Bey's army in Sisak forces the Austrians to surrender, but at a terrible price. His men are heard grumbling about "those @#%$ing dice!". Austria is now down to 10 brigades.
October 22: Prussia shows how hosed they are.
October 31: Baden's army (all of it) has finally been run down and killed. Somewhere out of sight, Austria lost 6 brigades, bringing them down to 4. The Ottomans begin to spread out and occupy Croatia and Slavonia, now that Dalmatia is occupied.
November 6: Smelling blood in the water, Serbia decides to go after Slavonia. Russia joins Serbia to help them.
November 13: Russia asks for Military Access. We accept - no reason not to. (Apparently, unlike EU3, Military Access doesn't prevent war, or really do anything if you abuse it.)
Over in Italy, Two Sicilies is using the age-old tactic of "have your entire army stand around taking attrition for no reason".
November 28: Does this look familiar? I think we know how this turns out...although it takes two tries (they win in Karlovac, lose and surrender in Bihac)
December 6: France breaks their alliance with Prussia. No real apparent reason why, other than the fact that an alliance with someone getting kicked around like a red-headed stepchild with only 1 brigade is kinda pointless.
January 29, 1847: Despite only having 4 brigades left and their allies having lost their armies (except for Tuscany, happily standing around in Western Prussia occupying), Austria refuses peace.
March 4: Prussia and France resign their Alliance. Prussia now has 2 brigades, so they're all better.
March 31: Austria finally admits defeat, and cedes Croatia. Our infamy is too high for any other useful war goal, and it's too expensive to occupy all of Austria just for kicks, so we accept. We gain Croatia, and the glass factory in it.
June 13: We finish researching Malthuisian Thought, and pick Idealism (+50% RP).
July: Austria builds 9 new brigades, and proceeds to kick Serbia's army around like a rag doll. The Netherlands annexes Belgium, and follows that up by declaring war on defenseless Bavaria for the Rheinland. (The people of the Rheinland should set up shops to sell stuff to occupying armies.)