Gentlemen in Germany - a Brunswick AAR

[Atenos]

It's unfair you get like a massive amount of Boundary Dispute while i get non!

P.S Great AAR love it

[Malurous]

Glad to see this back, you sure have grown large in the past century, how does your economy look?

Very nice as far as actual money, tech etc. goes. For instance, I expect to be ahead of time in everything in a matter of decades.

But well, it'd better, seeing that my relatively small size makes areas like forcelimits (I think I'm something like 66% over in land) and manpower really ugly. Poor non-core land drags you down economically but does help in those areas.

I am happy to see you updating again!

Btw, the France is turning to BBB.

It is, isn't it? Looks like IN France, really, and we haven't seen everything yet...

Woo hoo! It's back! In your next update, can you give us a brief run down of the HRE? Who's an elector, etc.

I'll try - I'll do it if I have suitable screenshots left. I'm so far ahead in the game that I can't do it off the top of my head. Oh and if I can't do it in the next one, I'll do it at some point.

Yey! Your back again
Nice update ^^

Thanks.

Oh no, not a Habsburg! That'll Mark the end of everything! A pretender would be a better choice. Can you please let another pretender that rises win? (I don't think in HttT there's anything else you can do to stop that usurper to take your throne?)

Heh, let's just say that it'll be sorted out somehow.

It's unfair you get like a massive amount of Boundary Dispute while i get non!

P.S Great AAR love it

Thanks! I have been very lucky with my monarchs so far - this is really the perfect game to be getting such high DIP rulers seeing that it's a huge factor for boundary disputes. Also note that they're much more common when you have zero infamy (rare usually but pretty much all the time in this game) and inside a HRE that has a lot of member states (another reason for forcing releases where I can).

Oh and as soon as my lucky streak of high DIP monarchs runs out, I expect to be switching to a republic and picking diplomatic candidates, again for boundary dispute reasons.

[Chris Taylor]

A Habsburg, in Hanover?! Boooooooo. (Well, wait. What are his stats like?)

France is looking nice and scary these days.

I would be tempted to expand northeast with an eye to eventually grabbing a tasty CoT like Lubeck.

[blsteen]

Nice to see an update, glad to see you back & hopefully France does not become enthralled with bringing croissants and souffles to the bratwurt lovin' German states

[Malurous]

A Habsburg, in Hanover?! Boooooooo. (Well, wait. What are his stats like?)

Pretty bad. Worry not, it'll get sorted out.

France is looking nice and scary these days.

It'll look nicer and scarier very soon...

I would be tempted to expand northeast with an eye to eventually grabbing a tasty CoT like Lubeck.

That would be awesome, however I can only hope for the core.

Nice to see an update, glad to see you back & hopefully France does not become enthralled with bringing croissants and souffles to the bratwurt lovin' German states

Hehe, hopefully not. I just have to hope that I've eaten enough of those German states by the time the French come knocking.

[Malurous]

1494-1502: Heinrich III's Mourning Period

November saw some merchant bankruptcies, so Heinrich III was once again looking for new ways to strengthen his nation's trade. In the summer of 1495, some local experts devised a new method where a high market share was abused to make sure that it was difficult to do business without including Brunswick.



This method paid dividends especially in Lübeck. Additionally, the merchants were so grateful that the crown received several donations.



That money was certainly important to have: Europe was a dangerous place thanks to France first and foremost. In early 1497 they conquered all of Lorraine, while Switzerland was forced to become a vassal.



France was obviously pushing east, which caused a lot of concern in Brunswick's area. Many in Oldenburg felt that they'd be safer as a part of Brunswick proper.



However, after consulting with his court, the King decided that the time was not ripe for any annexation talks. The administration was still busy correcting any glitches in Altmark's integration, so Oldenburg would have to wait for several years.

Still, there was plenty to do in other areas as recent technological advances allowed progress in the nation. Improved planning led to much better roads all over Brunswick, while the pike square tactic revolutionized the army.



Andreas Ickelrath died in November after only three years as a general. His only action was his haphazard handling of Christian Gruebel's rebellion.

At about the same time, the Queen finally succumbed to her illness. After the death, there was little connection between the heir and anyone in the court, and as a result Julius was falling out of favor. The seven year old von Habsburg was finally supplanted in January 1498 by the recently born Rudolf August, a member of the Danish royal family.



Deaths seemed to come in bunches for Brunswick, as Natural Scientist Hehn died in October. Heinrich decided to hire army expert Philipp Magnus Opp instead of looking for another Natural Scientist.



After his Queen's death, the King seemed to focus on military matters, perhaps as a collected way to vent his aggression. Over the next six months, he oversaw changes to the army, especially the artillery.



Gelre resurfaced in February 1501 as Austria forced Brabant to release that nation in Limburg.



Perhaps to make sure that Brunswick didn't protest, a von der Mark was installed on Gelre's throne.

Overall, the situation of the Low Countries and northwestern Germany was seen as confusing. Nations were forming and dying, Gelre was moving around... The diplomatically skilled Heinrich III managed to work this to his advantage and use his family ties to come out with a claim on Berg.



The brooding King wasn't going to waste any time despite Cleves' dangerous web of alliances. Two generals, Wilhelm Wassman and Army Reformer Opp's younger brother Julius, were promoted, and war was declared in January 1502 with Julius Opp taking control of the armed forces.



Brunswick and vassals ended up in a war with a total of twelve nations, including the Austrian Emperor, angered by how Brunswick treated the von Habsburg heir. The ungrateful Utrecht was the first victim, with Wassman drawing first blood.



With that, the enemy alliance leader was out of troops. Only one day later, Opp eliminated the small Clevian army in Berg and launched an instant and successful assault.



The next month, Wassman finished an assault on Gelre. Meanwhile, Berg was added to Brunswick's holdings.

Wassman headed east to take care of small enemy armies, while Opp assaulted Utrecht in March. A huge Bavarian army on Brunswick's border proved inconsequential as the completely occupied Utrecht had to sign peace. Utrecht was forced to cede Vorpommern, a province that Heinrich had a claim on via his Brandenburger crown.



The King's ploy wasn't universally accepted as using Brunswick's armies to force Utrecht to make Pommerania give a province to Brandenburg was seen as legally questionable at best. Nevertheless, Brunswick had added a province in the war while its junior partner grew stronger as well.

[FinnishFish]

Cool.... Everything is going so smooth...
And your even posting in right times !

[Athalcor]

Ehm...is it normal to get so many border disputes?

[gabor]

Ehm...is it normal to get so many border disputes?

Indeed, although I don't play it vanila, I find it a bit excessive too. Is it sheer luck, or is it due to sliders?
Anyway a nice medium powered German entitiy in the making. Planning to unite Germany?

[Malurous]

Cool.... Everything is going so smooth...
And your even posting in right times !

Hehe, I do try.

Ehm...is it normal to get so many border disputes?

Indeed, although I don't play it vanila, I find it a bit excessive too. Is it sheer luck, or is it due to sliders?

This was explained eight posts before this one. Inside HRE, high DIP rulers (which is luck, but I plan to change to a republic to help with this when the luck runs out) and zero infamy. Sliders have nothing to do with it IIRC. So yes, it is normal for the way I'm playing here. It isn't even the most I've seen in AARland because I haven't been getting DIP 9 (that's too much to ask with a monarchy anyway).

But since many people have asked about this, let's get into the actual numbers:

• Compared to a DIP 6-7 ruler, boundary dispute fires twice as often for DIP 8. Compared to lower DIPs, it's an even larger difference, while DIP 9 would fire twice as often still.
• Compared to having any infamy at all, boundary dispute fires twice as often when you have none. Having over 30% of the infamy limit makes this even worse, and over 60% worse still.
• Compared to being outside the HRE or in a small HRE, boundary dispute fires twice as often inside a HRE with at least 25 members. I try to force release in order to keep this enabled.

With my DIP 8 ruler and zero infamy almost all the time, I get eight times the boundary disputes compared to a DIP 7 ruler with lowish infamy outside the HRE. Add some more infamy and a poor DIP ruler and the difference to my situation is absolutely huge.

Anyway a nice medium powered German entitiy in the making. Planning to unite Germany?

Germany is definitely what I hope for, but of course I need the proper cores for that. Fortunately, I think there's only one needed province (Franken) that I'm not bordering by now, so I only need to get lucky there. The others I should probably get before game end.

[Avindian]

Are you able to form Prussia first? That's an awfully tasty decision

[Malurous]

Are you able to form Prussia first? That's an awfully tasty decision

I'd need cores on Ostpreussen, Danzig and Warmia for that. They're awfully far... So sadly I'd say that it's not likely.

[Boris ze Spider]

Very nice update, how prudent would it be to downsize your army?

[Dewirix]

Brunswick's a powerful force in northern Germany right now, but the French are only one state away from you at their closest approach. That could prove a very big worry.

[FinnishFish]

All hail the mighty nation of Brunswick

[blsteen]

All hail the mighty nation of Brunswick

Nice moves with the war of the big alliance, nice to see Brandenburg gets spiffed

[frissdassuboote]

Maybe im just stating the obvious but i sense a large war between Brunswick and France is going to happen soon

[Malurous]

Very nice update, how prudent would it be to downsize your army?

Thanks! Not very, both Bohemia and France are only one province away from me, and both could get in very easily should they attack a nation of Brunswicker interest between us.

Brunswick's a powerful force in northern Germany right now, but the French are only one state away from you at their closest approach. That could prove a very big worry.

Indeed... The two major powers are closing in, so it's fortunate that I've been able to grow too. I still definitely need more of that to challenge the French.

All hail the mighty nation of Brunswick

Hail!

Nice moves with the war of the big alliance, nice to see Brandenburg gets spiffed

Yeah, it was really nice to end up in war with a nation with Brandenburger cores!

Maybe im just stating the obvious but i sense a large war between Brunswick and France is going to happen soon

I try to avoid that for now, but it's indeed probable that I won't have a choice for that much longer.

[Malurous]

1502-1506: Brunswick-Lüneburg

For decades now, Brunswicker historians had had the orders to look for anything that might void the 1269 partition of Brunswick and Lüneburg. After the war they received access to some archives in conquered Düsseldorf, and finally managed to dig up some documents that might call the partition's legality into question. Brunswick now had a strong case for including Lüneburg in the nation again.



However, Heinrich III saw integrating Oldenburg as the more pressing matter. While negotiations continued, the army was improved and the road network expanded with an eventual war in mind.

The negotiations came into a halt in October 1503 as a heretical priest by the name of Anton Kirbach caused some ruckus in Oldenburg.



The King now had to wait for Oldenburg's government to stabilize, so he spent the following months spreading Brunswicker influence to Köln and Mecklenburg.

He soon found out that Kirbach's interpretation was more than a passing heresy. By January 1504 both Hannover and Brunswick had converted to the new faith called Protestantism, or Kirbachianism, after inspired preaching from Oldenburgers from the other side of the border.



In a crisis meeting due to this change, the Brunswick government decided to do nothing. Offending the Pope was out of the question, but so was oppressing their own people. To appease the Pope, the King made a declaration where he let it be known that the government would somewhat prefer that the people not convert. Rome wasn't entirely happy with the chosen wording.

Still, all went reasonably well until December when Milan annexed Ferrara, the ruler of which had been excommunicated. With that out of the way, the Pope turned his attention towards Brunswick and started to make demands.

King Heinrich politely resisted for several months, and even managed to finish the annexation negotiations with Oldenburg in June 1505.



This was going too far. Papal protests for not only accepting Protestants but also harboring Kirbach started wreaking havoc on Brunswicker society.



In another quickly arranged meeting, the court understood that they didn't have options anymore. Brunswick's church would be allowed to convert Protestants if they wanted to - with a limited budget - but violence was strictly prohibited. Kirbach was informed that the King would be grateful if he helped his city by leaving, which he did. To compensate for the tighter grip the church was now able to have, the King fine-tuned the laws to grant his people more freedom in worldly matters.



Additionally, Brunswick sent a lavish gift to Rome. The Pope was pleased again.

After a couple of months of overseeing the changes, the King decided in November that it was time to press his claims on Lüneburg. Defended by Denmark and Cologne, Lüneburg's side wasn't nearly as powerful as Brunswick's.



Both Köln's and Lüneburg's armies were overrun within a month. A large Brunswicker army was sent to assault any major forts and cities in Lüneburg, and thanks to their quick success the duchy was annexed on December 28th.



Heinrich's armies got inside Köln's walls in early January 1506, while a Brunswick-Holstein army, led by Holstein's Duke Karl Friedrich, won a major victory over the Danish King in Slesvig.



After intense negotiations, peace was signed with Köln in February: they would admit that Westfalen, conquered from Köln 98 years earlier, was indeed rightful Brunswicker property. Additionally, some indemnities would be paid.



While war with Denmark still raged on, Heinrich declared that Gelre was now under his protection. Much like with Köln and Mecklenburg, the King didn't want another power moving in on his small neighbors.

Meanwhile in nearby Luxembourg, another heresy grew in popularity. This new religion, created by the English theologian John Fairfax, was known as the Reformed faith, or Fairfaxism in unofficial circles.



In Brunswick, this faith found success in Düsseldorf, perhaps thanks to its relative proximity to Luxembourg.

By May, Denmark's army had been destroyed and their continental holdings were occupied by Brunswick. Heinrich III didn't see Scandinavia as a region of interest to Brunswick, so he was lenient with the peace. Denmark would only have to accept Brunswicker vassal Holstein's independence and end their dealings with Mecklenburg. As long as Denmark stayed out of German matters, Heinrich didn't see a reason to get into Danish ones.



The war was over - Brunswick and Lüneburg were together at last.


Northwest: diploannexed Oldenburg. North: conquered Lüneburg.

[almightyshadows]

Awesome the hear that this is back in action. Will this lead to a Protestant Brunswick? A Reformist Brunswick? I can hardly wait for the next part!