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At least you managed to fight Bohemia to a standstill this time. That bodes well for the future, at least if Bohemia doesn't blob in the meantime, as the player almost always gets stronger over time.
 
You limited the losses as best you could while taking a toll on Bohemian allies. I think that the advances you made during the war, as well as the manufactury will help any future wars you have immensely. A good showing none the less.

Yes, the immense cash gains end up making that war a positive as a whole.

It's a pity that the conflict came a few years too early for regimental camps.

I wonder when you will get in a war with Frenchies...

I hope that can be delayed...

Just finished reading this and I like what I see. I like how you have managed to expand quite a bit while only taking core territories. Bohemia indeed needs to be dealt with somehow. France is getting scary. Methinks you either need a strong ally to fight them or you need to expand yourself to the point were you can beat them in a few limited wars and gradually break their power.

Thanks! :)

After the Bavarian situation earlier, I don't really do allies too much: I don't want to end up in a situation where I have to choose between dishonoring an alliance and entering a dishonorable war.

Whether or not France would be a problem depends on the situation. I'm certain I'd win a war 1-on-1 but if I have allies to protect (probably the most likely scenario as it would be a surprise if the first conflict was France declaring directly on me) it could be very hard with their strength. Hopefully I can add some good provinces before I have to fight them.

At least you managed to fight Bohemia to a standstill this time. That bodes well for the future, at least if Bohemia doesn't blob in the meantime, as the player almost always gets stronger over time.

The saving grace is that if they continue blobbing, they'll be running into some poorer lands soon while any gains I make should be in a relatively prosperous region.

Bohemia was the emperor, right? If yes, WP is quite a successful peace deal.

Austria was the emperor like they've been most of the time. Bohemia's typical infamy levels in this game don't really make them a candidate to win elections...
 
Next on the Gentlemen's Home Corner...
France comes calling with cannon instead of a card

Hopefully not next! :eek: The longer I can avoid them the better to some extent.
 
1511-1518: End of the Hansa​

The Bohemian peace deal caused some dissidence in Brunswick, with nobles sensing weakness and demanding a part of the rich indemnities the crown had received from the minor countries in the conflict. Heinrich, however, would not budge. Bohemia might have been too strong for him, but he saw no reason to feel ashamed after an honest attempt to do the right thing.

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December 1512 saw the death of treasurer Lindemann. He was replaced in the role by Erich Eickenroth, whose ancestor had held the job eighty years earlier.

In early 1513 King Heinrich started working towards a safer diplomatical position, even if that meant mending relations with former enemies. As a response to the Bohemian threat, an alliance with Austria was finalized by March.

Further securing the nation, the construction of the Brunswick weapons manufactory was finished in December.

January 1514 saw the death of general Opp. Having essentially saved Brunswick with his good leadership and brave behind the lines operations, he received a hero's funeral.

More tragic news reached the court in October: France was still moving east as they annexed Switzerland peacefully.

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With the existing armies back to fully operational status, Heinrich reacted to this by recruiting 4000 new men.

In addition to France and Bohemia, other remarkably powerful European nations included Castille...

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...the Ottomans...

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...and Sweden.

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The next two years were very quiet. However, Brunswick did make notable policy changes as the ordinarily land-oriented nation focused heavily on naval technology during this period.

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Taking a new course of action, Brunswick now combined trade and a naval approach in an effective fashion. This seemed to inspire some circles in Lübeck that were disaffected by the Hansa's religious instability. These people saw swearing allegiance to Brunswick as an opportunity to continue their business as usual without straying to the Reformed faith, as was required in the Hansa. Heinrich III was happy to listen to their pleas.

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War preparations were started, but they would take several months. During that time, the need for expansion only became more dire as Brunswick's strongest neighbor, Bohemia, took more land in a war against the Ukraine.

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Heinrich planned to declare war early in the new year, and considering the enemy, he expected to face a strong naval threat. To make this easier to manage, legislative steps were taken in December to at least ensure that Brunswick's coasts were safe from pirates during the conflict.

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With that out of the way, war was declared on January 10th, 1517.

The Hansa was joined in their struggle by Hesse, Baden, Wurttemberg and Gelre, but despite the allies, their side was considerably weaker than Brunswick's.

Two men from major Brunswicker noble families, Friedrich August Eickenroth and Johann Schütze, were promoted to lead the kingdom's armies in this conflict. Both were able leaders, with the latter being close to a genius in matters of war.

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The combination of superior numbers and excellent leadership proved too much for the Hansa's side to handle: the northern nations of the enemy alliance were out of troops only a month and five days into the war. On the same day, Gelre bought their way out of the war for the meager sum of five ducats.

The southern powers, however, fared better in the beginning. Baden occupied Brunswicker vassal Ansbach, while Wurttemberg sent a siege force to Thüringen. However, this wouldn't last: Wurttemberg was forced to buy their way out of the war with twelve ducats in May, while Baden added 23 ducats to the loot two months later.

Meanwhile, the reformation was sending shockwaves throughout Europe. Both France and Great Britain were battling full-blown turmoil because of their religious problems, while back home, Westfalen was the next Brunswicker province to embrace the Reformed faith.

Hesse was completely occupied by August, so the only thing preventing peace was the sturdy fortification around Hamburg. Finally in January 1518 Eickenroth ordered a successful assault, and the war could end at last. Hansa was conquered - the country had caused Brunswick plenty of trouble over the years - while Hesse was forced to pay a moderate amount of money for their transgressions.

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While King Heinrich didn't think highly of the Hansa, he also felt that Brunswick had no business governing Hamburg either. Immediately after the peace agreement was signed, a suitable duke was installed on the throne of an autonomous Hamburg.

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Brunswick, refusing to take any land it had no right to own, could never match Bohemian or French expansion in quantity. However, with cities of Lübeck's stature yearning for Brunswicker rule, quality might be another matter.

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A Baltic coastline to add to your possessions on the North Sea. France is looking ever more worrying by the day, but still not quite neighbouring you yet. Have your been working to keep your relationship up with them?

Bohemia taking territory to the east is worrying, but with any luck it might slow down their teching and get them involved in wars away from your borders.

I'm heartened to see Milan doing well - I have a soft spot for them.
 
A good province to add and is that a manu in there as well?
 
Ottoman expansion looks almost OTL.
Bohemia? I would call that Zapadslavia at least :).

Your expansion is very qualitative - annexing only core provs gives you a temporal advantage over a long-term disadvantage.
 
That was very nice luck to get a core on a CoT. It should really help funding an army that can take on the top powers.
 
That's good, a COT of your own. Only grabbing cores and cores to be (missions) is great way of expanding. I've been trying it in a Frankfurt game, but in the 1760s I'm growing impatient for the last three or four provinces to form Germany. The best thing is that all of those provinces are rich from the beginning, and you have time to build all buildings in all of them. Regimental Camps in 13 provinces means a lot for manpower too.
 
Phew. I'm glad to see you didn't get jumped during the war, and now have a small, but perhaps valuable ally in Hamburg. A COT, cored and another port. It would be difficult to colonize though without taking land you aren't cored on.
 
Excellent progress indeed. Forming Germany, however, would need a lot of lucky disputes.
But if you actually have that luck, man, you are swimming in cores.

Oh also is the Cuzco AAR dead/on ice? I really enjoyed that one too. Even more than this one~.
 
Oops, it's been a while. :eek:o I was away for a week and a half and intended to post an update before I left but just ran out of time then. Well, better late than never I guess.

A Baltic coastline to add to your possessions on the North Sea. France is looking ever more worrying by the day, but still not quite neighbouring you yet. Have your been working to keep your relationship up with them?

No, not at all. I believe the effect would be negligible: them DoWing Brunswick is very unlikely compared to a situation where I have to defend someone else against them.

The Baltic might turn out to be an interesting direction...

Bohemia taking territory to the east is worrying, but with any luck it might slow down their teching and get them involved in wars away from your borders.

I'm heartened to see Milan doing well - I have a soft spot for them.

Yeah, me too actually. :) Bohemia keeps being very scary but the difference in quality of conquests lately (they take poor lands, I take rich ones mostly) does have noticeable effects.

A good province to add and is that a manu in there as well?

Sure is. :)

Ottoman expansion looks almost OTL.
Bohemia? I would call that Zapadslavia at least :).

Your expansion is very qualitative - annexing only core provs gives you a temporal advantage over a long-term disadvantage.

It's definitely good for the economy but I'd still love to grab some lands for manpower reasons. :D

Hehe yeah, I noticed that about the Ottomans too, pretty cool I think.

As long as you don't have to 'protect' German minors against France you're fine. Steady incorporation seems a safer option.

That's true, but I'd say our situation is pretty much set: most of my German neighbors are under my protection and if that means ending up in another war like the Bohemian one, then so be it. It's not necessarily wise, but that's how I'm looking to play this. ;)

That was very nice luck to get a core on a CoT. It should really help funding an army that can take on the top powers.

Indeed! The boost is huge for a nation of my size, especially since I need to operate way above force limits.

That's good, a COT of your own. Only grabbing cores and cores to be (missions) is great way of expanding. I've been trying it in a Frankfurt game, but in the 1760s I'm growing impatient for the last three or four provinces to form Germany. The best thing is that all of those provinces are rich from the beginning, and you have time to build all buildings in all of them. Regimental Camps in 13 provinces means a lot for manpower too.

Sounds like a cool game! I'd imagine it's a more difficult position when it comes to forming Germany. For Brunswick, most of the required cores are nearby around the nation while those northern ones are pretty far from Frankfurt (if the required ones have remained the same in DW, I haven't checked as I haven't formed Germany in that version)... But Frankfurt starts as a republic, right? That should at least lead to a steady stream of high DIP rulers.

Phew. I'm glad to see you didn't get jumped during the war, and now have a small, but perhaps valuable ally in Hamburg. A COT, cored and another port. It would be difficult to colonize though without taking land you aren't cored on.

Yeah that would be impossible. I guess the only way I could end up outside continental Europe would be inheriting a German culture nation with colonies, something which I can't really expect to happen!

More ports naturally helps with naval matters though.

Subscribed.

Good to hear. :)

Awesome AAR, you should be proud of expanding Brunswick that far. If the boundary disputes allow it, will you form Germany?

Thanks! :) Yes, I don't want to set anything in stone but I definitely see forming Germany and reclaiming the cores you get from the decision as a possible goal.

Excellent progress, hopefully the religious turmoil in France unhinges their ability to expand into the Germanies

It does! :eek: You'll see some developments in the update...

Excellent progress indeed. Forming Germany, however, would need a lot of lucky disputes.
But if you actually have that luck, man, you are swimming in cores.

Pretty much so. :) But I'm not lacking that many anymore, and I'm getting close to the ones I still need...

Oh also is the Cuzco AAR dead/on ice? I really enjoyed that one too. Even more than this one~.

Still on hold I'm afraid, definitely not dead though. I realize it's more popular than this one, but this is much easier for me to do right now. I'm currently not able to work on these too much, so it makes sense to continue the one in which I'm playing considerably ahead. This way, I can at least maintain some semblance of an updating schedule in the AAR I do update (other than the gap between this update and the last one, that is... :eek:o).
 
1518-1529: Heinrich III's Last Years​

Things were looking up for Brunswick. Lübeck's annexation had provided a major economic boost, while both of the nation's most important rivals had run into some potential trouble.

France, already struggling with religious revolts, caught the Pope's attention for being unable to keep the heresies under control, and their King was excommunicated in April. Meanwhile, Bohemia might soon face danger from other directions as only a handful of petty states stood between them, the Ottoman Empire and the Golden Horde after a Ukrainian collapse.

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However, in the short term those small countries could become a way for Bohemia to get even stronger and therefore an even greater threat. This made Brunswick's military minds open to innovation, and the Brunswicker army was one of the first in the world to introduce musket tactics as a major part of their fighting in late 1519.

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Domestic efforts were now focused on the area around Altmark. This included the newly conquered Lübeck and Lüneburg. The two provinces received administrative changes to better integrate them with the rest of Brunswick. The provinces were the richest the nation had, so full integration was key.

Brunswick wasn't allowed to mind its own business for long however, as ally Austria declared war on Styria in February 1520.

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Austria's cause was valid, so Heinrich didn't hesitate to join. However, Brunswick had no quarrel with Styria and no reasonable way to reach any enemy nation.

Local peasants saw no sense in the war, and their frustrations boiled over late in the summer. The King chose to seek a peaceful solution, granting more freedom to the common man.

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The war was over by late September, with Styria buying Austria off with a small amount of money.

A new war of interest, one which didn't directly involve Brunswick, started in early 1521 as France declared war on Baden, ending up against other German minors as well. This seemed to grant the French another opportunity to expand into Germany. But Great Britain, as well as the Austrian Emperor, joined the conflict on Baden's side and France only came out with one new province, Breisgau.

March 1522 saw the death of general Eickenroth. He led his only battles during the Lübeck annexation.

In early 1523, Sweden appeared to be in some trouble. In addition to fighting a losing effort against Novgorod and Muscovy in former Teutonic lands, the large nation was forced to cede Skåne back to Denmark.

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The Russian campaign would eventually cost Sweden their Estonian holdings.

One year later, Scandinavia saw a drastic change as the already weakened Norway couldn't stay intact amidst religious revolts.

In a shocking development, the local Reformed population of Iceland took this opportunity to swear loyalty to Liege.

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Later in the year stories of faraway lands began to reach Brunswick. Travelers, seeking funding from Heinrich III, brought maps of islands on the other side of the Atlantic ocean. These islands were supposedly rich in valuable trade goods.

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The King listened with interest until one explorer let it slip that these lands were inhabited by primitive natives. This caused Heinrich III to declare that Brunswick would never start a colonization program. These lands across the ocean belonged to the natives, and Europeans had no right to take them. While the opinion of most European powers seemed to be quite different, Brunswick would play no part in subjugating and abusing these faraway peoples.

Beginning in March 1526, Brunswick took part in another short and fruitless Austrian-Styrian conflict - once again in name only.

Weeks after the end of the war in August, the 72 year old Heinrich III started to show some symptoms of his advanced age and wasn't able to lead the country properly for about one year due to an illness. In the meantime, several major nobles attempted to steer the nation in the direction of their preference. In the end, Army Reformer Opp was the most successful, gaining the support of many prominent people, including the all-important general Schütze. While an interim government of this kind was advantageous to the military forces, the rest of the nation suffered.

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The navy might have been the branch that benefited the most. In addition to technological investments during this period, a large portion of the national treasury was used to fund the construction of several Caravels.

Over the next year, Brunswick's major rivals seemed to go into different directions. Bohemia took provinces from Muscovy and Transylvania and vassalized the latter, but several provinces in southwestern France defected to either their former owner Aragon or a new nation, Toulouse, due to religious disagreements.

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Heinrich returned to the throne in August 1527. He had spent the majority of his recovery time in the countryside, and reacting to some unsettling situations he had seen there, he immediately abolished serfdom. Brunswick was now a middle-of-the-road nation as far as personal freedom went, and willing to go further.

Investigations into the interim government were started, and general Schütze was found responsible for squandering more money than was at all sensible on the caravel building program. While it was a blow to the armed forces, the King saw no option but to demote him.

Meanwhile, Brunswick's popularity in northern Germany made it a reasonable candidate to win an imperial election.

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With power from one institution a possibility, it was time to make use of power from another. King Louis XIII rose to the French throne in February 1528, replacing his excommunicated predecessor. Pulling some strings in Rome, Heinrich quickly made sure that the new king didn't have it any easier, thus further containing the French threat.

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This would be the last major scheme of the great King Heinrich III. After sixty years on Brunswick's throne and forty-six on Brandenburg's, Heinrich finally succumbed to his medical problems in January 1529. This was also the end of the von der Mark ruling dynasty, as new King Rudolf August I was a member of the Danish Reventlow family.

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The ascendancy of a foreign King led to some unrest, but there were plenty of positives as well: Rudolf August was a capable ruler and, perhaps most importantly, the crowns of Brunswick and Brandenburg became officially united.

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Oh my goodness. It seems that Heinrich's greatest gift to his nation was his death! With France a mess (and you to blame for that continuing) and Brandenburg inherited, Brunswick has gone from being fairly secure to the dominant power in north Germany. Added to that your new model army is a serious threat to any would-be aggressor.

Shame about losing the dynasty, but Rudolf looks to be another capable diplomat, which seems to be the qualification necessary to rule Brunswick.

I'm guessing those stab-hitting events are balanced by all your cores giving you a quick recovery time.