• We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.
Great AAR!
I don't know if you've ever read the book I'm thinking of, but maybe this rings a bell:
"Wise men fear three things:
The sea at storm;
a moonless night;
and the anger of a gentle man"

Seemed to fit ;)
 
Brilliant use of espionage to further your gentlemanly aims. Just because the rulers of Brunswick are gentlemen doesn't mean all of their subjects have to be, after all. ;)
 
Brilliant use of espionage to further your gentlemanly aims. Just because the rulers of Brunswick are gentlemen doesn't mean all of their subjects have to be, after all. ;)

Excellent, where we would we be without those rough fellows who do dirty deeds dirt cheaply.
 
Hi, I am still catching up, but I have also read the latest posts.
As people already said, I don't think any rule was broken.
I agree that HRE is a bit flat in Vanilla, but this AAR is succeeding in making it interesting. If the game gives you cores (even when I think it's crazy) then it means your claim is somehow acknowledged in this "alternate" universe.
About the proper game, am I getting confused when I say that you would become a new Elector upon inheritance of Brandenburg? Or is it only SRI/MM?

Thanks for the kind words! :) You make a very good point in the part I bolded. Stuff like that is information that the game gives you about how the people in that alternate universe see things. I then try to spin it in a way that makes some sense. ;)

Elector status isn't inherited like that. EDIT: It is, like I learned four months after this conversation. :D

Always nice to see Brandenburg get a good humbling.

Isn't it? :D Should be no more humbling left except for the final one...

Great AAR!
I don't know if you've ever read the book I'm thinking of, but maybe this rings a bell:
"Wise men fear three things:
The sea at storm;
a moonless night;
and the anger of a gentle man"

Seemed to fit ;)

Thanks! :) I haven't read that one - while I still read fantasy I don't read it anywhere as much as I did when I was a youth, so there's plenty of new stuff that I don't know. I read more thrillers, history and biographies of interest these days. But yeah, maybe as much fantasy as the latter two categories still.

But I agree that it seems to fit very, very well. :) And I'm scared by how high this thread came when googling for that. :p

Brilliant use of espionage to further your gentlemanly aims. Just because the rulers of Brunswick are gentlemen doesn't mean all of their subjects have to be, after all. ;)

Cheers. True, of course - Brunswick's rulers and government kindly encourage their citizens to be gentlemen, but I'm not sure that kind encouragement is always effective. :D

And naturally we're more concerned with appearing to be gentlemen than actually being such.

Excellent, where we would we be without those rough fellows who do dirty deeds dirt cheaply.

Indeed. It would be chaos, chaos I say!
 
Last edited:
1483-1486: The Partition of Gelre​

Heinrich III's government spent a lot of time and energy on building relations with Brandenburg's nobility in the late 1483. The financial strain of such policies was lessened considerably as Brunswick's merchants, happy that Brandenburg's ban on them was over, gave the state a healthy sum of ducats as a Christmas present.

1301.jpg


The gift was useful for the government's efforts - Brandenburg even entered into an alliance with Brunswick in May 1484 - but the merchants' decision to celebrate might have been premature. This time, they were persecuted by the French.

1302.jpg


Unfortunately, this was something that the King couldn't help them with. France was too formidable an opponent at the best of times, and with Europe seemingly in turmoil, it didn't get any easier. The French themselves caused severe damage to Aragon's Mediterranean empire in the summer, forcing them to accept declarations of independence by the Sicilians, Sardinians and Albanians.

1303.jpg


Then in October, the patient Swiss finished what Brunswick couldn't: Württemberg got its freedom as Bavaria simply couldn't hold anymore after long wars against most of Europe.

1304.jpg


Finally, the Golden Horde gave Muscowy extra incentive to focus on the West. Moskva was separated from most of Muscowy by the rampaging hordes, causing the Muscovite administration to abandon the city in May 1485.

After intense preparations, Heinrich III followed the trend in August. He decided to push his claim on Münster while the tiny nation's friend, Bavaria, was still down.

1305.jpg


The plan worked as only Gelre - probably either scared that their turn would be next thanks to how they abandoned Brunswick earlier or looking to protect their own claims on Münster - and Cleves joined the war on Münster's side.

Münster and Cleves only had 3000 men in total, clearly not enough to pose a threat. That prompted the King to let general Schauseil take care of the war together with Brunswick's vassals while he once again concentrated on foreign relations. Brunswick's interests were promoted in Mainz and the Palatinate, two small nations west of the Brunswicker vassal Ansbach.

1306.jpg


Schauseil didn't disappoint. Cleves was overrun as early as October and was forced to leave the war, ending their relations with Münster's government as a part of the peace treaty. For all intents and purposes, that meant recognizing Brunswick's claim on the area.

With Münster's support dwindling, Heinrich demanded Archbishop Wilhelm II's surrender. He declined in a surprisingly rude manner for his situation as well as position. To top it off, the Archbishop declared that in addition to Osnabrück, he now saw Westfalen as a legitimate part of Münster as well - an outrageous claim that still found some support among Brunswick's rivals.

1307.jpg


While the response shocked Heinrich, he knew that the Archbishop's words were empty thanks to Münster's predicament. He would simply wait for the province to fall to his armies, which it did in April 1486. Peace was immediately signed, making Münster an official part of Brunswick.

1308.jpg


Surprisingly to some in Europe, the King chose to be lenient on the now former Archbishop, allowing him to take a lower church position. However, his role would be solely administrative in nature as the King felt that a man of the cloth that was willing to use such distasteful language shouldn't be allowed to preach to the people.

Gelre was dealt with more strictly. Thanks to their decision to go to war with their former ally after the earlier betrayal, the King concluded that Gelre couldn't be trusted and would have to be removed from the map. The peace deal divided Gelre's territory between two new nations, Utrecht and Friesland. The Frisians, led by an influential nobleman by the name of Willem Joris Nassau that would eventually take the throne, managed to appease Heinrich after the earlier hatred by organizing a bloodbath in which any prominent members of the van Egmont family were slaughtered.

1309.jpg


Officially, the King denounced the killings and made Friesland the smaller of the new nations as a disciplinary measure. However, few believe that Friesland would have gained its freedom with the van Egmonts still around, while the uneven division of land was more likely a way to punish the Frisians for their earlier transgressions.

1310.jpg


Many people in Brunswick protested the treaty as a free Friesland wasn't a popular concept. Especially nobles from families that were close with the now extinct von Welf branch that had ruled Brunswick were furious and found Heinrich's decision inconceivable.

But there was a method to his madness. After a restless late spring and early summer, most dissidents were silenced in July when the division agreement's secret protocol (which could remain secret for a long time thanks to the King's history of diplomatic victories) was carried into effect.

1311.jpg
 
The 'the' is displayed on the map in EU? How barbarian.
And Bavaria is down. When I think how much you were afraid of them before :D.
 
Very nice work; I wonder if you could enlighten me on how to get a country to accept diplomatic vassalization? I've had the damnedest problem with that.
 
A very gentlemanly way of dealing with a very ungentlemanly fellow. :D
 
Very nice work; I wonder if you could enlighten me on how to get a country to accept diplomatic vassalization? I've had the damnedest problem with that.

Vassalisation target must have no more than 3 provinces, and the prospective overlord should have a military alliance and royal marriage with the target, extremely high relationship value (190+), high prestige, low infamy, and a bigger army than the would-be vassal.
 
Nice update. :) I'm loving where this is going thus far.
 
nice conquest, and a gentlemanly end to the war, although that willem joris fellow should've been brought to court for his ungentlemanly massacre

Oh but what can I do, they're a sovereign country and we have no right to meddle! :p

The 'the' is displayed on the map in EU? How barbarian.
And Bavaria is down. When I think how much you were afraid of them before :D.

Indeed. :eek: Well, I have a much more powerful Bohemia to be afraid of now. :D

Wait for Emperorship, then start releasing states. It's not yet your job. :p
Or are you Emperor? Damn, don't remember much. :D

Heh, as I can't take provinces, releasing states is the only way I have to weaken my enemies.

I'm not the Emperor, I'm actively avoiding it as a matter of fact. There's a very good chance that one of the big kids would kick my teeth in if they got military access through the HRE in a war against me. :D

Very nice work; I wonder if you could enlighten me on how to get a country to accept diplomatic vassalization? I've had the damnedest problem with that.

The main difference here compared to my other games (where I rarely diplovassalize) are high diplomatic skill and zero infamy.

Let the little people be free
As long as they respect their betters

Hear hear!

A very gentlemanly way of dealing with a very ungentlemanly fellow. :D

Hehe, no need to lower ourselves to his level! ;)

Vassalisation target must have no more than 3 provinces, and the prospective overlord should have a military alliance and royal marriage with the target, extremely high relationship value (190+), high prestige, low infamy, and a bigger army than the would-be vassal.

I'd imagine it's the "low infamy" part that causes trouble for people in most games. :)

Nice update. :) I'm loving where this is going thus far.

Thanks!
 
1486-1494: "Domestic" Matters​

Utrecht never got the same treatment as Friesland did, but Heinrich III did proclaim that anyone meddling with the nation would have to answer to him.

The beginning of March 1487 was a sad time for Brunswick: Natural Scientist Christian von Rhein had become ill earlier and, due to his advanced age, couldn't recover. After over forty years serving Brunswick - he was actually hired by August Karl I, the first von der Mark King - von Rhein finally succumbed.

His replacement was Andreas Hehn. He became the second member of his once rebellious family to play a more honorable role in Brunswick's society. After 75 years, Johann Hehn's transgressions had been practically forgotten.

1401.jpg


Speaking of rebellion, general Schauseil had to lead his men to Potsdam in July to take care of a Brandenburger noble whose private army had proven too much for Brandenburg's army to handle.

1402.jpg


Elsewhere, rebels were more successful. Worms defected to the Palatinate in October, stripping Bavaria of this last exclave.

1403.jpg


While Heinrich was happy to see Bavaria get weaker, the Palatinate's reaction was less to his liking. They grew bolder and made it known that they wouldn't be accepting Brunswicker protection anymore.

1404.jpg


This, combined with Hessian spies caught trying to cause trouble in Anhalt and some more harassment of merchants, led Heinrich to further modernize his army in 1489 in order to tell the world that Brunswick shouldn't be messed with. Also, the construction of Brunswick's first transport was started in Bremen.

A year later, some structural changes to the trading machine were finished. These changes, prompted by the recurring harassment, were supposed to make Brunswicker trade more resilient to such interference.

Tragedy struck in August as the nineteen year old Friedrich Ulrich suffered fatal injuries while chasing a deer.

1405.jpg


The country suffered as the King was of course grieving, and to make matters worse, the streak of important people dying was not over for Brunswick. In December, general Schauseil passed away.

Heinrich III saw little hope. The Queen was nearly forty years old and seriously ill herself, so the von der Mark line was on the brink of dying out. When foreign dignitaries started pressuring the King to name an heir from the Queen's Austrian family, he didn't have the strength to resist. An infant by the name of Julius von Habsburg became the heir in April 1491.

1406.jpg


In the late year Bohemia suffered its first defeats in a long time, with Sweden forcing them to release a small independent Kurland, and Austria agreeing to peace only when Bohemia ended the vassalization of the Teutonic Order. France, however, wasn't so vulnerable: yet more land was taken from Aragon.

1407.jpg


The King responded by further developing the army and by finishing the three cog transport fleet. The latter, especially, was seen as a legitimate show of power by a primarily land oriented nation.

1408.jpg


Treasurer Karl Lindemann's 1493 book "Der Wohlstand der Nationen" became one of the outstanding works in its field. While it revolutionized economies all over Europe, no-one benefited more than Brunswick.

1409.jpg


Ferdinand II of Austria was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in December, and he promptly initiated reforms that made each Empire state less independent in their foreign policy.

1410.jpg


Heinrich III didn't like the changes. He figured that if foreign dealings were restricted, they would have to be turned into domestic matters. Within a week, he had found fertile soil for his ideas among members of Magdeburg's administration, who started supporting Heinrich as their King.

1411.jpg


Heinrich let it be known that Magdeburg was under his protection while unification negotiations were ongoing.

Many saw this as centralizing more power to Hannover, and frustrations boiled over in May 1494 as Christian Gruebel gathered a sizable force and marched for the capital.

1412.jpg


While Gruebel was a skilled leader, his army simply wasn't large enough to cause real trouble for Brunswick despite the fact that Schauseil's demise had left Brunswick's army under the command of an incompetent general by the name of Andreas Ickelrath. The army suffered needless casualties, but the rebellion was still all but over after three skirmishes during the summer.

The rebellion caused next to no further consequences: while some of Christian's issues were valid, Heinrich's government could use his heritage against his cause. The younger Gruebel was simply painted as a common delinquent who was bitter over how the nation treated his family when his great uncle Julius was fired from a court position thirteen years earlier.

With the country pacified, the peaceful annexation of Magdeburg could be finalized in July. The rich province of Altmark was incorporated into Brunswick.

1413.jpg
 
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.
 
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?)