I find this situation very ironic. I have always wanted a strong empress to have a twist in the story, but when I get one I want her dead as soon as possible. She reminds me of Johann David Brecht (?) in many ways. And I did NOT like him...
Awesome! The empress must die!!!!!
I find this situation very ironic. I have always wanted a strong empress to have a twist in the story, but when I get one I want her dead as soon as possible. She reminds me of Johann David Brecht (?) in many ways. And I did NOT like him...
Yet that emperor could be nice...if only he wasn't such a weakling!
To ensure that I, John III, Emperor of Italy, have the time I need to devote to reconstructing the Roman Empire, I am hereby granting the Imperial Senate power over all matters domestic, under the leadership of the President of the Senate. I decree that this power shall remain inviolable and in perpetuity, until such time as the Senate itself sets this burden down. I and my heirs remain the final arbiter of what is best for Italy as a whole, and may overrule any law passed by the Senate, provided I do so within a month of the law's passage by the Senate.
The Imperial Senate, having been granted the right in intervene in all manners domestic, passes the following items into law:
1. The cursus honorum and all noble ranks are hereby disbanded immediately for all non-military personnel. All hereditary nobility as of this day are now Senators.
2. Additional Senators may only be appointed and dismissed by the President of the Senate.
3. All Senators are granted a permanent income from the state treasury and may pass their office down to any suitable male heir.
4. The Senate shall administer all levels of Imperial government above the regio.
5. All levels of Imperial government below the regio shall be elected by an assembly of all adult male citizens who own sufficient property.
6. All Cabinet-level personnel not serving in the military must be approved by the Senate.
I still think she is a bitch, but I gained a bit respect for her.:glare:
ach, I like her ... . So signs of Imperial Rome v1 re-emerging, an Imperial authority essentially dependent on the army not civil administration, Germans taking senior roles and of course domestic scheming on an industrial scale. Go Ulrike ... its always good to see someone standing up for tradition!
God I should have gone with the Assassin instead of a nice soldier.
Well atleast there is a real Italian heir on the throne, thats something I suppose.
I still hope she dies soon!
She is cold as stone. I hope she goes mad with grief at the end of her life..
Heyo! First post on the forum, I think, but I've been following this AAR for ages (absolutely amazing, by the way). I had to pitch in to say I actually think Ulrike's pretty badass. Her desire to have the Austrian emperor killed was a bit extreme, but otherwise I think she's just a bad bitch (in a good way) who knows what she wants and how to get it. I say long live the Empress!
You guys are growing weak! We brave Romans cannot have a Damned German Anything on our throne! Man up!
Silly Germans
*Loads sniper rifle with explosive rounds* That b***h queen is going to die! How dare she kill my most favorite emperor!
Now the shit is serious...
*grabs an M14*
I seriously hope she dies...slowly of course! with wounds over the entire body and all that, oh, get some wooden stakes as well!
Now we have a corrupt senate, a stupid greedy german empress and a weak heir? Only hope is the military now...
I have to say, the stage may now be set for a military coup or possibly a civil war. Ulrike really is kind of setting herself up for some trouble. A power struggle between the Senate and the Army can only end badly for the empire and most likely for her as well.
Chapter 10: My first big break
I was appointed Deputy Chief of the General Staff in early 1757. Since my victory at the Battle of Livland, I'd been appointed to head prestigious military missions to Russia, serving in brief wars against Tibet and Manchu. I can't help but wonder if I might have made Colonel much earlier if not for that crack about President Pallavicini. Oh well. If he wanted to be treated like a man, he should have acted like one. The Russian Tsar must have passed along a few good words, or I'd probably still be a Commander as I write this book in 1780. General van Dijk was a great boss, most of the time. He was a bit old and stodgy, but I liked him anyway.
1757 was a momentous year for world politics as well. Brazil, a country in Western Africa, declared its independence from Sweden. That was the first of many newly independent countries in the 1750s and 1760s. The Empire was affected by this, but later on. Our domestic politics were surprisingly stable, even with the Senate constantly interfering. Our Swiss provinces were recognized as sovereign Italian territory, as well as some of our provinces in Nova Italia.
My own task, at least at the time, was to research some new weapons system for our legions. With no Emperor, we knew aggressive war was not a possibility. The Empress was eager for additional conquests, particularly the subjugation of Württemburg, but luckily Marshal Contadino talked her out of it.
Chapter 11: My promotion
The first breakthrough I uncovered was in cavalry weapons. With the superior marksmanship of our infantry and the relatively minor role cavalry had, I decided to emphasize shock rather than firepower, and the results were very impressive.
The new cuirasses were developed by some of the more brilliant minds assigned to my group; the so-called Scientific Revolution was paying large dividends already.
I have to give a little credit to that spineless worm Pallavicini. Empress Ulrike was against some of the new ideas coming from these scholars, but the President of the Senate actually had the guts to point out that she could not interfere in domestic affairs according to her own decree! Oh, that was a great day for politics. Not so much for good old Ferdinando, though. The Empress never trusted him after that, and the coalition she worked so hard to build was slowly fracturing. At the end of 1759, though, she won a major victory of her own, as Foreign Minister Sfondrati successfully convinced the King of Transylvania to accept integration into the Empire.
Now, to future generations, this might not seem so important, but it gave us control over the entire Danube east of Vienna. That gave us a very stable frontier, allowing us to deal more with problems in the west, as the time came. It also got me my second major breakthrough, as a Transylvanian metallurgist helped me figure out to lighten our artillery barrels to the point where they could move much more quickly.
One of the most pleasant surprises I've ever had was the day Senator Cosimo Germanicus proposed that bill on mandatory training. He even closed down the Imperial Bank of Italy to fund it, which, in my opinion, had been worthless for quite a long time.
That day in May 1762 was great for both of us; his bill earned him the job he'd been after for a long time, the Foreign Ministry.
He was a really fantastic one, too, although not nearly as excellent as the new Chief of the General Staff, yours truly. General van Dijk turned out not to be such a bad guy, in the end. He retired and recommended me for the position, right away. Even the Empress didn't give me much trouble, which was kind of shocking. I guess she thought I was one of her pet generals. We had many an argument over the years, but I think she respected me, and I came to grudgingly respect her. She was even polite and courteous at Marshal de Ruyter's funeral. Since she'd ruined his career, I considered that awfully nice of her.
By 1764, she'd changed a bit. We won a war against Galicia, which normally would have made her happy. Catalunya still sends the occasional protest today, demanding that we free their "brothers." That's rich, since they called us into the war in the first place!
However, she also had to put up with an unbearable loss: her homeland was annexed by Bavaria in February of that year.
She knew we couldn't go after it, that Bavaria was outside of our acceptable action area. There was too much work to be done to restore the Empire to Castille and Northern Europe. Then again, she could also have been biding her time. Her son became Emperor On 1 May 1764, but everyone knew she was the real power behind the throne. Marius really didn't have that much courage to stand up to her; it was the army and, surprisingly, the Senate that would keep her in check.