• 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.

Merrick Chance'

Comte de Purchase
77 Badges
Jun 28, 2007
1.936
117
  • Stellaris
  • Cities: Skylines
  • Europa Universalis IV: El Dorado
  • Europa Universalis IV: Pre-order
  • Rise of Prussia
  • Crusader Kings II: Way of Life
  • Pillars of Eternity
  • Europa Universalis IV: Common Sense
  • Cities: Skylines - After Dark
  • Europa Universalis IV: Cossacks
  • Crusader Kings II: Conclave
  • Cities: Skylines - Snowfall
  • Europa Universalis IV: Mare Nostrum
  • 500k Club
  • Hearts of Iron IV Sign-up
  • Hearts of Iron IV: Cadet
  • Crusader Kings II: Reapers Due
  • Europa Universalis IV: Rights of Man
  • Tyranny: Archon Edition
  • Stellaris: Leviathans Story Pack
  • Hearts of Iron IV: Together for Victory
  • Crusader Kings II: Monks and Mystics
  • Stellaris - Path to Destruction bundle
  • Europa Universalis IV: Mandate of Heaven
  • Surviving Mars
  • Europa Universalis 4: Emperor
  • Europa Universalis IV: Art of War
  • Cities in Motion
  • Cities in Motion 2
  • Crusader Kings II
  • Crusader Kings II: Legacy of Rome
  • Crusader Kings II: The Old Gods
  • Crusader Kings II: Rajas of India
  • Crusader Kings II: The Republic
  • Crusader Kings II: Sunset Invasion
  • Crusader Kings II: Sword of Islam
  • Darkest Hour
  • Europa Universalis III
  • Europa Universalis IV
  • Ancient Space
  • Europa Universalis IV: Conquest of Paradise
  • Europa Universalis IV: Wealth of Nations
  • Europa Universalis III Complete
  • March of the Eagles
  • Europa Universalis III Complete
  • Europa Universalis IV: Res Publica
  • Rome Gold
  • Victoria 2
  • Victoria 2: A House Divided
  • Victoria 2: Heart of Darkness
This is my first AAR, so be gentle guys. I'm going to try to write a historical AAR, which will set up the motivations for each of the lords of Brandenburg-Prussia, and create a realistic scenario based on those motivations. While I dabble in German history and I'm a big fan of enlightenment history, my concentration is in political science and international relations, so any history buffs should feel free to call me out when I'm not being accurate.

I'm going to start off at the beginning of a scenario, so I'll need to backtrack a little bit. Also I have no clue how to find a screenshot, so i'm sorry that this won't have pictures even though I exhaustively screencap'd everything.

an introduction to Christian Albert I, and getting lessons from incompetence.

26010231.jpg


Margrave Christian Albert I was born in the summer of 1437. He was the youngest of 3 brothers, and so instead of being taught in the royal palace he went into the Brandenburgian officer corps. His untraditional education became of particular interest when his two older brothers died in the Battle of Torun against the Teutonic Order. There were many things which made Christian unique as a king: being the youngest son, he'd never gained the presumption of rule that his elders had. He'd been taught in Ruppin, far from the monarchist stronghold in Neumark, and he'd seen the effects of his father's incompetence personally. Once he discovered that his brothers were dead, he, along with his cousin Helmut, set up what he called the "Great Power policy": That is, that the greatest priority of the Brandenburg state through Albert's reign was to gain power, within and without.
Before I go deeper into the way that Christian Albert governed his realm, I feel that I should mention what preceded his coronation. While his father was (to his son) astonishingly incompetent, caring more for rebuilding a series of Cathedrals across the land which nearly bankrupted the court, he did succeed on several counts:

1. First and foremost, Frederich II created a lasting alliance with Poland, for mostly personal reasons: Frederich considered Lithuania to be the new great front of Catholic Christianity, and because of the rivalry he had with the Teutonic Order
2.Which leads us to the second 'success' of Frederich II. Following the utter failure of the Knights Templar to influence the Turk's expansion into Hungary, Frederich realized that it was, to quote him "Up to the kingdoms, rather than the obsolete orders, to defend Christiandom". His dislike for the orders was further exacerbated by the occupation of Neumark by the Teutonic Order during his childhood. He took his rivalry into the courts, and during the mid-15th century several wars were fought against the Teutons to the benefit of Poland.
3.Lastly, he employed a pair of notable individuals: the Italian architect, Piero Della Fransesca, who did much to establish what would later be known as the "German school" of architecture, and whose enthusiasm for the Brandenburgian state could be seen in nearly all of the private works he did throughout the realm, and the French banker Louis De Fournay, who greased the wheels between the government and the Berlin banks, and during Christian's reign, established the beginnings of the German financial system.

I'll post the next entry when I figure out how to do screenshots.
 
Interesting approach and a good start. As a minor remark, I think the story would profit if you went a little more into detail about why Christian thinks of his father as incompetent.
(And, well, there weren't really any banks in Berlin at the time. It was an only regionally important city and had much less population than what MM shows. But that's really minor.)

Nice to see another MMP2 AAR and it will be interesting to see what your strategy is.
 
wooo my computer shut down. Gotta love power friendly energy cords

@Wolololo: That's what I was looking for, thanks
@Mannisks: Yeah, for SOME REASON the Habsburgs are way easier to find art for.


INFLUENCES

While many of the determining factors in the policies of the various rulers of Prussia were personal or ideological, there were also a series of factors which were totally out of the control of the Hohenzollern dynasty, but which influenced their policies and thinking to a great extent.

THE GEOGRAPHY OF BRANDENBURG​

300px-MarkBrandenburg.png

Maaaan I wish that EU3 Brandenburg looked like this

While nearly all of the Europen Great powers during the Enlightenment boasted natural borders, for instance France with the Rhine, the Alps, and the Pyrenees, Brandenburg-Prussia is notable for being what Christopher Clark calls "a purely political expression". The Elbe cut right through the center of the country, and no other geography defended the mark from the armies of any hypothetical enemy.

Through the 19th century, a theory was created, suggesting that the German nation had a unique love of war. In the short term, this theory seems to make sense: Prussia-Germany started nearly all of the European wars in the century that went from 1848-1948. The Morgenthau plan, which would have deindustrialized and demilitarized Germany, came out of this line of thinking: if the German nation was left armed with weapons of war, it would be able to start another global conflict.

I would argue that this belligerence came out of the paranoia experienced by the rulers of Brandenburg-Prussia-Germany. Because there were no natural borders, the state knew that firstly they would not have the privilege of a demilitarized society that England enjoyed. Unlike France, who could afford to lose a war and lose its territories in Italy, within a single war Brandenburg-Prussia could be wiped off the map and all of its achievements destroyed. The army and state would have to be top-shape, because it could not rely on its geographical borders to defend it. Beyond this, in contrast to Japan, which von Wolferen argues 'never developed a traditional state or nation' because of the lack of an outside power, the Hohenzollerns would need to create a nation in order to defend itself against a constant outside threat.

But no matter how large the Prussian army would be, or how disciplined it would become, Brandenburg's position in the middle of Europe meant that it could always be outgunned by the Great Powers which surrounded it. This paranoia is not unique, one can see many modern and historical examples of it. Both the Israeli and Pakistani state in modern times as well as the police state in Uruguay during the mid-20th century as well as several Polish regimes (most notably the Sanacja government) shared the paranoia that came from the knowledge that any wrong step would result in destruction.

THE EXPANSION OF THE TURK​

EU3_3.jpg

The gold of Alba was already funding Ottoman expansion

The issue which occupied the minds of nearly all the Christian princes during the later 15th century was the expansion of the Ottoman horde into a veritable empire. Just 20 years ago, the Turk had taken Constantinople, making it into the primary power in South-Eastern Europe and the sole center of the Silk Roads. From the years 1460-1470 the Ottomans had been expanding into Hungary, taking the Gold-making province of Alba, and had broken the vassalage it had over Wallachia with the goal of annexing it. Beyond that the Crusader states to the very south of Europe were being rapidly destroyed, which created Frederich II's notion that the religious orders were outdated, "obsolete" institutions.

The Papacy and Holy Roman Empire were attempting, at this point, to create a response to Turkish belligerence. This was hamstrung by the weak Ansbachian emperor who could barely keep the peace within the massive demense.

EU3_4.jpg

Wallonian and Dutch rebels plagued the whole career of Emperor Georg Frederich I, powerful allies or no

Frederich II and Christian Albert I's response to this was to support the Emperor's legislation, which created a Reich Court which would provide a judiciary for the empire. Brandenburg was the strongest supporter of the Reichcourt, and several jurists would play large parts in Christian's administration. In the medium term, the threat of the Turk created a need for a strong emperor, a need which could only really be filled by the Bohemians or the Habsburgs.

A couple of things. Firstly, I'm going to assume that history goes at a normal pace after my play, so I'm going to quote OTL histories rather frequently. Also, I'm going to cheat minorly in order to create historically accurate situations. For instance I broke Wallachia's vassalage to the Ottomans because in practice I've noticed that the wall of minors has led to the Ottomans underperforming in the Balkans. Also while I do know a bit about Renaissance history, I was never really taught a lot about religion as a kid, so my knowledge of the reformation pretty much comes out of German history. Any other suggestions for dynamics? I'm going to do the every 50 years world update that's popular in AARland, but it's pretty much going to be in the context of Europe, and I'm going to post any new dynamics which will influence things.
 
Last edited:
GREAT POWER POLICY: economic policy to the mid 1460's​
EU3_2.jpg

State of the Realm 1472

While Christian Albert I referred to his foreign policy as a "great power policy", later historians have stated that it was more of a survival policy. The paranoia of the Berliners was clearly present in Christian's first priority:

  • Gain good relations with the European Great Powers in order to become established.

Which explains how eventually Albert even arranged a royal marriage between his youngest sister and the Bohemian King, a traditional rival of his: he'd seen the annexation of Lunberg by the Duchy of Brunswick, and that because Lunsberg wasn't allied with any great powers, no one stepped in for it. The tendency to use what Christian Albert referred to as his "ring resources", IE establishing royal marriages rather than more traditional and expensive methods of creating good relations, is explains a deep part of Christian Albert's psychology.

Christian Albert was, as I have said, the youngest amongst his brothers. He spent his early life seeing his elder brothers become spoiled by his father's attention while he barely managed to see the great king Frederich II. With this, he started to develop a chip on his shoulder, as well as an inquisitive attitude towards the traditional society he saw his father as representing. Because he possessed a sharpness and intelligence, and since he had no chance of ascending to the thrown, his father interned him with a Hessian lawyer who was working in Berlin. However, not 2 years later the king imprisoned his son due to "awful misconduct" and exiled the lawyer on the grounds that he'd allowed such misconduct to take place. With this exile, Frederich both became one of the largest opposing parties to the idea of a reichscourt, and earned the scorn of his son.

Albert was then placed in the army, where he saw the effects of his father's 'disastrous spending'. The army remained under 8,000 for the greater part of Frederich II's reign, well under half of the military's potential. The military, and Christian Albert by extension, saw this as wasteful and dangerous. This feeling was given credence by the battle of Torun, in which Frederich led the Brandenburger army to a defeat which cost 5,000 men and the lives of two princes. Frederich's conception of the state as a vehicle for the population's salvation led to the premature death of thousands of men and put Brandenburg 50 ducats in debt. Albert's conception of the state, in contrast, was that it was an enforcer, and while laws were important, the military and police were just as important. Because of this, and because of the sorry shape of the military, the state enjoyed a period of austerity for most of the 1460's.

EU3_6.jpg
Though Albert slowly expanded the army and provided 2 more regiments of cavalry, he did this while running a slow amount of corruption through selling licenses to the burghers who traveled through Berlin to get to the Baltic sea. Eventually this movement large enough that the tax collectors who took money from the burghers were a large portion of the Margravate's budgets--enough to fund a whole infantry regiment. The regulatory bodies must be streamlined, though Albert, because any government spending that was not military spending was, to him at the time, wasteful. He implemented this by declaring that any and all financial traffic going along the Elbe would be tariff free.

EU3_7.jpg

If I ever say "by moving the sliders one towards free markets" feel free to unfollow the AAR

He then went to the newly established reichscourt. A large mass of lawyers had crowded the province of Nassau since the establishment of the courts, and for 50 ducats bought a financial law firm, whom he relocated to Berlin. Any corporation, bank, or wealthy individual (the limit was one who owned more than 40 ducats in assets) [what's something I can say besides 40 ducats because that just sounds silly] within the city limits of Berlin would have to pay the firm (Kroneauge, or "Eye of the Crown") to assess the company's assets.

This led to a great deal of new coin coming into the coffers of the realm, and brought Margave Albert to an interesting conclusion: the richer the population was, the more money would come into the coffers of the crown. With this, the state bought the license of a small workshop, and employed the best workers from the small towns around Berlin in one area. The money made through this enterprise (I got an agricultural revolution event) allowed the state to build a marketplace for the goods of the artisans.

EU3_5.jpg

I'm leaving my house for the night, so I'm going to post this since I fear that my computer will die again
 
Last edited:
shorty but hopefully goody

Freedom of movement: Social policies under Christian Albert I

Christian Albert I is rightfully considered in many ways to be a prologue to the later stereotypical Prussian king: the austere, militaristic, and community oriented lords of Prussia were considered by contemporaries to be "enlightened despots". And Christian Albert does deserve the pride of being the beginning of such a famous legacy, for many of his policies would be continued on all the way down the Hohenzollern line. One of the most famous and controversial of Christian Albert's policies was the state's tolerance of Judaism.

EU3_1.jpg

the court of Christian Albert I

There were two major reasons for Christian's tolerance, and later, respect, for the Jewish people: the first was the major role that ex-Spanish jurists played in the creation of the Riechcourt. While many of those expelled by the Castillan monarch moved to the comparably tolerant arms of the Muslim states, some were moved by the speech Urban III made in calling for a crusade against the Turk, not only for the security of Christiandom, but for the security of all of Europe. Though Urban III died and his crusade never came to be, a small number of Jews took it upon themselves to defend what they perceived as their culture. Christian Albert I befriended one of these men, Estavao Rodriguez, when he lobbied the Reichstag for the High Court. Upon the death of Brandenburg's ambassador, Estavao Rodriguez stepped into the court as the new face of the Brandenburgian state. His major goal was to bring most of the Spanish expatriots into the city of Berlin for the benefit both of the city and to his people.

EU3_8.jpg

The Army of the Vistula, a small contingent permanently placed at the border of Ostprussen and under the leadership of Christian Albert

The second reason was the proximity to and close relations that Brandenburg had with Poland. Western Poland had a larger number of Jews than, nearly, the rest of the Holy Roman Empire combined, and when Christian Albert I created his "court from horseback" on the Vistula, he came to see firsthand the benefit that the well-educated Jewish population gave to Poland. The loyalty some Jews had was large enough that they helped Poland set up its counterspy agency, defending Poland against the possibility of Jews working under the Turkish intelligence agency.

The policy towards Jews was only one part of Albrecht's Christian larger "free movement" policy, which sought to create freedom for Europe all across the HRE. He not only preached this, he practiced it, by allowing free movement (with a small levy) across the entirety of the Elbe. And while Estavao Rodriguez only brought his immediate family with him, the act of inviting Jews from all across Europe to come to Berlin was the most tolerant act recorded by a Margrave of Brandenburg at the time.

edit:I'm starting to get worried that I'll spend like 5 posts on Albrecht Christian I only to have him die this year or something. I seriously hope that he lives long enough to have me choose my next National Idea. Oh, also, to explain to non-MM players: countries in Magna Mundi get 3 starting NI's (obvious) as a part of their previous history. 5 national ideas--Naval Glory, Glory in Arms or whatever, Scientific Revolution, Liberte Egalite Fraternite, and Mass Colonization (QftNW) are all 'advanced' ideas, and I need to take 4 ideas in their group. This is going to be the first time that I don't go with LIE + the army/naval idea or whatever. To showcase the rationalism and enlightened nature of the Prussian state, and to show that the Prussian state didn't really create a 'nation' until later, I'm going to go with Scientific Revolution as quickly as possible, and then I'll take more army ideas. I already have 2 national ideas needed for Scientific Revolution: Cabinet and Engineers Corps. I think that the next one will be tied to my notion of the way that Pietism is going to work in this game, that it will be similar to OTL Pietism in that it'll be kind of inbetween Lutheranism and Catholicism, but there's going to be an even stronger focus on "Good Works", so I'll go with Patron of the Arts (the first time I'll ever take PotA) and Humanist Tolerance after that. Any ideas, suggestions?

edit 2: just realized that it's Albrecht Christian I not Christian Albert I :wacko: I'll start spelling his name correctly after this post...crap, if this was a history paper my grade would totally be getting docked right now

edit 3: ironically a pope named Pius II just came to power in the late 1470s and he has precisely the stats you'd imagine (high military/diplomacy low administration), so in this world I'm going with the pope who was in charge right before Pius II, named Urban III
 
Last edited:
Your style of writing is very engaging, Merrick Chance! Makes for a great read. Though perhaps I am biased; I love all the Magna Mundi AARs, great to see another one.

Estavao Rodriguez is an incredibly useful advisor; somehow the Jewish advisors I get in my games are never that type (nor that awesome).

Poland is looking spectacularly—perhaps worryingly—successful. As long as they're on your side, I suppose, it's all to the good.
 
Poland lucked out that it inherited Lithuania early. I'm not *particularly* worried about it. I'll only turn on Poland when she stops being a useful ally, and in my last Prussia -> Germany game I turned on her way too quickly and Russia ended up being absolutely insane. But right now Poland will help me take Ostprussen and I'll either attack Pommerania or keep with my strategy now of allying with it and trying to vassalize them diplomatically. If I attack Pommerania then Poland will be really helpful.
 
I hope you don't mind if I develop a guycrush on you?

=D

It'd be totally ok. I'm just glad that my attempt to waste my time while keeping my mind in history/polisci writing mode is getting readers.
 
Poland lucked out that it inherited Lithuania early.

Actually IIRC there was a special modifier to weaken Poland if they had an early LIT inheritance in this version of MMP, unfortunately it was slightly overdone and makes Poland into a big squishy useless red lump :p

I have fond memories of getting 100% WS peace treaties with a 9k man army against their 30-40k ^^
 
Actually IIRC there was a special modifier to weaken Poland if they had an early LIT inheritance in this version of MMP, unfortunately it was slightly overdone and makes Poland into a big squishy useless red lump :p

I have fond memories of getting 100% WS peace treaties with a 9k man army against their 30-40k ^^

:eek:

Was that modifier permanent or did it go away at some point? I can see crippling them temporarily in the early game, but for that to continue into the 16th or 17th centuries (when plenty of other blobs have formed) would be... illogical.

I ask because I have an early 16th century unified Poland in an MMU game and if they are cripple-ated I will want to uncripple them as a big scary Russia is right next door.
 
Actually IIRC there was a special modifier to weaken Poland if they had an early LIT inheritance in this version of MMP, unfortunately it was slightly overdone and makes Poland into a big squishy useless red lump :p

I have fond memories of getting 100% WS peace treaties with a 9k man army against their 30-40k ^^

Do you mean its estates? That's the only modifier I can find besides the usual
 
It was called polish_blob and gave +10RR and did some other stuff but honestly I don't remember which version it was, only that it's not in the latest version of MMU.
 
@Rabid: yeah, they don't have that modifier. Thank god.

Failure and Konigsberg: foreign relations

Albrecht Christian came to the crown during the 3rd war against the Teutonic Order, which eventually liberated the province of Torun. Much speculation was made in the 1460s as to why Albrecht, who had lost 2 of his siblings in a battle against the Teutons, would go to war with them again. This was revealed soon enough: it was a part of his ploy to become a duke.

EU3_10.jpg

The newly sovereign Livonian Order, freed from vassalage by Polish and Brandenburgian efforts

The true ambition of Albrecht Christian I, the ambition which all other wants were subordinated to, was to turn the margravate of Brandenburg into a duchy. That nearly every other state of similar size to Brandenburg was a duchy embarrassed Albrecht, and the aggressive strategy of the Brandenburgers in the 2nd Polish-Teuton War can be seen as a part of this.

However, even with more Teutonic soldiers dying every day, Brandenburg never won a major battle through the war, and as Christian spent lavish amounts of money touring Europe, attempting to get support for his new title, it was remarked that he should be leading his armies rather than dining in Paris and Ansbach. Albrecht probably agreed. With his ambitions squashed, Albrecht Christian I was worried that he was going down the same path as his father. He'd taken out a loan so that he could have a colossal feast in Brunswick with several other European dukes and kings, and the war only succeeded in giving the Livonian Order independence (the Livonian Order then quickly moved into Sweden's sphere), and the Brandenburger army wasn't able to fight off the Muscovite armies which took a large chunk of the Orthodox lands to Lithuania's East.

The 2nd Teuton-Polish War did not give much to the Brandenburgers, who were getting tired of the decadial event of a war with the Teutons. However, Albrecht Christian I drunk from shame, was reading one of his books on the Teutonic Order and discovered something--there was an old claim that the Prussian lands had to a kingdom, and if he were to take Konigsberg and Eastern Pomerania he would be able to lay claim to that area, and beyond that if he were to do this, he would be no duke but a king.

EU3_9.jpg

The next morning Albrecht took his regiment of knights to Warsaw, where he made a deal: Brandenburg would pressure the Emperor to acknowledge Poland's claims to Danzig and Warmia, and Poland would allow Brandenburg to take East Prussia, and would acknowledge Brandenburg's claim on Pomerania when the time came.

Pomerania would be a tougher nut to crack than the Teutonic Order, however, for an odd reason: Pomerania was one of Brandenburg's allies. Berlin couldn't simply turn its back on Stettin only to attack it later. Because disentangling itself from Pomerania would take too long and would only end with a war against the Emperor, Albrecht sought to make Pomerania weaker using other, more nefarious means.

EU3_2-1.jpg

Brandenburg's non-involvement in the Pomeranian civil war

A pretender attempted to take the duchy of Pomerania for himself at some point in the early 1460s, and luckily for Brandenburg, the pretender was tangentially related to the Hohenzollerns. The armies of the mark did not participate in the civil war even though there was a nominal alliance between the two states until forced to by the Emperor. This would be one of the first time that Berlin's interests would conflict so obviously with that of the Empire's, but it would hardly be the last.
 
@Gabor: Yeah Iron Kingdom is a great read, probably the best German history I've read so far. Too many German histories are preoccupied with Nazism, either trying to say that it was a natural outgrowth of German history which was inevitable because of the Sonderwag (The Germans is a good example of that kind of history) or saying that Nazism was this anomaly in German history (the Fortress of Europe is an example of this). After a couple of histories I got sick of people bringing up Nazism every damned chapter, either to say "see? don't you see? how similar to the Nazis the Great Elector was?" or "can't you see that Frederich the great was totally unlike hitler?" I haven't noticed the same preoccupation with WW2 in any other European history, and while Nazism is a part of German history, it looms so largely over it that it's hard not to mention it, which is odd--the tragedy of what happened in WW2 in Europe is something shared by all of the nations of Europe, but only Germany has to answer for it. Sorry for the long response, I just don't get to talk about WW2's legacy that often

At heart, an autocrat: The uprising of 1474

While Albrecht Christian II had many proto-liberal policies, such as his policy towards Jews and the repeal of the levy on travelers, one conflict showed that Christian Albrecht I was, at heart, an autocrat.

The establishment of the Kroneauge headquarters in Berlin allowed for a great deal of prosperity. That even the petty-lenders were now able to know the financial history of a potential borrower allowed for far more loans to be made, which increased the number of transactions, and thus, the amount of money given in taxes. However this activity was very much focused on Berlin. Albrecht knew that firstly he wouldn't be able to afford a mark-wide economic program, secondly that Berlin, being the most urbanized area, was the most important area in the mark and that it had the highest ability to attract Jews and other migrants. Lastly, the policy of the Kroneauge was solid: at a cheap price, the state was able to know the finances of Berlin, and Albrecht would not allow the growth of petty-lender industries in the rest of the mark without similar surveillance.

I should take a second to note the economic history of Brandenburg. Northern Germany was held by pagans until the 13th-14th century, and as such the landowning nobles weren't as strong as in other areas--most notably France. In fact, the word Junker, the phrase used to speak to a Prussian noble, is translated better to 'jung herr', or young sir, because the noble families in Prussia had far shorter histories than their French or Southern German counterparts. It was the lack of an established aristocracy which allowed the earlier Hohenzollerns to be so unitary in their actions--the only two large factions in the nation were the monarchists, or supporters of the crown (generally lower bureaucrats, like tax collectors and such) and the army.

The second effect of the lack of nobles, along with the generally poor nature of the land in Brandenburg--"so sandy and light that trees would not grow on it" (Clark 2006 pg1), meant that the towns were the center of Brandenburg's economic activity. By 1472 the smaller cities--Ruppin, Neumark, and Potsdam--were starting to get jealous of Berlin's prosperity, as well as the degree of independence it had--in 1470 a town hall was built, and the mayorality of Berlin was set up to dictate a more efficient economic policy in the area. However, what the smaller town leaders did not understand was that Berlin's prosperity came out of the level of surveillance it had. The crown was fine with giving a small degree of independence to the mayor of the capital so long as the capital was keeping its funds in the Kroneauge.

In 1473, the Kroneauge had enough money to expand its operations to Potsdam. Potsdam was an area rather unlike Berlin--it was primarily a mining area for the army, as opposed to Berlin, which by now had an economy based mostly off of the petty lenders, and Neumark and Ruppin, which were both agricultural. Potsdam, however, did not want the oversight Berlin worked under. The town leader of Potsdam made a speech in Berlin to the whole of the municipal staff, asking why the margrave wished to make the whole mark his own wallet.

The king's speech marked a shift in policy which had slowly been taking place. He said that the Kroneauge had, at a cheap price for the government, made the prosperity of Berlin possible, and while the mark hadn't had enough money to spread this model to the other towns, a plan had been realized, which would give the same benefits to the other 3 major cities: all transactions that amounted to more than 40 ducats would now have to be done in a government sanctioned bank or marketplace. This could be enforced relatively cheaply.

EU3_11.jpg

The ordinance of 1474

There were two responses to this, both of which contributed to the uprising of 1474. The first was the response of the pastors, who asked: "is our margrave bringing the money-lenders, whom Jesus cast out of the temple, into our courts?" This fired the population up. The second response was economic. There were very few government sanctioned marketplaces and banks outside of the 4 major cities, and with the majority of the Brandenburgers living in the towns, the flight of the money-lenders into the cities meant the destruction of prosperity in the small towns.

All together, this came into a rage when protestors attacked the army on the 17th of April.

EU3_12.jpg

FFFFFFFFFFFSSSSSSSHIIIII

As the Army of the Vistula was called in to support the Guard in fighting the peasant rabble, spokespersons from both the officers and the petty bureaucracy spoke out against this new reform, which they saw as attacking the traditional way of life, and more specifically, on their finances--most Brandenburgers lived in the small towns, and without access to credit they could retreat back to a subsistence way of living. August Holtzendorf, the shining star of the Ruppin officer's academy, called the margrave a tyrant and rode off with a contingent of knights to support the peasants uprising.

EU3_13.jpg

The reaction amongst the state's services to Albrecht Christian I's and De Fournay's reforms

Thankfully, the army was under a far more experienced general and was staffed by veterans of the Teuton Wars. The rebellion fell quickly, but the resistance would take far longer to die down.

EU3_14.jpg

he had such potential...

In order to stop such a revolt from occurring again, Albrecht Christian I passed a law making mayoral positions appointed rather than elected. This went down to the smallest rural center, and greatly expanded the power of the monarch at a low price. This centralization led to a flock of petty-lenders and young bureaucrats coming to Berlin with the hopes of being appointed mayor. Otto Schmerz, the Ansbachian jurist who founded the Kroneauge, resigned his position and left it to De Fournay in order to create the Mayoral College, which sought to serve the up and coming class of central bureaucrats.

EU3_15.jpg
EU3_16.jpg

The second centralization within a years time
 
Last edited: