Chapter 21: Mistakes are made...
Cathaoir Dongan is the first ruler of Ireland to survive an attempt to displace him from the throne. No doubt, his many high-ranking advisors have helped him, seeking to keep their position in court.
Cathaoir uses his rule to allow his subjects more freedom, and also forces monetary policies that help stabilise the Irish economy. The Irish economy is flourishing, nearly exclusively due to trade.
One of the court advisors writes a particularly widely-read tractatus on government policies. Since we are content with our NI collection, we do not exploit the event to change NIs, but rather pick the (more or less useless for us) Prestige option. Still, a bonus to government tech investments is always nice.
Ireland's income in 1494 is third in the world, only Castille and Burgundy have higher income.
Speaking of Castille... more diplomats arrive, asking for Irish help in yet another war. We accept, and follow the Old Irish Alliance Doctrine again.
After a more aggressive expansion of trade, Ireland's income rises to second in the world, second only to Castille.
Then, a more serious alliance call arrives. Brittany requests our help against England and Scotland. Here, we wish to keep Brittany as ally so need to accept. Also, since we own provinces and a vassal in England proper, we cannot follow the Old Irish Alliance Doctrine. With great regret, the king orders the army to follow the New Irish Alliance Doctrine.
I missed taking a screenshot of the first battle... Irish Historians do not speak of this war in their history books. The Irish expeditionary forces were attacked by a combined English and Scottish army, and completely wiped out. 12,000 Irishmen were slain on the battlefields in Lancashire. The war had started as a complete disaster! (Note that we only have 6,000 men in our outliner)
At least the navy can defend our shores, giving us time to rebuild our forces. Some Hanseatic cogs show up in the Firth of Force, slightly annoying our blockading fleet.
The war overview. It's not going well for us, nor for the English side. Our WE is extremely high, due to the many lost regiments in the first battle.
We decided that the Old Irish Alliance Doctrine is superior, and offer Scotland a white peace. Let Brittany fight for themselves, the greedy bastards!
As it turned out, a big mistake... For why and what, return Wednesday, for the next episode of Ireland's Teardrop!