Ultionem imperii: Revenge of the Empire - A Byzantine AAR

Part 7: Victory for the Anti-Russians

Continental War 1 lasted for over one year and ended in a humiliating defeat for the Russians. Victorious, the Byzantines reclaim the Crimean penninsula and a strip of coastline in the Western Black Sea, restoring the old roman provinces of Taurica and Scythia. They give birth to 7 new minion nations for themselves out of the territories they occupied and they also give the Tabriz region back to Persia. In the north, Sweden manages to reconquer Finland that they had lost to Russia just about 50 years ago and thereby restoring their status as world power and their reputation as "The Baltic Empire". Though not having lost that much territory compared to its size, Russia was dealt a severe blow when a Byzantine-German army stormed Moscow and burned the city to the ground. St. Petersburg stood strong but endured an 8 months long siege by Swedish and British forces. Russia is defeated and for now, Europe is standing down. But for how long...?

http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/595849335393643446/C943F288B9C14E03053F90AE11AB04DCF78AB573/

Qorten said:

To everyone accusing Erik W of cheating: If you are against it then simply don't read or post in this thread. He get's to do whatever he wants in his AAR, even cheating.

Click to expand...

Thank you Qorten

Part 8: A nation in peril!

In the wake of Continental War 1, Byzantium, Italy and Sweden remain allied with eachother, reorganizing the Anti-Russian Alliance into the Romano-Swedish Minion Alliance, thereby controling almost all of eastern Europe. Austria joined CW1 becuase of beeing scared of invasion by the Anti-Russians and sent whatever troops they could muster, however all Austrian troops in Russia were killed in the battle of Kiev that still was won by the Anti-Russians. Austria:s fear comes true when the Byzantines sense its weakness and invades. Unhappy and restless, Austrian cities and minorities rise up against the Emperor and revolt in full scale civil war, pretenders to the throne rise and in battle against the Byzantines, Emperor Ferdinand is killed beeing hit by a poisoned bullet in his knee. Now faced with invasion and rebelions on almost every border, a leaderless Austria seems doomed. If the empire have any hope of surviving, a new hero must emerge...

http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/595849335395412816/A365A6D94CF0F5B08BBD7C0361E69E93F82C4972/

Part 9: Demise of an Empire

When Emperor Ferdinand was killed, the remnants of the Austrian army was routed at the battle of Budapest and a week later they arrived at Vienna to make a final stand but when they reached the old citadel, they discovered that the entire imperial family had been slayed by rebels. The city fell into panic and disarray in the fact that Byzantine and minion armies are closing from all directions but are slowed down by still uncrushed Austrian rebelions. When all seems lost, one man rises up from the caos. It is the deceased Emperors youngest brother, the 31 year old Francis that had been in exile in Bavaria for 10 years but now he has returned to save his dying Empire. He rallys his forces behind him and manages to beat back the first Byzantine assault on Vienna but a much greater army led by the new Byzantine emperor, 28 year old Constantius II that had succeded to the throne after the assasination of his father Constantine and his older brother Romanus just 3 months earlier breaks through the walls and takes the citadel. Admiring his curage, Constantius spares Francis:s life and decides not to take Vienna and thereby, sparing the Austrian state. However, the rest of the empire he completely dismantles, giving birth to four new minions and gives Poland and Ukraine land in the northeast. With a small Austrian kingdom replacing the empire, Byzantium now stands as the lone superpower of eastern Europe, projecting its power and supremacy over its minions. But there could be a problem, in the north, Poland is growing militarly and economicly at an evergrowing paste and has already earned a status as regional power and a reputation as "Mini-Russia". In the west, France has started to interfere with Byzantine plans to make Belgium one of its minions. Where this situation will lead, no one can know for sure but one thing is clear, it can´t be good...

http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/595849980613360368/E5D9798DBFEE425FA4B2DC084A922C807590D880/

Part 10: Byzantium - enemy of all muslims

After the demise of the Austrian Empire, Emperor Constantius noticed that the byzantine tresuary was getting used up at a growing rate and to avoid bankruptcy, Constantius decides that to gain access to the lucrative red sea and persian gulf trade routes is the answer. 8 months after the demise of Austria, Byzantium invades Iraq and Hedjaz, both are completely overwhelmed and Iraq surrenders almost without a fight. Hedjaz manages to stage a short-lived defensive against the Byzantines but in the end, Byzantium captures Mecca, the holy city of the muslims itself. But almost directly after the capture, Mecca explodes into the largest rebelion the Byzantines have ever seen. Constantius tries everything to calm down the city but fails and must sadly order his troops to put down the rebelion. Refusing to accept Byzantine rule, the population of Mecca is redused to just over 60 000 muslims when they finaly calms down, realizing that they can´t drive out the Byzantines. Constantius reforms Iraq into the old roman provinces of Mesopotania and Assyria while Hedjaz becomes Arabia Inferior. When the Emperor returns to Constantinople, he is greated by his engineers that present a new class of warship that they had been secretly working on for years, the Ironclad. Beeing a ship of metal in a world of wooden ships, the Ironclad will give Byzantium supremacy on the seas but Constantius is informed that the schematics have slipped into the hands of at least 3 other nations, one beeing the British Empire. Poland is still growing and France continues to defy Byzantine authority. This can´t be tolerated for long...

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Part 11: End of the dream of Napoleon

Over 1 year after capturing Mecca, the Byzantines had enough of French defiance and Constantius invades the empire that has barely recovered from WW1 8 years earlier. Though weakened, the French armies can still provide a match for the Byzantine Legions, though in the end, Byzantium overpowers France after less than 10 months of fighting. In the Antlantic, french wooden warships are blown up and sunk by Byzantine Ironclads when they prove that cannonballs doesn´t penetrate their hull. All major french fleets are destroyed and the war ends with Byzantium annexing all their colonies, creating a sort of Proto-Byzantine Colonial Empire and about 60% of remaining french mainland territory, shattering french dreams about ever restoring the nation to the heights of Napoleon though it is ruled by his decendants. Byzantium gives French North Africa back to Algeria, showing that it is a liberator as much as a conquerer. Morocco has been conquered by the North Germans, making the Europeans controllers of the entire strait of Gibraltar and the western Mediterranean. Europe is at peace but everybody now knows that the Byzantine thirst for a restored Empire and revenge on its destroyers can never be resisted for long...

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Part 12: Back to Russia

4 months after the surrender of France, Constantius had no plans for war any time soon but in the north, Sweden declared war on Russia in the purpose of conquering Karelia and they ask for Byzantine aid. Constantius honours the alliance, calls on his border minions and invades. Now two months later, Russia, not even close to having recovered from CW1, is at the brink of collaps. With the Byzantines running around ravaging the southern borders and Sweden having easily broken through the border and besieged St. Petersburg, the emperor of Russia doesn´t know what to do. He manages to escape St. Petersburg, making it as far as Novgorod before beeing captured by Estonian and Lithuanian troops. Russia has one ally though, the Netherlands but they have only barely recovered from the Dutch-Belgian war over 20 years earlier where Byzantium allied themselves with Belgium and conquered the eastern and southern mainland territories of the Netherlands. Now the backbone of the dutch armies are still in the East Indies and they don´t have enough ships to break through the Byzantine blockade of the English channel and around Amsterdam. The future of both nations looks bleek and if Russia have any hope of beeing restored to glory, the emperor must escape again and rally his troops behind him and take the fight to the enemy...

http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/595849980622915491/657B8F0E3404D31476876599BAF8CD3FEB6B489C/

Part 13: The eagle triumphs over the bear

The dawn of the 1870s marks the end of the Russian Superpower. Sweden succesfully conquers Karelia and Byzantium what they call Scythia proper, thus ending the russian powerhouse and securing eastern Europe from invasion. Constantius creats three new provinces, Cimmeria, Scythia Superior and Scythia Inferior and with this conquest, the Byzantines now control the entire Black Sea together with their minions. Russia is broken and Constantius now plans to relax and have peace for a while. We shall see how long it lasts...

http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/595849980623385952/34E011F5EB4B7ACF10A81B5240D8C2AD9CD8DCF0/

Part 14: Civil War erupts

Over one year after the downfall of Russia, Byzantium is having trouble holding its western provinces together and Constantius decides to invade Switzerland to unite the western provinces with each other for better administration. But when they declare war, Italy rises up and declares war on the Byzantines. This shocks the entire empire and buys the Swiss valuble time. The declaration of war isn´t a surprise to some Byzantines because there has been a growing hostility between Italy and Byzantium since Italy refused the Byzantine demand that Italy should convert to Orthodox Christianity 9 months ago since it has been the state religion of the Byzantine Empire ever since its creation. Spain allies with Byzantium and Sweden, thereby changing the Romano-Swedish Minion Alliance into the Triangle Tripple Alliance and now they invade Italy. The Roman Empire is again locked in civil war and it seems like the Eastern Empire will win this time, however Italy was gifted the schematics of the Ironclad and has built a grand fleet so no one can know for sure who will win. The Italians know that Switzerland is lost and focuses on defending the penninsula instead. Who will win the civil war? Who knows what time will reveal...

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Part 15: Conquest and rebelion

The civil war ended after 9 months, it took so long because Constantius were on a passive offensive, not wanting to kill to many Italians. He spares Rome and the Italian state in middle Italy in the hope of better relations with his Italian subjects in the future. Having destroyed the entire Italian fleet, Byzantium now rules the entire Adriatic Sea and the central Mediterranean. In the west, France is now suffering large scale rebelion in the major part of its provinces, rebelions of Republicans that want to overthrow the Bonaparte bloodline. But also there is a new type of political ideals that is sweeping through Europe at growing rate: Facism. During the civil war, Byzantine troops at the Armenian border were ordered to march into Armenia and put down a Facist rebelion since the Armenian troops couldn´t do it themselves. Constantius said in the final days of the civil war: "I would rather destroy the empire myself then let it be ruled by a Facist Emperor." A secret Byzantine investigation shows that around 5% of the population have converted to facism and Byzantine spies report that the Facist population in France is over 45%. This cannot be allowed to continue and it seems like the empire is heading for a great purge...

http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/595849980634717741/9BBD1C63B8E514BD17D5C7E95A8CE56C0FDC73CD/

Part 16: The race for Africa

Inspired by the amount of wealth he gets from his proto-colonies, Constantius decides to launch a colonial program to make the empire more richer. He said when he launched the program:"Since the so-called "New World" has already been conquered by the British and Spanish, I am heading for the last unclaimed continent on this planet: Africa. Africa will be a Byzantine Continent or no ones." He expands his North Africa south into the Libyan desert and creats two colonies in western Africa. The race for Africa has begun...
He also creats a colony in southern Africa...

http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/595849980637884400/A8211E6D1AF8464C8493F33200B98DD2CC5D80B0/

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Part 17: Germania returns...

For decades, Byzantium and The North German Federation have been medling with each others buisness with the NGF trying to free Byzantine minions but when the NGF invades and conquers southern Belgium, Byzantium finaly declares war just 4 months after the establishment of the Byzantine Colonial Empire, thereby bringing the conflict between Germania and Rome back to life. Constantius is concerned of his North Sea province, cut of from the rest of the Empire, the troops there must focus on defending themselves and what is left of Belgium until reinforcements arrive from Gaul and Italy but faced with invasion from the east, south and the north, the Germans can´t afford to launch an assult westward right now. Spain joins the war only to rid themselves of the Germans in africa and Poland under its unruly king Wladyslav IV that had been sending troops to the Ukrainian border for months is now sending everything he´s got to invade the NGF and becoming more ambitious by the day. With Continental War 2 in the north, a possible traitor in the rank of its allies and an unfriendly eastern border, it seems that the Empire is heading for a time of trouble...

http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/595849980641279955/BB87109A64584B9AF66540D9AEEBF11B61BC118B/

Part 18: Victory and betrayal

Continental War 2 ends after 15 months of fierce fighting, resulting in a back-breaking defeat for the Germans. When reinforcements arrived from Gaul, Byzantine troops were able to break through the german border armies and lay siege to the western part of the Federation. Towards the end of the war, the 35th, 37th and 41st Legions, a total of 45 000 soilders and the remains of the Belgian army were sent to attack Berlin. They conquered Hamburg, Hannover and rendevoued at Magdeburg and pressed on towards Berlin. They got as far as Potsdam, 15 miles(24km) southwest of Berlin before beeing halted by the german capital defense forces. But in the end, the Federation falls and Constantius carves out Germania Prima in the west, Sweden annexes the most of the German Baltic coast and Denmark, reshaping themselves into the Scandinavian Empire and Constantius also release Prussia in the eastern Federation but Constantius, the Empire and the entire alliance are chocked when Poland doesn´t stop occupying the Danzig region that is meant to belong to Prussia. King Wladyslav now rejects Byzantine authority and proclaims himself Emperor of Greater Poland. Constantius is outraged and orders his troops in Pannonia to march through Hungary and Slovakia to prepare for invasion and the troops in Germania to prepare for battle. The situation is about to explode...

http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/595849980651037897/63D2A1515336355360A93B661F3BCDA86F047DC2/

Part 19: Prussia in danger!

Constantius didn´t have to wait to invade Poland, just 1 month after CW2 ended, Wladyslav declared war on Prussia to conquer territories held by Medieval Poland over 800 years ago. Prussia is in danger and have to rely on Ukraine and the Baltic minions to be able to keep the polish troops busy at the borders until the larger Scandinavian and Byzantine forces can arrive. But when they arrive, what can Poland do but fall...?

http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/595849980652285680/5B896AD8403D4678982FB7C087287863DB6C65F0/

Part 20: Fall of Poland

Scandinavia and Byzantium made quick work of Poland, ending the war after just 5 months and saving Prussia. In the battle of Warsaw, Wladysalv had a secret army hidden inside the city that he had been expanding ever since his rise to power. He unleashed it when Scandinavian-Byzantine troops arrived at the city, resulting in the bloodiest battle the Byzantines had experienced for a long time. The Polish troops ranked at 170 000 soilders together with the secret army against Scandi-Byzantines 120 000. Just when the battle seemed lost, a loud roar made everyone stopped fighting and turn eastward. Ontop of a hill stood a great army, numbering some 75 000 troops including over 5 000 bear riders. It was the Russian Imperial army and the commander blew the battle horn and the army started charging towards the Polish. The Scandi-Byzantines shouted their battle cries in joy and started battling again. Together with the Russians, the city was overrunned in a matter of hours, killing Wladyslav in the process. Constantius rewards the Russians with giving them all of eastern Poland including the Minsk and Brest regions. Yet Constantius spares Poland as a small kingdom around Warsaw, he restores the Danzig to Prussia and releasses Ruthenia as a replacement minion for Poland. With the North German Federation and Poland out of the way, Scandinavia allied, France to weakened by constant rebelions and Spain becoming a Byzantine minion, the only thing that could stand between Byzantium and complete european dominans is the British Empire, its only true advisary in terms of strength...

http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/595849980652941698/763E933B30D2FE680CD014BE340F642D0F8FDD55/

Thank you! Now just sit back and enjoy the story