Marching around Europe, Milan DW AAR

Chapter Sette
1479-1502

1481
March
Discovered Bermuda, west of the Azores. It is beyond colonisation range.
December
Discovered Portugese port of Rio Grande. It appears the Portugese have gone before us already, but in doing so have left the chain of European islands uncolonised.

1483
April
We were warned by Switzerland. Moved our armies away from the immediate border to prevent destruction of our armies if they declared war.

1484
April
France overruns Burgundy in an excommunication war.
November
Our first colony matures, The Canaries is now self-sustaining.

1485
May
Portugese-French war. This is a cause of great consternation in Lombardia as France is becoming extremely powerful.

1488
July
Maderia is now a city.

1492
October
Martial expansion for Milan. 14 x infantry, 3 x cavalry ordered.

1494
April
16 x infantry ordered. Our army is now substantially larger and approaching force limits ~70 divisions.
December
Noted a Swiss-Austrian war. Hopefully neither will overpower the other.



1496
March
Siena became a core province, unlocking the form Italy event. We immediately form the Kingdom of Italy to gain cores over much of the Italian peninsula. The formation of Italy also leaves us outside of the Holy Roman Empire, ending the negative infamy from unlawful lands deterrent that has kept our expansion northward in check.

1496
April
Diploannexed Savoy. This was a great prize as it brought 4 provinces into Italy, two of which are cores.
June
We sent an insult to the Emperor. We begin feeding magistrates into leaving the HRE province events. This will take a while to complete but the emasculation of the Imperial power base is important for our future advances.

1497
February
Reconquest of Schwartz war declared against Switzerland. This will be a simple and easy war.
June
Reconquest of Modena declared. Bohemia entered the Swiss war, and in doing so removed the only deterrent I had to attacking Modena.
November
Annexed Modena.

1498
May
Peace with Provence, +4 infamy as we demanded the province of provence. This was a highly desirable expansion as it removed it from possibly becoming a part of France and Provence is a strong, coastal province.
White peace with Bohemia after claiming Schwartz off Switzerland.
July
7 x infantry, 3 x cavalry ordered. Our army is roughly 75,000-80,000 men.

1499
January
Declared the reconquest of Mantua.
April
Annexed Mantua using large armies to assault the fort



July
Another white peace with Bohemia (Emperor).
June
A nascent Italian colony, Rio de Oro was burnt to the ground by natives. Our armies, now freed from war, board the fleet and set sail to teach them a lesson or two. I don't particularly value the province of Rio de Oro, but with colonies at the Canaries and Cape Verde, we may as well take the intervening waters as it wont particularly stress naval patrols due to proximity.

1500
February
Subjugation of Albania mission available, we immediately implement it to little opposition.

1501
March
We declared war on Austria using our reconquest casus beli, which applied to Fruliu and Trevisio provinces under their control. Unfortunately, their surprising success against our armies, despite being out-numbered, out-generalled, out-teched and fighting on neutral terrain (!) cause Italy to sue for peace after capturing and claiming Fruliu.

1502
February
White peace with Bohemia (legacy from the Austrian war).

Chapter Otto
1502-1520
September



Colonial conquest declared on Benin.
November
After disembarking from our fleet off the coast of west Africa, our armies engaged the Beninese forces and gave chase once they inevitably routed in the face of our superior technologies. They disappeared into the African hinterland, so we laid siege to all their cities.

1503
December
A Brandenburgian Emperor has been elected. Need to keep an eye on this state as it has expanded into western Poland and is beginning to approach the escape velocity required to transition from a local to a regional power.

1504
June
Annexed Benin, gained 4 infamy.
July



5 x missionaries dispatched to convert our new animist subjects and hopefully convince them of the glories of Lombard culture.

1506
March
Switzerland declared war on Italy. It was a reconquest war for Schwyz. Hungary joins her Swiss allies, however Austria intervenes on our behalf.

1508
March
The Swiss armies lie dead on the field and the towers of some of her greatest cities have been toppled. Switzerland accepts our peace demands of Istra from Hungary, a core region so 0 infamy, that Switzerland renounces claims to Schwyz and as a cherry on the deal we demanded the gold producing province of Tirol (austrian culture). This totalled 4BB and leads us close to the infamy limit. However if we wish to rival France, we will need the Austrian-gold region in order to fuel our balance sheets. Lienz and Krain are the two remaining such provinces beyond our grasp.

1510
July



Noted our technological position, wasn't pleased by this so we'll try to mint less coin. Most notably our Land tech was 4 levels behind our rivals, although other techs were broadly level.

1511
May



Declared war on Austria and her ally Brandenburg, the reconquest of Treviso. This was part of a mission (-2 infamy) and allows us to link up Tirol and Friuli with the main body of Italian lands.

1512
September
Victory against Austria, we annexed Treviso and were also able to demand Lienz due to the -2 infamy on Treviso. Just Krain to go. White peace with the Austrian ally and warleader, Brandenburg.

1513
June
Regency Council. The heir is ~3 years old so I will shift our focus to colonialism whilst we await his coming of age and the BB reductions.

1515
March
The Empire of Italy was declared.

1517
July
Dipploannexed Pisa. Our only remaining vassal is Genoa.
December
New national idea available, opted for the Grand Navy which increased our naval forcelimits to an impressive 144 ships. This combined with our recent discovery of Caravels as big ships should pave the way for our dominance on the high seas. If we can sink a rival navy, then we enforce a large capital expenditure project on our enemy as they have to rebuild their fleets before truce expires. Or more explicitly, it allows us to stab the enemy balance sheet in the heart by driving large inflation in their lands.

1520
August



Claims on our rivals. (Morocco & France)