1840-1856: Sucks to be Governor
In Serbia, a local preacher begins preaching, and Serbia listens. "The moral fiber of our nation has been woven into a well-knitted wool sock of lies". In unison, Serbs begin burning socks and reading Bibles, and the reigning conservatives use the lunatic to push their beliefs, creating a news network centred on conservative nutjobs.
In Serbia, we like to stay on the technical edge. We have now adapted the cutting-edge new Hussars, which debuted only 400 years ago.
In February of 1844, an Albanian protest turned violent as Albanian nationalists stormed the town hall, kidnapping and murdering the Turkish governor. The Turks have reacted by imprisoning large crowds of Albanians and executing hundreds. This act of cruelty has attracted the attention of Russia, who has called for reparations. The French and Austrians rush to aid Russia, and Prussia and Great Britain do the likewise for the Ottomans.
In the turmoil, the Russians replace the Ottomans as the political influence in Serbia.
In August, Russia approaches the Ottomans with a proposal: Albania would be freed, France would control the Rhineland, and Russia would demand German Poland. The Ottomans angrily decline, and the Russians declare war.
The war begins sharply in Russia's favour, with the Russians occpying Prussian Poland. But when the Prussian army reached the Russian front line, the underprepared Russians were cast aside, and the war began to sharply turn. Russia took heavy casualties, and the war ended in October.
Seeing the threat a Europe-wide war could pose in the future, the German city-states and principalities united under the flag of a Northern German Federation.
In Bosnia, a group of Serb nationalists walked into the Ottoman governor's house and shot him with a bow and arrow, mortally wounding him. The Russians step forward, with the French aside. The Turks call the British to their side, and the British lapdogs come quick to their open palm. The Austrians' relations with Serbia are incredibly hostile, and Austrian chancellor Klemens von Metternich decried the Russian exploitation and opportunism, and offered assistance to the Ottoman Empire. The North German Federation, as a vicious rival to the Austrians, approached Russia with an agreement that would have the NGF replace Austrian influence among the Southern German minors. The proposal was rejected, and Russia offered simply the chance to raze the Austrian industry to the ground. Reluctantly, the Germans accepted. In January, the months of radio silence erupted into open conflict as the Austrians launched a pre-emptive strike on Serbia.
