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The dust form Waterloo has long since settled but the roar of the cannon could still be heard. The year is 1821 and the Kingdom of Prussia is on the verge.
The Napoleonic Wars have left their scars upon Europe and the question remains, which nation will rise to assume control of Europe. Many lessons stood to be learned from the era of Napoleon and Frances summarily defeat at the hands of the allies. France was ignorant to the enormous challenges they had to overcome. Failing to understand why they could not win despite all of Napoleons genius.
Several distinct challenges faced the Prussian Kingdom. First our southern Germanic neighbor, the Austrians, would have to be dismembered and its Germanic people absorbed into greater Germany. The Russian bear in the east would be forever a threat until their will to fight was broken. With their seemingly endless hordes of manpower and the vast expanse of the Czars domain that swallowed armies whole. French desire to reclaim their faded glory and the regain their lost empire. British sea power and the might of an empire on which the sun never sets. Their industrial base which gives them such a distinct and lasting advantage in world commerce. Not any less of a threat would take form in the ideas of liberal governments that threated the traditions and moral fiber of German heritage. These threats would manifest at home in the form liberal movements and threat of revolution and in the infant nation across the Atlantic The United States. That country would steal every last German citizen with their tales of freedom and dreams of grandeur. To succeed where France had failed would require Germany to face and master all of these challenges.
Colonial possessions would be a priority to future prosperity providing natural resources and strategic bases. However any future war that involving England demanded a self-sustaining resource base. To this end Prussian leaders knew that war with The United Kingdom must be avoided until Germany had the ability to feed our peoples and supply our armies from German soil alone. To achieve these goals the Industrial Revolution would need to be embraced and supported at every level of society to create the most prosperous Germany imaginable.
The Kingdom of Prussia intended to succeed where France had failed. To do this would take years of hard work, the blood and sweat of the German people, and careful diplomacy. For until the nation could overcome the same hurdles that Napoleon faced our people would fail just as surely as Napoleon did. To succeed Germany would need the resources to sustain itself from Europe alone. To this end German leaders knew that this would become crucial to overthrowing English dominance for as long as England ruled the seas no sprawling empire would be safe for long. As long as the French laid claim to the wrong side of the Rhine Germany would be at risk. Until the Russian bear was tamed no German would truly sleep well. Without progress Germany might lose the best she has to offer to foreign nations.
This History chronicles Germanys rise to ultimate power which was only accomplished by careful and well timed decisions and with hard work and sacrifices, great and small, made by all Germans.
Goals for this AAR:
1. Become the only German Nation in Europe. This will involve annexing Austria
1a. However I do not want to include too great a number of non-ethnic Germans in the empires borders
2. Territory will include Present day European countries: Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, and Slovenia
3. Control of East Indies, Indo China, southern China, Burma, and possibly Korea
4. Control of middle Africa, Madagascar, and Egypt
5. Control of present day Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran
6. Creation of Belarus, Baltic States, and Ukraine to provide buffer states with Russian. Of course under our control possibly as satellite nations
This game will be played using PDM mod and Concert of Europe mod. I would like to thank the developers of these mods and everyone who played a part in their creation they have made Victoria 2 my all-time favorite game. As this is my first ever attempt at an AAR I would like to thank anyone who reads this and would be most welcome to any suggestions on where I should take the game or just with my narration to make things more enjoyable.
Of those three Istria is the most likely I kind of like having Belgium on the map only because it reduces the size of my French border same with Netherlands. whose colonies however I do plan to take over as many as I can their Caribbean colonies are probably safe but if I am able to make the panama canal or if I seize it they might become strategically necessary.
The King had never kept his ministers and aides waiting this long before and it made them nervous. Perhaps he was angry or some offense had been given. For five hours the waited and worried as to why they were kept waiting with no news. After lunch had been brought the door to King William III apartments finally opened. “Gentlemen”, the Monarch said, “Last night I dreamt that I had been forced to sign the Treaty of Tilsit”. The assembled persons in the room were confused because that was almost fourteen years ago. “When I spoke to my manservant whom assured me that today was assuredly not that day I was able to calm down but no matter what I did I could not ride myself of the feelings the dream had left me”.
The First Minister was confused todays agenda was supposed to cover trade tariffs. When he started to say as such the King continued, “Because of that treaty today we have the best and most modern army in the world but gentlemen I assure you that if we are to survive the next storm or even grow and teach our kinsman to the south their place what we have gained till now will not be enough”. First Minister Prince August von Hardenberg dared to venture, “But what credible threat is there to our armies. The French have delusions of power, the Russians couldn’t follow a map to Berlin, and the British have no real army just hordes of barely trained and equipped colonial troops”. The king was quite for several seconds that seemed to stretch into eternity. The tension was released when he spoke “You are correct in your appraisal of the forces arrayed against us but you fail to see that we need more than just military superiority”. The assembled men were both enthralled by their sovereign and slightly confused at the same time.
Never had they imagined that the course they steered Prussia by was not what was best or right. Over the course of the following two days King William III of Prussia explained the new course that Prussia would take. Little did they know that they were now set upon the road that would shake the world and that they road would lead to anything but greatness for themselves and for their people.
The events that took place those two days cannot be minimized in their significance to where they would lead the Kingdom of Prussia. Several men lost their jobs many others were given new responsibilities. To the world it seemed that Prussia would continue on with business as normal but to those men and their King they were from that day forward dedicated with the single goal of creating a German nation that would be forever lasting and that would be impervious to both foreign and domestic threats.
To improve the economy the Ministers of Finance and Research with the Kings approval decided to increase study in the ideas and possible technologies that Freedom of trade could offer Prussia. Finance Minister Alfren Hindinburg also radically changed the manner in which revenue was raised for the government. Raising taxes on the working classes and but greatly improving education funding and government administration. This new funding improved the government’s ability to collect and use those monies more efficiently. The budget which remained revenue neutral gave the bureaucracy the ability use peoples taxes more efficiently.
First Minister Prince August von Hardenberg was further instructed to secure an alliance with France to secure peace relations with the French for the near future. King William III explained, “An alliance with France is our most immediate concern it doesn’t matter if they do not realize that they will help us to strengthen Prussia all they need to know is that the Prussian Army is not a threat to them now”.
The King also instructed is Ministers to begin to create a casus belli that would allow Prussia to begin creating their own overseas empire. To accomplish these goals the Prussian Army was reorganized and their composition standardized to best support other armies in combat while maintaining mobility and creating as large of a front for the opposition.
On November 8 1821 seemingly as a sign that the path the King had placed the Kingdom on was righteous Gold was found in Konigsberg.
The first target the King had chosen was Spain and their colonies in the Philippines. To that extent the King instructed Minister of War Carl von Clausewitz to prepare plans that would ensure a Spanish defeat and allow the Prussian diplomats to gain the territorial concessions that Prussia needed to begin securing its future.
Prussian War of the Philippines: June 22, 1822 - July 20, 1823
At the onset of hostilities the Prussian army was in a position to attack Spain directly across the French Spanish border. Before the war Spain had no cause to worry about the Prussian Franco alliance of 1821 because Spain had no plans to commence hostilities with either nation. Additionally Spain was locked into a bitter struggle to maintain control of her rebellious colonies in South America. The first warnings were too late to allow for any adequate initial defense of Spain to be prepared.
December 14 1821 was the warning the Spanish government had to any potential threat. With careful diplomacy Prussia was able to convince many European governments that Spain was no longer capable of maintaining control over its vast colonial empire and had kindly suggested that they were in a position to help alleviate some of the strain upon the Spanish Empire. Up until war was actually prepared Spain was under the misconception that Prussia would not act and was only blustering.
In command of 72,000 Prussian men to be engaged in Spain was, Fritz von Gerber and the following are his recollections of the campaign in Spain;
The plans for our invasion were well made and would allow our forces to engage Spain directly from their northern border. The high command has deemed that French support will not be necessary but I cannot help but wonder if we will find ourselves in need of reinforcements while we fight our way through the Pyrenees Mountain Range. I hope that few of our young men will be lost in the fighting for those peaks. I am confident of victory and the eventual success of our campaign but alas I know that if Spain is able to engage my forces before we have secured those damned goat tracks over the mountain that many good men may perish.
I received orders that our attacks were scheduled to begin on June 22, 1822 and that our ambassador to Spain had given Spain an ultimatum that Spain would surrender control of its Philippine colonies. Failing to do so would have the gravest of consequences. Looking back the terms of the Potential deal were favorable to Spain in all regards. Spain would be given favorable trading rights to the Philippines and also be allowed to maintain a Spanish Fleet from the port of Manila. I believe that idea of losing any more territory at the same time as they were engaged in attempting to bring to heel their rebellious colonies was too great a pill for the Spanish King to swallow.
The first three months of the campaign went unopposed and the armies were able to gain our initial objectives within that time. The men under my command had thankfully not been forced to fight our way through the Pyrenees as I had originally feared. For a time it seemed that all of Spain’s available forces had been sent to South America or to the Philippines to defend against an attack that would never happen.
On August 23 I received word that a war budget had been approved which was startling because I wasn’t aware that our current expenditure had been so high as we had not been in a single major engagement to date.
Following that I received a letter from my nephew on September 4, that funding had finally been approved to begin expansion of the Prussian Navy. He was very excited and hoped to be able to sever on one of the three ships of the line under construction but was confident that failing to gain a post there he would surely find a position upon one of the five Frigates also undergoing construction.
The lack of a proper fleet had given me cause to worry from the beginning of this campaign. An initial objective of the opening phase of this war was the port of Barcelona and I knew that without some sort of naval presence that we would not be able to lay a conventional siege. The fight would have to be bloody and quick because we lacked the ability to stop the Port fortresses ability to resupply from the sea.
Finally on October 24 Spanish Forces began to arrive on the front in numbers that began to constitute a real threat.
After Spanish forces arrived it would still be several months before a significant engagement would take place. The government in the meantime had chosen to begin researching No Standard to further increase our treasury gain. I was in support of this because I knew “Nervos belli, pecuniam”. The adage of Cicero had never been wrong that, Endless money forms the sinews of war. The plans our King had for Prussia would require endless money in order to succeed.
Our first major engagement took place on January 23, the Battle of Logorno. Our forces were Victorious suffering only minimal casualties.
The Battle of Castellon followed shortly thereafter on February 14.
Following the Battle of Castellon Spain offers a meager peace deal offering the sole island chain of Manila not the entirety of the Philippines as our ultimatum. This offer was promptly refused but it gave me hope that the Spanish will to fight on was failing.
The single battle of the war that my forces lost occurred in Teruel. Our III. Korps had been bravely resisting the combined Spanish army for 15 days and were forced to retreat when they were finally out flanked two days before I. Korps could reach them. That being said our men had still fought bravely holding back the Spanish army numbering some 63,000 men inflicting over 10,000 enemy casualties while only losing less than 4,000 men. I was sadden that the orders to reinforce III. Korps had not been given sooner but our other forces had been nearing the end to successful sieges and I was unwilling to abandon them.
With my forces rushing to the area in hope of catching the combined Spanish force and crushing their entire army the Spanish saw the odds arrayed against them and decided to break up their forces. We were able to catch a contingent of their men at Zaragoza and defeated that army at minimal losses. I gave orders for IV. Korps to pursue that army and they were able to force the surrender of 8500 Spanish soldiers in Huesca on April 27.
Following the Spanish’s inability to create any gains from there victory at Teruel and their subsequent loss of men in Huesca the Spanish army opened there summer counter offensive on June 10.
With the occupation of Northern Spain nearing its completion I gave orders for III. Korps to retire to France to replenish its ranks and then to initiate a mopping up operation of the Spanish forces involved in their summer offensive. Those units had been severely depleted and posed no threat to my units on the front.
Not twenty days after I had given orders for III. Korps to eliminate any remaining enemy units to our rear had word reached me from the High Command that Spain had finally sued for peace we had won the campaign.
With the Philippines secured the King of Prussia slept much easier that night. A short war had been won and valuable new territories had been added to the kingdom.
The first step had been taken down the long road but many dangers still lay upon its path. The King slept well that night know that the success that the armies in the field had enjoyed had been negotiated into the territorial concessions that Prussia would need to fuel its journey to dominance.
Being the only German nation I'm sure includes annexing Luxembourg. I would also take Istria for Mediterranean ports as well as limiting Italian power and ambitions. I like the colonial goals; it looks like your choices are to help limit British power globally. Do you plan on forcing a release of Ireland or Scotland?
Yes Luxembourg will definitely be annexed. This is I have to say my biggest quirk in game is that I like to see nations become as strong as mine own so that game doesn't become to easy. If I am able to gain Istria when Austria joins me I will definitely take it but if not than Italy can have it. That same quick applies to Brittan as well. I like strong nations in game and will most likely limit myself to liberating India and freeing any puppets who I would like to have in my sphere. However if it happens in a great war I will not complain. But all the same I want those colonies because they will allow me to apply pressure to British India and her other colonial possessions as well as a 2nd southern flank into Russia from Afghanistan.I just find that when my country becomes uber strong that the game loses some of its sparkle. I want my wars to be more than just a move and peace treaty.
In this mod Spain starts out at war with their south American colonies as does Portugal with Brazil but of their colonies I have only seen them manage to hold their Caribbean colonies never the countries of South America. However I imagine that a person playing as Spain could certainly manage to accomplish the task.
The biggest problem will be with the my colonial goals Brittan has stubbornly stayed allied with the Dutch and it leaves me very little opportunity to make gains there but I manage all the same. I have found that the extra space in the time line creates many different scenarios as I have never seen France make any attempt in early game to go for Algeria and Egypt has a much better chance to gain its independence earlier than it does later. Also the Russians have very interesting starting situation early in game with much of their territory disjointed. I strongly recommend the mod just to see what the map changes are.
Reinvigorated from the acquisition of the Philippines King William III knew that many changes would need to be made within the Prussian government. Firstly the creation of a colonial department and ministers would be necessary to successfully manage the new colonies as well as continuing the growth of overseas Prussian ambitions.
The government was also worried that the current state of the Prussian military was incapable of projecting any military power in the region. Funds were immediately released to begin construction of naval and defensive facilities on both Hoilo and Davo. Surprisingly the locals handled the transition of power very well and large numbers of young men joined the Prussian East Indies Army.
Sadly the honeymoon with the Philippines would end prematurely because of a developing crisis in Greece.
The King was unwilling to sacrifice the young men of Prussia for the Greeks. Diplomatic relations between the opposing sides broke down and war was declared. The Russians who had originally answered the Greeks call for assistance was answered by the Netherlands, the Austrian Empire and the United Kingdom. Opposing them was France and The Ottoman Empire who would attempt to maintain control over the Aegean Island chain. The lack of any ability to defend the newly acquired Philippines from British invasion was a large factor in the King’s decision to remain neutral and not support our French allies.
The King also wanted time for the European nations to forget that the pretexts for the Philippine takeover were based on some very shaky grounds.
While touring several of the developing factories in Berlin the Kings ministers arranged a demonstration of a new technology that was being used in England as well as France. Over a ten mile track William III was introduced to the steam locomotive. The short ride was symbolic to the King. Like Prussia the King believed there was enormous potential in railroads but there was not yet sufficient “track” to complete the journey.
That journey would take far longer to compete than the trip aboard the train but like the new technology Prussia would require more room to grow. Research into this new technology was started immediately.
Meanwhile the Greek Crisis had escalated into a full blown continental war. France had completely occupied the Netherlands while Russia and Austria were crushing Ottoman Armies right left and center. In an interesting turn of events Austria exited the war when the Ottomans agreed to hand over the Bosnian region to the Serbian Kingdom. The United Kingdom following tradition had not sent any significant force into the conflict and instead chose to rely upon the Royal Navy to Blockade France and effect Ottoman shipping in the Mediterranean. France attempted to liberate much of the captured Ottoman territory but it was too little too late.
Greece gained control of the Aegean Islands and was included into Russia's Sphere of influence. This was however was acceptable because at that date Russia was the protector of Christendom in the East.
After a suitable amount of time had elapsed from our Spanish wars King William had decided that it was necessary to prepare plans for further colonial expansion in the Far East. Tenasserim and Pegu territories from Burma were clear targets because they were not historical lands of the Burmese Kingdom and would cost Prussia little diplomatic blowback in their conquest. The region of Northern Malaya which was split between Johore and Siam was additionally targeted for expansion.
The second target area would be more difficult as it was divided between two countries. The Northern Malaya in Johore would be more difficult to obtain because it depended on the British Empire not improving their relations any further with the Kingdom of Johore before our war goals were accomplished. Siam would be able to offer only token resistance and the entire operation was considered to be achievable by the forces raised on the Philippine colonies. These men had been armed and trained to Prussian standards and though considered inferior to German troops the Colonial Minister assured the government that they were more than capable of completing the campaign with what men they had their and would require no assistance from the Prussian Army.
However before the East Indies campaigns could begin the threat of a second crisis endangered to engulf Europe once more so shortly after the Greek Crisis had ended. Revolutionaries in Belgium had threated war against the Netherlands unless their immediate independence was both recognized and formalized amongst European Nations.
Representatives from France, The United Kingdom, Prussia, Austria, Russia, The Netherlands, and Belgium Revolutionaries meet in Berlin. There were three plans that were strongly contested amongst the delegates.
Both the French and Prussians preferred annexation of Belgium territories and the creation of a buffer state between France and the Netherlands. They supported this plan for the obvious reason of incorporating new territories under their rule.
While the Netherlands and Russia both wanted to maintain Dutch rule of the Belgium and wanted to only concede to giving the Belgium people representatives into the Dutch government. The Russian government feared a resurgent France and the threat that they had presented during the Napoleonic wars and they feared that more Prussian territory would only create a stronger potential enemy on their Border.
The Plan that was finally agreed upon was presented by the Belgium, United Kingdom, and Austrian delegates. The Belgium people were to be granted independence and allowed to form their own government. This plan was only agreed upon whenPrussian Delegates declared they would support Belgium independence if the county of Luxemburg was also granted independence. The French government protested at the creation of two additional Germanic nations on their border and demanded that Luxemburg be placed under the control of the Dutch.
Though formal control over Luxemburg rested in the hands of the Dutch the Government of Luxemburg was immediately on the best terms with the Kingdom of Prussia and an understanding was secretly reached that when the time was right Prussia would back Luxemburg in their attempt at true independence.
This agreement became known as the Treaty of Berlin and was signed on August 13 1826. It stipulated the creation of an independent Belgium and a semi-autonomous Luxemburg. To no surprise the Dutch refused to sign or recognize the independence of Belgium but made no preparations for war as the Signees of the treaty pledged to support the new Belgium Kingdom.
With Europe at peace and no immediate threat to Prussia the King felt comfortable to once again begin planning Prussia's road to power. Soon the Prussian flag would extend its reach further across the Far East and maybe a little closer to home.
P.S. I apologize for anyone who may have noticed that I have edited the picture for the crisis in motion event. I had to edit the date because I had failed to take the appropriate screen shot. If you didn't notice it before you will now. I want to be completely honest in this AAR and plan to stick to the facts and events that actually happened in my play through. The actual lose that I suffered from choosing to stay out of the crisis was closer to 17 prestige which hurt but I wanted time to let my B.B. drop down so I could continue taking colonies in the Far East. I hope you enjoyed this update I have played through the next about 10 years and things are going to begin getting quite exciting there are about 3 separate conflicts in which Prussia expands and the mighty are cast down.
