Chapter V - Egypt
After the treaty with the Austrian, the Union recovered from the latest wars and focused again on its colonial holdings. Norwegians had established a colony in Greenland and Portugal turned Arguin into a city. The competition wasn’t sleeping and established more presences in the New World.
Queen Mary I was invited to attend the Sensa-festivities in Venezia. The Sensa was a huge feast held annually to celebrate to the Treaty of Venice of 1177 which ended the long standing differences between the Pontificate and the Holy Roman Empire.
This time the Sensa was also celebrated to honor the brave soldiers who died in the latest war against Austria. Lots of wine was consumed and the finest Venetian dishes were served. The Doge of Venice was a great host and the young Queen thoroughly enjoyed her stay.
Mary I replaced her diplomatic advisor with spymaster Arnaud Detmold who proposed to complete the annexation of Aachen and Alsace. The Queen followed his advise and the the two subjects were integrated into the Union.
In April of 1453, the Prince of Novgord-Seversk swore an oath to serve the Union. The two countries had enjoyed good relations and had been allies for a couple of years but the Prince feared to get eaten by the Golden Horde and he felt the only country that was able to protect him from the barbaric Tartars was the Union.
In May of the same year, a punitive raid was launched against the Barbary Pirates which had attacked Nice not long ago - the Queen hadn’t forgotten. The raid was a success and one of the heirs of the Berber kingdoms was captured. The citizens of Nice were enthusiastic when they heard about the raid’s success. Nobody messes with the Union!
After having established a colonial presence in Brazil, an explorer was sent to discover more new lands. Eventually he reached an island chain and a few settlers were sent to colonize Grenadine. Reports said that the natives in that area were far more aggressive and so 2 regiments followed the settlers to the island to protect them from potential native attacks.
Meanwhile in Paris an embassy was built in order to smoothen relations with the Union's neighbors.
In March of 1456, a comet was sighted over Avignon. The local peasants went nuts and predicted the end of the world. More intellectual people tried to convince the peasantry that comets were not as dangerous as they appeared to be but they failed. The Union suffered from a civil turmoil that lasted almost six months.
On April 7th, 1456 Scotland celebrated 50 years under Capetian rule. Queen Mary I traveled to Edinburgh to attend the festivities and to inform the Scottish people that she had made plans to integrate them over the next three years into the Union.
Mary I returned to Paris where the small council was exciting to tell her that the Union completed exploration ideas and that new abilities were researched to colonize faster! (
(Permanent casus belli against pagans; Colonial Adminitration III researched: +1 colonist)
16.000 soldiers were transported to the New World and a campaign was launched to bring civilization to the Mayans. It took the Union only a few years to occupy and annex the entire Mayan lands.
The Scottish highlanders were unhappy with Queen Mary I's rule and it become clear that they had to be put down by force. When Sweden heard that the Union was at peace again they declared a war on Norway and England and asked the Queen if she had any interest in conquering some English provinces. The Queen naturally accepted the call to arms and sent two armies to fight against the Plantagenets.
Flanders was also war with England and had already occupied the majority of their provinces. This was inconvenient but there was nothing the Queen could do to prevent the Flemish troops from besieging province after provide.
Frustrated with the Flemish gains in England, Mary I focused on governing her realm while her brother Louis was fighting the war. She was informed that it was time to select a sixth set of ideas. This time she chose a military idea to strengthen the Angevin troops - a drafted army was necessary to win future wars (
first two ideas of drafted army unlocked).
To better administrate the colonies in Brazil, Queen Mary I reorganized them into a colonial nation. She named the colony La Capetian after her dynasty. A second colonial nation, named Maryana after Queen Mary I, was formed out of the former Mayan territories in the March of the following year.
Sweden's war was wasn't going so well after Norwegian forces laid siege on their capital. In mean time, Flanders settled for a white peace with England leaving the English provinces vulnerable to Angevin attacks.
In December of 1462 the Tunisians asked the Union for help against Mamluk aggressors. The Mamluks had invaded one of Tunisia's allies. Mary I sought her small council's advice and after a couple of days it was agreed that helping the Tunisians was in the Union's best interests. Aragon, Chobanids, Egypt and Morocco sided with the Mamluks.
The Plantagenets accepted unconditional surrender from Sweden with terms that favored the Union, after the Angevin forces occupied every English province: Devon, Hereford Meath and Durham joined the Union.
Aragonese troops suffered a devastating defeat at the battle of Valencia but unfortunately heir Louis did not survive that battle. Combined forces of Burgundy, Padua and the Union then began besieging the Aragonese holdings in Iberia and Venetian forces attacked the Aragonese provinces on Sicily. Aragon surrendered, ceding four provinces to the Union.
Mary I chose her second brother as new heir to the throne. He was also named Louis (
4/2/4) and was sent to fight the Mamluks.
Norway managed to defeat the Swedish troops and Prince Fredrik August saw no other option but to pay the Norwegians a few ducats to end this war. A treaty between the two rivals was signed in Leeuwarden.
Fighting continued with the Mamluks - it was one of the longest wars the Union had fought but at the end the Union turned out on top gaining control over Al-Iskandariyya and Rashid in the Peace of Crete. Al-Iskandariyya was a major port for valuable spices that were being shipped from Arabia to Europe. Controlling this centre of trade strengthened the Angevin position in the Middle East. Peace at last!
To be continued...
