"It is not a question; whether I have good neighbors, but rather it is a question of how big my bad neighbors are," this was the line my great great great great great great grand daddy, Albrecht V said of his neighbors back in 1400. He feared how Hungary was bigger than his Austria. He concluded if he (and probably other smaller states back then) feared a big Hungary, many too will fear a big Austria. So, all that succeeded his throne made every effort to link each and every german state. That and with this in mind, " Always through peaceful means."
For the past two decades the rulers of Hamburg, Mecklenberg, Magdeburg, Oldenburg, Hannover, Thuringuria, Hesse, Anhalt, Meissen, Saxony, The Palatinate, Ansbach, Wurrtemberg, Baden, Alsace, Salzburg, Gelre have bowed down the Kings of Austria through difficult but peaceful "Anschluss" (annexations/ diplo-annex/ yes, all the -1 decentralizations).
The "crazy" rulers of Brandenburg, Bavaria, on the other hand, were rather "forced" to capitulate. We kept that to a minimum. Hainut, Luxemburg, and Switzerland were controlled by the French so we "liberated them." That sums up the history of my Big White Kingdom. Also, if you noticed, the remaining german states are lead by archbishops, no way of Diplo-annexing.
An artist's depiction of the continuous annexations done by Austrian monarchs c. 1590. The former Kings turned into Dukes of Vassals and soon into mere nobles in the Austrian aristocracy
1 - The Former King of Baden, King Bernhard II, the first to succum Austrian Annexation.
2 - The old King Ludwig of Anhalt. He was a cousin to Austria's King Maximilian I.
3 - This King holding on to his crown, is most likely the King of Brabant, the king of the largest remaining german states.
4 - The King of Pommenaria, King Carloman, he was against Austrian Annexation, but his kingdom was annexed after declaring war against Austria. Whispering, he warns Brabant of the same fate. He is only remembered for his bald head, which would go through his crown, and the demise of Pommenaria.
5 - The Austrian Monach watches all the fiasco.
To my east, Lithuania, IT recently ate up Poland. Actually, it inherited Poland. Should I be worried? Of course! If Austria plans to unite all of germany, we will have to invade Lithuania to gain Prussian lands from them. But perhaps I'll leave that to my successor, eh? I plan to just assimilate the remaining german states on the Flemish side.
The Ottoman Empire. The OE have been expanding eastwards gaining alot of manpower whilst doing so. King Karl II Joseph, was adviced to take Transylvania from the Turks, which was surprising as Transylvania was pretty far from Austria, Austria->Hungary->Transylvania. Still, Karl II Joseph waged war against the OE in the 1st war of Austrian Aggression like a virgin (You know, touched for the very first time?hahaha familiar?) sending about 100,000 troops against the Turks (Everybody knows them Ottoman guys are magicians, we coudn't take any chances). While he was successful, he just couldn't cross the Sea of Marmora as the turks would block them using their navy. The invasion of OE was put to a halt (The price of neglecting the Navy). Nevertheless, OE's european territories were totally under the Austrian Army. Because the war had practically reached a dead end, we just had to stop it. Karl II Joseph demanded Oltenia (part of Transylvania) and Athens. That satisfied the aristocrats who wanted the OE out of Transylvania. We kings sometimes fear all these aristocrats (even if we are one,ha ha ha) remember all the Kings we displaced by annexing their lands, they still posses a good number of supporters. The success of the 1st war of Austian Aggression made Wein (Vienna) a city of boundless celebrations, ceaseless re-enactments, and unending banquets. King Karl II Joseph would die days after the peace treaty over eating too much; He died Proud.
Note: Remember King Maximilian I? Successor to Karl II Joseph? He realized (from the previous war)the consequences of having a No-Navy Navy. That's why he created the caravels and some transports. Maximilian's successes would included annexing Anhalt and becoming Holy Roman Emperor, sadly he died 34 days before his 1st anniversary as the Holy Roman Emperor... oh, let's not forget for building the Austrian Navy, however pathetic; 14 caravels and 10 transports (who knows how much negative morale the navy was getting)
Created by an artist known only by "J" /ya/. It shows his vision of the peacedeal between Karl II Joseph and the Ottoman Empire Sultan, Mehmed III. Portayed is both Oltenia and Athens being given to Austrians.
King Maximilian's reign as Holy Roman Emperor.
Apparently, I'm not Holy Roman Emperor. I need a break...
before I get le' choclat, as you see the art use may seem very absurd, very far from 16th century neoclassicism. It's the turn of the 17th century as I said, and art has also evolved, while artists in France, GB, Papal Estates, etc etc have adopted Baroque or Baroco, we, Austrians have started our own evolution of art, it is called, MS Paintilism. They have discovered new ways of art through the use of Microsoft's creative software, Paint.
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Kitkats are good.
Off to Cornwall eh?
I'm considering that, along with another war against OE, or invading Lithuania, and even war against spain..
The problem with cornwall is that I have only 30,000 troops there, I can't transport any more men there if I have to because my navy is almost non-existent. :rofl:
This one seems interesting. Specially for the kitkats.
Kitkats make everything interesting (j/k) xD
Thanks!