Triumph and Disaster: 1790 to 1795
Higashiyama, May 1770 -
As the war neared the close of its second year, Japanese forces had yet to build up their full strength in mainland Europe. A few Austrian allies had been pressured out of the war, but the same was true of the Netherlands, which had fallen to determined attacks from Bavaria.
Although Japan had the indisputable edge at sea, the coalition ranged against her could bring far more troops to bear. What's worse, these were mainly concentrated in Europe, while Japan's forces were scattered across the globe.
The American campaign
Indeed, it was the Americas that saw the greatest successes of the war's middle stages. With Austrian West Africa under Japanese control, Imperial forces were dispatched to South America and quickly subdued the opposition, fighting as far south as the tip of the continent.
Eventually reaching the Caribbean, an island-hopping campaign began to eliminate the Austrian presence.
However, during these operations disaster struck. Weary after the constant naval operations, Japanese forces were pounced upon by a numerically inferior but well-rested Austrian fleet. Although the majority of Japan's warships were able to escape what had become a losing battle, 15 transports were sunk in a rout that put paid to Japanese hopes of a swift resolution in the Atlantic.
Fortuitously, Japanese troops were ashore before the battle began, but the generals who had been counting on freeing up more men to fight in Europe were dismayed to learn that they had to make do with what they had. In the heart of the Empire, orders were given to lay down new transports, replace the losses in warships and add ten threedeckers to the navy.
The European theatre
Operations in southern Europe had begun with Japanese landings securing Venice and Austrian central Italy as bases for the Imperial fleet. However, news soon reached the newly-promoted Field Marshal Maeda that the Austrians had gathered unprecedented numbers of troops to oppose further Japanese thrusts.
The Austrian army - led by Emperor Franz II himself - not only dwarfed Imperial troops in theater: it was larger than the entire allied war effort. Despite its tremendous strength, Maeda gambled that such a gigantic force would be unwieldy. He laid plans to strike at Austrian posessions in the Balkans, hoping to force the enemy to split their army and thus open themselves to being defeated in detail.
On the home front, evolving government practice and the pressures of war combined to produce new avenues of promotion for promising soldiers.
It was already the case that officers were no longer drawn exclusively from the high nobility, but Higashiyama had been concerned for some time that his reforms might simply substitute one aristocracy for another. The Emperor therefore decreed that anyone who had shown conspicuous skill and bravery might be eligible for a field promotion for the duration of the current war. As such a commission had to be approved by a commanding officer, the change still favoured the upper and middle classes, but nevertheless the Japanese army now offered far greater upward mobility than once it had. The effects results were slow in coming, but Higashiyama's reforms gradually produced an army of even greater professionalism.
The Balkan campaign
Maeda's invasion of Croatia failed to provoke an Austrian response, so the Field Marshal settled down to occupy provinces and consolidate his gains while waiting for the arrival of the much-delayed Americas force.
However, the extension of war to mainland Austria did produce one unexpected effect - on 7 November 1793 the Russians joined the war.
Although Japan and Russia did not sign a formal alliance, the opening up of another front was taken as a positive sign by Japanese high command.
It was not the only one. As Japanese forces slowly expanded their Balkan bridgehead they won victory after victory against Austrian and Bavarian troops.
The crushing defeats inflicted by Imperial troops generated in them a contempt for enemies who hitherto had been seen as worthy of greater respect.
Desperate to evict Japanese forces, both Austria and Bavaria committed thousand of soldiers, but every time they were checked and repulsed.
Field Marshal Maeda and General Miura began to view their forces as invincible. The Russians - once a blessed source of relief - were now seen as dangerous rivals whom Japan would have to outstrip in order to gain a free hand in dictating terms to Austria.
Japanese efforts were redoubled, and in 1794 the city of Vienna itself fell to Imperial forces. The loss of their capital stung the Austrian army out of its complacency and it began to move to engage Maeda's forces. Two years earlier and this would have provoked a swift withdrawal, but after so many crushing victories the Field Marshal could not believe even 200,000 Austrians could threaten his 40,000 troops.
NB - Not sure why these casualties figures are so off, but I had to reload in the middle of the battle, so that might have something to do with it.
The Battle of Steiermark was to prove him very wrong. Although individual Japanese soldiers were more than a match for their Austrian counterparts, they were overwhelmed by sheer force of numbers. With all his forces in full retreat, Maeda's Balkan campaign was unravelling before his eyes.