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unmerged(51378)

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Dec 5, 2005
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The Seagulls of the Mediterranean - An Aragonese AAR

Normal/Normal
1.09/AGCEEP 1.42 with small modifications
Random Events: ON
Fantasy Events: ON

Aragon, Anno 1419

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State Information

Stability: +2
Ruler: Alfons V (6/5/9)
Treasury: 400
Cultures: Catalan and Italian
Religion: Catholic
Capital: Barcelona, Catalonia
Land Tech: 1
Naval Tech: 1
Trade Level: 1
Infrastructure: 1
Cores: Catalonia, Aragon, Valencia, Gerona, Roussillon, Sicily, Messina, The Baleares, Sardinia and Malta

DP-Sliders

Aristocracy: 7 (10)
Centralization: 4 (10)
Innovativeness: 5 (3)
Mercantilism: 7 (5)
Offensive Doctrine: 5 (10)
Land: 4 (0)
Quality: 5 (10)
Serfdom: 7 (10)

Provinces of Aragon

Catalonia
City: Barcelona
Population: 35 000
Culture: Catalan
Religion: Catholic
Resource: Wine (6)
Tax: 15.4 (Base 13)
Total Income: 23.8
Manpower: 3.5

Aragon
City: Zaragoza
Population: 8000
Culture: Castilian
Religion: Catholic
Resource: Iron (9)
Tax: 5.6 (Base 7)
Total Income: 11.6
Manpower: 0.3

Valencia
City: Valencia
Population: 17 000
Culture: Catalan
Religion: Catholic
Resource: Wine (5)
Tax: 9.9 (Base 9)
Total Income: 16.6
Manpower: 1.3

Gerona
City: Gerona
Population: 6000
Culture: Catalan
Religion: Catholic
Resource: Fish (2)
Tax: 4.4 (Base 4)
Total Income: 9.5
Manpower: 1.3

Roussillon
City: Perpynia
Population: 9000
Culture: Catalan
Religion: Catholic
Resource: Wine (5)
Tax: 5.5 (Base 5)
Total Income: 11.5
Manpower: 1.3

Sicily
City: Palermo
Population: 25000
Culture: Italian
Religion: Catholic
Resource: Wine (6)
Tax: 7.1 (Base 7)
Total Income: 14.5
Manpower: 2.5

Messina
City: Messina
Population: 30000
Culture: Italian
Religion: Catholic
Resource: Fish (3)
Tax: 6.1 (Base 6)
Total Income: 12.3
Manpower: 2.5

The Baleares
City: Palma
Population: 2000
Culture: Catalan
Religion: Catholic
Resource: Fish (2)
Tax: 4.1 (Base 4)
Total Income: 8.6
Manpower: 0.3

Sardinia
City: Cagliari
Population: 3000
Culture: Italian
Religion: Catholic
Resource: Fish (2)
Tax: 4.1 (Base 4)
Total Income: 8.6
Manpower: 0.5

Malta
City: Valetta
Population: 10100
Culture: Maltese
Religion: Catholic
Resource: Fish (2)
Tax: 2.2 (Base 3)
Total Income: 7.8
Manpower: 0.0

Economy

The royal treasury is rich with it's 400 ducats. We also have four good provinces, Catalonia, Valencia, Sicily and Messina and a few decent ones.

We have 2 merchants in Liguria, and 1 respectively in Tago and Lyonnais, where most of our iberian holdings is concentrated.

Diplomacy

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We start with a weak vassal and allie, Corsica, and we have Royal Marriages and good relations (+150) with both Castile and Portugal. For expansion possibilities, we can either expand into southern France and crush the dauphin Charles, which would be a good move. We can also go for the moslem provinces in north Africa and thereby do a great strike for Christianity. The third option is to attack Naples and thereby greatly strenghting our position in Italy.

Military

Aragon's army consists of 20 000 infantry, 5000 cavalry, is stationed in Valencia and is under the command of our king, Alfons V (4-3-4-1). Our navy consists of 2 warships, 10 galleys and 4 transport ships. We have a Support Limit of 40 000.



This is my first AAR. Updates won't be frequent; At some point it might come three updates a day, and sometimes one a month. I hope you'll enjoy this AAR.
 
Part 1: Crossing the Pyréenes

In january 1419, king Alfons of Aragon thought that it was time to start collect taxes outside the province of Catalonia. Under Alfons' father, Ferrán I, the taxes had been very heavy, but in the early years of Alfons' reign, the taxes had been successively lowered, to the point that they became almost non-existant. Taxes was raised in Valencia, Aragon, Gerona, Roussillon, Sicily and Messina. To appease the nobles, he also gave them a bit of new privilegies. It was however not enough to keep them happy, and there was minor unrest. He also decided that it was time to invest more money in the country's infrastructure. Portugal, earlier considered an unimportant country with bad taste, suddenly became a close allie of Aragon.

All these sudden changes made the people believe that the king had gotten himself a new favorite, lurking in the shadows behind the throne. Alfons had always obeyed the noble that was his favorite at the moment, so it's very likely that this rumor was true, but history will never know.

In january the 1st, one year after these reforms, he decided that the crown needed even more income, this time from the fishers on the Balearic Islands and on Sardinia.

June brought important news; The incompetent queen of Napoli had accepted Louis III d'Anjou as her heir and actual ruler. Alfons was furious! Napoli was his, not some petty noble from France! He quickly recruited a mercenary army consisting of 10 000 men led by the italian mercenary Braccio da Montone (4-4-4-1).

However, in northern France happened a serie of events that made him change his mind and sail the army back to Barcelona. During the last years, the english king Henry V had been messing around in France with the hope of taking the french throne for himself. The french king Charles the Mad could offer little resistance, and the dauphin Charles wasn't strong enough to strike back... yet... Both sides new that Aragon was the only country that had the strength to ensure the victory for either side, as all other strong powers was too far away or too busy. The two rules anxiously looked at every move the aragonese army did. And then it happened. For some unknown reason, Charles decided too support the Hussites in Bohemia, resulting in that every allie left them. Louis d'Anjou, afraid of the english taking his northern holdings, joined the aragonese alliance for protection and Savoy joined the northern italian alliance. Alfons wished that Provence wouldn't exist but he though that instead of conquering them with weapons, he could marry a relative to Louis and maybe inherit Provence at some point. England succeded in defeating the mad king of France, and on July the 5th the Treaty of Troyes. This ensured England Burgundy's support in the struggle for France. The 23th of July, 1421 marked England and Burgundy's synched invasion of southern France. The time had come. Two days later, Navarra joined Aragon with the dream of glorious conquests. On the 14th of September, the italian mercenary cavalry army, La Coronela, crossed the Pyréenes, looted Languedoc on his way to Lyon and with his stronger force forced Burgundy to let him lead the siege. In the meantime, Alfons' infantrybased army of 7000 men marched on towards Toulouse, which they reached on October the 28th.

The 1th of November was an important day: At the same time that an army loyal to Charles was crushed outside Lyon, Alfons' son Juan and Xarles III of Navarra's daughter Blanca was married in Gerona. In the camp outside Toulouse, a diplomat from Bourbonnais visited Alfons to gratulate him and give him an offer from the duke: If Alfons sweared that he would not attack Bourbonnais, he would get the right to march his troops without anyone hindering him through the duke's domains. Alfons gladely signed the paper as he had tried to find a way to go towards the northern parts of the Kingdom of Borges while avoiding the dauphin's large armies, but he had failed. This allowed Alfons' armies to lay siege on Tours, Sables d'Olonnes and Poitiers. When the dauphin army heard that Charles was locked inside Tours, they quickly marched there through Auvergne. The smaller force assumed that the commander would keep moving towards Tours to prevent more such attempts. However, a messenger rode fast too the commander and told him that the force had departed for Limousin. The force didn't expect anything. That would be their doom. When the army got there, they had nowhere to flee and they were easily massacred.

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The situation in February, 1422

Them having a short way too break the siege of the hard pressed Toulouse, Alfons pressed even harder too capture Toulouse, as he thought that having the city would be in their favor. The extra pressure had desired effects; a few days later, at February the 19th, Toulouse fell. The army did never do any attempt to rescue Toulouse. Their move to destroy the small cavalryforce actually hit back on them more than Aragon; They killed 5000 cavalry, but lost 300 cavalry and 3000 infantry and if they hadn't frightened Alfons, Toulouse might have been able too hold their ground for a couple of months more. A month earlier, Lyon had fallen to Montone's forces.

After these incidents, Alfons understood that he could not stand against a larger dauphin army. To strenghten his army, a total of 6000 farmers from Roussillon were trained into cavalry. He still wasn't satisfied and in january the next year, 6000 more farmers was trained.

The province known as Poitou surrendered at the 11th of March, 1423. Almost exactly four months later, Limousin fell to Aragon. One week later Alfons decided to support a new antipope as revenge since the pope was the one that brought Louis d'Anjou too Napoli in the first place.

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The situation in January, 1424

On the 11th of June, Alfons decided to support a new anti-pope as revenge against the pope who had brought Louis III d'Anjou to Napoli in the first place.

In the month of January, Anno 1424, Provence annexed Orléans and Tours fell to Alfons himself.



Part 1 ends on the 6th of April, when England launched their invasion towards Anjou.
 
Last edited:
Part II: The Dauphin's Collapse

Like earlier said, England thought that they had the strenght to match Aragon. How wrong weren't they...

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The Attack Plan

Immediately, Bordeaux and Paris was put under siege. A small regiment of catalan farmers got the opportunity to plunder Caux, as long as 35% of the goods went to the Royal Crown of Aragon. However, Aragon's chances to win were severly decimated when general Montone was severly wounded during a minor raid against a little village outside Paris at the 4th of June. An old veteran from the great Englo-French wars managed to break through the lines and cut Montone's right arm off and Montone fainted. Despite this, victory against the farmers very easy, and the old soldier were captured. He was tortured and impalemented outside the gates of Paris to warn other villagers from opposing the might of Aragon. Two days later, when Montone woke up again, he killed himself rather than life a life with only one arm.

One month later, a few soldier from the regiment that had plundered Caux appeared. After their last sending of goods to the army in Paris, they had drunk to much and was surprised by an english army. Only 300 men of the original force had survived.

On 13th of June, Regent Bedford of England wanted Burgundy's help in further war actions and so he granted Champagne and Nivernais to duke Philip the Good.

In July, the Dauphin's last hold, the province of Vendée, fell to Alfons V's forces who had kept it besieged for ages. He tried to convince dauphin Charles that he had no hope anymore and tried to get him to sign a peace where he granted Guyenne, Dauphiné, Lyonnais, Limousin and Poitou but he promptly refused. Everyone loyal to him would turn against him. Not even after getting the promise to become count of an independent Sardinia if he accepted. Alfons took the Dauphin with him and marched towards Paris.

He got the chance to show Charles his military might outside Orléans, where he defeated the main bulk of Brittany's army. It might be frustration that made Bedford blind, but the main english army was sent to sack Lissbon.

December saw the fall of Paris to Alfons, and english sympatisans throughout southern France begun uprisings. Many castles and cities were captured and added to the french posisions in France.

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The Results of the Uprisings

The 1st of May was a happy day for all of Aragon's inhabitants as the roads were upgraded throughout the entire realm. Alfons' investing in Infrastructure had given desired results. To celebrate, Alfons crushed Brittany's recovering forces, this time outsode Le Mans.

On the 19th of February, Normandie and Limousin fell. On the 22th of April, an army rebelling against english rule appeared outside Poitiers. Very late, the commanders noticed that it was in fact english soldiers in disguise. When they understood that they were indisguised, they attacked but failed. Stimulated by the victory, the army outside Bordeaux was successfull in their siege.

On the 7th of January, 1427, peace was at last reached with the Dauphin. Aragon would get the rich city of Lyon and her and her allies would share 50 ducats. To fund further war actions, a successfull bailiff from Milano was sent to Lyon. The peace deal was very popular among the nobles and to help in the war, together they collected 100 ducats that was sent as a gift to Alfons.

The coming four months marked the falll of Bretagne, Poitou and Vendée. On the 27th of May, Alfons' Army reached Morbihan and killed the forces there. On February the 4th, an english turistboat with 2000 retired soldiers reached Mallorca.

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Some english guys celebrating the landing

The soldiers was so pleased with their holiday that they wrote a letter to Bedford, convincing him to give Alfons an offer of a good peacedeal.

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The very favorable peace deal

After the fall of Armor (28th of March) and Morbihan (2nd of April), Brittany was totally in the hands of Alfons and was made an aragonese puppet. Everyone however wasn't as glad over this as Alfons and a man started to find volontaires for an unprising in Poitou. On the November the 1st, they approached Poitiers. 2000 brave soldiers from Provence managed to hold them off.

As Alfons wasn't sure if the revolt was directed towards rule from Aragon in general or the local ruler himself, the following year, he reformed the governement to allow for more royal direct control over his subjects. A skilled bailiff succeded the governor of Poitou. All this was directed from Alfons' ship, as he was sailing to Marseille. After the landing there on 24th of March. His illegitime son Fadrique had already been sent with a fast ship to be married to Philip's daughter Marguerite. With her was sent a great gift to Philip himself, to allow the aragonese to march through his country towards Brabant. Alfons marched through Savoy, Bugundy and Champagne. When they finally reached the city of Luxembourgh, they were very surprised to see the burgundian cross over the castle. Philip had inherited Brabant as early as the 2nd of August without Alfons' knowledge. Alfons was furious and offended declared that the marriage was unacceptable. He turned around to march towards Marseille again.

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The Borders after the Hundred Years' War, Part I
 
Grundius said:
You actually helped England to win the HYW. Good luck with further exploits.

Yeah, I know, but it wasn't that I meant to do it or anything. Heck, I knew about the event, so I quickly offered peace and thought that, whatever, if the events is so ugly as it was earlier, I would reserve myself the right to reload. But it wasn't triggered for several years and then BANG!
 
SunZyl said:
Yeah, I know, but it wasn't that I meant to do it or anything. Heck, I knew about the event, so I quickly offered peace and thought that, whatever, if the events is so ugly as it was earlier, I would reserve myself the right to reload. But it wasn't triggered for several years and then BANG!

I'm not saying you did mean to do it :D. Plus, you took quite a few provs from England later on.

Plus, you put Burgundy in a good position. Try to kick England from France but to keep Burgundy from becoming France. If you become Spain, you might inherit quite a lot from Burgundy.
 
Grundius said:
I'm not saying you did mean to do it :D. Plus, you took quite a few provs from England later on.

Plus, you put Burgundy in a good position. Try to kick England from France but to keep Burgundy from becoming France. If you become Spain, you might inherit quite a lot from Burgundy.

I'm not gonna become Spain. Then I would play Castile so I could gain portugese culture. ;)
 
Duke of Wellington said:
Good result in that war. You are looking very powerful there now. Do you plan to be friendly with Castile or take lots of their land?

The answer is none of these. I'll try to go more for mediterranean positions, and will help Portugal get Castile with the Fantasy Events' help.
 
Duke of Wellington said:
Interesting angle on that. Should be good. What do you need to do to get them to take Castile?

Basically make them control all of Castile's starting provinces except The Canary Islands, before 1479. This would make Portugal inherit them and gain cores, and have becoming Spain as A choice but I swapt the choices as it doesn't make any sense. No portuguese explorers, generals or events is adapted, so I'm eagerly waiting for a pack planned by some guys on the AGCEEP to make it a more Portugalbased Spain.
 
SunZyl said:
Basically make them control all of Castile's starting provinces except The Canary Islands, before 1479. This would make Portugal inherit them and gain cores, and have becoming Spain as A choice but I swapt the choices as it doesn't make any sense. No portuguese explorers, generals or events is adapted, so I'm eagerly waiting for a pack planned by some guys on the AGCEEP to make it a more Portugalbased Spain.
That will be quite a challenge to get the ai to do that.
 
Duke of Wellington said:
That will be quite a challenge to get the ai to do that.

Duke is absolutely right. To get the AI to conquer provinces on such a massive scale takes at least a very long time. Consider that if you yourself, without being able to assault fortresses, were to undertake something like that. It would take two, perhaps three years to take control of all their provinces. The AI will need more time, since they more often than not siege provinces one or two at a time, and do not move on quickly. Plus, Portugal might not even have a large enough army. So, if you are going to do this, well, I wish you good luck. And if you succeed, respect.