History of Scotland & my 1st AAR

First Book1419 - 1519
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Chapter I: The renewed Anglo-Scottish hostility 1419-1420

During the fall of 1418 the truce of 1414 between Scotland and England ended as Scottish nobles wasn`t able to reach an agreement that would have kept the uneasy peace between both nations.

Some nobles went quite far and wanted to submit to previous English demands of full retreat from the, primarily Anglo-French war and acknowledgement of English ownership of Northumberland and English influence in Ireland. Those nobles feared the upcoming restlesness among peasants along with financial problems of the kingdom. They questioned finally the reliability of Scottisch soldiers, in first place serfs who`s motivation to fight for their lords was questionable. But most nobles had still enough confidence in their army, and not in least their leader, the very able general Douglas.

Considering the fact that most English troops were fighting the French on the continent, on the islands the Scottisch even had a small mayority in quantity of soldiers. Scottisch army consisted of approximately 25k soldiers, while the English had maybe as much as 20k present. However, the English had more available resources to build and keep up a much bigger army.

The regent Robert, as the king James I was still imprisoned by the English, was aware of the fact that the morale of his soldiers was generaly bad. He tried to enforce a better treatment of peasants on his lords with and act in january 1419 which lessened a bit the burden of opression for peasants in Scotland. However, serfdom was still eminent in Scottisch society.

The war did not really continue till march 1419, when Scottisch army led by Douglas met English Army led by the brilliant leader Beauchamp at Cheviot Hills. The Scottisch won, however with a lot of casualties. The exhausted soldiers were a few days later beaten at Rotbury and forced back to Scotland. In may Beauchamp arrived with 12000 men at the foot of Lammermuir hills, just a few miles from Edinburgh where he met Douglas 9000 badequiped and demoralized soldiers. The outcome was clear and Douglas fled with only about 5000 men left into the mountains.

The ongoing quarrels between Scottisch nobility did not allow for more troops as the king was not able to afford it. Douglas received finally in august 1419 4000 additional cavalry which made the current Scottisch Army consisting of less than 10000 men. At the same moment Beachamp was besieging Edinburgh. In november the city was almost taken. The king and most nobles were already in Aberdeen in the north.

The English however did not continue the siege and withdrew their troops in december. On february the 5th England and France signed a treaty which thus meant the retreat from the war for England as a whole. The treaty wasn`t ratified by Scottisch nobles-counsel but the king ordered cease of military activity anyway.

Scotland emerged from the short war pillaged and military weakened. The treasury was empty while army as good as non-existing. It did however retain it`s territory and independence. In october Scotland signed it`s own treaty with Burgundy, thus ending for the moment it`s commitment in the 100-years war. At the moment however, Scotland had already found a new enemy to fight...

Chapter II: Douglas' Invasion of Ireland 1420-1422

The lack of income, prestige and power for bothe the king and the nobles resulted in a bold attack on the relatively powerless and disunified Ireland. Douglas, who led the expedition promised the king a quick and cheap victory. In june 1420 Scottish troops landed and conquered Connaught and in august 1420 Munster.

But the resistance among the Irish was bigger than Douglas expected. Scottisch second army was beaten while attacking the capital at Ulster. 3000 men died adn the Irish quickly regained control of Connaught. Douglas, besieging irish town of Wexford in Leinster with his left 6000 men wasn`t able to move before the town fell during summer of 1421.

His first charge of a new created Irish army in Connaught failed however. Also the second charge, though inflicting much damage on the Irish, did not end in win. Robert had to restructure his financies to aid his general with additional 10000 troops, of which most arrived during spring 1422 and finally enabled Douglas to defeat irish resistance and gain control of Connaugh.

A second part of that army was already besieging the capital sice the fall of 1421. The city fell in august 1422 and the war ended with Scottisch gains of Connaight, Munster and Leinster. Though succesfull regarding the final result and the acquired territory, the war laid a burden on state economy because of repayment of the loans the kingdom had to take to continue the war.

Generally, the expected profit of the war wasn`t remarkable at the moment. Scotland gained territory but the provinces weren`t very rich, nor were the cities populous. Although strategically the acquired possesions were sure of heavy importance, at the same time the strategical interests of England were treatened.

Chapter III: New internal and external conflicts: Return of James I and 2nd invasion of Ireland 1424-1425

The war against Ireland hasn`t ended yet but Scotland already commited itself into new continental war. Auvergne, one of French allies, attacked Stassbourg and it`s ally Helvetia. Scotland, affraid of losing possible allies against England, complied and declared war on Strassbourg in july 1422. The Scotts however did not contribute much to the war. Robert saw no reasons for sending it`s already weak and exhausted armies to the continent. He accepted as well for the sake of peace a treaty with England which gave the later free right of passage.

Scottisch goverment had enough problems at home already: During spring of 1423 the poor policies of goverment caused hugh loses of trade and infrastructural investments. Besides that the expensive wars caused a fast growing inflation. It all apllied for keeping up the peace with neighbours and not commiting themselves to heavy burdens of war.

But war was still a possibility. During 1423 many reports were made of fast English rearment. Many great generlas returned from the continent and English army was rebuilt to appr. 40000 men, only on the islands. In 1424 the army in england counted already more than 55000 men. Compared to that Scotland has only 6000 cavalry in Scotland and 8000 men, mostly cavalry as well in Irish possesions.

In april, the ransom of 200 gold was paid to English to free James I. After the king returned he revenged his years in prison with killing some of his noble opponents and declining their power. That kind of actions caused some unrest in the country as the nobles feared for their lives. That fear however made some economical reforms possible as well.

The short peace for Scotland ended when England declared war on Ireland in june 1424. The Scottish, affraid for further strenghtening of England on the isles. declared war on Ireland as well, to prevent English conquest, but at the same time breaking the truce. The unhonorable action, as well as new burdens of war caused angriness among the population. Some provinces rebelled as well. This time however the war lasted for just a short time. In january 1425 Belfast fell to the Scots and a treaty was signed which incorporated Ulster into Scotland.

The continental wars though continued, although in february 1425 Auvergne and Strassburg signed a treaty, thus ending the war. However, the former allies of Ireland, Kleves, Munster and Navarre rejected Scottisch peaceoffer. Only in june 1425 that war ended as well.

Chapter IV: Economical struggles of James I and a tenous peace with England 1425-1431

The burdens caused by wars and by the heavy ransom paid to the English brought Scottish economy in many troubles. James I had to use everything he could to repay Scottish hughe debts. This policy led to renewed fast grow of inflation which in 1427 was already 4%.

At the same moment there was a constant fear of England. The English however were commited in wars against Kleve and Navarra already, and after the duchy of Orleans declared it`s independence in 1426, the English were kept away from possible invasion on Scotland.

However, continuing English rearment on the islands was alarming. In 1427 the English had already more than 100.000 soldiers stationned around London. Compared to this, they only kept 10.000 men in their French possesions. James I still lacked funds for more army, which at that moment was not at all enough to defend the country if England would attack. The funds that eventually came free were rather used for fortifications of previously unfortified Irish towns (Galway in 1428, Cork in 1430).

Thanks to Bourbonais, Scotland entered new war, against Orleans this time, in 1428. Agressive Bourbonais started a war as well against Auvergne the same year, their former ally, who dishonored the alliance at the start of war against Orleans.
And again Scotland joined, at least formally. The English danger became greately alarming when the English cancelled the treaty of free passage in december 1428. In 1429 Scotland signed white peace with Auvergne. The war with Orleans ended as well when France annexed the tiny state.

To improve his position and tights with it`s allies, James prepared royal marriages with France, concerning one of his daughters, and with Lorraine, where his niece married the duke`s brother. In diplomatic efforts with England the things didn`t work out that well. A scandal at the court caused by a small diplomatic incident that was blowed out of proportions heavily deteriorated Anglo-Scottisch relations.

Chapter V: Relative Peace and Prosperity of late days of James I` reign 1431-1437

As during the late 20`s the uneasy peace continued, the economical situation of Scotland started to improve. The inflation was still growing but the fast grow of 0.30% a year during 1420-1425 now fell back to less than 0.10% a year. Royal treasury started to gain from trade in the centers of flandres.

Also new technological gains improved infrastructure and trade in early 30`s and enabled new economical reforms, which included tax-reform in 1432 when James I installed bailiffs in the southern Scottisch cities. Other cities followed later. Technologies affected warfare as well, when in 1433 Scottisch ingenieurs developed a way to build stronger fortifications. The technology due to constant lack of funds would however not be used in practice before 1445.

The situation even did not change with new continental war between France and Brittany, which Scotland again formally attended, however without real use of troops. Brittany was annexed by France in 1433. Further relief was English involvement with the reconquista in Spain during 1430-1432, what led to decrease of the amount of English soldiers on the isles to just more than 40.000 in 1431 and even less than 25.000 in 1432.

When the war ended during winter 1432-33 however, English rearment on the island started again as many soldiers came back to England. Early in 1433 England had again more than 60.000 soldiers. In 1434 the English placed an army in the north, just at ht eother side of the Anglo-Scottisch border. The tensions started to grow. However as England moved more troops to the north during 1434, the Scotts did particularily nothing.

The king could not afford new armies so Scotland hoped only that England would find another distraction soon. In 1435 Papal States joined the Anglo-Aragonese alliance. During the summer of 1435 Beauchamp arrived in the English-controlled part of Eire with a small division of 4000 men. Next blow to Scotisch defense was the death of general Douglas in august 1435.

Douglas had been the best general of Scotland during the long years of 100-years war and was the hero of Irish invasions. His death brought the leading of troops in Scotland in hands of the unexperienced colonel Arran while colonel Dundale, responible for capture of belfast during 2nd Irish invasion, led now the irish army. In february 1436 the king decided to start reinforcement of the army. 3000 more cavalry were comissioned in february, 3000 more would come during the year.

The army took strategically defensive positions in the hills of the Highlands. The commission of new armies meant a change in economical policy which became again a war-economy, followed by new increase of inflationgrowth to pay for the new armies. However, it were other matters that would dominate Scottisch minds in the following years.

Re to reactions:

@Lord Durham
Thanks for your advice, I will use it Should have thought about that in the first place... I didn`t really notice it as I made the text in Notepad and just copy-pasted it. But corrected it in chapter V
@Bismarck
I wanted to start a game with Scotland for long time, but everytime something came between... new patches, new OS, harddrive broken, modem died.... so now finally I got to it... Sorry if I have beaten you up to it
@MrT
Well, actually I expected it to be harder, but France and England soon signed peace and since then actually nothing happened... they just won`t attack till now... Bourbonais did well btw till they were diploannexed by France (more about it in chapter VI)

Originally posted by King Of Nines
i'm also doing my first aar right now, so welcome to the community. i played scotland in EU1 and did fairly well with them, taking several english provinces in several wars. my best advice would be to ally with france or spain as soon as possible, particularly france since england has a good portion of their core provinces at the beginning of the game. that way you won't get such a high BB rating for going to war to honor an alliance. plus, france and spain will give you plenty of opportunities for war on the english dogs.

Click to expand...

hehe, that was certainly the idea. In eu2 Scotland starts as french ally against England. Unfortunately (or not, not sure about that yet) the French currently don`t seem to be very interested in fighting the English at the moment, neither the English attack the French... That way i`m only "fighting" remote countries as helvetia and denmark... the biggest problem now is that my relation with france has deteriorated enormously as France is annexing every tiny little country it can get, so i`m not sure how reliable they currently are as ally...well, probably i will find out soon

Chapter VI: Times of Troubles and Restoratrion during first years of James II` reign 1437-1450

The relatively calm years for Scottish national policy since the comeback of James I came abruptly to an end when the king was murdered in february 1437. The king, who`s heir James II was just a little boy left the country to renewed internal struggles between the nobles to gain the power. Most of all suffered the govermental policy of centralization, which now without a strong monarch to support it couldn`t be fully carried out anymore.

However, the goverment managed to keep control in economical matters and to continue the financial policy of James I. In 1439 all of Scotland fell under the same tax-law and during that year also first bailiffs were promoted in Irish possesions. The proces of taxation reforms would be finished in 1442 It became though increasingly tougher to maintain the inflation, which started to grow more rapidly after 1437.

Even when Scottish internal politics became more troublesome, the foreign situation and danger of war decreased a bit in 1438 when England joined war alongside the pope against Siena. Finally, the continously rearming English had found a diversion, but only for a short time. Already in 1439 England accepted tribute from Siena and withdrew from the war. For the goverment a clear sign to support further expansion of the army, which were increased with 4000 more cavalry in 1439. This was however almost nothing in compare to English. When Scotland could only comission about 25.000 men, the English had in 1440 almost 60.000 soldiers on the isles, and about 15.000 more in their french territories.

A new problem started to occure because of an agressive French foreign policy on the continent. The French already annexed Auvergne and Brittany in previous wars. It was followed by diplomatic annexations of both Provence and Bourbonais. The imperialism of France was not populair in Scotland as well and the realationsship between both courts worsened as well as the former great alliance now consisted only of France, Scotland and the tiny and weak Lorraine. The need for the alliance was further questioned by French attack on Helvetia in 1441, which Scotland joined without much enthusiasm. French agression continued with annexations of Palatinate and Helvetia in 1442. The war enede finally in 1443 when France accepted tribute of it last surviving enemy, Saxony.

In 1444 the king had finally enough money to start fortifying of the country according to new technologies already developed during early 30`s. Glasgow was the first city where the fortification was to be upgraded. Aberdeen would follow 4 years later. The king recognized as well the importance of morale of the army. The soldiers were to be motivated by the new law of 1445 which further decreased the heavy burden of serfdom of Scottisch peasants, which now were relatively free in comparison to peasants in most other countries.

International situation didn`t change much to the benefit of Scotland in the following years. The already existing grand alliance of England with the pope and Aragon was expanded with Navarra, Modena and Bavaria, not the biggest enemies of Scotland, but certainly possible victims of French expansionist policy. Nevertheless, the international situation remained peacefull, with France and England both stepping carefully around eachother together with their allies.

In economical terms the 40`s were rather succesfull. The now finished tax-reforms made the military reforms, including the expansion of the army and the earlier noted fortifications possible. Although the inflationgrowth did continue, the goverment started to learn to keep it relatively under control. That it wasn`t always easy is shown by some corruption-scandals which occured during late 40`s and costed the state a lot of money. The authorities did intervene harsh in such cases, prefering temporarily unrest above wild inflation.

In this way the goverment generally managed to restore the relatively prosperous situation of the years before the assasination of James I. After he finally ascended to the throne, this way ending the regency, the new king James II showed the abilities to continue his father good work. Even more important, he did manage to keep Scotland out of costly wars which had laid a heavy burden on Scottish economy during his fathers reign, although most of it was the result of foreign affairs of Scotland`s enemies.

@To all who previously read the first chapters:
Following the advice of Lord Durham I editted the first 4 chapters to make them more legible. I also corrected some of the stupidest spellmistakes (Scottisch...) and other type-mistakes I found.
Finally, I changed a bit the 2nd chapter.

Originally posted by King Of Nines
sounds like france is going nuts in this game. you'll probably find yourself being dragged into more wars than you like at some point. you may want to consider breaking the alliance..... but only after the french go to war with england.

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As long as france is strong it is not a bad ally. Because of my isolated position most war I fought till date weren`t very exhausting. The only enemy which can really harm me at the moment is surely England, but on the other hand, it is at the moment as well the only country to which cost I can hope to expand my territories. And when that happens I want to have a second front on the continent and a strong France is very appropriate for that task (I hope).

Chapter VII: Military Reforms of James II: Prelude to a new Great War, 1450-1455

The 50`s began with a new war between France and Denmark. As usual, the Scottish didn`t bother much with such a far-away war. Although Danmarks ships were occasionally reported along Scottish coast, the Danes did not invade. the war ended in july 1452, with french conquest of Hinterpommern which now became a part of the forming French empire.

In internal policy, James II finally made an end to the quarrels between the nobles that had began with the death of his father. Especially the bold Douglasses formed politically a threat to the king, claiming at first the right to regency, later even the Scottish crown. James II dealt harshly with the family, killed in a duel their mayor claimant of the throne and confiscated their castles and possesions. The confiscations caused some unrest under the nobility who feared the authoritarian regime of the king, but manyr Scottish nobles did not intervene as they weren`t very disappointed with the fall of Douglasses who because of their influency were heavily despised through the kingdom. The obtained funds after the confiscations were used for new fortification works in Edinburgh.

Although the peacefull years continued during the early 50`s, James II pursued further expansion of the army. In 1453 the army was expanded to almost 30.000 soldiers, most stationed in the Highlands. In 1454 9000 new infantery was added to the Scottish regiments and 5000 to the Irish. Money for the expansion of the army came in the first place from the royal treasury, thus leading to increase of inflation. In 1454 the inflation was already 7%, increasing fast with more than 0.2% a year, thus almost equaling the growth of the economical crisis during the 20`s. However, 1454 proved to be economicaly an exceptional year as income was considerably bigger while inflation suddenly decreased to just above 2%.

The long prosperous years were a mayor boost to the state economy. It increased the royal power as well as the king seemed to be succesfull. The succes however boldened the young monarch. The military reforms and the growth of army, made possible due to a healthy economy build up through his fathers reforms, made clear the ambitions of the king. The obvious opponent was England. The question was however if kings ambition was enough to beat the tough English forces.

The English Army emerged strong after a few distant wars in the mediterraneans did not place a heavy burden of English economy. England could use a hughe and well trained army of about 80.000 soldiers in 1452. Moreover, the regiments were led by the most brilliant generals of it`s time like Warwick, York or Salisbury. Further, the country was heavily fortified during the 40`s. Finally, the hughe English fleet secured the seaways to it`s home cities against continental enemies.

Concluding, England was one of the strongest nations in Europe in 1454. A Scottish challenge was in general opinion condemned to fail. Only systematic foreign help or heavy internal unrest in England could prevent an ignomious Scottish defeat.

<<coming up in Chapter VIII: Anglo-Scottish War 1455-56 (hehe, finally >>