In The Service of Our Most Devoutly Catholic EmperAAR

Questioned Ideology (1419-1450)
By 1419 the once Glorious Byzantine Empire had been reduced to a couple cities, and a solitary questioned lingered on the minds of all who dared to question. Looking upon the power and glory witch had recently came about in Western Europe, did we choose the proper path? Is our faith the true faith? This question would lead Byzantium into the lime light of European Politics, and with it begin a new era in the Roman Empires long and illustrious history.

The Athenian Wars (1419-1421)
Literally hordes of Byzantines marched through the streets of Constantinople to wish their loved ones a safe trip home. The Empire had just recently declared war on the Crusader State of Athens, and knowing that the skeleton army of two thousand men stood no chance against the Athenians the Emperor, in a last ditch effort to salvage the empire, sent the Roman Army to deal with Athens. The people of Constantinople where in a good mode. They felt that this war would end swiftly with a Byzantine Victory, but fate was to play a cruel joke on them. For at this very moment Tuscany (Athens Ally) and the Papal States wear in the middle of negotiations for an alliance. By the end of the month the details had been worked out and the Papal States wasted no time in declaring war on Byzantium, and advancing its army to Constantinople where they where to lay siege for more than two years. Although Athens fell quickly to the Roman Armies superior numbers, Tuscany had by this time sent an army to siege Morea, and with Papal support had over twenty-thousand men pillaging the province. Fortunately conscription in the newly acquired Athens helped the Roman Army to reach a suitable size to attempt to break the Italians siege, and with that the Roman Army set off for Morea. At this same time the Roman Fleet begun to win striking defeats over the Papal States off the coast of Constantinople, and with in no time had them fleeing from the Aegean Sea all together. Leaving their Armies to rote on the fields outside Constantinople, and within the month there was not enough men left to carry on with the siege. By now the Roman Army had reached Morea and the bloody battle of Nafplion had begun. In a magnificent demonstration the Roman Army had the Italian Armies fleeing for their lives. With this the Italians knew their days where numbered, and quickly asked for a reasonable peace in witch Byzantium gave the Papal States 3 ducats to accept their claims on their newly acquired land in Athens.

Sorry I did not get to finish this section (to 1450) as I had planned but I have ran out of time and would like to get some kind of critique on my first post by the time I get back. So please tell me how I am doing and if there is any thing I should do in future post to make it easier to read. Also for all those who are looking for how to win with Byzantium notice how I used quick expansion into Athens and then quick peace with her allies This will leave me open to prepare for the war for the Ottomans and give me breathing room even if Constantinople falls to the Turks, because I still have two provinces to produce soldiers in. Another thing the first DP slider move I made was from Quality to Quantity. I prefer hordes of Calvary early on, as opposed to "crack troops," but not totally Calvary. In fact right now my army stands at 5k infantry, 15k Calvary. You could have also made the aristocracy strong witch makes calvary cheeper as well. Also notice how picking off small enemy fleets helped as well. I could more than likely have moved into Italy right then, but that is not very Catholic now is it? Oh, and one more thing, my entire funds (after making it to zero) are put into military tech.
PS. Thank Laguish, and Norgesvenn for the complements

The Short Peace (1421-1422)
Having took Athens, and shown their ability to survive. Byzantium now set out to find new allies, because Trebizond, Byzantium's only ally, had fallen to the White Sheep during the Athenian Wars when the Byzantines could offer no support. Understanding that naval supremacy would offer a considerable advantage over the Ottomans, the Byzantines opted to pursue good relations with Venice and her allies Naples, and Ragusa. So by the end of the month the Treaty of Taranto had been signed, and the Byzantines felt they had found a strong alliance witch would support them in the Balkans. Nothing could have been further from the truth because in less than a year the Byzantines would enter three consecutive wars witch would secure their spot as the premier power in the Balkans, but once again the Byzantines must face these troubling times alone.

The Wars of Disillusion (1422-1439)
As of late it has been apparent that the Ottomans where on the verge of collapse. Without side invaders from Walchia, Moldavia, and Serbia the Ottoman armies are looking weaker than ever. Byzantium, although not truly ready for war again, could not let this opportunity pass them by. So the maids of Constantinople once again had to wish their loved ones a fine farewell, and although the Treaty of Taranto proved to be worth less than the paper it was written on Byzantium looked ahead to the future with hope. The Roman Army easily took Bursa, and was now moving into Rumelia to assist the Romanians in their siege. At the end of the month it was the Byzantine flag witch was flying proudly over the city of Varna, and the Emperor, who was by this time leading the armies personally, felt it was time to take Macedonia. While riding through the country side there was not a man who was not worried of where the Ottoman armies could possibly be. They knew surely that their once mighty country could not have fallen so easily, but no real threat was to be seen through out the entire war and the Ottomans proved to be nothing more than a hollow shell of their former selves. Peace with Walchia and her allies came in 1425 while the Roman Army was in Ankara sweeping up what remained of the Ottoman threat. Then unexpectedly Walchia declared war on Byzantium since their armies where so far from home. This forced the Emperor to make a quick peace with the Ottomans in witch Byzantium gained all of the Turks European lands, and Symara. The Romanian troops of Walchia proved their inferiority to the Roman Army as Byzantium moved it's war hardened army through Bulgaria, and seized the Bucharest it's self with in the year. Although her allies fared well and in fact had taken Silistra, and where moving towards Varna the Walchian leader knew little of this when he surrendered Bajuk, Bulgaria, and Kosovo to the Emperor personally in 1428. Although at this time peace was obtained Byzantium once again was without allies so when Albania offered an alliance the Emperor quickly accepted, but by the end of the year the Albanians had made their true intentions clear by declaring war on Ragusa, who was aligned with Venice and Naples. To make matters worse the Union of Churches was written, and the Emperor was forced to sign during the first stages of war. This set back the Byzantines three years thanks to revolts and destructive attacks by Venice, but the Byzantines prevailed and by 1437 the Emperor was standing at the gates of Ragusa. After that the war was quick, and Byzantium accepted a fair peace in witch they gained Dalmantia, and all of the Venetian Mediterranean Empire. The year was now 1449 and Byzantium was hopeful that they would be aloud a peaceful reconsolidating of their newly gained holdings, but only time would tell weather this was possible or not.

Sorry the last part was so long, but I really was at war for almost 17 years straight. It was sad that not one of those countries had even tried to put up a true fight out side of Venice in Greece, but the WE by the end was just as troublesome as the wars them selves, and I was ready for peace. Besides conversion has to be my #1 priority right now because although I am able to keep my land with minimal revolts right now I am going to need a strong base of power to take on all of those Muslim countries later on. I would post pics but I do not have a site to make a pathway and I have no clue how to do it beyond that. Once again a lesson for all those beginners on how to play as Byzantium. It might be exploitation, in fact I never start a war with this in mind, but when war comes my way forget about her allies and go straight after the source of the war and then demand as much land as you can including any Shields of yours that the countries allies happen to be holding. I let Venice off easy, but I could have taken every thing up to Italy from her with no problem, and if this is your first game you might want to do just that. But I am on very hard and doing so would have almost assured me more Bad Boy wars than I can handle so I let Venice slide. Also during peace you have to make your armies smaller than during war so that you can truely get some where in tech, but do not worry about that because your funds go up pretty fast and the army can stand powerfull within 6 months of DOW, and that is more than enough time in this game. No one is going to destroy a 10+ province country in 6 months! At least not in the 1400s.

The Relative Peace and Reconstruction (1439-1450)
After years of war Byzantium was in an odd position. They had a catholic Emperor, who by this time had decided that without his newly found Catholic roots God would have surely destroyed the Empire, and a peasantry that still firmly believed in the teachings of Orthodoxy. This lead Byzantium into an era of Reconstruction witch lasted until the War of Dniester, witch history has took the privilege to calling it. Byzantium took care to draw its self closer to Albania, and even made several costly attempts at conversion. Of these attempts only the people of Symara and Morea took the new faith of their masters, and Hellas and Bulgaria lead zealous revolts in an attempt to stop the conversions. Constantinople it's self had been converted through less civilized means of butchery and inquisition witch would leave the city fifteen hundred souls less than before the institutions had been made. This also left a bad taste in the mouths of the Orthodox community witch would not be gone for many years to come. But it would be miss leading to say that this was only a time of persecution and religion because the Emperor did elect many tax collectors (only in provinces witch had converted) and gained much wisdom in the Art of War.

I was lucky in the case of Constantinople witch would have coast me 756$ to convert by this time. I got an event called "Conversion by the Sword" witch helped me in this matter, and I must say with out it I do not know how many years it would have taken me to make thes conversions. I wasted almost every cent I had in making the other four atempts (in fact if memory serves me corect it was about 700$) and emptied my coffers for many years to come, but in the end I fell that it was worth it because now I am a couple steps closer to whipping Orthidoxy off the map forever in the South East.

The Orthodox Coalition and The War of the Dniester (1450-1456)
It was a bitter cold night in November when looking across the now eerily lighted horizon that the lookouts in the province of Rumelia seen what appeared to be the combined arms of Romanians on the move. At once one of the guard hoped on his horse and hastily set out for the capital city of Byzantium, Constantinople. Upon arriving he found the Emperor still asleep, and attempting to push past the guards almost found himself beheaded. Luckily hearing of his grave news the guards had him announced to the Emperor, and this was to be the start of what was known as the Orthodox Coalition. So it appears that the war was started thanks to the recent genocide of Orthodox people in the capital city, and in an attempt to place a more "suitable leader" on the throne Walchia, and Moldavia had declared war. At this point the Emperor called for a state of emergency in witch all technological progression was stooped and all money was immediately sent to the state for conscription. Hoping the fortress of Varna would hold back the Romanians, and Serbian who by now had come to arms against Byzantium as well the Emperor begun to conscript, and by the beginning of summer had an army of forty-thousand men at his disposal. Fortunately the winter had not been kind to the Romanians, nor their allies the Serbians, and Byzantium now looked at a combined army of thirty-thousand in Rumelia, and ten thousand to the West in Kosovo. Both the walls of Varna and Nish had proved worth their weight in gold, and the attackers had not been able to make little more than a dent in these fortresses. So the Roman Army was once again on the move. Their mighty army must fight off the Romanians to at last relieve Varna, and allow supplies to once again reach the more northern cities of Byzantium. The Battle of Rumelia was quick and fierce, and by the end of that day the ground was soaked in more than twenty-thousand Romanian soldiers blood. The Roman Army faired much better loosing less than ten thousand men, and splitting their forces set out to fight the Serbs in the West and track down what was left of the Romanian forces to the North. The Romanians did not stand a chance and in the Battle of the Danube lost another half of the forces. This left Bucharest open to attack witch promptly made the Roman Army turn west to attack the powerful city. In Kosovo their was no problems with the Serbs who promptly retreated to their own soil leaving Byzantium open to take their capital, Beograd, as well. After a successful siege in Bucharest the Walchians promptly surrendered there weakened country, and this left Moldavia to its fate. Iasi quickly fell to the Roman Army, and almost simultaneously the Serbians accepted peace in witch Byzantium gained Bosnia.

Fearing that the Byzantines where growing to powerful Poland took no time in declaring war on them following Byzantine acceptance of Moldavia's annexation. Lithuania followed suit soon after, and Byzantium once again found it's self at war. Little did Poland nor their ally know, but Byzantium had been building an army in Constantinople through out the entire war, and expecting reparations from one country or another was prepared for war. Pulling back the Roman Army to Walchia, they waited until the detachment in Serbia, and the reserves in Therace arched them. At this time Poland moved into Moldavia, and their ally went into Bajuk. At last the army had its men in place, and combined it reach little less than fifty-thousand men. Once again splitting its army into twenty-five thousand men each they set off to destroy Poland. The battles, if you could call them that, where over in no time, and Byzantium begun a counter attack into Poland it self. This was to be known as the War of the Dniester. Byzantium took Jedisan easily, but to the West in Podolia the constant flood of Polish troops eventually led to retreat. Unfortunately for Poland the army witch had recently took Jedisan moved directly to Podolia, and with almost no effort had once again destroyed the forces guarding above mentioned land. From here on out the war was to be nothing less than mass genocide on Poland's part. By sending fresh recruits all most monthly into the mouth of the Roman Army support for the war in Poland was smashed, and Byzantium was able to quickly get peace for Jedisan, Podolia, and about 300$.

Sorry about how long some of the paragraphs are, but usually (grant the exception of "The Wars of Disillusion") they are complete thoughts. Witch makes it hard for my mind to find proper stopping points in, but I did try in the last one. So I hope that helps a little To the first time Byzantine players, you might want to take note of the fact that both of these wars where in actuality Bad Boy wars. The first one was because Moldavia had proper shields on me, and I had high Bad Boy points, and the second was just plain out a "Quite Fighting Every One" war. So if you are pushing forward like I was you might want to take the time to build an army in the province with the highest man power, usually your capital, and be ready for the Bad Boy wars witch will follow annexing so many countries

The tech gap should not grow quite as wide being as I am Catholic, and I plane on being rather peaceful until the Reformation at witch time I get my next slider. That will allow me to move directly into the middle east without fear of religious revolts, and even then I am not going to annex any one until my name is honorable again. Since they are Muslim and I am keeping in my shields I will not gain any BB points in any of those wars, and as a little side note (granted it is ahead of time right now) I have converted another 3 provinces and the Papal States is one of my best friends. My borders are fairly safe because my alliance is gigantic, and no one want a war with two majors (Hungary, and Byzantium) plus the Papal States witch leaves you open to all of the Catholic world. So my high Bad Boy points really does not bother me all that much But I have annexed three countries, and taken another 15 provinces. Witch leaves we with a grand total of like 22 or 23 Bad Boy points if I am adding right, and that is a lot considering it is only 1470.......

nahh, like I said Moldavia had a shield, and Poland was just scared that I was growing to powerfull (does AI do that? If not that is what it apeared to be).