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I can assure you that there will be a lot of that! Update is almosr ready, posting later tonight
Thanks for over 15 000 views !
Chapter X, The English war
Act XXXV, Fighting an absent enemy.
When Brittany was dragged into the war against England in September of 1469 the nation was afraid that English troops would be sent across the channel in great numbers, but months passed without any armies being landed in France. Everyone in the coalition as nervous, Where was the enemy?
England had encountered serious problems with the start of this massive regional war, Mary had only reckoned that she would have to fight the army of Liege and she reckoned that her army in Flanders of 14 000 men would be enough to occupy the kingdom. When Brabant and other large European powers joined against England this army was vastly outnumbered and was soon destroyed. The forces of the coalition spent most of 1469 occupying the English castles on the mainland, within a few months they had taken about half of the English castles in the south and north without suffering any setbacks.
The Breton army which was one of the largest in the coalition had still not moved out of Brittany, neither Artur or Claudine wanted to send their men to die in order for the other kingdoms to take the English cities for themselves. Paying for the army was not a welcome task for Claudine, but the task became a lot easier when Brittany received war subsides from most of their strong allies. The first one to pay money to Brittany was the king of Brabant, over the next years he would send vast sums of money to aid the Bretons, after a few months at war Castille also started sending money to the Bretons.
Artur was still inpatient, he made plans to invade England and a couple of times it took persuasion from his mother and the most powerful nobles in Brittany to talk him out of it. I March of 1470, however, he would get his chance to fight the English. 4000 English troops landed in Picardie, one of the few cities in the north that had not been taken by the coalition, when Artur heard this he realized that if these 4000 men were allowed to establish a beachhead in France the English would send more troops over to the mainland. It was because of this that he decided to move the Breton army northwards along the channel coast to defeat the English. As the Bretons entered the province of Picardie the English became aware of the Bretons and they tried to flee northwards, the attempt was futile, the Breton cavalry cut off the retreat of the enemy army and soon they were at the mercy of 16 000 Breton soldiers. The English tried to entrench themselves in a forest, Artur surveyed the ground and the strength of the position and he decided that a frontal attack would do the job. He drew his sword and waved it towards the enemy, the Breton soldiers drew their weapons in response and charged forward. The English stood their ground for a few minutes, but outflanked and assaulted on all sides they lost heart and surrendered. Artur kept true to his nickname and ordered that the prisoners be executed. Breton losses during the battle were only 354 men.
(Battle of Picardie, also know as the massacre of Picardie.)
As Artur was fighting the English along the channel coast Claudine had been challenged by one of her advisors. He was advocating a change of policy and even argued that Claudine had supported wrong ideas. Claudine who was becoming an old woman realized that he was probably right and she agreed that the policy be changed. The switch proved fortunate for Breton research, but Claudine's prestige suffered a serious blow.
After Artur's victory over the English in Picardie he decided to stay in the area for the foreseeable future, the move proved to be most fortunate. The English had decided to try their luck once again, this time they landed about 7000 men in Calais, this army moved inland and aimed to take the Liegeian city of Artois. When Artur, who had been staying in Picardie caught wind of the English plans he moved his army into Artois. Once again the English were to outnumbered to fight the Bretons effectively, but this time they managed to open up an escape route and what remained of the English army was fleeing back to Calais. As the English fled the fields of Artois they left behind 2590 dead men. Breton losses stood at 1060 men. Artur did not waste time by dawdling, he pursued the English back to Calais and managed to catch up with them, Edmund Baffin, the commander of the English army decided that it was useless to fight the Bretons and he surrendered. The English commander expected to be shown quarter, eh had heard about Artur's father and he expected that when he gave up his sword to Artur that it would be returned, this was not the case. When Artur were given the sword he looked at Edmund with piercing eyes and with a swift swing he severed his head. The captured English soldiers were killed without quarter.
News of Artur's victories were greeted with jubilation in Brittany, but the kings and queens of Europe were shocked by his treatment of prisoners, which was completely brutal. There was little respite for the Breton soldiers, after the battle Artur heard that a large English army had invaded and occupied the Brabantian vassal of Gelre. He decided to help out his allies and the Breton soldiers marched into Flanders once more. When Artur arrived in Flanders he was surprised to find a large allied army already present, this was the army of Champagne, commanded by their new king, Thibaut VII. Artur and Thibaut decided to merge on the English force which was besieging the Brabantian capital of s'Hertogenbosch located in the province of Breda. When the coalition force arrived in Breda and was within attacking range of the English camp Thibaut refused to attack before dawn, he claimed this was against the code of chivalry, he went even further and sent a letter to the English, notifying them about when he was going to attack. Artur was furious, but nevertheless he decided to join the attack against the English.
As the huge coalition force of almost 30 000 men stepped out of the forest and marched towards the English they were encountered by volley after volley fired by the English longbowmen, Breton infantry fell in rows. The battle lasted for most of the day and at the end the English had won a tactical victory, they had killed 5552 men, while only loosing 3396 men themselves, furthermore the English managed to retreat eastwards towards Maastricht, the provincial capital of Limburg. When the battle was over Artur was bloody and furious and when Thibaut refused to pursue the English army he drew his sword and was close to turning Thibaut into another corpse. The two of them finally agreed to march after the English and they caught up with them outside of Maastricht. Thibaut once again notified Charles James Hood, the commander of the English, that he was going to attack the following morning. Artur decided that he was not going to send his men into another indecisive bloodbath, instead he ordered his army to attack the English late that night. When the Breton army charged the English camp at 3.15 that night the English were overwhelmed, they were not prepared and Artur had given strict orders that no mercy were to be given to the English. When the morning dawned and Thibaut stepped out of his tent he was astonish to see bloody Breton soldiers returning from the east, many of them were carrying English standards. This time the English had been crushed, they lost the rest of their army, well over 6000 men while Artur's losses stood at 319 men.
(English Longbowmen.)
After this battle the war turned even more in favor of the coalition, almost every English city on the mainland had fallen and it seemed like the war would soon be over, Artur had already stated in a speech to his men that: "The English oppression over Europe is over, their defeat is a question of days now!" He could not imagine how long the war would be...
Act XXXV, Fighting an absent enemy.
When Brittany was dragged into the war against England in September of 1469 the nation was afraid that English troops would be sent across the channel in great numbers, but months passed without any armies being landed in France. Everyone in the coalition as nervous, Where was the enemy?
England had encountered serious problems with the start of this massive regional war, Mary had only reckoned that she would have to fight the army of Liege and she reckoned that her army in Flanders of 14 000 men would be enough to occupy the kingdom. When Brabant and other large European powers joined against England this army was vastly outnumbered and was soon destroyed. The forces of the coalition spent most of 1469 occupying the English castles on the mainland, within a few months they had taken about half of the English castles in the south and north without suffering any setbacks.
The Breton army which was one of the largest in the coalition had still not moved out of Brittany, neither Artur or Claudine wanted to send their men to die in order for the other kingdoms to take the English cities for themselves. Paying for the army was not a welcome task for Claudine, but the task became a lot easier when Brittany received war subsides from most of their strong allies. The first one to pay money to Brittany was the king of Brabant, over the next years he would send vast sums of money to aid the Bretons, after a few months at war Castille also started sending money to the Bretons.
Artur was still inpatient, he made plans to invade England and a couple of times it took persuasion from his mother and the most powerful nobles in Brittany to talk him out of it. I March of 1470, however, he would get his chance to fight the English. 4000 English troops landed in Picardie, one of the few cities in the north that had not been taken by the coalition, when Artur heard this he realized that if these 4000 men were allowed to establish a beachhead in France the English would send more troops over to the mainland. It was because of this that he decided to move the Breton army northwards along the channel coast to defeat the English. As the Bretons entered the province of Picardie the English became aware of the Bretons and they tried to flee northwards, the attempt was futile, the Breton cavalry cut off the retreat of the enemy army and soon they were at the mercy of 16 000 Breton soldiers. The English tried to entrench themselves in a forest, Artur surveyed the ground and the strength of the position and he decided that a frontal attack would do the job. He drew his sword and waved it towards the enemy, the Breton soldiers drew their weapons in response and charged forward. The English stood their ground for a few minutes, but outflanked and assaulted on all sides they lost heart and surrendered. Artur kept true to his nickname and ordered that the prisoners be executed. Breton losses during the battle were only 354 men.
(Battle of Picardie, also know as the massacre of Picardie.)
As Artur was fighting the English along the channel coast Claudine had been challenged by one of her advisors. He was advocating a change of policy and even argued that Claudine had supported wrong ideas. Claudine who was becoming an old woman realized that he was probably right and she agreed that the policy be changed. The switch proved fortunate for Breton research, but Claudine's prestige suffered a serious blow.
After Artur's victory over the English in Picardie he decided to stay in the area for the foreseeable future, the move proved to be most fortunate. The English had decided to try their luck once again, this time they landed about 7000 men in Calais, this army moved inland and aimed to take the Liegeian city of Artois. When Artur, who had been staying in Picardie caught wind of the English plans he moved his army into Artois. Once again the English were to outnumbered to fight the Bretons effectively, but this time they managed to open up an escape route and what remained of the English army was fleeing back to Calais. As the English fled the fields of Artois they left behind 2590 dead men. Breton losses stood at 1060 men. Artur did not waste time by dawdling, he pursued the English back to Calais and managed to catch up with them, Edmund Baffin, the commander of the English army decided that it was useless to fight the Bretons and he surrendered. The English commander expected to be shown quarter, eh had heard about Artur's father and he expected that when he gave up his sword to Artur that it would be returned, this was not the case. When Artur were given the sword he looked at Edmund with piercing eyes and with a swift swing he severed his head. The captured English soldiers were killed without quarter.
News of Artur's victories were greeted with jubilation in Brittany, but the kings and queens of Europe were shocked by his treatment of prisoners, which was completely brutal. There was little respite for the Breton soldiers, after the battle Artur heard that a large English army had invaded and occupied the Brabantian vassal of Gelre. He decided to help out his allies and the Breton soldiers marched into Flanders once more. When Artur arrived in Flanders he was surprised to find a large allied army already present, this was the army of Champagne, commanded by their new king, Thibaut VII. Artur and Thibaut decided to merge on the English force which was besieging the Brabantian capital of s'Hertogenbosch located in the province of Breda. When the coalition force arrived in Breda and was within attacking range of the English camp Thibaut refused to attack before dawn, he claimed this was against the code of chivalry, he went even further and sent a letter to the English, notifying them about when he was going to attack. Artur was furious, but nevertheless he decided to join the attack against the English.
As the huge coalition force of almost 30 000 men stepped out of the forest and marched towards the English they were encountered by volley after volley fired by the English longbowmen, Breton infantry fell in rows. The battle lasted for most of the day and at the end the English had won a tactical victory, they had killed 5552 men, while only loosing 3396 men themselves, furthermore the English managed to retreat eastwards towards Maastricht, the provincial capital of Limburg. When the battle was over Artur was bloody and furious and when Thibaut refused to pursue the English army he drew his sword and was close to turning Thibaut into another corpse. The two of them finally agreed to march after the English and they caught up with them outside of Maastricht. Thibaut once again notified Charles James Hood, the commander of the English, that he was going to attack the following morning. Artur decided that he was not going to send his men into another indecisive bloodbath, instead he ordered his army to attack the English late that night. When the Breton army charged the English camp at 3.15 that night the English were overwhelmed, they were not prepared and Artur had given strict orders that no mercy were to be given to the English. When the morning dawned and Thibaut stepped out of his tent he was astonish to see bloody Breton soldiers returning from the east, many of them were carrying English standards. This time the English had been crushed, they lost the rest of their army, well over 6000 men while Artur's losses stood at 319 men.
(English Longbowmen.)
After this battle the war turned even more in favor of the coalition, almost every English city on the mainland had fallen and it seemed like the war would soon be over, Artur had already stated in a speech to his men that: "The English oppression over Europe is over, their defeat is a question of days now!" He could not imagine how long the war would be...
I wonder if he'll start losing allies, or if the crowns of Europe will think "Better to be by his side than under his sword."
Nice foreshadowing.
Nice foreshadowing.
Act XXXVI, Defending the home soil
Summer had come to Flanders, the weather was warm and the sun shining. The Breton soldiers enjoyed themselves and local breweries were soon empty, the Bretons had got the impression that the English were finished and that their queen would soon beg them for peace. Artur had also started to get this impression, after all the English had lost many men during 1469 and early 1470 and the strategic situation was deeply unfavorable for them.
When the entire summer and early autumn passed by without any incident this view was reinforced, but in early September everything changed, the English landed a force in Brittany. Artur was outraged, the enemy had landed in his homeland and the Breton army was nowhere near. Artur ordered the army to break camp an march back home, to encourage his soldier he said "Men, we must march quickly, right now the English are burning our lands, Brittany needs us!" The men responded by marching without stop for nearly 20 hours, Artur, who wanted to lift their spirits as much as possible gave his horse to a wounded soldier and walked together with his soldiers.
Even though the Bretons marched with all of their strength they were not in Brittany before early October, Artur did everything he could to conceal the fact that his army had entered Breton territory, he used scouts and conversed with peasants, by doing this he got reliable intelligence about the English force and their intentions. The English had only landed with about 4000 cavalry, these were raiders, but Artur was convinced that they were a probing force, sent ahead of the main English army, he decided that these English troops had to be destroyed before they could be reinforced.
The English cavalry had set up camp in the vicinity of Rohan, they had scouted the countryside for any sign of the Breton army, but after weeks of hard riding they had allowed themselves to let their guard down while they waited for their countrymen to arrive. The quiet of the English camp was broken on the 16. of October, Artur had moved close to the enemy during the night and his men were filed in deep columns on top of a hill overlooking the English. As the sun set Artur nodded towards the enemy and said "Men, they look a bit sleepy, lets wake them up!" The Breton troops responded by yelling war cries and they stormed down the hill. The English did what they could to defend themselves and for a few hours the dismounted English cavalry fought bravely, at the end of the day the English force had been all but destroyed.
(Dismounted English cavalry fighting for their lives against the Bretons.)
Artur spent a few weeks hunting down the survivors, the battle was costly for the Breton army as well, losses stood at 1063 men, more than he had hoped for. Among one of the English dead a letter was found:
English soldiers!
Your fellow countrymen will arrive under my command on November 29. near the enemy city of Brest, they will number about 7000 men, in half a year a further 13 000 men will be sent. Should the enemy arrive in Brittany you must contact our informers in Normandie.
Sir Albert Drake
After Artur read the letter he said loudly: "Finest soldiers of the world are they, we shall see about that!"
For the rest of October and early November Artur's army was camped near Brest, the men were rested and well fed and they were eager to meet the English. On the morning of November 29. 1470 the Breton troops took up positions along the coast of Finisterre, in the darkness they could see enemy ships approaching the coast, it did not take long for them to reach the shores, among the darkness Enlgish troops were unloaded, Artur held back his attack until the enemy ships had started to leave again, to make sure that the enemy had no opportunity to retreat. As dawn broke he gave the signal to attack, showers of arrows rained down on the English who were half asleep and Breton infantry and cavalry charged in. The English fought back, but they were overwhelmed by the attack. When the sun had set on the sky everything was over, the beach was littered with dead men, most of the English and the waves were red with blood. Casualties during the battle was hard to calculate, but Artur reckoned that the enemy had lost 3097 men out of their army of 7000, his own losses was 1351 men.
(The beach the English landed on in November of 1470.)
Although the English had been defeated during this invasion a good deal of the English army had managed to escape the trap on the beach and they had assembled further inland, once Artur found out that his army had only been partially successful he set out in pursuit of the enemy and caught up with them near Rohan. This time there was only a short struggle before the remainder of the English army surrendered, not keeping with his character Artur ordered that they were not to be executed, they were instead sent back to the coast and were picked up by English ships, even their commander Albert Drake was allowed to live, on the promise that he would never again bear arms against Brittany or its allies, he would soon break that promise...
After the battle Artur and his closes military advisers worked on further improvements in the Breton army, soldiers were now grouped together with men of varying skill, this allowed the older veterans to teach the new recruits how best to survive in the heat of battle, this further bolstered the morale of the Breton army. Atur also made designs for a massive border fort which he wanted to construct to protect Orleans from invasion, however, the project would be extremely expensive and Claudine would not finance it at the moment. As 1470 gave way to 1471 Artur marched his army to Rohan, he expected the second English army to invade soon, even though they now knew that the Breton army was present.
Artur was right, on June 20. the English landed at Brest, on the same beaches they had been defeated last time, in command of the army was Albert Drake.
When Artur learned that Albert had broken his promise and that many of the landed English soldiers had also been part of the last army he was furious and swore that never again would he let any prisoner live. The English army started besieging Brest, but they constantly kept an eye over their shoulder, ever watchful of a Breton counterattack, the blow would come sooner than they expected. June 28. dawned, it seemed like a beautiful day, the sun rose on a clear sky, the weather was warm and a slight breeze blew in from the sea. In the distance an English scout spotted large columns of marching men, after a staring for a few minutes he recognized the banners, it was the banners of Brittany.
The English were alerted and they prepared to give battle to the oncoming Bretons. The two sides were only split by a large open field, for a long time the two armies glared at each other, Artur had decided to give battle to the enemy in the normal fashion. The English moved first, their longbow men launched a couple of volleys against the Bretons, the volleys were impressive, but they did little damage, the Bretons were equipped with fine steel armor that could take arrows. Artur had, however, ordered his men to pretend like they had been hit hard, some of them started to move backwards and other lied down, pretending to be dead. The English commander took the bait and he ordered his men to charge. The English stormed forward, expecting a quick victory against a demoralized enemy. Suddenly the Bretons stood firm, they rearranged their lines and fired a return volley against the English. The English charge faltered, but it continued onwards, Artur ordered his men to charge forward as well, both Breton cavalry and infantry swept forward in spectacular fashion, the tired English tried to hold, but they quickly broke ranks and fled the field. Left on the field were 5697 dead English, over half their force, Breton losses were high as well, during the day 3908 Breton troops had fallen.
(The battle of Brest, 1471.)
After the disaster Albert managed to retreat southwards with the rest of his army, Artur was, however, one step ahead of him. He had expected the English to retreat southwards if they managed to survive the battle so he had ordered his allies to block the road. As the English fled towards Rohan they encountered thousands of troops from the duchy of Guyenne and the duchy of Auvergne, realizing that there was no escape, they surrendered. This time Artur ordered every captured English soldier to be put to the sword, including their commander, Albert Drake. In the earlier years of the war he had been condemned by most of Europe for his handling of prisoners, but now the English had broken the code of honor and most of the kings of Europe sided with Artur, partially because they did not desire the same to happen to them. Castille and Brabant decided to sponsor Claudine with a huge amount of money, during the rest of the war they would pay several hundred ducats in war subsides.
It seemed like the war was close to ending, however, within months of the Breton victory most of the other partners in the coalition would make peace with England, this left Brittany to fight the English, alone.
(Situation in mid 1471, well over two years after the start of the war.)
Summer had come to Flanders, the weather was warm and the sun shining. The Breton soldiers enjoyed themselves and local breweries were soon empty, the Bretons had got the impression that the English were finished and that their queen would soon beg them for peace. Artur had also started to get this impression, after all the English had lost many men during 1469 and early 1470 and the strategic situation was deeply unfavorable for them.
When the entire summer and early autumn passed by without any incident this view was reinforced, but in early September everything changed, the English landed a force in Brittany. Artur was outraged, the enemy had landed in his homeland and the Breton army was nowhere near. Artur ordered the army to break camp an march back home, to encourage his soldier he said "Men, we must march quickly, right now the English are burning our lands, Brittany needs us!" The men responded by marching without stop for nearly 20 hours, Artur, who wanted to lift their spirits as much as possible gave his horse to a wounded soldier and walked together with his soldiers.
Even though the Bretons marched with all of their strength they were not in Brittany before early October, Artur did everything he could to conceal the fact that his army had entered Breton territory, he used scouts and conversed with peasants, by doing this he got reliable intelligence about the English force and their intentions. The English had only landed with about 4000 cavalry, these were raiders, but Artur was convinced that they were a probing force, sent ahead of the main English army, he decided that these English troops had to be destroyed before they could be reinforced.
The English cavalry had set up camp in the vicinity of Rohan, they had scouted the countryside for any sign of the Breton army, but after weeks of hard riding they had allowed themselves to let their guard down while they waited for their countrymen to arrive. The quiet of the English camp was broken on the 16. of October, Artur had moved close to the enemy during the night and his men were filed in deep columns on top of a hill overlooking the English. As the sun set Artur nodded towards the enemy and said "Men, they look a bit sleepy, lets wake them up!" The Breton troops responded by yelling war cries and they stormed down the hill. The English did what they could to defend themselves and for a few hours the dismounted English cavalry fought bravely, at the end of the day the English force had been all but destroyed.
(Dismounted English cavalry fighting for their lives against the Bretons.)
Artur spent a few weeks hunting down the survivors, the battle was costly for the Breton army as well, losses stood at 1063 men, more than he had hoped for. Among one of the English dead a letter was found:
English soldiers!
Your fellow countrymen will arrive under my command on November 29. near the enemy city of Brest, they will number about 7000 men, in half a year a further 13 000 men will be sent. Should the enemy arrive in Brittany you must contact our informers in Normandie.
Sir Albert Drake
After Artur read the letter he said loudly: "Finest soldiers of the world are they, we shall see about that!"
For the rest of October and early November Artur's army was camped near Brest, the men were rested and well fed and they were eager to meet the English. On the morning of November 29. 1470 the Breton troops took up positions along the coast of Finisterre, in the darkness they could see enemy ships approaching the coast, it did not take long for them to reach the shores, among the darkness Enlgish troops were unloaded, Artur held back his attack until the enemy ships had started to leave again, to make sure that the enemy had no opportunity to retreat. As dawn broke he gave the signal to attack, showers of arrows rained down on the English who were half asleep and Breton infantry and cavalry charged in. The English fought back, but they were overwhelmed by the attack. When the sun had set on the sky everything was over, the beach was littered with dead men, most of the English and the waves were red with blood. Casualties during the battle was hard to calculate, but Artur reckoned that the enemy had lost 3097 men out of their army of 7000, his own losses was 1351 men.
(The beach the English landed on in November of 1470.)
Although the English had been defeated during this invasion a good deal of the English army had managed to escape the trap on the beach and they had assembled further inland, once Artur found out that his army had only been partially successful he set out in pursuit of the enemy and caught up with them near Rohan. This time there was only a short struggle before the remainder of the English army surrendered, not keeping with his character Artur ordered that they were not to be executed, they were instead sent back to the coast and were picked up by English ships, even their commander Albert Drake was allowed to live, on the promise that he would never again bear arms against Brittany or its allies, he would soon break that promise...
After the battle Artur and his closes military advisers worked on further improvements in the Breton army, soldiers were now grouped together with men of varying skill, this allowed the older veterans to teach the new recruits how best to survive in the heat of battle, this further bolstered the morale of the Breton army. Atur also made designs for a massive border fort which he wanted to construct to protect Orleans from invasion, however, the project would be extremely expensive and Claudine would not finance it at the moment. As 1470 gave way to 1471 Artur marched his army to Rohan, he expected the second English army to invade soon, even though they now knew that the Breton army was present.
Artur was right, on June 20. the English landed at Brest, on the same beaches they had been defeated last time, in command of the army was Albert Drake.
When Artur learned that Albert had broken his promise and that many of the landed English soldiers had also been part of the last army he was furious and swore that never again would he let any prisoner live. The English army started besieging Brest, but they constantly kept an eye over their shoulder, ever watchful of a Breton counterattack, the blow would come sooner than they expected. June 28. dawned, it seemed like a beautiful day, the sun rose on a clear sky, the weather was warm and a slight breeze blew in from the sea. In the distance an English scout spotted large columns of marching men, after a staring for a few minutes he recognized the banners, it was the banners of Brittany.
The English were alerted and they prepared to give battle to the oncoming Bretons. The two sides were only split by a large open field, for a long time the two armies glared at each other, Artur had decided to give battle to the enemy in the normal fashion. The English moved first, their longbow men launched a couple of volleys against the Bretons, the volleys were impressive, but they did little damage, the Bretons were equipped with fine steel armor that could take arrows. Artur had, however, ordered his men to pretend like they had been hit hard, some of them started to move backwards and other lied down, pretending to be dead. The English commander took the bait and he ordered his men to charge. The English stormed forward, expecting a quick victory against a demoralized enemy. Suddenly the Bretons stood firm, they rearranged their lines and fired a return volley against the English. The English charge faltered, but it continued onwards, Artur ordered his men to charge forward as well, both Breton cavalry and infantry swept forward in spectacular fashion, the tired English tried to hold, but they quickly broke ranks and fled the field. Left on the field were 5697 dead English, over half their force, Breton losses were high as well, during the day 3908 Breton troops had fallen.
(The battle of Brest, 1471.)
After the disaster Albert managed to retreat southwards with the rest of his army, Artur was, however, one step ahead of him. He had expected the English to retreat southwards if they managed to survive the battle so he had ordered his allies to block the road. As the English fled towards Rohan they encountered thousands of troops from the duchy of Guyenne and the duchy of Auvergne, realizing that there was no escape, they surrendered. This time Artur ordered every captured English soldier to be put to the sword, including their commander, Albert Drake. In the earlier years of the war he had been condemned by most of Europe for his handling of prisoners, but now the English had broken the code of honor and most of the kings of Europe sided with Artur, partially because they did not desire the same to happen to them. Castille and Brabant decided to sponsor Claudine with a huge amount of money, during the rest of the war they would pay several hundred ducats in war subsides.
It seemed like the war was close to ending, however, within months of the Breton victory most of the other partners in the coalition would make peace with England, this left Brittany to fight the English, alone.
(Situation in mid 1471, well over two years after the start of the war.)
Break them now...
But will they peace with anything less than an invasion of the Isles?
But will they peace with anything less than an invasion of the Isles?
The war has gone well so far ... the more broadbrush approach works well. But it is hard to get a decent peace deal out of the English just from their continental holdings
That remains to be seen
True that.
Sorry for the delay in updates, I have two AAR's now and recently I have had so much to do, really sorry about that.
I just read your entire AAR from the start to finish. Very well written narrative and great accompanying pictures. Love the blur effect on the images and maps.
Hope you can find time to continue this one, I am curious to see how you manage against England. But I fear that unless you get troops to the British isles you'll eventually have to WP out. It is quite hard to rack up enough war score against them by simply occupying their continental holdings. But should you be able to get to a point where the English WE gets high enough to allow you to make diplo stabhits things might change once you get them to -3 stability. If you do manage to get there, think if having them release Scotland, Wales or Cornwall rather than some of their European territories (see below).
Either way, if you decide to continue the game, you'll surely be facing Perfidious Albion at a later stage. Unfortunately all of the British isles are under English control, otherwise you could have tried to ally with Scotland/Wales/.... and land troops there before the 2nd Anglo-Breton war breaks out. It'll make it easier to get a proper win over the English.
What is your other AAR?
Hope you can find time to continue this one, I am curious to see how you manage against England. But I fear that unless you get troops to the British isles you'll eventually have to WP out. It is quite hard to rack up enough war score against them by simply occupying their continental holdings. But should you be able to get to a point where the English WE gets high enough to allow you to make diplo stabhits things might change once you get them to -3 stability. If you do manage to get there, think if having them release Scotland, Wales or Cornwall rather than some of their European territories (see below).
Either way, if you decide to continue the game, you'll surely be facing Perfidious Albion at a later stage. Unfortunately all of the British isles are under English control, otherwise you could have tried to ally with Scotland/Wales/.... and land troops there before the 2nd Anglo-Breton war breaks out. It'll make it easier to get a proper win over the English.
What is your other AAR?
Hi there! Glad you liked it. I am definetly going to continue it, you just have to be a bit patient with the updates, that's all
I am trying to give the English as much war exhaustion as possible and hoping that they will get revolts. Ultimate goal is to free Scotland. My other AAR is this one, but it is a HOI3 AAR.
http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?575175-The-Fuhrer-s-war-3/page2
NOOOOOOOO!
about the other AAR, not freeing Scotland which would be
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
Freeing the Scots from the English is something that should only be unleashed as a measure of last resort in a desperate battle of balancing the survival of humanity versus something else...Sorry channeling MorningSIDEr.
about the other AAR, not freeing Scotland which would be
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
Freeing the Scots from the English is something that should only be unleashed as a measure of last resort in a desperate battle of balancing the survival of humanity versus something else...Sorry channeling MorningSIDEr.
Haha, it remains to be seen wether the Scots will be released or not
Thanks, yes, he is indeed
this is pure awesomeness....
BUT, I think you should aim for a Celtic empire stretching from the british isles to the mediterreanaeeaneanan, Gaul+Britannia.
Or at least incorporate your celtic brethren into Brittany.
BUT, I think you should aim for a Celtic empire stretching from the british isles to the mediterreanaeeaneanan, Gaul+Britannia.
Or at least incorporate your celtic brethren into Brittany.
this is pure awesomeness....
BUT, I think you should aim for a Celtic empire stretching from the british isles to the mediterreanaeeaneanan, Gaul+Britannia.
Or at least incorporate your celtic brethren into Brittany.
That would be really cool, the Bretons might also look towards the open horizon
Really sorry to everyone about the lack of updates, schoolwork as well as the fact that I have been playing a lot of EU3 with a horde of players lately has slowed my writing to a crawl, the AAR is not dead, it is just on pause untill I can find the time to write more.
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Act XXXVII, Seizing the south.
1471 had seen a string of defeats for the various English armies on the mainland, they had lost control of all their provinces in France and each one of their invasions of Brittany had failed at huge cost of English lives. Since the last invasion was beaten off in July 1471 Artur and Claudine had been waiting for and English diplomats offering peace, the English never sent any to Brittany, but they did send one to Nevers, the nation that had occupied most of the English provinces.
Without consulting with anyone else Nevers made peace with the English, they were given the province of Auvergne and the English were forced to give up France as a vassal. The terms demanded by Nevers were extremely light, considering that the English nobles had been on the verge of an all out revolt. Suddenly the war had taken a new turn, the English were no longer loosing against the coalition, they had eluded defeat at the last second. Frightened by the fact that most of mainland France had been given back to the English lead most of the others to making peace with the English, without demanding any concessions.
Artur was outraged, within the last weeks Brabant, Champagne and Gelre made peace, left in the war was only Liege, Brittany and the Breton vassals. He considered paying the English for peace, but reconsidered, thinking about his grandfather who fought the French for many years, outnumbered and still ended up victorious. Artur therefore mobilized the Breton forces once more and marched them south, the English possessions in southern France would once again be occupied, but this time by the Bretons, and they would not accept any white peace. Artur knew that this move was risky, he counted on Liege to capture the English cities in the north including Paris.
The Breton soldiers were high in spirits, they had not lost any battles yet and most of them were sure that if the English showed up they would drive them into the sea, with these thoughts the army marched quickly south and it did not take long before they crossed the border into English occupied France. Artur decided that the best he could do was to split his army and take as many cities as fast as possible, if the English showed up he would have to gamble that he could concentrate before they launched an attack. As he directed his army into various sieges he learned that Bohemia too had made peace with the English and that their emperor had managed to pass yet another reform, the emperor was now more powerful than anyone had been for a long time. Artur was also enraged to know that Brabant had gone to war against the archbishopric of Utrecht and now they demanded that Brittany should join their war. Artur wanted to refuse because he had not forgotten that Brabant had left the war, however, Claudine had other plans, she did not want to waste away years of friendships and she decided to join Brabant's war. This proved to be fortunate as Brabant quickly defeat Utrecht and annexed them without any further incident.
(English concessions to Nevers and dispersion of Breton siege forces.)
As 1472 went on the Breton forces captured two cities and the rest were under heavy pressure, although the English were still operating in the area, attacks on Breton forces only amounted to small guerilla attacks lead by militia units, by October 1472 the English had lost all their militia units in the south, this amounted to about 6000 men and the regions of Armagnac, Gascogne and Béarn were under Breton control. Artur had begun to think that the war would soon be over, after all there had been no English landings and the towns and cities were surrendering one by one. This changed on the 11. of October when and English force of about 9000 men landed in Provence, the only troops stationed there was 700 Breton cavalrymen, they tried to hold off the English , but this did not succeed. Within the day most of them had been killed or wounded, a few rode westwards to warn Artur of the threat. Artur reacted calmly, while his aides suggested to abandon all the sieges and merge the entire army to attack the English in Provence he decided on a different approach. He knew that if he abandoned the sieges the war would drag on longer than what was really necessary, therefore he decided to pull only part of his force away and instead of attacking the English the Bretons simply blocked Provence from the rest of the English possessions. The English realized that they had been effectively countered, there was no chance that the English force would be able to drive the Bretons away from their positions along the Rhone river.
The English, were not out of tricks yet, on December 17. Artur got a letter from Claudine, she had just been informed that the king of Aragon and the King of Navarra had joined the war on the English side. Artur did not react at first, he kept his forces in their original positions and kept up pressure on the English garrisons. The Aragonese army was nowhere to be seen, but the Navarran troops quickly crossed the border and invaded the province of Labourd. The Breton troops who were besieging the provincial capital of Bayonne alerted themselves and prepared to face the Navarran soldiers. Artur was worried that they might get overrun, but a few days later he got news from the commander of the region that the Bretons had defeated the enemy and were chasing them back to the border, however, the siege was still in progress. The mood was also lightened by the fact that Castille was sending enormous amounts of money to help the Bretons, the Castillian king, Enrique IV. was after all related to Artur and Claudine and he hated the English with a passion.
(City walls of Bayonne.)
Artur could, however, not concern himself with this right now, it was good that the coffers of the state was being filled, but Aragon had just crossed the Pyrenees with over 7000 men and there were still 9000 English soldiers in Provence, if he did not react quickly the enemy could catch him in a pincer move. As the siege of Bayonne had just ended Labourd was also under Breton control, Artur pulled the troops out of the region and everywhere else where he could find spare troops and he massed them along the Rhone river, in the province of Languedoc. As the men were massing he oversaw the construction of bridges and prepared to get his army across.
The English on the other side had not taken steps to secure any sort of perimeter, they had few outposts as they did not expect a Breton attack across the Rhone. On the morning of 13. of March their illusions were shattered. Artur fell upon the English with over 10 000 men, as they were not ready for battle the Bretons were able to slaughter the enemy by an early morning attack, just as they had done with a lot of strong enemies over the years. Casualties in the battle were light on the Breton side, about 885 men were dead, while the English lost their entire force, this time, however, Artur did not allow anyone to survive.
(Wounded English soldiers.)
As Artur celebrated his newest victory over the English he received bad news from his mother, a serious plague had broken out in Orleanais, hundreds of people had died within a few months, Claudine had done whatever she could to limit the horrible ordeal and much of the population owed their lives to her efforts. Artur was heard to say "Our people dying of plague, I will make the English pay for this..." It was, however, not only bad news from home, the Normans had accepted the fact that they were part of Brittany and Breton culture and traditions were now common throughout Normandie.
After the Aragonese had entered the war against Brittany Artur had only one thing that he wanted to fulfill, he wanted to negotiate a peace with them. Artur managed to arrange a meeting with the king of Aragon, Joan III. by the slopes of the Pyrenees. The two of them talked for a long time and they came to terms on how the peace should be settled, there was no bad blood when the two men split up, a white peace with a few formal Breton concessions seemed fine with both sides, within a few weeks Aragon would start sending war subsides to Brittany as well, they too were fed up with the English. As Artur no longer had to worry about Aragon he moved his men towards Navarra in order to subdue the small kingdom. The two sides met in the province of Labourd, as the 2000 Navarran troops filed into lines they were confronted by a Breton army of 10 000 men, Artur did not bother to plan any strategies for attack, he simply ordered his men forward. The Breton troops responded and swept forward, the battle did not last long, the enemy was soon outflanked and attacked on both flanks and in the rear. After Artur victory over the remaining enemies the Bretons occupied the last bit of southern France, the only English province remaining was Provence, but as the Bretons headed for it Artur received bad news, Liege had made peace with the English, this once again made Brittany open to an English invasion.
1471 had seen a string of defeats for the various English armies on the mainland, they had lost control of all their provinces in France and each one of their invasions of Brittany had failed at huge cost of English lives. Since the last invasion was beaten off in July 1471 Artur and Claudine had been waiting for and English diplomats offering peace, the English never sent any to Brittany, but they did send one to Nevers, the nation that had occupied most of the English provinces.
Without consulting with anyone else Nevers made peace with the English, they were given the province of Auvergne and the English were forced to give up France as a vassal. The terms demanded by Nevers were extremely light, considering that the English nobles had been on the verge of an all out revolt. Suddenly the war had taken a new turn, the English were no longer loosing against the coalition, they had eluded defeat at the last second. Frightened by the fact that most of mainland France had been given back to the English lead most of the others to making peace with the English, without demanding any concessions.
Artur was outraged, within the last weeks Brabant, Champagne and Gelre made peace, left in the war was only Liege, Brittany and the Breton vassals. He considered paying the English for peace, but reconsidered, thinking about his grandfather who fought the French for many years, outnumbered and still ended up victorious. Artur therefore mobilized the Breton forces once more and marched them south, the English possessions in southern France would once again be occupied, but this time by the Bretons, and they would not accept any white peace. Artur knew that this move was risky, he counted on Liege to capture the English cities in the north including Paris.
The Breton soldiers were high in spirits, they had not lost any battles yet and most of them were sure that if the English showed up they would drive them into the sea, with these thoughts the army marched quickly south and it did not take long before they crossed the border into English occupied France. Artur decided that the best he could do was to split his army and take as many cities as fast as possible, if the English showed up he would have to gamble that he could concentrate before they launched an attack. As he directed his army into various sieges he learned that Bohemia too had made peace with the English and that their emperor had managed to pass yet another reform, the emperor was now more powerful than anyone had been for a long time. Artur was also enraged to know that Brabant had gone to war against the archbishopric of Utrecht and now they demanded that Brittany should join their war. Artur wanted to refuse because he had not forgotten that Brabant had left the war, however, Claudine had other plans, she did not want to waste away years of friendships and she decided to join Brabant's war. This proved to be fortunate as Brabant quickly defeat Utrecht and annexed them without any further incident.
(English concessions to Nevers and dispersion of Breton siege forces.)
As 1472 went on the Breton forces captured two cities and the rest were under heavy pressure, although the English were still operating in the area, attacks on Breton forces only amounted to small guerilla attacks lead by militia units, by October 1472 the English had lost all their militia units in the south, this amounted to about 6000 men and the regions of Armagnac, Gascogne and Béarn were under Breton control. Artur had begun to think that the war would soon be over, after all there had been no English landings and the towns and cities were surrendering one by one. This changed on the 11. of October when and English force of about 9000 men landed in Provence, the only troops stationed there was 700 Breton cavalrymen, they tried to hold off the English , but this did not succeed. Within the day most of them had been killed or wounded, a few rode westwards to warn Artur of the threat. Artur reacted calmly, while his aides suggested to abandon all the sieges and merge the entire army to attack the English in Provence he decided on a different approach. He knew that if he abandoned the sieges the war would drag on longer than what was really necessary, therefore he decided to pull only part of his force away and instead of attacking the English the Bretons simply blocked Provence from the rest of the English possessions. The English realized that they had been effectively countered, there was no chance that the English force would be able to drive the Bretons away from their positions along the Rhone river.
The English, were not out of tricks yet, on December 17. Artur got a letter from Claudine, she had just been informed that the king of Aragon and the King of Navarra had joined the war on the English side. Artur did not react at first, he kept his forces in their original positions and kept up pressure on the English garrisons. The Aragonese army was nowhere to be seen, but the Navarran troops quickly crossed the border and invaded the province of Labourd. The Breton troops who were besieging the provincial capital of Bayonne alerted themselves and prepared to face the Navarran soldiers. Artur was worried that they might get overrun, but a few days later he got news from the commander of the region that the Bretons had defeated the enemy and were chasing them back to the border, however, the siege was still in progress. The mood was also lightened by the fact that Castille was sending enormous amounts of money to help the Bretons, the Castillian king, Enrique IV. was after all related to Artur and Claudine and he hated the English with a passion.
(City walls of Bayonne.)
Artur could, however, not concern himself with this right now, it was good that the coffers of the state was being filled, but Aragon had just crossed the Pyrenees with over 7000 men and there were still 9000 English soldiers in Provence, if he did not react quickly the enemy could catch him in a pincer move. As the siege of Bayonne had just ended Labourd was also under Breton control, Artur pulled the troops out of the region and everywhere else where he could find spare troops and he massed them along the Rhone river, in the province of Languedoc. As the men were massing he oversaw the construction of bridges and prepared to get his army across.
The English on the other side had not taken steps to secure any sort of perimeter, they had few outposts as they did not expect a Breton attack across the Rhone. On the morning of 13. of March their illusions were shattered. Artur fell upon the English with over 10 000 men, as they were not ready for battle the Bretons were able to slaughter the enemy by an early morning attack, just as they had done with a lot of strong enemies over the years. Casualties in the battle were light on the Breton side, about 885 men were dead, while the English lost their entire force, this time, however, Artur did not allow anyone to survive.
(Wounded English soldiers.)
As Artur celebrated his newest victory over the English he received bad news from his mother, a serious plague had broken out in Orleanais, hundreds of people had died within a few months, Claudine had done whatever she could to limit the horrible ordeal and much of the population owed their lives to her efforts. Artur was heard to say "Our people dying of plague, I will make the English pay for this..." It was, however, not only bad news from home, the Normans had accepted the fact that they were part of Brittany and Breton culture and traditions were now common throughout Normandie.
After the Aragonese had entered the war against Brittany Artur had only one thing that he wanted to fulfill, he wanted to negotiate a peace with them. Artur managed to arrange a meeting with the king of Aragon, Joan III. by the slopes of the Pyrenees. The two of them talked for a long time and they came to terms on how the peace should be settled, there was no bad blood when the two men split up, a white peace with a few formal Breton concessions seemed fine with both sides, within a few weeks Aragon would start sending war subsides to Brittany as well, they too were fed up with the English. As Artur no longer had to worry about Aragon he moved his men towards Navarra in order to subdue the small kingdom. The two sides met in the province of Labourd, as the 2000 Navarran troops filed into lines they were confronted by a Breton army of 10 000 men, Artur did not bother to plan any strategies for attack, he simply ordered his men forward. The Breton troops responded and swept forward, the battle did not last long, the enemy was soon outflanked and attacked on both flanks and in the rear. After Artur victory over the remaining enemies the Bretons occupied the last bit of southern France, the only English province remaining was Provence, but as the Bretons headed for it Artur received bad news, Liege had made peace with the English, this once again made Brittany open to an English invasion.
seems you are really struggling to get the English to realise that they have lost?
And lots of times that's a positive...if you're English.
Nice update, good move in splitting your forces and then defeating the English when they came calling.
Now you should be able to get some good warscore, and force their war exhaustion even higher when the RN deploys small landing forces after you consolidate the South.