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Austria, I believe, would benefit enourmeously from even a minor French victory. Poland is not too happy with a Austria-Russia union sandwiching it and if the Austrians gain too much momentum, who knows what they could do. If France came out of the war without a solid victory the mere loss prestige would be a gigantic boost to the Catholic powers.
Hmm.. well regarding potential protestant enemies the only other non catholic powers left who could pose a threat would be Denmark-Norway in Scandinavia, but they are too worried about the rise of Russian influence and too delighted at the demise of Imperial authority to intervene against France. The protestant German minors are simply awaiting the outcome of the battle between the Habsburg-Romanov and Bourbon dynasties before throwing in their lot with either side.
But then again there's also the charismatic king of Sweden Gustav II Adolf who is getting more ambitious every day...
Scary is maybe to strong a word
But it's certainly annoying.Hmm now I'm not sure about that anymore either
Haha don't you try to sneak your way out of this one :rofl:
Those bloody Prussians
Chapter XLII
Olivares and His Schemes
What good is Vienna, if Paris is lost? What good is the fact that God is French, if he is with the wrong Frenchman?
Frenchmen are fighting Frenchmen, Huguenots are killing fellow Huguenots and Nicolas of All the French is embittered and prepared to fight the Princes of the Blood to prove his divine right to rule the Kingdom between the Ebro and the Rhine.
Meanwhile, Rohan is weaving his web of intrigues into the very nests of the Protestant powers, for well enough did Henri fight to preserve the absolute power of the English monarchy and greatly did he sacrifice to break the Spaniard choke on Flanders, but that was several years ago...
The question is; how far can allies be allies? Who seduces whom?
Much more to come... on Paris ne vaut pas une Messe!
Frenchmen are fighting Frenchmen, Huguenots are killing fellow Huguenots and Nicolas of All the French is embittered and prepared to fight the Princes of the Blood to prove his divine right to rule the Kingdom between the Ebro and the Rhine.
Meanwhile, Rohan is weaving his web of intrigues into the very nests of the Protestant powers, for well enough did Henri fight to preserve the absolute power of the English monarchy and greatly did he sacrifice to break the Spaniard choke on Flanders, but that was several years ago...
The question is; how far can allies be allies? Who seduces whom?
Much more to come... on Paris ne vaut pas une Messe!
Ah, the title of the AAR finally said by a character. If I read and implied this right, is Vienna is French hands now?
I love this AAR!
I love this AAR!
Just read through this gargantuan monster of an AAR. very brilliant work here Milites. I've always wondered what France would be like had the Huguenots won out. I was reading into this expecting some mega French empire to come out of it but you've really made this history play out very realistically. France isn't that overpowered and there are still serious domestic and international challenges to be faced even 28 pages into the AAR. You've given much thought to this and i applaud you for that.
Despite the change in history, it's great to see some things never change in France though (revolutions + europe wide coalition wars :rofl
Despite the change in history, it's great to see some things never change in France though (revolutions + europe wide coalition wars :rofl
Just kill the rebels, make a lot of kids and everything is fine again.
Isn't that pretty much the answer to everything?
Currently I'm writing from a hotel in Berlin.
I'd like to write a coherent answer to the reAARders, but the internet connection isn't in a friendly mood as of now.
What I could tell you now is that I've utilized the time well, but I will only be able to write a proper response-time when I get home on Wednesday...
As for now, thank you very much for all the ACA votes.. I really apreciate it
I'd like to write a coherent answer to the reAARders, but the internet connection isn't in a friendly mood as of now.
What I could tell you now is that I've utilized the time well, but I will only be able to write a proper response-time when I get home on Wednesday...
As for now, thank you very much for all the ACA votes.. I really apreciate it
Chapter XLII : The French Connection
***
Intrigues of the Blood
***
The Frondeurs continued their offensives until the first royalist troops arrived from Germany. Condé had marched a company of some 4,000 men into Bourbon, but when Crussol took to the field with three times the size of the rebel’s army the Prince withdrew from the central parts of the country. The royal armies crossed the Rhine in good order, leaving only a minimum of forces behind to defend the conquered territories in Germany and the royal county of Ansbach. At the same time the companies in Spain moved north, up through Catalonia aiming for a stroke at the rebel forces in Gascony, Avignon and French Savoy. In Spain this was received very well as it allowed the Iberians the opportunity to turn their defensive line from Navarre to Valencia into an offensive drive against French held Spain. The French had already found themselves to be outnumbered even before the revolt began, but when 15,000 men departed the Spanish Front for France the remaining Protestant forces were unable to hold the lines outside Madrid. When Rohan issued a proclamation detailing the reasons of the Frondeurs for armed resistance, the count-duke Olivares ordered his captains to commence a full scale assault on the French lines. After some short skirmishes the French withdrew from the trenches and fell back towards Barcelona. With that the Portuguese and Spanish armies (including a sizeable company of French émigrés) managed to push the Protestants out of most of Spain halting only at the Ebro and at the walls of Valencia and Barcelona.
The Spanish counter offensive
Olivares was of course interested in the events unfolding in the French realm. Not that he cared the slightest for the interests of the French nobles and peasants, but when a new opponent of Nicolas entered the stage, the count-duke found it prudent to utilize the common interest in bringing down the power hungry monarch to his own advantage. Jean Armand du Plessis leader of the exiled French Catholic party in Spain, cardinal and created count-bishop by the last Habsburg monarch in Spain was appointed by Olivares to head a mission to Brittany in order to form a secret alliance. The message was simple: the March of the Ebro in trade for Spanish support in toppling Nicolas. Sully was not against such a deal. He knew that Nicolas eventually would gain the upper hand in the civil war if the Frondeurs couldn’t obtain some form of foreign aid within a short amount of time. The Red Eminence offered just that, and the two parts soon engaged in honest negotiations with each other.
The Count-Bishop and Cardinal in exile meets with French nobles
Rohan was very careful not to make this clandestine treating public to the general forces of the rebels. If they found out that the Huguenot rebels were in alliance with Catholic Spain it would result in a severe loss of prestige amongst the protestant states that were actually sympathetic towards the rebel cause. It was especially in the republics in the Low Countries that Rohan hoped to obtain support. These two states had with increasingly worry observed the rise in royal power in both France and England-Scotland and were not too hostile towards a more liberal monarchy in their great neighbour. Whether or not this had any impact on the withdrawal of the two republics from the war cannot be definitively proved. When the Spanish front began to waver in early 1640, the stadtholder of the United Provinces and the council of Flanders began negotiating for a separate peace with Spain. With all hopes for an enriching victory gone the merchant realms settled for a white peace with the Catholic bloc. Nicolas was thoroughly disappointed, but realised that starting another fight wouldn’t be the wisest decision to make…
***
From Germany with Rage
***
Just as the French began their retreat from Spain so did they in Germany. Trouble here was that the allied troops from the Low Countries, on whom Nicolas had hoped to create a defensive line with, withdrew when their governments made peace with Spain. This turned out to be a regular catastrophe as the crack troops of Turenne and Crussol had also left the front and were in France fighting the rebels. Low on manpower the reduced troops only consisted of soldiers from the counties of Liegé, Ansbach and Baden with limited support from French armies. Eleanor’s marshals immediately utilized the weakness and drove the Protestants from Bohemia and southern Württemberg. Only stiff resistance from the Walloons under their duke made it possible for the Protestants to keep a bridgehead in Austrian Germany. Nicolas himself left the German front for Paris to keep an eye on his captains as they fought to restore his authority in the country. But deep in his heart, the French sovereign knew that his kingdom had passed the epitome of its ability to conduct a war. With enemies on all sides and allies falling into the webs of Rohan it was time for the king to bring the war to another level…
The German Front in early/mid 1640
***
Intrigues of the Blood
***
The Frondeurs continued their offensives until the first royalist troops arrived from Germany. Condé had marched a company of some 4,000 men into Bourbon, but when Crussol took to the field with three times the size of the rebel’s army the Prince withdrew from the central parts of the country. The royal armies crossed the Rhine in good order, leaving only a minimum of forces behind to defend the conquered territories in Germany and the royal county of Ansbach. At the same time the companies in Spain moved north, up through Catalonia aiming for a stroke at the rebel forces in Gascony, Avignon and French Savoy. In Spain this was received very well as it allowed the Iberians the opportunity to turn their defensive line from Navarre to Valencia into an offensive drive against French held Spain. The French had already found themselves to be outnumbered even before the revolt began, but when 15,000 men departed the Spanish Front for France the remaining Protestant forces were unable to hold the lines outside Madrid. When Rohan issued a proclamation detailing the reasons of the Frondeurs for armed resistance, the count-duke Olivares ordered his captains to commence a full scale assault on the French lines. After some short skirmishes the French withdrew from the trenches and fell back towards Barcelona. With that the Portuguese and Spanish armies (including a sizeable company of French émigrés) managed to push the Protestants out of most of Spain halting only at the Ebro and at the walls of Valencia and Barcelona.
The Spanish counter offensive
Olivares was of course interested in the events unfolding in the French realm. Not that he cared the slightest for the interests of the French nobles and peasants, but when a new opponent of Nicolas entered the stage, the count-duke found it prudent to utilize the common interest in bringing down the power hungry monarch to his own advantage. Jean Armand du Plessis leader of the exiled French Catholic party in Spain, cardinal and created count-bishop by the last Habsburg monarch in Spain was appointed by Olivares to head a mission to Brittany in order to form a secret alliance. The message was simple: the March of the Ebro in trade for Spanish support in toppling Nicolas. Sully was not against such a deal. He knew that Nicolas eventually would gain the upper hand in the civil war if the Frondeurs couldn’t obtain some form of foreign aid within a short amount of time. The Red Eminence offered just that, and the two parts soon engaged in honest negotiations with each other.
The Count-Bishop and Cardinal in exile meets with French nobles
Rohan was very careful not to make this clandestine treating public to the general forces of the rebels. If they found out that the Huguenot rebels were in alliance with Catholic Spain it would result in a severe loss of prestige amongst the protestant states that were actually sympathetic towards the rebel cause. It was especially in the republics in the Low Countries that Rohan hoped to obtain support. These two states had with increasingly worry observed the rise in royal power in both France and England-Scotland and were not too hostile towards a more liberal monarchy in their great neighbour. Whether or not this had any impact on the withdrawal of the two republics from the war cannot be definitively proved. When the Spanish front began to waver in early 1640, the stadtholder of the United Provinces and the council of Flanders began negotiating for a separate peace with Spain. With all hopes for an enriching victory gone the merchant realms settled for a white peace with the Catholic bloc. Nicolas was thoroughly disappointed, but realised that starting another fight wouldn’t be the wisest decision to make…
***
From Germany with Rage
***
Just as the French began their retreat from Spain so did they in Germany. Trouble here was that the allied troops from the Low Countries, on whom Nicolas had hoped to create a defensive line with, withdrew when their governments made peace with Spain. This turned out to be a regular catastrophe as the crack troops of Turenne and Crussol had also left the front and were in France fighting the rebels. Low on manpower the reduced troops only consisted of soldiers from the counties of Liegé, Ansbach and Baden with limited support from French armies. Eleanor’s marshals immediately utilized the weakness and drove the Protestants from Bohemia and southern Württemberg. Only stiff resistance from the Walloons under their duke made it possible for the Protestants to keep a bridgehead in Austrian Germany. Nicolas himself left the German front for Paris to keep an eye on his captains as they fought to restore his authority in the country. But deep in his heart, the French sovereign knew that his kingdom had passed the epitome of its ability to conduct a war. With enemies on all sides and allies falling into the webs of Rohan it was time for the king to bring the war to another level…
The German Front in early/mid 1640
exciting stuff, nice update
must take you a while making maps I guess, cudoes to you
must take you a while making maps I guess, cudoes to you
I see a disaster on the horizon...
The Huguenot golden age may be coming to a close...
The Huguenot golden age may be coming to a close...
A revolt against absolutism, that's a really good plotline. Was there anything like that in France in OTL?
Funny how religion suddenly stops to matter every time there is a common political interest
Funny how religion suddenly stops to matter every time there is a common political interest
The Fronde.
Milites is just borrowing the name of the historical rebellion -- and a few key players, like that funny prince-general named Condé -- for his own version of it. Mind, this Nicolas seems like a stronger guy that Louis XIV, who in real life was an ass and an idiot who happened to have the fortune of ruling France in an era where she was well-served by talents and poised to rule Europe. He's still an ass but far from an idiot and what more can you expect of a King?
Oh, and now that we've seen the flaws and hubris of the Hegemon, isn't it time for his virtues (in a very Machiavellian sense) to shine through?
Arghhh... I haven't been following this for a while, but I just saw the name of a Gene Hackman movie.
What's going on!?o
What's going on!?
o
Hmm me thinks this looks rather grim for france...
Now if only we could unmask Jean Armand du Plessis as Ron Higgins, professional Cardinal Richelieu impersonator before he can fund new rebellions with his impersonation of Petula Clark at fund-raiser parties!
Now if only we could unmask Jean Armand du Plessis as Ron Higgins, professional Cardinal Richelieu impersonator before he can fund new rebellions with his impersonation of Petula Clark at fund-raiser parties!
Time for revolution, time for total war, time for the most glorious victory or eternal shame!
Fight untill there is no more blood left in Europe!
Fight untill there is no more blood left in Europe!
I see a great battle to save the fronts upcoming by the French and her Catholic Habsburg opponents.
Gott erhalten das Osterreich Kaiser! and the French King himself as well... great update.
Gott erhalten das Osterreich Kaiser! and the French King himself as well... great update.
Response time!
That is really great to hear! I haven't really followed your Resistance Fall of Man AAR, but I absolutely adored your Je Mantedrai story!
Once you get into the routine it's not that time consuming actually. The real pain is thinking up "creative" additions to the maps...
Maybe not a close, but there's some speed bumps
As Irenicus already said there was indeed a couple of rebellions against the new Bourbon monarchy in the mid 16hundreds named the Fronde. The term Frondeur was also used in OTL to describe those rebels.
I'm sure that we both can agree on that Nicolas has something up his sleeve.
The usual stuff, but with a twist. Fighting Catholics over the Holy Roman Emprie just got a bit more difficult with revolts and nasty Austrian-Russian queens trying to eliminate Huguenot power.
:rofl:
Leveling up?
*terrible joke...*
That's all well and dandy, but there's no Kaiser in Austria - there's a Kaiserin
To conclude I'd like to add that I've improved the graphics in the first post, so go check it out!
That is really great to hear! I haven't really followed your Resistance Fall of Man AAR, but I absolutely adored your Je Mantedrai story!
Once you get into the routine it's not that time consuming actually. The real pain is thinking up "creative" additions to the maps...
Maybe not a close, but there's some speed bumps
As Irenicus already said there was indeed a couple of rebellions against the new Bourbon monarchy in the mid 16hundreds named the Fronde. The term Frondeur was also used in OTL to describe those rebels.
The Fronde.
Milites is just borrowing the name of the historical rebellion -- and a few key players, like that funny prince-general named Condé -- for his own version of it. Mind, this Nicolas seems like a stronger guy that Louis XIV, who in real life was an ass and an idiot who happened to have the fortune of ruling France in an era where she was well-served by talents and poised to rule Europe. He's still an ass but far from an idiot and what more can you expect of a King?
Oh, and now that we've seen the flaws and hubris of the Hegemon, isn't it time for his virtues (in a very Machiavellian sense) to shine through?
I'm sure that we both can agree on that Nicolas has something up his sleeve.
The usual stuff, but with a twist. Fighting Catholics over the Holy Roman Emprie just got a bit more difficult with revolts and nasty Austrian-Russian queens trying to eliminate Huguenot power.
:rofl:
Leveling up?
*terrible joke...*
That's all well and dandy, but there's no Kaiser in Austria - there's a Kaiserin
To conclude I'd like to add that I've improved the graphics in the first post, so go check it out!