The Great Game : Part II, Europe's Revenge

[unmerged(32886)]

Poland. A nation grown strong by many leaders. And now it was my time to ascend the throne. I inherited a war with a nation called Kongo. They were just 1 prov but had taken control over 2 polish provs. It took a long time to reconquer our cities but at the cost of many lives we succeeded. We even assaulted their capital and almost breached the walls. Almost. Their walls proved too thick and their 50+k army too powerfull. In the end peace was made for a small sum of gold.

After this humiliation, a decision was made to strengthen the economy. Colonies were build into cities and numerous officials were hired. Also many missionaries were send on their way but to this day none of them have succeeded. And our merchants... Another polish disgrace. They were given money to gain positions at numerous CoT's, but almost all failed. Oh how the rest of the world laughs at us. The polish mercantile empire, already one of the smallest, continued to decline as the years passed.

Back home Poland had a strong army at its command. An army ready and willing to fight. Question remained which one. The Kingdom of Norway? For some reason I grew fond of them and therefor dismissed this foul thought and offered them NAP. Second in line was the Byzantines. We had already managed to gain a foothold in Macedonia and we could easily overwhelm them. Poland had the advantage of numbers and technology. But that plan was dismissed even quicker as it is not honorable to fight such a nation. Remained only two other nations, namely Burgundy and Persia. After taking a better look at Burgundy, it was decided to leave them alone. Even though we knew they had virtually all their armies in the south a strong Burgundy is needed to contain its southern neighbours the Spanish. So Persia remained...

We expanded our army to double the size of persian armies. And then the declaration of war was made. Our armies carefully progressed and slowly took one province after another. It wasn't before long that we made our first peace offer, having a WS of almost 70%. But Persia declined and a second diplomat returned headless. Our polish armies refused to penitrate deeper into enemy territory. This allowed the enemy to build troops and slowly regain their lost possessions. After many years of war and three persian peace offers later we made a WP with Persia. Another glorious victory for Poland.

Thus my reign ended and I abandon my throne to make place for my successor. The only good thing is that Persia has been forced to build and thus keep most of their troops in Europe. If Poland can contain them there, the polish armies can easily sweep through the persian provinces in Asia. Ah yes. I can taste victory and it will be sweet. I can only hope that I'm allowed to take command of Poland one more time . But as we all know, a king may rule its nation, a queen rules its king .

As for all the other things:
- on time reward: 1% deflation (somewhat bold I know )
- AAR reward: conversion of Bohemia with its CoT; 4000d at 23% success rate is somewhat out of my league .
- Persia IIRC released a vassal during our little war. Is this against the rules ?
- 2 generals for the next session (so, SO needed )

 

[das]

Bump. This actually sunk to the second page!

So, will there be a huge, decisive clash with Spain any time soon?

 

[BurningEGO]

I think so my dear reader. But fear not! Invasion plans have been created, and we believe we can at least end the war with a white peace. Both England and Norway cant afford prolongued wars, and our fleet is still the biggest in the world. I never lost a single war in the whole game, so i doubt i will do so in the last 100 years of the game.

Spanish arrogance at its finest!

 

[unmerged(49182)]

It will surely be a clash between the four biggest powers in the world as tensions has only grown the last 100 years. It will be interesting to see wether or not the forces of good (Burgundy) prevails.

 

[King of Men]

Poland seems to be getting stronger with every Europeshot! And as its a Spanish ally, that's not very good news for Norway, is it?

Well, it is by my estimate 5-10 years away from LT 51, which I got this session (along with the other four western Powers) so it's not an immediate threat; and also, it's not that much of a Spanish ally, I think.

And yes, I think we'll be ending the EU2 era with a really fine war. None of this namby-pamby stuff with exchanging some colonies or a border province; no, we'll have a Great War, a clash to destroy nations and grind proud peoples into dust.

 

[BurningEGO]

A fine war? Is a 3v1 fine? Seems like.

 

[King of Men]

It is when the one is powerful enough that it's about a match for the other three.

 

[Endre Fodstad]

If Spain wins this war, is there really any point in converting to Vicky?

 

[King of Men]

You mean, apart from seeing how the Ynglings deal with industrialisation, Social Darwinism, and mass mobilisation?

Well, actually I think there is. Spain is a huge empire, certainly, but that matters much less in Vicky, where resources and economic skill are where it's at. Their African, South American and Pacific dominions won't be that great a source of strength anymore; Burgundy's domination of Germany, England's coal mines, not to mention Norway's iron and lumber, will be greater assets.

But in any case, if I thought Spain was going to win, I'd switch sides and make another grab for Holstein.

 

[King of Men]

October, 1749
Bergen
Hevnplassen, just north of Lille Lungegårdsvannet

The sky was grey. A steady drizzle, the eternal cold rain of late northern autumn, matched the sullen mood of the watching cityfolk. There was utter, unnatural silence; thousands of men were gathered, but none spoke. Anyone but an Yngling would have found it unsettling, even terrifying. Only the military discipline of Ynglings could have held such a crowd silent.

The black of Ynglinga Hird uniforms predominated, broken here and there by the silver of rank flashes, scarlet of wound badges, and iron-grey of sidearms. In the dull light, the effect was of a vast, dark sea, surging with hidden strength and fury.

At length the officials arrived from Håkon's Hall. Behind them came eight strils, sweating under the burden of a heavy greystone obelisk, and visibly nervous in the presence of so many angry Ynglings. No word was spoken as the obelisk was set in place beside the others; Jamaica, Brandenburg, Holstein... and now South America : The unavenged losses of the Ynglings.

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Although both Burgundy and England proved receptive to the idea of a coalition, Yngling success had undermined their diplomacy : Neither nation was in any shape to fight, and the Yngling emissaries had to be content with promises of 'a few years from now'. However, the Spaniards, their goal of rescuing Burgundy accomplished, saw no reason for a prolonged struggle, and demanded only the remaining Argentine colonies. These poor and unprosperous provinces had never attracted a high degree of Yngling settlement, being in fact one of the few remaining places were strils could settle as freeholders, and their loss was relatively easily accepted, and compensated for by the gain of a strong foothold on the Gold Coast, where Ynglings soon came to dominate the slave trade. (The old law permitting slaves to serve their way to freedom was quietly ignored; there were enough stril soldiers for Norway's needs, and certainly no pressure in the Ting for enforcing ancient law on behalf of black labourers.) Even so, nobody was about to forget the injury Spain had done; even the ancient insult of Jamaica was dug up again and made fresh. A great ship-building program was begun, and the compulsory service period of Yngling males expanded to three years, increasing the available manpower considerably. It remained to be seen whether such measures could contain the colossus that bestrode the world oceans; but if sheer will could forge the sinews of war, Norway was ready.

From Berserker to Battleship : Norway 1066-1920, Bergenhus University Press.​

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Well, actually I could care less about the slave trade, I just needed to take out my frustration on something, and the poor Muslims were in the wrong place. Here's my new African holdings :

And just to remind you, Europe of 1768. Now also with conscription centers! Hence my remark about increasing the period of service. I got a 30% increase out of these useful little buildings, probably the largest relative increase of any power. Friendly to us small northern powers, the new technology is.

 

[Endre Fodstad]

You mean, apart from seeing how the Ynglings deal with industrialisation, Social Darwinism, and mass mobilisation?

I was more thinking about how all the other player countries deal with, as you put it, being ground into the dust by a power they allowed to outgrow them.

Nice update! We're all waiting for the big war!

 

[das]

So what happened exactly? You traded colonies with the Spanish? Or did they take Argentina in war?

Also, it would seem that the diplomatic situation is as volatile as ever. Norway is trying to ally with England and Burgundy, but everything else is more uncertain; it does seem that Poland still is a Spanish ally, however. Italy's allegience is very hard to determine, they have some grudges against both sides and are in position to gain - or to lose - from just about any course of action. Though I suspect Spain is a more dangerous enemy for it than Burgundy.

 

[unmerged(36826)]

So what happened exactly? You traded colonies with the Spanish? Or did they take Argentina in war?

Also, it would seem that the diplomatic situation is as volatile as ever. Norway is trying to ally with England and Burgundy, but everything else is more uncertain; it does seem that Poland still is a Spanish ally, however. Italy's allegience is very hard to determine, they have some grudges against both sides and are in position to gain - or to lose - from just about any course of action. Though I suspect Spain is a more dangerous enemy for it than Burgundy.

Italy has become an irrelevance really, in order to fight anyone apart from Burgundy they will need a fleet, which they do not have. And naval tech, which they do not have. In any war against Burgundy/Norway and especially Spain and England they would simply have Venice (as an island) invaded and their colonies taken and stabhit into the ground without much effort.

 

[Sid Meier]

The Third Sino--Anglo-Saxon War

By Blayne Bradley

“To my friends for urging me on in a time when I needed urging.” Blayne Bradley

The Third Sino-Anglo war begun in May 4th 1742 with the Ambassador MacMuffin delivered England’s declaration of war to the Emperor Chengkung. This official commence hostilities between the two nations leading to a 2 year long war leading to nearly 170,000 China casualties and around 80,000 British and around 70,000 Spanish. The purpose of this treatise is to properly acknowledge the fundamental causes the war, to overlook the major operations conducted by the opposing sides and finally to examine the aftermath of the war. The war would have a great impact on European politics and had an even greater impact on the moral of the Chinese citizenry the war ended with a return to the status quo for both sides and had little lasting economic affects.

The causes of the war are relatively simple, the roots would be dating back to the late 1500’s with the Chinese refusal of English access to Chinese markets. The halting of Free Trade appalled London and an expeditionary fleet and army was sent nearly leading to the collapse of the China and England annexed Shanghai as the terms of the peace treaty only international pressure at the time kept England form claiming large tracts of Chinese sovereign soil.

China since that war recovered quickly reclaiming its break away vassal and tributary states of Vietnam, Manchu and Korea. Rebuilt the economy and retrained the army to western standards. The Chinese people and government wishing to face the English as even terms as possible sought diplomatic relations with as many possible opponents of English world Hegemony as possible achieving a good many guarantees of independence from the other major powers and formulated an informal alliance with Spain, Italy and Norway to contain English Hegemony.

England on the other hand would with the Chinese Center of Trade and access to Chinese markets firmly in their grip would proceed to size control of many of CoTs and would in a series of wars versus Norway and Italy expand their colonial base, and with the wealth gleaned form this adventures build up the infrastructure of the Home Islands.

However the diplomatic situation constantly deteriorated and finally when the government of England passed from the Tories to the Whigs in 1679 the Coalition of Spain, Norway, Italy and informally China all declared war on England. The war lasted about 3 years before the English surrender around 3 major colonial trade possessions to the victors, 2 to Italy and 1 to China and thus the beginning and ending of the Second Sino-Anglo war in a nutshell..

Bolstered by its return to th world scene without the shame of defeat China’s economic growth continued while still behind relatively to Europe the potential for growth was there. To pay Spain for the massive financial aid China ceded the control of the majority of their dominions to the Spanish crown paying off their debts to foreign powers for the time.

However the Whigs brutal defeat left them powerless for the return of the Tories to Government and with it the English began another programme of postwar reconstruction and military expansion and with ti an agenda to seize positions taken during the Second Sino-Anglo war. The British attempted to provoke hostilities cleverly in several incidents in an attempt to put the blame squarely on the Chinese for starting the war, first by planning the assassination of Ambassador MacMuffin by hiring a local secret society to off him, an action barely prevented by the actions of Martial Artist Wu Jienshang.A second attempt was the attempted provocation of hostilities of sailing a mile within Chinese territorial waters and then sailing quickly out attempting to provoke the Chinese into firing on British shipping in International waters an action that failed as the Chinese Commodore refused to chase after the British ships.

However in the diplomatic arena events were being shaped that would render these actions irrelevant as the Empires of Spain signed a Non-aggression pact with England, England believing this was a ticket to allow them to attack a now undefended China unofficially began hostilities via blockade until the official commencing of hostilities and the land invasion of 40,000 troops in Shanghai.

The course of the war:

England landed 40,000 troops and attacked Shanghai directly the Chinese reacted quickly and counter attacked successfully driving away the exhausted British invasion force with heavy casualties and this would happen again in Beijing before the British in an determined attack on Korea, Beijing and Shanghai sized the cities and the Korean peninsula. The Chinese government knowing that the defense of Beijing was impossible this second time withdrew to the mountain fortress city of Lanzhou where the Ming government conducted the war in relative safety from British attack.

Major Chinese operations would be the “Yalu River Offensive” which in desparate frontal assaults on prepared British positions led to a great loss of life and barely delayed British war effort in Korea.

Similarly the Chinese 8th Army was mauled 4 times in arrow by the British 1st Expeditionary force despite out numbering it about 4 to one and attempts to relieve beleaguered garrisons and recapture the cities of Beijing and Shanghai went miserably.

Economically though no country was better suited for long war of attrition then China as its huge manpower base and decent ability to raise money to field large armies allowed to raise and send in new armies just as quickly as they were crushed by the British and with Spanish monetary aid large armies of nearly 150,000 men could be raised on a tri-monthly basis making the British campaign in China a long and bitter one indeed.

Efforts to gain relief and military assistance from Norway and Italy were failures as without a strong navy neither power could hope to do any damage to England while Spain only after great delay sent cash. Also to the great dismay of the Chinese the Spaniards were embroiled in a war with Norway and Italy preventing them from aiding China even if they wanted to. However the war soon ended in Spain’s favor and an appointment of a more pro-Chinese chancellor the wording of Spanish communiqué’s to England become more aggressive and wordings of China soon held the word “ally” in them leading to the Spanish to declare the NAP null and void for England attacking Spain’s dear “ally” and declared war on Spain.

The Spanish war effort consisted of two things providing China with a much larger cash reserve to fight on and land military operations in France pushing back the British while sustaining heavy casualties.

The prospect of fighting the newly awakened Spanish super power did not appeal to London as being profitable and so peace talks begun in April 1744 and ended in June 1744 with a return to the status quo between all major belligerents.

Analysis: The results of the war are many, one the one hand China could claim having won a war versus a European power while on the other hand Spanish intervention further alienated former ally England and pushing them further into the Norway-Italian Axis. The lack of any material aid with the exception of some relief from Norway led to China feeling isolated form the majority of the European powers and to all appearances has to take a role of following a Spanish example much humbled by a war that they nearly losed.

-1 inflation, 2 Generals pls.

 

[unmerged(36826)]

Analysis: The results of the war are many, one the one hand China could claim having won a war versus a European power

If you forget the fact that you were losing until Spain intervened, breaking the pact of non-aggression

Very interesting AAR though, well done

 

[Sid Meier]

I'm a History buff now im leaning towards the sholarly history by the book approch ^-^

 

[King of Men]

So what happened exactly? You traded colonies with the Spanish? Or did they take Argentina in war?

They took Argentina, and (seeking someone smaller than me to take my frustration out on) I grabbed some of Africa from Mali, or whatever that grey power is called.

Also, it would seem that the diplomatic situation is as volatile as ever. Norway is trying to ally with England and Burgundy, but everything else is more uncertain; it does seem that Poland still is a Spanish ally, however. Italy's allegience is very hard to determine, they have some grudges against both sides and are in position to gain - or to lose - from just about any course of action. Though I suspect Spain is a more dangerous enemy for it than Burgundy.

Yes, well, it basically depends on who is playing Italy any given week. We're sort of just hanging on, here, player-wise; which does make for realistically unpredictable states, I must admit. Our leadership goes from brilliant and completely committed to Spain's destruction one week, to mediocre and a Spanish lapdog the next.

 

[Saulta]

This aar is just as good as always. Keep up the good work everybody!

 

[unmerged(49182)]

They took Argentina, and (seeking someone smaller than me to take my frustration out on) I grabbed some of Africa from Mali, or whatever that grey power is called.

Thatd be Benin methinks.

 

[BurningEGO]

Too bad i will absent tomorow... Else i would crush everyone with my iron fisted hand! Fear me!