1644-1651 – The Dark Continent
The start of 1644 saw a massive deconstruction effort in Italy and North Africa. Forts in Lucca, Umbria, Gharb, and Fez were dismantled and the supplies put towards the construction of a fort in Siena, as well as the upgrade of the forts at Genoa and Ceuta. Steward Lúcia Fernanda Manuela de Maia also ordered the expansion of the forts at Navarra, Girona, and Valencia, which were seen as the most important forts in Iberia. The growing wealth also allowed for Marshal Almudena Hashem to officially garrison all forts, even during peace time. The treasury certainly did not feel the strain any longer, and having all forts garrisoned better protected the empire from threats both within and without. It also better prepared the men for war, and war was on the horizon. Chancellor Petros Mandromenos had called for the conquest of the more valuable trade ports on the Africa coast. A quick examination of the region, mostly provided by TATC merchants, revealed that the more valuable ports were held by three African powers: Oyo, Mutapa, and Ajuuraan. The first was closest to Europe, but was also allied with the quite large Mali. A sizeable force would be required just to capture their coastline. As for the other two, they were much weaker and had no allies. Of even better news was the fact that they were both at war with each other. Thus General Hashem was ordered to sail to Madagascar with the Exercit Africa to secure at least one of the valuable ports from either of those two states.
The Swiss missionaries that had infested the province of Genoa under Savoy’s reign continued their work, protected by Hispanian law. The people were swayed to follow the Reformed faith, despite the clear foreign influence.
Ajuuraan, in a war with Yemen, came out victorious, securing itself several provinces. A month later, Ethiopia saw fit to attack the growing nation, aided by Alodia to the north. As Hashem landed in Madagascar it seemed that Ajuuraan was the ideal target, for it possessed more valuable coastal provinces and was being attacked by its neighbours. All that was left to do was fabricate a reason for war that would not antagonize the neighbouring powers.
Apparently both Venice and Switzerland were not pleased with Savoy. On the same day, they both declared war on their neighbour. Neither had allies, but the Pope supported Savoy. Hispania would have to watch with interest how this played out. When both the Papal State and Switzerland requested military access, Emperor Francesc granted both requests. Let the two sides spill each other’s blood if they pleased.
Sound trade policies in West Africa were paying off for the Trans-Atlantic Trading Company. Their income was quite sizeable this year.
The colony in Diego Garcia supported by the Saint-Pierre family was flourishing, no longer needing the aid of a Crown colonist. With that done, both the Crown and Chancellor Mandromenos organized the colonization of the Maldives to secure a position near India.
In April of 1645, Kaffa declared war on Ajuuraan, making them the obvious target now with so many enemies. The preparations were almost complete. Most of the Crown focus though was on the expansion of key shipyards at Steward Maia’s request.
The Holy Roman Empire was shown for the farce that is was when the upstart ruler of Brandenburg annexed Saxony and declared himself emperor. The HRE was a mere mockery at this point.
Preparations were about complete for war when the Ajuuraan fleet suddenly appeared right off the coast of Madagascar. It would be unwise to pit the transport fleet against that, so the main fleet was called in. The war would have to wait even further.
In 1646, Tyrone decided it would take a second try to capture the rest of Ireland, declaring war on Great Britain yet again with the backing of France. It seemed likely they would not succeed this time either without a miracle.
The ever-growing nature of Hispania and its colonial empire was leaving some of its citizens behind. The people of Naples had long since been a part of Hispania and Aragon before that, but as power focused more heavily in Iberia and towards colonization, as well as a wider mix of Italians were brought into the empire, Naples started to stagnate. Despite that, there was still some focus on Italy. Over in Sicily, recruitment efforts in Messina and investment in production added to the province’s growth.
Once the main fleet reached Madagascar, war was declared on Ajuuraan. It was time to gang up on the African punching bag.
Admiral Dietrich Vinzent Lübecker immediately engaged Ajuuraan’s fleet outside Madagascar. Hispania’s larger and more efficient fleet battered the enemy fleet, sinking many of the ships. A single transport was captured and added to the transport fleet. With the way clear, Admiral Lübecker sailed north to blockade Ajuuraan’s coast and to ensure the transport fleet was safe while landing Hashem in Zanzibar. Fortunately for the general, no enemies were in sight and Mutapa had already taken the two forts protecting the southern coastline.
The passing of a wealthy merchant left the state with plenty of money for the steward’s construction plans. With the vast sum, shipyards were constructed all along Iberia’s coast. Ironically, this would take away Naples’ and Sicily’s dominance as the shipbuilders of the empire, further alienating them.
Over in Africa, Hashem made a wild run up to Kismayo, leaving everything in his path unoccupied. The lands inland were wild and inhospitable, so no attack was expected from that side. Hashem wanted to secure the chokepoint, while allowing one or two straggler regiments to secure all the provinces south.
In a surprising twist, Tyrone and France managed to sink a British fleet. Perhaps they weren’t doomed after all.
Even as Hashem moved to secure parts of East Africa for Chancellor Mandromenos’s plan to dominate the continent’s trade routes, Steward Maia was helping achieve the same goal through her own means. Marketplaces were constructed all along the Ivory Coast with the hope that they would draw out trade from the interior.
By April of 1647, everything south of Kismayo had been captured. Hashem split his forces into two armies and made its way north. Mutapa already held the enemy capital, but there were no forts until they neared the Horn of Africa. For now, they secured the coastline uninterrupted.
It was well known that Emperor Francesc did not have a healthy respect for the clergy, especially those of the Catholic Church. No one was sure if this was due to a lack of faith or that he feared they threatened his power, but regardless they were seriously weakened under his rule. Used to the support shown under previous monarchs, the clergy started riling up the peasants against the emperor. The spark that lit the flame was an innocent discovery by a palace servant. He noticed a peculiar painting in the emperor’s quarters and showed it to the other servants. Soon after it was revealed that this portrait was of none other than Lucrezia, the supposed mother and saint of a heretic faith. With a heretical painting found in the emperor’s own quarters, the Catholic clergy set off a revolt across the empire. The Knights in Malta rose up, calling for the independence of their island as a holy order. Angry peasants in Toledo and Bari ran wild. The devout Catholics of Athens also expressed their anger, but unfortunately for them the Exercit Athens was drilling outside the city. As for the others, the Exercits Castilla La Vieja and Valencia converged on Toledo, while the Exercits Provence and Napoli marched south. Unfortunately, the latter two were stationed up in Genoa and Lucca to keep the population pacified. As for Malta, there was nothing that could be done until the transport fleet returned. A message was sent, and once it arrived half the fleet was dispatched to return to Europe.
The Athenian rebels rampaged across the province, chased by the Exercit Athens, but were ultimately scattered to the countryside. As for the rebels in Toledo, the fort kept them at bay until General Louis François de Montségur could arrive. With brutal efficiency, he crushed the rebel threat, perhaps with more enthusiasm than usual since these men had been spurred into revolt by Catholic priests. Two armies were down, but the ones in Bari and Malta managed to secure their position for now.
In August, the first army arrived in Bari. One force kept the rebels occupied as General Marti de Leon swept down from behind to shatter their flank. With nowhere to run, the entire army was forced to surrender or die.
Hispania wasn’t the only one dealing with rebels. Nobles in Nuevo Leon, perhaps feeling that Hispania was too preoccupied, rose up in the colony. The defeated the local garrison, but the natives of Charrua kept them getting at the northern provinces or the capital.
The wars in Italy escalated further as Tuscany decided to make another go at Switzerland, who was still fighting in Savoy. The new emperor Brandenburg now had its chance to prove it was better than its predecessor.
With Hispania’s reach extending across the globe, the navy became a more legitimate career. A professional administration had to be set up and the navy expanded beyond the immediate needs of the nation.
At the start of 1648, General Hashem reached the Horn of Africa, having captured the entire east coast of Ajuuraan. Mutapa had managed to capture another fort further inland, while Kaffa was besieging their coastal fort at Sanaag. Hashem assisted the African nation in taking the province, opening the way further west. The general continued along the coast, working his way towards the Red Sea.
The standardization of bottle sizes allowed for the reintroduction of corks, allowing for the preservation of wines for much longer periods of time. The wine trade flourished as a result.
In April, half the transport fleet reached Europe and the Exercit Granada made its way to Malta. The rebels had been sitting unbothered for too long. An assault on the island commenced, with the rebels unable to hold back the Hispanian army. They were forced to surrender, dashing the dream of an independent holy order.
Design changes to bastions allowed for a much more effective defensive strategy. By channelling your enemy into one area, you could easily overwhelm them from a fort, especially with the new cannon design.
In June the great statesman Conde-Duque Olivares passed away. He was replaced with an equally skilled man, one Jeroni Bielsa.
With the attention given to East Africa, more people were moving to the island of Madagascar. The growing colony in Antananarivo was experiencing significant growth, with a second settlement popping up.
The Lithuanian behemoth declared war on the Muscovian remnants in June. Their fate seemed grim.
June also brought poor tidings for the war. 30k peasants rose up against the Ajuuraan administration, but unfortunately in Hispanian-occupied Mombasa, one of the key ports targeted for the war. Hashem was too far north and did not have the men to handle this rebel threat, so all that could be done was let the peasants run wild and hope they moved further north. More rebels were spotted in the interior, but Mutapa handled those.
Some cardinal started babbling on about how Oran was captured from the heathens in the early 1500s, despite the fact it still belonged to Morocco. Despite the ramblings of this mad clergyman, many people did see the benefits of taking such a province in a crusade.
In September, Hashem captured the northernmost port of Massawa. The entire coastline had fallen to one of Ajuuraan’s enemies. Not wanting to get bogged down in the interior, a region of no interest to Hispania, Hashem set sail back for the southern provinces, hoping to recapture provinces from the peasant rebels as they rampaged northwards. The peasants had already captured Mombasa and Malinda.
The end of October saw the first peace treaty for Ajuuraan. Kaffa settled for war reparations, but Mutapa was bolder. They took only one province, but forced Ajuuraan to hand over several cores to Ethiopia, who was still at war with them. This also meant that most of Ajuuraan’s forts were now free. The only one that concerned Hispania was Bagamoyo in the south. Hashem landed next to it and moved on the fort as he let the rebels march farther away.
As the year neared its end, Croatia made its first move by targeting neighbouring Bosnia, a tiny OPM with no allies. It seemed the fledgling nation was destined to succeed.
A scandal also rocked the court at this time as a servant girl came forward claiming she was carrying the crown prince’s child. Following rumours years ago of Ferran’s philandering, this was not so hard to believe. Before the scandal could draw too much attention though, the girl simply vanished, along with a sizeable portion of the treasury, although the two did not seem connected at first glance.
The last Russian state, Muscovy, felt the wrath of Lithuania as they continued their conquests. Now would the giant steppe-dwelling Kazan stand in their way?
A new idea started circulating around court of a more centralized monarchy, one where the monarch exercised far more power while the court reaped the benefits. While some might enjoy allowing the monarch to do most of the work, others feared the idea of their fate being decided by the whims of one man.
Switzerland, having to face two enemies at once, was unable to carry out their war against Savoy. The Swiss were forced to give up the western half of their nation.
Hashem finally managed to take Bagamoyo in July of 1649. By this point the peasants were drawing near the enemy capital, far enough north to allow the general to start retaking provinces.
Barely in his forties, Emperor Kontantinos XII of Byzantium passed away, leaving his seven-year-old son as the new heir. A regency council was formed, and as Clara before her, Francesc’s daughter Sofia found herself as empress dowager. She faced just as difficult a time as Clara, for she was a foreigner at court. A strange rumour had also begun to circulate that the Trastámara family was siphoning away the life force of the Greek Palaiologos emperors, a ridiculous explanation for why the last three Greek emperors died in their thirties or forties, while Hispania’s emperors seemed to all live into their sixties or seventies.
Despite Savoy’s victory against Switzerland, they did not manage to succeed against Venice. For some odd reason, the Venetians decided to force Savoy to return Wallis to Switzerland rather than take any province. This greatly destabilized Savoy, who also had to deal with several Swiss provinces strongly devout in the Reformed faith. The new Swiss population undermined the government, forcing a conversion. A new Reformed state was born.
Ajuuraan’s army finally made an appearance as roughly 20k men marched their way down south to prevent the peasant army from reaching their capital. Hashem saw this as a prime opportunity to take out two threats. He moved just south of the battle and waited until one side seemed close to breaking. Then just as Ajuuraan defeated the rebel threat, he struck. The demoralized Ajuuraan army fought valiantly, but was greatly outmatched. They were forced to flee north or face losing the remnants of their shattered army.
With the enemy army on the run, Hashem easily reoccupied the provinces taken from the peasant rebels. Not wanting to dally any further, a peace was signed. Ajuuraan was forced to hand over their seven southernmost provinces, of which two were valuable ports and one had a fort. The Inquisition finally had its first task in a long time, with missionaries being sent to Malindi and Tanga to convert the Muslims.
With that victory achieved, it was decided that the aging General Hashem be eased into retirement. He was awarded full honours and personally thanked by the emperor for his lifelong service. ((The game killed you off
@hirahammad after you had turned 80, but luckily it was after the war was over so you didn’t die.))
In global news, the temperature of the world seemed to be dropping as intellectuals started calling the era the Little Ice Age.
Even though the Inquisition was operating against the heathens in the new African provinces, the same could not be said for the Protestants of Sicily. Protected by law, they were flourishing on the island. The emperor also made a point not to interfere with their faith.
The colony in Antananarivo on Madagascar became self-sufficient, securing the entire island. Now Hispania could focus east. Colonist Eduard Villanova established a colony in Pontianak for the steward. St. Kitts also reached a similar state as Antananarivo, allowing more colonial resources to be shifted east, this time to Bangka for the marshal.
With Ajuuraan so weak, Ethiopia easily took a sizeable slice out of them.
Hispania was considered by many to be at the height of its power, with an empire on which the sun never sets. Despite Emperor Francesc’s anti-clergy approach to the Church, the Pope was willing to overlook that if it meant the support of Europe’s strongest nation. Hispania had much influence in the Holy See.
Croatia pulled off its first success by annexing Bosnia, securing its little corner of the world. Around the same time, Tyrone learned that poking the British beast a second time had not been a good idea as they lost two provinces this time.
Lithuania continued its hungry conquest spree by turning east yet again, its eyes set on Kazan. With the aid of Genoa, they were to take on the might of Kazan, Persia, and Delhi, a formidable inter-continental alliance. Perhaps they would be stopped here?
Complaints were made that the navy was being neglected for the army. Technically this was true, not that anything was done about it.
Rumours were also coming in from Nueva Granada regarding Cusco. The native nation was increasingly opening up to their colonial neighbour, exchanging goods and ideas. The Cuscoan people seemed fascinated by European inventions, and the colonial people of Nueva Granada were more than happy to share. Some Cuscoans even took a pilgrimage of sorts, travelling through the Hispanian colonies to see what life was like there. For the first time in history, the Cuscoan ruler sailed to Iberia to meet personally with Emperor Francesc to discuss relations between the two nations. While Cusco was not going so far as to adopt European ways, nor showing any true signs that they would abandon their old ways, there were clear signs of interest in Hispania that had not been as obvious before.
Presenting His Imperial Highness, Francesc I de Trastámara, Emperor of Hispania, Caesar of Rome, and Protector of the Greeks.
It seems that we have met with success, having secured a significant portion of the coast of East Africa, and with it greater control of the trade coming in from the region. I applaud General Hashem for his efforts and wish him a happy retirement. He has surely earned it, although he may continue to serve as marshal if he so wishes.
I must also say I grow weary of the Catholic clergy that question my rule. I will not tolerate open rebellion against my just and righteous reign. At least the Pope has personally apologized for such disputes between me and members of the Church. He seems a good man, for a Pole.
Now I must unfortunately excuse myself. It has come to my attention that the crown prince has neglected to arrange a marriage for his only son, who is of age. It would not do for a man second in line for the throne to go unmarried into his twenties.
((I must first apologize for yet another seven-year update. Forgetting to forge a claim on Ajuuraan beforehand and the sudden arrival of their navy delayed the war, not to mention those damn peasants. When peace was signed, I had already gone part way into 1650, so I just decided to finish the year out. I’ll try to aim to a much more suitable five years next time.
Now you know what to do. All ministers have until
Monday at 12PM PST to post their plans. Players may also propose laws or reforms in that time. We can now become an absolute monarchy, so feel free to suggest that.
Pensioners:
@xXNorwegianSniperXx
@Von Habsburg
@hirahammad
Dying:
@LatinKaiser))