The House of Solomon - Ethiopia AAR (Rights of Man)

[Anonomoosle]

Glad you didn't give the Commonwealth anything, they don't deserve it

Great fighting as always- The ottomans are barely in their old shadow.

 

[ThetrueColt]

With the Ottomans in such a weakened state, integrating the rest of Anatolia over time should be a walk in the park.
Nice work on securing Yerevan!

 

[macd21]

Chapter 16: Colonial Tensions

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1733 saw the conclusion of a short, brutal war to consolidate our Malaccan holdings. Our superior troops and weapons made short work of the local defenders, crushing their armies and sinking their ships with impunity. Almost all of the island of Sumatra was now ours.

We were not the only power looking to expand their colonial possessions, however. The Spanish and the French were both competing for control of the Ivory Coast. This, inevitably, led to conflict - and as we were allied to the Spanish, we were drawn into the war as well.

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This was our first war with a European power, but with the Spanish and Austrians fighting alongside us, victory was inevitable. Our forces moved to assist the Spanish in their attack on the southern front, beginning the first in a long series of sieges upon French fortifications. The northern and eastern fronts moved back and forth, as the French alternately won and lost battles, but our forces pressed steadily forward.

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With the fall of Savoie the two fronts were linked, spelling the doom of the French resistance. They had already been ground down in their confrontations with the Austrians and the Spanish Lowland armies, now any counterattack they might launch wound face a combined response of Ethiopian, Spanish and Austrian troops. Together, our allied forces moved north, taking city after city.

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With the fall of Paris, the French surrendered. Our most powerful rival had been humbled. While we gained little from the war, Ethiopia celebrated this victory. We had finally been tested by the Europeans and we had won.

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Our troops were still making their way back home when word reached us that the Ottomans were moving to reconquer Trebizond. Negusa Nagast Fasilidas II decided that this would be a good time to secure more territory from the Turks for ourselves. While the Trebizond army was unlikely to prove of much assistance to our forces, with luck we would be able to stop the Ottomans from retaking their holdings. Anything that hurt the Turks was of course to our advantage.

7
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Tunis and Hejaz both came to the Ottomans' aid, while the Commonwealth and Spain answered our call to arms. While an expedition force was dispatched to deal with Tunis, most of our troops moved to engage the Ottoman army laying siege to Trebizond. The enemy had a reserve force camped in Erzincan, waiting to support the attack on Trebizond, which our army caught by surprise. Leaderless, disorganised and badly outnumbered, the entire army was quickly routed. The war had barely begun and the Turks had already lost 30,000 men.

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While we were busy crushing the Turks, however, word reached us of an unprovoked attack upon our Australian colony by the English. Thankfully the conflict was at this stage still a local one, allowing us to concentrate on defeating the Ottomans and their allies.

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The Tunisians were knocked out of the war, losing the last of their coastal holdings to the Spanish. Meanwhile, in the east, Ankara finally fell to our forces, allowing us to seize control of all of Anatolia. The Turkish army had withdrawn across the Bosphorus and was now attacking the Commonwealth. Some of the emperor's councillors advised moving on the capital and ending the war, but Fasilidas's ambitions would not be satisfied with merely taking Ottoman provinces. While our fleet guarded the Bosphorus Strait, our armies turned on Hejaz.

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The armies of Hejaz, which had been rather unsuccessfully harrying our borders, were quickly crushed and our troops moved down the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. We were joined by the paltry forces of Trebizond, who took advantage of our attack to seize holdings for themselves.

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We soon forced Hejaz to surrender, stripping them of a number of provinces. It was at this point that the emperor revealed the next stage of his strategy by declaring war on Tabarestan. Much of the land just taken from Hejaz had once been ruled by Tabarestan, and the emperor planned to return these holdings to local administration once they recognised his authority.

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Unfortunately the emperor's plans were delayed by the need to help our Australian colonists deal with their English neighbours. The English colonists refused to withdraw their troops from the Ethiopian settlements they had seized, forcing us to intervene. This, of course, drew in their overlords in London. We were now fighting two major wars at once.

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Thankfully we were able to quickly bring the conflict with the Turks to a conclusion, stripping them of much of their remaining territory. Trebizond too forced them to cede provinces. With the loss of so much land, including the capital, the Ottoman Empire had almost ceased to exist.

Tabarestan was also defeated and forced to become our vassal. Unfortunately the return of their Hejani provinces would need to wait until after the war with the English. The seizure of so much territory in so short a time placed a great deal of strain upon our ability to administer and garrison the realm, causing a great deal of local unrest across the empire. It also led to the creation of a coalition of Central Asian states, who declared that any further aggression on Ethiopia's part would result in a united response. Thankfully this alliance proved short-lived, but it was a matter for some concern at the time. While even their combined strength would not normally have been a threat to us, the need to deal with the English and to put down the numerous uprisings in Anatolia left us temporarily vulnerable.

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A relief force was sent to Australia to help the colonists, while an expeditionary force was dispatched to seize Northern Ireland from the English. After landing our troops in Connaught, our fleet moved to engage the English navy in the Irish Sea. While our ships outnumbered theirs two-to-one, they had 22 ships-of-the-line to our 13. As a result, we suffered our worst naval defeat in centuries, losing 46 vessels. The emperor immediately ordered the construction of a new fleet of warships in the Mediterranean.

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The relief force finally arrived in Australia and defeated the English colonists. The situation in Australia was soon reversed, with our settlements being liberated and theirs seized.

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With that, we were able to bring the colonial war to an end. We had secured our position in Australia, taking control of our rival's island holdings. After a decade of nearly constant warfare, the empire looked forward to a period of peace and consolidation. That was not to be, however, as we would soon have to fight one of the most important wars in our history.

 

[stnylan]

Well now, Ethiopia is now striding around the world like the Coptic Colossus it is!

 

[macd21]

Well now, Ethiopia is now striding around the world like the Coptic Colossus it is!

Yep. I've played on a bit (as you can probably tell from the end of this chapter), but I'm not sure I'm going to play on to 1821. At this point it's just a matter of crushing anyone I like, whenever I like. I went over 100% overextension just to add a bit of challenge there. Not sure what else there is to do at this stage.

 

[Vlorious]

Been reading and enjoying this, good luck

 

[Tom D.]

Yep. I've played on a bit (as you can probably tell from the end of this chapter), but I'm not sure I'm going to play on to 1821. At this point it's just a matter of crushing anyone I like, whenever I like. I went over 100% overextension just to add a bit of challenge there. Not sure what else there is to do at this stage.

Good chapter, I guess annexing the Ottomans entirely, increasing your influence over Persia or try to conquer Malacca entirely for the trade could be good goals.

 

[volksmarschall]

I demand that you turn the all the world Ethiopia, or at least make the borders of Europe look nicer!

Just remarkable what you've accomplished. I think I'll finally give playing Ethiopia a shot sometime over break.

 

[macd21]

Chapter 17: The 2nd English Succession War
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With the end of the Colonial War, the emperor moved to set his realm to rights and to take stock of the diplomatic situation. Turkish rebels had seized Constantinople and Edirne, while English rebels were causing trouble in the Australian colonies. The Ottomans had declared war on the Greeks, hoping to rebuild their shattered empire. The Central-Asian Coalition began to break up, as its members accepted that Ethiopia had no interest in conquering the barren mountains and steppes of their lands. Negusa Nagast Fasilidas II was considering whether or not to launch another colonial war, when unexpected news arrived from Europe. The King of England had died without an heir. The English had decided to crown the Elector Prince of Bremen as their new ruler - but there was another claimant to the throne. A minor noblewoman, married to one of the emperor's brothers, had a tenuous claim to the English crown. The Emperor considered his options...

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...and chose war.

In addition to his new English subjects, Prince Johan Adolf I von Mecklenburg called upon his ally, the Bohemian Holy Roman Emperor, to aid him. Thankfully, however, both Bremen and the Emperor were already embroiled in a war against Hungary. Our initial strategy was simple - moving though the territory of our Commenwealth allies, we would invade Bohemia from the east while their army was distracted. We could then move on to taking Bremen itself and from there launch an invasion of England.

While our army marched north, our navy moved to consolidate its strength. While we had built new warships to rebuild those lost in the Battle of the Irish Sea, our strength was divided, with one fleet in the Mediterranean and another in the Indian Ocean. Until both of our fleets were united, they would be vulnerable.

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Finally both fleets came together off the western coast of Africa. What's more, they trapped a large English fleet between them. The Ethiopian fleet crippled the enemy vessels, then moved to a Spanish port for repairs. They had bloodied the enemy, but there was a long journey and many battles between them and England.

Meanwhile our armies pressed into Bohemia. A relief force dispatched from Hungary to try to lift the siege of Nové Zámky was driven off, though with heavy casualties. With the fort's fall the southern half of Bohemia was easily occupied and the route to the capital was open. Meanwhile our northern forces had captured Berlin, allowing them to move on Bremen.

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The Bohemian army made a number of attempts to break out of Hungary and retake their occupied holdings, but our soldiers, reinforced with large numbers of mercenaries, were able to hold them back. The Holy Roman Emperor finally agreed to exit the war (after paying us a small sum of gold), allowing him to return to the task of defeating his Hungarian rival. Meanwhile we gathered over 140,000 troops in occupied Bremen and prepared to launch our invasion of England.

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The English army was scattered across the globe, protecting their colonies or harassing our far flung possessions. A significant force was struggling to make its way up the Zanzibar coast, laying siege to old fortifications that had seen little action since the wars with Mutapa. But this left their island home relatively undefended, allowing us to land our troops almost completely unopposed. London soon fell and our armies began to occupy to south and east of the island.

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Unfortunate news closer to home, as we learned that the Ottomans had defeated the Greeks, retaking a significant portion of their former territories. The Serbs had taken advantage of the Greece's plight and seized two provinces for themselves. The Greeks had been conquered yet again.

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Our forces pressed on. At sea, our fleet clashed with the English in the Second Battle of the Irish Sea, but this time we were victorious, effectively breaking the Royal Navy's combat ability.

The emperor would not see his efforts to control the English throne come to fruition, but his heir continued the war effort. Our troops had taken all of the English holdings on Great Britain and prepared to finally defeat the last of the English home guard, who had retreated to Ireland.

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The Turks launched another war, this time against Trebizond. Their growing strength was less of a concern than it was an irritation. They would never be a threat to Ethiopia again, but would eventually have to be slapped down again. Still, there was little we could do while dealing with the English.

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The birth of a new heir brought joy to the emperor's heart. The succession was secure.

Our forces moved on to Ireland, defeating the combined English and Bremen armies trapped there. With that, the war was over.

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Von Mecklenburg surrendered his claim and recognised Ethiopia's right to the English throne. England - and her colonies - were now ours.

 

[Tom D.]

The emperor would not see his efforts to control the English throne come to fruition, but his heir continued the war effort. Our troops had taken all of the English holdings on Great Britain and prepared to finally defeat the last of the English home guard, who had retreated to Ireland.

You got lucky with that. If your king died some months after your forced the union it would've been for nothing. Great to see that Ethiopia is now able to influence Europe.

 

[atwix]

I think he waited to end the war until his king died.

it's the smart thing to do when fighting a war like this, to avoid the union breaking to negative opinion immediatly after, when old ruler dies.

Either that, or he did get lucky his king died at the right moment

 

[macd21]

Pure luck. I don't think my ruler was all that old, he just croaked early.

 

[stnylan]

Now that is a truly transformative war. I wonder if you will get a chance to integrate before game end.

 

[macd21]

Now that is a truly transformative war. I wonder if you will get a chance to integrate before game end.

Probably not, I won't be able to start until 1805, I'm guessing it'll take too long.

 

[Anonomoosle]

Are you going to convert it into Vicky 2 like the Mamluks AAR did?

Great chapter, you have a VERY big powerbase now

 

[atwix]

Probably not, I won't be able to start until 1805, I'm guessing it'll take too long.

you probably can, in fact. especially if you got admon+inflience and the policy from it to reduce integration cost.

But that small England will likely only be a few hundred dilo points to integrate, late game. Unless they own gazillion colonies around the globe.

 

[macd21]

Chapter 18: Ethiopia Triumphant

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The next 50 years would be dominated by the Triple Alliance of Ethiopia, Spain and the Polish Commonwealth. With dominion over England secured, the Ethiopian Empire alone could easily take on any of the other Great Powers without any difficulty. Together the three allies were completely unstoppable.

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The first to feel our wrath were the French. Another colonial squabble exploded into all-out war and the Spanish called upon the Triple Alliance to aid them.

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The French were crushed yet again, this time suffering serious territorial losses. While still technically a Great Power, the French were no longer of the same calibre as the Spanish and Ethiopian Empires.

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Negusa Nagast Susenyos II almost immediately launched another invasion of the Ottomans. Our old rivals had been steadily recovering their lost territories, but these gains were almost totally reversed in short order. After the war the emperor granted the Greeks self-rule (though still within the Empire). They, of course, were anxious to liberate their countrymen still under Serb rule, something the emperor assured them would occur in due course.

While our armies recovered from their latest conflicts, work began on construction of a great canal in Egypt. This ambitious project would link the Mediterranean with the Red Sea, cutting the travel time for our fleets by months. The ability to more readily transfer troops from Europe to the Pacific and back again initiated a period of more aggressive expansion for the empire.

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The next few decades would see a tremendous expansion of our eastern holdings. First to fall were the western islands of Japan. During that same conflict we captured the Korean court-in-exile upon the island of Jeju and convinced them to pay homage to the emperor. In exchange they received a promise that their lands upon the mainland would be restored to them.

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In Europe the Serbo-Hungarian alliance was defeated and most of Serbia's provinces granted to our Greek subjects. Growing bold, the emperor then decided to launch two wars at once - one against the Ottomans and their Tunisian allies, the other against the great Ming empire, to retake some of our new Korean vassals' provinces.

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The Ottomans were quickly defeated, losing almost all of their remaining territory. The war with the Ming, on the other hand, was far more challenging. While our troops were better armed and trained, the Ming simply threw wave after wave of men against our lines. Reinforcements had to be raised and transported from Japan and the Malayan colonies, but slowly the enemy were pushed back.

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Eventually the toll on the Chinese was too much and we forced them to concede defeat, surrendering much of the Korean peninsula.

The emperor continued to split his attention between European and Asian affairs. Our Commonwealth allies required our assistance in the Russian-Commonwealth War of 1782-1786, which saw our combined forces crush the armies of the Bohemian Holy Roman Emperor and the Tzar. Meanwhile we moved to further secure our control over the eastern trade by seizing territories from Tidore and Malacca.

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The Russian-Commonwealth war saw both the Holy Roman Emperor and the Tzar suffer serious territorial losses, further strengthening the position of the Triple Alliance.

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The Empire did suffer one embarrassing defeat during the invasion of Ternate. While the island kingdom was itself no challenge for our forces, the Indian realm of Jaunpur chose to come to the defence of their fellow Muslims. An expeditionary force was dispatched to teach the Indians not to meddle in Ethiopia's affairs. Over 50,000 strong, they quickly seized the port of Kutch and moved inland - where they were surrounded and overwhelmed by the superior troops of Jaunpur. Fewer than half of them managed to escape the trap (I had assumed Jaunpur would have worse military tech than me and hadn't thought to check - turns out they had mil tech 31 to my 30!).

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Despite this setback, we still managed to secure half of Ternate for Ethiopia. We then almost immediately redeployed our troops to Korea to launch a second invasion of the Ming Empire.

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Like our first war with the Ming, this conflict was a constant struggle to press through the waves of troops being thrown in our path. Eventually our forces had to march all the way to Beijing before they would admit defeat.

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The Korean heartlands had been restored to their rightful rulers, though the process of integrating the eastern realm into the empire had already begun. Tabarestan, Alodia and Greece had already been brought under central control, strengthening our authority over our increasingly diverse and far-flung territories.

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Not all of our territorial gains were at the point of a gun, however. Our Bulgarian neighbours recognised the benefits of Imperial membership and agreed to become our vassals. This did place us in an awkward position, however, for our new subjects also laid claim to extensive territories held by the Commonwealth. Of course, nobody believed that such a small matter would end the centuries-long friendship between our two peoples...

With the end of the century drawing near, enemies both new and old were dispatched. The eastern half of the Japanese islands fell to our troops, but it was the final end of the Ottoman Empire that brought true satisfaction. Finally, the epic struggle that saw the fall of one great empire and the rise of another had ended. Of course, our empire was eternal - no upstart realm could ever rise to challenge our dominance of the world, surely?

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There was one final conquest before the century drew to a close. With the capture of Western Majapahit, we now truly dominated all of the trade flowing west from the Spice Islands.

The 18th century would end on a sour note, however. While the Triple Alliance had brought great wealth and power to all three participants, the rising strength of both Ethiopia and Spain resulted in increased tensions between the two powers. Ethiopia was strangling the trade flowing from the east to Europe, especially with the opening of the Suez canal. Meanwhile the Spanish had secured control of Northern and Central America, halting the eastwards expansion of Ethiopia's Californian and Mexican colonies. The two greatest powers on the planet increasingly saw themselves as rivals. The Commonwealth sought to mediate, but failed. The Triple Alliance was dead. The next century would see the emergence of a new political order.

 

[ThetrueColt]

Finally putting the nail in the coffin for the Ottomans, expansion all around, nice progress!

A sad fate for the triple alliance though - with the other great powers humbled, turning on each other might result in something unexpected indeed. Can't wait for the next (final ?) chapter!

Could you show us your idea groups and progress on them? I'd like to know what you have gone for up to this point.

 

[stnylan]

Yes, the end of the Ottomans was sweet. Not with a bang but with a whimper.

As for the situation with Spain ... if I were the Commonwealth I would stick with Ethiopia.

 

[ThetrueColt]

I think the Commonwealth would prefer to stick with the Triple Alliance as it was