Assembly of the Raad of Amsterdam; 25 November, 1460
In late November, 1460, the Raad of Amsterdam gets together in the capital to discuss foreign policy. Especially, in times of war it is the duty of the Raadpensionaris to inform the Raad of the political situation.
Honorable delegates,
We live in a time of war. The English-French war over Paris is still going on but the latest reports I received confirmed what our spies have been saying: England is losing the war. It is only a matter of time before they will cede some of their continental possessions to France. (+50 War Score in favor of France).
Scotland had fought alongside the French and had to cede Ayrshire to the English. Furthermore, the aristocracy rebelled in Scotland which caused the country to suffer even more.
Now that we control three provinces in Ireland, the British Isles are more of a concern for us then they were a decade ago.
von Schwelz shows the delegates a map of the British Isles.
The question at hand if should we invade Scotland or not? Scotland controls together with England Norway the largest portion of the North Sea Trade Node. If we could increase out influence there then we could steer more trade home.
However, there are a lot of things to consider.
- Our spies have reported that the Scottish army is composed of 5.000 infantry men and 0 cavalry. Their manpower pool is almost depleted.
- The spy report also claims that Scotland has no navy. No as in 0 ships.
- Problematic is that Scotland is allied with Sweden and guaranteed by France and France commands over the largest army in Europe.
- Sweden on the other hand has a slightly stronger navy then we do.
- The diplomat corps has informed me that none of our allies are at present willing to join a war against Scotland. Castile has debt problems and Denmark declines because of insufficient manpower. The Hansa has no interest in joining another war until February, 1462. Austria is already fighting in another war and has therefore no interest in supporting us at present.
- Our own army is counts of 10.000 men and our forcelimit permits us to recruit three additional regiments. The Amsterdammer fleet has 17 ships out of which 11 are light ships.
- The Scottish ally Sweden is doing well. Their navy is slightly larger than ours with a total of 21 ships. But it is stronger because of the 16 galleys in.
- The Swedish have 14 regiments and their manpower reserves are high.
- Castile has a debt of 444 ducats which decreases their likeliness of joining the war by -70. If Castile had no debt they would join us.
- Danish manpower is only at 7530. If it recovers, the Danish will support us.
- The Hansa will join us in a war iff we wait until February, 1462. The Hanseatic fleet is a joke and counts only 4 ships but their army is not be underestimated with 13.000 tough Germans fighting for them.
With that said, I don't want to decide this important matter alone. This is a crucial moment in Amsterdam's young history. Shall we go to war with Scotland or not?
A loud discussion is going on between the Raad delegates for about half an hour. After it, von Schwelz invites two of the most-experienced delegates as well as the Bishop of Utrecht to present their opinion on the matter.
Antón Tormentorre, Bishop of Utrecht, speaks first.
Gentlemen,
It is an honor for me to speak in front of you. I also want to take a minute and thank the Raadpensionaris for appointing me as bishop. I may be Castilian but my loyalty now lies with the greatest republic there ever is and was.
Scotland is an interesting target. I encourage you to vote for war but only if our allies support us. Alone we are not strong enough. Therefore, I suggest that you send me to Iberia to negotiate with the Castilian regency council. I may be able to convince them to join us in this military campaign.
Next to Castile, we need at least a second power that is willing to support us. Otherwise, I don't see us winning this war.
That is all, and excuse me for my broken Dutch. I am still trying to learn this difficult and complex language.
Tormentorre leaves the stage. Up next is the stadtholer of Arnheim, Albert Homburg.
Why are we always talking about war? I thought that we were a peaceful merchant republic. I am against this war. We need to focus on trade. All these war are bad for our reputation. Last week, one of my workers informed me that the English are no longer buying my cloth. This is unacceptable! Without peace, no prosperity! I instead propose that we shall not fight any more wars in the near future.
Our administration still has to core Ireland. What is this nonsene? We should not even consider a war against the Scottish at this point!
Homburg gave a very short speech full of anger. Maybe he was still upset that the Handelsgilde had vetoed the construction of a new marketplace in Arnhem?
The last speaker is a familiar face to many of the older delegates. It was no other than the republic's very first Raadpensionaris: Giselbert van Gogh! van Gogh, better known as Giselbert 'the Shy', is a supporter of total war. His legendary skills, 0/0/0, have not been forgotten.
Interestingly, van Gogh is 22 years younger than the current Raadpensionaris that has turned 66 last week.
Dear delegates,
we need to take advantage of the chaos in Europe. We cannot wait for our allies to be ready. We need to declare war now. At all costs. Conquering Scotland will increase our position in the North Sea Trade Node and therefore I encourage to vote for a total war against the Scottish now. We may need to take lots of loans to hire dozens of mercenary regiments but if we don't act now then it might be too late! I don't think we will get a second chance to invade the Scottish.
Think about the consequences of leaving this trade node to foreign competitors. We need to own it, control it, protect it.
I have made my choice long ago. How about you?
After van Gogh had finished his speech, von Schwelz addresses the Raad for a last time before it is time to vote.
Those were intense discussions. I give you 15 more minutes to make up your mind. Please no more discussions anymore and make sure to cast your vote in bold. I will be back for the counting of the votes in a few hours.
Thank you!
Time to vote
Option 1: Total war against Scotland. Now. At all costs.
Option 2: No war! We are peaceful merchants/Scotland and her allies are too strong for us.
Option 3: Let's prepare for war and declare war once at least two of our allies are willing to support us.
This is an urgent matter. Therefore, the poll closes on Wednesday 20:00 CEST.
Edit: Added two screenshots and more information.
