40 Years On: Friedrich von Manstein's Brandenburg

[coz1]

Fb-fb:

Chief Ragusa - Indeed that is true, though it was much harder than one might expect.

Lord E - Of course, Louis would need to be in Paris to dictate it to him. I am still curious why he kept the stronger army in the south while I moved very quickly across the lands in the north.

PrawnStar - About the only other French colonial lands was an island in the Caribbean that I was hoping Milan might go after. I was not in the mood to island hop given all the other theaters of war I was constantly jumping to.

J. Passepartout - Yes he was! I just could not get a large enough army together down there to truly beat Louis back.

WhisperingDeath - Yes well... As for taking Paris and getting peace, that was much my plan. As you will see, this war was very costly.

Duke of Wellington - Friedrich is proud to have your Horde-like confidence.

Renss - I imagine it does, even if one side is not literally "Prussian."

To all - and the conclusion to the war comes in just a moment. Hope you enjoy. Thanks for reading and commenting, everyone.

 

[coz1]

* * *

* * *​

Though we would hear very good news in February of 1674 when both Kanawha and Jylland fell to us, it was quite discouraging to also note that our force in Othe would lose once French reinforcements appeared on the battlefield. Worse however, was the tragic loss in Savoie. That army was forced to limp back to Brescia with hardly a man among them such was Louis’ complete victory. Emperor Friedrich considered a possible peace proposal and sent an emissary to the French requesting Trier, Pfalz and Ancona. It was not accepted.

Thankfully, our efforts in the colonies were still working well, having beat a French force in Conoy and battling them in Susquehanna. As well, our armies in the west of the Americas were quickly moving north and taking as much land as they were able. In fact, Potawatomi would fall into our hands by June of 1674, and our multi-front war continued with a landing in Apulia in an attempt to push Auvergne from the south of Italy where they had made great gains against Milan and our push towards Paris was finally begun as the young, dashing Helmut von Manstein headed south.

By July, Barrois, Champaign and Vermandois would all fall to us and my good brother Joachim Nestor von Rüts would be assigned to the Army of Bohemia and sent to the south for yet another push into Savoie. As well, we would attempt another push into Othe while the first battle of Paris was but an afterthought. We began a siege of that great city on July 22nd.

Unfortunately, our force in Apulia was unable to eke out a victory against Bertrand of Auvergne and our army was forced to retreat into neighboring Calabria. But by August, we had achieved victory in Othe and began a siege there and the second battle of Paris began, this time a more even match and we were forced to send reinforcements lest we get pushed out.

Having done much in the previous months to further our eventual victory, Emperor Friedrich once more offered the same peace to Louis. But the French King was once more winning in Savoie against an even larger Imperial force and he once more rejected our kind offer. In a move of spite (but the correct move nonetheless) Emperor Friedrich ordered the Army of Manhattan to move north and seize the French colony of Connecticut.

If the war effort was a touch and go thing in Europe, we could always count on good news on the colonial front. Conoy would be in our hands that same month of August and we would win engagements against the French in September in both Niagara and Paris itself. The Army of Manhattan even marched further north through hostile unclaimed territory and seized their second French colony in Pocumtuk. By November of 1674, we had moved far into French colonial lands and were the clear master of that theatre of war.

And back home, we were continuing to find success when Calabria fell to assault in September, we would move into Caux that same month and win the first battle and then a second the following month. And the French vassals began to see that we would eventually be the victors. October saw white peace offers from Armagnac, Foix and Auvergne. Emperor Friedrich accepted the first two but held out against Auvergne. They held Palermo as their own in Sicily and if the French would not accept peace, he was determined to force the issue with Louis’ vassal. When we faced Bertrand once more in December, this point was driven home and the Auvergnese Duke was forced to retreat against a far superior Imperial army.

The Emperor once more decided to offer the peace proposal to Louis XVI in late December of 1674. After great victories and many battles, and after the incredible loss of good men and people during the long three years of this war, the French King finally relented and accepted the proposal put to him. Trier and Pfalz would be ours, leaving a pocketed Koln that might rebel away. We would also receive Ancona in Italy, which hopefully would cease the hostile intentions of the French on the Holy Father. There would be more war versus the French at which time we might finally seize Oldenberg, Slesvig and other desired territories. But it was clear who the stronger power was in this time.

However, though the map of Europe had changed as we headed into the New Year of 1675, we still had to face the truly horrific news that over 80,000 good men and soldiers had perished in this war. It was said that our manpower pool when the war began in December of 1672 was nearly 82,000 strong. By April of 1675, that number would be far lower and though we had made great gains, it was a tragic thought to see it so.

 

[Lord E]

What a bloody and costly war, the French sure refused several times so I guess in the end it was necessary to fight for so long to get the peace you wanted. All those men might have perished, but they gave their life for victory for Brandenburg and through their deaths Brandenburg has secured its position as the greatest and most powerful power in the world. One good thing is at least that you have a new von Manstein commanding your armies

 

[unmerged(58610)]

Now would not be a good time for the Turk to come a calling. That was a seriously draining war and all you had to show for your dominance were three paltry provinces. You'll have to do this all over again to drive them out of the north of the empire.
Still you won and should have a good military tradition to show for it and a new von Manstein to take up the pen of chronicle after his military duties are done.

 

[Director]

An immensely costly war, indeed - casualties reminiscent of the Thirty Years War, but held in France rather than Germany.

Once the five years truce is up I recommend you hit them again. Since I've been advocating war with France almost since you began, I suppose that is no surprise. But securing Denmark, Oldenburg, Koln and the colonies in the New WOrld is worth another war.

After all, you wouldn't want theose poor children to grow up French, would you? So do it for the children!

 

[J. Passepartout]

That looks painful even for the winners.

 

[Duke of Wellington]

A long and costly war there but you were never in any real danger by the looks of it. A good result. Sharing such a long border with Lithuania could make for an interesting war at some point.

 

[stnylan]

A great many dead - and for, on the face of it, deceptively small gains. All in all I think the French got off lightly.

 

[unmerged(70585)]

The sacrifice of the many brave soldiers will never be forgotten. Great job on your successful war.

You should have taken all of France's american colonies as part of the peace agreement

 

[unmerged(53911)]

One can only hope it cost the French as much as it cost Brandenburg. If so, the next French war will be a whole lot easier. I think your persistence will pay off in the end. Time will tell...

 

[Graymane]

Are you investing in stability at all at this point or is it too costly now?

 

[Deus]

glad to be back and read all of these wonderful updates. This war was costly indeed, but I sense there's another coming your way if the emperor decides to continue the policy of uniting all german provinces under one banner.

As the opponents are getting bigger and more experienced in the art of warfare then the opposition grows. BTW Are you the papal controller also? Or aiming to be one in the near future?

 

[unmerged(24320)]

coz1: ...If the war effort was a touch and go thing in Europe, we could always count on good news on the colonial front...

i agree with slokiller, take the American colonies from France in the next war...

with that thought in mind, does France have any other colonies ? ? say, in Africa, China, Korea, the Pacific, etc. ? ?

coz1: ...The Emperor once more decided to offer the peace proposal to Louis XVI in late December of 1674...Trier and Pfalz would be ours..(and)..Ancona in Italy...

not nearly worth the loss in lives. did i compute correctly: over 160.000 in losses ? ?

[ the ~82.000 manpower at the start plus the 76.000 needed to reinforce current units, not to mention the 3500 per month in manpower gains.] hmmm. the only thing i missed (that i know of) is how much manpower did you build troops with during the war ? ?

magnificent updates ! !

 

[unmerged(28944)]

Good God Almighty that was a bloody fight! I dare say that you could say that Brandenburg would have blood feud against the French at this point. (We'll ignore the fact that the reverse could also be said.)

Forgive a possible silly question (and I should know better, please let me know) but did Brandenburg also get the colonies, or simply what was gained in Europe?

And, either way, what is next for the powerhouse that is Brandenburg?

 

[pit]

Good God Almighty that was a bloody fight! I dare say that you could say that Brandenburg would have blood feud against the French at this point. (We'll ignore the fact that the reverse could also be said.)

Forgive a possible silly question (and I should know better, please let me know) but did Brandenburg also get the colonies, or simply what was gained in Europe?

And, either way, what is next for the powerhouse that is Brandenburg?

I believe he said somthing in other post that colonies are to take in a war when you conquer it (option)aslong its not a city.

 

[unmerged(4007)]

A good read coz. Always good to see Brandenburg unite Germany and crush France. As it should be.

KUTGW!

 

[Eber]

That war was rather devastating. To be honest, I didn't think France would have put up such a big fight. I expected more from the likes of Burgundy or Castile, not France. It's going to take a few years for you to heal.

You're such a big blob (not that you weren't before.) Yea, you heard me, I'm calling you fat!

Spectacular update!

 

[coz1]

Fb-fb:

Lord E - The war was indeed costly. I had them pretty well in the Americas, and obviously the Rhineland, but as you could see with Louis, they still had some in reserve. They wore me down pretty good.

Chief Ragusa - That is if they had anything to call with. As for the next writer...

Director - Thankfully, by five years, my manpower was back to such that I could have. But I did need to let my BB fall. Trust me - the children will be fine.

J. Passepartout - Painful and a little surprising.

Duke of Wellington - They did give as good as they got in some places. As for Lithuania - I doubt we'll ever see a war with them.

stnylan - True, their losses were high as well. But I was pleased with my land grab this time, knowing I could not have got it all at once even with 100% war score.

slokiller - Indeed it will not. But as for the Colonies, I don't really want them, right now at least. I need viceroys first to truly enjoy their worth and there are those National lands that just scream out to be part of the fatherland!

WhisperingDeath - I'm not sure easier is the word, but perhaps less costly.

Graymane - If I get below 0, I usually invest but I am trying not to. However, I do like the $ that comes in with high stability, so every now and then I put enough in to gain a point. I have always received many nice events while I have pagan lands that refuse to convert them in order to gain a stab point. You'll also note the number of temples built in the next update which help a great deal with stab.

Deus - The next update will show you my tech relations vs my neighbors. And I am the Papal controller in both name and spirit.

GhostWriter - I'm mo math wiz, but I suspect you'd have to add the number of manpower I receive in a month and multiply that by the number of months I was at war. Then add that to the total manpower pool I had when I started - that should give you the semi-exact number of actual men killed. 160,000 sounds too high. But I think easily over 100,000 in all. Very deadly war!

Draco Rexus - I suspected the war might be tedious, but I had no idea how bloody. It was a mess. But thankfully I did gain two colonies when I seized them before the end of the war. There is a map coming up. As for what next - sit back and rest for a bit while I take a look around.

pit - Indeed I did. I like that feature. It allows a few more spoils from the war. But correct - they have to be under city status to seize them.

shawng1 - Great to hear from you again. And glad you are reading along. Any chance we'll see a new shanwg1 AAR in the future?

Eber - Brandenburg is rather bulbous and ponderous. All the better to feast on those that make the Emperor angry.

To all - I have another update ready to roll. It will be up in a minute. Thanks for reading and all your great comments!

 

[coz1]

* * *

* * *​

In the year of our Lord 1675, the mighty Imperial Army of the Holy Roman Empire defeated the low French King, Louis XVI. General August von Rüts was promoted to the General Staff in Berlin, and I – Aldolf Truxus, from Havana, Cuba and having spent a good many years as diplomatic ambassador from lower New Brandenburg, was appointed as Emperor Friedrich’s Lord Chancellor and moved to Berlin. Having little time now that he was much engaged with future planning and technological pursuit, General von Rüts left this - if I do say so - august book to me so that I might continue on in the von Manstein spirit.

I must admit that the old world was far different than the new where I was raised. But with Cuba being one of the oldest establishments in the world, we were very cosmopolitan in our outlook and experience, such that moving into the inner circle of the Emperor was little hardship for me. I knew I had great men to live up to, such as the aforementioned Friedrich von Manstein, who so long ago began this journal; the mighty Ernst Blankensee that saw this great Empire move to its place of prominence, and of course, the good General’s father, Adolf von Rüts.

But the Emperor had decided to break up his old ruling establishment and put a charge into the government. Having just won a brilliant victory against the old foe of France and mourning a great many brave soldiers, Friedrich wished to move even swifter in our efforts at home. Immediately as I was hired, we were in the process of placing permanent establishments in those newly won colonies of Connecticut and Pocumtuk, as well as bridging the gap between them by sending new settlers to Massachusetts. Connecticut would fail on us, but the settlers in Massachusetts would find success.

And diplomatically, a great many letters were drafted to the heads of Europe, namely the Holy Father, the Duke of Milan and the Duke of Corsica, one of the Emperor’s most trusted friends and an elector. And many gifts were sent to the Emperor’s fine allies in Milan and Lithuania. As diplomatic champion of the Emperor, I was also quite interested in the Lord’s spying ring to which he used to great effect. I was present when he ordered a man to infiltrate the boundary of neighboring Koln and attempt to insight rebellion. To this end, he was to succeed in building up the spirit for such and was not suspected, but it was never to lead to any great revolt.

By the year 1677, many places around the Empire had begun to rebuild and spirit was running quite high by the people. The Emperor was beloved for his bravery against both the Turkish menace as well as besting the hated French. By that summer, the recruitment taking place was growing steadily assisting our once more growing military manpower, and the Emperor was even known to sign into laws many things which might free his subjects of too many burdens. The level of our government was once again improved and his Grace was as well known as a patron of the arts, such was his love of fine painting and song that might lift his people’s spirits after so much loss.

And his majesty was to suffer yet one more loss when just after the New Year in 1678 the venerable General August von Rüts passed from this world and given a fine burial in Danzig, the place of his birth.

In dedication to the fine service of von Rüts and so many other great leaders and men who had died, Emperor Friedrich would spend the following year designing temples for Manhattan, Santee and those tragic killing fields of Osnabruck. Sadly, this would be his last great contribution to his Empire as he died in his sleep just after the Mass of Christ. His son, Albrecht would become Albrecht V, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, Protector of the Holy Father, Slayer of the Turk and King of Brandenburg and the New World.

He would inherit a mighty world of which he was Lord and Master. When a boundary dispute rose up nearly three months into his reign, he was said to scoff that the French or Burgundians might even consider coming to blows with such a mighty power and gleefully pressed the issue just hoping they might. And the inflation of the Empire, after many, many years of hard work, finally achieved a zero inflation rate once more, allowing us to put great amounts of investment into the growing of the land which Albrecht inherited. Missionaries were sent out across the globe such was the Emperor’s religious zeal, much like his father before him but far more learned and able a man to administer such a program.

He immediately sent many, many gifts to the other electors and his allies. When France did threaten Tuscany in 1680, Emperor Albrecht promised the Pope that if France stepped one foot onto Papal Land, that the Empire would come to his aid. And he too used his cunning diplomacy to work his spies against France in Koln. Finally, to honor his father a great spread of temples came up across the land, many financed from the Emperor’s own pocket.

Emperor Albrecht was a kind man, but he would never forgive Burgundy for secretly allowing France free roam of their land during the war when no such public proclamation existed between those two kingdoms. He would not marry into that family. However, he remembered his friends very well. Many unions were matched during his first year. And his great missionary zeal was a success as one of the first great conversions occurred in Sopron. Once a pocket of Muslim thought in the Orthodox and Catholic world of Hungary was no more, allowing us to focus on the still not accepted but tolerated protestant religions.

For his acts, he would see much more success during the years that followed. Connecticut would finally become a city in August of 1682, a royal marriage was signed with Sicily such that the Italian peninsula was a now close-knit bond marred only the French and Tuscans, and our military research and training was quickly turning out some of the finest and well-trained soldiers Europe had ever seen.

Even with many of the aged Generals dying off over the last few years, we were well able to replenish their ranks with even better men and it was clear that by 1683, the Empire was strong with may peasants and nobles alike proclaiming to be proud citizens, our respect around the world was great though we were feared and our power and prestige were still growing daily. In all respects, the Empire was the envy of the known world. I was proud to be among its great men.

Tech Levels, 1683​

 

[Duke of Wellington]

Truly great times though the new Emperors stats are nothing to be envious of. I'm impressed by how Catholic Europe is. In all my games the whole things turns almost entirely blue.