Well aside the mass purges of Heretics. The Widespread practice of Slavery in America due to such heavy colonization of Africa. And Of Course Asia is an absolute mess.
Chapter 26: The War of Five Emperors
With war no unavoidable the Major players of Austria and Russia called their respective allies to the stage. The French Empire immediatly came to the Aid of Austria when Russian threats to treat Austria as the primary party in the war were made, Followed by the Papal State and various electors allied to Kaiserine Gisela. In Response the Russians called the Swedish into the growing conflict and made moves over the Carpathians to threaten Austrian soil.
The Bulgarians initially stood on the fence, until they too ultimately decided to side with the Russians. Not a month after the entry of Sweden the Kingdom of Bulgaria declared themselves the Rightful Kaiser and joined the Russians. Making the total of Emperors now fighting in the war to be four, France, Russia, Austria and Bulgaria.
The Bulgarians rushed to reinforce the Russian army of Carpathia and met the 1st French legion outside budapest. Outnumbered nearly two to one the French fought bravely but ultimately were forced to retreat. Austria who still had large portions of her army tied up in colonies in America or in Asia had only a meager defensive force to defend Imperial soil with. Since the defeat of the French Austria had to abandon the northern and Eastern parts of the Empire, focusing more on defending Serbia and Croatia from potential russian assault.
With War raging across the Empire the aging Gisela II passed, not in battle but of illness in her bed in Vienna. The Electorate quickly moved to elect her daughter, the crown Princess Irmeltrud to the throne, who upon her coronation delivered a speech promising Austrian leadership would lead the Empire through it's darkest hour. With Morale high behind the new Empress the newly trained and equipped Army of the Danube reached Serbia and prepared to finally push the Russians and Bulgarians out.
First the Army struck Kosovo, where Austrian General Bodan Ake made liberal use of the Austrian advantage of numbers to end the occupation and restore the valuable mints of the region back to Austrian control. With a vital income stream once again safe, Bodan set the army of the Danube on a march out of Kosovo and into the city of Rashka which was being held by the Russians.
Bodan Ake was not the most talented general on the Field during the late 17th century. By all accounts he was a mediocre commander for his time. A Gentlemen off the field and merely competent on it to advance his position he had won large amounts of favor in the Austrian court. Polykarpos, Austria's finest military mind was still ruling in Japan, which left the door open for many lesser generals to compete against one another to become the Supreme commander. Mats Binhilde, a less competent commander by many accounts actually won the position from Ake in the later half of the war, namely due to his better treatment of the occupied russian populace.
Still Bodan Ake despite his shortcomings commanded the Austrian army long enough and exploited Austria's superior cannonry to great effect in Serbia, ensuring that the brief Russian occupation of serbia would be just that, Brief. Though the opportunity came multiple times to defect to the Bulgarians, Ake stayed loyal and continued to stall for the Colonial Garrison, and French Reinforcements. Though the French ultimately would what would turn the war around when they returned.
Ake met the slavics once again in Raskha coming off a string of victories against the bulgarians in Carpathia. Here however the French had returned and the General Rene de Saint Espirit met with the Bulgarian-Russian Supreme commander Adalbero Faroald a man renowned for his tactical genius, specifically in regards to logistics, and cavalry. Though without the proper men and supplies in the Austrian countryside he found himself outnumbered. When Rene de Saint Espirit arrived in Rashka things turned worse.
General Rene was a master of a different school of thought, where in Russia, emphasis was given on maneuvering and making full use of Cavalry in France the Infantryman and Cannon were favored. Horses had become increasingly irrelevant in French Battle doctrine as metal was more of an abundant commodity for French Cannon. Years of proud naval tradition had also meant that French Cannons were more accurate and lighter than equivalent guns in Europe allowing greater flexibility. Specifically Rene's armies in Serbia at this time consisted of mainly repurposed Naval guns set atop the various hills in the Rashka region, which were used to great effect to disrupt enemy lines to dramatic effect.
Meanwhile another military leader was gaining ground in Carpathia. Defeated in Serbia, the Bulgarian commander Adalbero returned to Carpathia at the head of yet another army, this time with intent to move on Austria itself and further buy time for the Russians to lay siege to Spis as well as fight the minor partners of the war in Bulgaria and Poland. However this time the Bulgarian general met none other than the Holy father Constantius himself honoring his obligation as a member of the holy alliance, and leading an group of French, Austrian and Papal troops against the Bulgarians.
Much like Rene, Pope Constantinus favored a fire doctrine in his approach and though Papal and Austrian cannons did not have quite the same effect as French ones, the shear volume of fire from allied forces eventually scattered the Russian lines, leaving their own artillery exposed to cavalry and infantry fire. Several full battalions worth of Cannon were captured and destroyed, and nearly twice that amount were run down by Austrian and French Cavalry in the chaos of the Russian retreat.
Pope Constantinus was a bit of an oddity. Originally born Franz Ermengol to a minor noble family in Holstein, Constantinus had willingly joined the Knights Templar branch in Bremen at an early age. Trained mainly as a military advisor Constantinus was hired by various Italian princes throughout the empire. The Templar Order however quickly had grown out of favor when templar banking operations began to threaten the new national banks of the Italian states. To continue his work, Constantinus requested his Status as a member of the church be changed, from Templar to Priest. After going through the necessary education Constantinus never returned to work as a military advisor and instead stayed, in rome, acting as a personal advisor to three popes, climbing the ranks of the church as he did so. Familiar with the politics of Rome and having made many friends over a long career it was unsurprisingly he would make it to the Papacy. Though when the call to Join Austria in war against the Russians was issued, Constantinus did not hesitate and led the Papal army, personally to honor the Holy League.
The Great Generals of Constantinus and Rene de Saint Esprit eventually were forced to take a backseat, as the Russians became increasingly drained on manpower. Politics dictated that Austria would lead the war and so General Mats Bindhilde was appointed, Supreme Commander of Holy League armies outside of Carpathia. Which of course really referred only to the Bulgarian siege garrisons and Bindhldes army in Crimea being used mainly to harass and threaten the russians on thier own soil.
The Russians of course refused simple overtures of peace, Their prestige as an empire demanded victory, despite victory now becoming more and more of a Fantasy for the Eastern Alliance. Though the Russians did find some glimmer of hope, as a Comet had appeared in the sky above Europe and was taken as a grim omen by many. Though the Russians perhaps were searching for what little morale they could hope to build. The True Purpose of such a comet would be revealed however, The fifth empire was about to join.
Sensing Weakness the Byzantines had been sitting on the sidelines of the war for some time. The Greeks could of course swing the way in any direction they so chose, but were wary, namely of Austrian and Breton Naval strength which could cut the empire in Two, stop all trade and threaten to throw the empire into economic collapse. The Russians as well were an option, a fierce rival of the Greeks since Ruthenia originally laid claim to the Imperial title of Caesar the only thing stopping the greeks from an invasion of the Crimea was of lack of intrest, as the lands of Russia were as a whole mostly useless, barren wastelands in comparison to the more developed greek empire. Eventually though with Russia refusing peacedeals from the Austrians time and again diplomatic pressure had begun to fall on the greeks to bring peace to Europe. Not wanting to find themselves missing out on the spoils of Austria's hard fought victory the Byzantines declared, with intent to humiliate the Russians and reclaim parts of the Steppe they had previously lost.
Meanwhile Austria had its own problems forming. The War had pulled resources heavily from the Austrian colonies and the Kingdom of Africa. Africa traditionally had been a trading partner with the Russians and Bulgarians. With a war on, and Imperial taxes driving the already poor region into bankruptcy, the Populace revolted. The Rabble eventually fought through Africa's home guard and seized Tunis, declaring a republic free from Anniona oppression. Austria, still busy with the Russians could do nothing but watch africa go.
Inspired by the Africans, Slaves in America as decided now would be the time to grasp for freeedom independence and revolted free of thier dutch overlords. The Slaves joined with disgruntled merchants and enlightenment thinkers to declare a new Federal republic, one that aspired to unite the Americas and become a superpower. Though the Geopolitical situation may have rendered such a dream impossible as this new American state was still orders of magnitude weaker than both the Knight's Transient and New Anglia.
With the Birth of America, the slavery question once more arose in Austria's court. The Colonies of Guyana and Kolonia, were already more distant from Austria. Slave revolts could become the Catalyst into a full scale rebellion just as they had in the Flemish colonies. Though the debate raged back and forth, ultimately it was decidied, in order to offset the growing desire for independence of the ruling colonial elites slavery would henceforth be abolished. This would mean adding potentially thousands of Loyal austrians into the colonies, as citizens, something that can push the question of American independent into the future, for a time the Imperial army wasn't busy with Russia.
Though the war in fact did not continue to rage, a year after the declaration of Austrian absolution the Russians surrendered to the holy league, mainly to focus on Byzantium who was making huge gains across the steppelands. Overall Russia barely lost any land, and was allowed to remain relatively intact, though her failure to stop Austria had become apparent, he prestige shattered and any hope of Austria being unseated as Emperor had finally drifted away.
In fact the Bulgarian casus belli had become the Final straw. Austria had done nothing but help, and protect the Various imperial princes. Now when the Empire needed to be unified most, the Bulgarians had stabbed the Empress, and their fellow princes in the back in demanding the Throne from a rightfully elected Empress. Thus the Authority of the Electorate had evaporated in only a decade, meanwhile House Anniona had proven to be loyal, and had won its birthright. Empress Irmeltrud delivered a speech at the Diet of Nuremberg a peace conference within the empire held shortly after the Russian surrender condemning the actions of Bulgaria. The electorate system had originally been proposed to stop civil wars and curtail austrian power. In reality it failed in both these respects, The System had failed to stop civil wars, which only grew in frequency since its adoption, and it also had failed to curtail Austria's power only threaten the integrity of the Empire as a whole as the Powerful Empires of Russia, Byzantium and France grew unopposed while the Empire continued to languish as a decentralized state. With Bulgaria now having been defeated, any faith left in the aging system had was gone and a more tried and true Method would replace it, Primogeniture.
The Electorate was no more, House Anniona was here to stay.
