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Ah Krakow such a useful little country it’s been, I think Krakow deserves all Russian (and some Austrian) Territories down to the black sea.
That would probably make things politically easier for Britain as you’ve created an entire nation for evidence that Prussia is willing to ‘promote the balance of power' in Europe.
 
robou said:
It looked as if the 'Balance of Europe' was too take another punch in the stomach from Prussia.
:rofl:

'Take that, balance of power! And that! And that!' I can very much imagine the British despairing at this conflagration.

I think taking all of Poland from the Russians by event might be a bit much. Maybe take some of the adjoining provinces (Lodz, Kalisz and such) or, alternatively, Lithuania. Poor Austrians, really. Of course, this was before they had dualism...
 
I love watching the slow ooze of indigo blue move across the map. All tremble before the mighty Prussian army! (They're goose-stepping presumably) :)
 
To All: An early update this week as I am away for the weekend. First, feedback as usual. Just a note to say that the amount of Feedback is staggering, you are all fantastic readers :)

phargle (1): War exhaustion is the main thing; of course, you need to conquer a province before you can demand it, but if the nation has anywhere between 0.0 - 5% it is unliekly to accept any peace deals apart from white peace. Suggest looking at the wiki for more accurate figures and facts.

Enewald: Well it may look it at first, but I have no idea what Austria holds within it's boundries. We shall just have to probe and find out. Might be hundreds of thousands of men as far as I know... As for an event, that, I think, would be wrong. I must force Russia to accept my demands through building up their war exhaustion, and I won't get an easy way around it.

geek_knight: Welcome, thanks for catching up. If France joined in as well, I might be faced with some problems. My Corps currently holding that border could hold for a while, but French reinforcements, when they came, would end me. And movin troops over the whole of Germany is no easy task, especially when you need them to fight 2 other Great Powers...

ComradeOm, canonized: Unfortunately, the 'Conservative Emprie' event is only triggered if a) you meet the triggers or b) you win a war triggered by the 'Humiliation of Olmutz' event, which triggers in the 1850's if I remember rightly. I am considering triggering that event if I win this war, but I am undecided so far.

phargle (2, AKA the evil twin): Indeed, the Austrians have caught me at almost my strongest, though my manpower is beggining to dip a tad now. Enough to get me to Vienna though :) Gallivant was just the word that came to me while I was writing; I have a very sporadic style of writing ;)

Velendesril: Thanks for catching up, and thank you for thd compliment. God knows I am never happy with this...

comagoosie: Well, it was a bit of a backfire for them. Seeing they, in game terms, actually invaded Kraków again and I supported Kraków (although I changed it to fit the story line), I suspect they were under the impression I was an AI who would back out of a war with another Great Power for a little chunk of Poland.

Eöl: But would also have lost a lot of potential conquests, and those regions are surprisingly wealthy. The Carpathian provinces are mainly coal :) As one of the leading producers of that first black gold, I am anxious to get my hands on more. If that is what Britain demands of me, they can be without a strong ally in Europe...

Helmold: You ideas on Poland are shared here. I am going to take as much as is feasable while trying to decrease the length of the front, but nothing too outrageous, both for gameplay and storyline reasons.

robw963: Hah, just with the screenshots, I spose it does look quite good. Maybe I should fix up some of those fancy video things you have and get the maps in sequence so the steam of blue can be more flowing and impressive :)

Hardraade: Again, I don't want to hurt Austria too badly, but I intend to give everyone a very bloody nose whether they like it not. Though, as will be explained later, most of my conquests will be driven my resources.

comagoosie: If you retaliate, you will be shot ;)

update to follow...
 
1844: One at a Time, Please!

It was becoming more and more clear to Russian commanders and politicians that a successful counterattack, even with Austria entering the war, would be impossible from the dire position Russia was in coming into late autumn, 1844. Prussian troops in Lithuania, unprohibited, unlike their Ukrainian Front comrades, by an exceptionally early snowfall, continued to advance into Latvia. The idea of regional commander, General der Kavallerie von Zieten, was that by continuing to advance northwards, and gaining footholds on the northern bank of the River Daugava, it might well force the Russians to begin negotiations, with Prussian troops only a week or two's march away from the Capital at St. Petersburg. And force he did, throwing all his 14 divisions at the Russian lines in what became a very successful late offensive. The Russians had 4 divisions trapped against the coast in Western Latvia, being pounded and pounded away at by twice their number of Prussians, only surviving through the courageous efforts of the Imperial Baltic Fleet, which constantly supplied them. However, by the 14th of November, these troops were on the brink of surrender, and news that Prussian troops had successfully gained their first bridgehead over the Daugava at the principle city in the region, Riga, did little to help the situation. With the rest of von Zieten's forces engaging Russian troops north of Riga, with reinforcements now at hand, and things in White Russia and the Ukraine going equally badly, the Russian government finally decided to come to terms with the Prussians.

The Russian's offer was handed to Generalfeldmarschall von dem Knesebeck on the 15th November and he had strict directions from Berlin as to what to accept. The Russians accepted the fact that the front in Latvia would break eventually, and had decided to seek softer terms than would be possible should Prussian troops reach St. Petersburg. The Russians were offering to hand over the Polish Voivodeships* of Kalisz, Łódź and Skierniewece. The offer was a good one; they were populous provinces in the region that Prussian desired to expand into, to attempt to shorten the front against the Russia, and gave a convenient buffer zone between Russia and Posen; the gateway to Berlin when coming from the east. Whilst Prussia would have preferred to gain these areas and in addition the Voivodeship of Plock, the offer seemed good enough, and Prussia was eager to get out of one war and fully commit to another which was deemed to be much more politically important and profitable. The offer was accepted the same day, and the Treaty of Brest Litovsk, due to place where the Generalfeldmarschall's Headquaters was, was signed. Russia was humiliated by a smaller German power and Prussia was victorious over the vast Gendarme of Europe. It was one of the most impressive victories the world had seen. That was, however, of little concern to the 300,000 Prussians, Russians, Poles, Ukrainians and men of other nations who had perished in it. It is impossible to put any proper number on the total or either side. The Russians, it must be noted, lost around 150,000 men as prisoners of war. All over Germany, minus Austria, church bells sounded to communicate the victory.

brestlitovsk.jpg

The Treaty of Brest Litovsk, November 15th, 1844. After this, Nicholas I started to look southwards to the weaker and more natural opponents of his Empire.

However, Russia had long since become old news in the corridors and halls of the Landtag and House of Lords. Austria was a much more important foe to defeat for several reasons. Firstly, there was a chance of Prussia improving its position among the smaller German states. If Austria could be beaten again, and decisively so, some of the states might well rally around Berlin. There was also the weakness of the opponent to consider. If Austria was so weak, then Prussia could crush them and take precious land which could be seriously profitable to the economy. Therefore, Austria was now to suffer the full weight of Prussia's military might, even if she was hopelessly unprepared for it.

But there was a serious problem; how to approach the Austrian campaign? Most were in favour of an all out offensive probing as far into Austria as quickly as possible. It would seem logical, seeing the massive numerical advantage there seemed to be. However, there were some that stressed caution. Austria might well have more troops in the interior** and so far the Prussian forces would be arriving bit by bit as they moved down from Russia. If the Austrian's managed to muster a large force, a disaster might well be on the hands of those who asked for rapidity. In the end, there was simply too much opportunity for profit in the war. When von dem Knesebeck was asked to make a decision, he decided upon speed and land rather than caution. Either he knew the Austrian's possessed few other troops than were already being faced, or he was being over confident in his army. So, the vaguest orders were given to the Generals of the divisions on the border: 'Advance to front'. All in all, Prussian commanders were simply being ordered to take as much land as possible to their front and throw out any opposition they faced. True, at a higher command level, targets were ordered to be prioritised: Prague, Vienna, and Budapest and beyond that Zagreb, all depending on how much resistance was met. But this would be a war of divisions, not movement; it would be fluid. It would be a very educating war...

Notes:
*: The Polish equivilant of a county or state.
**: Anti-Vienna riots were common-place in some parts of Hungary, Romania and Croatia. It was very probable that Austrian troops could have been placed as Garrisons in the Empire and had yet to arrive at the front.
 
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Hm, not a bad peace with Russia. In my games as Prussia I usually make an alliance with Russia the backbone of my diplomacy, and I think you should probably sort out relations with the bear soon. Now onwards to Vienna! :D
 
Prussia:

Oh no Britian never demands only ever suggests, that while the French army may well be currently distracted, this situation will not last.
And If the French government decides to take action on Prussian expantion then the question of whome we shall side with shall become... a much more of a difficult one.

Ooc:
robou:

Don't give in to Britain, take Vienna and Venice!
 
Haha, either this war is going to be very successfull or the exact opposite. Let hope that is the former and that you can basically freely move about Austrian territory.

What are your goals for this conflict?
 
ahh , yes , get the silly Russians out of the way . It's time to take leadership over all of Germany !
 
You could have hoped for another province or two in your settlement with Russia, but I suppose your war score wasn't high enough considering the number of provinces Russia has.

You should really go for the rich czech and slovak provinces. They will make you lots of money and they will give you a very short route to Vienna, in case Austria tries to pull another stunt like this again.
 
I dunno if I agree. Gameplay-wise, the annihilation of the Russian army would've given him a free hand to take over several provinces - at least all of the Napoleonic GD of W. That wouldn't have fit the AAR. Carefully-applied force seems to be about making plans and sticking to them; cautious expansion on behalf of Prussia. I find that entertaining. Frankly, conquering Europe with Prussia is trivial and Vicky inspires some unrealistic outcomes with it's to-the-death AI. What robou is doing fits 19th-century sensibilities about war and peace much better, imo!
 
As much as I've called for robou to go for a brutal peace agreement, I agree with phargle. For Prussia to show restraint is both more in keeping with the spirit of the AAR and more realistic.
 
Yes, I agree too. That way you're also being careful with your badboy score - ultimately Prussia needs to be prudent and make allies.