9th of December 1478
Austria was in ruins, coming off a devastating war with France which lead to massive debt, depleted manpower and a weakened position. Peace was needed to rebuilt.
First things first was the debt, during the war the deaths of able bodied men in the nation led to manpower problems for the army that was ever under the threat of French victory. To curb this issue as the war wore on the army turned to mercenaries to fill the ranks, eventually leading to almost the entire armed forces being of foreign men. This of course had the consequence of massive loans taken to keep on fighting.
A few loans were paid off following the peace settlement, but as Austria entered the new year 1479 many loans still needed to be serviced and eventually paid.
The entire economy was dedicated to the paying off of these loans as they came due, unfortunately many of the loans close dates were similar or the same, and although the nation was saving every scrape of gold, as loans fell due some couldn't be paid and had to be extended.
During this time of weakness it was lucky that peace reigned, for Austria's army consisted of only twenty thousand men with a recovering but still depleted manpower pool, had enemies came knocking I don't know how much resistance could have been raised.
As the army was out of commission, efforts of the Emperor turned elsewhere. What he couldn't take by force he could take by pen, and thus diplomats spent countless months smoothing relations, drafting alliances and arranging weddings all in the goal of vassalizing the smaller states surrounding Austria.
Baden joined the fold, and shortly after so did Alasce (forgot to take a screenshot).
The end of a vision followed shortly after, the loss of the great war had invalidated Austria's claims on Venice.
But the country carried on, saving and paying as loans came due, for the people this was probably a decent time of prosperity and peace, all they had to do was pay their taxes.
The diplomats further developed new ideas and scientific researched continued.
This was not to last however, with many loans still outstanding the Emperor received what he had been dreading was coming.
War...
With the army and economy in no condition to fight, the Emperor decided to further lean on diplomacy, and so the calls went out and a alliance block against the enemy was formed.
Diplomacy had paid off, the allies honored the call and many stood united against the invaders.
But the Emperor did not mobilize what army Austria had, instead Austria would sit out the war hoping the alliance would hold till Austria was ready to fight once more.
War taxes were levied in the nation but the army never set foot outside of their bases.
Instead the healthy profit was put towards to the loans, the help was slowly working the nation out of debt.
With peace at home the Emperor heard only second hand reports from the north, Denmark and its minions had attacked in force, things were looking grim until fresh news of a great victory came to Wien. The enemy had been beaten by the collective friendly forces, and they were in full retreat. Perhaps the alliance would hold out after all.
Reports of battles were a weekly thing, despite the victory the Danish forces continued to come back with purpose. But all was not bad, for on 29th of September 1484 Austria was debt free.
Manpower had been recovered working its way towards fifty thousand, the coffers were gaining gold and now was the time to rebuild the army.
Report of a great sea battle off the coast of Holland, it was good to not have to worry about naval affairs just yet.
As the order was drafted to begin the military rebuilding project, a highly annoying report came in.
The rebuild started anyway, as brigade by brigade were recruited and trained. It was around this time that the war was drawing to a close, the Danish had lost against the alliance, that much was clear, the Emperor had a decision to make, continue the war, which to gain any significant advantages would mean the involvement of the still rebuilding army... Or peace...
Peace it was... Denmark was more than willing to pay itself out of the conflict.
A modest gain for no effort, the alliance armies returned home and the rebuild effort continued.
Another vassal was added, as other diplomats worked on integrating long standing vassals.
Shortly thereafter the rebuild was complete.
The desired order of forces was completed, seven full Brigades, four in the south, three in the north. A total of 56,000 regulars.
The Foreign Brigade remained, but it was decided to not extend the mercenaries contract beyond the next war returning the nation to a fully national army after expending the foreign brigade in one last conflict.
For some reason, despite the large field army, the economy was in the best shape of recent memory. Austria was poised for glory again.
21st of May 1488
Another chapter completed, this was fairly boring but required. Austria has all but recovered from the devastating war, and even managed to "defend" the empire in the process. Only manpower is an issue now with the rebuilding of the army depleting it to around 25,000 again. But no more recruitment is on the horizon so after a few more years of peace to bring it up. War can be waged again.
For a quick over view of the world as it stands now, here's my allies and vassals as well as a world map:
Hope you enjoyed reading if you got this far. As for the future where should I go next? I received a claim against Bavaria, so I might use that to chop them up a bit in the short term.
Thanks again
Cheers
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