University of Venice - History Class
"Good morning everybody!"
The class just sat there and glared at old Proffesor Timmy. Ignoring this, he continued:
"Today, we'll start studying Cristoforo Moro, a fairly uneventful doge, but it's in the curriculum, so live with it"
The class continued to glare, a few raised their eyebrows in a 'he's completely bonkers' sort of way.
"First though, I'll collect in your homework on the disapearance of the boy doge"
"Um, professor?" A student at the first said "My......ummmm...sister......ummm...ate my homework"
Professor Timmy looked at the student before asking:
"MrT, are you naturally good at lame excuses, or were you trained?"
Before MrT could answer, however, Prof. Timmy started speaking again, this time to the whole class:
"All ready?, right then....*ahem*......When he came to the throne, the borders of the republic were unchanged since the death of Francesco Foscarini. The foreign trade situation was excellent, while the treasury was not greatly full, as it only contained about 58,000 Ducats"
"His first acts as Doge were to finance traders in Venice itself, and in far away Novgorod. A few days after he came to the throne, Austria and Wutemberg sealed a closer bond, by marrying off various low ranking members of the ruling families to each over. Although disturbing, Moro didn't feel it would be prudent to intervene, especially as the republics army was still in the process of rebuilding after Foscarini the greats wars of expansion earlier that century"
"He also enacted a series of small army reforms, that did help to increase morale (OOC: +1 Offensive), but also led to widespread unrest among the garrisons, especially in the newly conquered provinces. It has been suggested that these reforms led to the revolt in Thrace province in November of that year. Luckily for the republic, the revolt was defeated fairly quickly, with few casualties"
"For who?" asked MrT
"What?, what do you mean for who?"
"Well, you can't exactly crush a rebellion without killing the rebels can you?"
"They don't count"
"Why not?" continued MrT
"Why not?.....Just accept it and shut up 'T, or it'll be detention for you"
" Right then, where was I ? Oh yes...Shocking news from the east arrived when Muscovy annexed the small realm of Suzdal, further expanding the powers borders. In January of the next year, the annual taxes were collected, bringing the treasury to a much healthier level. Moro continued to finance traders in Venice, in an inevitably futile attempt to hold onto a monopoly there".
"Sweden and Denamark, up in Scandinavia were continuing to fight their naval war, with Sweden coming off better in the hundreds of small battles. In February, Moro began to send small gifts to the Austrians, in an attempt to improve the poor relations between the two countries.
"Later that month, an outbreak of plague was reported in Marche, resulting in over 1000 deaths. Around July, a new style of ship was perfected by Venitian scientists, a much larger ship, designed to carry large cargo's like troops. (OOC: Naval tech 4)
A few months later, it was suggested to Moro by his advisors that a way of fighting a country without armies would be to prevent their merchants trading in Venice, although interested, Moro decided not to try it out at that time (OOC: Trade tech 4)"
"Early next year, Moro started sending larger gifts to Austria, that did have more success than the small gifts that had been used earlier. On March 14, shocking news from Hungary announced the incoporation of Croatia into the Hungarian borders. The small realm of Navvara started to decline when thier French possesions declared themselves as the independant duchy of Auvergne"
"In May, the island of Sicily revolted against Republican rule, but the rebellion was suppresed quickly and brutally. Later in that month, the Doge noticed a disturbing loss of money every month, in an attempt to counter this, he ordered pay for sailors reduced to half it's previous level. Although the morale in the navy declined, the monthly loss was reduced greatly"
"In the same month, Albania also revolted. Although the garrison in Thrace marched quickly, the province fell to the rebels. After killing the rebels, the army was forced to camp down for a siege.
In December, Sicily revolted yet again. Deciding to put the revolts down brutally as an example, Moro ordered that 1 in 10 people in Sicily be killed (OOC: the rebel force was about 10% of the pop of Sicily)"
"Early the next year, a new academy of art was opened in Dobrudja province, Moro is said to have been deligted, as it had not cost him a penny. In February, the rebel province was recaptured. In October of 1466, the war between Muscovy and the remnants of the Golden horded ended, with the Russians taking huge tracts of land. Moro is said to have ordered increased surveilance of this growing eastern power"
"In February 1467, a boundary dispute with the French was resolved diplomatically in Venices favour, resulting in celebrations, and a lowering of tensions among the local garrisons. On September 3rd, the great Admiral Loredan died, an old man. His life is celebrated to this day on 'Loredan Day'"
"The next year, in January, a sad period in Venitian history ended, with the virtual eradication of all Moslems in Angora province. Moro celebrated by dispatching tax collectors to the province. Later that month, another dispute with France was resolved, but this passed without much notice by the Venitian public"
"Sweden, obviously sharing Venitian disquiet over the Rus, Declared war on them, hoping to curb their power. In February 1469, Austria decided to allow the French to freely pass through their lands. Moro is said to have had several restless nights upon recieving the news, fearing an immenent French attack. Luckily the French seem to have had no other motive for the agreement over than to show that they could intimidate Austria"
"In December, on of the great events of Moros rule occured. It was revealed that was team of smiths had been working in secret on replicas of the great siege cannon of Venice, rather than just a handful though, they constructed a full 20 guns. Moro immediately ordered them to join the guns currently in Venice."
"On January 16th of the next year, the inquistion in Antalya was destroyed by Moslem rebels, who were promptly crushed. Moro ordered a new inquisition started. The nobles of Venice were so enjying the recent years of peace that they presented the Doge with no less that 200,000 Ducats, as a sign of their appreciation. On August 29th of that year, Wutemberg announced to the governments of Europe their intentions to swear oaths of fealty to Austria, and to pay tribute."
"In December, the tiny island of Crete revolted, meaning troops had to be shipped over to put down the rebellion. On November 1st 1471, a new kind of sail was ordered to be fitted to the Ventian navy (OOC: Naval tech 5). The vey next day, the Doge died"
"Right, I want you all to write essays on this subject for tommorow, class dismissed"
Sorry that wasn't very long, and not hugely polished, but I wanted to get it all up today, as i'm away for the next 3 days, and I didn't think you'd appreciate a long wait. My next reign should hopefully be a little more inspiring
