1773-1778 – The Valois Coup
Hispania underwent many new changes as the reforms proposed early in the year were considered. Slavery was abolished, along with serfdom much to the annoyance of the more conservative nobles. A new Ministry of Justice was created to improve the legal system and bring an end to the shady court intrigues of old. The Inquisition was repurposed and the Holy Orders brought to an end. The Emperor also announced that the 1775 elections would be postponed until 1776 to give time for the new election committee to be established and the electoral districts to be defined. ((It’ll be easier for me to remember when the elections are if they fall upon even numbers and the turn of the century.
))
As for Parliament itself, the Assembly saw the number of appointed members dropped from 100 to 75, a quarter of the 300 members in total. The Emperor, in response to his act failing to pass both houses due most likely to the clause regarding appointed members, stated that he accepted their wishes and would not try to make further changes to their positions. However, seeing as they were appointed by him, he stressed that he wanted a Parliament that was committed to progress and not tied down by petty partisan politics. Thus he made sweeping changes to the current appointments, removing all those associated with any parties and replacing them with highly qualified individuals with no party ties. The Assembly should focus on advising him to take the best course of action, not arguing between various factions.
As for the Cortz, the Emperor’s own reform increased the power of the dukes and grand dukes, granting them seats for each of their titles, as well as creating appointed positions for the Crown titles. After the act passed, Emperor Alfons stated his commitment to ensuring the Cortz best represented the nobility, and thus all those appointed to represent Crown provinces would come from the lesser nobility living within their respective provinces. He gathered them all in a diet to discuss who best would represent each province and picked those who appeared most qualified. The fact that all these appointed barons and such chosen by the Emperor had no party ties didn’t escape notice.
Talks with Bavaria went over well. The Bavarians were more than happy to sign a formal alliance, hoping that it would deter the Germans who were watching them like a hawk. Germany had already sent a formal warning to Bavaria, not that the latter had many choices of nations to declare war on.
The Minister of Religious Affairs, Pope Xystus II, gave instructions to the Inquisition to ignore all known heathens and Christians unaccepting of the Church of Jesus Christ and focus instead on the most fanatical Coptics in Egypt. Many in the Inquisition believed it would take decades to make any headway against the devout Coptics of Egypt, but the Minister was insistent.
The matter of Poland was also a major issue. The Parliament favoured securing Moldavia, either to cut Poland off from the Black Sea or so Wallachia could be reached by sea. The Exercit Valencia set sail for Wallachia, along with the Exercit Napoli. The Exercits Athens and Jerusalem marched through Byzantium on their way to the Polish border. Once they had arrived in Wallachia, war was declared on Poland and the four armies swarmed over the border into Moldavia.
Poland’s army must have been farther north, for the armies had little difficulty moving over the border. Captain General Gilbert de Saint-Pierre was tasked with capturing Bessarabia while the other two generals occupied the surrounding landscape they could reach. The Polish navy was forced out into the open during the process, but it only lost two ships before fleeing back to port.
Further to the east, Persia declared a holy war on Genoa, wanting to pushed the exiled Italians from the Caucasus Mountains.
France was having to do some work to ensure its new acquisitions stayed in line. The Swiss had taken the opportunity to make a break for freedom now that they had a new overlord, but the French army bared down on them and dashed those dreams.
The attempts to seal off the coast of Brazil met success at last, but Scotland was already expanding inland. Likewise, the land connection between the various parts of Nuevo Leon was completed. The Crown became funding colonization efforts in the interior of Brazil in an attempt to ensure the Scots didn’t expand further inland, while the Alvaro family seemed content to fund a colony up in Nueva Granada.
Kaffa declared war on Ethiopia as the struggle over East Africa continued.
In March of 1774, Bessarabia finally gave in, with Saint-Pierre storming the fort and leaving the way north clear. He marched north with a second army for the fort in Podole while the remaining two generals harassed the countryside before reaching the fort at Zemplen.
The Polish navy was pushed out into open waters again, but the Hispanian fleet was repairing in Byzantium, leaving the Greeks to fend them off at first. The Hispanian fleet arrived a week later and ensured a victory. The Polish navy was finished.
Recent reforms had brought an end to the secretive way of handling matters as the spymaster once did. Now the justice system would handle all such matters, within reason, but no longer would some shadowy figure be placed above the law. When some former associates of the spymaster sought out the Emperor to seek employment, Alfons turned them away. He would not resort to such measures unless necessary.
Podole was not difficult to capture, and fell within three months. By that time, the Polish army had made an appearance. Saint-Pierre led his two armies after them before they could sneak back north. With the assistance of the Greeks, the Poles were sent on their way with several thousand less men.
A colonial retreat of sorts was established in the cold land of Sikumiut on behalf of Cibrán Arceo. This led to some interesting interactions with the UKA. The Americans were in the process of extending their presence north. However, they seemed unwilling to antagonize their only ally. When it was discovered a Hispanian colony was being established just to the north, they abandoned their efforts. The American settlers did not have the same worries as their government and kept flocking to the area though. ((The UKA kept establishing a colony next door in Naskapi but then removed it soon after the colonist arrived. I kept getting messages about the CBs I gained and then lost whenever the colony popped up and then disappeared. Went on for quite awhile.))
When it was clear that the Polish army had fled from reach, Saint-Pierre marched on the fort in Wolyn. As for Leon and Dias, they had harried the defenders at Zemplen long enough to make them cave in. Not much stood in Hispania’s way now.
The Crown continued to fund colonies in South America in the hopes of sealing the Scots off from the interior, but it was a slow going. Cooperation with the colonial nations continued too, with their interests being considered regarding trade in the New World.
The Poles were unwilling to surrender so easily and attempted to liberate some of their provinces, but the Greeks along with Lieutenant General Dias struck at them in Belz. The Poles were not so easily broken, although standing against such massive numbers was near impossible. They fled north again.
France’s rebel problems continued, this time with Austrian separatists trying to rejoin Austria in Lombardie. Due to the proximity to the border, the Exercit Firenze mobilized to assist the French this time, assisting them in crushing the rebel force before it could potentially threaten Cremona.
Wolyn was the next to fall, and from there the capital was in sight. Dias had already reached Warszawa, while Saint-Pierre worked his way up to Wizna.
The Indian Trading Company fell on hard times as the company stagnated due to a lack of expansion in India. The Crown had other areas to focus on and left them to fend for themselves for now.
The Enlightenment was in full swing by 1775, with many new ideas being tossed around. The Crown encouraged new innovative ways of thinking, and reforms were encouraged. This spread to the navy, where the process of promotion was formalized with only men who served in roles such as midshipman could become a commissioned officer. With changes in fortifications being developed, better and more manoeuvrable artillery needed to be constantly developed. Innovation never ended.
In May of 1775, Basileus Romanos V Palaiologos passed away, passing the throne to his son Alexandros II.
The Polish army manoeuvred around trying to break past the Hispanian armies, but the Hispanians moved to keep them from sneaking south. When Warszawa and Krakow both fell, there was nothing standing in the way of the Hispanians and the Polish army. The Poles tried to flee into Hungary, but Leon gave chase. Reinforcements arrived over time, and even with unfavourable conditions working against Hispania, the Poles weren’t able to hold out. They fled north to the only place they could go.
When Wizna fell in September, Poland’s fate was all but decided. They had nothing left to protect them. Dias launched an attack on the trapped Polish army, and with Saint-Pierre’s help managed to force a surrender. The Poles wanted no more and gave in. Thus they came to the peace table and accepted the offer Hispania sent their way. Poland handed over Moldavia and their provinces on the Black Sea. The fort at Podole was included as well to ensure the frontier adequately was protected, both from Poland and Lithuania. Poland also had to relinquish all its many claims on Germany, Austria, and many others, for no one wanted them expanding west again. Silesia was granted independence as an afterthought. They were unlikely to last long on their own, but perhaps they could be used as a suitable nation to weasel the rest of Silesia away from Austria without it falling in German hands. Austria immediately moved to extend its influence over Silesia as a member of the HRE, while Hungary seemed to have ideas of its own about who would protect the fledgling state. Either way, Hispania had secured Moldavia for itself, linking Wallachia to the sea.
There were growing concerns that the desire for tea was forcing Hispanians to become dependent on goods that Hispania did not have suitable control over. Coffee, however, was something Hispania could produce on its own and its consumption was encouraged instead.
Ming, perhaps trying to mimic western powers and strengthen its position in China, extended an offer of protection to Xi.
The TATC faced some difficulties in East Africa, but the Crown was unresponsive. Its attention was drawn to West Africa, where Mali had declared war on Morocco. The possibility of the larger African nation conquering its way into North Africa was not pleasant.
Due to the financial important of Lisboa, funds were set aside to improve the fortifications just in case the province was ever attacked by sea.
Events in Germany took a turn in 1776. The young German king, Friedrich VI Wilhelm von Sponheim, had been plagued with illness after illness throughout his childhood. Shortly before coming of age, he was struck down by the most terrible bout yet and failed to survive. As a child himself, he had not sired an heir and the Munster-German line of the Sponheim family went extinct with his death. The Luneburg branch still existed under Heinrich VII Sponheim, but the German nobles were reluctant to let him anywhere near the German throne. Despite being a distant relative of the late king, he was also a devout Catholic. While the people of Luneburg had started embracing Protestantism, their monarch had remained unmoved. When the topic of conversion was brought up, he remained adamant that he would remain Catholic, even if his conversion was required to ascend to the German throne. If anything, he seemed intent on returning the German people to Catholicism. For a year, the various nobles squabbled over who would be king. A candidate from the von Ravensberg family seemed to be most favoured, but there was still too much dissent. Ultimately, the question of Germany’s succession left it vulnerable to outside influence, and there were those watching and waiting for the moment to strike.
The Queen Dowager of Germany, a Valois and sister of the French Emperor, had not been happy with how certain elements at court had manipulated her husband and the regency to their own ends. Such a powerful nation could not be left in the hands of these nobles. With the cooperation of her older brother Emperor Charles VIII of France, she staged a coup. The regency was swept aside, and in its place her nephew Charles, the son of her late twin brother Henri, was put into power. Despite its rapid growth, the German nation was quite unstable, and the succession only added to that, leaving it is a position where it could not oppose the coup. With both the might of France and Scandinavia backing their choice for the German throne, Charles was quickly swept onto the throne and crowned King Karl V Albrecht de Valois of Germany, after he had sworn off his claim to the French throne. Perhaps to placate the German people, the new king converted to Protestantism. Either way, they’d have to settle for a Frenchman as king or face the wrath of France and Scandinavia. The Valois line now controlled three of the most powerful thrones in Europe. ((I have no idea how a Valois became king, but I’m rolling with it. It seems the Sponheim heir died during the regency and that threw things into chaos for the AI. I imagine a certain Hispanian living in Germany will probably be receiving his pink slip soon.
))
Kaffa proved victorious in their war with Ethiopia, conquering their way to the coast.
The Indian Trading Company continued to stagnate and face financial troubles, but their complaints fell on deaf ears.
Malwa, perhaps trying to impersonate a western power, declared war on the island nation of Ternate in South East Asia. Were the Indians making a play at imperialism now?
Ethiopia seemed doomed now as Yemen decided to prey on the weakened nation.
It seemed that the dynastic politics of Europe was heating up. With a Valois on the throne, Emperor Charles VIII suggested that if his second cousin died he would be the natural heir to the German throne. Lithuania disputed this, and threatened war if Charles made a move on the German throne. While this was all going on, the Habsburgs in Hungary were facing a similar crisis. The Hungarian king had no heir, and his nearest relative was the Archduke of Austria. Bavaria, however, could not tolerate seeing Austrian power grow and disputed this. It seemed likely war would erupt if either the king of Germany or Hungary died without an heir.
Yemen, despite being more than strong enough to wipe Ethiopia off the map, settled for war reparations instead.
Manchu made a move to show that it deserved the Mandate of Heaven by declaring war on Ming with the intent of unifying China. Both were large powers, but now it was time to see if Ming’s westernization paid off.
Mali settled a peace with Morocco, content merely to take the Saharan provinces it had squabbled with Morocco over in the past.
King Karl V Albrecht of Germany took steps to secure his throne by eliminating the threat of his biggest rival for his new throne. After lengthy negotiations, he managed to convince Duke Heinrich VII Sponheim to swear allegiance to him and have Luneburg formally join the German state.
Over the past few decades, Hispania had proven its ability to protect its people and defend the rights of those in other states. The world generally agreed that Hispania could be trusted to put people first.
As if to further prove Hispania’s commitment to the people, Emperor Alfons got drawn into a conflict with his cousin, Duke Carles de Trastámara. The people of Salento sent a representative to Valencia to present a list of abuses that Carles had committed. Apparently, the Duke was still acting as though Salento was his own personal fief and overriding Crown authority. Despite their blood ties, Alfons could not tolerate any abuse of the system. He sent a stern warning to his cousin to keep in line and respect the people of Salento. The Duke was not too happy about this and raised a fuss in the Cortz.
Austria, in an attempt to reclaim its former glory, declared itself the Defender of the Catholic Faith. Some speculated this was a direct challenge to Germany that they would not tolerate any further expansion by the Protestant power.
The TATC seemed to be doing quite well in West Africa, bringing in a steady profit.
As the year 1778 approached, some began to truly wonder the implications of three Valois monarchs in Europe. Would Germany now follow France’s lead or was it meant to take Hispania’s place in the alliance bloc? At least Hispania could take comfort in the fact the UKA had all but fallen into the Trastámara sphere.
Presenting His Imperial Highness, Alfons IX de Trastámara, Emperor of Hispania, Caesar of Rome, and Protector of the Greeks.
It appears that Poland is a mere shadow of its former self. The acquisition of Moldavia should ensure they cannot threaten our interests any further and that Wallachia is finally connected to the sea.
It came as a shock to hear that a Valois had ascended to the German throne. I am not certain how they managed that, and I have a feeling I don’t want to know the full details. Regardless, we should be better able to trust a Valois king than his Sponheim predecessors. I only pray that the three Valois monarchs do not draw too close that Hispania is left to its own devices.
Perhaps with all these changes in the world, we should consider the direction of our nation. Our colonies have always been of great importance, so perhaps focusing on our colonial empire may be a worthy pursuit. We could also consider seeking better relations with the neutral powers of Europe, such as Scotland. I am not certain how that will go, seeing as they are disputing our presence in Brazil. There are many areas to focus on, whether administrative, diplomatic, or military, but I shall leave that up to Parliament to debate.
((If it isn’t obvious, we have a mission and idea group to pick, which we’ll do when the vote comes around. Also, the position of Speaker has been created for the Assembly, so any member of the Assembly may nominate themselves for the position and we’ll have the Assembly members vote on who should take the position. As for the composition of Parliament, I shall be posting that some time after the update. I just have to make some final adjustments to the numbers and add in our new provinces.
As for our usual business, ministers have until
Wednesday at 12PM PST to post their plans. Players may also propose laws in that time period.
Pensioners:
@Duke Dan "the Man"
05060403
))
