So the Holy Land is secured, and now a significant war - but Russia seems to be not entirely stable so hopefully this shall not be too tough a fight.
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That's for sure, our new ruler definitely is a wise man despite his mediocre stats. That Byzantine PU is also nice, I'm sure Russia will be a pushover after all the other wars.
Chapter 10 - A New Emperor and a Spark
As the last Byzantine Emperor decreed in his will that the nation's sovereignty would go to the Emperor of Hungary, this meant that the Hungarian allies of Austria, Prussia and the newly added Scandinavia would come to the defense of Hungary. For Russia, this meant fighting an offensive war against not only one of the most powerful nations in the world but having all its allies to back it up.
Even with these three nations backing Hungary, Russia still possed a fairly impressive army that outnumbered every nation by two to one. What no expected was for the Russian-Hungarian border to be completely empty. As the Hungarian army proceeded with caution, this was the exact opposite for the Prussian army under their king himself who was... fairly hotheaded. To be fair, he had the strongest and best-equipped military on an individual basis.
He headed straight... in the opposite direction. As the war was started, Prussia had just involved itself in another war with the North Germans and could not send troops to the front. As the Hungarian-Austrian and soon to be Byzantine forced slowly moved into Russia, news reached Laszlo that one of the Russian armies was in Finnish Scandinavia and was pushing hard on the defenders.
September rolled around for the invaders and news reached the front that the majority of the Russian Navy was sunk due to the combined arms of Scandinavia and Prussia. Seeing the northern flank faltering, Prussia finally committed to the war, ordering his allies to handle the remainder of the German war. Marching North, the Prussian Army reaching Northern Scandinavia started it's push into Finnish Scandinavia.
This proved extremely important to the war as arguably the most elite Russian Army was present in Scandinavia but met a swift end by the hands of Prussia. This distracted gave the Hungarian Fourth Army to take down the Fortress of Novgorod which allowed the Austrian detachment to blitz into the heartland of Russia and take Moscow shortly after.
This, coupled with the failure of containing what was a small outbreak of rebels, forced the Russian Tsar's hand and he had to give in demands to the combined coalition. Byzantium would remain a part of the Hungarian sphere of influence and were forced to give small sections of lands to Scandinavia and Hungary. The section of Russia that was taken by Hungary would then be made into the resurrected Republic of Novgorod.
Now, with the Russian question being solved, Prussian moved back over to the Western war they had and started asserting their authority over the weaker nations around it. While Hungary did send a token force when Prussia asked. What was to be expected from the founding of Byzantine Hungary was nothing but sheer revolt from the higher-ups within Constantinople.
Rebellions ensued with Byzantium with the local leader of Constantinople requesting aid from the Hungarians who sent both men and financial aid to the struggling partner. The First Army was ordered to march to Constantinople to remove the threat and follow up by moving to Athens to make sure no uprising takes place. Within one month of the event taking place, all is quite in the Greek region.
As the embers of revolution were snuffed out, news reached Laszlo that the Prussian leader, Friedrich III von Hohenzollern, the first ruler of the kingdom, finally died of old age and not on the battlefield. Laszlo did not get to know the king very well but always figured that the dream of every able Prussian leader was to lead his men into battle with nothing but the Prussian flag, a saber on his belt, and shouting angry German at anyone who dares stand before him and his glorious men. Hell, some people see the Prussian Army as so amazing that they do not need guns to kill their enemies and that bullets just bounce off their uniforms.
So yes, Friedrich's dead.
Back with Laszlo, it was decided that the land route between Byzantium and Anatolia Hungary needed to be more secure. With this thought in the higher ups in Hungary, the Hungarian-Byzantine army set its eyes onto the remnants of the Ottoman Western section. Within months of the war starting, it was obvious who was the current ruler of not only Anatolia but soon to be the Levant and Egypt.
With the domination of the Middle East continuing for the Hunyadi Empire, a diplomat arrive in Constantinople who relayed a very important development on the world stage. Ming, the once undisputed greatest nation on the planet, has shattered. Several smaller nations arose from the breakup of Ming. While the original nation still holds several critical parts of it, the strength of Ming is gone.
With Ming having gone into the abyss of irrelevance, the war against the Ottomans came to an end in July of 1712. The price for peace came high for the Ottomans with the removal of all land in the West of their country and to be given to the Byzantine Empire which effectively grows twice in size.
Have removed the Ottomans permanently from Western Anatolia, now would be a good time to pass out and die from a coma. This was what happened to the Hungarian leader who passed away and passed the throne to his much more skilled leader Istvan the Fourth. Due to the previous Emperor's priority on educated his son, resulted in Istvan have a very overall even group of skills.
And the first order of business for the young ruler is to deal with a rebellion led by the bureaucracy who wished to seize more power. The order was given, kill them and any who are associated with them. What no one at the time realized was this would be the spark for a coming storm in decades to come.
As is a custom for many a ruler of the Hunyadi was to assert their authority over the region they wished to one day own. Russia was the target of the new Emperor and saw the reemerged nation of Novgorod as the justification to expand his influence. In the beginning of September, despite the advice of his military leaders, launched the invasion of Russia.
Blitzing past the border defenses set, the main contingent of the Hungarian military moved towards the capital city of Moscow while a joint effort by the Byzantine Army and the Hungarian Second Army attacked the Crimea region. Great progress was made on the main push but it was found the Russian detachment in the South put up a much fiercer resistance and held them off.
As everyone hunkered down for the Russian Winter which Istvan did not expect would become an issue. The Russians, having known this war would be a multi-year endeavor against the invaders, was better suited for the winter. As the spring came, the central push had one goal, take Moscow and the surrounding area.
Moscow was greatly fortified during the winter and the citizens took up arms in the defense against the Hungarians. What the central section found was that they needed to pool all of their resources just to breach the first and second perimeter. It took all the way until July for the military to finally take out the last defensive ring between the military and the capital building.
Despite the obvious loss to the Russian people, it took many more months of hard pushing all the way to the Ural Mountains for the Russians to finally sue for peace. Istvan, upon hearing this news, realized that nearly ninety percent of Russia had to be occupied before the leadership would even send a peace offer.
----------------------
I just wanted to thank J_Master, Tom D. and Ericpiplup for nominating this AAR. For being my first AAR and people would recommend this on the Q3 ACAs for 2017 is quite a shock. I'm not going to ask everyone to recommend me on it as everyone simply reading and commenting this is more than enough pleasure for me. Thank you.
As the last Byzantine Emperor decreed in his will that the nation's sovereignty would go to the Emperor of Hungary, this meant that the Hungarian allies of Austria, Prussia and the newly added Scandinavia would come to the defense of Hungary. For Russia, this meant fighting an offensive war against not only one of the most powerful nations in the world but having all its allies to back it up.
Even with these three nations backing Hungary, Russia still possed a fairly impressive army that outnumbered every nation by two to one. What no expected was for the Russian-Hungarian border to be completely empty. As the Hungarian army proceeded with caution, this was the exact opposite for the Prussian army under their king himself who was... fairly hotheaded. To be fair, he had the strongest and best-equipped military on an individual basis.
He headed straight... in the opposite direction. As the war was started, Prussia had just involved itself in another war with the North Germans and could not send troops to the front. As the Hungarian-Austrian and soon to be Byzantine forced slowly moved into Russia, news reached Laszlo that one of the Russian armies was in Finnish Scandinavia and was pushing hard on the defenders.
September rolled around for the invaders and news reached the front that the majority of the Russian Navy was sunk due to the combined arms of Scandinavia and Prussia. Seeing the northern flank faltering, Prussia finally committed to the war, ordering his allies to handle the remainder of the German war. Marching North, the Prussian Army reaching Northern Scandinavia started it's push into Finnish Scandinavia.
This proved extremely important to the war as arguably the most elite Russian Army was present in Scandinavia but met a swift end by the hands of Prussia. This distracted gave the Hungarian Fourth Army to take down the Fortress of Novgorod which allowed the Austrian detachment to blitz into the heartland of Russia and take Moscow shortly after.
This, coupled with the failure of containing what was a small outbreak of rebels, forced the Russian Tsar's hand and he had to give in demands to the combined coalition. Byzantium would remain a part of the Hungarian sphere of influence and were forced to give small sections of lands to Scandinavia and Hungary. The section of Russia that was taken by Hungary would then be made into the resurrected Republic of Novgorod.
Now, with the Russian question being solved, Prussian moved back over to the Western war they had and started asserting their authority over the weaker nations around it. While Hungary did send a token force when Prussia asked. What was to be expected from the founding of Byzantine Hungary was nothing but sheer revolt from the higher-ups within Constantinople.
Rebellions ensued with Byzantium with the local leader of Constantinople requesting aid from the Hungarians who sent both men and financial aid to the struggling partner. The First Army was ordered to march to Constantinople to remove the threat and follow up by moving to Athens to make sure no uprising takes place. Within one month of the event taking place, all is quite in the Greek region.
As the embers of revolution were snuffed out, news reached Laszlo that the Prussian leader, Friedrich III von Hohenzollern, the first ruler of the kingdom, finally died of old age and not on the battlefield. Laszlo did not get to know the king very well but always figured that the dream of every able Prussian leader was to lead his men into battle with nothing but the Prussian flag, a saber on his belt, and shouting angry German at anyone who dares stand before him and his glorious men. Hell, some people see the Prussian Army as so amazing that they do not need guns to kill their enemies and that bullets just bounce off their uniforms.
So yes, Friedrich's dead.
Back with Laszlo, it was decided that the land route between Byzantium and Anatolia Hungary needed to be more secure. With this thought in the higher ups in Hungary, the Hungarian-Byzantine army set its eyes onto the remnants of the Ottoman Western section. Within months of the war starting, it was obvious who was the current ruler of not only Anatolia but soon to be the Levant and Egypt.
With the domination of the Middle East continuing for the Hunyadi Empire, a diplomat arrive in Constantinople who relayed a very important development on the world stage. Ming, the once undisputed greatest nation on the planet, has shattered. Several smaller nations arose from the breakup of Ming. While the original nation still holds several critical parts of it, the strength of Ming is gone.
With Ming having gone into the abyss of irrelevance, the war against the Ottomans came to an end in July of 1712. The price for peace came high for the Ottomans with the removal of all land in the West of their country and to be given to the Byzantine Empire which effectively grows twice in size.
Have removed the Ottomans permanently from Western Anatolia, now would be a good time to pass out and die from a coma. This was what happened to the Hungarian leader who passed away and passed the throne to his much more skilled leader Istvan the Fourth. Due to the previous Emperor's priority on educated his son, resulted in Istvan have a very overall even group of skills.
And the first order of business for the young ruler is to deal with a rebellion led by the bureaucracy who wished to seize more power. The order was given, kill them and any who are associated with them. What no one at the time realized was this would be the spark for a coming storm in decades to come.
As is a custom for many a ruler of the Hunyadi was to assert their authority over the region they wished to one day own. Russia was the target of the new Emperor and saw the reemerged nation of Novgorod as the justification to expand his influence. In the beginning of September, despite the advice of his military leaders, launched the invasion of Russia.
Blitzing past the border defenses set, the main contingent of the Hungarian military moved towards the capital city of Moscow while a joint effort by the Byzantine Army and the Hungarian Second Army attacked the Crimea region. Great progress was made on the main push but it was found the Russian detachment in the South put up a much fiercer resistance and held them off.
As everyone hunkered down for the Russian Winter which Istvan did not expect would become an issue. The Russians, having known this war would be a multi-year endeavor against the invaders, was better suited for the winter. As the spring came, the central push had one goal, take Moscow and the surrounding area.
Moscow was greatly fortified during the winter and the citizens took up arms in the defense against the Hungarians. What the central section found was that they needed to pool all of their resources just to breach the first and second perimeter. It took all the way until July for the military to finally take out the last defensive ring between the military and the capital building.
Despite the obvious loss to the Russian people, it took many more months of hard pushing all the way to the Ural Mountains for the Russians to finally sue for peace. Istvan, upon hearing this news, realized that nearly ninety percent of Russia had to be occupied before the leadership would even send a peace offer.
----------------------
I just wanted to thank J_Master, Tom D. and Ericpiplup for nominating this AAR. For being my first AAR and people would recommend this on the Q3 ACAs for 2017 is quite a shock. I'm not going to ask everyone to recommend me on it as everyone simply reading and commenting this is more than enough pleasure for me. Thank you.
The Hungarian-Prussian axis is dominating Europe and now Russia - the coming century will be a glorious one!
You're one of the most characterful & entertainingly written EUIV AARs currently running - no surprise you were nominated. I remain an avid reader and I look forward to seeing what challenges Hungary finds to take on in the game's final century.
Very nice war with Russia. Should hopefully inhibit them from every becoming a true threat.
Hello everyone, I have some good news and bad news. The good news is that there will be a new chapter coming out soon. The bad news is that it could be the last under this format of sorts. Reason for this is because when Cradle of Civilization was released, it caused my save file to corrupt. At first, i thought it was the standard revert to the previous update but this is not the case.
The reason I bring this up is I need to pose a question to everyone.
1. Do you wish for this to continue despite the fact that I cannot prove the events are happening with an ingame picture. By going with this option, I will go through with what I was planning but it will be a long wall of text with limited pictures. Also, I need to know how crazy you want it to go (Jan Mayen tag team with an Aztec Invasion invade Europe? I said crazy...)
2. End the series with the last picture that I have archived. (1740 war with Tunis for Byzantium which looks nice border wise.) I do have another nation in mind for the next AAR but I need to know what you want before moving on.
I would be willing to either and need your input. Thank you.
The reason I bring this up is I need to pose a question to everyone.
1. Do you wish for this to continue despite the fact that I cannot prove the events are happening with an ingame picture. By going with this option, I will go through with what I was planning but it will be a long wall of text with limited pictures. Also, I need to know how crazy you want it to go (Jan Mayen tag team with an Aztec Invasion invade Europe? I said crazy...)
2. End the series with the last picture that I have archived. (1740 war with Tunis for Byzantium which looks nice border wise.) I do have another nation in mind for the next AAR but I need to know what you want before moving on.
I would be willing to either and need your input. Thank you.
I would say go on until you run out of in-game material, perhaps with an epilogue post just outlining what your intentions were.
Completely agreed.
Is it possible that some mod is preventing you from loading up the save?
That's what I thought after reverting the save. Sadly no, the mods aren't doing anything to it, the save is sadly gone.
For me it doesn't matter that much, but I can agree with the what the others said 
.
.
Chapter 11 - Rebellion, Representation and the Fall of Hapsburg Austria
At the conclusion of the war, rebels from all across Russia rose up and caused the nation all sorts of trouble. From the furthest parts of Siberia to the Caucasus Mountains, Russia was going through nothing short of a disaster. Within months, the Circassia had won their independence alongside the Oirat Horde being resurrected.
Happiness filled the Hungarian ruler and elite as they had once again proven the strength and supremacy of Hungary. Sadly, despite all the power, the strength and the belief of invincibility, the inside of Hungary was quite a different story. Hungarians were the ruling class of the entire nation, which caused some problems for non-Hungarians.
Que the Silesians, an ethnic group who see themselves separate, but similar to the Polish people. These people had, for the most part, been peacefully integrated into the Hungarian state and moreso when Poland was brought into the fold. One thing that did make them different from nearly all of the nation was their beliefs. In this case, they want full representation in the Hungarian courts.
Laszlo, maybe a little prideful in the military, denied these people their request which sent the populace into full rebellion. The Hungarian military was sent forth and... persuaded the rebelling people to reconsider their position. With the problem taken care of, the military moved their focus to Estonia with the idea of giving Novgorod the land.
However, with the military having believed the problem solved, they actually got sloppy and missed a very, very important group. Gieffier Rimberger, a few dozens supports, and his brightest general managed to escape the carnage. These survivors swore one thing and one thing only, to see the House of Hunyadi fall.
The Northern Border blocked by the Baltic Sea and by loyal vassals, the West guarded by the rising nation of Prussia and the defender of the Holy Roman Empire Austria and the Eastern region guarded with the best forts Hungary could construct. All that was left was Egypt, the Barbary Coast, and the Arabian Peninsula.
Emperor Laszlo felt that, if his allies were to turn their back on the Empire, he would need Byzantium to be strong enough to support the military. The first step was to secure a Southern Border from any African nation which wanted ill for the family.
September came and Laszlo himself led the charge against the Egyptian Sultan and found out the leader of Egypt left his nation to the hands of Laszlo who went in and sacked the capital city and looted it in the name of the church. Soon after the fall of the capital, peace was signed which effectively saw the nation closed offer from the rest of the world.
Now, with the South taken and fortifications being underway, Laszlo turned his eyes to Tunis. The plan was simple, assault the coastline with half the military while the other half would move on the Ottomans and eliminate the other ally. Pasai was considered an irrelevant in the war as Laszlo doubted that they would seriously commit to the war.
Confident and feeling this would be an easy victory, war was declared on the Islamic nations and great gains were made in the first month. However, the third month would include a very big problem which Laszlo's diplomat accidentally left out. The Tunis campaign force was nearing the capital and namesake of the nation when Mombasa entered through the Southern Border with war.
The border forts which just happened to be finished were quickly taken by the extremely thin defenders and acted as a base for the Mombasa military to strike into the newly acquired Egypt. With the Ottomans proving to be more of a trouble than expected, there was not forced to stop this unexpected enemy from attacking through the Nile.
This played into the hands of Tunis who was able to get a much better peace deal than they would otherwise since Mombasa was pushing hard and unchecked. If things couldn't get any worse for Hungary and Byzantium, Prussia had just themselves into a defensive war with nearly all of the German Princes and needed Hungary's help. With no other choice, Laszlo accepted a peace in which Byzantium would get Eastern Tunis.
Laszlo, having all his military in the South, found several armies on the Northern border, banging their head on the legendary Fortress of Phara which was now state of the art in terms of defensive constructions. Still, with over sixty thousand troops in the region assaulting the region met this would not be an easy siege for the defenders.
What came next would cause shockwaves across the Western Border and start a chain reaction all across Europe. Austria, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, was seeing an invasion of republican sympathy in the form of refugees from merchant republics of Northern Germany, thanks to Prussia.
With the Austrian military helping the Prussians in the defense of their homeland while Hungary was relocating their forces back into Europe, the capital of Austria was near defenseless. Revolutionary populace from varies republics marched on the Schönbrunn Palace where they were met with the cold steel of the only force in the city, The Austria Royal Guard of one-hundred strong.
Despite being the strongest force in the Austrian Military, they were only one-hundred of the best of the best against over twenty-thousand peasants with the aim of the Emperor's head. Being forced past the main gates of the Palace, the Emperor knew this was not a winnable battle and also knew their goal.
Sebastian Lehner, the leader of the guard, had called all forces back into the Palace and barricade the entrance. He turned to find the Emperor walking towards him with his twelve-year-old child, Maria. Emperor Josef ordered Sebastian to evacuate the palace and to make sure Maria makes it out, no matter the cause.
"Emperor, the only exit left is the passage that runs below the city. There is no telling if it is flooded by these monsters." Sebastian said with Emperor Josef putting his hand on Sebastian's right shoulder.
"These people want the head of the leader of Austria on a pike, they will not be able to hold themselves back once they see me. Take Maria to the Hungarian court and ask for their aid in protecting our people."
Sebastian looked at the twelve-year-old Maria and walked to her side. He looked at the sixty-eight remaining guardsmen and declared "Men! Our Emperor has given us our greatest task yet. As the armor of the Emperor, we will see to it that his family are safely delivered to safety!"
Laszlo finally crossed the Bosphorus when words reached him of what happened in Europe while he was away. The Prussian-Austrian military was able to push the German Princes back and force them into a white peace. Vienna itself did not fair as good as many of the aristocratic elite of the city were forced to leave the city. The capital of Austria in tow, the revolutionaries declared the Republic of Austria as they moved to secure the rest of the nation.
If the members of the Holy Roman Empire were not in an unstable position, this was the powder keg that would ignite it into a firestorm. The strongest force in the empire now being a republic meant that a new Emperor from a different country needed to take the mantle... which no one wanted. Chaos quitely followed as many of the remaining princes ganged up on the smaller nations over the next few months.
Maria and the remainder of the royal guards made it to the Hungarian border by September having fought hundreds of sympathizes. After revealing her identity, instead of being escorted to the capital of Hungary, the guardsmen attacked. Though the possibly last Hapsburg was kept safe from this assault, only herself, Sebastian and eight guardsmen remained of the original detachment.
Not taking any more chances, Sebastian called upon loyal mercenaries which he knew from his early years of being in the military. Numbering two-hundred well equipped, additional troops, Sebastian and Maria were able to finally make it to Pest where the mercenaries were kept as additional security.
After meeting with Laszlo himself, it became clear to Sebastian that the only way the Hungarians would help is if Maria surrendered the Austrian throne to Hungary and join in a union similar to Byzantium. As much as Sebastian hated this, he knew this was the only hope of Austria making it past the century. Reluctantly, the girl was almost forced to agree to this terms and surrendered Austria to Hungary. To solidify this, she would marry the heir to Hungary, Matyas II who also was twelve.
With Laszlo declaring the addition of Austria to the Hungarian Empire, Laszlo committed the First Army to see it his investment is safely integrated into the Empire. What he did not realize was that in the month and a half that has passed since Vienna and the lands North of the Alpine Mountains was taken, several thousand were starting to like the idea of a Republic. This was quickly discovered to come from a minority of Protestants who came from the North and helped cause this mess.
Speaking of North Germans, the remaining Princes, mainly Brabant, Oldenburg, Liege and the Southern remaining Prince turn Elector, Bavaria, were the only remaining Princes who held any true power in the Holy Roman Empire left. These four knew it was a matter of time before either Prussia, France or Hungary came for them and needed to put aside their rivalry and come together in their hour of weakness. Any remaining Princes quickly came to this conclusion and decided to ally to the various major Princes which ended with the German Region being an alliance of Princes against the three major nations of Europe.
----------------
There is one thing I need to mention before the final chapter is made. Since I am no longer held back by what happens in-game, I can do (relatively speaking) anything I wish. With what I have in mind, there is only one thing that can describe it.
EVERYTHING IS ON FIRE!
At the conclusion of the war, rebels from all across Russia rose up and caused the nation all sorts of trouble. From the furthest parts of Siberia to the Caucasus Mountains, Russia was going through nothing short of a disaster. Within months, the Circassia had won their independence alongside the Oirat Horde being resurrected.
Happiness filled the Hungarian ruler and elite as they had once again proven the strength and supremacy of Hungary. Sadly, despite all the power, the strength and the belief of invincibility, the inside of Hungary was quite a different story. Hungarians were the ruling class of the entire nation, which caused some problems for non-Hungarians.
Que the Silesians, an ethnic group who see themselves separate, but similar to the Polish people. These people had, for the most part, been peacefully integrated into the Hungarian state and moreso when Poland was brought into the fold. One thing that did make them different from nearly all of the nation was their beliefs. In this case, they want full representation in the Hungarian courts.
Laszlo, maybe a little prideful in the military, denied these people their request which sent the populace into full rebellion. The Hungarian military was sent forth and... persuaded the rebelling people to reconsider their position. With the problem taken care of, the military moved their focus to Estonia with the idea of giving Novgorod the land.
However, with the military having believed the problem solved, they actually got sloppy and missed a very, very important group. Gieffier Rimberger, a few dozens supports, and his brightest general managed to escape the carnage. These survivors swore one thing and one thing only, to see the House of Hunyadi fall.
The Northern Border blocked by the Baltic Sea and by loyal vassals, the West guarded by the rising nation of Prussia and the defender of the Holy Roman Empire Austria and the Eastern region guarded with the best forts Hungary could construct. All that was left was Egypt, the Barbary Coast, and the Arabian Peninsula.
Emperor Laszlo felt that, if his allies were to turn their back on the Empire, he would need Byzantium to be strong enough to support the military. The first step was to secure a Southern Border from any African nation which wanted ill for the family.
September came and Laszlo himself led the charge against the Egyptian Sultan and found out the leader of Egypt left his nation to the hands of Laszlo who went in and sacked the capital city and looted it in the name of the church. Soon after the fall of the capital, peace was signed which effectively saw the nation closed offer from the rest of the world.
Now, with the South taken and fortifications being underway, Laszlo turned his eyes to Tunis. The plan was simple, assault the coastline with half the military while the other half would move on the Ottomans and eliminate the other ally. Pasai was considered an irrelevant in the war as Laszlo doubted that they would seriously commit to the war.
Confident and feeling this would be an easy victory, war was declared on the Islamic nations and great gains were made in the first month. However, the third month would include a very big problem which Laszlo's diplomat accidentally left out. The Tunis campaign force was nearing the capital and namesake of the nation when Mombasa entered through the Southern Border with war.
The border forts which just happened to be finished were quickly taken by the extremely thin defenders and acted as a base for the Mombasa military to strike into the newly acquired Egypt. With the Ottomans proving to be more of a trouble than expected, there was not forced to stop this unexpected enemy from attacking through the Nile.
This played into the hands of Tunis who was able to get a much better peace deal than they would otherwise since Mombasa was pushing hard and unchecked. If things couldn't get any worse for Hungary and Byzantium, Prussia had just themselves into a defensive war with nearly all of the German Princes and needed Hungary's help. With no other choice, Laszlo accepted a peace in which Byzantium would get Eastern Tunis.
Laszlo, having all his military in the South, found several armies on the Northern border, banging their head on the legendary Fortress of Phara which was now state of the art in terms of defensive constructions. Still, with over sixty thousand troops in the region assaulting the region met this would not be an easy siege for the defenders.
What came next would cause shockwaves across the Western Border and start a chain reaction all across Europe. Austria, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, was seeing an invasion of republican sympathy in the form of refugees from merchant republics of Northern Germany, thanks to Prussia.
With the Austrian military helping the Prussians in the defense of their homeland while Hungary was relocating their forces back into Europe, the capital of Austria was near defenseless. Revolutionary populace from varies republics marched on the Schönbrunn Palace where they were met with the cold steel of the only force in the city, The Austria Royal Guard of one-hundred strong.
Despite being the strongest force in the Austrian Military, they were only one-hundred of the best of the best against over twenty-thousand peasants with the aim of the Emperor's head. Being forced past the main gates of the Palace, the Emperor knew this was not a winnable battle and also knew their goal.
Sebastian Lehner, the leader of the guard, had called all forces back into the Palace and barricade the entrance. He turned to find the Emperor walking towards him with his twelve-year-old child, Maria. Emperor Josef ordered Sebastian to evacuate the palace and to make sure Maria makes it out, no matter the cause.
"Emperor, the only exit left is the passage that runs below the city. There is no telling if it is flooded by these monsters." Sebastian said with Emperor Josef putting his hand on Sebastian's right shoulder.
"These people want the head of the leader of Austria on a pike, they will not be able to hold themselves back once they see me. Take Maria to the Hungarian court and ask for their aid in protecting our people."
Sebastian looked at the twelve-year-old Maria and walked to her side. He looked at the sixty-eight remaining guardsmen and declared "Men! Our Emperor has given us our greatest task yet. As the armor of the Emperor, we will see to it that his family are safely delivered to safety!"
Laszlo finally crossed the Bosphorus when words reached him of what happened in Europe while he was away. The Prussian-Austrian military was able to push the German Princes back and force them into a white peace. Vienna itself did not fair as good as many of the aristocratic elite of the city were forced to leave the city. The capital of Austria in tow, the revolutionaries declared the Republic of Austria as they moved to secure the rest of the nation.
If the members of the Holy Roman Empire were not in an unstable position, this was the powder keg that would ignite it into a firestorm. The strongest force in the empire now being a republic meant that a new Emperor from a different country needed to take the mantle... which no one wanted. Chaos quitely followed as many of the remaining princes ganged up on the smaller nations over the next few months.
Maria and the remainder of the royal guards made it to the Hungarian border by September having fought hundreds of sympathizes. After revealing her identity, instead of being escorted to the capital of Hungary, the guardsmen attacked. Though the possibly last Hapsburg was kept safe from this assault, only herself, Sebastian and eight guardsmen remained of the original detachment.
Not taking any more chances, Sebastian called upon loyal mercenaries which he knew from his early years of being in the military. Numbering two-hundred well equipped, additional troops, Sebastian and Maria were able to finally make it to Pest where the mercenaries were kept as additional security.
After meeting with Laszlo himself, it became clear to Sebastian that the only way the Hungarians would help is if Maria surrendered the Austrian throne to Hungary and join in a union similar to Byzantium. As much as Sebastian hated this, he knew this was the only hope of Austria making it past the century. Reluctantly, the girl was almost forced to agree to this terms and surrendered Austria to Hungary. To solidify this, she would marry the heir to Hungary, Matyas II who also was twelve.
With Laszlo declaring the addition of Austria to the Hungarian Empire, Laszlo committed the First Army to see it his investment is safely integrated into the Empire. What he did not realize was that in the month and a half that has passed since Vienna and the lands North of the Alpine Mountains was taken, several thousand were starting to like the idea of a Republic. This was quickly discovered to come from a minority of Protestants who came from the North and helped cause this mess.
Speaking of North Germans, the remaining Princes, mainly Brabant, Oldenburg, Liege and the Southern remaining Prince turn Elector, Bavaria, were the only remaining Princes who held any true power in the Holy Roman Empire left. These four knew it was a matter of time before either Prussia, France or Hungary came for them and needed to put aside their rivalry and come together in their hour of weakness. Any remaining Princes quickly came to this conclusion and decided to ally to the various major Princes which ended with the German Region being an alliance of Princes against the three major nations of Europe.
----------------
There is one thing I need to mention before the final chapter is made. Since I am no longer held back by what happens in-game, I can do (relatively speaking) anything I wish. With what I have in mind, there is only one thing that can describe it.
EVERYTHING IS ON FIRE!
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Wow. A truly incredible turn of events. Also very nice stroytelling, it is very engaging.
HELL YEAH! And indeed, your storytelling is very well done. Onto the grand finale!
Final Chapter - Monarchy vs Democracy, Hunyadi vs Rimberger, Austria-Hungary vs Europe
"-and with their defeat, Russia will acquire all the lands East of the Carpathian Mountains," Gieffier said, pointing directly at the city of Pest. "Once the Hunyadi's are removed from the political landscape can we focus on other ventures, but Hungary must fall."
---------
Laszlo took too the reclamation of Austria very seriously and issued the first and fourth armies to retake the new territory but was only able to reclaim Vienna and the lowlands. The mountainous terrain along with the all too important silver mine in the West remained in control of Republican forces which made reclaiming the land difficult. By the time of the war entering year five, Matyas and Maria turned seventeen at the start of 1732.
Maria, having to accept the title of Hapsburg-Hunyadi upon her marriage with Matyas, was at least happy to return to her ravaged home in Vienna. Unlike most marriages from one monarch to another, Matyas and Maria did indeed love each other which helped in their work of royal politics. They were not able to find the corpse of Maria's father but after hearing the news from the locals, it wasn't hard to believe.
When Emperor Josef surrendered himself to the horde of Republicans, they created a mock trial whom declared him an enemy of the state and voted all but one to execute him in the name of the Republic. The method was via, according to many, the unbiased guillotine and his head on a pike to display to any royalist forces. Sebastian, acting as the protector to Maria and Matyas, feared this was the end to his lord.
Back in Pest, Laszlo's day had gone from bad to worse as word reached him that the Russian monarchy had just followed the same route as the Austrians. Unlike the Austrian Hapsburg who had Hungary to run too, The Russian Royal Family were caught and followed the same fate as Josef.
With the news reaching Laszlo, this would be the last straw for the Emperor who mobilized the entire military to crush the Austrian rebellion and ordered the second and third armies to finish the job once and for all. This left the fifth in Bohemia, sixth in Anatolia, seventh and tenth on the Russian border and the eighth and ninth located in Hungary itself in reserve. In total, over three-hundred thousand men were called upon to secure the Empire.
This... would actually go down as the worse decision made in Hungarian history...
Great Britain declared war on Scandinavia for the claim of the Shetland Islands which were quickly taken by Her Majesty's Marines. This dragged the Northern power in the making into a war they did not want but now had. Navally, the Scandinavian's were no match and were forced to stay on the continent while the British took the few colonies that were there at a leisurely pace.
This would bog down the Scandinavian's who quickly followed after with an ultimatum by the new Russian President. Relinquish the recently conquered White Sea ports to Russia and release Finland under Russian administration. Laszlo immediately responded by letting the President of Russia know that any form of aggression towards not only his ally but also Hunyadi relative would be met with them joining Scandinavia in their time of aid.
Apparently not taking the hit, Russia reclaimed war on the basis of reclaiming lost land. Like the last war, half of the Russian army march quickly into Finnish Scandinavia which only had a decently sized garrison which drowned in Russian manpower. by August of 1732, Lower Finland was under Russian control and even the Russian Black Fleet was able to sneak into the Atlantic Sea and into the Baltic Sea to ravaged the now weakened Scandinavian Fleet.
Of course, Laszlo was not one to back down from a challenge and had the Seventh and Tenth Armies make a beeline straight to Moscow to not only force the Russian's out of the war, but removed the presidency from the Orthodox nation permanently; maybe even put a Hunyadi on the throne while he was at it.
Nobody, not even the most seasoned military experts, expected the Russian line to not only hold against the combined arms of two Hungarian Armies but to push them back. As was the case in the Battle of Kursk where the Cossack detachment of the Russian military which helped to not only shatter the artillery corp, but turn it on the Seventh Army. In the end, the Seventh Army was destroyed to allow the Tenth to escape the battle in fighting shape.
When Laszlo heard the news that the Seventh Army was destroyed and the Tenth was under-ordered to fall back to the border, he knew this was very bad. Things weren't going much better in Western Austria as the rebels had simply planted themselves in the thousands of caves in the Alpine Mountains. This, backed by the new capital of Schwaz and its silver mines meant this could continue for years, if not decades if willing.
This would not be the case with the war against Russia starting to go against them. Knowing that the Russian theater was starting to go against him, he ordered the Fifth Army in Bohemia to reinforce the Tenth Army. Many of Laszlo's military advisors advised against this but the Emperor was not going to allow Scandinavia to fall without a fight. Sadly, by the time the Fifth Army arrived, Russia was laying siege to Stockholm which was the capital of Scandinavia.
The Seventh Army was in too bad a shape to launch an assault against the multiple Russian Armies between them and Moscow. Attack was not an option on the Austro-Hungarian side unless at least two more armies joined in the war, even though the Fifth Army was arguably the best army under the Empire. With the Fifth Army and their expertise in defensive warfare thanks primarily to the experiences of Phara, the two armies stopped any Russian advance from happening.
Sadly, Stockholm would eventually fall and the demands were enforced upon the Scandinavians alongside the British claims. Finland went to Russia as a vassal with a loyal duke on the throne as the Shetlands, Iceland, Greenland and any few colonies Scandinavia had were given to the British.
Now, more than ever, was the geography of the Eastern Front apparent for the Russians as they sat on the largest plain which worked against the defenders, the Northern European Plain. The Fifth Army General, Bohumir Horacek, knew every day the Russian forces in Scandinavia would march straight to the border and see to it that Novgorod is returned to the Russian fold.
October came and luck was on Bohumir as he was able to capture a spy which was relaying information from the Tenth Army. Taking even advantage he could, the spy was violently tortured to get what information he could to turn the tide of the war. Bohumir was present when the spy just started laughing at everyone which annoyed everyone.
"You think the Russian's are your greatest threat right now, you have no idea how loyalties can shift..." The spy said with Bohumir raised an eyebrow. He took a seat in the same room as the strapped spy.
"Talk! Who or what is this traitor!?" Seconds later, Bohumir slammed the door open and ran to the nearest messenger along with grabbing a quill, ink and a piece of paper. After finishing the quickly written down message, he handed the message to the horseman and said "Do not stop for anything, I do not care if it's a damn army! Get this to Emperor Laszlo at once!"
Back on the Austrian Front, Matyas and Maria were busy, trying to find anything of value in the Palace. Many of the treasure and picture of Austrian ruler's past were either taken, destroyed and sold to whomever, probably some French collector who wanted it to be a reminder of the superiority of France. December would roll around and the Austrian Front has stalled, no one wanting to try and climb the Alpines in the winter.
News would reach the future leaders of the Empire that Russia was actually winning against the military and a "changing of the guard" has taken place in Prussia with the King allowing his son to take over. Frederick the Second. Down south in Anatolia, the Ottomans decided now was the best time to risk it all in retaking their land and attacked the Sixth Army. Despite being at war with Russia, the Sixth Army did not expect the Turks to attack and resulted in a decisive victory for the forsaken nation.
With the Sixth Army being routed, the defense of Anatolia and the Southern section of the Empire fell to the Byzantine military. Compared to what the Byzantines were like three centuries before, this was a much more even playing field for them. That being said, the Ottoman's had developed better tactics than the Byzantine military which relied on the Hungarians to supplement.
While not destroyed, the Sixth Army was the only chance the Anatolian Theater had to defeat the Ottoman forces. Ottoman Sultan, Bahri Osmanoglu, knew the Hungarian leader was deeply religious and ordered a detachment Southward to attack Jerusalem. Despite the Byzantine general begging the Sixth Army general to stay on course, he marched into the Levant with his five-thousand remaining men and saw nothing but death. All hope now fell in Byzantium...
Back in Russia, Bohumir of the Fifth Army knew the situation he faced. January came and now six Russian Armies stood before him which outnumbered him almost eight to one with more arriving by the say. After hearing that the Sixth Army was gone, Bohumir knew he had to safeguard him forces, 'less the entire war be lost. He ordered a general retreat on the entire front to the Carpathian Mountains with the Fifth Army and the Tenth Army to retreat to the Vistula River in the center Hungarian Poland.
This would not be the case for the Tenth Army as when they arrived at the river with four Russian Armies closely behind, they found a Prussian Army on the opposite side of the river... in Hungarian territory. Before the lead officer could say anything, they found quickly discovered what this army was planning. Prussia had declared war on Austria-Hungary on the biases of the Austrian Throne.
The Tenth Army was never seen again...
Laszlo was in nothing short of an outrage when he heard the Prussians not only betrayed him in his hour of need, but declared war on them when they were in a very desperate state. the death toll at least from conventual warfare was over one-hundred thousand and the only thing to show for it was the Empire being forced into a corner. The only good news is that the Byzantine Empire was able to stall out the Ottoman's.
Matyas and Maria were called by to Pest as Laszlo looked over his options. Only three armies remained that were not engaged in direct combat. The Fifth, Eighth and Ninth Armies are the last line of defense between Austria-Hungary and total destruction. The Fifth was about to engage in a defensive series of battles against now seven Russian Armies. Bohumir sent a letter to the capital, begging for reinforcements. Laszlo, overly confident in his best general, decided the best course of action was to deal with the traitor Prussians before circling around the Carpathian Mountains to handle the Russians.
At the helm of the Eighth and Ninth Armies was Laszlo himself while the two teenagers remained in the capital. It took until March for the two armies to reach the Bohemian front which Frederick himself was leading. Sadly, by the time Laszlo reached the Phara Fortress, he discovered that not only was it taken, it was completely destroyed beyond any usefulness. Still, Laszlo outnumbered the single Prussian Army by three to one.
However, as the battle started, Laszlo charged his military forward without any tactical reasoning. The Prussian's not only held their ground, but were able to sight of Laszlo himself on a hill, giving orders. Frederick signaled a pair of trumpeters which played an unfamiliar tone to the Hungarians. Suddenly, the Prussian Hussars launched from over the hills and assaulted the backs of the Hungarians with Frederick joining battle with his infantry.
Laszlo, unwilling to abandon the fight, was cut down from by the commander of the Prussian Hussars as the Eighth and Ninth Armies were routed. The route to Hungary itself was now open to the Prussians and the Fifth Army was left to defend itself against the full fury of the Russian military. A week would pass when Matyas and Maria would receive word of his father's death, courtesy of the Prussian's sent the body of their Emperor in a coffin with a letter for the heir.
The letter contained the terms of surrender by Frederick to the newly inaugurated Emperor Matyas and Empress Maria. These included, but not limited too, the control of Silesia to Prussia which included the Saxon parts of Northern Bohemia. Additional terms demanded the release of Northern Poland under Prussian administration and war reparations to cover the cost of the war. Nowhere in the terms decreed that the Hungarians give up control of Austria to Prussia...
Half the military destroyed and the population starting to grow tired of not only the war is a lost cause, coupled with the death of many husbands, brothers and sons forced to their end forced Matyas to agree to the terms. Hungary has tasted defeat for the first time in hundreds of years... and there were still two more nations to deal with.
The Ottoman-Byzantine series of battle in the South would eventually end with the Ottoman's agreeing to the Hungarian portions of Anatolia being given to the Ottoman's for peace. These terms were accepted in June much to the dismay of the high nobles who saw it was a very profitable market. This just left the Russians who were nearing a victory against the last army between Russia and total victory.
Despite being outnumbered in such a way that it could be considered a last stand, Bohumir Horacek had made it clear that if he was going to die, he was going to make the Russian's pay in blood. Sadly, on August 20th, battered, bloody, and only three-hundred soldiers remaining, Bohumir lead the charge against the Russian line with what men were left. The Battle of Przemysl would be remembered in Hungary as the greatest last stand to over happen and Bohumir Horacek considered a national hero, coupled with August 20th to be considered a national holiday as such.
With the path into Transylvania and the rest of Hungary open, the Russian swarmed over the Hungarian core and reached Pest in February. Despite having four armies in Austria, it would be too late to be able to recall them as the general in charge of the rebel forces kept all four armies from leaving the Austrian Alps.
The doors to the Imperial Palace of Pest were slammed open, The Preobrazhensky Lifeguard Regiment stormed the building, securing the building before finding the two leaders of Hungary sitting before them with Sebastian standing in front of them, sword in hand to protect the rulers. The soldiers raised their muskets at the sole defender when Maria gentle said to stand down. Minutes later, the leader of Russia itself entered the room, every soldier standing inattention of their president.
"What are your terms, President Alexei?" Matyas said as one of the soldiers acted as a translator for the two parties.
"Many things..." Alexei started, walking over to a painting of Janos Hunyadi which hung to the right of him. "The liberation of the Rus people suffering under Hungarian rule, The Russian Republic to be counted among the great powers of the world, but there is one thing that comes to mind."
Maria raised an eye as a man walked into the room in Russian theme attire was a small but noticeable smile on him. Matyas looked over at the new member in the room who handed the President a letter. Alexie nodded, opened it and read the contents to Matyas, Maria, and Sebastian.
"Hungary must return all lands which are populated once by anyone who were a part of Russia and her sister nations."
"So nearly all of what was once Lithuania." Matyas thoughts as Alexei continued with his demands.
The dismantlement of the Hungarian Military, the release of Byzantium from Hungarian control... and the removal of the Hunyadi and Hapsburg Dynasty from controlling Hungary. In place will be elections, headed by my partner here, Gieffier Rimberger."
Sebastian's eyes widened when he heard the name as he recognized the name. "You were from the rebellion for representation in Silesia..."
Gieffier looked at the guard "And I have completed the will of those who died for freedom."
Matyas rose from his seat, muskets being raised at his head as he did. Alexei ordered his men to stand down as Matyas started. "And what of us? An eye for an eye? My head for those who died in the rebellion?"
"It is an option..."
Matyas looked at Maria and Sebastian for a few seconds before turning to his guests. "You can kill me, but let her live in peace."
Alexei remained quiet as the Matyas and Gieffier glared at each other. Despite being the exact opposite of what Matyas is in the political sense, he was still a man. The President had a disdain for royalty but before he was an Emperor who was trying to save his wife from dying, something he respected.
"Enough." Gieffier calmly said, drawing a pistol from his holster and pointed it at Matyas. Sebastian took just one step and every musket pointed at him in a circle. "Your father killed everyone I loved, I will repay-"
Gieffier went quiet as Alexei grabbed the pistol out of his hands and threw it to the other end of the room. "No..." He turned and looked at the married par. "You may live on the condition that you and your descendants swear to never seek to reclaim the Hungarian Throne."
"What!" Gieffier shouted.
"All you will cause is the continuation of conflict by killing the Hungarian Royal Family. This way, the war will end and my men can return home." Alexei said, squinting his eyes. "Is that a problem...?"
Silence came from the man as Maytas swore on his family's name that they will never seek the throne and as Maria followed suit. With this, the war was officially ended and would be remembered as one of the greatest defeats in Hungarian history and the downfall of the Hungarian nation.
Matyas and Maria, with Sebastian as their sole guard, retired to Hunyadi Castle in Hunedoara to start a family under the royal name of Hunyadi-Hapsburg. Though they stayed to the agreement made by the President of Russia, the people of Austria-Hungary looked at the disinherited family in high regard. After the war, Matyas, Maria, and Alexei actually formed a good and strong relationship with one another. This went so far as to say that, when the two had a child, the trio would visit Moscow as their kid loved the architecture of Russia.
Alexei would serve as Russian President for three terms until exiting office despite many Russians wanting him to run for a fourth term. Under his rule, Russia served as the great power of East with only France before the counterweight in the world. Afterwards, Russia would march into Asia and see to its domination.
Gieffier would join Ludwig in Austria who would actually kill the Revolutionary for his extreme viewpoints on how to conquer Austria. Ludwig would win the Austria Revolution and served as the first president of a unified Austria. Frederick of Prussia and his descendants would eventually go on to seize the rest of the Germany to form the strongest nation on Earth.
Byzantium and the Ottomans would continue in their war for Anatolia with Byzantium finally winning and going on to buy the Levant off the Hungarian Republic. The Eastern Roman Empire would serve as a bridge between cultures and ideas when Italy failed to be interesting.
Hungary itself, did not fair well... After the Matyas and Maria abdicated the throne, Hungary went into full revolt after the first elections and the election was disputed by all parties. Civil war erupted in the nation which meant that several nations around Hungary used this to grow in strength.
At the end of the 18th century, the once mighty Hungarian Empire had lost all lands South of The Byzantine Empire to the former partner in union, Silesia to Prussia along with Poland, and all lands East of the Carpathian Mountains to Russia. All that was left was Hungary Proper, Bohemia and the Balkin holdings where were anything but calm...
"-and with their defeat, Russia will acquire all the lands East of the Carpathian Mountains," Gieffier said, pointing directly at the city of Pest. "Once the Hunyadi's are removed from the political landscape can we focus on other ventures, but Hungary must fall."
---------
Laszlo took too the reclamation of Austria very seriously and issued the first and fourth armies to retake the new territory but was only able to reclaim Vienna and the lowlands. The mountainous terrain along with the all too important silver mine in the West remained in control of Republican forces which made reclaiming the land difficult. By the time of the war entering year five, Matyas and Maria turned seventeen at the start of 1732.
Maria, having to accept the title of Hapsburg-Hunyadi upon her marriage with Matyas, was at least happy to return to her ravaged home in Vienna. Unlike most marriages from one monarch to another, Matyas and Maria did indeed love each other which helped in their work of royal politics. They were not able to find the corpse of Maria's father but after hearing the news from the locals, it wasn't hard to believe.
When Emperor Josef surrendered himself to the horde of Republicans, they created a mock trial whom declared him an enemy of the state and voted all but one to execute him in the name of the Republic. The method was via, according to many, the unbiased guillotine and his head on a pike to display to any royalist forces. Sebastian, acting as the protector to Maria and Matyas, feared this was the end to his lord.
Back in Pest, Laszlo's day had gone from bad to worse as word reached him that the Russian monarchy had just followed the same route as the Austrians. Unlike the Austrian Hapsburg who had Hungary to run too, The Russian Royal Family were caught and followed the same fate as Josef.
With the news reaching Laszlo, this would be the last straw for the Emperor who mobilized the entire military to crush the Austrian rebellion and ordered the second and third armies to finish the job once and for all. This left the fifth in Bohemia, sixth in Anatolia, seventh and tenth on the Russian border and the eighth and ninth located in Hungary itself in reserve. In total, over three-hundred thousand men were called upon to secure the Empire.
This... would actually go down as the worse decision made in Hungarian history...
Great Britain declared war on Scandinavia for the claim of the Shetland Islands which were quickly taken by Her Majesty's Marines. This dragged the Northern power in the making into a war they did not want but now had. Navally, the Scandinavian's were no match and were forced to stay on the continent while the British took the few colonies that were there at a leisurely pace.
This would bog down the Scandinavian's who quickly followed after with an ultimatum by the new Russian President. Relinquish the recently conquered White Sea ports to Russia and release Finland under Russian administration. Laszlo immediately responded by letting the President of Russia know that any form of aggression towards not only his ally but also Hunyadi relative would be met with them joining Scandinavia in their time of aid.
Apparently not taking the hit, Russia reclaimed war on the basis of reclaiming lost land. Like the last war, half of the Russian army march quickly into Finnish Scandinavia which only had a decently sized garrison which drowned in Russian manpower. by August of 1732, Lower Finland was under Russian control and even the Russian Black Fleet was able to sneak into the Atlantic Sea and into the Baltic Sea to ravaged the now weakened Scandinavian Fleet.
Of course, Laszlo was not one to back down from a challenge and had the Seventh and Tenth Armies make a beeline straight to Moscow to not only force the Russian's out of the war, but removed the presidency from the Orthodox nation permanently; maybe even put a Hunyadi on the throne while he was at it.
Nobody, not even the most seasoned military experts, expected the Russian line to not only hold against the combined arms of two Hungarian Armies but to push them back. As was the case in the Battle of Kursk where the Cossack detachment of the Russian military which helped to not only shatter the artillery corp, but turn it on the Seventh Army. In the end, the Seventh Army was destroyed to allow the Tenth to escape the battle in fighting shape.
When Laszlo heard the news that the Seventh Army was destroyed and the Tenth was under-ordered to fall back to the border, he knew this was very bad. Things weren't going much better in Western Austria as the rebels had simply planted themselves in the thousands of caves in the Alpine Mountains. This, backed by the new capital of Schwaz and its silver mines meant this could continue for years, if not decades if willing.
This would not be the case with the war against Russia starting to go against them. Knowing that the Russian theater was starting to go against him, he ordered the Fifth Army in Bohemia to reinforce the Tenth Army. Many of Laszlo's military advisors advised against this but the Emperor was not going to allow Scandinavia to fall without a fight. Sadly, by the time the Fifth Army arrived, Russia was laying siege to Stockholm which was the capital of Scandinavia.
The Seventh Army was in too bad a shape to launch an assault against the multiple Russian Armies between them and Moscow. Attack was not an option on the Austro-Hungarian side unless at least two more armies joined in the war, even though the Fifth Army was arguably the best army under the Empire. With the Fifth Army and their expertise in defensive warfare thanks primarily to the experiences of Phara, the two armies stopped any Russian advance from happening.
Sadly, Stockholm would eventually fall and the demands were enforced upon the Scandinavians alongside the British claims. Finland went to Russia as a vassal with a loyal duke on the throne as the Shetlands, Iceland, Greenland and any few colonies Scandinavia had were given to the British.
Now, more than ever, was the geography of the Eastern Front apparent for the Russians as they sat on the largest plain which worked against the defenders, the Northern European Plain. The Fifth Army General, Bohumir Horacek, knew every day the Russian forces in Scandinavia would march straight to the border and see to it that Novgorod is returned to the Russian fold.
October came and luck was on Bohumir as he was able to capture a spy which was relaying information from the Tenth Army. Taking even advantage he could, the spy was violently tortured to get what information he could to turn the tide of the war. Bohumir was present when the spy just started laughing at everyone which annoyed everyone.
"You think the Russian's are your greatest threat right now, you have no idea how loyalties can shift..." The spy said with Bohumir raised an eyebrow. He took a seat in the same room as the strapped spy.
"Talk! Who or what is this traitor!?" Seconds later, Bohumir slammed the door open and ran to the nearest messenger along with grabbing a quill, ink and a piece of paper. After finishing the quickly written down message, he handed the message to the horseman and said "Do not stop for anything, I do not care if it's a damn army! Get this to Emperor Laszlo at once!"
Back on the Austrian Front, Matyas and Maria were busy, trying to find anything of value in the Palace. Many of the treasure and picture of Austrian ruler's past were either taken, destroyed and sold to whomever, probably some French collector who wanted it to be a reminder of the superiority of France. December would roll around and the Austrian Front has stalled, no one wanting to try and climb the Alpines in the winter.
News would reach the future leaders of the Empire that Russia was actually winning against the military and a "changing of the guard" has taken place in Prussia with the King allowing his son to take over. Frederick the Second. Down south in Anatolia, the Ottomans decided now was the best time to risk it all in retaking their land and attacked the Sixth Army. Despite being at war with Russia, the Sixth Army did not expect the Turks to attack and resulted in a decisive victory for the forsaken nation.
With the Sixth Army being routed, the defense of Anatolia and the Southern section of the Empire fell to the Byzantine military. Compared to what the Byzantines were like three centuries before, this was a much more even playing field for them. That being said, the Ottoman's had developed better tactics than the Byzantine military which relied on the Hungarians to supplement.
While not destroyed, the Sixth Army was the only chance the Anatolian Theater had to defeat the Ottoman forces. Ottoman Sultan, Bahri Osmanoglu, knew the Hungarian leader was deeply religious and ordered a detachment Southward to attack Jerusalem. Despite the Byzantine general begging the Sixth Army general to stay on course, he marched into the Levant with his five-thousand remaining men and saw nothing but death. All hope now fell in Byzantium...
Back in Russia, Bohumir of the Fifth Army knew the situation he faced. January came and now six Russian Armies stood before him which outnumbered him almost eight to one with more arriving by the say. After hearing that the Sixth Army was gone, Bohumir knew he had to safeguard him forces, 'less the entire war be lost. He ordered a general retreat on the entire front to the Carpathian Mountains with the Fifth Army and the Tenth Army to retreat to the Vistula River in the center Hungarian Poland.
This would not be the case for the Tenth Army as when they arrived at the river with four Russian Armies closely behind, they found a Prussian Army on the opposite side of the river... in Hungarian territory. Before the lead officer could say anything, they found quickly discovered what this army was planning. Prussia had declared war on Austria-Hungary on the biases of the Austrian Throne.
The Tenth Army was never seen again...
Laszlo was in nothing short of an outrage when he heard the Prussians not only betrayed him in his hour of need, but declared war on them when they were in a very desperate state. the death toll at least from conventual warfare was over one-hundred thousand and the only thing to show for it was the Empire being forced into a corner. The only good news is that the Byzantine Empire was able to stall out the Ottoman's.
Matyas and Maria were called by to Pest as Laszlo looked over his options. Only three armies remained that were not engaged in direct combat. The Fifth, Eighth and Ninth Armies are the last line of defense between Austria-Hungary and total destruction. The Fifth was about to engage in a defensive series of battles against now seven Russian Armies. Bohumir sent a letter to the capital, begging for reinforcements. Laszlo, overly confident in his best general, decided the best course of action was to deal with the traitor Prussians before circling around the Carpathian Mountains to handle the Russians.
At the helm of the Eighth and Ninth Armies was Laszlo himself while the two teenagers remained in the capital. It took until March for the two armies to reach the Bohemian front which Frederick himself was leading. Sadly, by the time Laszlo reached the Phara Fortress, he discovered that not only was it taken, it was completely destroyed beyond any usefulness. Still, Laszlo outnumbered the single Prussian Army by three to one.
However, as the battle started, Laszlo charged his military forward without any tactical reasoning. The Prussian's not only held their ground, but were able to sight of Laszlo himself on a hill, giving orders. Frederick signaled a pair of trumpeters which played an unfamiliar tone to the Hungarians. Suddenly, the Prussian Hussars launched from over the hills and assaulted the backs of the Hungarians with Frederick joining battle with his infantry.
Laszlo, unwilling to abandon the fight, was cut down from by the commander of the Prussian Hussars as the Eighth and Ninth Armies were routed. The route to Hungary itself was now open to the Prussians and the Fifth Army was left to defend itself against the full fury of the Russian military. A week would pass when Matyas and Maria would receive word of his father's death, courtesy of the Prussian's sent the body of their Emperor in a coffin with a letter for the heir.
The letter contained the terms of surrender by Frederick to the newly inaugurated Emperor Matyas and Empress Maria. These included, but not limited too, the control of Silesia to Prussia which included the Saxon parts of Northern Bohemia. Additional terms demanded the release of Northern Poland under Prussian administration and war reparations to cover the cost of the war. Nowhere in the terms decreed that the Hungarians give up control of Austria to Prussia...
Half the military destroyed and the population starting to grow tired of not only the war is a lost cause, coupled with the death of many husbands, brothers and sons forced to their end forced Matyas to agree to the terms. Hungary has tasted defeat for the first time in hundreds of years... and there were still two more nations to deal with.
The Ottoman-Byzantine series of battle in the South would eventually end with the Ottoman's agreeing to the Hungarian portions of Anatolia being given to the Ottoman's for peace. These terms were accepted in June much to the dismay of the high nobles who saw it was a very profitable market. This just left the Russians who were nearing a victory against the last army between Russia and total victory.
Despite being outnumbered in such a way that it could be considered a last stand, Bohumir Horacek had made it clear that if he was going to die, he was going to make the Russian's pay in blood. Sadly, on August 20th, battered, bloody, and only three-hundred soldiers remaining, Bohumir lead the charge against the Russian line with what men were left. The Battle of Przemysl would be remembered in Hungary as the greatest last stand to over happen and Bohumir Horacek considered a national hero, coupled with August 20th to be considered a national holiday as such.
With the path into Transylvania and the rest of Hungary open, the Russian swarmed over the Hungarian core and reached Pest in February. Despite having four armies in Austria, it would be too late to be able to recall them as the general in charge of the rebel forces kept all four armies from leaving the Austrian Alps.
The doors to the Imperial Palace of Pest were slammed open, The Preobrazhensky Lifeguard Regiment stormed the building, securing the building before finding the two leaders of Hungary sitting before them with Sebastian standing in front of them, sword in hand to protect the rulers. The soldiers raised their muskets at the sole defender when Maria gentle said to stand down. Minutes later, the leader of Russia itself entered the room, every soldier standing inattention of their president.
"What are your terms, President Alexei?" Matyas said as one of the soldiers acted as a translator for the two parties.
"Many things..." Alexei started, walking over to a painting of Janos Hunyadi which hung to the right of him. "The liberation of the Rus people suffering under Hungarian rule, The Russian Republic to be counted among the great powers of the world, but there is one thing that comes to mind."
Maria raised an eye as a man walked into the room in Russian theme attire was a small but noticeable smile on him. Matyas looked over at the new member in the room who handed the President a letter. Alexie nodded, opened it and read the contents to Matyas, Maria, and Sebastian.
"Hungary must return all lands which are populated once by anyone who were a part of Russia and her sister nations."
"So nearly all of what was once Lithuania." Matyas thoughts as Alexei continued with his demands.
The dismantlement of the Hungarian Military, the release of Byzantium from Hungarian control... and the removal of the Hunyadi and Hapsburg Dynasty from controlling Hungary. In place will be elections, headed by my partner here, Gieffier Rimberger."
Sebastian's eyes widened when he heard the name as he recognized the name. "You were from the rebellion for representation in Silesia..."
Gieffier looked at the guard "And I have completed the will of those who died for freedom."
Matyas rose from his seat, muskets being raised at his head as he did. Alexei ordered his men to stand down as Matyas started. "And what of us? An eye for an eye? My head for those who died in the rebellion?"
"It is an option..."
Matyas looked at Maria and Sebastian for a few seconds before turning to his guests. "You can kill me, but let her live in peace."
Alexei remained quiet as the Matyas and Gieffier glared at each other. Despite being the exact opposite of what Matyas is in the political sense, he was still a man. The President had a disdain for royalty but before he was an Emperor who was trying to save his wife from dying, something he respected.
"Enough." Gieffier calmly said, drawing a pistol from his holster and pointed it at Matyas. Sebastian took just one step and every musket pointed at him in a circle. "Your father killed everyone I loved, I will repay-"
Gieffier went quiet as Alexei grabbed the pistol out of his hands and threw it to the other end of the room. "No..." He turned and looked at the married par. "You may live on the condition that you and your descendants swear to never seek to reclaim the Hungarian Throne."
"What!" Gieffier shouted.
"All you will cause is the continuation of conflict by killing the Hungarian Royal Family. This way, the war will end and my men can return home." Alexei said, squinting his eyes. "Is that a problem...?"
Silence came from the man as Maytas swore on his family's name that they will never seek the throne and as Maria followed suit. With this, the war was officially ended and would be remembered as one of the greatest defeats in Hungarian history and the downfall of the Hungarian nation.
Matyas and Maria, with Sebastian as their sole guard, retired to Hunyadi Castle in Hunedoara to start a family under the royal name of Hunyadi-Hapsburg. Though they stayed to the agreement made by the President of Russia, the people of Austria-Hungary looked at the disinherited family in high regard. After the war, Matyas, Maria, and Alexei actually formed a good and strong relationship with one another. This went so far as to say that, when the two had a child, the trio would visit Moscow as their kid loved the architecture of Russia.
Alexei would serve as Russian President for three terms until exiting office despite many Russians wanting him to run for a fourth term. Under his rule, Russia served as the great power of East with only France before the counterweight in the world. Afterwards, Russia would march into Asia and see to its domination.
Gieffier would join Ludwig in Austria who would actually kill the Revolutionary for his extreme viewpoints on how to conquer Austria. Ludwig would win the Austria Revolution and served as the first president of a unified Austria. Frederick of Prussia and his descendants would eventually go on to seize the rest of the Germany to form the strongest nation on Earth.
Byzantium and the Ottomans would continue in their war for Anatolia with Byzantium finally winning and going on to buy the Levant off the Hungarian Republic. The Eastern Roman Empire would serve as a bridge between cultures and ideas when Italy failed to be interesting.
Hungary itself, did not fair well... After the Matyas and Maria abdicated the throne, Hungary went into full revolt after the first elections and the election was disputed by all parties. Civil war erupted in the nation which meant that several nations around Hungary used this to grow in strength.
At the end of the 18th century, the once mighty Hungarian Empire had lost all lands South of The Byzantine Empire to the former partner in union, Silesia to Prussia along with Poland, and all lands East of the Carpathian Mountains to Russia. All that was left was Hungary Proper, Bohemia and the Balkin holdings where were anything but calm...
Indeed. Everything IS on fire! A sad ending for Hungary but the Prussia peace treaty makes them seem strangely historical.