From Gelre to the Netherlands and Beyond

[Nitrousoxide]

It was my intention to start a Gelre, form the Netherlands, and continue on to create a major European power. My first goal after achieving this was to become Holy Roman Emperor.

As things turned out, all did not go according to plan. But that story is for later.
I am using MM Gold as well as the ToT map.


Let us begin in 1453.

Please forgive me, I originally didn’t plan on making an AAR of this, but found the events to be of sufficient interest to me to warrant it later on. As such, the first few posts will be of a more sketchy nature as I don’t have as many screenshots or notes as I would have knowing that I will be writing about it.

I began with a few first steps. I directed all taxes to go toward government in hopes of obtaining my fourth idea quickly. I also sacked all of my advisors. There were no ones available for hire, and the ones that were currently in my employ would only help me convert heathens. This would be of little use in Catholic Europe. I thus found myself in a far better fiscal state. I also focused on trading. Being as small as I was, hoping to compete on taxes or production would be folly, and so I setup the most prosperous centers of trade as my aims.

The first objective was to obtain an alliance with Munster, so that I may use their power to assist me in gaining vassals among the HRE electors.

I succeeded in this, and knowing that it was but a matter of time before Munster would declare war on their southern neighbor Cologne since they had a core there. I was not disappointed, and they soon declared war. Munster took it upon themselves to go after the eastern province of Lippe, and I took Koln.

Fortunately, I managed to take the province before Munster was able to take theirs and I declared a separate peace gaining Cologne as my vassal.

Alas, they were also at war with Burgandy and soon thereafter Burgandy launched an attack upon Koln. Somehow they managed to pull them away as my vassal, how exactly, I’m not sure as I thought one was unable to sign any peace treaty with a vassal. I could see already that Burgandy would pose some real issues in the time to come.

I put this setback aside for the time being, as I had already begun a war with another elector Trier. This was a quick battle, and I simply turned the speed up to maximum in hopes of hurrying things along.

Thanks to my very small size, I was suffering no real lasting penalties for declaring war without a casus belli as my ruler, without any additional funding, was keeping me at +3 stability. I thus found myself in a position of gaining yet another elector as my vassal.

The Palatinate looked to be my best option, but it was already under the protection of the Holy Roman Emperor in Austria. Luckily, The Palatinate was in possession of an alliance with another small German state which was not under Austrian protection. I declared war on this small state in hopes of dragging the elector in of its own accord, bypassing the protection offered by Austria.

I succeeded and thus was at war with both The Palatinate and Baden. I took the western province of The Palatinate first but found myself unable to procure a peace which was pleasing to me, and so I took the fight to their ally, storming the city and gaining them as a vassal. Still, that stubborn elector would not agree to become my vassal. I obtained some permissions to move my troops about the neighboring countries and began sieging their eastern province. Thankfully, they acquiesced to my demands halfway through the siege, and I was able to cut the war short.

With all my troops down south, I found myself right next to another juicy target, Mainz.

They were likewise protected by Austria, but they also had an alliance which did not share the Emperor’s protection. I followed the same strategy to get them into a conflict which that great power could not intervene. Something of some interest happened this time, Friesland, my ally up to this point was in a major conflict with Denmark and its partner in Crime, Norway. As such, they didn’t think it a terribly fantastic idea to join me in my crusade to get as many electors under my umbrella as possible, and so dishonored our alliance. This presented me with a fantastic opportunity to add their territory to my own. I paid for a few mercenary legions in my home town, declared war, and made quick work of their defenses. Soon, they were added to my territory.

I now had quite the set of vassals for such a short time, especially in MM gold.

But this is just the beginning, there are far more interesting bits to come.

 

[unmerged(61891)]

If you did that all in less than a decade, I'd not be surprised if you carved up the West Frankish Kingdom for your very own in a century.

 

[unmerged(47582)]

Keep it up, nice start.

 

[Woody Man]

Nice job! I had a go with Gelre a few days ago, but then I got my arse handed to me by Burgundy

 

[coz1]

Interesting. Nice expansion so far and vassals are the way to go in MM. Welcome and good luck.

 

[Nitrousoxide]

I noticed in the early months of 1463 that Burgundy was having some insurrection issues. They were also at war with England.

This looked to be a perfect time to weaken my opponent. I didn’t really have any hope of actually grabbing territory, but I could hope that by helping the rebels, a new state or two could form and weaken the area.

As things turned out, I was far more successful than I could have possibly hoped. I kept up the pressure on my red neighbor, clearing them out when they were sieging rebel controlled provinces, and generally helping the advance of the freedom fighters. Eventually, all but 3 provinces in were controlled by the rebels and something fantastic happened.

The Netherlands formed, just 13 years after I’d started the game. This leaves me in a bit of a bind, as one of my primary goals was to form the Netherlands. I leave it up to the forum here to decide what path I take. I’ve already played a bit as the Netherlands, and have managed to secure the freedom of another 3 provinces from Burgundy. However, they still can’t compete with Gelre in the military department, nor do they have the extensive vassal system. On the other hand, Gelre is largely stuck where it is. Almost all of Germany is under the protection of Austria, making any further gains there all but impossible.

 

[unmerged(61891)]

I say play as the Netherlands and diploannex Gelre.

And then diploannex Burgundy.

 

[Eber]

Well being the role-player I am, I would continue to play as Gelre and just say that the ones who formed the Netherlands are insurrectionist and have no right or claim to rule the lands. So go on a "crusade" to liberate the lands of these rebel leaders and finally once you crush them...become Netherlands yourself.

It's the harder route but also the most interesting.

 

[Nitrousoxide]

Well being the role-player I am, I would continue to play as Gelre and just say that the ones who formed the Netherlands are insurrectionist and have no right or claim to rule the lands. So go on a "crusade" to liberate the lands of these rebel leaders and finally once you crush them...become Netherlands yourself.

It's the harder route but also the most interesting.

Keeping it in the vain of the role-playing... I could play as the very greatful Netherlands, who have a strong bond a friendship with Gelre in helping them obtain their independence from Burgundy.

 

[comagoosie]

Very good, though a bit sad that netherlands was formed not by you. my vote goes for you annexing netherlands so you may become netherlands (is that possible, never had that scenario)

btw, how did you get so much money in the beginning?

 

[Nitrousoxide]

btw, how did you get so much money in the beginning?

Asking for as much money as I could when I was vassalizing the German states.

 

[unmerged(47582)]

Play as the netherlands. The Title of your AAR is From Gelre to th eNetherlands and Beyonds so that means if the Nethererlands is formed you should play with them...

 

[coz1]

Well being the role-player I am, I would continue to play as Gelre and just say that the ones who formed the Netherlands are insurrectionist and have no right or claim to rule the lands. So go on a "crusade" to liberate the lands of these rebel leaders and finally once you crush them...become Netherlands yourself.

It's the harder route but also the most interesting.

I second this advice. Seems the most realistic to me.

 

[nalivayko]

Nah, don't let'em pressure you into something you don't wish to do. Netherlands would have never formed if not for you, re-start the game as them, but do continue to be eternally grateful to Gelre... that is, until you diploannex them later. Sounds more fun and historically plausible to me, especially if you like this way better.

 

[Nitrousoxide]

Well, I took the community's advice and continued to play as Gelre. Things are turning out much better than if I switched over to the Netherlands. All I need to do is writeup the next batch.

I could change my style and go from a more concise gameplay AAR to including a story as I now have a decent number of notes and was more prodigious in my screenshot taking. I'm not terribly confident in my fiction writing ability though.

What about it? Everyone happy with the way it's going or do you want me to mix it up?

 

[Eber]

You should do what is most comfortable with you. I personally love narrative because it adds flavor to an AAR. But if you look around, some of the most popular AARs are purely gameplay AARs. So it is up to you. If you like to write some fictional accounts based on your gameplay, go right ahead. Don't be intimidated or feel as though your writing is sub-par. This is a community of writers (in one aspect or another) and we all appreciate many different styles of writing.

 

[unmerged(61891)]

Depends on my mood, but above all what I like in an AAR is that the author enjoys it. If writing a certain style just isn't your thing, it will reflect in the quality of the AAR if you attempt to force the issue. Hell, you can take a leaf from some of the great AAR-writers and have multiple styles.

Fire Warms the Northern Lands, over in the Vicky section, mixes about equal parts narrative, story, gameplay and history-book styles. It's over 160 pages long (on my browser, at least), but it's worth a quick scan to see how a mixed-style AAR can flow well.

 

[Nitrousoxide]

I decided it's better to write a decent gameplay AAR rather than go with a crappy fictional one.

I declared war with Brabant, the newly formed country from the lands of Burgundy.

It was only one year later that they agreed to become my vassal.

The very day that war ended, I declared war on the Netherlands who were foolishly claiming to be rightful owners of all Dutch land. This war was not as easy as the Brabant one was since Utrecht bowed out early leaving me to recapture Holland and eventually take Vlaanderen myself.

Finally, with all three under my control and their armies decimated, they agreed to become my vassal.

I noticed then that Austria was at war with the Turks. This was as good a chance as any to take that last territory needed to be able to truly claim the Dutch lands in the name of the Netherlands.

It was a quick war, but Gelre was not looked upon well by the world, so I had to settle for vassal status rather than outright annexation. Utrecht’s allies also fought on after they were gone, but they made no progress whatsoever in my lands, while I took one of their territories.

Eventually, Austria, the leader of the war against me sought a white peace. My vassals down south were getting in the way of their armies reaching me, and they had their hands busy with the Turks. Needless to say, I accepted.

Then, in 1474, a mere 20 years after I took up the reigns of Gelre, our great leader became the Holy Roman Emperor.

We also gained major power status.

Alas, in 1475 our previous leader died and this fool took over. It seems like we may need to wait a while to diploannex our Dutch vassals.

There was good news to be had too though. In 1478 Britain asked us for an alliance. That was an offer I simply could not refuse.

 

[comagoosie]

Nicely done, your a warmonger and a trader!

 

[Capibara]

Always nice to see Netherlands AARs, you're doing great, I'll be following