welcome to my third(first at EU3) AAR, where ill be playing as holland and later hopefully the netherlands. im quite(got the game for the 500k celebration and had been reading some AAR's and wathcing lets plays for a few months) new to EU3, and its actually the first time ill be playing on normal difficulty(so no free inflation reduction and all). that means this AAR wont be a cakewalk.
why ANOTHER AAR as the netherlands(why not choose something original? like gelre? or denmark?)? because the netherlands start with great sliders for a free state, are rich and have capabilities to become a tech and trade powerhouse and do well in colonisation. on the other hand, burgundy is a major threath, and later france as well. keeping your homelands never gets dull.
my aims in this AAR are:
0. survive the inevtable burgundian onslaught
1. form the netherlands.
2. unite the region the netherlands, or at the very least the flemish-dutch culture part of it.
3. establish a small colonial empire, my main aims being the strategic islands(cape verde, st helena, bermuda ect.), the carribean and the spice isles
4. become THE naval and trading realm in the world
5. become a huge tech powerhouse
my settings will be all on normal, with no lucky nations. i wont be reloading or using the console, exept to fix a utter ridiculous AI or event and the like, and maybe slight ly for RP purposes.
this AAR will be a history book-ish AAR, but dont bash me for doing it poorly and get other writing mixed up in it.
chapters:
chapter one: the establishment of holland as an independent nation 1399-1405
chapter two: the expansion of holland 1405-1410
chapter three: a time of plenty 1410-1425
interlude - the current state of the realm and strategy for the next few decades
chapter 4: exploiting a oppurtunity 1425-1433
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chapter one: The establishment of holland as a independent nation
the situation of holland on 14 october 1399 was mixed. while for that epriod centralised, innovative and free, favoring free trade, owning some of the richest provinces in europe, it was also in a personal union under hainut, lacked the millitary capabilities to defend against the growing power of burgundy and other major european factions.
the 14th of october 1399 was a very special day for the history fo holland, and shall be the start of our story. the dutch cities, called together to pay taxes to king albert and sick of his taxes to defend against burgundy decided that when time came, they would refuse to aid hainut, refuse their dyansty as their king and institute a new sort of kingdom of freedom for its subjects and free trade of high priority. in all but name, the cities ruled holland and prepared for a chance to kick hainut out of holland.
focus of holland itself lay on trade. while fairly rich, trade was where the large money lay. the cities focussed more on free trade, and focussed mostly on lubeck where holland got their grain to feed its cities.
the seventeenth of october, burgundy made its move against hainut. while aid was requested by hainut, holland refused to give it.
the new king and raad van state
soon, a large army was besieging hainut, and now the cities made their move. they imprisoned and murdered figures of power from hainut and replaced them by people under control of the city. after over a year of siege, hainut surrendered. now, holland openly refused to acknowledge the kings of hainut and elected Lodewijk I van Wassenberg as their king. they also intituted the so called "Raad van State" appointed by the cities, who would aid the king in ruling holland. these would serve for live, exept for crisis situations and ill-managment.
as the years progressed, traders from holland spread out over europe to antwerpen, novogrod and other important centers of trade. in the south, burgundy attacked brabant. brabant brought in almost all of scandinavia, resulting in a long war on the seas and burgundy's homeland while burgundy besieged brabant. after some long years of sieging brabant surrenders and is annexed, but the war with denmark and its allies rages on.
in november 1402 holland's raad van state started to pay off: moderate amount of gold were minted due to carefull management, which was then used to fund trading activities all over europe. durch traders dominated markets ranging from castille to novogrod, and as a result became much better in trading and shipbuilding. combined with the capable naval reformer and treasurer holland was far ahead in naval and trade compared to other nations. few years after this, all european markets in the baltic and atlantic had a strong dutch presence.
early 1405 saw the birth of a heir to king lodewijk, also called lodewijk. technological advancement was growing on all fronts, and burgundy was in a cold war with denmark, neither of the sides willing to make a move but both unable to dedicate themselves to another war. the cities enriched themselves and economy was booming. now, holland was ready to expand. and so they did, by claiming the throne of friesland whom they had a royal marriage with. holland prepared for war to enforce this claim.
why ANOTHER AAR as the netherlands(why not choose something original? like gelre? or denmark?)? because the netherlands start with great sliders for a free state, are rich and have capabilities to become a tech and trade powerhouse and do well in colonisation. on the other hand, burgundy is a major threath, and later france as well. keeping your homelands never gets dull.
my aims in this AAR are:
0. survive the inevtable burgundian onslaught
1. form the netherlands.
2. unite the region the netherlands, or at the very least the flemish-dutch culture part of it.
3. establish a small colonial empire, my main aims being the strategic islands(cape verde, st helena, bermuda ect.), the carribean and the spice isles
4. become THE naval and trading realm in the world
5. become a huge tech powerhouse
my settings will be all on normal, with no lucky nations. i wont be reloading or using the console, exept to fix a utter ridiculous AI or event and the like, and maybe slight ly for RP purposes.
this AAR will be a history book-ish AAR, but dont bash me for doing it poorly and get other writing mixed up in it.
chapters:
chapter one: the establishment of holland as an independent nation 1399-1405
chapter two: the expansion of holland 1405-1410
chapter three: a time of plenty 1410-1425
interlude - the current state of the realm and strategy for the next few decades
chapter 4: exploiting a oppurtunity 1425-1433
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
chapter one: The establishment of holland as a independent nation
the situation of holland on 14 october 1399 was mixed. while for that epriod centralised, innovative and free, favoring free trade, owning some of the richest provinces in europe, it was also in a personal union under hainut, lacked the millitary capabilities to defend against the growing power of burgundy and other major european factions.
the 14th of october 1399 was a very special day for the history fo holland, and shall be the start of our story. the dutch cities, called together to pay taxes to king albert and sick of his taxes to defend against burgundy decided that when time came, they would refuse to aid hainut, refuse their dyansty as their king and institute a new sort of kingdom of freedom for its subjects and free trade of high priority. in all but name, the cities ruled holland and prepared for a chance to kick hainut out of holland.
focus of holland itself lay on trade. while fairly rich, trade was where the large money lay. the cities focussed more on free trade, and focussed mostly on lubeck where holland got their grain to feed its cities.
the seventeenth of october, burgundy made its move against hainut. while aid was requested by hainut, holland refused to give it.
the new king and raad van state
soon, a large army was besieging hainut, and now the cities made their move. they imprisoned and murdered figures of power from hainut and replaced them by people under control of the city. after over a year of siege, hainut surrendered. now, holland openly refused to acknowledge the kings of hainut and elected Lodewijk I van Wassenberg as their king. they also intituted the so called "Raad van State" appointed by the cities, who would aid the king in ruling holland. these would serve for live, exept for crisis situations and ill-managment.
as the years progressed, traders from holland spread out over europe to antwerpen, novogrod and other important centers of trade. in the south, burgundy attacked brabant. brabant brought in almost all of scandinavia, resulting in a long war on the seas and burgundy's homeland while burgundy besieged brabant. after some long years of sieging brabant surrenders and is annexed, but the war with denmark and its allies rages on.
in november 1402 holland's raad van state started to pay off: moderate amount of gold were minted due to carefull management, which was then used to fund trading activities all over europe. durch traders dominated markets ranging from castille to novogrod, and as a result became much better in trading and shipbuilding. combined with the capable naval reformer and treasurer holland was far ahead in naval and trade compared to other nations. few years after this, all european markets in the baltic and atlantic had a strong dutch presence.
early 1405 saw the birth of a heir to king lodewijk, also called lodewijk. technological advancement was growing on all fronts, and burgundy was in a cold war with denmark, neither of the sides willing to make a move but both unable to dedicate themselves to another war. the cities enriched themselves and economy was booming. now, holland was ready to expand. and so they did, by claiming the throne of friesland whom they had a royal marriage with. holland prepared for war to enforce this claim.
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