Here is my first AAR, start of a GC played as Austria on Normal/Normal. Tell me if you want to hear the rest.
History of the Austrian Empire
THE REIGN OF MAXIMILIAN I (1492-1518)
Austria starts in a very interesting position in the middle of Eastern Central Europe. The most obvious threats are the Ottoman Empire (with which Austria shares a land border) and Poland (which is not far away), in addition to our sworn enemies, the insidious Bohemians, against whom we have a permanent casus belli. France is always dangerous, since a westward expansion by the rich and powerful French would soon bring them to our borders. Our beloved emperor Maximilian I, a capable diplomat, sees this and as his first action, he arranges a royal marriage with Spain, the arch-enemy of France.
None of the Austrian provinces are very populous, and many of them aren't exactly rich either. Fortunately, we have one gold-producing province (Styria), which makes up for that to some degree. Austria is also completely land-locked, with no coastal provinces whatsoever. However, the only thing between Austria and the Mediterranean is Venice – a fact which may, in the not-so-distant future, spell trouble for the Venetians.
After improving our relations with Spain, my first priority is to secure the richest province in the empire, Styria. Styrian fortifications are upgraded, and an additional army of 10 000 men is raised but at the same time, the military maintenance budget is cut by 25% to keep upkeep costs in control.
In late 1492 and 1493, three noteworthy things happen. First, Saxony, the Northwestern neighbor of Bohemia proposes a royal marriage and Austria accepts; Bohemia seems to have an army that is not much weaker than ours (in terms of numbers, at least), and if they start trouble before we're prepared, a friend might be welcome. Second, we gain another close friend by initiating a military alliance with Hungary. Lastly, we get a royal mission from the emperor – we have to keep Tyrol for 5 years, which should be a piece of cake.
Outside our borders, we see no unexpected events or big surprises (if you don't count the fact that Austrian merchants sent to Venice actually bring home some income this early). In fact, the only real event is the forcible annexation of Granada by Spain, which most definitely is not a surprise.
Austrian military leaders figure out how to use artillery in 1494, and to put that knowledge into practical use, we start covert preparations for war. The prosperous provinces governed by the Bohemian scum will be our first target. Amidst the military build-up, we seek new friends from close and afar, arranging a royal marriage with Bavaria to diminish the risk of a stab-in-the-back attack if and when we take on the Bohemians. We also try to arrange one with Russia, whom we feel may be a worthwhile ally in the future if the Poles start flexing their muscles, but the Russians decline.
The Bohemian War (1498-1499)
Winter of 1498 is a cold one, and I intend to make the spring and summer every bit as miserable for the Bohemians. War is declared on Feb. 17, and the Austrian Imperial Guard of 24000 men supported by cavalry and artillery march to Sudeten, trounce the Bohemian troops stationed there and start a siege. Bohemians spot the border province of Presburg as our weak spot, but their repeated attacks are beaten back by K.u.K Armee, a small but efficient force whose two main weapons are infantry, cavalry and a really weird name.
In September 1498, Sudeten finally falls to Austrian troops, who have suffered an alarmingly high rate of attrition. However, a victory is a victory, and Vienna celebrates, even though our diplomats bring in some really strange news from the Holy Father: he's signed something called the Treaty of Tordesillas, an outrageous document giving essentially everything outside of Europe to Spain and Portugal. What the hell was he thinking? Why, if we weren't such good catholics, we'd have a few theses we'd like to nail to church doors around here.
After the fall of Sudeten and the inability of Bohemian troops to defeat our border guards in Presburg, Bohemia sends a peace offer. However, it is clearly a joke – we control Sudeten, but they want a status quo peace. That will not do; at the very least, we want to annex Sudeten (is this an Austrian fetish or something?). Bohemians refuse, so we send the Imperial guard to their capital province. If speaking softly does not bring them to their senses, maybe the big stick will.
The siege in Bohemia lasts for four months, and again the Imperial Guard suffers from an alarming attrition rate. Our military commanders (default 0/2/2) are fairly good at directing cavalry and artillery, but clearly their ability in keeping infantrymen alive leaves a lot to be desired. Be that as it may, on June 6, 1499 Bohemia falls into our hands, but at the same time the Bohemian main army of some 20000+ men is set on liberating Sudeten. The Imperial Guard is battle-weakened, so the Kuk-Armeen is sent to battle, but I am worried – their victory is by no means certain. Therefore, we accept a Bohemian peace offer giving us Sudeten in June 12th. Our accounts with them are not settled yet, but we did achieve our minimum goal.
Now, a period of peace arrives, and it is spent upgrading provincial infrastructure and slowly raising an army to replace the men lost against the Bohemians. Austrian military staff examines the mistakes made in the battlefield, and apparently something is learned, as Field Marshall Ferdinand (3/2/2) takes the lead in the Imperial Guard.
Everything proceeds along slowly as expected, until a bomb drops on April 1st, 1502. The King of Hungary had died without a lawful heir, and the throne of Hungary is offered to Maximilian I, who gladly accepts. (If that had turned out to be April Fool, would it have counted as casus belli?) The number of provinces in the Empire has suddenly doubled, and upon closer inspection, almost every one of those provinces is well fortified by the day's standards. Most even have a tax collector. In addition to this, Austria gains three army groups, two small ones of mostly infantry, and a very useful-looking one with 6000 infantry and 20000 cavalry.
Since our former ally, Hungary, is now annexed, we look elsewhere for military support. Russia does not warm to our advances, so we settle with a temporary alliance with Saxony and Thuringia. We will need the Russians in the future to keep Poland in check, but for now, Saxony and Thuringia should provide us with additional support should Bohemia start making threatening noises.
Now that we have a peace treaty with Bohemia, we have to leave them alone for a while just to keep up appearances in the international community. While upgrading the infrastructure around the Empire, we start looking greedily at Venice and their coastal provinces. Istria, Illyria and Ragusa are located on the Eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea, and all have harbors – Ragusa even has a warship wharf. Sooner or later the Empire will need access to sea, and since the Baltic and Atlantic Seas are a world away, Venice looks like a very logical target.
However, there are problems associated with Venice. They don't look very strong, but they're good catholics just like us, and furthermore, we lack a casus belli, so Austrian nobility might not take kindly to a declaration of war. The Austrian diplomatic services come up with a surprising fact which might help us here: Venice is allied with the Mamelukes, Persia, and Irak – all muslim infidels, and what's more, muslim infidels that aren't even close to sharing a border with Austria! That is not something they picked up at Sunday school.
Having unbelievers as allies unfortunately does not count as casus belli, but it could be something we could use to tarnish their international reputation and perhaps provoke them into declaring a war against us. We start in 1503 with a letter of warning – 'The most Christian Emperor of Austria does not look kindly to a neighbor fraternizing with enemies of the Church' – which has absolutely no effect.
Time for more drastic actions, says Emperor Maximilian, and starts a steady stream of defamatory letters directed at Venice. These include lengthy treatises on subjects like 'The Merchant of Venice is a Pimp' and 'Why Venice Sucks Ass', followed by a barely legible drunken outburst calling King Leonardo Loredano a cross-eyed maggot who most probably is a product of an unnatural union between his ugly mother and an Illyrian donkey. The result is that Venice now hates us, and we just sit back and wait, but nothing happens. In fact, Austria, and Europe in general, has an unusually peaceful and quiet 6 years. In 1509, that changes.
The 2nd Bohemian War (1509- 1510)
Austria is ready for war in late 1508, but just for the sake of tradition, we wait until the 11th anniversary of the 1st Bohemian War and do not declare war on Bohemia until February 17, 1509. Then, Field Marshall Ferdinand takes his troops and marches from Sudeten to Erz – and right back to Sudeten again, as a small force of Bohemian defenders defeats his numerically superior troops. I hastily gather more troops for Ferdinand. Bohemian defenders stay put and do not wander into Austrian territory, but I see them trying to raise a bigger army as well. I order the K.u.K Armee (still can't figure out the name) to Moravia, and their long siege finally pays off in February of 1510, just after Ferdinand takes a second shot at Erz, this time defeating the defenders. Attempts to liberate Moravia from Austrian control are beaten back, and when Erz falls in December, Bohemia offers us both Erz and Moravia in a peace proposal, which we accept. They still have their two richest provinces left, but the country is now cut into two, with the capital district completely surrounded by Austrian territory.
At some point without us noticing, Sweden has gone into war with Denmark and their allies, Russia and Pskov. In the summer of 1512, they make a separate peace with Pskov, with Pskov gaining Lapland (huh?). Venice, which in their alliance has been drawn into war with the Ottoman empire, pays the latter to end the war. This would be a good time for a surprise attack, but our troops are weary from the battles in Erz and Moravia, so we decide to postpone the war. That turns out to be a good idea, since soon the lack of attention to domestic policy brings our stability down and causes our researchers to panic and misplace their notes.
As we are trying to raise army for a war against Venice (whom we continue to bomb with hostile letters, to no effect) and raise internal stability, Sweden ends their wars with both Russia and Denmark, but in separate treaties. Russia gains Västergötland and Savolaks, while Denmark gets some ducats. We pay no attention, as Venice is about to learn what the undersides of Austrian military boots look like.
The Venetian War (1515-1518)
Austria declares war on Venice on March 10th, 1515 to gain access to the Mediterranean, but without a diplomatically acceptable casus belli. Internal stability drops, and Venice's allies Persia and Mamelukes intervene, but the Mamelukes accept our immediate offer for a status quo peace. We don't even know what or where the Persians are, so we pay them no mind. Venice immediately attacks the Transylvanian Army stationed in Tyrol (and loses the battle), while Austrian troops siege both Istria and Illyria. Istria falls surprisingly quickly under the heavy artillery barrage of Field Marshall Ferdinand's troops. Illyria, however makes a stand, even though it is fairly obvious that they too are fighting a losing battle.
After the fall of Istria, Venice sends a status quo peace offer, which we take as an insult. Therefore, Field Marshall Ferdinand is ordered to decimate the last remains of the Venetian army in Venice, and conquer the capital. Soon, Venice has no army, and on December 22nd, 1516, they have no capital, either.
Our initial goal in the war was to gain Istria and maybe Illyria, but since things seem to be going our way, we decide to go for a jackpot. That's *a* jackpot, not *the* jackpot: Venice has several island provinces in the Mediterranean which we cannot get to, so annexing the entire country is out of the question (besides, we really do not want to anger other Catholic nations any more than we have to). Instead, we turn our attention to Ragusa, a small province just North of Albania, which would be totally uninteresting if it did not have a warship wharf. After recovering from the drain caused by the two successful sieges, Field Marshall Ferdinand is on the move again in the summer of 1517. Venetian peace offers, which are just barely disguises begs for mercy, are met with dismissive sneers.
During that summer, we have our first taste of internal strife. The Orthodox province of Serbia rebels, and the rebels immediately seize the fortifications in the provincial capital. While the rebel forces are quickly disposed of, it takes until the fall of the following year until Serbia is under control again. Somewhere along the way we also hear strange tales of a German monk called Luther, openly opposing the Only True Church, but we are far too busy with internal and external conflicts to pay that any attention.
Ragusa puts up some resistance, but it finally falls in early June in 1518. Venice immediately sends a peace proposal in which they would give us Istria and Illyria – they apparently still have faith in our generosity after losing control of four of their provinces, including the capital. Instead of generosity, Emperor Maximilian reveals his intentions by proclaiming 'When Austria serves shit, Venice eats shit', and on June 2nd, 1518, a different peace treaty is signed. From that day on, Austria controls Istria, Illyria, and Ragusa – in other words, most of the Eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea. Venetian diplomats do not have to go home empty-handed, however – they get a permanent casus belli against Austria.
After fulfilling his ambitions with regards to the coastal provinces, Emperor Maximilian I suddenly starts to show the effects of old age. The decline is unexpectedly rapid, and the Christmas celebrations in the nation are shadowed with the sad news of his death. The great Emperor who more than doubled Austrian territory is followed to the throne by his son, Karl V, whose coronation is on New Year's Day, 1519.
History of the Austrian Empire
THE REIGN OF MAXIMILIAN I (1492-1518)
Austria starts in a very interesting position in the middle of Eastern Central Europe. The most obvious threats are the Ottoman Empire (with which Austria shares a land border) and Poland (which is not far away), in addition to our sworn enemies, the insidious Bohemians, against whom we have a permanent casus belli. France is always dangerous, since a westward expansion by the rich and powerful French would soon bring them to our borders. Our beloved emperor Maximilian I, a capable diplomat, sees this and as his first action, he arranges a royal marriage with Spain, the arch-enemy of France.
None of the Austrian provinces are very populous, and many of them aren't exactly rich either. Fortunately, we have one gold-producing province (Styria), which makes up for that to some degree. Austria is also completely land-locked, with no coastal provinces whatsoever. However, the only thing between Austria and the Mediterranean is Venice – a fact which may, in the not-so-distant future, spell trouble for the Venetians.
After improving our relations with Spain, my first priority is to secure the richest province in the empire, Styria. Styrian fortifications are upgraded, and an additional army of 10 000 men is raised but at the same time, the military maintenance budget is cut by 25% to keep upkeep costs in control.
In late 1492 and 1493, three noteworthy things happen. First, Saxony, the Northwestern neighbor of Bohemia proposes a royal marriage and Austria accepts; Bohemia seems to have an army that is not much weaker than ours (in terms of numbers, at least), and if they start trouble before we're prepared, a friend might be welcome. Second, we gain another close friend by initiating a military alliance with Hungary. Lastly, we get a royal mission from the emperor – we have to keep Tyrol for 5 years, which should be a piece of cake.
Outside our borders, we see no unexpected events or big surprises (if you don't count the fact that Austrian merchants sent to Venice actually bring home some income this early). In fact, the only real event is the forcible annexation of Granada by Spain, which most definitely is not a surprise.
Austrian military leaders figure out how to use artillery in 1494, and to put that knowledge into practical use, we start covert preparations for war. The prosperous provinces governed by the Bohemian scum will be our first target. Amidst the military build-up, we seek new friends from close and afar, arranging a royal marriage with Bavaria to diminish the risk of a stab-in-the-back attack if and when we take on the Bohemians. We also try to arrange one with Russia, whom we feel may be a worthwhile ally in the future if the Poles start flexing their muscles, but the Russians decline.
The Bohemian War (1498-1499)
Winter of 1498 is a cold one, and I intend to make the spring and summer every bit as miserable for the Bohemians. War is declared on Feb. 17, and the Austrian Imperial Guard of 24000 men supported by cavalry and artillery march to Sudeten, trounce the Bohemian troops stationed there and start a siege. Bohemians spot the border province of Presburg as our weak spot, but their repeated attacks are beaten back by K.u.K Armee, a small but efficient force whose two main weapons are infantry, cavalry and a really weird name.
In September 1498, Sudeten finally falls to Austrian troops, who have suffered an alarmingly high rate of attrition. However, a victory is a victory, and Vienna celebrates, even though our diplomats bring in some really strange news from the Holy Father: he's signed something called the Treaty of Tordesillas, an outrageous document giving essentially everything outside of Europe to Spain and Portugal. What the hell was he thinking? Why, if we weren't such good catholics, we'd have a few theses we'd like to nail to church doors around here.
After the fall of Sudeten and the inability of Bohemian troops to defeat our border guards in Presburg, Bohemia sends a peace offer. However, it is clearly a joke – we control Sudeten, but they want a status quo peace. That will not do; at the very least, we want to annex Sudeten (is this an Austrian fetish or something?). Bohemians refuse, so we send the Imperial guard to their capital province. If speaking softly does not bring them to their senses, maybe the big stick will.
The siege in Bohemia lasts for four months, and again the Imperial Guard suffers from an alarming attrition rate. Our military commanders (default 0/2/2) are fairly good at directing cavalry and artillery, but clearly their ability in keeping infantrymen alive leaves a lot to be desired. Be that as it may, on June 6, 1499 Bohemia falls into our hands, but at the same time the Bohemian main army of some 20000+ men is set on liberating Sudeten. The Imperial Guard is battle-weakened, so the Kuk-Armeen is sent to battle, but I am worried – their victory is by no means certain. Therefore, we accept a Bohemian peace offer giving us Sudeten in June 12th. Our accounts with them are not settled yet, but we did achieve our minimum goal.
Now, a period of peace arrives, and it is spent upgrading provincial infrastructure and slowly raising an army to replace the men lost against the Bohemians. Austrian military staff examines the mistakes made in the battlefield, and apparently something is learned, as Field Marshall Ferdinand (3/2/2) takes the lead in the Imperial Guard.
Everything proceeds along slowly as expected, until a bomb drops on April 1st, 1502. The King of Hungary had died without a lawful heir, and the throne of Hungary is offered to Maximilian I, who gladly accepts. (If that had turned out to be April Fool, would it have counted as casus belli?) The number of provinces in the Empire has suddenly doubled, and upon closer inspection, almost every one of those provinces is well fortified by the day's standards. Most even have a tax collector. In addition to this, Austria gains three army groups, two small ones of mostly infantry, and a very useful-looking one with 6000 infantry and 20000 cavalry.
Since our former ally, Hungary, is now annexed, we look elsewhere for military support. Russia does not warm to our advances, so we settle with a temporary alliance with Saxony and Thuringia. We will need the Russians in the future to keep Poland in check, but for now, Saxony and Thuringia should provide us with additional support should Bohemia start making threatening noises.
Now that we have a peace treaty with Bohemia, we have to leave them alone for a while just to keep up appearances in the international community. While upgrading the infrastructure around the Empire, we start looking greedily at Venice and their coastal provinces. Istria, Illyria and Ragusa are located on the Eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea, and all have harbors – Ragusa even has a warship wharf. Sooner or later the Empire will need access to sea, and since the Baltic and Atlantic Seas are a world away, Venice looks like a very logical target.
However, there are problems associated with Venice. They don't look very strong, but they're good catholics just like us, and furthermore, we lack a casus belli, so Austrian nobility might not take kindly to a declaration of war. The Austrian diplomatic services come up with a surprising fact which might help us here: Venice is allied with the Mamelukes, Persia, and Irak – all muslim infidels, and what's more, muslim infidels that aren't even close to sharing a border with Austria! That is not something they picked up at Sunday school.
Having unbelievers as allies unfortunately does not count as casus belli, but it could be something we could use to tarnish their international reputation and perhaps provoke them into declaring a war against us. We start in 1503 with a letter of warning – 'The most Christian Emperor of Austria does not look kindly to a neighbor fraternizing with enemies of the Church' – which has absolutely no effect.
Time for more drastic actions, says Emperor Maximilian, and starts a steady stream of defamatory letters directed at Venice. These include lengthy treatises on subjects like 'The Merchant of Venice is a Pimp' and 'Why Venice Sucks Ass', followed by a barely legible drunken outburst calling King Leonardo Loredano a cross-eyed maggot who most probably is a product of an unnatural union between his ugly mother and an Illyrian donkey. The result is that Venice now hates us, and we just sit back and wait, but nothing happens. In fact, Austria, and Europe in general, has an unusually peaceful and quiet 6 years. In 1509, that changes.
The 2nd Bohemian War (1509- 1510)
Austria is ready for war in late 1508, but just for the sake of tradition, we wait until the 11th anniversary of the 1st Bohemian War and do not declare war on Bohemia until February 17, 1509. Then, Field Marshall Ferdinand takes his troops and marches from Sudeten to Erz – and right back to Sudeten again, as a small force of Bohemian defenders defeats his numerically superior troops. I hastily gather more troops for Ferdinand. Bohemian defenders stay put and do not wander into Austrian territory, but I see them trying to raise a bigger army as well. I order the K.u.K Armee (still can't figure out the name) to Moravia, and their long siege finally pays off in February of 1510, just after Ferdinand takes a second shot at Erz, this time defeating the defenders. Attempts to liberate Moravia from Austrian control are beaten back, and when Erz falls in December, Bohemia offers us both Erz and Moravia in a peace proposal, which we accept. They still have their two richest provinces left, but the country is now cut into two, with the capital district completely surrounded by Austrian territory.
At some point without us noticing, Sweden has gone into war with Denmark and their allies, Russia and Pskov. In the summer of 1512, they make a separate peace with Pskov, with Pskov gaining Lapland (huh?). Venice, which in their alliance has been drawn into war with the Ottoman empire, pays the latter to end the war. This would be a good time for a surprise attack, but our troops are weary from the battles in Erz and Moravia, so we decide to postpone the war. That turns out to be a good idea, since soon the lack of attention to domestic policy brings our stability down and causes our researchers to panic and misplace their notes.
As we are trying to raise army for a war against Venice (whom we continue to bomb with hostile letters, to no effect) and raise internal stability, Sweden ends their wars with both Russia and Denmark, but in separate treaties. Russia gains Västergötland and Savolaks, while Denmark gets some ducats. We pay no attention, as Venice is about to learn what the undersides of Austrian military boots look like.
The Venetian War (1515-1518)
Austria declares war on Venice on March 10th, 1515 to gain access to the Mediterranean, but without a diplomatically acceptable casus belli. Internal stability drops, and Venice's allies Persia and Mamelukes intervene, but the Mamelukes accept our immediate offer for a status quo peace. We don't even know what or where the Persians are, so we pay them no mind. Venice immediately attacks the Transylvanian Army stationed in Tyrol (and loses the battle), while Austrian troops siege both Istria and Illyria. Istria falls surprisingly quickly under the heavy artillery barrage of Field Marshall Ferdinand's troops. Illyria, however makes a stand, even though it is fairly obvious that they too are fighting a losing battle.
After the fall of Istria, Venice sends a status quo peace offer, which we take as an insult. Therefore, Field Marshall Ferdinand is ordered to decimate the last remains of the Venetian army in Venice, and conquer the capital. Soon, Venice has no army, and on December 22nd, 1516, they have no capital, either.
Our initial goal in the war was to gain Istria and maybe Illyria, but since things seem to be going our way, we decide to go for a jackpot. That's *a* jackpot, not *the* jackpot: Venice has several island provinces in the Mediterranean which we cannot get to, so annexing the entire country is out of the question (besides, we really do not want to anger other Catholic nations any more than we have to). Instead, we turn our attention to Ragusa, a small province just North of Albania, which would be totally uninteresting if it did not have a warship wharf. After recovering from the drain caused by the two successful sieges, Field Marshall Ferdinand is on the move again in the summer of 1517. Venetian peace offers, which are just barely disguises begs for mercy, are met with dismissive sneers.
During that summer, we have our first taste of internal strife. The Orthodox province of Serbia rebels, and the rebels immediately seize the fortifications in the provincial capital. While the rebel forces are quickly disposed of, it takes until the fall of the following year until Serbia is under control again. Somewhere along the way we also hear strange tales of a German monk called Luther, openly opposing the Only True Church, but we are far too busy with internal and external conflicts to pay that any attention.
Ragusa puts up some resistance, but it finally falls in early June in 1518. Venice immediately sends a peace proposal in which they would give us Istria and Illyria – they apparently still have faith in our generosity after losing control of four of their provinces, including the capital. Instead of generosity, Emperor Maximilian reveals his intentions by proclaiming 'When Austria serves shit, Venice eats shit', and on June 2nd, 1518, a different peace treaty is signed. From that day on, Austria controls Istria, Illyria, and Ragusa – in other words, most of the Eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea. Venetian diplomats do not have to go home empty-handed, however – they get a permanent casus belli against Austria.
After fulfilling his ambitions with regards to the coastal provinces, Emperor Maximilian I suddenly starts to show the effects of old age. The decline is unexpectedly rapid, and the Christmas celebrations in the nation are shadowed with the sad news of his death. The great Emperor who more than doubled Austrian territory is followed to the throne by his son, Karl V, whose coronation is on New Year's Day, 1519.
In case someone is still interested: 'K.u.K.' means 'Kaiserlich und Königlich' (='imperial and royal'). But Austria was known as the 'K.u.K. Monarchy' (Kaiserlich=Austria/Königlich=Hungary) only since 1867, when Hungary got almost equal rights to Austria within the empire. So having a k.u.k. army in 1492 is not exactly historically correct (though it certainly adds to the Habsburg flair).