History of the Hungarian Empire

[unmerged(2952)]

The Hungarian Night

With the slow, endless, grinding of peasent and noble revolts, the Kingdom of Hungary had been weakened. No longer were its armies the strongest in all of Europe, its economy was no longer the the envy of Eastern Europe, and no longer could the king claim his kingdom to be the glistening shield of EUrope against the Turkish menace.

Under Ulaszlo II and his son Laslo II government corruption had reigned supreme, revolts threatened to tear the country to pieces, and the wave of Hungarian conquests had been blunted in the fiels and mountains of Austria. It would only get worse before it got better.

Although the time of troubles ended in 1520, with a quelling of the Greek revolt and a return of general stability to the land, future events were to shake Hungary even more profoundly than those of the previous decades. One of the chief reasons for this, was Luther.

Martin Luther, a Germany monk and radical effectivly ended Papal domination of Northern Germany when he, dramatically, nailed a series of proclamations to the door of a church in the city of Wittenberg. Within 3 years several states had already converted to the new sect known as Lutheranism(the term had origanally been a slur created by detractors of the monk, but which was adopted by its followers), Hungary would not be one of those kingdoms.

In fact, on the face of things, Hungary remained a stuanchly loyal Catholic country. Under the surface, however, things were not quiet as they seemed. The Hungarian nobility and kings had prided themselves on the openmindedness and tolerance which had been the hallmark of their rule since the 14th Century and welcomed protestants who were fleeing their own country. Also Laslo never forgot the many betrayals of the Pope in recent years, the two wars with the Papal states and the way the priests would speak out against his rule. In many ways he even encouraged the Lutherans by accepting prominent members of their community into his court.

This religious tolerace only provoked the Pope to even greater levels of hatred against the Hungarian kings. Papal merchantgs were ordered to try and push Hungarains out of buisness, and the priests began another campaign to slurr the monarch at all costs. These measures only pushed a volitile situation even further down the path to disorder.

In 1524 the bottom dropped out of the Hungarian economy. The King was forced to divert more and more money into his own cophers in order to just maintain his military and style of living. All merchants were forced out of Venice and other centers of trade and a famine threatened many of Hungary's greatest lands.

Despite this, by 1526 The Kingdom of Hungary had returned to its prewar level of stability, and its armies had once again grown strong enough to compete with those pre-1515. They had lost ground in the technology race to the countries around her, but not disasteriously so. Things looked bright for Hungary. It was then that all hell broke loose, Laslo II fell from his horse and died., and one of the greatest periods of unheval in Hungarian history would be the result.

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How come it be that, suddenly, for no reason and with no change in military size or even in number of merchants in COTs that the bottom can drop out of your economy? its happened ot me in several games and I still don't know the reason!

 

[unmerged(2952)]

The Hungarian Night, continued

With the death of Lajos II in 1526 the might of the Kingdom of Hungary was very nearly shattered once and for all. A deeply paranoid man, Lajos had killed off his brothers early in life, imprisoning them in a tall tower in the city of Buda. Since he had never married(he had loved only one woman and she died of the plague when he was 23 years old), there were no viable male heris.

As in most situations were this occues, succession fell to the outer wings of the family. In this case the two claimants was Emperor Roudolf of Habsburg through his mother, and János I Zápolya of Seibenburg who's grandfather had been a Hungarian prince.

A council of nobels was called to the capital to hear the evidence of either side. After a several months of diliberation the council concluded that Janos Zapolya had the greatest claim to the thrown. It was a decision which threw the entire country into disorder.

By naming Janos, a Seibenburger Duke, as King it placed the Hungarians in a strange situation of having the enemy Prince of Seibenburg as their leige lords and they as vassals, even though Seibenburg was waring with Wallacia a vassal of Hungary. Furthermore Janos effectivly destroyed the net of royal marriages which the previous dynasty had put in place, causing the other nations of Europe to see blood and the people to rise in revolt at the sheer audacity of it. Stability dropped as far as it could go and, in the chaos, the Austrian Habsburgs marched troops into the Eastern boarder gaining control of Krain and other provinces without a war.

To make matters even worse the teetering ecnomy, whic hwas beginning to improve, collapsed beyong repair. The weakness of the Hungarian Kingdom, long hidden during its fights against weaker opponents, were becoming more and more evident. battered and bruised, the armies of Hungary were beign defeated by rebels in Dalmatia, Steirmarch and even Modovia.

Also, a technology gap was beginning to become evident to the world at large. In the past years the French had becoming the technological masters of Europe and their innovations were beginning to trickle East. The Habsburgs of Austria were beginning to adapt some of the new technology and methods to their own armies, and due to the years of turmoil and struggle, the Hungarians could do nothing to match them.

The Kingdom of Hungary had long been built, and sustained, upon the might of her armies. It was these armies which droke back the Turk, which conquered the Slav and even tasted limited victory against the Germans. And now these same armies seemed to be failing Hungary when she needed them most. The Kingdom seemed destined to become an anarchorism, a pawn in the games of newer, more vital kingdoms, such as the newly christained Empire of Russia, or even the Austrians or French.

These years were not entirely ones of regression, however. By the late 1530's Hungary had, after years of sacrificing all for stability, had reached levels close to those of the Kingdom before the death of the last king. Furthermore they were beginning to adapt their military to new styles and were close to catching up Austria, even if the technological supremecy they had held in the 15th Century had been forever shattered.

In January of 1538 the death of the King of Poland lead to a dynastic conflict not unlike that which Hungary had experienced just 10 years earlier. Using diplomacy, as well as threats and bribes, János I Zápolya was able to pull off a coup d'ete and claimed the thrown of Poland as well as that of Hungary. Later that year te two crowns officially become one and Poland was incorporated into Hungary.

News of the merger caused waves throughout Europe. How could a Kingdom which seemed on the brink of anarchy months earlier grow so rapidly. Hungary now stretched from the the Mediteranian to the Baltic in the North, from Germany to Lithuania. It was the second largest Kingdom in Europe, right after Russia, and possessed a fair sized military. Even further furor was raised when Janos officially declared the dissolving of the Kingdom of Hungary and its replacement with the Empire of Hungary. Although, in reality, thegovernemnt remained the same, the sheer audacity shocked many heads of states, and caused the Habsburgs and Pope further rage.

Only one other sovering seemed willing to do anything about it at the time, however. The Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, havign recovered from his earlier wars with Hungary and busy consolidating his hold upon the Middle East, turned his eyes upon Hungary.

The grandiously titled "War of Hungarian Containment" was little for than a few pitched battles over a year's time. In any other time it would have deserved little time in any history work, but it did prove that the newly titled Hungarian Empire was still a living breathing entity and was enough to scare off some of the vultures which were predicting its demise.

The war itself ended in a draw with Turkish troops beseiging Sofia and Theoleonike and with Hungarian troops attacking regiosn of Anatolia and having just been driven away from Constantinople itself. A status qou peace was signed later at the end of the yea,r and Hungary went on to rebuilding and intigrating Poland into its body politik.

However, had the weaknessess which shown so prominantly jsut a few years earleir truely gone away, or were they still there, ready to wreck havok at the next time of crisis.

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Hope you all enjoy, its almsot midnight so excuse any typos, I need to sleep

 

[unmerged(4004)]

did you inherit poland through an event, or did you just diplo-annex them normally?

sounds like you've recovered from your dark years nicely.

i went with austria in my "death of kings lajos" because i didn't want to give up 3 decent provinces to austria. so i just sacrificed transylvania to siebenbergen and went with becoming a vassal of austria.

 

[unmerged(2952)]

I diplo-annexed Poland, which really didn't do to much for my diplomacy, but oh well. Lithuania has been shattered by the Russians so there would have been little point to waiting until the inheritence. My only fear is that adding more territory is only going to make myself more unweildly and such. At least I'm finally catching up technologically and if my ecnomy improves(I have to put the bar almost all the way to the right just to break even. I don't know how it happened, just one month it crashed and has stayed that way ever since) I should be in a much stronger position. Other wise, I could really see myself becoming like the Ottoman Empire in RL, a bloated anarchorism.

Also I went with the Seibenburg kings just because I couldn't stomach having the Habsburgs as kings. I would have lost less land, but just to see them on my throne would have been an insult. grrrrr

I really wonder which of our Hungaries is going to be stronger in the end here. I have a feeling that I'm setting myself up for an even bigger fall one of these days.

 

[unmerged(6777)]

Yet another few great instalments. Hungary is certainly not the easiest country to play - particularly through this time period.

Re you income: Presumably you're Seibenburgen's vassals which nails your income in half...now that you've got the stab back it might be worth breaking the vassalage ASAP. The rest of it must be due to large army maintenence and possibly inflation (if it's high already). You've turned the corner though, and it's only a matter of a bit of patience and everything will start to come back for you.

Good stuff.

 

[unmerged(2952)]

I hope your right, although currently my vassal Wallacia is at war with my leigelord Seibenburg so maybe the situation will be resolved without my needing to break it, eh?

Also my economy fell apart even before I became a vassal which ios odd. One month I was doing fine, next month I was loosing 30 some odd gold a month at the same position. I have no clue how it happened. For that matter, I still wonder about how merchants I send to COTs will just dissapear without a "Merchant succeded/failed/drove out X" message.

 

[unmerged(4004)]

put all your research into infra and trade. true, you military tech will lag, but you're already lagging anyway, and the further behind you fall, the larger your neighbor bonus will be.

for your cashflow, try breaking the vassalage like mrT said, and also try to build appropriate factories whenever possible. as for inflation, starting in the late 1600's and 1700's, you should get enough random events to reduce inflation to a manageable level. if you can just hold out that long...

just try to avoid any unnecessary wars and you should be ok. after a while, the ottomans and poles quit DOW'ing me and i had time to rebuild and then strike back.

 

[unmerged(10139)]

Economic output in the middle game is severly effected by trade. When you have a monopoly you get quite a pile of money. Every trader you win or lose could impact your monthly salary. To improve you income you need:

Low inflation (always take the stability hit rather than the 10%)

Stability Always fix stability first, it effects city growth rate, rebelion and many things

High Trade: The higher your trade relative to who you battle, the better you odds of winning. If you can't keep up woth the major, at least keep up with the minors. You battle them as often if not more.

High Infrastructure: The higher the infrastructure the better your productivity. Also you get mayors at level 5, which lowers inflation.


I would get out of the vassal as soon as possible, losing half you wages is poor.


Yet another thing that will look like you are losing money is the "auto merchant", every time you get a merchant it buys one and places it somewhere, sometimes he puts them in lucrative but expensive trading centers, other times he choses the cheap option.

Also, the more monopolies you have, the more merchant you get (up to 12). The more merchants you have, the more monopolies you can get. They feed each other.


I played during my game with tech 10 to 20 lower than my opponents. Land tech doesn't matter if you aren't fighting wars, of not attacking foreign cities (much anyway) Just don't fight head on. Once you have ecomic parity, then you can invest in land tech.

 

[kurtbrian]

DanielMcCollum your pm box is full...

 

[unmerged(2952)]

I'm baqck, expect an update shortly. Vacation was fun!!!

 

[Warspite]

Hey for someone with one eye closed you type pretty good, better than me with both eyes open <------ oh thats just one open hehe.

Nice development so far. Um did you have any screenshots though M'lord, I really want to see how Hungary gobbled up Poland, munch munch.

Look forward to the next installment.

 

[Warspite]

Well since your PM box is still full, I was going to ask you if you still live in wisconsin, thought we could have a cheesyAAR meeting Ill try to PM you later

See ya later

 

[unmerged(2952)]

I jsut cleared out my mailbox. Also I'm looking for a site to host some pictures of my empire. You can see the strange cancerous being I have become in Europe; large, bloated, and trying to appear strong, and hoping to god I don't fall apart Who knew Hungary was this tough to play? its FUN!

 

[unmerged(4004)]

hungary is a fun country to play, if you don't mind the occasional thrashing at the hands of the turks.

 

[unmerged(6528)]

Just letting you know I'm reading, I find myself also expressing the same sentiments as others have in this thread, an honest nation with rises and falls is just as enjoyable to read about as one that grinds all its enemies into dust.

RJ

 

[unmerged(2952)]

Well, we'll have to see if Hungary has hit the limit of its expansion or if the last 30 years have just been a bump in the road, or a minor dip. If not ,well I'll still play to the end and have fun falling apart. If not, then I'll just have to have fun doing my best to finally expand down into Italy

Yah, Hungary is tought to play, but its fun as well. When I'm done with this game, maybe I'll pick another country in the same boat. Poland would be kind of fun, or maybe Bohemia.

 

[unmerged(2952)]

The Long Midnight Struggle

Following the "War of Hungarian Containment", the Empire entered into a period of revitilization. Efforts were made to bring the former Kingdom of Poland firmly into the Imperial sphere, the military was reformed and there were attempts to return stability to the land.

Under Janos I Hungary had nearly returned from the chaos of only several decades earlier. Although the threat of peasent revolts as still a constant threat, the loss of territory to the hated Habsburgs as well as the vassilzation to the miniscule Seibenburg were all thorns in the side of the Emperor, they had all been needed concessions at the time. However, was the new prosperity a fluke, or a geniune return to the golden age of the 15th century?

With the Death of King Janos I in 1540 another crisis sought to sunder the Empire at its most basic levels. The Habsburgs once again forced their claim to the throne, claiming that the election of Janos I had been in contradiction of extablished feudal law and was therefor null and void. Janos I's son, Janos II however, also laid claim to the throne and was the favored choice of much of the nobility as well the peasentry.

Later that month a compromise was agreed upon where a council of nobels would meet to hear both cases and elect the new Emperor. Until that time Janos II would be allowed to rule as to not have to great of a interum period between Emperors.

The council was convened early in October and both parties of the dispute were heard. It was genearlly believed that the Habsburgs had a greater claim to the throne by law, but that the council could not find it within themselves to turn over the reigns of govenrment to the Holy Roman Emperors and Archdukes of Austria. By January of the next year the verdict was decreed, Janos II Zápolya and the Seibenburgen dynasty would be allowed to rule the Empire of Hungary. Immediatly faith in the government swelled, and a strange calm returned to the land.

This, once again, put Hungary in an interesting position. Although there was now no threat of being absorbed into the Habsburg Empire, and economically Hungary was finding her feet once again, she was still an Empire which was a vassal to a smaller kingdom. Furthermore Seibenburg, was also being ruled by Janos II after a diplomatic coup. Clearly something needed to be done.

And so, in 1543, a few short years after the agreement, Janos II put himself in a strange place by cutting his vassilage to himself, there by setting the Empire free. A few gifts to the nobility of Seibenburg were able to sooth over a great deal of the angst created by this decision. However, people in Hungary itself did question the decision and a period of relative unrest followed, not at all helped by another wave of obscuration preached by the Catholic preists by order of the Pope.

The center of the new unrest and revolts was, unsuprisingly, the former kingdom of Poland, expecially the land of Podolia which would revolt at a cosntant rate for the next 3 years. Unrest also was evident in the slavic lands to the South.

Despite this, and the wittling away of the Imperial armies, Hungary continued upon the long road to recovery. Her economy was still a terrible condition when compared to her neighbors, but was finally begining to return to some level of functioning, and her armeis were now equal in quality and advancement to those of Austria and well surpassing the hated Turk.

Threats still remained, of course. The Turks had recovered from their losses in the Balkans nearly a century before and were now consolidating their hold upon Mesopotania as well as Anatolia, the Autrians still smarted over their loss of Hungary a few short years before, and in the East a new threat arose in the form of Russia. For the time being, however, things were calm.

 

[unmerged(4004)]

i'm thinking of maybe playing russia in my next game.

anyway, that's interesting that your king was a vassal of himself, though i kind of had that as well when the austria kings became the kings of hungary as well. i chose the opposite choice as you and it seems that the two are somewhat similar.

i haven't tangled with russia yet, but only because i didn't have a border with them until recently. i vassalized poland after she lost most of her territory to sweden and russia, and the huge slavic empire now borders my kingdom. i may yet tangle with the bear before it's all said and done...

 

[unmerged(10139)]

In my game, Hungary almost had a border with Russia, However we never did cross the Ob river. (also the Sibir were in the way)

 

[unmerged(2952)]

I don't quiet have a boarder with Russia yet, but if they keep pushing through Lithuania like they have been, they'll have a boarder with ME soon enough. Personally I don't want anything to do with them, there is nothing to be gained from trying to take any territory from them, so all I do is stay on the defensive. Maybe i'll just give them moeny so they like me