Imperial Genoa, Part I, 1492 - 1567 First wars of unification
This is my first effort to play a minor in the IGC. It was played on Hard/Aggressive with the latest IGC (2.0k, I think), COT's in Svealand and Moscow, a free Eire, and the basic setup in the low countries. I used one small self-imposed limitation; namely, once a country refused to trade maps, I didn't make another request until (at a minimum) dispatching a diplomat with a letter of introduction (personally, I think map requests should consume a diplomat). Though I really enjoy the creative voices others have used in AARS, I'll keep this narrative dry, as I'm trying to cover a bunch of ground here.
I. 1492-1497 Revolution
Hmm…The opening position isn't great. A small army (9,000/1,000), two provinces (Genoa and Corsica), and, depressingly, we start as vassals of Milan. The first priority is to do something about that (what was my predecessor thinking?). We're too weak to do anything immediately, though. We'll have to bide our time, first putting all of our resources into the invention of siege cannon, then raising cash (I hate to waste inflation with only two provinces generating income, but there's nothing to be done, as the war with Milan will have to be financed with only a single loan, and that's going to be tight).
Then, as soon as somebody else has accumulated some badboy points, we'll strike against the Milanese -- breaking our vassalization, declaring war, and ultimately (I hope) annexing Milan will cost us a bb of 10). I'm pleased when Turkey declares war against the Mamelukes in June 1493.
1492-1495 pass quietly, with a few infantry purchases so that manpower will be available for the army of liberation. 1496 is a promising year - in August, England declares war against Eire, and the large Spanish/English/Milanese alliance collapses! Milan is now without allies, and my anxieties for my seaward flank are eased significantly. Then in September, Turkey annexes the Mameluks, earning 18 bb. The time to strike is now - we take out a loan, and, with our accumulated cash, we can afford to increase our army to 24,000 Inf/ 2,000 Cav/70 guns. In January 1497, we rebel against Milan. I don't invite our allies to join in - they would only drop out of the alliance, and I want to preserve the alliance with Modena and Tuscany in order to repair relations and peacefully annex them in the coming years. In April, after defeating the Milanese army, we lay siege to the city. Our siege train makes short work of the city walls, and Milan falls in October. We annex them. Hmm…From vassal to master in only 10 months…
1497 - 1536 Chaos in Central Europe
1497 sees the first of a series of alliance wars against Turkey. Since Turkey is the only reason we aren't the world's badboy (and Genoa, at this point, wouldn't last long in a coalition war…), I decide to sit tight and see what happens. This proves wise, as, over the next 5 years, Turkey surrenders 7 provinces to Poland, Venice, Austria, Crimea, Spain, Persia and Hungary. The Balkans become a patchwork of disconnected national enclaves; revolts and anarchy are going to be the rule here for much of the next 75 years. Almost all of our money goes into trade and infrastructure research (cash can wait until a few more provinces are generating revenue, and I can already see that inflation is going to be a killer in this run), with a steady stream of diplomats to Modena, Savoy, and Tuscany.
In 1502, the Turkish position stabilizes, and in 1506, they return to the offensive, annexing Ragusa. This could be the bb cover we need to attack Venice (I have my eye on Mantua), and I try to start a trade war with them, unsuccessfully, only realizing later that the primitive Venetians haven't reached trade tech 4. Oops. We sit tight, continuing to research and make nice with our neighbors. I contemplate declaring war without a CB, and start to horde cash in 1507, but in July the Turks (leading an alliance with Oman, Algiers, Georgia and Aden) declare war on Venice (joined, uselessly, by the Teutonic Order, Pommerania, and the Hanseatic League - the Venetians deserve what they get, with that alliance…) - and I decide to let the Turks wear Venice down a little. In 1510, Venice cedes the Cyclades and Kosovo to Turkey, while in 1512, Turkey gives Serbia to Austria and Bosnia to Hungary. The neighborhood looks violent and volatile, and I continue to sit tight, focusing on a diplomatic strategy. In 1514, Savoy's alliance with France expires, and I grab them into the Northern Italian League. 1514 also sees another war between the Turkish and Venetian alliances, which ends in 1517 with the Venetian surrender of Corfu and Illyria and the 1518 annexation of the Knights (sad, but they looked like they might drag me into war with Turkey, the last thing I wanted, and I allowed the alliance to quietly lapse in 1507 - their decision to join forces with our Venetian rivals was unwise, it seems).. It's starting to look like Turkey may reduce Venice completely before I'm strong enough to get in on the game - on the plus side, Venice is so weakened that annexation could be a possibility sometime down the road, and I'd love to have that shipyard.
Research continues apace. Life is quiet.
The decades pass…Spain annexes the Aztecs; England starts to get divided into small pieces by its neighbors… In 1524 Turkey starts the first of a series of successful wars with Persia, taking Syria and Armenia. 1528 is a big year - finally, a respectable diplomat, Olberto Cattaneo, rises to lead the republic. At last -- our first 35 years of leaders were real mediocrities. We vassalize Modena, Tuscany, and Savoy. In April, Spain peacefully annexes Austria! Things could get strange in central Europe…
1533 is a good year for us and a bad one for Spain - Naples breaks its vassalization, and we embrace them in the renamed Pan-Italian league, while four of the core Austrian provinces declare the reconstitution of the Austrian state and declare war on Spain, already busy with a Balkan war against Turkey. While Spain is busy stamping out revolts and trying to recapture Austria, its ally Hungary gets trounced by the Turks, losing Croatia, Illyria and Rumelia in 1534. At the end of the period, an increasingly hardpressed Hungary faces Turkey, weakly supported by a strand of revolt-prone Spanish provinces, stretching from the Tyrol to Serbia.
1536 - 1544 - Years of expansion
At the start of 1536, the Genoan state still consists of only 3 provinces. Relations with Naples are up to +200, but they decline the offer to become our vassals. Then, in June, the Napolitan king dies without an heir, and we inherit the kingdom. Wow. In a single stroke, our nation has almost doubled in size, and it's saved us the trouble of having to fight our way through the Pope's 100,000 man army to make contact. Then, in 1538, ten years to the day after the Genoan diplomatic corps started hiring competent ambassadors, the real expansion begins. Savoy agrees immediately to peacefully join us; Modena refuses our first couple of offers, then (a happy surprise) starts a refinery (with my bribe money, I suspect) before finally agreeing to be annexed in late 1538. Tuscany finally joins us in August 1539. In three and a half years, Genoa has grown from 3 provinces to 10, with only the expenditure of several hundred horded ducats in bribes. We're still keeping a comfortably low profile -- a quick badboy check shows Spain with 15, Turkey with 11, France with 6, and us with 7. Having absorbed all of our allies, its time to find new friends - offers come in from the Spanish/French/Polish/Papal coalition and from the Bohemian/Hungarian/Austrian/Bavarian alliance. We decide to join up with the Germans, largely because a war with the Papal States looks like the logical next expansion.
1544 - 1561 Consolidation
1544 begins with our new alliance dragging us into war, not with the Papal States/Spanish coalition, as I'd hoped, but with Turkey and its friends. Hmm…the Hafsid have pretty good maps, and we'll start generating counter-reformed settlers soon; I launch an expedition against their capital, leaving the rest of my allies to handle Turkey. A year later, just as Tunis is about to fall, at a cost to us of 20,000 Inf. and 3,000 Cav., the Hungarians declare a general peace with the Turkish alliance. Ugh. At least, while demolishing their fleet, we captured the Hafsid rutters, which have all kinds of interesting information about far away places to the east… trade income increases dramatically (though those far eastern COT sure are crowded in the IGC…) I eye that Venetian shipyard with increasing hunger…
The rest of the period is largely spent researching (infrastructure finally gets to level 5, and we can start to rein in inflation, which has risen above 30%) and putting down revolts (apparently Italian unification isn't a universally popular ideal). In the rest of the world, Spain takes another blow when the Dutch revolt in 1551; Russian begins its eastward march by annexing Kazan in 1553, and in the same year Turkey continues to absorb Venice, taking Mantua and Istria. Finding Turks next door to us in Mantua is something of a shock. The Venetian empire now consists only of Cyprus, Crete, and the city of Venice itself. Bizarrely, the Venetians are still allied to (and friendly with) the protestant Pommeranians. They'll pay for that indulgence. As soon as the Council of Trent, it's going to be time to take Venice out, before the Turks finish the job completely.
1561 - 1567 The First (and Last) Venetian War
1561 starts with the Counter-reformation. We've almost reached landtech 8, the arquebus, only a couple more years to go, and there are rumors that a first rate young captain named Andrea Doria is working his way up through the ranks of our navy, so we sit tight, researching, building troops, and preparing for 1565, when our advisors predict that Doria will be ready to lead our fleet (I know, it feels like cheating to look ahead in the .sav file, but Genoa only gets 2 leaders over the course of three centuries; I have to make the most of them…). In January 1565, we switch to counter-reformed Catholicism; and we load up our invasion fleets. Armies of 5,000 infantry and 70 cannon, loaded aboard 3 warships and 5 transports each, are bound for Cyprus and Crete; Our main fleet, 20 warships under Doria, sails for Venice with 12,000 infantry and 70 cannon. In April, with all of our ships anchored off their targets, we declare war on Pommerania, and Venice joins in, while we leave our allies out of it. Venice has been so battered by Turkey that the campaign is almost too easy - no Venetian armies are there to greet our forces, and, on his return voyage to Apulia, Doria sinks a Venetian fleet of 5 galleys and 5 transports carrying troops bound for Venice. In November, Cyprus falls, followed by Venice in April, 1566 and Crete in November, 1566, and we annex Venice, taking possession of their remaining fleet of 11 warships for good measure. Hah! Venice (and its shipyard) is mine! We'll hear no more from those arrogant Venetians - of course, now we get to man the front line against the Turks… Our badboy rises to 8, comfortably behind both Spain and Turkey. In October, 1567, Pommerania accepts a white peace.
We're now generating 2 colonists a year, and I take my first careful look at the world map. It's getting pretty full. The Americas, North and South, are completely taken; Portugal has grabbed all of the Indian provinces that aren't full of hostile natives, and the Spice islands are full of Portuguese ownership flags. Africa and Siberia (what I can see of it, just north of China) still have lots of empty space, but I'll hold off on them off on them for the moment. Malacca and Khmer look promising. I'll develop Malacca (empty of natives) into a city, then use it as a base to support a longer term city building effort in Mekong. After that, we'll see how things go.
This is my first effort to play a minor in the IGC. It was played on Hard/Aggressive with the latest IGC (2.0k, I think), COT's in Svealand and Moscow, a free Eire, and the basic setup in the low countries. I used one small self-imposed limitation; namely, once a country refused to trade maps, I didn't make another request until (at a minimum) dispatching a diplomat with a letter of introduction (personally, I think map requests should consume a diplomat). Though I really enjoy the creative voices others have used in AARS, I'll keep this narrative dry, as I'm trying to cover a bunch of ground here.
I. 1492-1497 Revolution
Hmm…The opening position isn't great. A small army (9,000/1,000), two provinces (Genoa and Corsica), and, depressingly, we start as vassals of Milan. The first priority is to do something about that (what was my predecessor thinking?). We're too weak to do anything immediately, though. We'll have to bide our time, first putting all of our resources into the invention of siege cannon, then raising cash (I hate to waste inflation with only two provinces generating income, but there's nothing to be done, as the war with Milan will have to be financed with only a single loan, and that's going to be tight).
Then, as soon as somebody else has accumulated some badboy points, we'll strike against the Milanese -- breaking our vassalization, declaring war, and ultimately (I hope) annexing Milan will cost us a bb of 10). I'm pleased when Turkey declares war against the Mamelukes in June 1493.
1492-1495 pass quietly, with a few infantry purchases so that manpower will be available for the army of liberation. 1496 is a promising year - in August, England declares war against Eire, and the large Spanish/English/Milanese alliance collapses! Milan is now without allies, and my anxieties for my seaward flank are eased significantly. Then in September, Turkey annexes the Mameluks, earning 18 bb. The time to strike is now - we take out a loan, and, with our accumulated cash, we can afford to increase our army to 24,000 Inf/ 2,000 Cav/70 guns. In January 1497, we rebel against Milan. I don't invite our allies to join in - they would only drop out of the alliance, and I want to preserve the alliance with Modena and Tuscany in order to repair relations and peacefully annex them in the coming years. In April, after defeating the Milanese army, we lay siege to the city. Our siege train makes short work of the city walls, and Milan falls in October. We annex them. Hmm…From vassal to master in only 10 months…
1497 - 1536 Chaos in Central Europe
1497 sees the first of a series of alliance wars against Turkey. Since Turkey is the only reason we aren't the world's badboy (and Genoa, at this point, wouldn't last long in a coalition war…), I decide to sit tight and see what happens. This proves wise, as, over the next 5 years, Turkey surrenders 7 provinces to Poland, Venice, Austria, Crimea, Spain, Persia and Hungary. The Balkans become a patchwork of disconnected national enclaves; revolts and anarchy are going to be the rule here for much of the next 75 years. Almost all of our money goes into trade and infrastructure research (cash can wait until a few more provinces are generating revenue, and I can already see that inflation is going to be a killer in this run), with a steady stream of diplomats to Modena, Savoy, and Tuscany.
In 1502, the Turkish position stabilizes, and in 1506, they return to the offensive, annexing Ragusa. This could be the bb cover we need to attack Venice (I have my eye on Mantua), and I try to start a trade war with them, unsuccessfully, only realizing later that the primitive Venetians haven't reached trade tech 4. Oops. We sit tight, continuing to research and make nice with our neighbors. I contemplate declaring war without a CB, and start to horde cash in 1507, but in July the Turks (leading an alliance with Oman, Algiers, Georgia and Aden) declare war on Venice (joined, uselessly, by the Teutonic Order, Pommerania, and the Hanseatic League - the Venetians deserve what they get, with that alliance…) - and I decide to let the Turks wear Venice down a little. In 1510, Venice cedes the Cyclades and Kosovo to Turkey, while in 1512, Turkey gives Serbia to Austria and Bosnia to Hungary. The neighborhood looks violent and volatile, and I continue to sit tight, focusing on a diplomatic strategy. In 1514, Savoy's alliance with France expires, and I grab them into the Northern Italian League. 1514 also sees another war between the Turkish and Venetian alliances, which ends in 1517 with the Venetian surrender of Corfu and Illyria and the 1518 annexation of the Knights (sad, but they looked like they might drag me into war with Turkey, the last thing I wanted, and I allowed the alliance to quietly lapse in 1507 - their decision to join forces with our Venetian rivals was unwise, it seems).. It's starting to look like Turkey may reduce Venice completely before I'm strong enough to get in on the game - on the plus side, Venice is so weakened that annexation could be a possibility sometime down the road, and I'd love to have that shipyard.
Research continues apace. Life is quiet.
The decades pass…Spain annexes the Aztecs; England starts to get divided into small pieces by its neighbors… In 1524 Turkey starts the first of a series of successful wars with Persia, taking Syria and Armenia. 1528 is a big year - finally, a respectable diplomat, Olberto Cattaneo, rises to lead the republic. At last -- our first 35 years of leaders were real mediocrities. We vassalize Modena, Tuscany, and Savoy. In April, Spain peacefully annexes Austria! Things could get strange in central Europe…
1533 is a good year for us and a bad one for Spain - Naples breaks its vassalization, and we embrace them in the renamed Pan-Italian league, while four of the core Austrian provinces declare the reconstitution of the Austrian state and declare war on Spain, already busy with a Balkan war against Turkey. While Spain is busy stamping out revolts and trying to recapture Austria, its ally Hungary gets trounced by the Turks, losing Croatia, Illyria and Rumelia in 1534. At the end of the period, an increasingly hardpressed Hungary faces Turkey, weakly supported by a strand of revolt-prone Spanish provinces, stretching from the Tyrol to Serbia.
1536 - 1544 - Years of expansion
At the start of 1536, the Genoan state still consists of only 3 provinces. Relations with Naples are up to +200, but they decline the offer to become our vassals. Then, in June, the Napolitan king dies without an heir, and we inherit the kingdom. Wow. In a single stroke, our nation has almost doubled in size, and it's saved us the trouble of having to fight our way through the Pope's 100,000 man army to make contact. Then, in 1538, ten years to the day after the Genoan diplomatic corps started hiring competent ambassadors, the real expansion begins. Savoy agrees immediately to peacefully join us; Modena refuses our first couple of offers, then (a happy surprise) starts a refinery (with my bribe money, I suspect) before finally agreeing to be annexed in late 1538. Tuscany finally joins us in August 1539. In three and a half years, Genoa has grown from 3 provinces to 10, with only the expenditure of several hundred horded ducats in bribes. We're still keeping a comfortably low profile -- a quick badboy check shows Spain with 15, Turkey with 11, France with 6, and us with 7. Having absorbed all of our allies, its time to find new friends - offers come in from the Spanish/French/Polish/Papal coalition and from the Bohemian/Hungarian/Austrian/Bavarian alliance. We decide to join up with the Germans, largely because a war with the Papal States looks like the logical next expansion.
1544 - 1561 Consolidation
1544 begins with our new alliance dragging us into war, not with the Papal States/Spanish coalition, as I'd hoped, but with Turkey and its friends. Hmm…the Hafsid have pretty good maps, and we'll start generating counter-reformed settlers soon; I launch an expedition against their capital, leaving the rest of my allies to handle Turkey. A year later, just as Tunis is about to fall, at a cost to us of 20,000 Inf. and 3,000 Cav., the Hungarians declare a general peace with the Turkish alliance. Ugh. At least, while demolishing their fleet, we captured the Hafsid rutters, which have all kinds of interesting information about far away places to the east… trade income increases dramatically (though those far eastern COT sure are crowded in the IGC…) I eye that Venetian shipyard with increasing hunger…
The rest of the period is largely spent researching (infrastructure finally gets to level 5, and we can start to rein in inflation, which has risen above 30%) and putting down revolts (apparently Italian unification isn't a universally popular ideal). In the rest of the world, Spain takes another blow when the Dutch revolt in 1551; Russian begins its eastward march by annexing Kazan in 1553, and in the same year Turkey continues to absorb Venice, taking Mantua and Istria. Finding Turks next door to us in Mantua is something of a shock. The Venetian empire now consists only of Cyprus, Crete, and the city of Venice itself. Bizarrely, the Venetians are still allied to (and friendly with) the protestant Pommeranians. They'll pay for that indulgence. As soon as the Council of Trent, it's going to be time to take Venice out, before the Turks finish the job completely.
1561 - 1567 The First (and Last) Venetian War
1561 starts with the Counter-reformation. We've almost reached landtech 8, the arquebus, only a couple more years to go, and there are rumors that a first rate young captain named Andrea Doria is working his way up through the ranks of our navy, so we sit tight, researching, building troops, and preparing for 1565, when our advisors predict that Doria will be ready to lead our fleet (I know, it feels like cheating to look ahead in the .sav file, but Genoa only gets 2 leaders over the course of three centuries; I have to make the most of them…). In January 1565, we switch to counter-reformed Catholicism; and we load up our invasion fleets. Armies of 5,000 infantry and 70 cannon, loaded aboard 3 warships and 5 transports each, are bound for Cyprus and Crete; Our main fleet, 20 warships under Doria, sails for Venice with 12,000 infantry and 70 cannon. In April, with all of our ships anchored off their targets, we declare war on Pommerania, and Venice joins in, while we leave our allies out of it. Venice has been so battered by Turkey that the campaign is almost too easy - no Venetian armies are there to greet our forces, and, on his return voyage to Apulia, Doria sinks a Venetian fleet of 5 galleys and 5 transports carrying troops bound for Venice. In November, Cyprus falls, followed by Venice in April, 1566 and Crete in November, 1566, and we annex Venice, taking possession of their remaining fleet of 11 warships for good measure. Hah! Venice (and its shipyard) is mine! We'll hear no more from those arrogant Venetians - of course, now we get to man the front line against the Turks… Our badboy rises to 8, comfortably behind both Spain and Turkey. In October, 1567, Pommerania accepts a white peace.
We're now generating 2 colonists a year, and I take my first careful look at the world map. It's getting pretty full. The Americas, North and South, are completely taken; Portugal has grabbed all of the Indian provinces that aren't full of hostile natives, and the Spice islands are full of Portuguese ownership flags. Africa and Siberia (what I can see of it, just north of China) still have lots of empty space, but I'll hold off on them off on them for the moment. Malacca and Khmer look promising. I'll develop Malacca (empty of natives) into a city, then use it as a base to support a longer term city building effort in Mekong. After that, we'll see how things go.
