In the last four wars that France has found itself in, every single one of them was in self defense. The last time I declared war on Netherlands and Austria was because Austria had dowed my ally, Poland. Well, a new player came to Poland and he was rapidly drawn into the anti-french coalition.
1601 saw the Spanish Empire, Ottoman Empire, Austrian Empire, Sweden, Poland arranged against France. Netherlands was a nominal French vassal yet played both sides. Putting down rebels in Artois for me, (Which due to an editing snafu is stuck with a perm +10 revolt risk), while telling Austria where my armies were. I'm pretty sure who got the better bargain.
Let us analyze the situation somewhat. The players allying against me repeatedly vindicated their actions by claiming it was in defense of the balance of power. I believe my actions have been more in defense of it then theirs. Desperately, I have tried to form a powerbase large enough to get by without a colonial empire manpower wise and so to rise as a counterweight to Spain. Little did I know that Ulver, by having been left alone the entire game, especially during the first 50 years where other people were France, had formed a massive colonial and trading Empire. Using these resources he has been able to buy his allies.
In a way, the powers that be feared conflict among themselves more then they feared me. A self-willed France was a conveniant target to form a coalition against, thus actually securing their own positions against each other, as long as there was a supposed common enemy to unite against. No doubt, this was great fun and comfort to the other 7 players, but somewhat hectic for myself.
Seeing as I was, in the obligatory role as the badboy of Europe, despite having less manpower and 1/4th the resources, I resolved to make a fight of it regardless. I had learned a valuable lesson the previous century when I saw them absolutely reduce Poland to a quivering mass through the skillful use of war exhaustion, round robin style. I knew then, that in order for me to survive, I would have to knock out each of my enemies quickly.
1601 began with a bang during which Austria and Poland, financed with 10,000 Spanish ducats had been building up a massive force. A month later, the Ottoman Empire declared war in support. At this same time, I got an unhappy peasants event. I then crashed, and the war went on a month without me. Thankfully, nothing dire occured. It was a inauspicious beginning.
The Ottomans with a 180k manpower at this stage, owning as they do, every single one of theri CB shields, launched a massive offensive against the south of France. Two armies of 30k-40k in size attacked from Spain, whilst some 150k were landed by Turkish ships in the med. Immediately, I had to raise an army to deal with this threat.
With some 70k French, I resolved to counterattack. My main advantage being my invincible morale thanks to CRC and home field advantage.
Fortune was with me, and whilst the Austrian army continued to build up to where he must have been supporting a unholy 300k within his borders. This could only have been possible with the full weight of the Spanish economic juggernaut thrown behind him. With 500 a month income and enough provinces to place a govenor so as to go full to treasurey for a 100 years straight, he had endless ducats. He was also full quantity, which is a tactic, I should have kept to myself
. I was of course, consisting on census taxes combined with war taxes the entire time. It was amazing, that considering the war lasted 17 years, I was able to emerge economically stable. Judicious building up of the French economy having paid off in full.
The counterattack against the Ottoman invasion went beautifully, my 70k French sweeping away his armies that were combined with attrition, hopelessly slaughtered repeatedly, giving me a 40 percent victory. That I was even able to amass that much percentage should be an indicator of just how many troops he landed.
Though, seeing as how the Ottoman Empire has beeen massive for the last 70 years and left completely alone, it should come as no surprise that he was able to make the effort.
There then followed a relative lull in the fighting, coupled with desultory skirmishing. I knew this was not to last much longer and was proven correct when 150k more turks landed en masse. They attempted an immediate storm of Languedoc, but the invincible garrison withheld, allowing me to counterattack with their morale at it's lowest ebb. This alone saved me from having a messy situation at my hands. I then continued to follow and crush the Ottoman armies, their morale in the gutter. This drove my war score to 50 percent and the Ottoman Empire was beginning to take stab hits for refusing peace. Finally, he acceded, and it was over.
The Ottoman equation of the unholy coalition was finally removed. Though, for the next 15 years I was living under the threat that he would re-declare war. I was lucky in that the Ottoman Empire gets some shitty events around this time and he was dealing with revolts. But still, to understand my mindset, his
re-entry was constantly on my mind and the consequences thereof.
More time elapsed, and then Sweden was bribed into declaring war on me as well. He did this during a period of intense army maneuvering between myself and Austria, and it took a formidable effort to constantly switch back and forth between the theatres of war. Dealing with a large Swedish army in NA led by a good commander, and with the Austia making trouble with it's immense army...It is amazing the amount of troops that a 93k manpower capable Austria can build up given time and limitless ducats...
Eventually, I systematically built up a large enough army in North America to kill off Sweden's army + leader over there and recapture the colonies he took, but it was a few years of distraction. I ceded protestant anglosaxon colony to him and surprisingly, he accepted. I regretted it somewhat however, when 5 years later he was saying he would re-dow me for extra funds. But surprisingly, Spain didn't pay up. In any case, it gave me the invaluable opportunity to focus on the Austrian front.
What followed was a disastrous miscalculation. Considering that my own funds are limited, I had been building my armies with moderation, lest I be run into bankruptcy or be forced to (heaven forbid) divert money to treasurey.
Thus, when I launched a 120k army into Austria to take care of his own 100k army, I saw he had two in the region, one behind the other, and drawn further back. (I attacked from Wurzburg, into Anhalt, then to Madgeburg).
What followed was mutual annihilation for the most part, a 45k polish army helping somewhat, after I attempted another attack. At the end of all this, I saw that 200k French were dead, and some 150k Austrians had perished. The benefits of defending I suppose.
In hindsight, perhaps I should have conserved these troops, but
at the time I was operating under the assumption that somehow, someway, I
had to end the war with Austria before Ottoman Empire dowed. Or someone else in the interest of dragging out war exhaustion. This was a threat to me because it was the exact same tactic I wittnessed them use against Poland. To just play defensively and drag the war out as long as possible until someone else enters. This is ussually only possible when it is a large coalition. In my case, it was everyone cept BiB. Though, telling them where my armies were surely hurt me, because Austria knew just when to strike deep into France with the interest of hitting minor armies sieging rebelling provinces while I did not know where he was. Information is power for sure. I only realized this, when Maur forgot to exclude from his chatting
I also came to another realization. Past land tech 21, it is impossible to perpetuate the kind of blitz tactics that is so common prior to 1600. Even taking a single province, when built to large, can be a powerfully difficult undertaking and yet, you are still at the phase where the fire phase is not sufficiently strong enough to make artillery a worthy investment. It is is the hardest period for the attacker.
So I knew that Austria had an advantage, and because of the decade or so of preparation with Spanish ducats, was effortlessly able to hold an army that was actually, larger the mine. I found myself with 0 manpower each month because of my need to recruit more and more.
What followed over the next 7 years or so, without getting into too much painful detail, was a series of about 20 major battles. I would invade Austria, and inevitably, I'd have to retreat. He would invade me, and inevitably I would destroy his army.
The final phase of the war came as a great shock to me. Austria began to get great army leaders, while I didn't have a single one. The greatest of them, Von Wallenstein made his entrance with a bang when a Austrian army destroyed a invaluable 100k French cavalry in Milan taking maybe 15k-20k losses. It was a combination of a great leader and abominable luck during the tricky shock rolls.
This swung the balance into Austria's favor dramatically, giving them a massive advantage in army size. It is worth pointing out that Austria is at 1 quantity, and after annexing most of northern Germany, had a 93k manpower base, combined with mercenaries that I could never hope to afford.
Now, I had to scramble, taking out a dangerous war taxes, despite the considerable war exhaustion to scrap together an army. Pulling completely out of Germany behind the Rhine, I eventually formed an army big enough to chase Wallenstein back. At this time however, I found myself with one respectable army continually chasing back and forth to fend off the Austrian incursions. Time and time again, 7k or 10k armies of austrian cavalry would pillage their way across France emerging from the Spanish border which I eventually had to completely blockade, or sneaking past Milan after I had to focus my attention in the north. This armies required chasing down.
Down to my last ducat and last soldier, after nearly 17 years of fighting just about everyone except Spain (Who must have been bleeding itself dry at times with the huge amount of ducats it poured into my enemies), the bad war exhaustion revolts began to break out.
Now, came something especially annoying. Austria was able to swoop in and go after my armies sieging occupied Kleves or Picardie, or Savoy, by passing through Netherlands and the the HRE territory, and receiving from some mysterious source, their exact location and size.
Now, to truly imagine my situation, know that I felt the Ottoman Empire was on the verge of re-entering (which had been delayed, to the best of my knowledge, due to it's own revolt risk, and something about losing 300k troops in 3 years of fighting). Sweden also was clamoring to rejoin, and I was positive, England would, to retake Kent.
At this juncture, Spain declares its own intent to join the war if it went on much longer. I.E, past 1618. I don't know if Ulver meant for me to hear it or not, as I caught quite a few pieces of enemy intelligence by forgetting to gray my name out. Seeing as how I was the only name that needed graying out, everyone else being a virtual ally, I'm not quite sure how it was so difficult.
At this stage, I began to know what Napoleon felt like, or what must have driven Hitler to fight it out to his bunker. The absolute difficulty of a individual, who having been assured of his superiority, (or the unlikely probability of losing his allies under new player management and having the entire world unite against you), to be faced with impending doom.
Now, at this stage, I could have dumped everything I had into treasurey, and run my economy into the ground, prolonging the war to painful degrees whilst everyone rejoined. I knew I could not take Austria. It was fortified with spanish gold to large fortresses. Not for the time, I remarked to myself (And to my shame, to everyone in a fit of bitterness) that for now on, I would not subscribe to any merciful peaces that merely give my enemies the chance to recuperate and attack again. I should not have offered to let Austria off the last war, but should have taken Tirol, Bavaria and Ansbach as I originally planned, giving me a much firmer footing. Oh well, live (die) and learn.
I was not willing to sacrifice my country. Mostly because I had not lost hope. The most dangerous opponent is someone who loses hope too easily. They will uncaringly commit their country to destruction.
So with regret, after 17 years of fighting, and faced with the re-entry of Sweden, Ottomans into the war, along with Spain, I knew that especially considering my lack of leaders and inability to keep raising troops (even if they were available) or to resort to mercenaries, I had to make peace.
The terms they imposed on me were unfortunately harsh. Provinces that I had controlled for almost a hundred years, I was forced to set free. German provinces that I had spent almost a 1000 ducats each on converting to catholicism, I was forced to give to Austria. I then had to release 9 others.
To add insult to injury, Savoy managed to declare independence, but I managed to re-annex them. My sole consolation was that not one of my enemies had managed to forcefully take any of my provinces during the war with the exception of wall-less colonies in NA by Sweden.
In hindsight, I wonder if perhaps I should have continued the war to it's bitter bloody end, but then what would that have gained me? My enemies had no intention of ever backing down, Ulver having once declared that he would rather see half of Iberia in french hands then see my position grow stronger.
With the advent of land tech 21 allowing large castles, It was patently impossible to force my way in, and even so, I lacked the resources to do so.
It is important to realize that via every measuring stick, with the sole exception of individual skill, France was roughly third power wise. Austria, having gone on a mad annex spree, was a close fourth. Sure, in a stand up fight, Pure France, vs Pure Austria, Austria would eventually lose. But financed as they were and with years of preparation, and with France bearing the burden of attack, they were plenty able to hold their own. Austria's own rebels were not a problem since half the Spanish, the Swedish, the Ottoman and the Polish armies were commited to putting down Austrian rebellions, which must have been a considerable relief, as scrambling to produce an army out of nothing to put down a revolt somewhere was taxing, at sometimes the most vital moments of the war.
If a war exhaustion free Ottoman Empire or Spain had DoWed or re-DoWed, I would not have stood a chance. Simple numbers point to the coalition being rediculous in the first place...Again to my shame, I lashed out at Mowers or Ulver (?) when they claimed to be preserving the Balance of Power. I claimed this had nothing to do with the Balance of Power, this was a crusade, pure and simple.
Being down 1200 victory points probably added to my conviction.
Seeing Spain, Ottomans, Poland, Austria, Sweden with nominal Dutch intelligence gathering and English cheerleading, (Though admittedly, Mowers might have done alot of the organizing behind the scenes, previous players of England had left it in such terrible shape that he was in no position to even think of war).
It was a little like World War II. Which basically saw the entire world (America, Russia, etc) allied against a nation the size of Texas. I feel that is a closer comparison then the Napoleonic war, which was actually, nearly even in it's way.
I had to make a decision...Did I want to fight this to the walls of Paris, or did I want to preserve myself after a fashion for a better future? I swallowed my pride, (reflecting on Napoleon's exile or perhaps, Hitler's suicide) and asked for peace terms.
Well, of course the coalition took no undue pleasure in exacting the most exorbiant terms possible, with even a Sweden piping up to reserve some colonies for them, but I gritted my teeth and watched as Austria took about 2 years sieging mainz and wurzburg which was allocated to them.
The original objective of the allies had been for me to free a few german vassals, including Palatinate. I did not like them suddenly taking advantage and asking for much much more, but I knew that ultimately, I was in no position to object. I had done the best I could, under the circumstances, but conversly, there was nothing I
could do, as it was a waiting game. Even if I somehow overcame Austria's large fortresses, I would still be at +18 war exhaustion when Spain or Ottoman dowed.
So yes, it was a tough loss to swallow, but I never had any chance to begin with, realistically speaking. I am used to fairly brief campaigns, a opponents army is annihilated, and then a reasonable peace term is conducted. For example, when I sieged and stormed all of England, I took 2 colonies and 2 trading posts out of fairness. This was altogether, a different sort of war. Total war, in which the participants only goal was to see me in flames. I felt a distinctly Carthaginian frustration.
In any case, I am no stranger to coalitions (Hell, Napoleon's Ambition is my favorite campaign), and by all accounts and purposes, all 7 of them performed their duties masterfully, working very well as a team.
It appears for the moment that French hegemony has been replaced by Austrian hegemony in Europe, though it is a tenuous bet to say the least if Austria can hold it without continuing to receive such substantial Spanish funding. The answer is a definite negative. So it is only right that Ulver became the Holy Roman Emperor. For all intents and purposes, it was his war, and it was his sweat and ducats if not blood that won it.
In almost any GC game, you will see a coalition of nations forming against Spain. For some reason, Spain was allowed for over a century under near constant player leadership to expand to it's desire, with zero obstruction. It is thus obvious that Spain is the premier superpower. Allied as they are with six other players, Ulver masterfully directed their attention to a assertive French player. I deeply respect Ulver's diplomatic abilities. That is one of the main reasons I enjoy Multiplayer. The diplomatic aspect to it. Though, I think if I hear one more person mention the BoP, I am going to do something very rash indeed. The Balance of Power was a facade by which Spain assured it's own world dominion with the help of well, everyone else. It is normally France's duty to attempt to offset Spanish power, and Ulver knows this. That the nations whom over the last 4 decades I found myself at war with, England, Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Sweden, and the Ottoman Empire, were only too happy to oblige, is a testement to the persuasive powers that infinite ducats can assure.
So now, France finds itself needing to take a new course in this game. For now, continental hegemony seems denied to them...But what is more preferable? A tyrant in Madrid, Vienna or the Sublime Porte? Only time will tell.
