Prussia: The Age of Enlightenment (1700-1792)
In 1700, King Charles II of Spain dies, and his will changes the course of European history. He specifies that the French grandson of Louis XIV should become the king of Spain, albeit with the stipulation that the two thrones may not be joined under a single king. Louis XIV challenges the second condition, which triggers the War of Succession between what is de facto a joint monarchy and a broad coalition of states including England, the Netherlands, Austria and Prussia. Meanwhile, Peter the Great is waging war with his Polish and Danish allies against the Swedes, still the dominant power in northern Europe.
Prussia starts the scenario with four provinces in central Germany, two in East Prussia and two on the front lines of the war against Spain in the lowlands. Although I have one province producing textiles and one producing shipping goods, my economy essentially is based on salt, grain and fish, not a very auspicious basis for greatness. My primary strength is the quality of my 65,000 man army, led by Field Marshall Anhalt-Dessau.
Anhalt-Dessau is immediately put to the test against huge Franco-Spanish armies. I have to expend my entire treasury on a spectacularly expensive conscription program, but our forces are ultimately victorious against the invaders. The Dutch are also successful and force the French to hand over Caux, the location of their main shipyard complex in the English Channel. Austria buys peace with an indemnity but annexes French allies Cologne and Bavaria.
This early conflict leaves me in a poor position, as I have nothing to show for my massive casualties. The war in the north costs Sweden its key fortress at Ingermanland, but they retain control of Bremen and Western Pommern. Worst of all, Russia vassalizes Poland in 1701. My southern neighbor Saxony is allied to Poland and Russia, Hanover is a vassal of England, and Hessen is a member of the Anglo-Austrian alliance. In a nutshell, I am weakened by war and I have no easy targets for expansion.
When all else fails, borrow. I take loans in 1704 and invest in infrastructure. Meanwhile, the naval office is approached by an eccentric gentleman by the name of Neumünster, who proposes that we send an expedition to explore new markets in the Far East. I agree to build Neumünster a single ship and wish him the best. To my surprise, he makes it all the way to Japan before perishing in a storm. In fact, his reconnaissance is so novel that I am able to exchange geographical data with Russia and the Netherlands.
Austria is straining at the bit for another fight with the French and declares war in 1708. Anhalt-Dessau again performs brilliantly against vastly larger invading armies but is mortally wounded in the field. France eventually prevails at the cost of some 500,000 casualties! The Netherlands loses both Caux and Surinam to France and a minor colony to Spain, while Austria is forced to pay 250 ducats to both France and Spain. England loses a large proportion of its fleet. Turkey then jumps on Austria, which has to fork over an indemnity to stave off disaster.
In 1713, Friedrich Wilhelm I comes to power and is soon faced with a foreign policy crisis when Austria declares war against Russia in 1718. I decide that I have had enough of Vienna's military adventures and defect from the Anglo-Austrian alliance to the Russo-Polish alliance. I would in any event have been unprepared for war with Saxony alone, much less with Poland and Russia. Plus Austria's recent losses against Turkey and Spain had diminished its military might. Finally, it appeared that my best prospects for expansion would be against Sweden, who had lost five provinces to Russia and Poland in recent wars but had annexed the Hansa's last north German province. This proves to be a wise decision, as the Russians are able to defeat the Austrians for an indemnity and Saxony manhandles Austria's German allies.
But I am not required to enter this war and can focus instead on developing my infrastructure. By 1720, I have increased my revenues by some 20% in real terms thanks to these improvements alone. I am doubly relieved that I have deserted the Austrians when another war between France and Austria costs Vienna Tyrol and Cologne in 1720.
Sweden concludes a six-year war by ceding another province to Russia and one to Denmark. Evidently, the Danes are so impressed by their Russian allies that they agree to become Moscow's vassals in 1722! Meanwhile, Peter the Great's fleet now dominates the Baltic Sea. Sweden is completely encircled, and my situation may not be much better if I don't start to expand. If Russia fully annexes Poland and Denmark, I will be in a world of hurt.
In 1727, I finally build up an army that is capable of quickly snatching Sweden's north German territory and declare war. I get an indication of the quality of my new allies when Denmark and Poland refuse to join my campaign, presumably at the behest of Moscow, which wants all the spoils for itself. I succeed in annexing West Pommern and Sweden's ally Holstein, but both provinces are heavily fortified and my armies suffer horrendous losses. I sue for peace before Russia can gain any more territory. This will be an alliance of convenience; my only goal is to take as much of Sweden as fast as I can.
I declare war again in 1735, the Poles and Danes desert me and Russia is initially distracted by Sweden's new ally Turkey. This was in fact my intention in requesting Russian assistance instead of taking on the token Swedish forces in Germany on my own. I am secretly hoping that the Turks will humble the Russians, but quite the opposite occurs. Russia quickly gains two Turkish provinces and one from the Crimeans, giving Moscow its first two ports on the Black Sea. Russia then turns on Sweden and annexes two more provinces. Without a Baltic fleet, I am unable to force Sweden to cede more than the single territory of Mecklenburg.
In 1740, Frederick the Great becomes ruler of Prussia. He assembles the Prussian general staff to discuss the poor performance of the military heretofore as well as possible countermeasures against the Russian alliance. Staff is reshuffled and a number of reforms are introduced. Sweden has rebuilt its military, and there is serious consideration of a diplomatic realignment with Stockholm. Sweden still controls Bremen, but Polish territory could be more lucrative. Ultimately, it is decided that the best possible course of action is to build a fleet capable of invading Sweden, since the Swedes would not be able to pull their weight against the Russians in the Scandinavian theater.
With my preparations complete, I declare war on Sweden in 1746, hoping that I can secure my objectives quickly enough to avert further Swedish concessions to Russia. Military intelligence had been providing reliable reports of a massive re-armament effort in Turkey. Unfortunately, Turkey abandons its alliance with Sweden, and Russians pour into Finland. Sweden surrenders another three provinces. I manage to capture the Baltic island of Gotland as well as a beachhead in Sweden at Smaland. Once again, however, my losses are staggering. When Russia finishes with Sweden, it exploits a Turkish-Persian war and captures another two Turkish provinces on the Black Sea in 1750.
Meanwhile, the balance of power continues to shift in favor of France and Spain. In 1748, the Netherlands and England both lose a Canadian colony to France. The Franco-Spanish alliance has a decisive advantage on land and is successfully contesting the Anglo-Dutch control of the seas.
Russia in the meantime has managed to establish two cities and four trading posts in southern Argentina, controlling trade for the region through its trade center there. Russia also controls seven provinces in North America from the Yukon down the west coast to Baja. Tension rises in the region, and in 1755, Russia declares war on Spain. This presents me with a hell of a dilemma. On one hand, I am conscious of the need to restore some balance in central Europe against Spain and France. Spanish Belgium has been in the throes of massive revolts for decades. My annual income has more than doubled from my starting income, and I have built up a large warchest. Finally, I have great confidence in the abilities of General Heinrich of the Army of the Rhein and his 50,000 men. On the other hand, war against Spain would distract me from my plans to finish the partition of Sweden.
I decide to join the war against Spain, and it is a colossal error. Heinrich and his army are annihilated to a man by a massive Franco-Spanish army. Fortunately, I have invested heavily in fortifications and they inflict so many casualties that I am eventually able to wring a 250 ducat indemnity from the Spanish. As for the Russians, they end up losing three provinces to the Spanish and French in Argentina. But the real blow comes in 1757, when Russia invades Sweden without inviting me to join in. Joint operations with the Danes and Poles gains the Russians Bremen and an additional Swedish province. I have been betrayed! Was the war over Argentina just a ruse to lure me into a costly distraction?
I will digress from war and diplomacy for a moment and talk about the economic model. In the past 50 years, the economic dynamics in Europe have led to significant changes in the prices of key products. Vast areas of Eastern Europe and the Balkans have been at peace under the aegis of the Russians and Turks, boosting the output of grain and wool to the extent that the prices of those two goods have fallen by about 20%. Meanwhile, intensive construction of conscription centers and shipyards to feed Europe's military machines has driven up the price of textiles, naval stores and iron by nearly 30%. Does any of this matter? If a country has good infrastructure in place, a big rise in commodity prices can make a marginal difference. For a country like England with a significant textile and metallurgy industry, higher prices are a welcome boon. I estimate that England is able to afford the equivalent of at least 3,000 additional soldiers per year thanks to these trends. It doesn't sound like much, but this kind of advantage can mean the difference between victory and defeat in a colonial war, where one can typically only conscript 1,000 soldiers per province at once. As a matter of fact, England succeeds in gaining a key French Canadian province and Spanish Belize in 1766. There were more important factors behind Britain's victories, but all of these little factors add up.
Or perhaps the extra revenue was directed to financing London's diplomatic initiatives in Germany. In 1755, Hessen becomes an English vassal, which together with the English protectorate over Hanover seriously diminishes my hopes of gaining territory that would link the bulk of my country with the two provinces on the Spanish border. I would have to go to war with the Anglo-Dutch-Austrian alliance, and even a victory would contradict my desire to contain the French and Spain. Expansion to the south into Saxony would draw me into a war with their Russian, Polish and Danish allies.
In 1763, an opportunity presents itself when the Kurpfalz is momentarily isolated outside an alliance. I assign General Ziethen the task of annexing the two provinces south of our western German enclave. Ziethen manages to lose so badly to the heavily outnumbered enemy that they are actually able to occupy one of our provinces. I finally browbeat the Mainzer into paying a 250 ducat indemnity, which allows me to save some face and cut my losses. But what a catastrophy!
When the Russians invite Venice into their alliance, it becomes clear that I am nothing but a convenient appendage to their foreign policy agenda. I decide that the best course of action is to court the Austrians in the hope that they will accept me back into their alliance with England and the Netherlands. The Dutch have built up a seemingly impregnable network of fortifications in the Netherlands as well as conscription centers in every province. They would certainly make a useful ally in a land war. In 1766, I leave the Russians for the Austrian-led alliance.
I give Ziethen another chance in 1770, and this time under pain of death he succeeds. My two new provinces aren't exactly the most valuable real estate in Germany, but any territorial gain is welcome in crowded central Europe. I get another piece of good news in 1774 when a stock exchange opens in Berlin. This allows me to tap the capital markets for five times as much money at half the interest cost. I immediately take a loan for 1000 ducats to upgrade infrastructure and prepare my next assault on Sweden.
My schemes are rudely interrupted in 1775, when the Dutch declare war on Spain amidst raging rebellions throughout Spanish Flanders. The French come to Spain's rescue, and despite shocking losses are able to capture three Dutch provinces. The Netherlands pays 250 ducats ransom each to Paris and Madrid to get its territory back. It's a good thing too, because the French army had also made its way into my territory and had occupied Munster after destroying my Army of the Rhine.
While I'm getting pounded by the French, the Russians and their allies are waging a devastatingly successful war against the Turks. In 1777, Russia wrests another two provinces from the Crimeans and one from Turkey, while Poland gains Croatia and Bosnia from Turkey.
I attack Sweden in 1779 before Russia can beat me to it. Sweden is in league with the Turks again, and my Austrian and German allies move south to engage the remnants of the Turkish army. I have to admit that I miss the Russians a bit as the somewhat re-built Swedish navy harries my troop transports in the Baltic. But I am ultimately able to deliver Frederick the Great himself as well as my siege specialist General Bransberg to Sweden. They take up command of Prussian forces in Smaland, and within three years, Frederick the Great accepts the complete capitulation of the Swedes. I absorb Sweden's last four territories. (I had deactivated Sweden's status as a playable power so that I could fully annex the country). Tragically, our great leader dies shortly after his finest victory.
My yearly income now totals over 900 ducats, or three times the revenues I started with in 1700. The new sovereign, Friedrich Wilhelm II, engages the general staff in a heated debate over where to direct the country's resources. Opinions are divided on whether to target Britain's German vassals or to seek revenge against the Russians for their cunning betrayal. By 1784, tensions emerge within the venerable Anglo-Austrian alliance amidst allegations that Berlin is drawing the alliance away from its original and still urgent containment policy against France. But I finally get my way on the diplomatic front. England and the Netherlands split off to form their own alliance with Venice. Austria and I form an anti-Russian pact with Saxony and Württemburg.
The feebleminded Peter III comes to power in Russia, and the paranoia and incompetence of the new czar triggers a dramatic crisis of confidence within the Russian Empire. Russian foreign policy soon plunges into such disarray that the foreign ministry is unable to convince even its vassal Denmark to renew their military alliance, and Poland is left completely hanging. In 1784, Moldova declares its independence from Russia, and Austria immediately invites them to join our alliance. Austria then declares war on Poland. As the Poles frantically seek help from Moscow, our powerful German alliance crushes all resistance. After Warsaw falls to Prusso-Saxon troops under the capable command of General Insterberg, the Polish cede three provinces to Austria as well as Western Prussia and Danzig to me. Rival merchants are summarily booted out of the center of trade there.
Speaking of trade, the daring and ultimately tragic voyage of Neumünster eighty years earlier proves not to have been in vain. Friedrich Wilhelm II commissions an overseas trading company to establish markets in the Far East for Prussian manufactured goods. Within a few years, this company succeeds in displacing the Dutch as the leading commercial power in Kyoto, Japan, bringing in lucrative trade revenue.
In 1788, the Russians restore some semblance of a foreign policy and take the Poles back under their protection. Undeterred, Austria declares war on Russia one year later as the Russian army struggles to put down a massive eight-province revolt in central Asia. I tap the banks in Berlin for another loan and mobilize for a final war of retribution. Prussian armies burn their way through the Russian countryside, and are only sated when Moscow surrenders Livonia and Belarus in 1791.
But despite Russia's poor showing at the close, it ends the scenario in a virtual tie with England for first place. Spain ties for second place with the Netherlands, which has established a leading position in India, South Africa and Indonesia in addition to its many smaller colonies scattered throughout the world. France and Austria follow, and Prussia finishes dead last.
I guess this AAR is an illustration of how clever the AI can be (in Russia's case) and how critically important it is to choose your alliances carefully. The biggest mistake I made was allowing myself to get sucked into wars with the Franco-Spanish juggernaut without having much to gain from it. My position in Germany also offered few opportunities for expansion without locking horns with powerful alliances. On the other hand, I did manage to gain 13 fairly valuable provinces. Had I had more than 92 years to develop my strategy, I eventually would have caught up with my rivals. It would have been interesting to see what Napoleon would have made of France's position in Europe at the end of this game.
In 1700, King Charles II of Spain dies, and his will changes the course of European history. He specifies that the French grandson of Louis XIV should become the king of Spain, albeit with the stipulation that the two thrones may not be joined under a single king. Louis XIV challenges the second condition, which triggers the War of Succession between what is de facto a joint monarchy and a broad coalition of states including England, the Netherlands, Austria and Prussia. Meanwhile, Peter the Great is waging war with his Polish and Danish allies against the Swedes, still the dominant power in northern Europe.
Prussia starts the scenario with four provinces in central Germany, two in East Prussia and two on the front lines of the war against Spain in the lowlands. Although I have one province producing textiles and one producing shipping goods, my economy essentially is based on salt, grain and fish, not a very auspicious basis for greatness. My primary strength is the quality of my 65,000 man army, led by Field Marshall Anhalt-Dessau.
Anhalt-Dessau is immediately put to the test against huge Franco-Spanish armies. I have to expend my entire treasury on a spectacularly expensive conscription program, but our forces are ultimately victorious against the invaders. The Dutch are also successful and force the French to hand over Caux, the location of their main shipyard complex in the English Channel. Austria buys peace with an indemnity but annexes French allies Cologne and Bavaria.
This early conflict leaves me in a poor position, as I have nothing to show for my massive casualties. The war in the north costs Sweden its key fortress at Ingermanland, but they retain control of Bremen and Western Pommern. Worst of all, Russia vassalizes Poland in 1701. My southern neighbor Saxony is allied to Poland and Russia, Hanover is a vassal of England, and Hessen is a member of the Anglo-Austrian alliance. In a nutshell, I am weakened by war and I have no easy targets for expansion.
When all else fails, borrow. I take loans in 1704 and invest in infrastructure. Meanwhile, the naval office is approached by an eccentric gentleman by the name of Neumünster, who proposes that we send an expedition to explore new markets in the Far East. I agree to build Neumünster a single ship and wish him the best. To my surprise, he makes it all the way to Japan before perishing in a storm. In fact, his reconnaissance is so novel that I am able to exchange geographical data with Russia and the Netherlands.
Austria is straining at the bit for another fight with the French and declares war in 1708. Anhalt-Dessau again performs brilliantly against vastly larger invading armies but is mortally wounded in the field. France eventually prevails at the cost of some 500,000 casualties! The Netherlands loses both Caux and Surinam to France and a minor colony to Spain, while Austria is forced to pay 250 ducats to both France and Spain. England loses a large proportion of its fleet. Turkey then jumps on Austria, which has to fork over an indemnity to stave off disaster.
In 1713, Friedrich Wilhelm I comes to power and is soon faced with a foreign policy crisis when Austria declares war against Russia in 1718. I decide that I have had enough of Vienna's military adventures and defect from the Anglo-Austrian alliance to the Russo-Polish alliance. I would in any event have been unprepared for war with Saxony alone, much less with Poland and Russia. Plus Austria's recent losses against Turkey and Spain had diminished its military might. Finally, it appeared that my best prospects for expansion would be against Sweden, who had lost five provinces to Russia and Poland in recent wars but had annexed the Hansa's last north German province. This proves to be a wise decision, as the Russians are able to defeat the Austrians for an indemnity and Saxony manhandles Austria's German allies.
But I am not required to enter this war and can focus instead on developing my infrastructure. By 1720, I have increased my revenues by some 20% in real terms thanks to these improvements alone. I am doubly relieved that I have deserted the Austrians when another war between France and Austria costs Vienna Tyrol and Cologne in 1720.
Sweden concludes a six-year war by ceding another province to Russia and one to Denmark. Evidently, the Danes are so impressed by their Russian allies that they agree to become Moscow's vassals in 1722! Meanwhile, Peter the Great's fleet now dominates the Baltic Sea. Sweden is completely encircled, and my situation may not be much better if I don't start to expand. If Russia fully annexes Poland and Denmark, I will be in a world of hurt.
In 1727, I finally build up an army that is capable of quickly snatching Sweden's north German territory and declare war. I get an indication of the quality of my new allies when Denmark and Poland refuse to join my campaign, presumably at the behest of Moscow, which wants all the spoils for itself. I succeed in annexing West Pommern and Sweden's ally Holstein, but both provinces are heavily fortified and my armies suffer horrendous losses. I sue for peace before Russia can gain any more territory. This will be an alliance of convenience; my only goal is to take as much of Sweden as fast as I can.
I declare war again in 1735, the Poles and Danes desert me and Russia is initially distracted by Sweden's new ally Turkey. This was in fact my intention in requesting Russian assistance instead of taking on the token Swedish forces in Germany on my own. I am secretly hoping that the Turks will humble the Russians, but quite the opposite occurs. Russia quickly gains two Turkish provinces and one from the Crimeans, giving Moscow its first two ports on the Black Sea. Russia then turns on Sweden and annexes two more provinces. Without a Baltic fleet, I am unable to force Sweden to cede more than the single territory of Mecklenburg.
In 1740, Frederick the Great becomes ruler of Prussia. He assembles the Prussian general staff to discuss the poor performance of the military heretofore as well as possible countermeasures against the Russian alliance. Staff is reshuffled and a number of reforms are introduced. Sweden has rebuilt its military, and there is serious consideration of a diplomatic realignment with Stockholm. Sweden still controls Bremen, but Polish territory could be more lucrative. Ultimately, it is decided that the best possible course of action is to build a fleet capable of invading Sweden, since the Swedes would not be able to pull their weight against the Russians in the Scandinavian theater.
With my preparations complete, I declare war on Sweden in 1746, hoping that I can secure my objectives quickly enough to avert further Swedish concessions to Russia. Military intelligence had been providing reliable reports of a massive re-armament effort in Turkey. Unfortunately, Turkey abandons its alliance with Sweden, and Russians pour into Finland. Sweden surrenders another three provinces. I manage to capture the Baltic island of Gotland as well as a beachhead in Sweden at Smaland. Once again, however, my losses are staggering. When Russia finishes with Sweden, it exploits a Turkish-Persian war and captures another two Turkish provinces on the Black Sea in 1750.
Meanwhile, the balance of power continues to shift in favor of France and Spain. In 1748, the Netherlands and England both lose a Canadian colony to France. The Franco-Spanish alliance has a decisive advantage on land and is successfully contesting the Anglo-Dutch control of the seas.
Russia in the meantime has managed to establish two cities and four trading posts in southern Argentina, controlling trade for the region through its trade center there. Russia also controls seven provinces in North America from the Yukon down the west coast to Baja. Tension rises in the region, and in 1755, Russia declares war on Spain. This presents me with a hell of a dilemma. On one hand, I am conscious of the need to restore some balance in central Europe against Spain and France. Spanish Belgium has been in the throes of massive revolts for decades. My annual income has more than doubled from my starting income, and I have built up a large warchest. Finally, I have great confidence in the abilities of General Heinrich of the Army of the Rhein and his 50,000 men. On the other hand, war against Spain would distract me from my plans to finish the partition of Sweden.
I decide to join the war against Spain, and it is a colossal error. Heinrich and his army are annihilated to a man by a massive Franco-Spanish army. Fortunately, I have invested heavily in fortifications and they inflict so many casualties that I am eventually able to wring a 250 ducat indemnity from the Spanish. As for the Russians, they end up losing three provinces to the Spanish and French in Argentina. But the real blow comes in 1757, when Russia invades Sweden without inviting me to join in. Joint operations with the Danes and Poles gains the Russians Bremen and an additional Swedish province. I have been betrayed! Was the war over Argentina just a ruse to lure me into a costly distraction?
I will digress from war and diplomacy for a moment and talk about the economic model. In the past 50 years, the economic dynamics in Europe have led to significant changes in the prices of key products. Vast areas of Eastern Europe and the Balkans have been at peace under the aegis of the Russians and Turks, boosting the output of grain and wool to the extent that the prices of those two goods have fallen by about 20%. Meanwhile, intensive construction of conscription centers and shipyards to feed Europe's military machines has driven up the price of textiles, naval stores and iron by nearly 30%. Does any of this matter? If a country has good infrastructure in place, a big rise in commodity prices can make a marginal difference. For a country like England with a significant textile and metallurgy industry, higher prices are a welcome boon. I estimate that England is able to afford the equivalent of at least 3,000 additional soldiers per year thanks to these trends. It doesn't sound like much, but this kind of advantage can mean the difference between victory and defeat in a colonial war, where one can typically only conscript 1,000 soldiers per province at once. As a matter of fact, England succeeds in gaining a key French Canadian province and Spanish Belize in 1766. There were more important factors behind Britain's victories, but all of these little factors add up.
Or perhaps the extra revenue was directed to financing London's diplomatic initiatives in Germany. In 1755, Hessen becomes an English vassal, which together with the English protectorate over Hanover seriously diminishes my hopes of gaining territory that would link the bulk of my country with the two provinces on the Spanish border. I would have to go to war with the Anglo-Dutch-Austrian alliance, and even a victory would contradict my desire to contain the French and Spain. Expansion to the south into Saxony would draw me into a war with their Russian, Polish and Danish allies.
In 1763, an opportunity presents itself when the Kurpfalz is momentarily isolated outside an alliance. I assign General Ziethen the task of annexing the two provinces south of our western German enclave. Ziethen manages to lose so badly to the heavily outnumbered enemy that they are actually able to occupy one of our provinces. I finally browbeat the Mainzer into paying a 250 ducat indemnity, which allows me to save some face and cut my losses. But what a catastrophy!
When the Russians invite Venice into their alliance, it becomes clear that I am nothing but a convenient appendage to their foreign policy agenda. I decide that the best course of action is to court the Austrians in the hope that they will accept me back into their alliance with England and the Netherlands. The Dutch have built up a seemingly impregnable network of fortifications in the Netherlands as well as conscription centers in every province. They would certainly make a useful ally in a land war. In 1766, I leave the Russians for the Austrian-led alliance.
I give Ziethen another chance in 1770, and this time under pain of death he succeeds. My two new provinces aren't exactly the most valuable real estate in Germany, but any territorial gain is welcome in crowded central Europe. I get another piece of good news in 1774 when a stock exchange opens in Berlin. This allows me to tap the capital markets for five times as much money at half the interest cost. I immediately take a loan for 1000 ducats to upgrade infrastructure and prepare my next assault on Sweden.
My schemes are rudely interrupted in 1775, when the Dutch declare war on Spain amidst raging rebellions throughout Spanish Flanders. The French come to Spain's rescue, and despite shocking losses are able to capture three Dutch provinces. The Netherlands pays 250 ducats ransom each to Paris and Madrid to get its territory back. It's a good thing too, because the French army had also made its way into my territory and had occupied Munster after destroying my Army of the Rhine.
While I'm getting pounded by the French, the Russians and their allies are waging a devastatingly successful war against the Turks. In 1777, Russia wrests another two provinces from the Crimeans and one from Turkey, while Poland gains Croatia and Bosnia from Turkey.
I attack Sweden in 1779 before Russia can beat me to it. Sweden is in league with the Turks again, and my Austrian and German allies move south to engage the remnants of the Turkish army. I have to admit that I miss the Russians a bit as the somewhat re-built Swedish navy harries my troop transports in the Baltic. But I am ultimately able to deliver Frederick the Great himself as well as my siege specialist General Bransberg to Sweden. They take up command of Prussian forces in Smaland, and within three years, Frederick the Great accepts the complete capitulation of the Swedes. I absorb Sweden's last four territories. (I had deactivated Sweden's status as a playable power so that I could fully annex the country). Tragically, our great leader dies shortly after his finest victory.
My yearly income now totals over 900 ducats, or three times the revenues I started with in 1700. The new sovereign, Friedrich Wilhelm II, engages the general staff in a heated debate over where to direct the country's resources. Opinions are divided on whether to target Britain's German vassals or to seek revenge against the Russians for their cunning betrayal. By 1784, tensions emerge within the venerable Anglo-Austrian alliance amidst allegations that Berlin is drawing the alliance away from its original and still urgent containment policy against France. But I finally get my way on the diplomatic front. England and the Netherlands split off to form their own alliance with Venice. Austria and I form an anti-Russian pact with Saxony and Württemburg.
The feebleminded Peter III comes to power in Russia, and the paranoia and incompetence of the new czar triggers a dramatic crisis of confidence within the Russian Empire. Russian foreign policy soon plunges into such disarray that the foreign ministry is unable to convince even its vassal Denmark to renew their military alliance, and Poland is left completely hanging. In 1784, Moldova declares its independence from Russia, and Austria immediately invites them to join our alliance. Austria then declares war on Poland. As the Poles frantically seek help from Moscow, our powerful German alliance crushes all resistance. After Warsaw falls to Prusso-Saxon troops under the capable command of General Insterberg, the Polish cede three provinces to Austria as well as Western Prussia and Danzig to me. Rival merchants are summarily booted out of the center of trade there.
Speaking of trade, the daring and ultimately tragic voyage of Neumünster eighty years earlier proves not to have been in vain. Friedrich Wilhelm II commissions an overseas trading company to establish markets in the Far East for Prussian manufactured goods. Within a few years, this company succeeds in displacing the Dutch as the leading commercial power in Kyoto, Japan, bringing in lucrative trade revenue.
In 1788, the Russians restore some semblance of a foreign policy and take the Poles back under their protection. Undeterred, Austria declares war on Russia one year later as the Russian army struggles to put down a massive eight-province revolt in central Asia. I tap the banks in Berlin for another loan and mobilize for a final war of retribution. Prussian armies burn their way through the Russian countryside, and are only sated when Moscow surrenders Livonia and Belarus in 1791.
But despite Russia's poor showing at the close, it ends the scenario in a virtual tie with England for first place. Spain ties for second place with the Netherlands, which has established a leading position in India, South Africa and Indonesia in addition to its many smaller colonies scattered throughout the world. France and Austria follow, and Prussia finishes dead last.
I guess this AAR is an illustration of how clever the AI can be (in Russia's case) and how critically important it is to choose your alliances carefully. The biggest mistake I made was allowing myself to get sucked into wars with the Franco-Spanish juggernaut without having much to gain from it. My position in Germany also offered few opportunities for expansion without locking horns with powerful alliances. On the other hand, I did manage to gain 13 fairly valuable provinces. Had I had more than 92 years to develop my strategy, I eventually would have caught up with my rivals. It would have been interesting to see what Napoleon would have made of France's position in Europe at the end of this game.
Damn, still it was its puppet after 1717, though not officially so I guess it conforms to a historical outcome.