Chapter 20: The wars of liberation against European tyranny
This update begins where the last one ended -- war with the Mamluks (Tribal Conquest CB), the goal being to connect Judea and Alexandria, and, if possible, to take Sinai, a very lucrative COT.
February 1720: The Mamluk army is destroyed. Good way to kick off the 1720s!
Hovd converts in terror, thinking they might next. I try to explain to them that Russia is a republic and only brutally slaughters their enemies, but it falls on deaf ears.
April 1720: A remarkably quick war, at that! Sinai is still too expensive, war score wise, but it's a great target for the future.
Tannu Tuva converts.
May 1720: Crete, the OPM, decides to DOW the Mamluks. Wow, this I've gotta see.
June 1720: Karshi converts.
September 1720: GB takes cash and a core (Cuzco) from Burgundy. No territory added, but a respectable victory. Savoy wants military access -- that was the country I couldn't figure out last update.
October 1720: I've got low infamy and a hunger for conquest. No more picking on East Asians (for now
). It is time to punish Bohemia! The theater of war:
Each stack has 35k soldiers. War goals: Volhynia (that province that's knifing Russia in the gut), and liberating as many countries as possible. I don't want to go much further west -- border cleanup is one thing, but I'm self imposing restrictions on European land. Russia will do her expanding in the East, as is her destiny, thank you very much.
The only problem: Switzerland is a little gun shy. I send her some cash to improve her opinion, but I don't think she'll honor.
November 1720: Waiting for diplomats (I really ought to have gone Aristocracy in the sliders earlier on, or at least picked diplomat leaders. Oh well, lesson for next time), I notice Ming has DOWed Manchu. Before you get excited, Manchu is an OPM at this point (Beijing).
January 1721: Gilan converts. I send some more cash to Switzerland. I'd really like a two front war.
March 1721: Orleans takes cash and cores from Trebizond. If I were the vindictive sort, I'd smash Trebizond into the ground. Well, I
am the vindictive sort, but by the time I'm ready to do something about it, Trebizond is a meal for somebody else, possibly Byzantium or Morea. I've heard payback can be quite unpleasant.
October 1721: Border Friction CB on Persia -- tempting, but I'll pass. I've got another war to worry about! Since even at +200, Switzerland is a memory, I'll have to take my chances. As I feared, they dishonor. The tale of the tape:
The numbers look overwhelming, but most of my troops are in the Far East, Africa, or Central Asia -- what you saw in the above picture is pretty much it for the armies available. One thing I learned (although unfortunately not until after the AAR) is that I really need to be less eager about assaulting provinces. Sieges may take longer, but it's not the end of the world, and gives me those terrain bonuses. Russia does get an unusual ally -- Austria DOWs Bohemia the moment after I do.
November 1721: I've taken a couple of provinces before our first clash with Bohemian forces -- very bloody.
I'll need to let this army recover a bit -- if I weren't on the defensive in this battle I probably would have lost.
January 1722: Things have stalled a bit -- there's a huge battle going on in Mazovia (about 45k Russians vs. 26k Bohemians, but both about tapped on morale), and the Bohemians enter Russian land, at their old favorite (Carpathia), for the first time. They offer white peace -- hah! Never! This is for the oppressed peoples of Bohemia! If Russia benefits, that's just icing on the cake
The end of the Battle of Mazovia --
As you can see, progress is quite slow moving west. I'm always low on morale because I keep assaulting, instead of sieging. What I can say -- I'm a dolt
February 1722: Vorotinski is a busy general -- he takes the fight to Bohemia, who is trying to reclaim their occupied territory. One of the first huge successes of the war, given the casualty ratio.
April 1722: A brief intermission shows a rousing success for Crete against the Mamluks -- no territory, but some cash and a whole lot of broken treaties. Good for them! A bunch of people flee Beirut for Tsimishan.
May 1722: Bohemia offers the first substantive peace -- a bunch of cash, some cores, and freeing Frankfurt. Nice, but I want more. MOAR!!! Manchu annexes Ming.
June 1722: A warning from Khorasan. An interesting decision -- perhaps I can make use of this later.
July 1722: The eternal bond between Russians and the Swiss is restored -- they won't answer my call for this war, so I don't ask.
August 1722: Bohemia accepts peace with Austria -- I didn't catch the terms, but this does free up more troops to come east.
September 1722: Hammah converts. That's the only good news for this month.
My army in this battle was two armies -- they each pick a different province to retreat to. One survives, the other is summarily crushed. I get a new leader, who's a tremendous bureaucrat but a waste of space at everything else (8/3/3) -- I promise, I do start choosing diplomats at some point.
October 1722: This has been a grueling war -- with the loss of that army, I've only got three armies in theater, none at full strength. One is licking their wounds in Ostpreussen, the other two you can see, but see the massive Bohemian army between them? I've gotten all I can from this war, and I issue my peace terms.
The pinkish region is what Poland will take. This is a huge victory and effectively neutralizes Bohemia as a serious threat -- I'll have to take some time to rebuild my armies before I can pick any more fights with Europeans. Except for Parma, apparently. What is Switzerland's deal with Parma? That's not even their mission, and I don't think they have any cores. Perhaps it is a war of the cheeses.
December 1722: A workshop is constructed in Edirne by some unemployed citizens. Note to self: if I have unemployed citizens, clearly my army isn't big enough yet.
October 1723: Uighurstan cores.
November 1723: Three Manchurian provinces core -- Yakesa, Hinggan, and Heilongjiang.
March 1724: Some bored farmers build a constable in Deren. I think I hear the sounds of a new call for troops!
May 1724: Border friction CB against Persia again. A move towards Aristocracy creates a mini-revolt in St. Petersburg of revolutionaries. Honestly, I thought about letting them win so I could have a revolutionary republic. It would have made things way more interesting. In the end, I decided against it -- I think that was the wrong move.
June 1724: I add Poland to my SOI. I also make use of my border friction CB -- my soldiers need an easy war to restore their spirits after the brutal war against Bohemia.
Najd, Morocco, and Khorasan all come to Persia's aid. I call Iraq and Khiva.
August 1724: Time to colonize Papua, according to God.
September 1724: Urumqui converts -- no sign of the Persian army.
October 1724: Land 43 and new infantry! I don't remember which unit I chose -- either Bluecoats or Frederickian infantry.
December 1724: Najd wants white peace. At this point, I'm occupying Persia and Khorasan.
December 1725: Now I have to colonize Demak.
June 1726: Persia's got a lot of territory and I want the best peace deal possible. Sure does take a long time. In other news, Ramazan defects, taking three of the British provinces in Anatolia. The dinner bell rings, and I start salivating, but that's for another time.
July 1726: Phase 1 of the war in Persia ends.
Khorasan's land is nigh worthless and has plenty of mountains. It's better to have them as my undying servants than as part of Russia.
War with Persia ends. I thought about taking more land, but the thought of uniting more of Anatolia under Russian rule was too much to pass up. This also puts me at war with the Oirat Horde, which means they're soon gone
Iraq-i-Arab is a nice province, too.
July's a busy month -- end one war, start another.
Brandenburg doesn't honor. I didn't think they would, but it did make my heart palpitate just a tiny bit.
August 1726: Transylvania warns me.
September 1726: Instead of checking, I blindly re-elect Mefodiy Khovanski, despite his complete ineptitude at all things non-bureaucratic. Wondering how I could be so stupid, a bunch of people leave Bryansk for Papua.
November 1726: Only two Anatolian provinces left (held by the British)!
To celebrate, I rename Constantinople to the old Russian name for it -- Tsargrad.
February 1727: I discover naval supplies in Papua -- with the colonization of Demak, I get a new mission: build a fine arts academy in Vilna.
April 1727: This is a nice little event, especially the moves towards innovative. I'm getting loads of missionaries now, and I'd like the tech boost more.
I think it's triggered by PotA, but I won't swear to it.
July 1727: I move the Embassy to Roma. Surely I won't take any more land there, right? I carefully examine a new opponent -- with some successful Russian spies, I discover that Burgundy has foolishly sent most of their army to their colonies in North America. It may be time to settle accounts.
November 1727: Kashmir warns us. I start moving troops west. There's a tax revolt in Erseum -- I'll go ahead and cut taxes for a bit, I don't want to worry about rebels right now.
March 1728: Kenai cores.
September 1728: Good news, everyone! Bohemia gives us military access to get to Switzerland that much faster! Wait a minute, that actually
is good news!
January 1729: The hated Burgundians are within my sights -- WAR!!!!!
You can see my four armies in the picture. They're all 30k -- I cut some cavalry out for the tactics bonus. All of my allies honor (hurray!) Unfortunately, Brandenburg honors too, and brings along her German minor pals. Looks like we've got ourselves quite a war.
February 1729: A reform is passed for the HRE -- they never even get close to unifying, which is honestly the one country I'd be mortally afraid of.
March 1729: It would appear the Burgundians are not as tough as Bohemians.
Too tame for you? How about an even bloodier battle?
April 1729: I chase down and kill the army in the above screen shot. The Papal States is now in Germany -- I'm not sure why, since there's no Pope any more
Shocking news! Switzerland actually gets something from Parma! A bunch of cash and a free Sardinia. Good for you guys, now help me with this war!
Of course, I don't exactly
need help
I'm running low on screenshots for this post, but I eliminate 30k Burgundy troops with only 1.5k casualties -- 20 to 1 casualty ratios are always exciting! I kill another army too, but this one is a mere 10:1 casualty ratio.
May 1729: Cloth in Demak, and another huge victory for Russian forces. This is incredibly satisfying. Pyotr Tomasov, hero of the Russian liberation war of Burgundy, reduces a 30k army to virtually nothing with only 4k Russian losses.
June 1729: Chandigarh and Panipat core. Tomasov strikes again, wiping out the remnants of the army he beat in May. He's six fire, one shock, one maneuver.
July 1729: For an encore, he wipes out 6k Frankfurt troops for a couple hundred casualties, then crushes another 25k Burgundian troops. Can this guy ever lose?
Yes. Yes he can. Brandenburg finally shows up, and they show up in strength. There's a lot more where this came from. Worse, Tomasov dies. We shall not forget your sacrifice, brave general!
August 1729: I demand tribute from Burgundy -- Brandenburg will not be easy, so I want to focus on them. I take Sind and free Hainaut and Flanders, cutting a wide swath in northern Burgundy. I even get a nice little consolation prize -- Riga's not Burgundy's vassal any more!
I also sell peace to the Palatinate for a mere 50 ducats. What a deal! Brandenburg offers white peace, which surprises me -- I accept. There will be time to deal with them later.
November 1729: Sidon converts, and with that, we end the update.
The next update will probably be next week, unless I finish with grading exams early.
