The once proud city of London did not manage to hold out long against the superior artillery of the Commonwealth, falling quickly into the Puritans control early on in the war. Theaters were closed down and public activites suspended. King George himself was put under arrest and locked away in his own chambers till the war was concluded. After news reached the King that Aalborg was captured and the army of Holstein destroyed by the Puritan General Kermit Eaglethorpe, King George III broke down and surrendered, giving Megantic and Ticonbengoga along with 450 ducats for peace, though he soon wished he had delayed as word of Colognes declaration of war against the Netherlands reached him.
This changed things dramaticly, as the Commonwealth and its allies now faced another war against Cologne, Kleves, Scotland, The Palatinat, Brittany, Armenia, and Luxembourgh. England was out of the war, but Holstien hung in, despite having its army destroyed.
June 6th, 1790: Northern Yorkshire, The aftermath of the Battle of 1790
It was an interesting life being a citizen of York. Generally considered an English province, for at least a hundred years it had been under the rule of the Scottish crown, a monarchy that now far surpassed its old master.
Yet despite a century worth of being a Scottish territory, a strange desire to rejoin their english brethren existed. Yet for Drew Dunurick that illusion was broken as he watched the Puritan soldiers, defenders of The Commonwealth mercilessly slaughter those wounded Scotsmen who had not yet had the chance to surrender.
The battle itself had been brutal enough, but now, the Puritan fighters stalked along the hills of corpses, skewering those who still twitched or moved with their bloodied bayonetts.
Soon York would fall under Puritan military rule, and Drew prayed that the Scottish crown would sign a peace before that happened. Life as a citizen of Scotland looked better and better to the young man.
On July 14th, 1790 The Palatinat opts out of the war paying 44 ducats to the Alliance and ten days later the war with Holstein comes to an end via the Peace of Ulrich, in which Holstein cedes all claims to Jutland to the Commonwealth and becomes a vassalized state. In August Scotland signs a peace with Willem V of the Netherlands, getting out of the entire war for a mere 136 ducats.
The Commonwealths armies were not the only to take victory, Flanders led a brilliant campaign against Cologne, striking a victory first in their own lands and then in Brabant.
On May 2nd the puritan army under general lancaster engaged the forces of Brittany in the battle of Morbihan, this battle lasted several long weeks but victory was achieved by the Commonwealth forces by the beginning of June. Elsewere Puritan armies captured Kleves and on July 5th a second Puritan army captured Brittany's capital of Armor. Rumor still persists that Rene II was viciously beaten by the Puritan soldiers instructed in guarding him.
On OOctober 9th, 1791 the war had ended. Kleves wasn't annex and was let off easily, but the message was sent. While no land really shifted hands, a great deal of gold was transfered to the Alliance.
July 8th, 1793: The Grand Hall of Parliament - Coventry, The Commonwealth
"interference would be foolish. The french are not children to be coddled.. and if you think they would thank us, you'd be dead wrong. More likely we'd get blamed for every problem they had, real and fictional.. all the way down to their poor cleaning habits." Winston Harumpty said in his deep Bristol accent, mixed slightly with the dialect developing Puritan lower India.
Harumpty was a large and very rotund individual with a long drooping brown mustache and faint curling tuffs of brown hair on his balding head. His skin was deepened with tan, due to his brief six year post as Governor of New Lincoln on the Island of Flores. With a wild wave of his arms, he continued.
"Furthermore, we have not gotten ourselves involved during their so called 'regne de terreur', why trouble ourselves now that they seem to be forming into a republic. Sure they actually killed King Louis, but they are French after all.. you can't expect them to be civilized like us English." That brought a few cautious laughs, for reports from Paris of the blood shed were still coming in. "Paris is surrounded, should they cause any trouble, we can crush the buggers like sweet greek grapes." Apparently Winston had food on the mind, because he smacked his lips together even as he made a crushing motion with his hand.
"Very well, you have made your point Mr. Harumpty, please sit down now." Geoffrey Grenville said with a slight sigh, shuffling through his papers he muttered 'moving right along' before looking up. "so we shall keep an eye on Paris, in more important news our good friend Willem V has recently conveyed his wishes to transform the Netherlands into a republic like ours and hopes to achieve this task within the next two years... lastly our govermental science department.. " Grenville continued despite the mutters that came from the more retroactive members of Parliament. One could not cling to the past afterall, such follies were for decadent monarchies, not progressive republics.
On January 16th, 1795 the Netherlands forged a new republic under the guiding hand of Willem V and the Commonwealth. The new Batavian Republic was warmly accepted by the Alliance and encouraged Flanders to attempt a similar reform. More astonishing perhaps was the utilization of Steam Power by the Puritan Commonwealth on December 1st of the same year. With this the Commonwealth propelled itself forward towards the 19th century. As what remained of France still lay in the clutches of le directoire, The United States had its first 'real' presidential election bringing John Adams to power in Savannah.
Onward Puritan soldiers! Marching off to London. Watch the English burn! Raze London to the ground!
