Memoirs of Alexis I: The Remains of Peace, 1645-1649
My father passed away before the way with Bohemia was 'officially' over; but as Bohemia was unconnected to us in any way, we had little interest in marching our armies through Austria to control lands that would be near impossible to defend. So we simply waited, and laughed at the Bohemian envoys that would show up every once in a while demanding payment. On February 1st of 1645- the first year of my reign- Bohemia offically agreed to a simple white peace as neither side had seen each other's armies in three years. A month later, Austria would gain 67 ducats from them to end the war, and peace was upon us again.
But it would not be a long peace, if I had any say in it. My father had grown up in the Palace, listening to his father and grandfather discus politics and intrigue- and therefore, he was quite happy to be in the Palace, dealing in politics and intrigue and the internal affairs of the nation. But he was a wise man, and knew that in time the need for men of marital knowledge would be paramount; once Russia's internal affairs were in final order, the time to strike would be upon us. Therefore, after receiving my education at the Palace, I was sent to join General Shein as his assistant. For twenty years, I stayed with the army, learning hold best to lead men and how to snatch victory from the chaos of battle. I was commended for honor for my actions at the seige of Smolensk, where the infantry charge I led finally drove the Poles from their forts and into the death of retreat.
When my father passed away, I made it clear that I had no interest in returning to the Palace to be away from my men; rather, I would rule from the field, and damn to any queasy boyar who could not stand to be close to the gunpowder and smoke. My court would be at my headquarters in Elbruz. I had grand plans in the south.
Needless to say, almost as soon as I had taken my title, the Duma attempted to wrest it from me, claiming that no good Tsar would ever leave the palace. But the vote was overwhelmingly defeated- some said that it would look bad while still trying to negotiate a peace with Bohemia, but most were simply terrified that I'd just lead my army to Moscow and shoot the lot of them. Quite frankly, I would have.
I soon proved myself to the boyars, however; even while in Elbruz I was able to set in motion the plans that would create a Stock Exchange in Moscow, to better gain profits from our trading ventures and to offer the government funds in its time of need. After that, most of the boyars were only too happy to let me lead from afar; most of them suddenly found themselves spending all of their days investing in stocks and attempting to make a profit.
And so I was allowed to turn to other affairs, namely, waiting for the right opportunity. We continued to build our army, we worked to colonize the reaches of Siberia, and we kept up a dialogue with Austria and Prussia, the two powers that seemed the most likely future threat to Russia.
In 1650, our waiting paid off. France once again went through one of her own times of troubles, allowing Savoy to declare its independence, then being castigated by the world once it crushed the independence movement. Soon France found Portugal, the Hanseatic League, Sweden, Cyrenacia, Granada, Mysore, Spain, Naples, Lorraine, England, Scotland and Genoa all at war with it simultaneously. France came out on top quite easily- taking Meath from England, Franche-Compte from Spain, and Wales from Scotland. But that was not what mattered to us- what mattered to us were France's allies. Or, more specifically, the lack of them. For France had a grand alliance with Poland, Bohemia, and Pskov; only Poland stood by France through her wars. Pskov and Bohemia demurred, and were kicked out of the alliance.
It must have been horrible to be in the Pskov court on the date of April 10th, 1650; for no sooner had France officially drummed it out of the alliance than we sent a declaration of war upon them.
The Eighty Days War, 1650
It was a very simple plan, and so long as our generals could carry it out, we were fine. We had left Welikia and Tula free of armies, in the hopes that Pskov would send its own army out in search of free pillage; we were quite gratified when news came that the Pskov army had moved south. We sent our armies in from Ingermanland and Estonia, and quickly laid seige to the capital. Pskov attempted to seige Welikia, but quite frankly, we had better guns and more of them. On July 1st, the capital fell, and the nobles still inside quickly agreed to join the Russian Empire. When news reached their army, their leaders immediately volunteered their services to our side. With a few careful appointments and arranged marriages, soon Pskov was as much a part of our country as Volgoda.
I had not left Ebruz during the war; I did not deem it necessary, and preferred to be ready to strike when opportunity presented itself. Which it did not. Now, I have many virtues. But patience is not one of them. After three more years of waiting, I decided to strike even if the iron was cold- damn the boyars who wrung their hands over our lack of reasons. We were ensuring the strength and survival of Russia, and that was reason enough for me.
The Persian War, 1654-1656
On January 15th of 1654, we declared war upon Persia. My army was divided into two main sections, which I felt was enough to cover the terrain down to the southern Persian coast. The resistance we met was incredibly light; occasionally, a small Persian milita would show up and be swatted away like a fly. Our biggest problem was not even the forts the Persians had erected, for all those save the ones around Tehran were modest at best. No, what was worst to us good Russians was the blinding, oppressive heat we faced. Nearly half of our armies were lost to us through poor forage, exhaustion, or fever. But we perservered. And we continually drew forth new troops from the Persians we had converted to Orthodoxy many years before- they were more than happy to show their brothers the true light of Christianity.
For nearly two years, we sweated and sweltered our way across the Persian deserts. Our only enemy was the heat- the Persians were happy to simply sit in their forts and shout taunts at us. But we got the last laugh. On November 12th, the last Persian city fell. What remained of the leaders of Persia came to us, asking to know what price we would set for leaving. We told them no price.
We were there to stay.
The old Muslim Persian order would be destroyed. We would bring Christianity- and support of Russia- to this region. We would reduce the city of Tehran if need be- Islam would be dead to this world.
That attitude of ours lasted for about three years. In the end, we had to abandon our course. In my grandfather's time, a unit of soldiers could be counted on to fall out of order and to loot and pillage; massacres of heathens was an easy thing to let happen. But in these more modern times, my soldiers were ill at ease with such whole-sale slaughter. Mostly, they wanted to stay indoors and away from the god-awful heat. After three years, we had barely made a dent in the populations of our conquests, and while we had converted some of the sparser areas to the north, the large cities of the south remained as strong- and as Muslim- as ever.
Therefore, it was decided to relent. We would allow the Muslims the peace to worship as they saw fit- it return, they would recognize us as their rulers. It was an uneasy agreement, but so far neither side has yet to go back upon it. Thus, Persia- and the southern sea ports, and the access to India- became part of the Russian Empire.
In the meantime, an event of horrible repercussions occured. France and England had, once again, come to blows; nothing that we particualarly cared about, nor nothing that didn't seem to happen once every decade. But upon this new war, England was allied to Prussia, and France allied to Poland- and they both decided to fight each other with great force. When a peace was signed in mid-July, 1660, Prussia took Lithuania and Podolia from Poland, and suddenly the Poles were split in two. For us, this was a rude awakening- both a reminder of the strength of the Prussian armies, as well as a call to grab what we could from Poland while we still had a border.
The Third Border Wars, 1660-1662
On the 6th, we declared war upon Poland ourselves. The eastern section of Poland was easy to take, as no troops remained (and none could get there without crossing through Prussian territory)- a few small detachements of troops and guns was all that was necessary to gain control. But getting Poland to agree to give them up- that would be tougher. I sent Khovanski- one of my better subordinates- to Ukraine to gather together an army for the seige on western Poland. We could access their lands through our ally Austria's territory, which gave us a great benefit- the ability to strike at Poland while letting Austria take the brunt of the counterattack. By August, the army was assembled, and General Khovanski was sent to lay waste to Eastern Poland- with an insistence that he take the capital as a final show of force.
The war seemed to be proceeding well, when news came from the capital. After the boyars raised a bit of a ruckus following our declaration of war upon Persia, I had agreed to sate them by helping fund their investements in the new Stock Exchange- an activity to which they seemed to flock to almost as quickly as to vodka. In Janurary of '61, then, a messenger arrived to let me know that our investitures in the Stock Exchange had gained us over 4000 ducats, and how did I wish them spent? (OOC- Raised the Stability investement to the max, then forgot to turn it back down after Stability was at +3, and thus spent four years with all investement going directly to my pocket. Oops.)
Well. Such money needed to be put to good use, and I knew what would assist the Empire best- we had for too many years relied upon the purchase of weapons from Austria and Prussia in order to outfit our army. Now was the time to create such factories in our own lands, so that we would not need to rely upon our neighbors to keep our armies in top shape. I directed one of my advisors to oversee the construction of such factories in Kazan, Uralsk, Donetsk, and Polotsk.
By 1661, things seemed to be going well- the factories were under construction, our army had reached Polish territory and begun a seige, and things were calm at the capital. But, as you might have guessed, our enemies decided to shake things up for us a bit. And so on June 17th, Turkey declared war upon us.
For all the fears my father had had of the Turkish armies, the war was anticlimactic. Perhaps the Turks sent their great legions after Austria, but for us, the war was a simple affair. Few Turkish troops appeared, and what few did were knocked back by our armies to allow us to conitnue our seiges. This was the advantage of having spent years in preparation- our armies were full strength and well equipped, while the Turks were exhausted from years of fighting their neighbors. On April 14th, news arrived that Khovanski had taken the Polish capital; two months later, the Turks were willing to give us what we wanted.
And, oh, what we had gained! From Turkey, we gained Sochi, Armenia, and 125 ducats; thus, we removed all Muslim rule from the north part of the Black Sea, and gained the gold mines of Armenia for our own wealth. From Poland, we took Mozyr and Chernigov, thus removing all Polish rule from Russian lands, and giving us a nice (that is, easily defensible) river border with the lands of Prussia. In addition, we were able to take Polish maps, which showed these 'new worlds' that we had so often heard the Spaniars and Portugese babbling about. A general outline of the entirely of Africa, the rest of the Chinese empire, the position of the "nippons" that we had heard of... these would be put to immediate use.
Russia's largest problem is, as my father detailed, its size. This is especially true when it comes to the navy- we had four seperate coastlines (the Baltic, the Black Sea, the Persian Gulf, and the Pacific), and the chance of a navy being able to get from one to the other was- well, before these maps were gained, it was impossible. But now, we could put plans into motion so that we could send our fleets from one to the other.
We saw four lands that we as yet unclaimed- Leone and Namaqua in Africa, Cochin in India, and Da Lat in Asia. These would not be the easiest lands to take, but were we able to, we could send our fleets from one to the next and be able to encircle the globe without fear of having only half of the navy arrive at port. Our goal would be to set up a trading post, and then expand it into a colony.
Our work to do such ended up taking most of my time, along with rebuilding the southern armies for our next campaign. Affairs at the palace kept falling farther and farther from my mind, and so finally I agreed to let Jukov- the leader of the Dumas- run a great deal of the day-to-day affairs of the empire while I focused upon the rest. He was a brilliant man, and with him as my assistant, the Empire was never better run (OOC- "Brilliant Minister" Special Event, all skills raised to 10!)
For twelve years, my focus was upon gaining Russia a colonial empire. By 1673, we had managed to turn Leone into a Colony of goodly size, turned Cochin into a colony and even taken a few neighboring areas as Trading Posts, and made colonies in Dai Lat and Namaqua.
But as we did so, I became more and more incensed by the presence of the Portugese in Indus. Their little colony was all that I could see between linking up our holdings in Persia and our new colonies in India. But how best to snatch it from them?
Eventually, the answer came to me- they were allied with Sweden. We were in a strong position vis a vis Sweden, and should Portugal be willing to join in defense of their ally, we could easily overwhelm the tiny garrison they had left in Indus; add that to taking a few provinces from Sweden, and we could likely take Indus as part of our peace with the Swedish alliance.
So plans were put into motion. Our northern troops were strengthened; we continued our writing campaign with Austria and Prussia; the latter to make a friend, the former to keep one.
Our plans were almost thrown into disarray in August of '72; Austria declared war upon France for some unknown reason. Austria, of course, asked us to join the alliance. But France held the colonies to the south of ours in India, and we had no way to defend ourself from French attack. The trading posts burned, the colony stolen- vision of disaster danced in our heads. And so we backed down. Austria was troubled, but still willing to join us again in an alliance immediately after. So at least some disaster was averted.
The Fourth Border Wars, 1673-1677
On January 2nd of 1673, we declared war upon Sweden. Our armies stayed in place to the north; we would let the Swedes march through the winters to throw themselves upon us. In the south, though, we quickly moved against Sweden's ally Portugal.
We made short work of the Portugese, but the Swedes nearly had us. Outnumbered and outgunned, they still showed incredible bravery. Their leaders knew tactics we had never thought of, and even when we outnumbered them 10 to 1 we considered ourselves lucky to win.
Then, on Feburary 7th, Turkey once again raised its hand against us with a declaration of war. Our troops were still somewhat battered from the last war; it was hoped we have given better than we had got.
Then we received a larger shock when a large army of Indians showed up and attacked us in Indus- they called themselves the 'Mysore', from what I later gathered. Our troops were lucky to hold them off, and what few resources we could spare from the war against Turkey were rushed to defend our captured territory in Indus. But worse was to come- the Mysore swept south, and captured Cochin and burned our trading posts around it- the very vision of disaster which had kept us from fighting the French! Then, to make matters worse, a small band of Turks grabbed Namaqua, meaning we would have to make further gains against the Turks in order to even things out.
By mid '74, things had gotten a bit more under control. We had lost Cochin, but held Indus, and no further progress could really be made. The Turks once again never sent armies against us in force, and we were able to take what provinces we needed for a peace; we gained Persis, Azerbadjan, and 125 ducats. Now our holdings in the south are even easier to defend, and the next Turkish war will likely see us begin fighting for the Balkans.
Now, as the year 1675 begins, we plan to throw everything we have against the Swedes. Their armies are small, but they pack a great deal of punch. We have managed to take Savolaks and Livonia; but our losses in India- combined with a Swedish unit getting into our rear and rampaging through Oneda- has emboldened the Swedes and they refuse to admit defeat. But our armies are stronger, and we shall take our due if it takes the next decade.
Memoirs of Feodor III: The Fourth Border War, 1673-1677
In the summer of 1675, the Empire nearly split asunder. We had driven the Swedes from Nyland and pushed heavily into their homeland when my father, Tsar Alexi I, suffered a stroke. He was completely incapacitated- while I and the rest of my family believed he still could understand what was going on around him and what was being said to him, he had no real ability to respond or communicate with anyone. Our great leader was gone.
Jukhov, leader of the Duma, used this opportunity to finish his own scheming. He called the Duma together and insisted that Alexi be removed as Tsar due to his inability to govern. For his replacement, Jukhov humbly suggested himself as the only one of enough government experience to truly reign. Given the current war with the Swedes, he claimed that letting me, the rightful heir, take over would be tantamount to handing victory to the tenacious northerners.
For two weeks, the debates raged, the bribes flew, and intrigues were placed and revealed. While our troops continued to fight for the glory of Tsar Alexi, their leader and fellow soldier, I found myself fighting for my life; maybe more than just politically, for Jukhov himself would be found poisoned in his bedchamber. Many were quick to blame me for that; I felt it improper to point out that there were at least three Duma members being cuckolded by Jukhov and two more being blackmailed by him.
In early June, the Duma finally relented and selected me to take the title of Tsar for myself. After Jukhov's death, the intriguers and schemers had fallen into smaller factions, and each was easily placated with small bribes of patronage when it became clear that they could not truly win the office on their own. And so I took up the reigns of government to finish off the war my father had begun, and to win the glory he had sought. (OOC: Political Crisis, -3 Stability)
My role in that part, however, was mostly perfunctory. The troops were already in motion by the time I was given command, and there was little to be done save to hope they succeeded. They did not completely- the seige on the Swede's capital was abandoned after too many losses- but enough was gained that we could force the Swedes to the table. For our troubles, we took Savolaks and Port Indus- for I saw what my father wished to accomplish in India, and thought it a plan worth keeping.
But our rejoicing would quickly end, for on September 18th- a mere 11 days after signing the peace with Sweden- Denmark would declare war upon us. We were in a lousy spot- the only armies available against the Danes were the same ones so broken by the fighting with Sweden. But we had no other choice- we drew what troops we could from the Prussian border, and paid fine bonuses to anyone willing to volunteer. Somehow, we scavenged together an army that was able to hit the Danes in Norway and drive them back. First Finnmark fell, and we offered a white peace to the Danes to have the matter done with. But their blood was up, and they would not yet make a deal. Fearing that what we had gained would soon be lost, we held our ground and rushed reinforcements to the area. The Danes counterattacked, but their armies were nothing compared to the Swedes, and our troops easily held them off. In early 1677, we finally had gathered enough together to push forward on the attack, and soon the Danes were losing all of their hold on Norway. They responded by blockading our ports in the Baltic and attempting the occasional landing in Estonia, but they were driven back with ease.
On May 19th, they relented, and agreed to hand us Finmark and Narvia for their temerity in declaring war upon us.
Thus ended the war; now was the time for peace. We would rebuild our armies and continue the developement of our Indian and African colonies. Then, when war would strike again, we would be ready to make great gains...
