I went to the named site for the screenshots. You say you have difficulties with the writing of HTML. If you wish I could help you out there, for that's my job anyhow.
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Excellent work, Corrado, one of the finest aars I have ever seen, tho more screenshots would be nice 
and perhaps a bit less blurry too Anyway, you have a wonderful writing style, very easy to read, very interesting, very in-depth, very informative, and, most importantly, very much a story, and not just a recount of details. Keep up the great work!
and perhaps a bit less blurry too Anyway, you have a wonderful writing style, very easy to read, very interesting, very in-depth, very informative, and, most importantly, very much a story, and not just a recount of details. Keep up the great work!
Sharur- Thank you very much for the compliments! My only problem now is that I'm fervently trying to figure out what next to do an AAR upon (and what style to do).
As for the pics- I'm still working on reformatting the site better (in my 'copious free time'). I appreciate offers of assistance, but this is something it's durned well about time I learned to do for myself. However, I've decided to reduce the size of the pictures in the hopes of making them a little less blurry.
And now 1677 pictures are up!
Go to my site for all the screen shots I have. So far...
As for the pics- I'm still working on reformatting the site better (in my 'copious free time'). I appreciate offers of assistance, but this is something it's durned well about time I learned to do for myself. However, I've decided to reduce the size of the pictures in the hopes of making them a little less blurry.
And now 1677 pictures are up!
Go to my site for all the screen shots I have. So far...
Does that mean you're not going to finish? Bummer, you've still got over a hundred years to go
Oh, no, still definitely going to finish. Played up to 1700 tonight, and should have a report on *that* fine little mess tomorrow. I've never pushed all the way to 1792 before, and damned if I'll stop after actually attracting an audience.
I'm just saying that while trying to steer the ship of state through the final lap, I'm distracted by thoughts of where to go next. I'm jumping between three ideas- making a Cromwellian England (i.e., go to Reform ASAP and see where that takes me); trying a minor country (Milan or some other Italian state to attempt Italian revanchement- personal bias, after all); or taking a look at the other side of the fence through Turkey.
But I'll definitely finish this one. I'm doing too well and having too much fun, even if fighting five wars at once is a bit, well, distracting.
I'm just saying that while trying to steer the ship of state through the final lap, I'm distracted by thoughts of where to go next. I'm jumping between three ideas- making a Cromwellian England (i.e., go to Reform ASAP and see where that takes me); trying a minor country (Milan or some other Italian state to attempt Italian revanchement- personal bias, after all); or taking a look at the other side of the fence through Turkey.
But I'll definitely finish this one. I'm doing too well and having too much fun, even if fighting five wars at once is a bit, well, distracting.
Whatever you do, I'm sure you'll do it well. Myself, I'd prefer Turkey, b/c I'm playing a Turkey IGC right now, and would like to compare, and besides, I haven't seen too many, if any, Turkey aars. Although, I plan to do one myself after I finish my game...
If you want to try out a Moslem country, I would suggest maybe trying Persia or the Mameluks, I have not seen AAR's for either one of them.
Sharur: Thank you again! I've had others suggest a Turkish AAR, and I'm thinking of going that direction. However, I'd prefer not to be in 'competition' with another AAR, so let me know how your Turkish game goes and I'll see if I can do one in completely the opposite direction (i.e., going east while you go west, or going south while you go north).
Chengar- I'm not *quite* masochistic enough to play the Mameluks, yet. As for the Persians- that's a possibility; I'll have to try them once or twice.
Anyways- on with the AAR.
Chengar- I'm not *quite* masochistic enough to play the Mameluks, yet. As for the Persians- that's a possibility; I'll have to try them once or twice.
Anyways- on with the AAR.
The Memoirs of Tsar Peter I: The Twenty Years War, 1677-1700
My half-brother Fedor had grand plans for the empire. We would establish great colonies in Africa, India, and southeast Asia, and from there expand to dominate the entire Eastern Hemisphere. To that end, our country was focused upon turning Cochin, Da Lat, and Namaqua into full cities and giving them a small garrison. He fully expected war with France in the future, and we needed to be in position to steal the French colonies in India.
War with France came sooner than he had expected, not that he was around to see it. February of 1682 saw twin crises strike our fair land. First, Fedor- always sickly and weak of body, if not of mind- passed away of a sudden illness. The Duma came alive again with intrigue, for my father Alexis had left three heirs to choose from. From his first wife, Sophia and Ivan; from his second wife, myself. The traditionalists in the Duma felt that the Tsardom should pass naturally to the next oldest male heir, which was unfortunately Ivan- a drooling lunatic given to picking his nose in public. And that was on his good days. Others in the Duma felt that I, as the sane male heir, should be the next upon the throne; however, being but a ten-year old boy, they worried about who would truly reign for the next eight years. In the end, it was decided that, as a compromise between the two family lines, Sophia would reign as Regent until I reached an age of majority.
The second crisis was the sudden declaration of war upon France. They had suffered a great deal in the intervening years, having given Milan to Venice, Cornwall back to England, and having once again lost Savoy to rebels and forcefully retaken it. Seeing a window of opportunity, the Austrians declared war upon France, with their real objective being to hit France's allies- Thuringen, Brandenburg, and Wurtemburg. Needless to say, as Austria's ally, we were expected to join in the declaration, and Sophia was more than happy to do so. But she did not realize what she was getting our country into.
Perhaps I am a biased source, given my relationship with Sophia; but the successes we received over the next few years were due to Feodor's planning, not any abilities of hers. She quite frankly preferred to host balls and celebrate her reign- while bribing the boyars and her personal guards so as to make sure that my reign never came. I was lucky enough to have a good friend in the Captain of the Kremlin Guard- Yuri Lefort- and thus was able to avoid (or at least survive) the several assassination attempts against me over the next eight years.
In any case- the war. Feodor had raised a small army in Cochin, which immediately set about occupying the French colonies in India and burning the trading posts we could find. Meanwhile, General Gordon was sent through Austria at the head of sixty thousand men with a view to seiging the French province of Helvetia. The French would never simply give up their colonies- we would need to draw some blood upon the Continent before they would give in.
Our activities in India were short and simple- the French possessions were undefended, save a small fort in Madurai which was quickly breached. The march upon Helvetia took much longer- it was not until autumn of '82 that we arrived and began the seige. Many in the Kremlin felt the attack was a disaster waiting to happen- we were now at the front lines, waiting for the French to counterattack rather than hiding behind Austria in this war- but Fedor had known it would be the only way to force France to relinquish their Indian colonies- especially the Trading Center of Madruai. Thankfully, Sophia never faltered from her brother's plans- perhaps she held him in high esteem (certainly, higher esteem than she did me); or, perhaps she worried that she would be unable to come up with ideas of her own.
In any case, Fedor's plans proved themselves worthy. The French managed to gather an army of 100,000 men and throw them upon our seige force at Helvetia, but strong Russian men and good Russian guns threw them back with no great loss on our side. While the French licked their wounds, we managed to break the walls and win our seige of Helvetia. But still the French would not hear of giving up Madurai, the source of their riches in the East. We then sent Gordon north to Baden, in the hopes of wringing more pain out of the French.
But the French decided to place a seige upon Helvetia and try and win back their losses, and we were in a hard place- their army was larger and easily breaking the walls we had hastily rebuilt; were we to drive them away from Helvetia, we would lose our gains in Baden. Thankfully, God continued to smile down upon our great land, and in December of '83 Savoy yet again declared its independence of France. The seige of Helvetia was abandoned so that the troops could move against Savoy. While Savoy was quickly annexed again by the French, they had given us an extra six months to finish the seige of Baden.
Perhaps with the taking of Baden, we should have continued to fight against the French and push for the rest of their Indian colonies; but in early May, the Indian nation of Mysore declared war upon us- bringing in their allies of Portugal and Sweden. Suddenly, Gordon's army and our Southern Indian army were needed urgently elsewhere, and we signed a hasty peace with the French- taking Madurai and 250 ducats as our due. This left Madras still in French hands, but that would have to wait for another war. Of course, even as we were leaving, others were joining- before the year 1684 was out, France would find itself at war not only with Austria but with the Venetian Alliance (containing England, Netherlands, Prussia, Hyperabad, Navarra, and the Iriquois) and the Genoan Alliance (containing Spain, Lorraine, the Papal State, and Poland). Eventually, Austria would annex Thuringen and take Helvetia from France, while Spain would take Jyliand and Bearn from France and Genoa would gain Meath.
As for our fighting- the war in the north went quickly. Whatever fire in the belly the Swedes had shown fifty years previous was long gone, broken by the superior guns and tactics we possessed. Livonia and Finnland quickly fell, and under the leadership of the brilliant General Cheremetv, we pushed into Sweden proper and brought the war to their homes. On September 1st of 1685, the Swedes offered us Livonia and Finnland for peace, and we gladly accepted- now, all of Finnland was ours, and the long sought reunification of the Russian lands was complete.
But in the south, things did not progress well at all. We were able to quickly burn the Portugese colonies on the west of India, but our progress in the seige of the Mysore lands was slow, when there was progress at all. We did not have enough guns, and our ability to produce them in our small colonies in southern India was pitiful at best. To make matters worse, in mid-August of 1685 the Mughals declared war upon us again, and our reserves in Persia had to be thrown against them instead of Mysore.
But slow progress is still progress. In March of 1687- after constant calling of volunteers throughout Persia and southern India- we managed to conquer the last Mysore stronghold, and annexed them. The surviving armies of the Mysore were put under Russian command and thankfully were only too happy to move to fight their old Mughal enemies in the north.
When I arrived at the age of majority in 1689, the situation in India was dim, at best. The Mughal armies had been easily swept aside, but their provinces were heavily fortified, and we were making little progress against them. To make matters worse, the seven years of constant warfare was taking its toll upon our populace and our economy. Particularly hurt were the Persian merchants who had once made a thriving trade with the Mughals, and their anger directed itself into wave after wave of rebellion in the south. The reinforcements we had gathered with the thought of supporting the Mughal war were quickly diverted to breaking these rebels.
As if matters were not bad enough, Sophia seemed uninterested in sharing the crown. She schemed and plotted behind my back, and I do not doubt the the rebellions we soon faced in Tula and Kurland were her doing. But our northern troops were still relatively strong, and the uprisings were put down without much trouble.
The question I then faced was simple. We had made some gains against the Mughals; should we press further for conquest, or take what we had gotten and call it enough? To press for more war was to continue to inflame our southern provinces into rebellion; but to call for peace now seemed to me to simply set the stage for a future war we might not be as prepared for. I called for as many volunteers as I could in the areas, sent my good friend Lefort to the south to take command, and busied myself in reforms of the state, hoping that by removing the corrupt and inefficient old practices, we could mollify the south. While many praised my efforts, rebellion in the south continued unabated. [OOC: Good Government RE, +1 stab, 1000 in trade and infrastructure]
Our war against the Mughals was slowly ending, but the vultures in Europe saw us as a weak state about to fall due to the major uprisings we were seeing. In April of 1690, Turkey declared war upon us; in June, Denmark followed suit. Thankfully, Austria remained our steadfast ally and joined us in both wars.
Our response was rapid. Cheremetev was called from his fight against the rebels in Finnland to go forth and attack the Danes; and Fedor's plans against the Turks were put into full action. Our small armies in South Africa found little resistance to their attacks into Table and their burning of the Turkish trading posts in the southeast. Our armies in Armenia and Azerbadjan quickly moved to seige Trabon, Kurdistan and Tabriz, and Gordon's army began the move into Bujak. We had hoped to put pressure upon Iraq, but our Persian armies were far, far too busy trying to put down the near-constant rebellions the Muslims were making in the south.
By 1691, I was quite tired of Sophia's attempts to remove me, but I was not yet strong enough to simply declare her removed. And while she had no qualms about having me killed, I knew that to kill her would unleash anger across the Empire- anger that was already in great quantity due to nine years of war. Instead, I struck at her supporters- three boyars were found guilty of minor (and mostly trumped-up) crimes, and their estates were liquidated and turned over to me [OOC: Random Event, Nobles 'donate' 200 ducats to the treasury].
The money was quickly put to raising more troops in Finland, Persia, and India, both to fuel our wars and to crush the unrest. We needed the wars to end, and end soon.
June saw some respite, quickly followed by dangers- Denmark offered Jamtland for peace, and we accepted; but Turkey gave Austria Wallachia and 250 ducats for peace, and we feared the Turkish armies would be quickly headed east against us. And still the seige of the Mughal lands continued with little gains.
1692 saw the war seesaw again. With our sieges of Kurdistan and Tabriz finished, and seeing Turkish reinforcements in the distance, we settled the war with Turkey in a peace, with us gaining Trabov, 250 ducats, but most importantly, the South African province of Table, thus unifying our holdings in Southern Africa. But Spain (with its allies Lorraine, Genoa, Poland, and the Papal States) declared war upon us. Thankfully, Austria once again proved itself to be our faithful ally.
The war with Spain was a misery. We easily marched in and took Memel from them, and expected that to be the end of it- but then Spain dropped 10,000 men in Leone, then another 10,000 in Da Lat, quickly overwhelming the small garrisons there. It took nearly a year to gather the boats together to send another garrison to retake the lands once the Spanish moved on, and even then the Spanish were unwilling to concede a draw. Thus, in June of '93 we paid the damned Spaniards 250 ducats for a peace, just to keep them from harassing our colonies. We just kept reminding ourselves we were giving them the money Turkey had paid us to go away.
Winter of '93 saw things deteriorate even more. Riots continued at full pace in Persia, and our small armies there were rushed from one front to the next to destroy the Muslim uprisings. Then our holdings in Mysore went up in flames, as some distant relatives of the old rulers attempted to restart their empire by overthrowing *us*. As if that was not enough, Bohemia declared war upon Austria, and we were compelled to join them after all they had gone through sticking with us, and then the last independent Indian state- Hyperabad, with its single province and a 90,000 man army- declared war upon us, shortly followed by France and Sweden declaring war *again* upon us.
The French could not truly be fought. We had designs to send Gordon out again to hit Baden and perhaps demand the last French holdings in India, but we did not have enough troops in India to spare for taking the French provinces, and Gordon was too busy putting down rebellions in Catholic Tula (I must admit, I give thanks every day that my ancestors drove the Muslims out of the Crimea, for if they had not my rebellion troubles would have been even worse) to wander all the way through Austria again. To top it off, France landed 40,000 men in Leone, easily overrunning our 5,000 man garrison there. We could not send nearly enough troops up that way, and we knew that our South African holdings would be the next target, and so in September of '94 we gave up Leone to France in exchange for peace. It was with great sadness that I did this; it was the first loss of Russian territory since Ivan III had overthrown the Mongols two hundred years before. But the French were too strong, and we were far too distracted by other wars.
Thankfully, General Cheremetev still had his bag of tricks, and even our exhausted and decimated armies in the north were able to push back the Swedes and eventually sack the Swedish captial. And in India, the Hyperabadians went straight for the south, and ended up at war with the rebels attempting to re-establish Mysore, leaving Lefort able to make the last push against the Mughals. On June 4th of 1695, Sweden gave us 57 ducats, Lapland, and Vasterboten for peace; on July 23rd, the Mughals were annexed and LeFort turned south. The Hyperbadians were no match for our guns; what few survived the fights with the rebels were quickly dispatched, and their forts were small potatoes compared to those of the Mughals. On July 10th of 1696, we recaptured the last province that the Hyperbadians had taken from us, and officially annexed them.
But our troubles were not over. Or, at least mine. Our peace with France had emboldened Sophia, and she decided that the time was right for a final strike. She publicly denounced me for having given up land to the French, and called for a general uprising to oust me and place her solely upon the throne [OOC: Wave of Obscurantism, +3 rebellion].
I had many arguments to counter her. Again, my proven ability to administrate the country had become the talk of Europe, and a great many monarch were traveling to Russia to study my methods [OOC: Good Government, +1 Stability, 1000 in trade, 1000 in infrastructure]; she had never been known as such. Yes, I had given up control of Leone. However, we had set up two other trading posts in the west of Africa as a replacement, and while I had lost one colony, I had gained one in South Africa and nearly the entirety of India- not to mention expanding our Persian holdings and doubled our Scandanavian possessions. And with the quick payment of 250 ducats to Bohemia for a peace, we were finally at a full peace for the first time in 14 years.
But of all my arguments, I preferred steel the best. With peace on all fronts, our armies were quickly marched to destroy the rebels in every place they could be found. It would take three years before the last of them were removed, but by 1700 all thoughts of rebellion had been driven from the people's heads. Especially the head of Sophia- when she was caught attempting to assemble an army in Kurland, my loyal soldiers tortured her to such an extent that when she was finally presented to me, she was a gibbering idiot. For her own safety, I had her locked away in one of the palace towers, then had the tower sealed off. 'Tis a shame she starved to death so quickly- her screams of terror and pain actually helped me sleep better at night.
But even as the rebellions were being crushed, we were not completely out of the forest. Turkey, the fools, decided that Sophia's call to arms was a sign that our government was falling, and declared war against us again.
Before, we had been tied down by rebellions throughout Persia. This time, our armies were mostly free, if a bit run-down. But even run-down armies were strong enough to ride roughshod over Turkey's ally Iraq and over the undefended forts in the Turkish east. And we had a special surprise for Turkey this time- a small fleet was assembled in Hormuz, and we ferried a few soldiers over to the island of Socotra- a nice little waypoint for journeys around Africa, or a launching point for other over-sea invasions. By the end of 1698, Iraq gave us Hamad, Basrah, and 49 ducats for peace, while Turkey gave up Socotra, Tabriz, and 174 ducats to avoid further abuse. Austria would keep fighting, and in September of '99 gain 250 ducats and Kosovo for its troubles.
Came then a full year of peace, and we knew that the war was truly over. As if in honor of that, a new Center of Trade was opened in Transhei- right in our African colony. My thoughts turned towards the future, and an assurance of the dominance of Russia...
My half-brother Fedor had grand plans for the empire. We would establish great colonies in Africa, India, and southeast Asia, and from there expand to dominate the entire Eastern Hemisphere. To that end, our country was focused upon turning Cochin, Da Lat, and Namaqua into full cities and giving them a small garrison. He fully expected war with France in the future, and we needed to be in position to steal the French colonies in India.
War with France came sooner than he had expected, not that he was around to see it. February of 1682 saw twin crises strike our fair land. First, Fedor- always sickly and weak of body, if not of mind- passed away of a sudden illness. The Duma came alive again with intrigue, for my father Alexis had left three heirs to choose from. From his first wife, Sophia and Ivan; from his second wife, myself. The traditionalists in the Duma felt that the Tsardom should pass naturally to the next oldest male heir, which was unfortunately Ivan- a drooling lunatic given to picking his nose in public. And that was on his good days. Others in the Duma felt that I, as the sane male heir, should be the next upon the throne; however, being but a ten-year old boy, they worried about who would truly reign for the next eight years. In the end, it was decided that, as a compromise between the two family lines, Sophia would reign as Regent until I reached an age of majority.
The second crisis was the sudden declaration of war upon France. They had suffered a great deal in the intervening years, having given Milan to Venice, Cornwall back to England, and having once again lost Savoy to rebels and forcefully retaken it. Seeing a window of opportunity, the Austrians declared war upon France, with their real objective being to hit France's allies- Thuringen, Brandenburg, and Wurtemburg. Needless to say, as Austria's ally, we were expected to join in the declaration, and Sophia was more than happy to do so. But she did not realize what she was getting our country into.
Perhaps I am a biased source, given my relationship with Sophia; but the successes we received over the next few years were due to Feodor's planning, not any abilities of hers. She quite frankly preferred to host balls and celebrate her reign- while bribing the boyars and her personal guards so as to make sure that my reign never came. I was lucky enough to have a good friend in the Captain of the Kremlin Guard- Yuri Lefort- and thus was able to avoid (or at least survive) the several assassination attempts against me over the next eight years.
In any case- the war. Feodor had raised a small army in Cochin, which immediately set about occupying the French colonies in India and burning the trading posts we could find. Meanwhile, General Gordon was sent through Austria at the head of sixty thousand men with a view to seiging the French province of Helvetia. The French would never simply give up their colonies- we would need to draw some blood upon the Continent before they would give in.
Our activities in India were short and simple- the French possessions were undefended, save a small fort in Madurai which was quickly breached. The march upon Helvetia took much longer- it was not until autumn of '82 that we arrived and began the seige. Many in the Kremlin felt the attack was a disaster waiting to happen- we were now at the front lines, waiting for the French to counterattack rather than hiding behind Austria in this war- but Fedor had known it would be the only way to force France to relinquish their Indian colonies- especially the Trading Center of Madruai. Thankfully, Sophia never faltered from her brother's plans- perhaps she held him in high esteem (certainly, higher esteem than she did me); or, perhaps she worried that she would be unable to come up with ideas of her own.
In any case, Fedor's plans proved themselves worthy. The French managed to gather an army of 100,000 men and throw them upon our seige force at Helvetia, but strong Russian men and good Russian guns threw them back with no great loss on our side. While the French licked their wounds, we managed to break the walls and win our seige of Helvetia. But still the French would not hear of giving up Madurai, the source of their riches in the East. We then sent Gordon north to Baden, in the hopes of wringing more pain out of the French.
But the French decided to place a seige upon Helvetia and try and win back their losses, and we were in a hard place- their army was larger and easily breaking the walls we had hastily rebuilt; were we to drive them away from Helvetia, we would lose our gains in Baden. Thankfully, God continued to smile down upon our great land, and in December of '83 Savoy yet again declared its independence of France. The seige of Helvetia was abandoned so that the troops could move against Savoy. While Savoy was quickly annexed again by the French, they had given us an extra six months to finish the seige of Baden.
Perhaps with the taking of Baden, we should have continued to fight against the French and push for the rest of their Indian colonies; but in early May, the Indian nation of Mysore declared war upon us- bringing in their allies of Portugal and Sweden. Suddenly, Gordon's army and our Southern Indian army were needed urgently elsewhere, and we signed a hasty peace with the French- taking Madurai and 250 ducats as our due. This left Madras still in French hands, but that would have to wait for another war. Of course, even as we were leaving, others were joining- before the year 1684 was out, France would find itself at war not only with Austria but with the Venetian Alliance (containing England, Netherlands, Prussia, Hyperabad, Navarra, and the Iriquois) and the Genoan Alliance (containing Spain, Lorraine, the Papal State, and Poland). Eventually, Austria would annex Thuringen and take Helvetia from France, while Spain would take Jyliand and Bearn from France and Genoa would gain Meath.
As for our fighting- the war in the north went quickly. Whatever fire in the belly the Swedes had shown fifty years previous was long gone, broken by the superior guns and tactics we possessed. Livonia and Finnland quickly fell, and under the leadership of the brilliant General Cheremetv, we pushed into Sweden proper and brought the war to their homes. On September 1st of 1685, the Swedes offered us Livonia and Finnland for peace, and we gladly accepted- now, all of Finnland was ours, and the long sought reunification of the Russian lands was complete.
But in the south, things did not progress well at all. We were able to quickly burn the Portugese colonies on the west of India, but our progress in the seige of the Mysore lands was slow, when there was progress at all. We did not have enough guns, and our ability to produce them in our small colonies in southern India was pitiful at best. To make matters worse, in mid-August of 1685 the Mughals declared war upon us again, and our reserves in Persia had to be thrown against them instead of Mysore.
But slow progress is still progress. In March of 1687- after constant calling of volunteers throughout Persia and southern India- we managed to conquer the last Mysore stronghold, and annexed them. The surviving armies of the Mysore were put under Russian command and thankfully were only too happy to move to fight their old Mughal enemies in the north.
When I arrived at the age of majority in 1689, the situation in India was dim, at best. The Mughal armies had been easily swept aside, but their provinces were heavily fortified, and we were making little progress against them. To make matters worse, the seven years of constant warfare was taking its toll upon our populace and our economy. Particularly hurt were the Persian merchants who had once made a thriving trade with the Mughals, and their anger directed itself into wave after wave of rebellion in the south. The reinforcements we had gathered with the thought of supporting the Mughal war were quickly diverted to breaking these rebels.
As if matters were not bad enough, Sophia seemed uninterested in sharing the crown. She schemed and plotted behind my back, and I do not doubt the the rebellions we soon faced in Tula and Kurland were her doing. But our northern troops were still relatively strong, and the uprisings were put down without much trouble.
The question I then faced was simple. We had made some gains against the Mughals; should we press further for conquest, or take what we had gotten and call it enough? To press for more war was to continue to inflame our southern provinces into rebellion; but to call for peace now seemed to me to simply set the stage for a future war we might not be as prepared for. I called for as many volunteers as I could in the areas, sent my good friend Lefort to the south to take command, and busied myself in reforms of the state, hoping that by removing the corrupt and inefficient old practices, we could mollify the south. While many praised my efforts, rebellion in the south continued unabated. [OOC: Good Government RE, +1 stab, 1000 in trade and infrastructure]
Our war against the Mughals was slowly ending, but the vultures in Europe saw us as a weak state about to fall due to the major uprisings we were seeing. In April of 1690, Turkey declared war upon us; in June, Denmark followed suit. Thankfully, Austria remained our steadfast ally and joined us in both wars.
Our response was rapid. Cheremetev was called from his fight against the rebels in Finnland to go forth and attack the Danes; and Fedor's plans against the Turks were put into full action. Our small armies in South Africa found little resistance to their attacks into Table and their burning of the Turkish trading posts in the southeast. Our armies in Armenia and Azerbadjan quickly moved to seige Trabon, Kurdistan and Tabriz, and Gordon's army began the move into Bujak. We had hoped to put pressure upon Iraq, but our Persian armies were far, far too busy trying to put down the near-constant rebellions the Muslims were making in the south.
By 1691, I was quite tired of Sophia's attempts to remove me, but I was not yet strong enough to simply declare her removed. And while she had no qualms about having me killed, I knew that to kill her would unleash anger across the Empire- anger that was already in great quantity due to nine years of war. Instead, I struck at her supporters- three boyars were found guilty of minor (and mostly trumped-up) crimes, and their estates were liquidated and turned over to me [OOC: Random Event, Nobles 'donate' 200 ducats to the treasury].
The money was quickly put to raising more troops in Finland, Persia, and India, both to fuel our wars and to crush the unrest. We needed the wars to end, and end soon.
June saw some respite, quickly followed by dangers- Denmark offered Jamtland for peace, and we accepted; but Turkey gave Austria Wallachia and 250 ducats for peace, and we feared the Turkish armies would be quickly headed east against us. And still the seige of the Mughal lands continued with little gains.
1692 saw the war seesaw again. With our sieges of Kurdistan and Tabriz finished, and seeing Turkish reinforcements in the distance, we settled the war with Turkey in a peace, with us gaining Trabov, 250 ducats, but most importantly, the South African province of Table, thus unifying our holdings in Southern Africa. But Spain (with its allies Lorraine, Genoa, Poland, and the Papal States) declared war upon us. Thankfully, Austria once again proved itself to be our faithful ally.
The war with Spain was a misery. We easily marched in and took Memel from them, and expected that to be the end of it- but then Spain dropped 10,000 men in Leone, then another 10,000 in Da Lat, quickly overwhelming the small garrisons there. It took nearly a year to gather the boats together to send another garrison to retake the lands once the Spanish moved on, and even then the Spanish were unwilling to concede a draw. Thus, in June of '93 we paid the damned Spaniards 250 ducats for a peace, just to keep them from harassing our colonies. We just kept reminding ourselves we were giving them the money Turkey had paid us to go away.
Winter of '93 saw things deteriorate even more. Riots continued at full pace in Persia, and our small armies there were rushed from one front to the next to destroy the Muslim uprisings. Then our holdings in Mysore went up in flames, as some distant relatives of the old rulers attempted to restart their empire by overthrowing *us*. As if that was not enough, Bohemia declared war upon Austria, and we were compelled to join them after all they had gone through sticking with us, and then the last independent Indian state- Hyperabad, with its single province and a 90,000 man army- declared war upon us, shortly followed by France and Sweden declaring war *again* upon us.
The French could not truly be fought. We had designs to send Gordon out again to hit Baden and perhaps demand the last French holdings in India, but we did not have enough troops in India to spare for taking the French provinces, and Gordon was too busy putting down rebellions in Catholic Tula (I must admit, I give thanks every day that my ancestors drove the Muslims out of the Crimea, for if they had not my rebellion troubles would have been even worse) to wander all the way through Austria again. To top it off, France landed 40,000 men in Leone, easily overrunning our 5,000 man garrison there. We could not send nearly enough troops up that way, and we knew that our South African holdings would be the next target, and so in September of '94 we gave up Leone to France in exchange for peace. It was with great sadness that I did this; it was the first loss of Russian territory since Ivan III had overthrown the Mongols two hundred years before. But the French were too strong, and we were far too distracted by other wars.
Thankfully, General Cheremetev still had his bag of tricks, and even our exhausted and decimated armies in the north were able to push back the Swedes and eventually sack the Swedish captial. And in India, the Hyperabadians went straight for the south, and ended up at war with the rebels attempting to re-establish Mysore, leaving Lefort able to make the last push against the Mughals. On June 4th of 1695, Sweden gave us 57 ducats, Lapland, and Vasterboten for peace; on July 23rd, the Mughals were annexed and LeFort turned south. The Hyperbadians were no match for our guns; what few survived the fights with the rebels were quickly dispatched, and their forts were small potatoes compared to those of the Mughals. On July 10th of 1696, we recaptured the last province that the Hyperbadians had taken from us, and officially annexed them.
But our troubles were not over. Or, at least mine. Our peace with France had emboldened Sophia, and she decided that the time was right for a final strike. She publicly denounced me for having given up land to the French, and called for a general uprising to oust me and place her solely upon the throne [OOC: Wave of Obscurantism, +3 rebellion].
I had many arguments to counter her. Again, my proven ability to administrate the country had become the talk of Europe, and a great many monarch were traveling to Russia to study my methods [OOC: Good Government, +1 Stability, 1000 in trade, 1000 in infrastructure]; she had never been known as such. Yes, I had given up control of Leone. However, we had set up two other trading posts in the west of Africa as a replacement, and while I had lost one colony, I had gained one in South Africa and nearly the entirety of India- not to mention expanding our Persian holdings and doubled our Scandanavian possessions. And with the quick payment of 250 ducats to Bohemia for a peace, we were finally at a full peace for the first time in 14 years.
But of all my arguments, I preferred steel the best. With peace on all fronts, our armies were quickly marched to destroy the rebels in every place they could be found. It would take three years before the last of them were removed, but by 1700 all thoughts of rebellion had been driven from the people's heads. Especially the head of Sophia- when she was caught attempting to assemble an army in Kurland, my loyal soldiers tortured her to such an extent that when she was finally presented to me, she was a gibbering idiot. For her own safety, I had her locked away in one of the palace towers, then had the tower sealed off. 'Tis a shame she starved to death so quickly- her screams of terror and pain actually helped me sleep better at night.
But even as the rebellions were being crushed, we were not completely out of the forest. Turkey, the fools, decided that Sophia's call to arms was a sign that our government was falling, and declared war against us again.
Before, we had been tied down by rebellions throughout Persia. This time, our armies were mostly free, if a bit run-down. But even run-down armies were strong enough to ride roughshod over Turkey's ally Iraq and over the undefended forts in the Turkish east. And we had a special surprise for Turkey this time- a small fleet was assembled in Hormuz, and we ferried a few soldiers over to the island of Socotra- a nice little waypoint for journeys around Africa, or a launching point for other over-sea invasions. By the end of 1698, Iraq gave us Hamad, Basrah, and 49 ducats for peace, while Turkey gave up Socotra, Tabriz, and 174 ducats to avoid further abuse. Austria would keep fighting, and in September of '99 gain 250 ducats and Kosovo for its troubles.
Came then a full year of peace, and we knew that the war was truly over. As if in honor of that, a new Center of Trade was opened in Transhei- right in our African colony. My thoughts turned towards the future, and an assurance of the dominance of Russia...
A Report Upon The Status Of The Russian Empire, As Requested By Tsar Peter I, 1700
General Summary
At this point, Russia is the strongest known nation upon the earth. Our armies outnumber any of our foes three-to-one, we are equipped with the best weapons known to man, and we have a bevy of good generals willing to lead us in battle. Our traders are the best in the world, even finally beating out the Portugese; and with seven Trade Centers under our control, we are flooded with merchants. Our roads are described in the terms once used to describe those of the Roman Empire, and as a result, trade and political ideas flow freely throughout the country. The only real blemish upon our record is our navy, which is extremely small and terribly outmoded compared to any save land-locked Austria.
However, our strength is not a guarantee of our dominance. There are three countries which rival us- Austria, France, and Spain. As we saw during the Twenty Years War, should any one of them strike while we are weak, we shall be forced to give up our gains. Even worse, should two of them collude and coordinate against us, we would face disaster.
Therefore, it is imperative that we take steps over the coming years to ensure our dominance and guarantee that our power is unassailable.
Diplomacy:
The first and foremost question facing Your Highness is our future stand towards Austria. Austria is, again, one of the stronger nations in the world; our goal in initially gaining an alliance with them was threefold- first, to gain their assistance against our enemies; second, to neutralize them as a direct threat; third, to let them declare the wars and suffer the consequences.
However, gaining Austria's protection has also given them our protection, and they have flourished. Only a thin line of Turkish possessions keeps the Austrian Empire from extending from the Black Sea to the Adriatic, from middle German through to Greece. Our hope of freeing the Orthodox the Turks held has been given up as the Austrians moved in. In addition, I would point out to your Majesty that not every war the Austrians placed us in was one we desired at the time.
Therefore, the immediate question is whether to keep Austria as an ally or not. Should we continue to work with them, we must accept that they will grow stronger and perhaps at some point outpace us, especially once they throw Turkey completely out of mainland Europe. Should we decide to walk away from them, we would gain another enemy; one with a very strong army that is immediately upon our doorstep. However, should we be able to break that army, there are many gains to be made from Austria.
As for other allies- your Highness' writing campaign to the Prussians has paid off well in gaining them as a friend; however, their alliance with England is not one they will likely break, and they have no love for the Austrians, so gaining them in our alliance seems unlikely at best. Perhaps we should send our diplomats further afield- we need to find some country that can assist us well against France *and* Spain, for those two are the greater threat to us. Perhaps Holland could be made to see things our way?
As for our other neighbors: Denmark, Sweden, Turkey, and Iraq are all empty husks. Destroying any of them is not a problem for our armies; therefore, we need not take them into account save to grab what pieces we can before Spain, France, or Austria carves them all up.
Internal:
Again, our infrastructure is the best in the world. However, there are many lands we have recently conquered, and it would behoove your Majesty to bring them into the governmental fold- sending tax collectors and judges, for example. In addition, we should likely begin building fortifications in our colonies where we expect attacks... but of course, all such monies so devoted would take away from our plans to rebuild the army and develop a navy.
Colonial:
There are several schools of thought as to where to develop our future colonies.
The first is the old guard, which feels that our devotion should be internal. The rebellions in the last war came from areas that were not of our faith; therefore, they say, our first effort must be the conversion- forced if necessary- of our lands to the True Faith. However, I would remind your Majesty that your father found no success in trying to convert the Persian lands to Orthodoxism; by choosing this strategy, we would have to undertake the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Muslims in the south, not to mention a hundred thousand Catholics in Tula and a hundred thousand Protestants in Scandanavia.
The second is the conservative course. We have claimed India and Indochina with Trading Posts- now is the time to turn those posts into cities. We could avoid the fiasco of the last war, where our posts were burned by the Portugese, rebuilt, then burned by the Spanish, then rebuilt, then burned by the Turks. While we might temporarily lose control of these cities, we at least could negotiate for gaining them back, and would not have to try and claim the areas with our troops while waiting for the next batch of colonists to show up.
The third is the more expansionistic course. There are still swaths of lands unclaimed, both in the East Indies Islands, as well as the Americas- nearly the entire North American Eastern Seaboard is unclaimed. However, not only would we be extending our series of Trading Posts (and thus inviting having it all burned when war comes), we would be stretching our ability to move troops around. Our navy is not nearly in enough shape to ferry soldiers from Kurland to Chesapeake. But, should we not go for these lands now, there is no telling whether they will still be available when we have the chance.
Military:
Again, our army is in good shape, though mass recruiting will be necessary to build ourselves back up to the border forces we desire. Still, our recent conquests have expanded our holdings without much lengthening of our true borders, and so we should have little problem on that score. We need not really worry about most of our borders; the only real border threats we have are Austria and Prussia, both of whom we are trying to become close friends with. China is a worry, but they have not moved a muscle since we first met them.
Our navy, however, is pathetic. It is up to your Majesty how best to proceed; we could devote our research towards naval affairs, but that might come at the expense of further army research or even losing our trade advantage to the Portugese again. We could build more Naval manufactories, but that comes from money we could spend improving our government or buying more ships. For hundreds of years, our Navy has been ignored. Now, we control provinces across the world, and our navy is of great importance.
General Summary
At this point, Russia is the strongest known nation upon the earth. Our armies outnumber any of our foes three-to-one, we are equipped with the best weapons known to man, and we have a bevy of good generals willing to lead us in battle. Our traders are the best in the world, even finally beating out the Portugese; and with seven Trade Centers under our control, we are flooded with merchants. Our roads are described in the terms once used to describe those of the Roman Empire, and as a result, trade and political ideas flow freely throughout the country. The only real blemish upon our record is our navy, which is extremely small and terribly outmoded compared to any save land-locked Austria.
However, our strength is not a guarantee of our dominance. There are three countries which rival us- Austria, France, and Spain. As we saw during the Twenty Years War, should any one of them strike while we are weak, we shall be forced to give up our gains. Even worse, should two of them collude and coordinate against us, we would face disaster.
Therefore, it is imperative that we take steps over the coming years to ensure our dominance and guarantee that our power is unassailable.
Diplomacy:
The first and foremost question facing Your Highness is our future stand towards Austria. Austria is, again, one of the stronger nations in the world; our goal in initially gaining an alliance with them was threefold- first, to gain their assistance against our enemies; second, to neutralize them as a direct threat; third, to let them declare the wars and suffer the consequences.
However, gaining Austria's protection has also given them our protection, and they have flourished. Only a thin line of Turkish possessions keeps the Austrian Empire from extending from the Black Sea to the Adriatic, from middle German through to Greece. Our hope of freeing the Orthodox the Turks held has been given up as the Austrians moved in. In addition, I would point out to your Majesty that not every war the Austrians placed us in was one we desired at the time.
Therefore, the immediate question is whether to keep Austria as an ally or not. Should we continue to work with them, we must accept that they will grow stronger and perhaps at some point outpace us, especially once they throw Turkey completely out of mainland Europe. Should we decide to walk away from them, we would gain another enemy; one with a very strong army that is immediately upon our doorstep. However, should we be able to break that army, there are many gains to be made from Austria.
As for other allies- your Highness' writing campaign to the Prussians has paid off well in gaining them as a friend; however, their alliance with England is not one they will likely break, and they have no love for the Austrians, so gaining them in our alliance seems unlikely at best. Perhaps we should send our diplomats further afield- we need to find some country that can assist us well against France *and* Spain, for those two are the greater threat to us. Perhaps Holland could be made to see things our way?
As for our other neighbors: Denmark, Sweden, Turkey, and Iraq are all empty husks. Destroying any of them is not a problem for our armies; therefore, we need not take them into account save to grab what pieces we can before Spain, France, or Austria carves them all up.
Internal:
Again, our infrastructure is the best in the world. However, there are many lands we have recently conquered, and it would behoove your Majesty to bring them into the governmental fold- sending tax collectors and judges, for example. In addition, we should likely begin building fortifications in our colonies where we expect attacks... but of course, all such monies so devoted would take away from our plans to rebuild the army and develop a navy.
Colonial:
There are several schools of thought as to where to develop our future colonies.
The first is the old guard, which feels that our devotion should be internal. The rebellions in the last war came from areas that were not of our faith; therefore, they say, our first effort must be the conversion- forced if necessary- of our lands to the True Faith. However, I would remind your Majesty that your father found no success in trying to convert the Persian lands to Orthodoxism; by choosing this strategy, we would have to undertake the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Muslims in the south, not to mention a hundred thousand Catholics in Tula and a hundred thousand Protestants in Scandanavia.
The second is the conservative course. We have claimed India and Indochina with Trading Posts- now is the time to turn those posts into cities. We could avoid the fiasco of the last war, where our posts were burned by the Portugese, rebuilt, then burned by the Spanish, then rebuilt, then burned by the Turks. While we might temporarily lose control of these cities, we at least could negotiate for gaining them back, and would not have to try and claim the areas with our troops while waiting for the next batch of colonists to show up.
The third is the more expansionistic course. There are still swaths of lands unclaimed, both in the East Indies Islands, as well as the Americas- nearly the entire North American Eastern Seaboard is unclaimed. However, not only would we be extending our series of Trading Posts (and thus inviting having it all burned when war comes), we would be stretching our ability to move troops around. Our navy is not nearly in enough shape to ferry soldiers from Kurland to Chesapeake. But, should we not go for these lands now, there is no telling whether they will still be available when we have the chance.
Military:
Again, our army is in good shape, though mass recruiting will be necessary to build ourselves back up to the border forces we desire. Still, our recent conquests have expanded our holdings without much lengthening of our true borders, and so we should have little problem on that score. We need not really worry about most of our borders; the only real border threats we have are Austria and Prussia, both of whom we are trying to become close friends with. China is a worry, but they have not moved a muscle since we first met them.
Our navy, however, is pathetic. It is up to your Majesty how best to proceed; we could devote our research towards naval affairs, but that might come at the expense of further army research or even losing our trade advantage to the Portugese again. We could build more Naval manufactories, but that comes from money we could spend improving our government or buying more ships. For hundreds of years, our Navy has been ignored. Now, we control provinces across the world, and our navy is of great importance.
Carolus- working on it! We'll see how well it progresses...
Anyways, just a note that I've included screenshots from 1700, including a little focus on the Middle East, and a little focus upon Southern Africa. Enjoy!
Anyways, just a note that I've included screenshots from 1700, including a little focus on the Middle East, and a little focus upon Southern Africa. Enjoy!
I have read this some where and i agree that "The denfense of Russia begins at the Rhine."
Sharur- working on it. See the next update for more!
Brad1- Most definitely. It's great going to war with France or any German countries knowing that Austria will take the brunt of the battle for you. Of course, as I said in my review, this means Austria has managed to carve out a damned big empire for itself, but so far, the advantages are outweighing the disadvantages...
Brad1- Most definitely. It's great going to war with France or any German countries knowing that Austria will take the brunt of the battle for you. Of course, as I said in my review, this means Austria has managed to carve out a damned big empire for itself, but so far, the advantages are outweighing the disadvantages...
Navy? We don't need no stinkin' navy!
Of course, otoh, you could have two Russian generals meeting in Madrid in 1792. One says to the other, "By the way, who won the naval war?"
Of course, otoh, you could have two Russian generals meeting in Madrid in 1792. One says to the other, "By the way, who won the naval war?"
Memoirs of Tsar Peter I- Calm before the Storm, 1700-1712
It was decided then to put an effort into peace, and use the time to rebuild our country. The new lands that were captured were brought into the full governmental fold through the placement of officials as a first priority. Our second priority was to turn our borders of Trading Posts into full colonies (though not necessarily cities) to prevent more burnings by our enemies. Third, we began a major fortification effort- every colonial city was given at least a small [OOC: Level 2] fortress to prevent being overrun in the way Leone was. Fourth, new Naval Manufacturies in Georgia and Nyland were set up, and we turned our research away from trade and infranstructure (where we had the obvious lead) and into bettering our navy (where we had the obvious deficit).
We made one small exception in our plans- Monterey. A small province on the 'California' coast of the Americas, the Spanish colony there had been wiped out by the natives. Seeing an opportunity to gain a foothold in the Americas- particularly one that we might reach with our outdated ships- a colonist was sent, and soon American gold was pouring into our coffers as well.
Our diplomatic efforts continued to focus upon keeping Austria as a friend while gaining the friendship of Prussia and Holland. My wrist soon grew sore from the writing of letters to these states, but I would gladly lose my wrist to gain those two countries as allies.
True, there were setbacks to our cause; but while the boyars focused upon the problems they brought, I saw only the opportunities. Turkey managed to annex Cyrenaica in '02, but that just meant more provinces for us to later pluck from their hands. Their power was broken, and no country they annexed could restore them.
Later that year, Spain would finish off its war with Denmark by taking 250 ducats and Ostlandt. Again, the nobles cried in terror, the Spanish now holding an outpost in Scandanavia. I considered it a great fortune to us, however. After all, we expected fighting in Scandanavia, so it was not as if this was a new border to defend. And now we had two Spanish provinces in easy reach. Let them go to war with us- we can make them *suffer*, and they can do naught to us. Why should this be a bad arrangement?
But in 1705, our cause saw two major setbacks. The first was not seen as such by anyone but myself- in fact, many of the boyars celebrated its arrival. Our trade in India had grown so large that a new Center of Trade was opened in Mysore. The boyars were short-sighted, and saw only that another market under Russian control had opened. I saw the long-term: the market in Mysore took its trade from the markets we already controlled in Ishafan and Madurai, and would spread our merchants thinner to chase the same amount of money. This was not a benefit to the state.
But the second crisis... my son, Ivan. The boyars had long been jealous of my status as a strong Tsar who ruled without care for the nobility (and why should I care? So many of them had supported Sophia!). My son Ivan was a quiet and timid lad, given more to the study of the Bible and ancient texts than my pleasures of sailing on the seas and overseeing the navy. Some of the boyars got it into their heads that Ivan would be a more malleable Tsar than I, and thus a plan was made to poison me at a feast celebrating my appointment of Admiral Spiridof head of the navy.
The plot was poorly hatched and incompetently executed, and it was easily detected by Captain Borgotov of the Kremlin Guard. The boyars responsible were rounded up and executed. But while these traitors were being tortured for their confessions, someone attacked Ivan in one of the palace halls and blugeoned him to death. I still know not who- perhaps one of the traitors who blamed Ivan for not coming to their aid; perhaps one of my more fervent supporters felt Ivan was truly a part of the plot, something I shall never believe.
I sequestered myself for a while after my son's death. The talk of glories of the state seemed unimportant compared to the death of my son, and I took solace only in traveling the Baltic upon my favorite warship. I toyed with the idea of trying to sail around the world, but decided that with a lack of friendly ports in the New World, I would merely be signing my death warrant.
Of course, no matter how much grief I showed, it did not stop loose tongues in the Duma or abroad. Tsar Ivan the Terrible had killed his own son; why should the modern Tsar of Russia be any different than our medeval ancestors? Whatever guiding light Russia might have been in terms of trade, said the Europeans, they were still a backwards wasteland filled with brutality. Even my friends in Holland and Prussia seemed a bit aloof towards me. But we would show them. We would show them *all*. [OOC: Scandal at the Court, Diplomatic ratings down to 1 for a full year]
By 1712, our interior plans were almost finished. Our armies were nearly up to full strength, our provinces were fully administered, and we were even building warships all along our coasts- a major undertaking no previous Tsar had made. That was when Fate forced our hand.
The Fifth Border War, 1712-1715
In late February, Scotland and Denmark declared war upon France. A month later, England and its allies (Navarra, Iriquios, Hessen, and unfortunately, Prussia and Netherlands) joined in against France. Mid-April saw Spain (apparently, no longer part of any alliance) join in.
It was a dogpile- France would soon be ripped apart by all of these enemies. And I had no interest in seeing France get ripped apart. At least, not without taking *my* share.
On the 18th of April, we declared war upon France, and by proxy her ally Wurtemburg. The boyars were upset- we had no real reason other than greed, but greed was good enough for me. By the time we waited for Austria to do our dirty work for us, I expected the wars to be mostly over- we needed to strike while the iron was hot. Austria, as always, was perfectly happy to join us. Our armies in India were immediately sent to take the French colonies in the east, and a small contingent of cavalry detached to burn the two Trading Posts. Meanwhile, General Menslikov (who had taken over command of the southeastern front following Gordon's passing in '05) was sent with the Besserabia and Ukraine garrisons to go forth and cross Austria, with the objective of seiging Baden.
But once we were declared upon France, others saw the opportunity to gang up on *us*. On May 6th, Turkey (with its allies Algiers and Iraq) declared war upon us; less than three weeks later, Sweden followed suit. Sweden's declaration of war filled us with great trepidation, for apparently she had made an alliance with China. We had a few small armies on the Chinese border- were they enough?
Our plans were simple. Our colonial garrisons stayed in place, ready to fight off any invaders; the exceptions being the seige in the French Indian holdings, and a few calvary detachements sent out- one to burn the Portugese holdings in southeast Africa, and one to burn the French holdings in East India.
Against China, our four small armies grouped into two larger ones, and one attacked the Chinese mainland provinces while the second proceeded into Korea.
Against Sweden, General Cheremetev called our border guard to move forward and seige the Swedish border forts.
Against Iraq, our two main Persian armies moved forward, while a small cavalry contingent slipped out to burn the Turkish trading post and grab the Turkish colonies between Iraq and Oman.
Against Turkey, our forces in Azerbadjan, Armenia, and Tabruz once again moved out to seige the neighboring provinces. And our force in Socorta was again loaded upon ships with the objective of taking the islands of Mahe, giving us a second waypoint on the trip from India to South Africa.
The southern war went easy. Iraq was rolled over, and in September of 1713 was the first to fall, annexed by us. Turkey was next- again, Austria took care of the armies in the west so that we could seige in the east, and by November we had done enough damage to demand Damman and Mahe from them.
The war on France was also simple, though it took longer due to the distances traveled. It wasn't until mid-1712 that we finally arrived in Baden, but after that the seige was short and sweet- a few months of hitting the walls, then wiping them out with an assault, and by March of 1713 we had taken Baden and Lorraine from France. They offered us Baden and Madras, but we were not tempted- we had no interest in holding a single province out in the reaches of Germany where we could never reach it. No, we demanded Madras and Parlakimadi from them, and with their acceptance, we controlled all of India save a Dutch trading post on the eastern edge. On the way back, our armies assaulted Wurtemburg and gained 213 ducats for our trouble, thus ending that stage of the war.
In the Far East, things were decidedly mixed. The Chinese border areas fell quickly, their forts being small and their armies being just a few thousand men. But even as we moved forwards, large Chinese armies appeared in our rear- 40,000 men suddenly showed up in a province we had just taken. Such was the danger of attacking a land we had no knowledge or maps of, and it was decided after a little progress to make a peace, so that we could explore the area better and be more prepared for the next fight. China gave us 125 ducats, Heionjong and Hunyang. Next time, we would get far more.
In the north, though, things did not go well at all. Cheremetev moved forward with two armies of 40,000 each; but by splitting our forces, the Swedes were able to defeat us in detail. Their single army was only 50,000 men, but they all fought like demons possessed, and we were lucky to retreat with 15,000 men left. But while Cheremetev was beaten, he was not *defeated*, and made a new plan. Our armies were withdrawn into Finland, and recruits gathered as best they could while our garrisons in Kurland and Livonia were pulled north to join. The Swedes threw themselves upon our forts in Lappland... and made no progress whatsoever. Our plans to build such great [OOC: Level 3] forts proved their worth, and when winter came, the Swedes had made barely any progress.
And thus, the Swedes were on the horns of a dilemna. To stay and seige meant losing a great many men to the harsh winter; to retreat was to abandon the progress that had been made. In the end, they decided to stay; they knew that taking out one of these forts would take more than a year, and that the price of starvation would need to be paid eventually. Meanwhile, Cherementov's troops were well-fed and warm in their camps across the border.
When the Spring thaw came, the Swedish army had melted to 30,000 men but Lappland was nearly fallen. Cherementov sent his 80,000 men forward, sweeping around the Swedes and seiging the lands behind them. Our superiority in cannon- and the tiny size of the Swedish forts- allowed us to cut the Swedish army off from supply just before it could break through our defenses, and the Swedes pulled back to try and restore their supply line and save their capital. When they finally reached Cherementov's army, they were outnumbered 4 to 1 and had no real supplies. Still, they fought tenaciously, and 24,000 Russians gave their lives to destroy the Swedish army.
At this point, the Swedish diplomats came to us to ask for peace, offering us whatever province we would like in exchange for peace. We sent them home, and told them not to bother us again. Sweden had been a thorn in our side for far too long, and we would never again let them trouble us. It would either be King Karl's head or mine.
Perhaps that might sound like a bold pronouncement, but it was not at all- by this time, we had settled all of our wars except that with Sweden and its ally Portugal; and Sweden had no army to speak of. Certainly, its navy was blockading us and giving some of our traders fits, but with no army at all, it was just a question of how long it would take us to seige the remaining provinces of Sweden.
A minor distraction came in April of 1714; Oman declared war upon us. We quickly ran over their country, but our fleet was not yet strong enough to ferry troops to their islands for a full capture, so we made do with a peace a year later for Al Kharam and 121 ducats.
Then, in February of 1715, the last Swedish province fell. On March 1st, we officially announced our annexation of all Swedish lands, and the Swedes across the world quickly fell in line. We were, I must admit, quite stunned- we had no idea how many colonies the Swedes turned out to have. Suddenly, we had the north part of Cuba, a colony in northwest America (next to an empty gold producing province!), and a large holding in West Africa. We threw Portugal 250 ducats to get them to accept our actions and go away, and once again we were at peace with our neighbors.
But now our goals were changed. We had beaten China in a war, and now we hungered for more from them. France was no longer a concern to us- they were out of India, and that was what we wished. But now the Americas were calling to us- with a holding in Cuba, we were already committed, so why not make the most of it?
Why not, indeed?
It was decided then to put an effort into peace, and use the time to rebuild our country. The new lands that were captured were brought into the full governmental fold through the placement of officials as a first priority. Our second priority was to turn our borders of Trading Posts into full colonies (though not necessarily cities) to prevent more burnings by our enemies. Third, we began a major fortification effort- every colonial city was given at least a small [OOC: Level 2] fortress to prevent being overrun in the way Leone was. Fourth, new Naval Manufacturies in Georgia and Nyland were set up, and we turned our research away from trade and infranstructure (where we had the obvious lead) and into bettering our navy (where we had the obvious deficit).
We made one small exception in our plans- Monterey. A small province on the 'California' coast of the Americas, the Spanish colony there had been wiped out by the natives. Seeing an opportunity to gain a foothold in the Americas- particularly one that we might reach with our outdated ships- a colonist was sent, and soon American gold was pouring into our coffers as well.
Our diplomatic efforts continued to focus upon keeping Austria as a friend while gaining the friendship of Prussia and Holland. My wrist soon grew sore from the writing of letters to these states, but I would gladly lose my wrist to gain those two countries as allies.
True, there were setbacks to our cause; but while the boyars focused upon the problems they brought, I saw only the opportunities. Turkey managed to annex Cyrenaica in '02, but that just meant more provinces for us to later pluck from their hands. Their power was broken, and no country they annexed could restore them.
Later that year, Spain would finish off its war with Denmark by taking 250 ducats and Ostlandt. Again, the nobles cried in terror, the Spanish now holding an outpost in Scandanavia. I considered it a great fortune to us, however. After all, we expected fighting in Scandanavia, so it was not as if this was a new border to defend. And now we had two Spanish provinces in easy reach. Let them go to war with us- we can make them *suffer*, and they can do naught to us. Why should this be a bad arrangement?
But in 1705, our cause saw two major setbacks. The first was not seen as such by anyone but myself- in fact, many of the boyars celebrated its arrival. Our trade in India had grown so large that a new Center of Trade was opened in Mysore. The boyars were short-sighted, and saw only that another market under Russian control had opened. I saw the long-term: the market in Mysore took its trade from the markets we already controlled in Ishafan and Madurai, and would spread our merchants thinner to chase the same amount of money. This was not a benefit to the state.
But the second crisis... my son, Ivan. The boyars had long been jealous of my status as a strong Tsar who ruled without care for the nobility (and why should I care? So many of them had supported Sophia!). My son Ivan was a quiet and timid lad, given more to the study of the Bible and ancient texts than my pleasures of sailing on the seas and overseeing the navy. Some of the boyars got it into their heads that Ivan would be a more malleable Tsar than I, and thus a plan was made to poison me at a feast celebrating my appointment of Admiral Spiridof head of the navy.
The plot was poorly hatched and incompetently executed, and it was easily detected by Captain Borgotov of the Kremlin Guard. The boyars responsible were rounded up and executed. But while these traitors were being tortured for their confessions, someone attacked Ivan in one of the palace halls and blugeoned him to death. I still know not who- perhaps one of the traitors who blamed Ivan for not coming to their aid; perhaps one of my more fervent supporters felt Ivan was truly a part of the plot, something I shall never believe.
I sequestered myself for a while after my son's death. The talk of glories of the state seemed unimportant compared to the death of my son, and I took solace only in traveling the Baltic upon my favorite warship. I toyed with the idea of trying to sail around the world, but decided that with a lack of friendly ports in the New World, I would merely be signing my death warrant.
Of course, no matter how much grief I showed, it did not stop loose tongues in the Duma or abroad. Tsar Ivan the Terrible had killed his own son; why should the modern Tsar of Russia be any different than our medeval ancestors? Whatever guiding light Russia might have been in terms of trade, said the Europeans, they were still a backwards wasteland filled with brutality. Even my friends in Holland and Prussia seemed a bit aloof towards me. But we would show them. We would show them *all*. [OOC: Scandal at the Court, Diplomatic ratings down to 1 for a full year]
By 1712, our interior plans were almost finished. Our armies were nearly up to full strength, our provinces were fully administered, and we were even building warships all along our coasts- a major undertaking no previous Tsar had made. That was when Fate forced our hand.
The Fifth Border War, 1712-1715
In late February, Scotland and Denmark declared war upon France. A month later, England and its allies (Navarra, Iriquios, Hessen, and unfortunately, Prussia and Netherlands) joined in against France. Mid-April saw Spain (apparently, no longer part of any alliance) join in.
It was a dogpile- France would soon be ripped apart by all of these enemies. And I had no interest in seeing France get ripped apart. At least, not without taking *my* share.
On the 18th of April, we declared war upon France, and by proxy her ally Wurtemburg. The boyars were upset- we had no real reason other than greed, but greed was good enough for me. By the time we waited for Austria to do our dirty work for us, I expected the wars to be mostly over- we needed to strike while the iron was hot. Austria, as always, was perfectly happy to join us. Our armies in India were immediately sent to take the French colonies in the east, and a small contingent of cavalry detached to burn the two Trading Posts. Meanwhile, General Menslikov (who had taken over command of the southeastern front following Gordon's passing in '05) was sent with the Besserabia and Ukraine garrisons to go forth and cross Austria, with the objective of seiging Baden.
But once we were declared upon France, others saw the opportunity to gang up on *us*. On May 6th, Turkey (with its allies Algiers and Iraq) declared war upon us; less than three weeks later, Sweden followed suit. Sweden's declaration of war filled us with great trepidation, for apparently she had made an alliance with China. We had a few small armies on the Chinese border- were they enough?
Our plans were simple. Our colonial garrisons stayed in place, ready to fight off any invaders; the exceptions being the seige in the French Indian holdings, and a few calvary detachements sent out- one to burn the Portugese holdings in southeast Africa, and one to burn the French holdings in East India.
Against China, our four small armies grouped into two larger ones, and one attacked the Chinese mainland provinces while the second proceeded into Korea.
Against Sweden, General Cheremetev called our border guard to move forward and seige the Swedish border forts.
Against Iraq, our two main Persian armies moved forward, while a small cavalry contingent slipped out to burn the Turkish trading post and grab the Turkish colonies between Iraq and Oman.
Against Turkey, our forces in Azerbadjan, Armenia, and Tabruz once again moved out to seige the neighboring provinces. And our force in Socorta was again loaded upon ships with the objective of taking the islands of Mahe, giving us a second waypoint on the trip from India to South Africa.
The southern war went easy. Iraq was rolled over, and in September of 1713 was the first to fall, annexed by us. Turkey was next- again, Austria took care of the armies in the west so that we could seige in the east, and by November we had done enough damage to demand Damman and Mahe from them.
The war on France was also simple, though it took longer due to the distances traveled. It wasn't until mid-1712 that we finally arrived in Baden, but after that the seige was short and sweet- a few months of hitting the walls, then wiping them out with an assault, and by March of 1713 we had taken Baden and Lorraine from France. They offered us Baden and Madras, but we were not tempted- we had no interest in holding a single province out in the reaches of Germany where we could never reach it. No, we demanded Madras and Parlakimadi from them, and with their acceptance, we controlled all of India save a Dutch trading post on the eastern edge. On the way back, our armies assaulted Wurtemburg and gained 213 ducats for our trouble, thus ending that stage of the war.
In the Far East, things were decidedly mixed. The Chinese border areas fell quickly, their forts being small and their armies being just a few thousand men. But even as we moved forwards, large Chinese armies appeared in our rear- 40,000 men suddenly showed up in a province we had just taken. Such was the danger of attacking a land we had no knowledge or maps of, and it was decided after a little progress to make a peace, so that we could explore the area better and be more prepared for the next fight. China gave us 125 ducats, Heionjong and Hunyang. Next time, we would get far more.
In the north, though, things did not go well at all. Cheremetev moved forward with two armies of 40,000 each; but by splitting our forces, the Swedes were able to defeat us in detail. Their single army was only 50,000 men, but they all fought like demons possessed, and we were lucky to retreat with 15,000 men left. But while Cheremetev was beaten, he was not *defeated*, and made a new plan. Our armies were withdrawn into Finland, and recruits gathered as best they could while our garrisons in Kurland and Livonia were pulled north to join. The Swedes threw themselves upon our forts in Lappland... and made no progress whatsoever. Our plans to build such great [OOC: Level 3] forts proved their worth, and when winter came, the Swedes had made barely any progress.
And thus, the Swedes were on the horns of a dilemna. To stay and seige meant losing a great many men to the harsh winter; to retreat was to abandon the progress that had been made. In the end, they decided to stay; they knew that taking out one of these forts would take more than a year, and that the price of starvation would need to be paid eventually. Meanwhile, Cherementov's troops were well-fed and warm in their camps across the border.
When the Spring thaw came, the Swedish army had melted to 30,000 men but Lappland was nearly fallen. Cherementov sent his 80,000 men forward, sweeping around the Swedes and seiging the lands behind them. Our superiority in cannon- and the tiny size of the Swedish forts- allowed us to cut the Swedish army off from supply just before it could break through our defenses, and the Swedes pulled back to try and restore their supply line and save their capital. When they finally reached Cherementov's army, they were outnumbered 4 to 1 and had no real supplies. Still, they fought tenaciously, and 24,000 Russians gave their lives to destroy the Swedish army.
At this point, the Swedish diplomats came to us to ask for peace, offering us whatever province we would like in exchange for peace. We sent them home, and told them not to bother us again. Sweden had been a thorn in our side for far too long, and we would never again let them trouble us. It would either be King Karl's head or mine.
Perhaps that might sound like a bold pronouncement, but it was not at all- by this time, we had settled all of our wars except that with Sweden and its ally Portugal; and Sweden had no army to speak of. Certainly, its navy was blockading us and giving some of our traders fits, but with no army at all, it was just a question of how long it would take us to seige the remaining provinces of Sweden.
A minor distraction came in April of 1714; Oman declared war upon us. We quickly ran over their country, but our fleet was not yet strong enough to ferry troops to their islands for a full capture, so we made do with a peace a year later for Al Kharam and 121 ducats.
Then, in February of 1715, the last Swedish province fell. On March 1st, we officially announced our annexation of all Swedish lands, and the Swedes across the world quickly fell in line. We were, I must admit, quite stunned- we had no idea how many colonies the Swedes turned out to have. Suddenly, we had the north part of Cuba, a colony in northwest America (next to an empty gold producing province!), and a large holding in West Africa. We threw Portugal 250 ducats to get them to accept our actions and go away, and once again we were at peace with our neighbors.
But now our goals were changed. We had beaten China in a war, and now we hungered for more from them. France was no longer a concern to us- they were out of India, and that was what we wished. But now the Americas were calling to us- with a holding in Cuba, we were already committed, so why not make the most of it?
Why not, indeed?
Nice going, as usual. I'd like to see you take out Denmark and Turkey (completely!), and of course China, and then perhaps the rest of the Muslim world, if there's any left aside from Turkey and Oman (which your soon to be improved navy should be able to handle). Also, are there any European settlements in SE Asia? You might not be done w/ France yet... as I said, nice going, this is a very enjoyable aar.