Chapter 12: Two front war
August 26, 1855: As many of you guessed, the UK declines to join Austria in the war. A giant sigh of relief is heard from the Ottoman court. Baden and Wurtemburg join the war (being Austria's remaining sphere), but they only have 3 brigades after mobilizing. Austria has 31. Russia has 87, we have 49 (with some new regiments being raised). This really won't be all that bad.
September 8: Russia and Sweden prove that things won't be any better with Austria in the war. Seeing as the Austrian front has forts 3 deep, I have plenty of time to kick Russia like a red-headed stepchild.
September 24: Fleeing Russian armies are caught in Tirgu Jiu, but since Russia keeps trickling in more brigades as reinforcements, I can't surround them. Not that this is helping the Russians...
October 7: This will make the war interesting. I have nothing to lose - I have too much infamy to take anything, so we accept. The British then join the war. Annoyingly, though, they take leadership.
October 15: The Russians learn that yes, yes it can get worse. This will nearly kick them out of Wallachia.
The Badenese and Wurtemburgers start to show up in the west, and the Austrians are happily occupying NE Croatia.
October 21: The UK foolishly lets Serbia out of the war, giving up free war score. However, the UK adds a war goal - Acquire Russian Alaska. Interesting.
November: Another Russian force is savaged in Bucharest., then chased to Ruse and wiped out, destroying 11 brigades. Russia is down to 74.
January 5, 1856: Italy declares war on Egypt to take Sidi Barrani.
March 9: A farmer falls into his thresher and becomes a cause celebre for pensions. Liberals call for a Russian manservant to be provided to all Ottoman Citizens, to be called a "pension".
April 1: Another case where the AI's overaggressiveness can be exploited. By moving south into Constanta while the the other army is in Braida, it makes it possible for me to bring two armies (without worrying about attrition) into Constanta into a pincer without crossing a river (since the southern army arrives first). The Swedish army in Wallachia is also now too far away to be of help. Since the AI realizes (correctly) that the second army won't help, it won't bring it in.
This is the result.
April 30: The Austrians foolishly attack a decent defensive general in Sisak with a crap offensive general. However, I can't press the advantage, as the second Austrian army shows up.
May 22: This completely wipes out the Russian forces in the Western Front, leaving them with 44 brigades (we have 60). Over in the eastern front, two small Russian armies are occupying Armenia and taking a small bit of attrition, but it's just not worth trying to dislodge them from mountains. For some insane reason, the Russians still won't accept peace.
May 27: Some very European looking Turks are conspiring. The votes given by events generally vanish at the next election, so this doesn't really do us any good - we don't have enough liberals.
June 11: The second Austrian army also loses in Sisak, leading to both armies being chased down and destroyed. The battles are now largely over, although a small Russian army does show up and immediately get surrounded and killed.
August 1: Russia finally realizes they've lost. They immediately rip Persia out of my SoI (using the influence gained during the war), but I put it back within a month.
December 10: And now Austria also gives up.