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The House of Habsburg In the Age of Empire

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In Rothbard I trust. :p
It's all about defining the right of ownership. And keeping states from messing everything up. :)

Trade only happens if both participants think they can benefit from the deed. It will increase the utility of both sides, otherwise they would not take part in it.

And when talking about humans, humanity itself is an assumption. ;)
 
Enewald said:
In Rothbard I trust. :p
It's all about defining the right of ownership. And keeping states from messing everything up. :)

Trade only happens if both participants think they can benefit from the deed. It will increase the utility of both sides, otherwise they would not take part in it.

And when talking about humans, humanity itself is an assumption. ;)
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Rothbard himself is a very interesting old cat. But his promotion of historical revisionism and lack of support for civil rights -- claiming it was a communist/collectivist plot to destroy private property ownership score him negative points in my book.

It would seem that someone has just outed himself as an extreme skeptic! Nihilist (classical) liberal/libertarian, and anarcho-capitalist! :p (trying still, just like the Radical French revolutionaries and socialist revolutionaries, to upset and overturn the natural order of things!) :eek:

Ludwig von Mises is the more ideal exemplar of market economics and libertarian thinking. He was stormed out of a meeting with Hayek, Rothbard, and others in a meeting with the "Anarcho-Capitalists" and derided them as having the same mindset of socialists. i.e., "extreme idealists". Anarcho Capitalism will never work, human nature prohibits it. Mises at least got that right, along with a lot of other things he wrote in Human Action. ;)
 
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Introduction

Despite his penchant against war, Frederick III nonetheless marched with the soldiers, if not just for a morale enhancer, as the real commanders of the Austrian and their allied armies remained his cousin and the Bohemian captain Count Johann Beninga. The Habsburg armies had scored a decisive early victory against the Hungarians in southern Bohemia, where the Hungarian nobleman Andras Alvinczy was dealt a severe check from his march against Vienna in the spring of 1456. Being forced back into Hungary, he was pursued deep into the heart of the Hungarian plains.


The initial Hungarian, and their allies' thrust in Bohemia was turned back in the early moments of the war.​

The Austrian forces under Johan Karl split from the main body to lay siege to the twin cities of Buda and Pest[1], believing that the capture of the twin cities would bring about the end of the war. Yet, about 10,000 Austrian soldiers marched with their Bohemian and German allies – totaling about 30,000 men, into the Békés marshes. The spring of 1456 was particularly dry, and the river and marshes were dry, sticky, and unsuitable for combat, and this is where the Hungarians marched in retreat.

Having the knowledge of the terrain, and knowing that the marshes would take away the numerical advantage of the Habsburg armies, there was a serious blunder on part of Beninga and Frederick III, who deferred to his Bohemian counterpart to lead the forces. In August, the summer months were excruciatingly brutal, wildlife and insect life was abound in great force, and the horses that were so important to both sides found it hard to handle. Even so, the Hungarian horsemen were the most feared and prized in all of Europe. Mobile, light, and quick to strike, they were experts with a variety of weapons – from bows to lances, from no armor to heavy armor (but favoring light armor for the purposes of mobility), the Hungarian horsemen were better suited for the terrain than the heavy-clad knights of Central and Western European armies, which the Habsburgs were a part of.

By contrast, the foot soldiers of the Habsburgs came from all across Europe. The Germans were raised from Austria Proper, but also from the various states of the Holy Roman Empire who had aligned with the Vienna Circle for protection and power. Flemish soldiers hired out of the clutches of Burgundy, and soldiers from Italy also were incorporated into the Habsburg armies – who possessed the first truly multinational and multilingual modern state, and this was reflected in their army’s composition. Officers came abound from across the Holy Roman Empire, which sometimes posed a problem for communication. Not to mention that the multi-ethnic army present at the Körös-Maros spoke Italian, German, and Czech.

At sunrise of August 24, 1456, with the sun baking backs of the Hungarians, and with the dust and weed and water of the horses hooves being kicked up – Andras Alvinczy took the fight to the numerically superior Habsburg army. From above the marshes, Emperor Frederick III and his knights, armed with the yellow standards of the Holy Roman Empire with a black eagle at center, watched the splendid display of the two armies slowly coming toward one another. The armies wielded beautiful and colorful standards – which wasn’t for aesthetic purposes as much as it was for reminding the ignorant men whose side they were fighting for! The later art of standards and flags, as well as colored uniforms that dominated the armies of the eighteenth and nineteenth century were a direct reflection of this medieval legacy.

The crossbow and the spear, or pike, were the two main weapons soldiers in the late middle ages. The crossbow had been such a terrible weapon, that the Pope outlawed its use! This of course, did not stop the fire companies from obtaining the deadliest weapon of the ancient battlefield – which could be easily wielded by a peasant and cut down a man of noble birth in the blink of an eye, part of the reason for the weapon’s banning by the Pope (it was a weapon that could easily upset the old social standing of European society). The Hungarians were experts in the art of archery, and like the great horsemen of their lineage, could easily ride a horse galloping at 30 MPH (about 50 KMH) strike their target accurately, and reload in rapid fashion and continue the onslaught.

The heavy knights of the Habsburg army were useless in the marsh fields, some of their horses getting stuck in the mud and becoming immobile due to the heavy weight of their armor and the armor of the rider. The Hungarians by comparison, were less mobile than on the open plains, but even with their horses covered in mud and insects, were still able to move with a great enough speed to envelope their opponents. As Frederick watched the carnage below, he is reported to have vomited at the death and carnage he witnessed. Of the nearly 11,000 casualties (compared to only 3,000 Hungarians), some 4,000 men were reported to have drowned in the marshes – many of them wounded or falling face-first into the muck and mud in the heat of summer and unable to get up. By the evening, Frederick III abandoned his position on the ridge and the allied army was in full retreat back to Buda and Pest, where Archduke Johan Karl had just forced both cities in surrendering.


The Hungarian victory at the Battle of the Körös-Maros was a major moment in the war, but ultimately, superior Imperial numbers would wear down the Hungarian war effort. As Imperial reserves turned the tide of the war, the Hungarian armies would avoid coming into another decisive battle for the rest of the war.​

Despite the victory, the Hungarians were not able to turn the tide of war – numbers were against them. Even so, there was hope that their Italian allies, who were coming up from the Peninsula, would catch the Austrians by surprise. In response, Johan Karl was dispatched and conducted his brilliant Italian Campaign in 1457, defeating the Italians at Romagna and forcing their surrender at Pisa. Florence was also sacked during the campaign. When Rome itself was threatened, the Papal States backed out of the war, as did Tuscany, which effectively allowed for a concentration of forces against the upstart Hungarians, who had managed to allude another major confrontation having learned from their early defeat at Tábor and despite their victory in the Körös-Maros, knew that another major confrontation would spell the end of the Hungarian’s ability to wage war against their enemies.

Despite their ability to elude the Habsburg main force, by 1459, the Hungarian countryside had been devastated and there was little motivation by the subjected peoples of Hungary, now under Habsburg control, to rise up against their German overlords. The Hungarians eventually capitulated, and Andras Alvinczy abandoned the Hungarian dream of complete independence from foreign rule.


A painting depicting Archduke Johan Karl von Habsburg posing outside the gates of Pisa. His Italian Campaign solidified Imperial borders in the south and helped bring the war to close as an Imperial victory. The Kingdom of Hungary still received a large degree of independent autonomy, although Frederick III was crowned King of Hungary and now had joint rule over the Archduchy of Austria and the Kingdom of Hungary.​

Frederick III, Archduke of Austria, Holy Roman Emperor, was now the recognized King of Hungary. Although this was a key step in the centralization of the Habsburg lands, Hungary was still a pseudo-independent state. Although Frederick was the King of Hungary and the Archduke of Austria, the two states were seen as being independent of one another, simply ruled by the same ruler. This would be a policy that future Habsburg rulers would adhere to. In a way, the Habsburgs were always weary of “national ambitions” of their subjects – and too often counter this, they would embark on benevolent rule where, although the kings of a foreign land, generally allowed the peoples of these regions to retain their own laws and customs.

Like the First German War, the War of the Hungarian Unification was particularly brutal upon Austrian manpower and the economy. Two devastating wars in the period of 10 years was hard for the common people to deal with. Thus, the Second Pflege Tage, 1459-1472, began before the Second German War with Burgundy ended a 13 year peace in the Habsburg realms.

End of Introduction
>>> Continue to Chapter 1​

[1]The city “Budapest” is actually two cities: Buda and Pest. The two cities were not united until 1873. Although technically united, you can travel the two historic cities based on your location, the eastern half being the city of Pest and the western half being the city of Buda (based upon the division from the Danube River).
 
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Erzherzog und König! Thought Kaiser und König sounds better.

Yes, I've read Human Action. Rothbards Man Economy and State does not differ much from it.
 
Enewald said:
Erzherzog und König! Thought Kaiser und König sounds better.

Yes, I've read Human Action. Rothbards Man Economy and State does not differ much from it.
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Archduke of Austria, Emperor of Germany (Holy Roman Empire), and King of Hungary -- among other titles! :D

Rothbard's Man, Economy and State is his early publication before civil rights. After the Civil Rights Act of '64, he went off the deep end in his constant attacks upon the American government and the "betrayal" of the American Right (he was definitely a closest racist -- actually, his racism is well documented, not to mention he was also an anti-Semite and believed Israel controlled America's foreign policy). He was not an anarcho-capitalist that many AC's adore him as until after Nixon took the USA off the gold standard. ;)
 
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Enewald said:
What can I say?
You either die young and free, or end up living long and succumbing to statism. :p
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:rofl: I'm going to borrow that from you! ;)
 
The war sounds quite pyrrhic in nature.
 
A union comes a bit earlier than in our history. Interesting.

And I'm liking the incorporation of in-game screenshots (and that they're still somewhat sparing, unlike in my own AARs). As things go on, I'll probably be one of the people asking for maps, too.
 
Nice job securing Hungary for Austria (that 180 prestige bonus is ridiculous, too). I really have to say, your AARs are masterworks of history book-style AARs, no less than what I'd expect from a historian.

Are you going to try for a personal union/Habsburg branch in Spain?
 
stnylan said:
The war sounds quite pyrrhic in nature.
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Eh, not too much. Once the Italian allies fell, adding up the warscore that was somewhat slow going in Hungary -- they offered peace. Even with the Hungarian victory, their army was too small, and isolated from their Italian allies, really couldn't do anything.

Idhrendur said:
A union comes a bit earlier than in our history. Interesting.

And I'm liking the incorporation of in-game screenshots (and that they're still somewhat sparing, unlike in my own AARs). As things go on, I'll probably be one of the people asking for maps, too.
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A lot earlier! Not my fault Ladislav decided to keel over, literally, just a couple months into his reign. Union event fired, and naturally, I'm not going to let that opportunity go to waste! You read my read, I have maps planned for specific chapters and events in the future. ;)

GermanKaiser said:
Rather intresting AAR. I'm going to follow this.
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Welcome onboard GermanKaiser! Your forum name is very fitting for the purposes of this AAR! :cool:

Ravashak said:
Same, going to follow this while it's still fairly early in and I like the style.
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Welcome as well Ravashak! And thanks for the kind words! :)

metalinvader665 said:
Nice job securing Hungary for Austria (that 180 prestige bonus is ridiculous, too). I really have to say, your AARs are masterworks of history book-style AARs, no less than what I'd expect from a historian.

Are you going to try for a personal union/Habsburg branch in Spain?
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180 Prestige is a lot, and the max is 100 so I don't know if its just 180 prestige or it got that high based on warscore and provinces occupied. As you clearly note, the History Book is now about the only style I would ever write in! :p

I would love to form PUs with all the world! ;) I have a marriage with Castile (now Spain to the point where I've progressed in-game). We'll see what happens (I doubt anything will come of it). On the first page of the Habsburg Family List, you can see where a Habsburg sits on the throne (Aachen, Alsace, Corsica, used to have one in Holstein). Also have a royal marriage with Burgundy (succession did not fire, and now I'm using them as a buffer against France, if you will). They don't have an heir and the current outcome is a Habsburg ascends to the throne. If that happens, I'll probably claim the Burgundian Throne (even if I get hurt with all my other royal marriages). Chapter 1 will be dealing with how wide the Habsburgs have gone!

Thanks for the comment and kind words too! :)
 
volksmarschall said:
They don't have an heir and the current outcome is a Habsburg ascends to the throne. If that happens, I'll probably claim the Burgundian Throne (even if I get hurt with all my other royal marriages). Chapter 1 will be dealing with how wide the Habsburgs have gone!
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It appears that not just the Habsburgs, but players playing as Habsburgs are lucky sods. :O

Amazingly written, as always.
 
Just discovered this, excellent stuff Volksmarshall. Things got off to a solid start at Breigau, especially against such a capable general, but Sundgau was disappointing. Looking forward to learning more about the Habsburg's!
 
RyanX said:
It appears that not just the Habsburgs, but players playing as Habsburgs are lucky sods. :O

Amazingly written, as always.
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Would have been nicer if the Burgundy Succession Crisis fired...I think this is the 5th or 6th time playing in all my campaigns that the event didn't happen. I've seen it happen, playing as Aragon once, as early as 1448. :eek:

Seelmeister said:
Just discovered this, excellent stuff Volksmarshall. Things got off to a solid start at Breigau, especially against such a capable general, but Sundgau was disappointing. Looking forward to learning more about the Habsburg's!
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Yeah, got really lucky in that first battle from dice rolls. Sundgau caught up to us. But we just did manage to win in the end. Naturally, I'll be playing with the same strategy of the Habsburgs: Spread the family far and wide, and maintain the balance of power in Europe, (and although this won't be happening come the French Revolution) maintain continental peace and stability.

And unlike Decline and Fall, hopefully I actually get through the entire time frame of the GC.
 
Chapter 1

PART ONE: THE CENTRALIZATION OF HABSBURG LANDS​

1460-1508

Chapter I: Let Others Wage War, but you Happy Austria, Marry
May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth. A loving doe, a graceful deer…
-Proverbs 5:18​


One of the mottos of the Habsburg family was bella gerant alii tu felix austria nube, “let others wage war, but you happy Austria, marry.” As I mentioned in the introduction, Frederick III seemed thoroughly repulsed by war and all that it entailed. A sad irony to be sure, for his successors would often be embroiled in large and destructive wars – in part from the very policy that Frederick III embarked upon in attempt to keep Austria from having to wage war.

The Habsburgs were pioneers in the art of diplomacy, love, and the combination of these two great traditions – diplomatic marriage. While Frederick III sat on the thrones of Austria, Hungary, and as the titular emperor of Germany, his sons and daughters were sent across Europe to be wed with other noble families – many of them in the Holy Roman Empire, or to secure new dynastic successions in the social upheavals of the Peasants’ Rebellions of 1466 and 1467 that erupted throughout some of the minor German states in the Holy Roman Empire. It was not a matter of reckless departure of expenditure children that the Habsburgs would engage in, but calculated and tactful marriages in an attempt to secure their future and maintain peace and stability throughout the realms that were directly or indirectly under their control.

Viktor, Graf zu Steinegger was a key diplomatic and courtly figure during the Second Pflege Tage, and was a major proponent of what he called “aggressive marriage diplomacy.” Although Burgundy had been checked in the First German War, and then defeated by the French, The Kingdom of Provence-Lorraine was over ambitious in the aftermath of two brutal wars against the Burgundians and had lost in a quick war that restored Burgundian confidence. Doing so, Burgundy had finally unified its lands and posed a major threat to the security of the western borders of the Holy Roman Empire.



Viktor Steinegger was one of the most influential late medieval and early Renaissance political men of Europe. The Court diplomat and chief advisers to Frederick III and Maximilian I, he laid the foundations and pursued and aggressive policy of royal marriages to secure the future of the Habsburg Family.​

To make the political situation worse, the Peasants’ Rebellions had toppled Augsburg but more important Alsace. Ruprecht von Wettin rode in with his knights to restore stability and authority over the key border state against Burgundy, but when he crowned himself Duke Ruprecht I, he lost legitimacy in the eyes of the people and the nobles around him who saw his actions befitting of an opportunist rather than a true man of the divine nobility. But no good crisis goes to waste; Viktor Steinegger arranged a marriage with Archduke Johan’s daughter, Maria von Habsburg, who became Ruprecht’s wife. The move was to serve two purposes as he wrote, “To prevent Burgundian aggression and to secure a future branch of the Habsburg Family.” By having a Habsburg royal as wife to the King of Alsace would surely prevent prospective Burgundian aggression on the westward boundaries of the Holy Roman Empire, and, if the stars aligned, a Habsburg would ascend to the throne of Alsace.

While the policy of diplomatic marriage was intended to prevent wars, the long-run fallout would lead to the very opposite hope of Frederick – it would ensure that the Habsburgs would be embroiled in war and political fallout in succession crises and bids to retain the new lands added to their name. And in the age of empire and nationalism, the only means to keep what one had was to use the force of one’s military strength.

***​

For Frederick, pacing around the halls of his imperial residence seemed commonplace. He was always a man on the move. His court often had to travel with him from city to city – as he took to being a ruler of two entities quite, literally, spending time not only in the historic seat in Vienna but in the newly christened seat of Pest. Put in the words of Cardinal Lambert, “Frederick was a lofty but sluggish human heart. He genuinely felt an attachment to his subjects. He saw the entire world as his, by his birthright, but rather than conquer God’s earth through force of arms, he would accomplish this insurmountable tasks by marring his children and other’s in his family to the far corners of Europe!”

Frederick’s apparent apathy in political decision allowed for his court to wield the power of decision making, but this is not to say Frederick’s wishes were not listened to. Rather, the court was stuck the making the decisions to best carry out his wishes.

The Peasants’ Rebellion was not just confined to Germany, but it struck south in Italy as well. The Duchy of Milan was the largest and most notable of the Holy Roman states to be overturned by the peasants. Filippo Maria Visconti held the duchy with an iron-fist, partly earning his low approval from the Italian peasants. With the uprisings in Germany, the Italian peasants felt compelled to take their luck, and bested the Milanese Army and forced the surrender of Milan. When Filippo Maria fled to Vienna, where he made an audience with Emperor Frederick, begging him to come to his rescue, in part because one of his sons was married to a Habsburg Princess[1], but Frederick barely made haste or seemed concern with his disposition. He just as quickly brushed him away.

When the Ambrosian Republic was declared, Viktor Steinegger came to seek counsel with Frederick in asking what his intended move was. Frederick merely smiled and said, “Take no notice of the events in Italy.” His decision was somewhat surprising, at least in the eyes of Steinegger, who nevertheless largely obeyed the wishes of the emperor (despite his wishes of having a member of the Habsburg Family led the counter against the republic and be established as duke).

For the Ambrosian Republic, this was a momentous relief. Of all people who would be the force against their republican ideals, it would have been the autocratic emperor. Frederick’s reasons for not intervening were well understood. His nation was still recovering from two deadly wars in 10 years. The Austrian and Hungarian economies both needed to be nurtured back to health. Frederick also feared that his striking against the peasants would earn him scorn and resentment, so, for practical reasons, Frederick was willing to look the other way. But, he was crafty in his moves, and never was a supporter of the Italian model of politics that plagued the Holy Roman Empire. Even so, Viktor Steinegger still traveled to Northern Italy to try and resolve the situation that would be mutually beneficial to the Holy Roman Empire and for the Habsburgs.

Steinegger met with Italian nobles, among them Demetrio Testi – the Testi Family having long and historic roots in the duchy and very much pro-Habsburg, and secretly funded their bid to recapture Milan and end the republic, which they did. The Ambrosian Republican lasted barely a year before the proper Duchy was restored – but the new Sforza Dynasty, well aware of the reasons for Filippo Maria’s overthrow, and certainly aware of the debt they owed to the Habsburgs, promised a more benevolent government and aristocratic caste than experienced under Filippo.


Demetrio Testi, who would become Duke Demetrio of Milan, upon the overthrow of the Ambrosian Republic. Milan would become a center of conflict in the Italian Wars (1503-1548).​

Erstwhile, trouble was brewing in the west. Ruprecht I, the usurping King of Alsace was growing ill. Both Charles I of Burgundy and Frederick III claimed the rights to have one of their own ascend to the throne (Ruprecht was a nobleman who came from Burgundy while his taken wife was a Habsburg, despite them being childless). Additionally, Burgundy had grown resurgent in their victories over Provence and Lorraine, and a rematch with the Habsburgs for hegemony over western Germany seemed fitting, something the Habsburgs had little desire in undertaking. Naturally, the Habsburgs turned to the weight and might of the pen – or perhaps more cynically, their daughters and second or third sons, to procure the future of the realm.


[1]Not true of OTL, he only had two children. I needed a way to interweave the fact that I have a royal marriage with Milan, so the additions were made.
 
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No matter how bright the sunshine appears, clouds on the horizon always gather.
 
I do enjoy that Austrian motto. Of course, the corollary to that motto is "and when you go to war, you'll be related to half of Europe." :p
 
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