Chapter 19: The Commonwealth Wars
Ethiopia was the most powerful empire on the face of the planet. Individually, none of the other Great Powers could possibly challenge us. Even an alliance of many of the other powers would struggle to defeat us - unless Spain was included in their number. Were our former allies to join with France, the Ming or perhaps the Holy Roman Empire, they might conceivably present a threat to us.
It was somewhat ironic then that we were forced to fight alongside the Spanish in the matter of the Russian Succession. Our Polish allies sought to contest the Holy Roman Emperor's claim to the Russian crown and had called upon the tradition of the Triple Alliance once more. Though it was apparent that this would be a terrible conflict, with so many of the Great Powers arrayed against each other, the outcome seemed inevitable. The combined armed strength of the Ethiopian, Spanish and Commonwealth forces was twice that of the Bohemians and Russians. And, indeed, the war initially favoured the Alliance. The Commonwealth armies struggled to hold off the Bohemian and Russian invasion, but the arrival of Ethiopian reinforcements quickly turned the tide. The Bohemian occupation forces were driven out of Polish-Bulgaria and our armies advanced deep into Russian territory. Spanish forces moved through the German Principalities and launched an attack on Bohemia itself. The end of the war seemed in sight...
...when the Ethiopian Empire left the conflict. Confused, the Commonwealth and Spanish ambassadors demanded an audience from the Emperor, but were informed that he was abroad, upon a state visit to Tuscany - our new ally. It mattered not, however, as all of the ambassadors' queries would soon be answered.
Negusa Nagast Susenyos II intended to blunt the threat of both Spain and the Commonwealth. He had two primary goals - to secure Polish-Bulgaria for his Bulgarian vassals and to force Spain to concede some of their colonial territories to the Empire. If the Commonwealth were forced to concede their claim to the Russian throne, all the better - A Bohemian-Russian union would mean the rise of a new power of significance in Europe, but it would present less of a threat than a Polish-Russian one. Our new Tuscan allies were to distract the Spanish and their Austrian allies, while we knocked the Commonwealth out of the war.
Thus the Commonwealth was the heart of two conflicts. The Bohemians and Russians clashed with them in the east and west, while our forces advanced from the south. Meanwhile fighting raged in Italy, North Africa and across North America.
Polish-Bulgaria, so recently liberated from Bohemian occupation, was quickly secured. Our forces marched north, along both sides of the Black Sea.
In North America our forces launched an invasion of New Spain from Ethiopian Mexico. After quickly defeating the colonial army, our forces split to the north and south. Further east, the Spanish colonists clashed with the English along the borders of the Thirteen Colonies.
Our troops advanced deep into the Commonwealth, eventually fighting their way to the capital. The enemy finally admitted defeat, surrendering their Bulgarian provinces and bringing their alliance with Spain to an end. Though they fought on against the Holy Roman Emperor, that war too was turning against them.
With the defeat of the Poles, we were able to divert our forces west. Troops were ferried across the Adriatic to lay siege to Spain's Neapolitan provinces. Our advance on Austria itself was stymied by their fortifications in Albania and along the Adriatic coast.
Once our forces in New Spain linked up with the English Colonial Forces in Florida, our victory in North America was secured. Together our armies began to press north, towards the Great Lakes and up the banks of the Mississippi.
An unfortunate distraction presented itself in England, as a pretender rose to challenge the Emperor for the crown. Normally such a threat would be little more than an irritation, but dealing with it would require the dispatch of some of our troops fighting in Italy and Austria.
With the fall of Naples, we were able to assist the Italians in driving off the Austrian invaders. Unfortunately, no sooner had we done so than...
...the Italians sued for peace. Irritated by the Tuscan's cowardice, the Emperor ordered his troops to press on. The Austrians soon accepted our offer of peace, knocking them out of the war as well. We could now begin to close in on Spain itself.
Much to the Emperor's pleasure, loyalist forces in England defeated the pretender rebels before the Ethiopian relief force arrived to put them down. The relief force did assist in the recapture of London, waiting in England as our other armies moved into position to invade Iberia.
Recognising the inevitable, the Portuguese also agreed to our peace proposal. Spain was on its own.
Our forces advanced from the north, south and east. The relief force sent to England landed in Cantabria. The armies that had fought in Italy and Austria marched through France and into the Pyrenees. Our North African forces attacked Valencia. City after city fell, while the Spanish army fled before our troops.
Meanwhile, the Emperor ended our alliance with Tuscany, having been disappointed with their performance. Instead he sought to improve relations with the Holy Roman Emperor, who had emerged victorious over the Commonwealth and affirmed his right to the Russian crown.
As the last enemy resistance crumbled, the Emperor offered terms to the Spanish.
With the loss of New Spain and their Oregon territories, the Spanish had effectively ceded dominion of North America to the Empire. Their remaining American holdings were wedged between California and the Thirteen Colonies, with little room for expansion.
With both Spain and the Commonwealth humbled, our position was now unassailable. The terms of a new alliance were soon reached with the Holy Roman Emperor. The Commonwealth begged for an audience with Negusa Nagast Susenyos II, seeking an alliance of their own. The Emperor readily agreed - and a new world order took shape.
Spain's troubles continued. The French declared war upon them, keen to retake their lost territories, and Negusa Nagast Susenyos II supported the French war effort with large subsidies. The Franco-Spanish War would drag on for another eight years, with the Spanish eventually being forced to return the south of France to Paris.
Bulgaria and Korea were both integrated into the Ethiopian Empire, further securing our borders. After years of peace, the Emperor had but one more goal he wished to achieve before his death. There was one enemy who had quietly plagued Ethiopia for centuries. They had never been enough of a problem to actually go to war over - but emperor after emperor had been forced to irritably set aside reports of the barbaric raiders harassing our shipping and and coastlines in the Mediterranean as greater concerns demanded their attention. Yes, it was time for that most aggravating of peoples, the Knights of Rhodes, to feel our wrath!
Though the Portuguese foolishly chose to aid the immoral pirates of the Mediterranean, there was little they could do to stop the might of the greatest power the world had ever seen from descending on the tiny island. The Knights were crushed - adding one more holding to the magnificent Ethiopian Empire.
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